Introducing Jersey my new project (video)

I brought her home about 3 weeks ago now. Her former owner told me she was "Crazy" and aggressive. I guess Jersey was rearing and bit her trainer at one point and the trainer refused to work with her anymore. She also needed sedation to be trimmed by the farrier.

I think she was being fed way too much sweet feed and not given enough turnout. It took me about 3 days to get her to stop flinching when I reach to pet her face. She is pretty sensitive so I could see how she might over-react to too much pressure. She was good for my farrier and is like a different horse then when I picked her up. She is a 6 year old QH.


Critiques welcome. I did notice she needs more rubbing with the whip in between, cause she anticipates and wants to keep moving instead of standing still and relaxing. I think she has a ton of liberty horse potential.

I watched all of it. I think you are doing Clinton Anderson style stuff, right? I don't know a ton of his stuff but I recognized some of it.

Overall, you are doing quite well and have made some amazing progress with the mare.

Some things I noticed:

I am not sure about the scratching the horse on the face with the whip. Is that supposed to be her reward for backing up like you asked her to? It doesn't seemlike something a horse would consider a release of pressure, but rather something it must tolerate. So, that has me a bit confused.

The other thing I find confusing about CA is when you disengage the hind quarters, but the lead rope is so short that the front end is being pulled around almost on top of you. It looks like the horse is moving into you, or following you .

And that is a ton of backing in one session

Those are things I am not used to using.

I think you do well. If you want some suggestions, well, what I can say is that sometimes it seemed as if you "pressure' (whether that was the stick or your waving hand) came on somewhat suddenly , went straight to a middle level of pressure and stayed there. What I mean, is that I couldn't see the starting cue which would be very soft, an increase in pressure if needed, and an easing of the pressure when the hrose is indeed backing up. It looked rather constant in level of intensity.

If you want to build lightness in a horse, you must always start with the lightest cue, and build up to what it takes to make the hrose make a change. The build up (I mean the rate at which you increase from 0 to !) can be fast or slow. If the horse doesn't understand, then I think it should be slow. If the hrose is blowing you off, then you get firm more quickly. But you do offer them the chance them the good deal first.

Also, you won't always have the stick with you, so being able to cue the hrose with your body or hand will be your goal, won't it?

Also, I think it might be nice to give the mare some time to just soak on things, where you stand with your core pointed away from her and let her just be. Not scratching with a whip or such.

Again, during the lunging, you brought the "go" whip up and around and down wthout offering her the chance to "go!" with a lighter signal. It's important to prepare a horse for a change of direction. If it's done without preperation, it's very irritating to the horse. One way you can prepare a hrose for a change of direciton is when you disenage them, rock them back on their haunches a bit, then point, lean your body , kind of take in a breath, raising your energy and see if you can kind of "roll them over" into the new direction.

Thank you for your insight. Good points.

It is Clinton's methods.

I feel like some explanation is required...
The video is somewhat dark so you probably can't see the lightest cues I use. At about the 10:05 I never actually touch the rope I'm just pointing at her chest to get her to back. I do start with the lightest amount of pressure and increase it until I get the reaction I'm looking for. She understands the concept so I'm expecting her to get just a little bit better everyday.

It is a lot of backing, but each method builds off the last one and helps her understand when I'm using active body language and when I go back to passive body language. The last method being the steady pressure on the halter.

Rubbing her keeps her from thinking the stick is out to get her every time its near her face. Me changing my body language by standing straighter and stopping is her release. I also rub her to a stop with every exercise.

The lunging section isn't very long because the camera ran out of space. Her cue to go faster is me pointing my hand, then the verbal cue and then I use the whip. When I asked her to canter she went off of the point.
When I'm lifting the whip straight at her it is because she is too close to me and could possibly reach me if she were to kick out. My safety has to come first. So if I can reach her I tap her away.

I hope that clears things up a bit.

It looks as if she has come a long way in three weeks! Keep up the great work.

Good job, you guys are doing great! Post another video soon. (:

Good work! :) She is a lovely horse!

You are doing great with her. Nice job. I see a mixture of different trainers in your ground work which I like. There is no one perfect way. I am a big fan of watching different trainers and then creating my own bag of tricks. I was exactly where you are about three years ago. I was given a quarter horse cross that would have surely ended up at an auction somewhere if I didn't have this crazy dream that I would ride him one day. He was dubbed "psycho" by those that knew him and believe me, I could FEEL the laughter behind my back when I took him on. But he was free and I was willing. He was SCARED TO DEATH of the saddle, bucked with it like a seasoned rodeo bronc, freaked out over people wearing gloves, and wouldn't let a soul near him. Now I'm riding him on barrels. I have a video too. I'll pm it to ya just because yours reminded me so much of mine. Keep it up. Like I said, there is no one perfect way. If you can build that trust along with keeping the respect, you're half way there. I would love to see further updates. :)