So those of you who know Harley, know that he can be a big sweet lug. At well over 1200 pounds and an easy 16:3, much depends on his good nature. Those of us who know him also know he can be a single minded scoundrel when he decides to disagree. Thus, for his safety and for the safety of others, Harleys owner decided to expand his eduation.
His main issue: Bolting at will. Not for fear or flight, but to exercise his will. When I met with his owner to discuss our two week goals, she added that he also doesn’t tie. That gave me a big lightbulb and a place to start. The more symptoms we can determine the easier it is to diagnose the problem-Harley has a clear case of not yielding to forward pressure. The doctor is in!
We loaded up using a turn out pen at his boarding stable to avoid any mishaps. His owner has been resigned to tacking him up and riding from place to place to avoid leading and the potential for bolting in this very crowded public boarding facility.
A note on the owners behalf: she has been diligently trying to solve this habit for close to a year now, enlisting the help of local trainers, researching many philosophys, and staying true to her gut instinct that this isn’t about just using a harsher,bigger bit or chain. She truly wants to achieve partnership, is thrilled when much of the time she gets it, and is dismayed when Harley tosses the hard work aside and splits for home.
Prior to commiting to time here at the ranch, his owner explored the concept of using the bit to lead while maintain flexion and give. Effective, yes. My concern-he doesn’t bolt under saddle, a HUGE positive factor. We don’t want him to discover in any way that he can run thru his bit. And since he bolts with intention, not fear, I strongly feel it would be a matter of only a few times before he discovered he can bolt thru the bit on the ground and quite reasonably transfer that new found knowledge to his saddle work. (BTW this is a dressage horse)
So, a long but uneventful (at last, and thats a whole nother blog) trip to the ranch, Harley settled in peacefully. (He’d attended a camp here before, so it was a familiar setting)
Day 1: I decided that getting right into our yield to forward pressure work was our number one priorty. Harley can be quite passive and cooperative to the usual pressure response release techniques, as long as he’s of a mind to be. His long time pattern of being perfect and willing until he’s not, led me to the conclusion that we needed a new “feel”, ie a new pressure point that hadn’t been desensitized that could rewire his thought process. I chose to use an old standby cure for hard to tie, pullback horses.
I use a light -weight ,soft, nylon rope about 15 feet long with a small ring at one end. We begin by desensitizing all over his body and legs to be sure that the rope itself will not scare him. Harley was only mildly phased and this took all of 15 minutes. Next, I lay the rope over his back at the girth, then thread the end of the rope thru the ring so the slip joint rests at his girth, directly in the middle of his underside. The left over rope comes between his front legs where I can hold it. The placement of the loop and ring is important because by being positioned at the exact bottom in this way, it will quickly release all pressure as soon as I release my pressure my end of the rope. Then we take some time to tighten and release the rope pressure, communicating that he should step forward when he feels the pressure and that doing so will instantly cause the pressure to be released. This is all done in a quiet and supportive manner, recognizing and reward his slightest effort to yield to the pressure. Before long, I could lead him around by his girth.
Now we challenge his reactions. I threaded the girth rope thru the bottom ring of his halter, where the lead rope is also attached. Being sure that the ring is still quietly resting on his underside between his front legs. We head to the tie rack, aka a main steel pole of the barn, set in concrete and securely bolted to a six stall barn. I’m confident, should he get away, the barn will not end up dragging behind him. To help with providing pressure and release, I always use bicycle inner tubes between my horses and the tie rings. I tied the lead rope in a quick release knot, after checking that I had my pocket knife in case of emergency. I can’t stress enough the importance of this detail.
Time to test the waters a bit, so holding the girth rope in one hand, I pulled and tugged on the lead rope, when he began to resist by putting his head up high, I would pull gently on the girth rope, lo and behold, a quick step forward and all is released and rewarded. We did this quite a few times, reinforcing the new pressure release point, beginning to create a “conditioned response”. After I was fairly confident he would stand politely even with distractions, I placed the end of the girth rope where I could get to it quickly should he need reminding. Then I proceeded to clean my barn all around him, singing and dancing to my disco tunes and clanging everything from lawn chairs to ladders within a few feet of him. He looked to exit stage left a few times, but quickly responded to the combination of the inner tube allowing some give and me applying the now familiar girth pressure. My barn got clean with no incidents, and Harley can confirm to all that there’s no place for me on Americas Got Talent.
Stay tuned!
Yay, yay! Thanks for the detailed description, Marybeth. I understand that Harley was tied to an oak tree for 3 days at his former (competition eventing) barn to help him to learn to stand.
You say that he is a “dressage horse,” however he is also a nice hunter-style jumper. My principal riding instructor is a German classical dressage trainer who advised me to get him happy in his body and with our work before doing much jumping. I’ve learned that he is most calm when I am a confident leader, so I’ve been focusing on our relationship and flatwork before challenging us to take fences. I hope to get to the Horse Park for cross country, but this is a long-term goal.
Thanks for your good work!