Here is a link to my blog page about this project: http://teachingtotrain.blogspot.com/
The blog contains the journal entries below, as well as other helpful tips for training barrel horses.
July 5, 2016
Today was my first day with Doc. I started off by lunging Doc off the lunge line to warm him up and make sure he had all the spook out of him before I rode him. Dad came out about half way through lunging. I was having a hard time getting Doc to keep loping. Dad said I was getting ahead of him too much and Doc just didn’t know what I was asking of him. Lunging is hard for me and it’s not usually a part of the training process once I get the horses. Eventually I got it right and Doc lunged just fine. After lunging I was able to ride doc. He did much better than I thought he would. Today I just trotted and loped circles to get a feel for Doc and allow him to get a feel for me.
July 6, 2016
We had more trouble lunging today, I just can’t seem to get that right! Dad had to step in again and take charge. Doc is being a little butt about it, but I also feel like it’s my fault. It is so hard to get a new fresh horse to understand what you want when you aren’t the one they are used to listening to. After Doc was drenched in sweat from lunging I got on him and worked on small circles. I pulled his nose around and really got his ribs off my legs. This will help us in the future when we go to the barrel pattern. When turning a barrel, the horse needs his ribs on the outside so they do not lean into the barrel and knock it over. It also makes for a quicker tighter turn.
July 7, 2016
Okay seriously, this lung line is kicking my rear end. I am so sick of dad having to help me. I feel like I just get Doc in trouble. I have to keep telling myself this is only day 3 and that is usually when the troubles happen. AND IT DID! After lunging I was loping circles and Doc just up and sudden turned on me, like a rollback I was totally not ready for. I got him turned around and we kept going. He did it to me a few more times and I decided to go to a little touch of the rein on his rear end and he really got the point and listened to me better after that. This is just how training goes. I thought I was doing really well and that Doc was a lot farther along than he is. Today he let me know that we need to take a few steps back and go back to the basics. Tomorrow I plan on working on leg pressure. I really want him to learn what it means when my inside leg applies pressure to his abdomen. I want his to move over and move his ribs.
July 8, 2016
Today was not what I hoped for. Doc completely refused to work on the lunge line. It took at least an hour to get him to lope three straight circles on the lunge line without turning the other way. I spent the entire time with him today working on the basics of the lunge line. So not what I hoped for. This picture is of Doc ready to go lunge. When I lungs I leave the orange halter on his face and attach a long red line to it. Like the purple lead rope, but made of material that won't burn you hand if he pulls it really hard.
July 9, 2016
The lunge line today wasn’t pretty, but it wasn’t nearly as ugly as last week. Oh my goodness! After the lunge line I got on Doc and worked again of little circles getting his ribs off my legs. I also tried going through the pole pattern to help him get a better idea of what I am asking when i lift him up in the face and apply pressure with my inside leg. It wasn’t pretty as training seldom is, but he eventually got it. By the end of the lesson today I was able to move him off my inside leg two steps in a row. Jake was also in town today and was able to come out for a few minutes. I was able to teach him a little about what I was doing today and catch him up on what has been going on. He told me he never lunges Doc anymore and so I decided today for sure I am done lunging Doc.
July 11, 2016
Today was night and day difference. Doc really did so great! We both had extra patience due to not lunging today and having a day off. Doc is just so smart he really gets board on the lunge line and acts out just like a board child. Today without the lunge line Doc and I were able to achieve much more. Today we loped perfect circles. He moved off my leg much better today and really is starting to understand what it means to make a circle larger and smaller from leg pressure and little rein pressure. Dad came out and learned a little too. He was able to see me move doc in and out with only leg pressure. Hallelujah for good days. These are days that I remember why I love training so much!
July 12, 2016
Today I decided to get a little wild and go into the barn in town to ride Doc. Horses usually get nervous in new places so as a young horse it is smart for the trainer to take them all over and get them used to new scary things. The barn also has a round pen, so I was able to “bit down’’ doc. This looks like it really hurts him, unless you understand it. In the process of biting down, I tie the reins snug from his mouth to the saddle. It creates a little pull motion when he moves. This teaches Doc that when I do this with my reins I want him to get his head down, raise his back, and drive with his hind legs. This is called collecting it helps him move better and faster. As you can see Doc do in the video, he opens his mouth to try and ‘escape the bit’ or he opens his mouth the keep his head up higher. Eventually he realizes this is harder and lowers his head. You can also see that when I stop Doc he backs up. This is so desirable. He felt the pressure and backed up just as I would want him to do with me on his back. I do this in a round pen on the ground, because being on a horse's back while they are learning this is not always safe. Some horses really take time to learn what this means and they fight it. I don’t want to add to that fight by being on the horse's back.
After I worked in the round pen, I got oh his back and did a little collecting there to finish my day. My dad was at work and my brother was not in town, so I did the best I could to video the process for them to see.
July 13, 2016
Today I really worked on keeping Doc’s head down while we rode. He did a great job. I also got some amazing stops out of him today due to the backing in his lesson yesterday. I am so excited for jake to come tomorrow and see our progress. Dad watched me ride today. After watching the videos, he was very impressed that Doc was so willing to “collect” after just one time in the round pen. We loped a lot of circles and really worked on collection like we learned yesterday. We did have a few problems, Doc has started turning again. I can’t decide what to do. I get after him and he still does it. Such a pain. This is something I am going to have to ponder on a lot. Doc also learned how to do roll backs on the fence today. This is a way to get him to turn fast and sharp. I LOVE rollbacks. I think they are just the funnest thing to do on a horse. Doc caught onto them really fast.
July 14, 2016
Today Jake came and we decided to go on a trail ride, because the weather wasn’t too hot. Jake rode Doc and I rode one of our other horses. We had a lot of fun. Jake decided to lunge Doc when we got there just because it was new and a bit scary. We rode to the sand dunes and loped the horses down there and then rode back to the trailer. Honestly Doc did amazing!!!! I am so proud of this horse and how far he is coming!
July 15, 2016
Today was a rough day. I guess Doc really liked the mountains yesterday, because what a struggle. Doc is really taking to the habit of not wanting to lope circles. When I try to collect him, he jerks his head and turns the other way. Dad and I think it may be due to wolf teeth (painful teeth that lay in the gums right where the bit sits in the horse's mouth). So, we decided to try using a Hackamore (bridle without the mouthpiece) on him and it helped a little, but not much. He does so great on his small circles and moving off my leg. When I try to lope collected or arch him, that is when we get into troubles. I am calling the vet and hopefully can get him in ASAP . He did good on rollbacks though, huge plus!
July 16, 2016
Today my uncle called and wanted to go on a trail ride. Fun for me two in one week. My dad is gone from town and my brother is back at his home, so this was a perfect plan! We went up the mountains and rode out little hearts out for hours. Poor Doc’s mouth is really hurting and about half way through the trail, he decided he was done and we had a big fight about it. Finally I got him to go forward again, just to have him act up a few feet later. My uncles and his son in law were up the trail farther than me and finally noticed what was going on. Eventually I got Doc to cooperate and He was just fine the rest of the ride. Silly horse! I also got a vet appointment for Doc on tuesday of next week.
July 18, 2016
Because Doc has a vet appointment tomorrow I jumped on him bareback today with only a halter on and trotted him around. I didn’t want to put a bit in his mouth and make it more sore and because of that I decided just to take it light. Bareback riding us fun, I ride without a saddle. I love it, because I can really feel the horse under me and he can really feel me. He really learns what I mean when I move my body in certain ways. I also worked on the perfect circle drill. This is a drill i learned working for a horse trainer in high school. You set a barrel up and walk a perfect circle around it. Once the circle is perfect you turn the horse 180 degrees with the inside leg. Once turned, back the horse in a circle. Now this was the first day and I was bareback without a bit. It was not pretty, but we had a good start and I am happy with it. I also worked trotting roll backs off the fence. Doc is getting good at those and super snappy with his feet. Dad also came out and watched my whole ride and I explained what I was doing through the ride.
July 19, 2016
Going to the vet today was an experience. I totally forgot to take pictures and I am so upset. But I was the only one there, so I had to help the vet rather than just watch. Doc ended up having a hook on his tooth rather than a wolf tooth. This is much easier to fix than pulling a tooth. The vet floated Doc’s teeth and created a ‘bit seat’ so that the bit will not catch on his teeth anymore and get hurt. Floating is like using a giant file to file teeth like a fingernail. The vet gave him a shot of something and it helps the horse not feel it as much. The shot also makes the horse loopy and funny. After he is done I have to walk the horse around until he can stand well enough to get back in the trailer. After we got home I walked him more and then left him for the day, so I wouldn’t hurt his mouth anymore. It is just like going to the dentist.
July 20, 2016
Good day in the arena today! Docs mouth was still a little sore, but he did a lot better. That hook must have been his problem! Today I showed my dad how to teach horses to spin. It was fun and my dad was really impressed with my knowledge. I love when that happens! Teaching horses to spin can be tricky because you don’t want horses to suck too far back or dive out too far, do teaching my dad the difference really was cool. I’ve also been working on backing and rollbacks a lot lately. This really builds hind muscle. So I had to share a picture of Docs definition he is getting. And yes, it is from snapchat, because my brother needed to see it too.
July 21, 2016
Good day! I hope this good day streak keeps going! Doc has improved so much on his little circles, collection, roll backs and moving off leg pressure. He will collect almost any time I ask him too now and will move off leg pressure while being collected. Doc really is the smartest horse. We worked more on spins today and then worked on arcs. This is a really fun thing that you can do to get your horse to pick up his front shoulder and move over. If he learns how to do this well it will be one of the most beneficial things for him to do in the barrel pattern. Because Doc picked up on this so fast I decided to work a tire drill. The drill I worked is similar to this video. http://www.trainingbarrelhorses.com/video-vault/drills/danyelle-c-circular-tire-drill It is a really fun drill, but it takes the horses a while to master it. My drill today was no where near as pretty as this one.
July 22, 2016
Today is the annual Hinckley Pioneer Days Rodeo. My brother and I thought it would be a good idea to take Doc down and ride him while all the contestants and what not warm up. We plan on Doc being a rodeo horse, so no better time than the present to get him around the atmosphere.
Doc was a little nervous at first, but so was I with his recent troubles. I didn’t want him to have another event in the arena with everyone. I decided to go to the end of the arena by my family and work him there. We loped circles, worked little circles, spins, arcs, and rollbacks off the fence. Over all he really did a good job and we got over our nerves fast. I sat outside the gate on Doc for a while letting him take everything in. Then, I tied him to the trailer for the rest of the rodeo.
July 23, 2016
I took Doc to the rodeo again tonight and did the same thing as last night. The only difference is he did a million times better!
(my mom took pictures of me at the rodeo, but I can’t find them. I’ll hopefully add them in later)
July 25, 2016
When I went out to catch Doc today he was very very stiff. I rode him pretty light because of it. Basically I just loped him around and stretched him out. I worked a little on spins and arcs. Good day for my dad and brother to be out of town. By the end of our ride he was a little less stiff. I just played with him in the arena off his back after that. I walked around cleaned the arena and he just followed me like a puppy. I got the rope out and was letting him have a feel for roping too. He literally didn’t even care about the rope. Such a good horse!
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July 26, 2016
Doc is really sore today! I think he may have a hip out or something. I tried the tests to check and I couldn’t see anything, but still to be determined. I just rode Doc around today. We did a lot of different things. I worked the tire drill, perfect circle drill, and a little bit of pole bending. It was fun. I do hope he gets feeling better soon. I sprayed him off today after our ride to help him cool down and get less sore. Hopefully it helped! This picture is along the fence I work roll backs on. It is my favorite place in the arena and we spent some time here today not doing roll backs, I think that was refreshing for Doc.
July 27, 2016
I went into the barn again today and rode in the outdoor arena early this morning. I had completely forgotten it was the county fair and as a result runners ran along the arena and a ton of noise was going on. Doc handled it well, but I sure got frustrated! Doc is still pretty sore, so today was another easy day. We did a lot of simple walking work, a lot of arcs and a lot of moving off lets. He did a good job under the conditions.
July 28, 2016
I got smart and called the horse shoer today. My shoe man is really smart and has put hips back into place for me before on horses. I gave him a call to have him look at Doc to see if he had a hip out or what could be going on. Well turns out he is just beyond sore from all the backing, spins, roll back, and everything I have been doing lately. Normally I have more than just a month with horses, so I do not push them as hard as fast. And normally horses are not as smart as Doc and do not pick up on thing as fast. The poor boy! I am glad it isn’t his hip though. This being my last week to ride that would have been awful to lay him off! What I am going to change in my routine now is to do a lot more trotting before I lope and work him hard. This will help him to stretch out. I didn't ride him today, as I was waiting for results from my shoe man. Since I didn’t ride, I had my sister take a coupe nicer photos of us.
July 29, 2016
A much better day today. We did a lot of trotting and I think it really helped dear ol’ Doc. He seemed to be stretched out much better. I leave in three days, so today I decided to give Doc his first barrel racing lesson. Dad was here and he got to learn how I start a horse on barrels. I was sure to tell him why I do things the way I do. Dad seemed to really enjoy and soak everything in. When I start a horse on barrels I always stop before the barrel and then lope around the barrel until I get a perfect turn, then I move onto the next barrel. Doc did alright at this today and he seemed to be really trying for me. That is all I can ask.
July 30, 2016
Today is my second to last day with Doc. Man oh man, he sure has come a long ways. From not wanting to lunge to being ready for the barrel pattern (almost). I am so proud of him! My brother was here today, so it was a big review day. Doc and I showed him how to spin, roll back, arc, and how we started the barrel pattern. I went wild today and raced my brother on the barrel pattern. He was on one of our other horses and I was on Doc. He beat me by a long ways! But I didn’t want Doc picking up bad habits on day two, so I made him do everything right even though we were racing the clock. It was fun to compete though, I think Doc liked it too!
August 1, 2016
Well today was the day. Our last consecutive day together. I took it pretty light today. We went through the barrel pattern a couple times and then went on a little trail ride by the house. Doc won’t be rode as much now that I will be going to school. He will only get rode when my brother or I go home on weekends. I really am so happy with him and where he is at right now. Perfect end to a perfect summer