Rajmani: Development of a Young Horse

Today Rajmani has been with us for three months, time for another update! I did some long rein work with him this afternoon and just asked myself, where is the jittery, mouthy horse gone and when did Rajmani become so calm and easy to work with. It just happened over the last few weeks, bit by bit. I worked him in walk, trot, on a small circle with shoulder in and counter shoulder in, stop and backwards. While he is by no means perfect yet -he still is struggling with his balance on small circles and in any lateral movements- he has improved a lot and I have to say that I am a little bit proud of him. Is it really just a month ago, I felt he would never really be the calm and confident horse to work with?

I also introduced him to the double lunge and to driving from the ground. Both are valuable tools for training horses and I habituate all my youngsters with them. Ground driving is not only a preparation of carriage driving but also a way to get the horses used to walk onwards alone with his handler following, not so different from riding actually.

Still, I did have a setback last weekend. I took Rajmani for his 7^th ride out together with my riding student. So far it had gone really well, despite the fact that Rajmani tests his rider if he feels he does not want to continue. He might turn around and try to go back to the farm. Or he might want to go left when you want to go right, knowing the left way is the short way home. So, I had already starting using a bit on him, just for these moments, otherwise just using his simple natural hackamore which is basically a rope halter with attached reins.

I always start my horses with the natural hackamore, as they usually react better on pressure on the nose rather than the mouth which is unfamiliar for a young horse. But of course, if the horse says no, you have very little control compared to a bit. So, under the natural hackamore I was using a leather bit, which does not need a headstall but is secured by a chin strap. I had bought it many years ago and never used it, but for Rajmani, it is perfect. It is a very soft bit and very horse friendly and designed in a way it does not hurt or damage the mouth.

It is a good compromise and the perfect way of getting a young horse used to the bit. In the beginning I used it as a pacifier in the beginning during ground work, as Rajmani preferred to have something in the mouth he could play around with.

 I basically ride with four reins, mainly using the reins of the natural hackamore, just using the bit when necessary.

So, on Sunday I decided to try out a first trot with Rajmani. I though he was ready for it. My riding student was in front and I told him to start a slow trot, cluing Rajmani to follow suit. In the beginning all was well, Rajmani started trotting but soon I felt him tensing up and starting to shake his head from left to right. I told my student to go back to walk for him to calm down. He did a little jump at the end, but calmed down after another five minutes of tense walking.

I should have left it there and then but sometime you are wiser afterwards. On the way back home, I decided to try out trotting again to see, if he would remain calm now. Unfortunately, it was the same, he trotted nicely for the first twenty steps and then started to become concerned and tensed. This time I tried to push him a little onwards and he definitely did not like that at all. He went into defence mode and started jumping up and down. Nothing which would have given me troubles but I told my student to stop for a second to calm him down. Rather than relaxing, he reared up repeatedly. I sat it out, but of course you always imaging, what will happen, if he loses his balance? Not a very reassuring thought. Once he was back on the ground, I quickly dismounted and decided to lead him a bit, so he would calm down enough so I could ride him back home without any special effects. We went on for around 5 minutes and I felt him relax a bit besides me. I remounted, but the moment I was back in the saddle, he shot forward in a surge and galloped over a stretch of open country. Thanks to the bit I turned him into a big circle and slowed him down to a walk. He tried to rear up again, but I kept his head firmly bent so he was unable to do so. I gave him a bit of reins to walk back to my student whose mare Poonam stood unfazed by Rajmani’s antiques. Every time he tried to stop and rear up, I bent him round into a tight circle.

Like this I managed to continue and got him back into a walk behind my student. Of course, it was uncomfortable. Rajmani was tense like a bowstring and I felt scared that he might run off again. My pulse raced and even I had to work hard on my emotional state to relax and calm myself. I breathed deeply in order to conceal my own unease, horses are just great readers of our emotions and if we are not calm, we cannot even think of calming our horse.  He relaxed only much later. Anytime I touched him, he threw up his head, so I just sat still and left him totally alone, following Poonam. Finally, when we were almost back at the farm, he started to relax a bit. His mouth softened and he dropped his head.

And that day of all days, I found the gate to our pathway over the dam closed. So, I had to dismount and open the gate for us to pass through. Fortunately, by now, Rajmani was calm enough to let me mount without any fuss. I had half expected him to tense up again and try to rear, but with us being nearly back at home, he did not.

What to make of this episode? I had a lot of thought about it and finally came to the conclusion that I pushed him too far, too quickly. I adopted the pace which worked well with my home-bred horses which I trained before. All of them had a general trust in people. They grew up running and jumping on our farm, never making any bad experiences with people. Rajmani on the other hand has definitely learned to be defensive around people and he grew up at an Indian breeder who kept him tied up for a large part of the day. He never had the opportunity to run on a big pasture with other horses, at least not once he started to notice mares. Consequently, he has a poor balance and definitely has a lack of trust in people.

When I asked him to trot, I made him uncomfortable and pushed him out of his comfort zone. Maybe it was his lack of balance which made him defensive and tense. Maybe it was just because it was new. Horses just like people, need to be pushed out of their comfort zone once in a while so they have the opportunity to grow mentally and emotionally. But they need to trust you. Otherwise, you will get a defensive reaction like I got that day. I pushed him too far for our still tender relationship. Rajmani is not the horse you can throw into cold water. He needs a safety net and as long as our bond is not yet stronger, I need to make sure to keep him within his comfort zone.

So, I went a step back and ponied him along on Tuesday, making sure to ride up and down as much rugged terrain as possible to train his balance. So, we have two issues I will need to work on during the coming weeks, balance and trust. We have come a long way, yet there is still a lot more work in the future until he will become a reliable riding horse. Another lesson learned!