Flashy Flash

When my friend asked me to break her horse for her, my first thought was, "Wooo! This will be fun!" My immediate next thought was, "Oh noooo I need to go hide in a hole ahhh how am I going to do thissss," all at the same time. You see, while I've had experience breaking several horses, I've never done the whole process with a horse that hasn't at least been backed before. Especially not by myself, with no one coaching me.

Enter Flash.

"Hello!"

 When I came back from Christmas break, I decided to bring Sienna and Flash back with me and leave Chica momentarily. The whole loading the trailer experience, however, really made me second-guess my decision.

Sienna loaded easily enough, but then Flash- Flash acted pretty much how I would expect a just auctioned off mustang, fresh off the prairie, to load. Like this: "AHHHH WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME STRANGER DANGER SOMEONE SAVE MEEEE!" I had to unload Sienna and try loading Flash in the front instead, which worked a lot better- until I shut the divider and she realized she had nowhere to go and tried to crawl under the divider. Cue freakout!

She bashed her head pretty good, and I thought we were all going to die, but I managed to calm her down. With the help of a worker out at the stable, we were able to figure out a system that kept her head up and yet left it loose enough that she didn't try and fight it. Poor Sienna was like "?" when I loaded her afterwards, but thems the breaks, kiddo.

Once we got back to my house, then new problem was figuring out how to unload her. By myself. I knew that as soon as the divider opened, she'd be outta there. I tied Sienna at her head to distract her, and somehow, we got out of the trailer in one piece.

Things didn't appear so bleak once she was out, but now I was seriously unsure of how I was going to be able to break her. She was skittish, head-shy, and in a new place. I was grateful for the small paddock we built at the front of the pasture, because I knew I'd never catch her at the rate we were going out in the big pasture.

She and Sienna hit it off; or, at least, she hit it off with Sienna. Sienna was pretty indifferent, and, surprisingly, she has grown to be quite jealous of Flash.

"Remember how you're my mom? Not hers?"

I started off doing a lot of ground work with Flash, because, if I was going to get on her, we were going to have to get a few things straight ahead of time. I longed her, swung ropes around her, put a rope around her girth and tightened it, like I was cinching a saddle, taught her how to give her head and turn in response to pressure, how to trot in hand- the more we accomplished, the quieter she became. I put the bareback pad on her a couple of times before saddling her, since it had a cinch, and she tolerated it way better than I expected. Soon, I brought out the saddle, and she took to it very well- she hardly even bucked once it was on.

"I'm a big kid now!"

 Next came the bit and bridle. I was pretty sure we were going to have to work through some issues there- as I said, she can be head shy, and she tends to go up to get away from pressure. I started driving her, so that she could rear and work through all of that without me on her back. The first couple of times were grim, indeed- she almost fell over at one point in response to me asking her to turn her head- but before long, she was walking out, turning in circles, and giving her head in response to slight pressure on the lines. We even trotted, with me running behind her in what I'm sure was a classy rendition of a carriage ride.

I've been riding her for about 12 days now, and I'm still surprised every time I get on her how well she has taken to everything. The first few times I sat on her and asked her to move forward, she would only back- so I had to get off, bump the stirrups against her side while I clicked, and basically show her what the "go forward" cue meant. But now, we're walking and jogging all around. She does try to test me and see if she can stop while we're trotting, and then she gets cranky when I bump my heels into her sides- but so far, she hasn't given me much grief.

I have to be very, very light with her- if I get too snatchy with the reins, or I kick super hard, or I go to smack her with the reins, we'll probably end up in the next county- but as long as I stay quiet and confident with her, she stays quiet. She's like a child- if she feels like I'm in control and assured, she is happy to follow me. And the funny thing is, she really likes me. I think she likes me more than Sienna does. And that definitely helps when I'm asking her to do something she's not sure about- I've found that if she's spooking at something and I blow into her nostrils, it brings her back down from her scared place and kind of grounds her. Who would've thunk it?

This has been a really good experience, and I thank God for sending me what I needed when I was feeling down. I'll be glad when it's back to just my horses and I, mostly because I worry all the time that Flash is going to injure herself while she's here, but also because they have kind of gone on the back burner while I've worked with Flash. Also, I realized last night that I should probably give Flash a day off every now and then. Can't say I've ever had that thought with my own two...

In ending, enjoy this video of Romeo, who was scared to death of horses, pulling Sienna around. What a good pony!

 

I apologize for my high pitched, over-enthusiastic voice.