I had some time and some decent weather again today, so out to the horses I went.

My goal for today was to trim up J Golden’s hooves again, break him to the D-ring snaffle bit, and to see if I could actually ride him around the arena without getting bucked off. I figured that might be a bit too much to ask for our third training session…over the period of about a month, but why make goals if you’re not going to set them high? A wise man once said, to shoot for the stars and miss is far better than to shoot for the gutter and hit it!

As usual, my first task was to catch J out of the pasture. It was apparent we were going to have another “go-round” in the pasture when I entered. All except for Lizzy, who has had enough of running around. She came right up to me, so I haltered her, gave her a treat, and took her out of the pasture.

I tied Lizzy to the grill guard of the front bumper of my truck – it’s an excellent tie rail. I brushed her down, revealing some of her beautiful summer chestnut brown under her lighter sorrel winter coat. I trimmed up her hooves as well, in anticipation of a possible ride this weekend. Then I left her standing and went back for J.

This time I let J, Jimbo, and the other horse in the pasture into the small arena through a gate in their pasture. Once in the small area, which is about 100′ X 75′, or thereabouts, I had them right where I wanted them. Although it’s quite a bit larger than a normal round pen, it works for what I need. I started the trio trotting and cantering around the arena and kept them going until they let me walk up to them. Every time they turned their tail to me, I made them run. Eventually, they will learn that if they stand still when I come up to them, they don’t have to run. Later, I will teach them to come to me.

After catching J, I haltered him and gave him his treat. I let the other two go back to the pasture. I took J out to the truck and tied him next to Lizzy, brushed him down, then trimmed his front hooves. I just don’t have the energy I used to , so after trimming Lizzy hooves and J’s front hooves, I was done. I’ll get J’s rears later. I am pleased that J’s hooves are looking better. After years of minimal or no care, they had splayed quite a bit and are quite flat and large in diameter. I am slowly trimming them back to good shape. A few more months and they’ll be right.

After resting a bit, I saddled J up. He stood well, although he’s still a little bit cinchy. Again, I saddled him with a lot of banging and swinging straps and stirrups, to get him used to having things slapping around him. He handled it well.

I walked J out into the arena, where he initially became agitated, as before, but quickly settled down and relaxed. I then started refreshing his memory of our last training session, by using the halter to turn his head to the right and left by the pressure-give method. I led him forward and asked him to back. We went through all the halter training steps we did during our last training session as a review.

I decided that J’s head was right and ready the next step: bridle and bit training. When I break and train my horses, I like to break a horse to the bit, using an O-ring or D-ring snaffle. with a 1/4″ or 3/8″ egg-butt or straight hinged bit (no shanks). I will use this bit on a horse trainee until it learns basic commands, such as go, stop, turn left, turn right, and stop. Once the horse reliably performs those commands, I generally switch to a bosal hackamore for the bulk of its training. That way I can teach a horse to become more responsive to bridle and rein pressures without the risk of making a hard mouth. Once I feel like the horse is completely submissive and obedient to the bridle pressures in the hackamore, I transition them to a solid curb bit.

I presented the bridle to J, just as I have instructed in the video I did several years ago, which you may view here. I held the headstall in my right hand with my forearm and elbow on top of his neck. This allows the trainer a little bit of control and entices the horse to submit. I captured his nose between the cheek pieces with the bit hanging below his chin. I took the bit in my left hand and guided the bit between his lips while raising the bit to his teeth by lifting the bridle with my right hand. I tickled his tongue with my left thumb, to entice him to open his mouth and, when he did, I lifted the bit into his mouth by lifting my right wrist (the one on top of his head). He took the bit very easily and I quickly had his ears tucked into the headstall.

After a few exercises similar to our halter training steps, I felt like J understood what the pressure on the bit meant. He didn’t like it much and moved the bit around in his mouth with his tongue for a few minutes, but soon realized that if he gave to the pressure he was much more comfortable. From the ground, I taught him to turn, lead, stop, and back to bit pressure in just a few minutes.

It was time to see if we could reach the highest goal of our training session. As J had taken all previous stages of today’s session like a champ and with no resistance, I felt pretty confident we could continue.

I snugged up the reins with my left hand and took a handful of mane, put my left foot into the stirrup, grabbed the horn with my right hand, and put some weight in the stirrup. J immediately moved away and got worried. I hung with him and when he stopped, I got off and petted him. After a couple more similar episodes, J realized that if he stood still things were better. After stepping up into the stirrup several times from both sides, and leaning over the saddle, without actually mounting, I felt confident he would allow me to mount. I mounted the first time from the off-side, just because I happened to be on that side when I decided to swing my leg over. I dismounted on the on-side and petted and scratched him.

It was time. I pulled myself into the saddle and just sat there. After several calm minutes, J voluntarily took a step. I started turning him to one side, then the other, taking a step or two each time. Eventually, he decided he wanted to be down at the other end of the arena, near his buddies, so I let him walk that direction. As he began to speed up, I gave pressure on the reins and he slowed. Once down by his buddies, however, I had a hard time getting him to go again.

Eventually, J responded to repeated nudges in the ribs with my heels and jumped forward. The nudges stopped. We tried it again and every time he went forward the nudges stopped. Within a few minutes were were walking and gaiting around the arena. J responded very well, surprisingly well, to leg and rein pressures from the beginning. We rode around the arena practicing our turns, stopping, backing, and going for about a half hour, before I decided that was enough for the day.

I was very pleased with J Golden today. I learned something about J as well. He is not a Fox Trotter. His gait is that of a Tennessee Walker. Oh well. The important part is that his walk will, indeed, keep up with Lizzy.

That’s all I need.