Clayton riding Commander.

Watching nature is very interesting.  The behavior of horses is one thing that I have been watching lately.

I told you about our horse, Commander.  Since he has been here on our ranch, he has been at the bottom of the totem pole with the other horses.  They kicked at him, bit at him, etc.

As far as a riding horse, Commander was great.  He would do anything that you asked him to do.  He was a pleasure to ride.

But something has changed.  Commander is asserting himself with the other horses and with us.  He has earned himself the title, “Boss Man of the Herd.”  When all the horses are out of their pens and together in the big pasture, Commander is telling the mares when they can move, where they can go, etc.  He is also driving the other gelding away from the mares.  Angus has to graze alone on the other side of the pasture.

Commander is using his body language to control his newly-claimed herd.  With a turn of his ear, the mares will obey him.  He has fought Angus and apparently won as top horse.

I do not care which horse is in control of the herd; however, I do care when a horse asserts itself on one of us.  Now that Commander is numero uno, he is being difficult with any rider.  Regardless if it is PawPaw or my brother, Clayton, riding him, Commander has been rearing up and bucking.  He is no longer a pleasure to ride.

What to do with a misbehaving horse?  Clearly, show him who is boss!  PawPaw has taken Commander back to school.  Several days a week PawPaw works Commander hard in the round pen.  Commander is slowly realizing that PawPaw is still the boss of him.

He is a tall, brown gelding.  He is only three years old.  After a few days of being with him, my brother and I named his Spur.  My friend and fellow cowboy, Steve Prewitt found the horse for us.

For the past two days, my family and I  have worked with him.  We have found out that he is desensitized.  In fact, he is the most desensitized horse my mom has ever seen.  Spur stands still while I swing ropes.  With my stick and string, I have made the string like a helicopter over his ears.  I have wrapped the lead rope around his head.  I have wrapped it around his body and tightened it like the girth on a saddle.  I have even tried to spook him, but he does not even flinch.  It is truly incredible.

However, Spur is also as stubborn as a mule.  As much as he is desensitized, he will not go when you ask him to.  The first day we worked with him, my older brother rode him first.  Or I should say, tried to ride him.  Clayton did everything he could think of to get the horse to walk.  It was like being on a mechanical horse in front of the grocery store that was out of order.  He just stood there!

So my mom climbed up into the saddle.  She tried everything to get him to go, too.  She even used spurs, but he stubbornly did not want to respond.  This is why we named him Spur.  We had never seen a horse so cold-blooded that he was frozen in time.  Finally my dad got the stick and string and hobbled into the center of the pen.  He hobbled because his leg is still hurt from an accident last week.

Anyway, he tried to round pen the horse while my mom rode the horse.  My mom was leaning forward in the saddle, spurring him in his ribs, and clicking with her mouth.  My dad was pointing in the direction he wanted the horse to move and popping the string on the ground behind the horse.  Together my parents were able to get the horse to walk.  Then with even more pressure, they got him to trot.  After a few rounds around the pen in both directions, we decided to call it a day.

The second day we went out to work with him, we took turns trying to longe and round pen the horse.  Spur flat out refused to move.  I tried for a very long time, which is why I know how desensitized he is because no matter how hard I tried he would not consistently respond to the pressure.  He might walk twelve feet and then stop.  He might trot for 4 feet and refuse to move again.

It was very frustrating.  I kept my cool and did not lose my patience.  Finally my dad decided to try.  He limped into the pen with the stick and string.  After watching us try to get the horse to move his feet, my dad saw how much pressure we applied.  He applied even more.  Finally Spur responded.  He walked and trotted around and around and around the pen in both directions.

When Spur thought he was done for the day, my dad attached the lead rope and with a lot of pressure longed Spur.  Then I did, too.  Spur did well for me round penning and longeing.  We stopped after I was done.  It is alway good to end on a good note.

Below is a video of me working with a pony named Boudreaux on the final day of the horsemanship camp.  I am demonstrating round penning, desensitizing, and yielding the hindquarters.  I hope you enjoy the video as I seek to share my love of horses with you.