Preparation for Thompson Clinic

Today I decided to have another session with Eclipse since I am taking him to a Dan Thompson clinic this Saturday. On the release form I said that we had achieved Level 1 and since I would rather not make fools of ourselves, I thought it might be a good idea to work with him a time or two before we get there. The session started with games 1-4 which we went through fairly quickly. Although Eclipse needs a little refinement with driving and yo-yo, he seems to be a quick learner. 

The circling game was an interesting experience, to say the least. I started to ask more of him in this session and decided to see what he would offer if I asked for the canter. On the left lead he tore off the first few times but eventually offered a softer transition.  I realize it might take a little while for him to feel comfortable circling, as it appears that his previous experience consisted of being chased around on a lunge line. While going to the right, Eclipse was looking out when we started but made some improvements and I decided to ask for the right lead. When I did, I discovered that I have yet another horse with right lead issues...oh boy! Initially, he would make the transition but would cow-canter a few strides before switching. I did not want to end on a bad note, so we worked on trot-canter transitions until he picked it up correctly and then we stopped. I know that this is going to take some time but all in all I think he did well.

After circling, it seemed like the perfect time to introduce the saber tooth tarp. As it turns out, the saber tooth bag was good preparation for the tarp and this turned out to be a lot less uneventful than I was expecting. I was able to send him over the tarp within a matter of minutes. It took a little longer to convince him that the tarp was not going to eat him if I held it beside him but all things considered he did very well. The session ended nicely and I was able to place the tarp on him and rub him with it. He stood still and showed some slight skepticism but it was a huge improvement from "*SNORT*,What the hell is that thing!?"

Natural Hoofcare Clinic I

Today was part one of Marian Figley's natural hoof care clinic. My previous barefoot trimmer transitioned Calatar over five years ago and Marian is currently transitioning Eclipse. I am always interested in learning as much as possible so when I discovered that Marian was having a clinic I signed up right away. I have no plans to start trimming my guys anytime soon but I do want to learn how to trim before I move out west (which gives me a good two years). 

After sleeping through the alarm I drove down to Winston, GA as quickly as I could. When I arrived I met the other clinic participants and we started talking about various horse-related topics. It was nice to be around so many like minded people and we had many interesting conversations throughout the day. The clinic was excellent and it started off with us reviewing both the external and internal structures of the hoof. As a prerequisite for the clinic, Marian recommended reading Pete Ramey's Making Natural Hoof Care Work For You. I read this in addition to Jaime Jackson's Horse Owner's Guide to Natural Hoof Care and have been very satisfied with both books. Keeping horses barefoot has always made so much sense to me but these books are excellent resources and are quite informative for those still unsure about the benefits of barefoot horses. The next topic of discussion was common hoof pathologies and Marian shared her experiences of how natural hoof care can rehabilitate horses suffering from such conditions. We also talked about the crucial role that diet and environment play in hoof health and briefly discussed Jaime Jackson's Paddock Paradise, a book that I plan on reading before I purchase my own property. After lunch, Marian showed us some maintenance type trimming and made it look so easy. Many of her horses have not been trimmed in over two years but thanks to their diet and environment their feet looked amazing and actually needed very little trimming. 

When Marian was done trimming the first horse, we took a break to watch a clicker training demonstration with Meg Eades. It was very interesting and is something I would like to learn more about. I had some misconceptions about clicker training and thought that it would surely result in pushy, mouthy horses but Meg showed that this is not the case when it's done correctly. I could see how much more the horses offered and it reminded me of when Linda was using cookies to reward Remmer when he was learning passage at liberty. I think that clicker training has the potential to work really well with the principles of natural horsemanship and I am looking forward to trying it out when I have some extra time.

Saber Tooth Bag

Today was deworming day for the boys...I really want to learn more about doing fecals and "natural" deworming alternatives but until then I am still using chemical dewormer. Today was the first time I have used dewormer with Eclipse and he did very well. I didn't have a lot of time to do much else and so after deworming him, I put the empty tube back in the plastic shopping bag and went to untie his halter with the bag still in my hand. Well Eclipse thought it was going to eat him so I used this wonderful opportunity to desensitize him to the saber tooth bag. It took a while but he eventually became calm and confident with the bag all over and around him.