Training 2 young Paints - Western Training & Behavior - Western Training & Behavior - Horse Community, Horse Pictures, Horse Forum and Information

Posted : 2/15/2010 7:47:22 PM

We recently received 2 Red and QH white paints. One 7 yrs, the other 3. at they"re prior location where they'd been they're entire life, they were comfortable with us petting them all over and haltering them. About a week ago we trailered them and brought them to our house, they're new home. We decided to not enter the pen for a week, just to let them get used to the new place. I have absolutely no training experience with horses, as neither of them are broke, just halter broke. I've been reading John Lyons book, "Lyons on Horses." His methods seem very practical. Also effective, according to other readers who have applied them.
I'd like to journal here on Horse.com, to let you know how this entire process goes. And so all of you could help me out if you have any advice! Thanks so much, and I am willing to consider all suggestions! So starting, here is how day 1 went:

I entered the pen with halter in hand, towards the 7 year old. i figured I'd train her first because the 3 year old seemed to do everything she did. ( Including rolling around in the mud)(:
So, I got closer to where I was about 100 feet away from her. She looked at me as if she were mad and began to run at me. I quickily turned and sprinted for the gate. But she was too fast, I would make it there in time. I heard her getting closer and she tripped in the mud. I ran to our medrone tree that had a cluster of trunks in a circle and I ran and stood in between them for safety. Sshe ran off and snorted and I ran for the gate opening. I took a breath and thought how dissapointing! She charged at me! The little one saw her running and began running with her and bucking, kind of thinking it was a game. BUt I'm afriad that If I go in there again, I could be hurt. The 7 year old just bites the little one and mopes around. Whenever I get near the fence the little one runs up to be pet while the other one just walks off. I don't know what I should do! Should I go back i the pen? What's the next step to this? Thank you all for helping me out!

hunterseat

Posted : 2/16/2010 3:08:37 AM

I don't know how old you are. Do you have good medical insurance? [ ':D'

] Ain't that funny? j/k If you are afraid I think you really need help. If it was ME, I'd get me a training stick or a 2X4, whichever is handy (if you can swing the 2X4 effectively and it's long enough but not too long) I'd go in there (what size pen are we talking about?) You have to make yourself BIG and USE THE STICK when that horse comes near enough. Chances are, when the horse heads towards you if you step a big dramatic monster step towards her and puff up with your arms raised and roar (that's right, like a monster) she will stop, look at you strangely and decide you might be contagious. Then you make her move her little backside until YOU decide she can stop. Switch her directions....

Do you think she considers that her baby? She might be very protective. But DO NOT hesitate to wail on her with a stick if she acts aggressive to you at ALL. Look what horses do to each other. They rip strips of hide off each other. They kick and leave hoof prints or bite and leave teeth marks. You will NOT hurt that horse, but do not strike the face. Once that horse retreats, you need to go after her and make her move. Once you establish yourself as boss you won't have any trouble. And yes, the younger one will submit to you as soon as the older one does. Right now the older one is alpha over you. That's dangerous. If you don't feel safe it's best not to go any farther.

danastark

Posted : 2/16/2010 5:37:09 AM

Please get some help. It sounds like the older mare at least, has some issues already, aside from not being trained. There's a saying that a lot of us go by, "Green (rider)&nbsp ';p'

lus green (horse)+black and blue" because the potential for really get hurt is there. If you do enter the pen, take a rope, lunge whip, long stick with a plastic grocery sack tied on the end of it, something to make her think twice about getting in your space, plus a helmet wouldn't hurt. As Hunter says, the one who makes the other's feet move is the boss in the horse world. Right now, she's making your feet move. In all likelihood, she'll turn out to be a very nice mare once you've got things straightened out. All horses have the potential to be bossy. You just have to get her respect. Goodluck and be careful.

Konababy

Posted : 2/16/2010 7:08:35 AM

Thanks for replying!
Yeah, I completely understand about the her chasing me thing. I hesitated to run at first because of the fact that she'd think she was above me, but in that moment I decided to put my life ahead of all of that. The 2 horses are on a 1 acre area. Me and my brother went into the pen today. (The older horse was far away enough if anything were to happen) And the 3 year old pranced right up to us. She is really sweet. We got the halter on her with no problem, left it on for about 5 minutes and took it off. So as of now, the younger one has been groomed all the way down to her knees, haltered, and lead. She is taking everything beautifully so far. We are getting some proffesionals over to work with the older horse. But don't worry, everytime I go into that pen I have some sort of item for defense. Tommorow we are going into the pen again, I'll post how that goes. Thanks again to you both!

trainer101

Posted : 2/16/2010 2:23:35 PM

I have to ask what drew you to these two horses? I don't mean to be rude just asking. Was it like a rescue from an abusive or neglecting home? The young horse is going to be your best bet at working with and the sooner you seperate the two horses the better. I would also advise getting some help from a local trainer that you trust to give you good advice. there are a lot of mistakes that can be make when training your first horse and from the sound of it you took on two that already had some issues which makes it all that much harder.

Ask yourself what your goals are with each horse and then write them down. Each thing you write down make some calls and do some research and try to break it down even farther. For example 2yr old: Halter break-establish left direction movement away, establish right direction, rest facing, rub with halter....

The better you understand what you are going to do and how to do it when you walk into the pen the better the horse will understand it as well.

Konababy

Posted : 2/16/2010 9:05:21 PM

A friend of our was moving into to town and couldn't have his horses nymore. Rather than being able to sell them for $6,000 and up, he wanted them to go to good homes. So he asked us if we wanted 2 and we picked the older horse because she was o sweet, and the younger one for the same reasons. Taking them to our house was a huge event to them Im sure. Maybe even traumatic. As of now it is an over the fence relationship because of an incident of the older horse charging at me. But today They both trotted right up the gate and let me pet and brush them. The older mare was a little shy at first, but welcomed my hand when I began to rub her. So today was a really good day for both of them. I always try to leave on a good note. I'm always open for more advice and thanks for your posts! I've also attached a file of the older mare!

Konababy

Posted : 2/19/2010 10:27:13 PM

Current a

We haltered the young horse for the third time and she didn#%92t seem to mind it at all. She had a sense of humility since we haltered her the first time. Which has helped tremendously. Great news! The older horse comes to the fence even if I don#%92t have any food. I rubbed her back, and legs, and under her neck and she is responding very well to touch.
My mom and I went into the pen again yesterday and she didn#%92t charge. She just ignored the fact that we were there. Our idea is that we will go inside the pen to fed them.. What do you think?
Today as I was going on a walk, both of the horses watched as I left. On my way back they both greeted me at the fence! This made me very happy, because I know that even having they#%92re attention is a huge step.

hunterseat

Posted : 2/19/2010 11:51:40 PM

Okay, sounds good but don't forget, the score is still: mare 1, Kona 0 You haven't proven to her that she can't run you out of there. I'd always be on the alert and practice your scary monster noises. [ ':)'

]

WalkinQrterHorse

Posted : 2/21/2010 1:44:07 AM

[quote=hunterseat]

Okay, sounds good but don't forget, the score is still: mare 1, Kona 0 You haven't proven to her that she can't run you out of there. I'd always be on the alert and practice your scary monster noises. [ ':)'

]

LOL!! you crack me up so bad! scary monster noises...it's so true and effective, but hilarious when I read it I get an image of you running and screaming and waving your arms like a mad woman. lol...ah i love it ':)'

hunterseat

Posted : 2/21/2010 1:41:35 PM

ROFL! Beats getting trampled!! [ ':D'

]
(but still carry a stick!)

Konababy

Posted : 2/22/2010 5:35:26 AM

So today, I decided it was time to try the halter on the older horse. I walked towards the side of her as I talked and let her smell it. She seemed to be fine with it, so I slowly proceeded to slide it past her nose, and over her ears. She gave me absolutely NO problem! I knew that she'd had a halter on before, but she never accepted one from me that's for sure. I slowly clipped the lead rope on and as I was about to take it off, she pulled way and did not like that I had control. Well, she yanked it out of my arms, but then came straight back as if she was apologizing. ( So I slipped it of along with the halter and pet her, letting her know I was no there to hurt her. But that's how things are going and they are continuing to come to the fence each time I kiss at them! I feel they really have the potential to be great horses, but we'll see.

Konababy

Posted : 2/23/2010 7:45:26 PM

I don't know if anyone is still reading this forum haha, but I need some help if anybody's out there. About an hour ago I was conditioning the little horse on leading and she was doing great. Then I decided to halter the other horse. (aka grumpy horse)
well, I got the halter on and took it off. Then, I put it back on and tied her to a strong post to brush her. She was getting kind of jumpy about this so I decided to take it slower and just hold the lead rope. I went forward to take it off and she jerked the rope out of my hand, and has continued jerking it out of my hand ever since. I'm afraid that if I tie her she will freak out and maybe hurt herself. What do you suggest?

danastark

Posted : 2/25/2010 2:10:51 PM

So, is she pulling away from you whenever you go to tie her or just pulling away from you whenever you are holding on to her? Either way, a good rope halter with knots will help. We have a pony who was handled by lots of little kids and learned to start jerking his head until he had gotten enough lead that he had leverage/lead rope and could pull away from little kids. We started using a stud chain to give my daughter more leverage and I had to teach her to catch the signs that he was going to start pulling (starting to jerk his head, walking into her, a certain look in his eye). Then I had to teach her the right amount of pressure to discipline him when she jerked to get his attention. Once she was able to catch him before he got carried away, we were able to switch to a rope halter and that little bit of extra pressure gives my daughter the advantage so if he jerks his head to start pulling away, she jerks back quickly and firmly and he gives in. Once he knows she's onto him, he gives in very easily but if she gets careless and doesn't see the signs, he will occasionally try his old tricks again! Smart pony ':)'

When your mare jerks her head, jerk her back. She won't like it and that behavior should extinguish. Make sure to catch her being good too, when she's cooperating, make it pleasant by scratching her and such but when she isn't cooperating but quick and firm about your discipline, then get her busy doing something else. Goodluck to you ':)'

Konababy

Posted : 2/25/2010 5:10:07 PM

Thanks for the advice (: I actually did something similiar to your suggestion yesterday and I was able to halter both girls. She was backing away when I brought the halter over her nose so, I took the top of the halter and strung that behind her ears before I pulled it over her nose, She thinks I already have her everytime. Once I had the halter on and she backed away I just yanked on the rope about 2 inches from her chin and she gave in. I haven't led her yet but I'm working on that.

Konababy

Posted : 2/25/2010 8:11:47 PM

So, right now we are going into the pen and haltering the horse. (The younger horse) Our goal is to get her out of then pen, tie her to a tree and brush her down. Cross your fingers!