The Green Horseman

I’ve known for quite some time now that Stanley is deeply attached to Tiger and it affects our riding and experience quite a bit.

When Tiger is around Stanley is much less focused, tunes me out, will not relax, and only worries about where Tiger is and what he’s doing. When Tiger isn’t around…. he’s wonderful.

Over the past few years, we have been slowly working on solutions to solve this. They are pasture mates and before you mention it…there really are not many good options to change that. Other alternatives include less optimal compromises, so we are doing our best to address what we can first before I decide to separate them.

Lately it seems like we’ve come a long way…just when I thought we never would.

At home he’s begun to ride more focused. He’s beginning to come out the same horse with or without Tiger around. It’s taken us years to get to that point…and it’s not 100%.

At a horse show this spring we attempted to trailer the boys separately. Stanley started off okay but fell apart the moment he saw Tiger. He was so emotionally charged he broke off my trailer (with a Tie Bloker Ring) three times. When he got loose, he didn’t even run towards Tiger, he just ran…he was out of his mind (Messy Middles).

Clearly the idea of driving separate made things worse….

Us humans are frustrated because Stanley’s strong attachment subtracts from our desire to go out and do fun things together. But it also concerns me. I have felt so stumped on how to make him feel secure, to help him cope, to help support his emotional needs.

I remember that horses follow fundamental needs. They need socializing. Forage. Freedom/Movement. Forage and movement have NOT fixed this problem.

So then I thought about doing the exact opposite of keeping them separated….I thought MAYBE we can say “Yes I understand you need your brother…but we also have to work…then you can get your brother.” It’s been working at home fairly well…so instead of waiting for a show we decided to keep the stakes lower and environment calmer. An off-farm lesson!

In previous group lessons … both in Aiken and at home Stanley has been stellar leaving the group and being left. I allow him movement and he doesn’t seem to panic.

We went to our trainer’s facility about 20 minutes away. As usual I tacked up up first (Trailering With the Saddle On) and off we went! Both horses stepped off the trailer professionally. Instead of tying I let him graze while Suzanne tacked Tiger up. I allowed him to look at Tiger whenever he needed to…but he ventured away by choice to eat more grass.

During our lesson he began only slightly distracted if he didn’t see Tiger…but found his rhythm and got focused. Our lesson was far too demanding to be worried about where his brother was. He stood quietly and watched Tiger jump around the field…and he happily left his brother when it was our turn. The trip was a massive success, and he never displayed the anxiety we’ve been seeing.

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A few weeks later we took it a step further. We put both horses on the trailer and hauled 2.5 hours to train with Andrea Waldo at High Wind Farm. It was a long drive so I didn’t tack Stanley up prior.

The morning of the trip I arrived and Stanley had a giant welt on his back. We applied witch hazel and gave him some medicine to help with the reaction. On arrival the horses were getting swarmed with giant green headed flies. Our best fly spray kept them at bay for 5 minutes at a time. Despite the bugs Stanley wasn’t overly anxious. As I tacked up I discovered a missing hind shoe.

What else could go wrong?

I thought about just taking him on the course in-hand…but we came this far. I tacked up and hoped for the best. My plan: If he told me “no” I wouldn’t question it and I would respectfully get down and take him in-hand.

Stanley said “Yes.” We warmed up. He was perfect. We took some jumps. A ditch. Amazing. Stanley was game…despite the shoe, despite the bugs, despite the bug bite under his saddle, and despite his brother being present. Stanley watched as Tiger did his work…then he left the group and went to work.

Our lesson was phenomenal!

In Aiken, Stanley needed a buddy at first to step into the water. We’ve been doing as much water as we can, and this time he worked to BE the buddy for another green horse.

Stanley didn’t care about the ditch.

Stanley cantered through the water.

Stanley jumped a bank out of the water.

We then jumped a narrow log, cantered into the water, and jumped another narrow log on the way out.

We traveled uphill, and we traveled downhill. I was still too scared to really canter him downhill despite Andrea urging me. We got a few strides in….and it went very well.

Like I’ve heard many other times, the main issue with my riding right now is that I use my hands entirely too much. It’s a bad habit…the fingers have quieted down significantly this year but steering with my legs and body are still slow to re-train. We’re always a work in progress…and habits are harder to kill…but I’m slowly working in the right direction.

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This year has been very busy, and so far these trips have been the only ones we’ve been able to do together but I am super hopeful that our progress will continue. I like to think that Stanley is aware that I am trying to help him fulfill his needs…and he’s become much more connected to me than we ever have.

Though we’ve had a lot of breakthroughs in his progress I am all too aware that horse training is riddled with setbacks. Three steps forward and two steps back. I’ve been keeping this in the back of my mind so that it doesn’t catch me off-gaurd.

It’s no fun to go somewhere and have an emotionally dysregulated horse…it’s embarrassing and I feel like I am failing him when it happens. Stanley is a 50% member in our partnership so it’s important to me that we figure this out so he can have a positive experience, too.

So far so good, lately.

I think with a few more lessons together away from home we may be ready to try a nice schooling show together.