The day started with me making an active decision not to give him his beet pulp right away. Normally, I give him his beet pulp during the grooming, tacking, and untacking process. By the time I'm done with him and ready to put him away, he's done with his feed. Today I had more time, so I wanted to see how he was with his hooves without feed. I wanted to mess with his feet and practice so that he'll be better for the farrier (I'm also thinking of switching farriers...but that's a story for another post). I watched a video on Facebook about this topic, many people know him from the adorable video that went viral (if you want your "awww" for the day that's definitely it). If you're interested, his training page is "Justin Dunn Mustang Horsemanship" on Facebook, where...you guessed it...he trains mustangs! So what he did was held his horse's hoof on the stand and when the horse tried to pull away (and succeed), he'd just have them walk in a circle and move their feet, then come back and try again. This helped the horse think about the exercise, get his antsy-ness out by walking, but still learn that he still has to do the exercise. So I don't have a farrier stand, so I used a mounting block:
"Hmm what is this? Looks like something I could eat!"
Pictures don't do justice to this exercise, but this block makes a noise when his foot touches it (hollow plastic). Also, it's about 2' off the ground. These are his back feet pictured, which were the harder ones for him to learn.
Standing so pretty! I wish I had hoof trimming equipment, or more importantly the knowledge and skill, because I could have trimmed them right then!
Overall, it took about 2 circles of walking for him to learn that his feet weren't in danger and to stand nicely. This is quite an accomplishment because not only is he letting me tap on his feet, put them on the mounting block, and stand still...he's also ground tied (I like this horse's expression, very relaxed!) meaning he's not tied to anything. We'll keep practicing and hopefully when the farrier comes he'll be even better! What a good boy!
Next we practiced arena work. I mentioned before how walking in a straight line is difficult for young and inexperienced horses. Well I watched this youtube video and he was saying that it's actually not that difficult, they just don't want to go where you want them to go. So it's our job to convince them that where we want to go is better! The totally crude way to explain it is that when the horse stops at the arena fence, you make them work so that they realize that stopping at the fence means more work! The video is actually really awesome so if you're interested, please watch it: video.
Anyway, so Calvin and I worked on this technique and wow! He not only turned much better, but he was able to just walk and trot along the railing. I love learning new things so I can continue to grow as a horsewoman, thank goodness for the internet! After our amazing arena session, I decided to take him on a trail to test out these new skills. He was absolutely amazing, we even went on the difficult trail that we'd never been on alone before! He took it all in stride and only snorted and spooked at a few things ;) He definitely earned his beet pulp when we got home!
Here he is in his pasture with his pinto mare friend! They both wanted food kisses!
How can't you want to kiss that nose? So lovable that I had to post it on Instagram (#calvinthemustang in case you're wondering ;)
Overall a fantastic day, gotta love those Mustang horses!
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