Faith, Trust, and some carrots

Faith, Trust, and some carrots

Touching the rope.

Day 5

Today we worked in the round pen instead of the square pen. I wanted to have a bit more room as I was working with throwing the rope around. With each throw, Opal would walk up to investigate the rope.  Once she was calm with that, I held a half loop in my hands out for her. She walked over to me and spent the next several encounters sniffing and touching the rope.

 What is this thing exactly?

 She began to move closer to me, so I was between her head and shoulders. She was almost leaning towards me. I  reached out slowly and stroked her shoulder twice. Her skin twitched and she walked away, then turned around and came back to me. She stretched out her head and blew air in my face, I returned the greeting. Then she lowered her head a bit and allowed me to pet the front of her face, eyes to nose, with the palm of my hand. 

Horse 101: think of your hands as a predator's claws.  The palm of the hand is where the claws would be and viewed as dangerous. The back of  your hand wouldn't have claws and is viewed as a safer approach by mustangs who have not been gentled. For them to allow you to pet their face, which is a blind spot for them, with your "claw" side of your hand is a big step in building trust and a healthy bond with you. 

The next thing we did was to hold the rope up so the ends were towards the ground. This allows her to feel the rope on both sides of her face while I pet her.  She was keeping an eye on how high the rope went up her face, but didn't protest its presence. Eventually this will allow me to put the rope over her head onto her neck, but as the wind began to kick up the dust, we called it a day. 

 Playing and exploring the rope.

Day 6

Today we picked up where we left off the previous day, except we worked in the square pen not the big round pen.  Opal was more than willing to approach anyone who wanted to stop and say hi to her...human or horse. She was also willing to take any treats off their hands. 

She was accepting of having the rope rubbed all over her face.  From her ears to her muzzle, top of her pole to under her cheeks. She was also enjoying having her faces pet with the palm of my hand. 

 I'm kind of enjoying this, I like attention.

We then moved on to moving the rope around her body. Tossing it by her head and feet, closer and closer until it would brush her legs. 

 What just touched my feet?

The more comfortable she became to closer she would move to me, until she was standing with her shoulder right next to me. I gathered up the rope and began to stroke her neck with it, then I let it go over her neck. She looked to her opposite side, let out a snort, trotted around the pen until the rope dropped, then came back to me. We repeated the process several more times and by then end of the day she was walking and standing still with the rope. I'm so proud of my girl.

 How did that get there?  I can still move, I guess it won't hurt me either.

 

Day 7

It has been a week since Opal arrived at Kickin' Back Ranch.  She is making wonderful progress.  Opal is hooked on carrots and is very happy to relieve anyone of them who is willing to give them to her.  Picking up where we left off yesterday, we went back to the rope  and started touching her face, neck and chest.  I also spent a lot of time stroking her whole face with my hands...she loves the attention.  She then reached her nose out and let me give her a kiss on her nose.  I also made sure she had plenty of shade and cool water to drink, and let her take frequent water breaks...it was HOT out today!

Greg Faria, boarder at Kickin' Back Ranch and owner of the mustang Amigo, offered to clean Opal's stall.  Having another person in her home lets her know she can trust other people at the ranch as well.  She was curious as to what he was doing, and of course, was willing to take carrots form him.

 Greg and Opal saying hello.  

Please note that we usually always wear helmets in the green pens.  

It was over 100 degrees out at this point during the day and Greg had a soaked hat on his head to keep him cool.

Opal and I continued our session in the square pen.  She had no problem letting me put the rope over her neck, looping it over her face, or having me guide her with slight pressure on the rope.

             Listening to pressure on the rope.

I attached the rope to the rope halter and let her smell and play with it for a bit.  Once she was confident with the halter, I simply tossed it over her neck.  Slowly I brought the halter over her nose and hooked it up.  In the beginning, we use a emergency release knot to secure the rope halter, in case the horse reacts and it needs to be removed quickly.  This, however, was not Opal's case.  As soon as the halter was secured, she turned form one side to the other, checking out what was on her face, then walked up to me and stopped.  I walked forward and asked her to walk, she followed.  We walked around both directions.  

 This isn't so bad Mom.

 Ok, it's really hard to take pictures of the horse walking in halter for the first time while you are walking the horse.

 

 These pictures were taken by Marialaina Batoog, owner of Kickin' Back Ranch.

At the end of the day, I walked Opal out of the square pen and into the round pen to take her halter off.  Once I gave her the last carrot, she took a nice long roll in the sand.  Good way to end the day.