I had not been home to spend any time with Juliet for 5 weeks and she’d been turned out with the other mares. When I was working with her on the ground, doing some turns and reverses, others were dumping fresh sawdust in the area. I noticed her interest in wanting to play in the sawdust, so I took her over and let her plow through the piles. It wasn’t long before she wanted to paw and lay down in them, so I thought this was a good opportunity to teach her to lie down. So I put the lead rope on her off side, tilted her head back to her wither, lifted her left foreleg, and used my left hand to pull her toward the lifted leg. She gently, slowly, and quietly yielded and began to bow.
Unfortunately, my timing was not very good, for in the midst of my training, others were doing chores, letting horses in and out. As they ran by and distracted by filly, I became frustrated. She pulled her leg away from me twice before I finally went, got a lead rope to hold her foot, and moved to a place where I could have her total attention. With us now back at the fresh sawdust pile, and our attention back on our job, she finally knelt down on both front knees and rested. I let her up, played with her for a little bit more, and returned her to her stall.
Having been away for a couple of weeks, I will return today to spend a little time with Juliet. She no doubt will be rusty on many of the things which she has been taught, but it is a good way to find out what she really does own. I will review her confidence in forward motion, her stopping by body language, her shoulder yielding on an inside turn, and see if she can do anything with turning on the outside haunch. Then I will repeat the process and see how much she remembers on the off side. After playing with her for a bit longer, I will reevaluate and find out what the next step of training should be. Just as Juliet does not even know that I will show up or expect that I will test her, so too none of us know what a day will bring forth. God reserves the right to enter into our lives on any given day, not to embarrass us by failure, but to glorify Himself by that which has been truly learned. So too, I know that Juliet will please me because of what she will display which will provide another opportunity for greater investment of myself.
Now that I am home for a spell, I have a chance to go back and fill in the gaps on Juliet’s trailer loading experiences. Because she is small, and near the front of her trailer, I could easily turn her around to unload her. But there will soon come a time where that will not be possible, so I need to teach her how to back out of a trailer. To do so, I went back to my foundational training and groundwork, teaching a horse to lead from the hip, be soft at the shoulder, and to not run ahead of the trainer. Now I had the opportunity to work her on a 4×4 platform, where she could learn to step up, over, and back off of the platform. We had just enough time for Juliet to learn to successfully back off the platform. I will continue to work her with this little platform, until she cannot only back off of the platform, but until she can back onto it and then back off of it, at which point I will return to the trailer. This is one more bite-sized step in Juliet’s training. Remember, it takes a small fork to eat an elephant.
Though I had traveled from French Camp, MS to Wilmore, KY on May 2nd, and once again from Wilmore, KY to Spring Creek, PA, on May 3rd, Juliet had not yet conquered the fear of stepping down with her back feet. I was still turning around and letting her unload and then stepping up with her front feet. Was I losing the battle? You cannot lose a battle you do not fight. Therefore, I will wait until a better day when at the Ranch, I can take her to a small 4×4 platform and build her confidence in stepping back off of a six inch platform before I begin to build the pattern as a standard in trailer unloading. No doubt this will be part of my next Sermon on the Mount on May 10th.
Training today amounted to little more than catching her in the stall, loading her in the trailer, and traveling from Big Sandy, TX to French Camp, MS. However, I had not yet taught her to step down backward from a trailer to unload. She was very much afraid and bulled up on me. Though I could push her to get one or other of the hind feet out, she immediately sprang back up in the trailer. Rather than fight with her, because I had room enough to turn around, I did so, and let her jump off the trailer. However, I immediately took the cue stick, even after eight or nine hours in the trailer, and required her to step back in with only her front feet. After successfully loading the front two feet and stepping back out, I returned her to her stall. Though this was not my goal in total, it was a successful step from which we both could take confidence.
I had been on the road for two weeks and had left Juliet behind. I left her in a round pen and while she was reluctant to catch, she responded immediately when I threw a loop over her neck. At least this training session was off to a better start. Since I live and train in public life all the time, I was planning to use Juliet for a Sermon on the Mount in Big Sandy, TX. Though she had loaded and traveled, there was still much she needed to learn. Today I would begin to teach her to respond to a cue stick directed toward her hip. Though she was fearful and reactionary to tarps, our goal was to get her to walk across a tarp. She reacted a little bit to the “ask, tell, command” approach to her hip, but within a few minutes responded well. We crossed the plywood several times, and though she was hesitant to cross the tarp-covered plywood, she did so hesitantly but successfully two times. The third time because it was new, she slipped on it and fell. GRRR. Just what we hope doesn’t happen. Now she had a just cause to be afraid of the big blue tarp. (There is always a danger in using a new tarp because they are extra slippery. We failed to put sand between the plywood and the tarp and on top of the tarp.) Rather than fight with her with the plywood and tarp, I changed my lesson plan. So now I simply held the tarp bunched up in one hand while holding her with the other. Within a few minutes, I was able to rub her with the tarp. It was a good win-win for both of us and time to quit. On the way out, I ponied her briefly with Romeo.
Yesterday was a bit disappointing with Juliet. I had been away for a week and I had left her on the outside in a round pen next to another horse. While she was anxious to be visited, she was reserved to make up to me and uneasy to rub or halter. I spent about a half hour just getting to the place where I could scratch her rub on her. When I went to put the halter on her, she startled and pulled away. I begged with her a little bit more but was short on time, so I turned her out for two weeks with the gelding that had been next to her. She was happy to run and play. I will return from the trip in two weeks and pick up where we left off. Soon I will take her to Pennsylvania where I will have a bit more time to work with her on a regular basis.
Our method of training to this point was to put the pressure on her hip with my eyes and even wave my arms until she moved away and then kiss to her until she turned both eyes and began to look my direction. As soon as she did, I walked away, only to find her be drawn and follow me. After several times of practicing this, she initiated the response every time I kissed.
-Lew Sterrett
She was in the paddock with five other yearlings, and though she was rather shy, after a little friendly chit chat, she allowed us to put a halter on her. She had been loaded and transported before, but not in an enclosed trailer, so it was evidently new. And after a little time and hesitation, she loaded. We will transport seven hours today from Crow Creek Ranch in Ramone, NM and stop at Waggonner Ranch in Electra, TX. Though she is timid, I found her curious and eager to please.
I would like to introduce a new storyline as we add a new member to the Sermon on the Mount team. On March 30, I will be leaving Big Sandy, Texas to head to Raton, NM to pick up “Juliet,” a yearling filly who is a full sister to the 5 year old stallion “Romeo.”
Lew and Romeo
Follow Juliet here and check back for updates on the training process.
Juliet
Join us as we take Juliet from a young filly to a young lady.
-Dr. Lew Sterrett
