Defeat Is Only Bitter If You Swallow It

I won I won I won I won! I wish I was talking about the lottery, but this is almost as good. After a string of defeats, the underdog horse trainer made a comeback. Of course one victory doesn't mean that there is a guarantee with Whisper it will work next time (we are still talking about my bi-polar OTTB) there's not even probability that it will work next time, but for today it did.

Having time this weekend to really chew on my problems with Whisper, a few things came to mind. The halter. The trainer I was with Saturday only uses Parelli halters, a thin rope style that works by utilizing specific pressure points on the horse.

I'm familiar with pressure points and can equate it to my dog training classes where I stress choosing the right style of leash. Imagine a large dog pulling hard on a slick, thin, leash,  it feels cutting and you want to release and give in to the dog's pressure. You can control a dog much easier when the pressure occurring in your hand is spread across a greater area. I got to thinking that if my horse has pressure I create distributed on a wider area it would also make it easier for her to oppose my pressure without discomfort.

I don't particularly want to buy another piece of training equipment right now so I looked at what I had.The halter I use on Whisper is the standard layered nylon with a wide, thin, crown piece made of leather meant to break away if she were caught on something in the pasture.

The halter she arrived in is made of rolled leather across the nose, has a thick double layered crown piece, and sits lower. Going back to her leather halter for handling could give me an advantage as the pressure points were going to be very different. The poll would distribute pressure and the nose would concentrate it. Couldn't hurt to try.

Another thing stood out was when she began the rush backwards, my body was out in front and facing her. She could hold her head high and still see me in this position and I was giving similar body language to the "back" command. I needed to change my position to communicate and allow "forward".

I had taken everyone's halter's off as the girls have become easier to catch-up when needed, so before feeding Whisper I slipped on her leather halter.

She groomed nicely and I thought we might have an easy morning. Then it started. Her typical rushing in front of me to create a circle, then changed to leaps and hops moving backwards. I opened up my outside shoulder as she began her rush. I held a forward facing position at her shoulder area, running backwards with her. I used my rope around my off side to pop against her ribs and drive her forward. She came out of it and led back where I wanted her.

Promise, Beauty, and Pirate are now at the far bottom corner of the pasture, and I'm still standing up top with Whisper. She made one more attempt and this time her feet were faster than mine, I had a hard time catching up to her shoulder while I tried staying parallel to her while running backwards, but I DID! She dropped her head and seemed resigned to being stuck with me. Pats and praise, we ended with that. Calmly at my side, I set her free, she walked away then broke into gallop back to her herd.

Success happened today. No grand ideas, no hopes for it necessarily happening again tomorrow, but for now defeat is behind me.