Chapter 7

The aggravating thing about working with horses, especially completely wild ones, is it takes so much patience and waiting. It takes a long time for things to sink in for a horse and you just have to wait them out. You also have to move very slowly around them as any sudden move can panic them and make them fight again.

I spent nearly half an hour working my way thirty feet. Finally I was able to very slowly reach out and touch the mare on the side of the head. She tensed and jerked when I did it, but I just kept talking to her softly and finally I could rub up and down her cheek without too much agitation on her part.

It was slow going all the way. I spent another hour just getting her used to my touching and petting her. Finally I tied the rope so she couldn't get loose and walked back into the cave to fetch a halter.

I found the heavy-duty breaking halter in a size which would work for the mare. Knowing I would be wanting to catch and train at least a few horses, I'd had Argent supply me with the approximate head sizes of horses I was likely to encounter and with several halters for those sizes. A halter which is too small for a horse can rub raw spots and make sores, one too loose can easily become entangled and sometimes leads to a horse injuring itself trying to get loose. This particular halter I was about to use had extra wide and strong strapping in the portion going around behind the head. This was to help distribute the force, as the horse would be pulling with all its strength at first to try and break away.

When tied with a halter no tightening around the head or throat occurs. This means the only thing holding the horse in place is the strength of the bindings. One important lesson a horse must learn is to stand still and wait when it's tied. This is a lesson it needs to learn without ever being allowed to break free. If the horse is not allowed to break free, especially during its early training, it will soon stop trying. If it is able to break free it will almost always try to escape at least once each time it's tied.

It took me another half hour or so with a slow approach to get the halter on the mare. When I finally got it on her and adjusted properly it was only a matter of tying an extra strong lead rope to the snubbing post and attaching it to the halter. I gave her no more than eighteen inches of free line. Having her tied securely to the post I removed the rope from her neck and left her there. Teaching a horse to stand tied without struggling to break away involves getting it securely tied, and leaving it alone to discover the facts and hoping it doesn't injure itself in the process.

Hoping is about all you can do for possible injuries. If the horse manages to get a foreleg over the lead or if it falls all you can do is watch it try to free itself. Any attempt to help it will almost surely lead to the horse injuring you and itself.

I left her tied and went into the cave to spend a little time with the pups and get a little food for myself. The lead rope was tied off high enough on the post so she probably couldn't accidentally get a foreleg caught over it and as I left she was leaning back with all her strength trying to pull loose. I felt sure she would be occupied for a while.

I left her tied to the post until near sunset. When I went back out to her I had work gloves on and a longer lead rope. She was standing resignedly by the post. There was evidence of a long fight on the ground. The grassy earth was marked and torn from her pawing and pulling. It was also evident the mare had pulled and fought until she became fairly sweaty.

I approached her slowly and she seemed calm enough. I attached the long line to her halter and took a couple of wraps around the post with the other end then I released the short rope. When the mare discovered she had more freedom she backed away and was about to run off. Then she found the end of this new freedom and it nearly yanked her down. It seemed then she was beaten.

I unwrapped the end of the lead rope and went up to her. I turned around facing away from her and gave a small tug on the rope and tried to walk off hoping she would follow. She didn't.

After teaching a horse to stand tied, the next step in their education is teaching them to follow you when you want to lead them somewhere. This is a harder concept for a horse to grasp than you might imagine. In the first place you must lead them while facing away from them. The old saying, "You can't look at a horse and lead it too," is true.

Horses have no natural inclination to follow a person who wants to lead them. They are also much stronger than any person and in a pulling contest they will always win. After all, if people could out pull horses the horses wouldn't be very useful. Usually, when teaching a horse to follow as you lead it is easiest to have someone help by approaching the horse from behind as you try to lead it. I didn't have anyone to help so I would have to rely on persistence.

I spent about twenty more minutes trying to get Sally to take the first step without positive results. Next I used the long lead rope to wind her up around the snubbing post again and I tied her short for the night. After checking to make sure all the gates were secure I activated the electric fence before returning to my cave.

The next morning, when I got out to Sally with the long lead rope I finally had a breakthrough. I could tell from the way she stood with her head hanging low she was tired of being tied. When I switched lead ropes she didn't even try to escape. When I turned away from her and tried to lead her she finally took a tentative couple of steps before she stopped. I repeated and she took a couple more steps before stopping again. I knew it was all repetition from here.

I was glad she had come around. She hadn't had any water for a couple of days now and I knew she needed some. I did not want to have to bring it to her and I was determined not to release her until I'd made some progress. I spent a few hours getting her to follow when I led and stop when I stopped. She seemed to learn quickly now I had her attention and just after noon I decided to try leading her to the stream for a drink.

The other two were still in the larger part of the pen but I doubted they would approach too closely while I was leading Sally. They didn't. They approached, but stayed well away and only nickered a time or two. I led Sally to the stream and let her drink a little. I knew better than to let her have all she wanted and soon I led her back to the smaller capture pen with little difficulty. I worked with her most of the rest of the day and when I left her tied that night I was sure I was even more tired than she was.

I spent the next morning with Sally again. Around noon I left her tied and went into the cave for a bite to eat. I left the gate to the small pen open.

After eating and then spending about an hour with the pups I went back outside and as I'd hoped the stallion and the other mare were in the pen by Sally. It had probably been the first time they'd been separated in years and horses seem to enjoy each other's company. I took a circuitous route out and around and approached the pen's gate to close it. The other two didn't realize what was going on and I was able to shut the gate with no trouble. Afterward they moved to the far side of the pen when I approached Sally.

Taking the breaking halter off Sally I replaced it with a normal one then I led her to the gate, opened it, and let her out into the larger pen. An hour of hazing and guessing later I had the other mare, Jane, in the pen and the stallion loose in the larger pen with Sally. I quit for the day and spent the rest of it in the cave resting and handling the pups.