Training

First ride on Clarabelle after scoping clear, and first ride since January of this year!

How does one go forward with a 5-year-old off-track thoroughbred whose recent health issues are barely north of resolved?

In our case, we start over. Like, from scratch. It is important to have a plan for every encounter with this young horse, and every encounter involves creating a positive reinforcement (R+) history.

Clarabelle’s swishy tail and aversion to being brushed persists, even after her ulcers have healed. This could be because she still has hindgut pain from colonic ulcers or an inflamed large intestine, or it could be residual anxiety from her association of pain with being ridden. If I’ve learned anything from treating Siouxsie’s GI issues, it’s that healing a horse’s hindgut can take a very. long. time. So, the two things that I need to summon at this point are patience and lowered expectations. Or rather, realistic expectations.

It’s okay, and quite realistic, to get as little as 1% progress in each of my objectives with Clarabelle. On this day, my plan was to groom, mount, and dismount with as little anxiety for CB as possible. This means clicker training while grooming and for mounting. However, since the flies have just hatched in our part of the country, I quickly realized that I needed to fasttrack CB’s expsore to the fly whisk, my favorite tool for fly relief while mounted.

With R+ training, Clarabelle quickly caught on to the relief of this disembodied tail coming at her face from all directions. It is one thing to help a horse become comfortable with a new tactile sensation from the ground, but another thing when doing it while mounted. So CB and I walked around the ring (in-hand), while I swished the whisk here and there, clicking and feeding each time she accepted the touch without anxiety.

Once I was satisfied that she understood what was happening from the ground, I decided to proceed with the mounting and dismounting exercise. Clarabelle did so well with all of the above, that I asked for another 1% from her. This means we walked under saddle, slowly, in a 20 meter amoeba for a few minutes. I gently used the whisk on her, but only when the flies were actually present. The idea was to reinforce the relief that the whisk provided her, instead of just using it randomly. The more comfort Clarabelle experiences while in my presence, the more she will come to associate me with comforting things.

After 10 minutes of relaxed walking, it was time to “reward” Clarabelle’s efforts by ending the session. (I know that the word reward in this scenario is debatable, but that’s a topic for another day.) My goal was to simply provide my young horse with a good experience under saddle, with the hope that the good experiences will eventually flush out her memories of the uncomfortable ones.