Getting Serious with Thirsty Soul

Thirsty learning to shut a gate.

Thirsty Soul is the youngest, and based on his limited (10 starts) racing experience, greenest of our four Makeover contestants.  As such, we have put some extra time in with Thirsty to reinforce the basics before moving forward.

Most horses that have been on the track for any length of time come with a great set of basics--they walk, trot and canter willingly and under control of their rider. They know how to change leads (yes, the jockey asks for it and they know what he is asking!) and know very well how to "whoa", contrary to popular belief. The longer they race, the more they know, just like any horse that gets ridden more.  The "war horses" that have 40, 50, 60 starts are often our best horses because they have 1,000 rides or more and, well, you just really need to get on and ride!

But Thirsty didn't start his racing career until age 4 and only raced a handful of times.  As we found on our evaluation ride in December, he was a naturally kind horse with a trainable mind, but he was green.

As it was for most people, this winter has been a real bugger to get any riding in.  We don't have an indoor arena, so finding suitable weather WITH suitable footing is a real challenge for 6 months of the year.  But when we do get it, we make the most of it.

In January, we had a few nice days but our outdoor arena remained frozen, so Thirsty went out to learn in one of our favorite environments-the hay field.  It's big, it is lonely (no other horses to fuss over) and it comes with its own set of challenges in the irrigation ditches that criss-cross it.

Jumping the irrigation ditch.

We like to use these shallow ditches as a lesson in trying new things. While riding towards home (for a little extra incentive), we point a horse to cross the ditch to get there. They can go down and thru it if they choose, but it is far easier to simply jump it...something no racehorse has done before.  Some do it without a second thought, others have to test and try to see if there is another option. They will fuss and wiggle and try anything but simply cross it.  Thirsty was of the first group, point and shoot!  He hopped it without a second thought and continued on his merry way.

February brought more time in the hay field and some work in the small corral with the basic concepts of the rope.  The lariat can really bother some horses. The only time most racehorses have had something swinging over their head, it was a jockey with a whip, and they can sometimes react very strongly.  And having the rope on the ground in front of them is about as foreign as it gets.  Thirsty took to the lariat above his head just fine but he wanted nothing to do with it attached to a tire.  He spun and kicked at it like it was a wild animal.

Adjusting slowly to the idea of the rope and tire.

In this scenario, it is best to just get off and take things slow, which is what we did.  If a horse is fearful of something, he needs whatever amount of time he asks for to get over that fear.  We let Thirsty sniff and paw the offending rope and tire while on the ground with him until he finally decided it might not kill him.  And that was that.  If we had pushed him to deal with it, he might have developed a worse fear but by slowing down, he learned on his own he had nothing to worry about.

So far, our March weather has been outstanding. Our snow melted long ago and things are drying down and really getting nice to work in.  Thirsty has spent some serious time in the big outdoor arena learning more about neck reining, working off the leg and generally getting to be a bit more "broke".  It didn't take him long to lope nice, quiet circles and switch leads for us...he is a naturally balanced horse and it shows in how he moves.  A smaller horse at just barely 15.2, he has an easier time of maneuvering than many big horses do.

Cow work started this week.  Thirsty has always been a bit apprehensive of the cattle. He has seen them over the fence and the strange creatures worried him a lot. And when our neighbor's cattle got out a few weeks ago, they got a lot closer that he liked and he actually jumped out of his corral!

Getting a little too enthusiastic with Joe!

But we have an ace in the hole in these situations--Joe.  Joe is a two-year-old Jersey steer that was hand fed by his former owners and thinks he is a big pet. We bought him early last year with a group of heifers and he has proved invaluable on the ranch. He is big, slow and quiet...the perfect introduction for horses to cattle.  And at this point, Joe is "broke"--he knows his job and does it well. 

Thirsty got into the pen with Joe rattling his nose and pretty sure the big steer would eat him up.  But Joe, as Joe does, just stood there and waited for the games to begin. Joe knows his job is to trot along just in front of a horse's nose and goes where we point him.  As soon as Thirsty realized that Joe would walk away, it was game on!

We have always said that the best cow horses are a little bit afraid of cattle...they focus much more intently on them than does a horse that has little interest either way.  And that was the case with Thirsty.  He was afraid but fascinated by the fact that Joe ran from him.  Thirsty is low man in the pasture, so being in charge was a novel thing for his mind.  Soon, he took it too far the other way and actually bit Joe in his enthusiasm for the new job.  We pulled him back a bit and let him regroup.  By the end of the lesson, he was tracking Joe like a born cow horse and even let us swing the rope a bit. He is going to be a fun one!

One a side note, we did learn something we hadn't thought of---steers need to be brought into spring conditioning as much as a horse, at least steers with a job like Joe has. The poor guy was plumb tuckered out after working with Thirsty and spent the rest of the day napping.  Looks like Joe might need a "steer jogging" program to get him in shape!