Rosa is a beautiful filly, very gentle in the pasture, than turned into a very disrespectful horse once we arrived in the arena, sometimes quite dangerous. I display here a few videos to show the process we have been through to correct that bad behaviour.
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I publish the three complete sessions, almost uncut, so you can see how she evolved along the process. I chose to publish the full sessions to show how she will rapidly change over the span of a week: we worked for the first time on October 17, then on the 21st, and last on the 23rd. We just worked on the ground all the time and tackled the different problems one by one: concentration, respect, anxiety, etc.
Rosa is accustomed to people and is mostly friendly, but she never really had to work. She played around in the pen with other horses, and she has been manipulated. What she lacked was the basic set of rules when interacting with humans in a more connected way.
- Name: Rosa
- Breed: Iberian
- Age: 1 & 1/2 year old
- Genre: filly
I invite you to watch the three sessions, so you can get the big picture and see her progress. If that is too much for you, I propose you to watch a short version combing the three sessions in a row…
Starting groundwork | DAY 1 – Fixing a disrespectful horse
I have met her a couple of times in the pasture when picking another horse, and she was always quite gentle. Hence my surprise when we started this session of groundwork: She was very disrespectful, quite dangerous a couple of times, with great difficulty to focus, very fidgety, and spooky.
I tried to limit that first session of work, as it was a lot for her to cope with. Yet, I could not give up too soon, as we needed to end on a positive note. Spoiler alert: it gets a lot better on the second session, and she was really nice on the third one. It appears she did not have the opportunity to learn the social rules of horse/human interaction, and just needed guidance on how to become a pleasant companion.
I am quite sure some may think I was harsh on her sometime, but I was never hard although I had to firm up to make sure she does not become a real danger later. Natural horsemanship implies the use of horses’ means of communication, adapted to human beings: bumping on the lead rope, or tapping with the flag is the level of firmness one should get to in extreme cases. Just remember one thing: you should never do to a horse something you would not accept to do to yourself.
Starting groundwork | DAY 2 – Fixing anxiety
This second session was filmed on October 21. After a pretty agitated first session four days before that, Rosa who was quite a disrespectful horse started to get used to me and to the different situations I put her through.
My goal is NOT to scare her, but to let her learn how to manage her emotions when I’m around. In a nutshell, this long session of groundwork I published is to let her now that she can trust me, whatever happens around her, she ought to know that she can count on me: I do my best to remain calm all the time, and to support her when she has to go through difficult times.
I offered her different stimuli: the flag, the rope, I “cinched” her, I simulated the bit, I pushed her on a trot around me… and I did the necessary to make sure she came victorious all the time. We always ended on a positive note. Naturally, I also took the time to comfort her when she needed, by having a break or by petting her when she did well.
I usually don’t speak to horses when I work with them. But I felt that she could use some verbal praise. Not that she would understand anything of course, but the tone of voice is important when confronted to stressful situations, as your body position and movements by the way.
Starting groundwork | DAY 3 – Desensitizing and saddling
This third session was filmed on October 23. The first session was quite energetic, as she tried to charge me, she reared several times, she was pushy and very nervous. During the second session, the then disrespectful horse started to trust me a little bit more, she understood that she had to respect my safety bubble and that over-reacting was not an option.
I really enjoyed being with Rosa during that third session. She is actually a lovely filly. She just needed to learn the basic rules of courtesy, and to feel secured. Once she started to trust me, we could start the real work. You will see some moments when she jumps a bit here and there, but most of the time she got along with the rope and the flag, although I did my best to find the itchy spots.
It felt so good that day, that I decided to saddle her up for the very first time of her life. That bond we created was strong enough so she trusted me with the pad and the saddle. We finished the session with a gentle reminder that the safety rules are not only for the arena: they stand for ALL interactions with any humans. So, whether I go fetch her or drop her at the pasture, whether we walk from one place to the other, or we actually are standing still in the arena or anywhere else, she understood that she must respect my safety bubble and remain quiet and peaceful around me.