Blocker Tie Ring At Work

We have been enjoying such incredible weather this week! I spent three hours outside with the horses this afternoon in a light jacket. Crazy for this time of year, but I will never complain--I hope the whole winter is like this!

Flyboy got more practice with his "thinking cap" head bumper. He wore it for all his ground work: following a feel practice, leading, backing, squeeze game, lunging transition practice, etc. He is pretty comfortable with it at this point. I attached a small ring and clip to the poll strap to keep it from falling forward over his face again, so even if he shakes his head it stays securely in place. 

This morning I bought 24' of braided nylon rope so I have a longer lead/lunge rope. I tied it directly to his halter so there is no hardware to break. I have been using the Blocker ring for a couple of months now, but I never actually instigated a spook to teach him not to pull back. This video is one of many that shows the method of training recommended to teach a horse to yield to poll pressure and come forward to get the release. The fact that they can go backward helps to control the trapped/panicky feeling, but the poll pressure remains until they quit pulling. 

I pulled my truck and trailer into my arena so we had good footing to work on. I then spent about an hour doing this with Fly. I used my stick with the flag, then added a plastic bag. I then used an empty dog food sack and a blanket. I am sure the neighbors were entertained by my jumping around and waving things in the air! But by the end of the hour Fly was standing steady through all of it. The first few spooks were big pull-backs. I'm sure he thought I was bonkers, but funny enough, he kept coming to me for support and security. You would think he would be afraid of me, but he was not. Every time he pulled back I just brought him forward again and repeated the whole thing. Eventually he quit pulling back at all, and I then secured the rope on a tighter setting on the ring. Now it took more effort to pull the rope through, but he knew to come forward off the rope very quickly.

I gave Fly lots of reassurances and breaks for "licking and chewing time". He seemed to be getting it. I finally left him tied with a hay net while I went in to grab some lunch. When I came back out 30 minutes later he was standing quietly just as I left him. I loaded both horses and took them down to the arena to run and play, and when they had had their fun, I tied Flyboy to a secure post (with the ring on the tighter setting) and left him in the arena while I took Keno back to the trailer and trimmed his feet while Fly stood quietly on his own.

I will try to give him a buddy to trailer with as much as possible for a while to help bring his comfort level back to where it was before his freak-out incidents. I know it will help him, but eventually he has to trailer alone, too. We will take it slowly for now.