Starting to gain Ebony's trust on the ground

I knew the best place to start was on the ground. Before leaving Tuesday afternoon, I asked Jamie if she would like to learn a bit about how to gain Ebony's trust on the ground. She agreed enthusiastically, which made me happy. I know Jamie wants to do right by this horse. I asked her what happened when they tried to catch her, and she said it usually ended in chasing her into a corner. I was determined not to let that happen over the next two days. 

Jamie and Cheyenne and Ebony and me mountainside

When I first arrived at the barn, I observed Ebony for a few minutes and noticed that she had a pasture buddy, Sage. So my first thought was we could transfer Sage's trust in the human to Ebony. Jamie and I approached the round corral slowly and waited for the horses to get interested in us. The only one who ignored us was Ebony. However, Sage came right up to the gate which looked like a clear invitation to me. I told Jamie to catch Sage first, which she did easily.

Then I asked Jamie to lead Sage over to Ebony in a very relaxed roundabout way. Within about 5 minutes, Ebony was close enough to Jamie for her to put the rope around her neck and than place the halter on her. When I asked Jamie how different that was from the usual, she had a big grin on her face and said that was way easier, "no drama". Success!

We brought both Sage and Ebony over to the barn area where there is a small paddock within which we could play. We started with making sure Ebony was OK with the carrot stick. She was skeptical at first, but soon we were able to rub her all over with it. In fact, over the next two days, it was easier for her to accept the carrot stick than the human hand. So however she was abused, it was at least in some part with direct human contact. 

Than we were able to throw the savvy string over her back six times on each side. Finally, she did not understand how to play the "hide your hinny" game, so I taught her how to do that. She had no understanding at all of what she was being asked to do, so I needed to use a soft phase four, but within three asks, all she needed was a soft phase two. Smart girl! If only I could be in Utah and Texas at the same time...


So now it was time to get her saddled. Everything I did, I pretended I was on Valium, soft, slow, but not sneaky. I used lots of friendly game interspersed throughout the saddling. I wanted her to get more used to my hands. She stayed on her guard, but her head dropped lower and lower as I saddled her slowly, one layer of gear at a time. 

Sueanne on Tia and Sue on Raven

Today, Sueanne would be riding Tia, Jamie would be on Cheyenne and Sue was joining us again on her other horse, Raven. It turned out to be a good group. Cheyenne has huge energy which made Ebony nervous, so I soon made sure we were either two horses ahead of Cheyenne or behind Cheyenne. 


My ride thought was, stay out of her way, and hold her back as little as possible. In order to do that, I had her stay either 2nd or 3rd, so I could stay out of her mouth as much as possible, so she could just follow the pace of the horse in front of her. 


And when we stopped for breaks, she found it very hard to stay still. So instead of trying to hold her still, I let her roam, just making sure we were safe by avoiding the stray cactus that sprinkles the mountainside or rocks so she would not bruise her feet unnecessarily. Eventually, she would decide it was better to eat grass than wander. 

By the time we were an hour into the ride, she was noticeably more relaxed, blowing often. I rubbed her for every positive thing she did, like slowing herself down to look over an obstacle, hopping over branches and logs calmly, and especially when she choose to eat grass when we took breaks. 

The only time she was not smooth to ride was when I asked for the canter; it felt choppy, not nearly as smooth as Tia's canter the day before. I instinctively knew this was mental and emotional, not physical. She was just too scattered to have a relaxed canter.  So each time I asked for the canter, I really tried to be relaxed myself, and her canter did get a bit better with each try.

Compared to the day before, we had already made great progress. She was not nearly as impulsive. In fact, we all felt relaxed enough to gallop up a hill about 2/3's of the way through the ride. What a thrill! These horses are so sure footed. 


All in all, a really good first full day for me with Ebony.