Training babies….

@jenjudkins 2962 wrote:

Aww well….after my 2 year old (with whom I thought I was making so much great progress) got away from me in a training session last week and jumped a 4 foot fence, I got to thinking!?! I got him straight away and brought him back to the arena and we finished the lesson, but I was surprised he had that in him at this point….he spooked, I was caught off guard and didn’t have the leverage to keep him from bolting (luckily he was not in harness). So I’m worried now that I am not spending the amount of time I should be with his training or worse yet, I’m screwing up somehow. He still doesn’t seem to get the point that we are ‘working’ vs ‘playing’. The reality of training a baby of this size is now dawning on me, lol! I’ve decided to send him off for training. Ted Russell agreed to evaluate him over 2 weeks for me. I’m sure it will be money well spent, but I have never sent a horse off for training. I kind of feel like I’m sending my kid off to his first day of school!:confused:

So any feedback would be appreciated. Do I just drop him off and wait for the report card? Should I plan to participate as much as possible (like on the weekends)? How long would you put a two year old in daily training? I’m kind of feeling like a failure here, but am triing to be proactive. Jennifer.

Jennifer: For my first post ever on this forum, yes maybe I can help you. I have a couple of 4 year old Percheron mares that I bought as weanlings (actually adopted from a PMU rescue outfit). About this time last year I decided that my work situation was never going to allow me to spend the time with them that they really needed.

Although I had owned horses my entire life, and even owned Percherons before, I had never trained youngsters under harness. I opted to have an Amish guy that lives “relatively” close to me farm with them all last Winter (in South Texas field work starts in December and planting is done by mid February) and into the Spring. Yes when I dropped them off it did feel a little like the time I took my now 25 year old daughter to her first day of kindergarten.

They were about 160 miles or so away, so I couldn’t just drop by every evening after work. I did manage to get down there about every 3 or 4 weeks for a day or a day & a half. During the first visits I just watched; later on I would drive them as singles, part of a threesome or the two of them as a team. THE BEST thing I ever did, best money I ever spent. When I got them back it was mid-April and it gets really hot here about mid-May. I found that they didn’t do real well when it got really hot, so I elected to give them a breather until it started to cool off in the Fall. Hurricane Ike has pushed that back even a little further. Yes, I realize that stopping them like that while they were in training was not the ideal situation, but I have worked enough horses in this climate to know that when they are hot and sweaty & so am I, that the training is not all that productive anyway. I would say if you have a capable trainer nearby and you are the least bit unsure about where you stand with your youngster, don’t have too much pride … call in the pro.

Rambling, but hope it helps.

OldKat

Jenn, Just remember that you are as unclear about the situation as Peanut is. So if he will gain from exposure to Ted, so will you. It will do you very little good if Peanut figures it out, but you’re still back at the place where he left you.

Find the time when you can take off from work, and put in the time with Ted yourself. THAT will be the best money ever spent, because it isn’t about how much time you spend training, it’s about how you spend the time when you’re training. If Ted can make headway, you need to see how he does it, and bring that home with you.

Good luck, Carl

In recent times all the books videos and articles from the self proclaimed trainers stress endless ground work. While some is necessary so the transition to work isn’t a complete shock. We halter break ours young, usually get harnessed and ground driven a little as yearlings. At two we hitch them up and start them on light work and by three they can earn there keep with the rest of the herd. It sounds like your horse needs a small job to keep his mind occupied, he is nearly an adult now and should start taking on some sort of a task even if he just thinks it is a task. Dragging a stoneboat or small log around your roundpen might just do it. You have done right getting some experienced help. Learn all you can from the trainer and the next one will be a breeze. Good luck he looks like a nice horse and I hope he turns out well for you.

Glad to hear your colt is doing well. The best ingredient to make an excellent work horse is a sweaty collar. Driving them often and doing meaningfull work will be beneficial to both of you when he comes home. We started out with two Percheron weanlings because good teams were $4000 at the time. When they got old enough we thought we needed to take them to a professional for training. The mindset in the beginning makes you think it’s a big undertaking. In a discussion with the folks we got our weanlings from about who to get to train them they offered to help us do it ourselves. During my February break from school we took them back where they came from and teamed them each with an experienced team mate. For the next week they skidded firewood, hauled wood on a bobsled, and moved roundbales learning from Pet and Dolly. The following week they did more of the same work together as a team Maude was solid as a rock and Mike more nervous but Maude kept him in check. I as a young boy learned to go solo with a big young well trained team of grey mares Dixie and Maggie while we were there. At the end of a two week period we loaded up our young team our friends Dick and Herb said, “Drive them often and you’ll have a great team there”. Since then we have trained all our own and helped others get some going. Also each winter on sunny Sunday afternoons we still go back and help Dick start his two year olds. I guess we got the bug from them. Dicks uncle Herb is gone now but often when I’m out in the field or the woods working horses I remember the things he said and taught me all those years ago. Good Luck with your colt.