RideBarefoot.com's Blog

conversation with Bob Claymier

2009-04-09T19:26:00.002-04:00

Obviously at this point Zazen and I needed some professional intervention. I had seen that Frank Bell, a natural horsemanship trainer and clinician, is going to be giving a clinic in Catlett in May. From his website, I found Bob Claymier's website. Mr Claymier is an Accredited Instructor of Frank Bell's Seven Step Safety System. After several emails, I went to Desert Rose Ranch in Hume to talk to Mr. Claymier about Zazen. I had offered to give Zazen to him, because I felt I was over-horsed. As I expected, he's full keeping up with his own horses! But he graciously gave me his time to talk about a plan of action for him. I purchased Frank Bell's book and DVD from him, and after reviewing them feel like I have a few new tools in my toolbox now. Mr. Claymier is also willing to come and assess Zazen; it will be wonderful to get another opinion from a professional set of eyes.

what Zazen can do now

2009-04-09T18:51:00.002-04:00

Zazen has had an uphill battle, but he has come miles from where he started. He is slowly building his trust of me, but sometimes we run into glitches. At this point I can lead, groom, saddle, pick up feet, trim, yield hindquarters and fore, all calmly and willingly. I thought things were going along fairly well, UNTIL, I asked him to take the next step, and ran into a stumbling block. He was doing so well that I thought it was time to finally get him under saddle; after all, I'm paying board on this boy! So, one day when he was doing particularly well in hand, I moved him over to a mounting block, and stood up on it. No problem. Lean over his back, little bit of a problem but he settled quickly. I made sure he saw me from the other side, and patted the saddle on the off side. So far so good. I wasn't planning on getting on him, because I was alone, and with his history that wouldn't be safe. Was just going to put weight in the stirrup- well, guess what happened?? Soon as he felt the weight in the stirrup, he froze. He was mentally back to a year ago- a complete wreck. So I backed off, went over some things he does well until he got his brain back together, and came up with a new gameplan.

cranio-sacral work

2009-04-09T18:22:00.002-04:00

When I was pretty sure he wouldn't try to kick anyone else, I has a cranio-sacral practitioner work on Zazen. Her prognosis: his sacrum and poll were completely locked. No wonder he tossed me in the air- he was in pain when I sat on his back. I wish I would have taken a picture of how he travelled before- he would trot with his nose in a straight line with his neck, straight up in the air. Now I know it was because he was locked up nose to tail, and he hurt to move. After several sessions with Jan, his nose came down and he could move in a much rounder frame. I heartily recommend it for any horse- don't wait until you horse has the issues that Zazen was presenting!
After figuring out some of the pain issues (I suspect there may be long term effects), I was able to make progress at a faster rate. I use a lot of Parelli natural horsemanship principles, but will also incorporate any method that works in a particular situation. If I come to a roadblock, maybe a different approach is necessary. Keep an open mind!

my secret weapon!

2009-04-09T17:43:00.002-04:00

All that time of only being able to touch his head and neck (anywhere else he was kicky), I found his melty spot. I scratched his forehead one day and he pushed his head into my hand, so fast I could barely keep up with him. WooHoo, the horse who didn't want anything to do with humans was actively seeking contact! What a breakthrough for this boy! I finally had a way to reward him that he liked, and a line of communication. If I introduced something new, I could rub his head when he got nervous until he processed it. Touch his back, rub his head. Run my hand down his leg, rub his head. Touch his belly, rub his head. Hindquarters, back legs, and tail were all now able to be touched if I rubbed his comfort spot. Two months after he arrived, I could start picking up his feet without him trying to kick my head off. He came in with horrible feet, but I didn't even look at them until I could handle his feet safely.
Since I could now get my hands on him, time to check out any physical issues...

hands on

2009-04-09T17:03:00.002-04:00

Once I could halter him without him freaking out, we could venture out of the paddock. Then I found out he really didn't know what leading was. Pressure on a lead sent his head up and him going backwards. Being an Arab, I'm guessing that at some point he got "halter training". Not to deride the good trainers, but I worked for two national level farms, and know that many trainers take shortcuts. Pick up a whip, or anything resembling a stick, and Zazen would lose his mind.
Since I could halter him and rub his neck, we spent time learning to give his nose laterally. Then we progressed to moving one foot by tipping his nose sideways; any pressure directly on his head still brought a violent pullback response. Once I could get feet moving, leading was a zig-zag affair that eventually worked it's way into a straight line.
And now we could go for walks! We walked all over the farm, and every once in a while I would pick up a stick and toss it away from me. When he got okay with that, I started carrying a carrot stick along. At the end of a 12 foot lead he decided it wasn't going to eat him, but it took another month or so to be able to touch him with the evil thing. But by then, I had discovered....

back to square one

2009-04-09T15:36:00.002-04:00

After that disastrous turn of events, I turned him out in a large paddock to contemplate what to do with my "new" horse. He was worse than unbroke, he was carrying a lot of baggage from bad experiences. There was no way that I could pass him on without full disclosure, and I was worried that he could hurt someone. Even though he's a lovely well-bred horse, he was worthless being unbroke.
The first day after turning him out, I decided that he would have to come to me for everything. I held his bucket to eat (no grass in the paddock), I hand fed him hay, and he had to walk around me to get to the water tank. Otherwise he would avoid me, and I danged sure wasn't catching him with all that running room! He would take a bite at a time, then move away. It took a week for him to put his head in a bucket and remain there for an entire meal. Hours were spent doling out handfuls of hay; what a way to contemplate the universe!
I finally got the point that I could put the bucket down and stand by his side rubbing his neck while he ate. Anywhere else was too much, though. I gave him that and just rubbed and talked to him. I progressed to rubbing him with a halter while he ate, and eventually haltered him every time before I fed him, so it just became part of normal routine. Want to eat, stick your nose in a halter.

Zazen's first day

2009-04-09T14:43:00.003-04:00

It's been awhile! Either raining and muddy or I've been working on the gorgeous days, so I'm going to try to do better with updates from now on.
Starting from the beginning: Zazen arrived about 9:00 one night, yelling to the other horses and whirling around. I chalked it up to unfamiliar environment and having been shuffled around the last few weeks (remember that "trainer"?). His then owner told me to try him out, he thought the horse would be right up my alley, since I have a special spot for Arabs. Ms. Trainer told him that the horse was "one of the quietest horses she'd ever been on" and she "rode him in a halter". I settled him in the round pen with hay and water and let him hang out until the next day.
Day One Of The Journey: I took a book into the round pen and sat down to read. Zazen was not that interested in checking me out; in fact, he really didn't register anything. His eye looked dead. Should have been red flag #1, but I was trusting the report from Ms. Trainer. I approached him and haltered him, he wasn't relaxed at all with it. I saddled him and tried to bridle him; he slammed his head into me. (Hmmm, guess same reaction with trainer; that's why she said she rode him in a halter?) He was a very tight horse at this point; in hindsight, he was telling me he was not okay, but I still was relying on her calling him "a quiet horse", and thought he was just very sensitive to the abrupt changes. I was trusting my friend that this horse was broke- hah! I very quietly stepped up on him; and he very quickly put me on the ground! It finally dawned on me that Ms. Trainer had lied through her teeth to his owner. This horse was not broke at all- his reactions were panicked and explosive.
I left him in the round pen and called his owner, who at first thought I was lying to him, then finally came over to see what I was talking about. After seeing how his horse was, he left. Zazen's papers were left in my door several days later, and I haven't seen my friend(?) again. Hmmmmm.........I guess I'll never know what the real story is, but the result is I ended up with a very messed up horse!

First up- Zazen!

2009-02-19T01:21:00.000-05:00

Galahad was going to be the first horse that we followed along with- but he already has a new home! So, here comes Zazen! That's not his original name, but suits him so much better. He came into my life at 11 years of age, and a complete wreck! Unbroke (although he'd been to a "trainer"), didn't tie or lead, had NO idea of what personal space was, and touch him- that wasn't allowed! He was one of the most messed up horses I had even seen. Thankfully, his reactions were fear based and not out of aggression, otherwise he may have ended up in a hole. No horse is worth getting dead, and I wouldn't hesitate to put a dangerous horse down. But, all he wanted to do was get away from me, not come at me. Big difference.

At first I thought about posting on how he got so messed up, since I asked a lot of questions and pieced together a lot of info on how he ended up like that. But, I think it would be more positive (and save me from ranting) to explain as we go along about why he has the reactions he does, based on his experiences, and what I've learned about him. I've already done quite a bit of groundwork with him, but for these purposes, I'll go back over what we've already done, so we can follow his progress from "square one." Next post: Zazen's kindergarten lessons!

Welcome!

2009-02-19T00:55:00.000-05:00

Hi, and welcome to the RideBarefoot blog. This is a companion to my website, ridebarefoot.com. Here's where I'll be talking day to day stuff about my horses, training programs, what supplements I'm using, what horses are for sale or adoption, etc. Horse people are always learning from each other, so feel free to pitch in your 2 cents!