Slow to Speak

I am so glad that I didn't wake up to rain this morning! I was starting to worry that Spade would remember anything that I taught him because I had three days off. When I walked in the pen this morning I was fully expecting to have to reteach things but I wasn't expecting the entire round pen to be slick. I took five steps in the gate and had a blob of clay built up on my boots and found it hard to keep from sliding. That is when I looked around and realized that Spade had not made but a few tracks in the pen in the last few days. Apparently he found it a little to slick to walk around also! Smart boy. Spade surprised me because he came walking out into his run to great me. After the initial greeting and a scratch on the forehead I put on the halter and lead him close to the main gate. I wasn't sure what to do with the pen like that so I started out just brushing him. That seemed to lead in to saddling him. He did really well and I really wanted to do more so I took him out to the arena. It was somewhat dry in there and I had worked all the training colts in the arena before I started to work with Spade so I knew that he would be fine as long as he stuck with me. I started out by circling him around me at a walk to let him know that even though there wasn't any fences in the circle I still expected him to come to the pull of the halter. He never once challenged the halter. I was really surprised because even my domestic horses that are trained will tug every now and then. Once I knew he wasn't going anywhere I started some of the drills that I normally do with him. He did great.
After building some confidence in the arena I decided to try something new and work on a few problems that I knew he had. Earlier when I went to saddle him. He spooked a little at he girths being dropped beside him again. Just like he has the last few times. So to get him more comfortable with that  I took my training stick and grabbed the stirrup with the tip and started moving it all around. He was fine with the left side but did not like it on the right side. He seriously thought about getting scared and reaching up for a kick but I saw him start thinking again and relax. Lately I have learned that at least with Spade it is good to desensitize at a walk as well as a stand still. He has a tendency when he is standing still to clam up. This gives me a false since of security. Then when something touches him at a walk he will have a moment of fear that theoretically shouldn't be there. So now I try both just in case. Spade, after a few moments, accepted the crazy stirrups swinging. During the drill he had walked a few feet from one of our bright blue barrels that we have set up in the pen. When he did for a split second I saw his attention turn to the barrel and he turned to kick at it. Again as the thought passed through his brain you could see he stop himself and redirect his hind quarters. I am really happy to see this even though that still doesn't make me trust him in that area. It also told me that he wasn't sure about the barrels being that close. Around here that doesn't fly well. You can't be a horse here and not like barrels. So for the next 10 minutes I worked Spade beside and around the barrels. I even was able to do a tight lunging circle with him around them. He seemed to be fine. By then I was tired and it was starting to get hot so we headed back to his pen. When we got back I really didn't want to unsaddle him in the slop just in case he spooked unsaddling I didn't want him to drop my good saddle in the squish. I decided to take a chance and unsaddle outside the pen near the trailer. Everything went fine until I picked up the girths and went to reattach them to the saddle so they wouldn't get dirty. As I pulled them out away from Spade's body he started to spook. Again just like last week he stepped out from under the saddle and it hit the ground. At least this time he didn't kick it. I worked him quickly in a circle letting him know I wasn't happy. I REALLY wasn't. I felt the old me coming up. I wanted to jerk his head off. I remember thinking why does he have to be so stupid! But I took a breath and remembered that it was only a month and a half ago that I was praying that he would let me touch him let alone saddle him. So I turned off the emotion and quickly grabbed my saddle and pad off the ground and started back toward him. I have to say it is a challenge while you are dodging trees. He stopped and froze. I threw the pad back on with no care about if it bothered him or not. I think my abruptness caught him off guard because when I brought the saddle to him again he didn't move. I tossed it up there and back to the off side I went to try again. I pulled out the girths to latch them away again and he tensed up. I gave him a stern "easy"! I think he was afraid to move after I had just got on to him. I was able to hook the girths away and walk Spade half saddled up to the trailer to take it off.
I have to say that I was proud of myself today. I have always struggled with my temper. I have never been one to strike a horse or misuse equipment on one, but on occasion I will get angry at something usually irrelevant to the training and pick a fight with the horse over nothing. In the process I would undue a weeks worth of training and have to start from scratch. Today at lunch my mother had made the comment on how much my attitude has changed in training because of this horse. My dad has said that this horse is teaching me paitence. I believe they are both right. When Spade dropped my saddle earlier I could have easily lost my temper and ruined the trust that I have worked so hard to build. This has been one of the first few months that I have gone without picking a fight with a horse that I am training. If you have ever trained a horse you know what I am talking about. I have often heard in this line of work that frustration sets in when knowledge ends. Frustration normally results in a lost temper on your side or the horses side or both. The combination can't be explosive. In my eyes anyone that whips and beats on horses is proving to me that they have a lack of knowledge and understanding of that animal. Today before I worked Spade I worked two horses that I have been brought in for training. As I was walking them back to the barn I thought about how peaceful it is to go out and ride and it always be peaceful. Now I find myself when I want to lose my temper I take a step back and start looking for the peaceful way to explain to the horse what I want them to do. I used to think that I didn't have time for that "I need them to do what I say". But now I realized that remaining calm and understanding they seem to learn ten times quicker. These two I have gotten more done in half the time then I ever have before. You know I believe the Bible has the answer to everything if you look hard enough. I think that James 1:19 was written for horse trainers in the pen and out. It says "Be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger." I think that God gave us that little tid bit of advice so that we will always have peace in our life.And maybe so us horse trainers can get a little more done in a little less time with a much happier horse.  I can think of many different times in my life I have seen or heard of someone loosing their temper (usually over something minor) and ruining a hard earned relationship with someone they love. Pure tragedy. I think that this verse and concept is something that every person should embrace as a rule in their life. There is nothing in this world that is worth breaking relationship with God, man, or horse. Relationship is way to important to throw away in a few angry minutes.