When I approached Panda in her paddock for her second lesson two days later, I wasn’t sure how she would react. We had ended the first one on such a great note of her giving me two eyes, that I hoped she would remember it for when I approached her with the halter. I began with the basics again.  I caught her eye, and then turned away.   I took a few steps towards her, then turned away again.  Then I reached my hand out to her, and when she leaned in to touch it, I walked off.  She absolutely LOVES this part.

I worked my way towards her head and was able to rub all over her face, and neck.  Then I would continue to walk off.  After just a couple minutes of this, I could rub her face and neck with her halter.  She was very scared of me being on her left side – I assume that someone threw the halter around her neck, and let her fight with them until she stopped struggling.  She appeared to be very resentful of this tactic.  It’s funny, because without knowing horses past, you can usually pick up quickly how they had been handled by their previous owners.

I was able to put the halter on her nose, and around her neck several times without her reacting.  I would drop it off of her nose, walk away, and then come back and do it again.  Eventually, she dropped her head, licked her lips, and then I haltered her all the way.   Let me tell you…I’ve found that training a horse is 50% about patience, and the other 50% about education and equipment!  I pulled Panda out to groom her, and once again…She does not like me messing with those hind legs!!!  I didn’t try to hard to pick them, because she was so resistant, and I wanted to use the ropes to do it instead of my hands!  The last thing I want is for my face to be two feet away from those mile long legs that she has!

The first thing I do in the round pen, is let the horse settle.  I’ll unclip them, and then take a few minutes to walk around – picking up little rocks that surface in the pen.  This gives the horse a couple minutes to relax and watch what I’m doing.  It also gives me time to pick up rocks that could potentially wedge their way in the groove of the frog.  Panda had very little interest in me.  She immediately took off trotting circles around the the pen, with her nose tipped to the outside.  I went about my business picking up rocks, until I felt that it was time to begin.

I sent her off in the direction that I wanted her to go, and immediately started asking for a change of direction to the inside. She remembered!!!  She turned to the inside every single time that I gave her the cue.  She moved fluidly and willingly, with a lot of energy.  I sent her into a canter, and she gladly went with just the point of my finger.   I wanted to review what we had worked on two days prior, before teaching her anything new.  My goal today was to desensitize her to my lead rope, and I hoped for a couple steps towards me when she stopped.

I spent about ten minutes just changing directions, and stopping her.  Every time, she would stop and immediately look into the circle. This was wonderful progress compared to how she was before.  I started asking her to stop, and then I would turn my back to her and  walk away.  Sure enough, she would turn to face me.  She didn’t try to walk in at this point, but she did rotate her hindquarters to the outside, so her body faced me completely.  Progress 🙂

By the end of the lesson, she was beginning to take a couple steps towards me.  I worked on walking circles around her, and had her yield her hindquarters.  All I would have to do was look at her hip, and there it went!  I always heard that Smart Little Lena horses were very trainable, and Panda is no exception.  After doing this consistently for ten minutes or so, I clipped her lead rope on, and started swinging my rope to the ground, while turned away from her.  Her head shot up and she watched, but didn’t try to move.  I slowly moved towards her and slapped the rope on the ground.  She just stood there.  She was actually much more relaxed with this part, than I imagined.  I desensitized her entire body to the lead rope, and then went to work on her hind feet.

I wrapped the rope around them, and each time she would stop struggling, I would release all pressure.  Time and time again, I was able to hold the leg up a little bit longer, until she learned that when she stopped pulling, the rope disappeared.  What you do on one side, you must repeat on the other, so I spent a lot of time just going back and forth, between both legs.  Remember, it’s much safer to use the rope on horses that are sensitive to you handling their hind legs, rather than teach them with your hands and body.  I never felt like Panda was being malicious in her attempts to regain stability during her grooming sessions, but it was a good enough attempt, that I was uncomfortable trying to teach her with my hands.  This makes it easy.  She can struggle, and kick out at the rope, but I’m in a safe place and out of range to be injured.

Once Panda relaxed and let me handle all over her back legs, we went to the wash rack for a bath.  This is one of her favorite things! She loves me spraying the water in between her eyes and all over her muzzle.  She melts when I scrub her belly and neck with the rubber curry, and will stretch way out to make it easier for me to get the trouble spots.

I felt like this was another wonderful step closer to her becoming the horse I know she can be.  There are a couple shows this fall, that you may have a chance to spot Panda at.  Perhaps a halter class or two just to expose her to that world.  More to come soon!  Thanks for reading 🙂