Twist's Milestones

With my decision to keep Twist rather than auction him off at the 2012 Youth and Yearling Challenge that is held annually to mark the end of Teens and Oregon Mustangs, I plan to continue his training-- and hopefully work with more mustangs in the future.

While I will not be keeping daily updates, I will post about Twist's major accomplishments and milestones... any trips he goes on, his first saddling, and one day, his first riding. 

Thank you all for following mine and Twist's work this summer! I hope to keep you all in the loop so that you can share in our experiences!

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August

Twist is definitely happy in his new home, where he has almost twenty square acres to run and graze. Although I was ready for a bit of fighting, his introduction into the pasture with the older gelding went really well. Twist went right to grazing and the older horse, Cody did likewise after a quick inspection. 

Once Twist realized he was free, he took off running across the big pasture with Cody. It's funny how they stick so close together already.

We stayed into the evening after turning Twist out, to make sure everything was going smoothly. Which it did-- until I saw Twist standing at the edge of the pond, which is outside the pasture. 

We hurried out to close the front gate of the driveway, which is the only way off the entire property since it is double fenced. Though Twist can't get completely away because of this, we still had to fix the fence to keep him from getting out of the pasture. We put Twist back in with Cody and re-hooked the lines in the fence where we thought he had stepped through, and it seemed to work. 

It was dark as we were pulling out to leave, and we wanted to make sure that we could see Twist before we went home. Him being a black horse, this is not very easy after dark. And we couldn't see him (or any black glob) anywhere.

After a property search we spotted Twist eating by the fence of the ponys' pasture, apparently attracted to the horses whose size was more comparable to his (he is completely dwarfed standing next to Cody). I was able to catch him easily, and lead him down this time to the goat field where he would not escape. I turned him out and we planned to get the fence of the big pasture fixed so that he could stay in there, but for now the goat field would do just fine in detaining him.

The next day I wasn't able to help with the fence; new clips and another length of wire had to be bought before anything could be done, but within a couple of hours it was fixed and ready for his re-release. Though we were unable to be out long enough to do this for several days (I needed to be there in case he were to escape again), we hope to soon.

Today we were able to get Twist back into the big pasture. As soon as I led Twist out from the goats' field, Cody started whinnying excitedly, apparently excited to run with his friend again.

I let Twist go easily and he missed no time on grazing; after gulping a bunch of water from the creek he was content to just eat with Cody, and they didn't do much running while we were there.

I really think Twist will be happy in his new home-- he shouldn't be able to escape anymore, and I can rest well knowing that he and Cody get along so well.

*  *  *

 (Twist realizing he is free)

 (Twist over in the corner of the pasture, where he soon finds the perfect place to roll)

 (Cody, the older gelding)

 (Yes, Twist did change colors... he is now a dusted gray from rolling)

 (This shows how much Cody dwarfs Twist)

 (A view of the left half of the pasture... yes, half)

 (Twist on the right, Cody on the left)

(Twist running on the left, Cody on the right)

 (Twist getting a drink from the stream-- mostly dry now with the heat of the summer-- though he has an auto waterer up by the gate.)

September

Twist is doing absolutely great. We have not done much hard work, but I continue to work with him whenever I can. He and Cody have still just got along great together, and with so much grass to graze on, Twist has grown... though more width-wise than height-wise!

We have recently been continuing our practice with line-lunging, which he does well with until it comes time to canter. It will take a lot more running before he has it down, but I know we will get it soon enough. We have gone on a couple of walks now from the Vincents' property, and Twist seems to enjoy getting out to "explore" and eat the blackberries that grow along the road. 

I hope to get Twist on another trip soon, but with hunting season and school, and work whenever I can, there isn't much time to set aside for a full day's adventure.

*  *  *

(Cody loves attention... but sometimes Twist feels that he needs to remind Cody that I am his person!)

October

With the colder weather truly coming on now, Twist has started growing a thicker winter coat and making sure that he is not caught out in the rain. He and Cody spend more time in their barn instead of grazing below the pond-- though the past week, Twist has spent a majority of his time causing trouble.

With the front portion of the pasture yet to be fenced with a mesh horse fencing, Twist has only to walk under the middle wire and above the bottom wire to escape (the hot wire hasn't been turned on and he definitely knows it!). Since the entire property is fenced, Twist can't leave the property after he takes leave from his pasture, but it is still a pain for us to have to worry about opening and closing the front gate and wondering where exactly he is. Luckily, the apple tress and the green grass surrounding the pond are Twist's only destiniations-- I have found he is quite food-oriented.

So to keep Twist from his continuing escapes, and lessen my number of trips out to recapture him, we have him temporarily booked in solitary confinement. Not really; he can see the shetlands in the pasture next to him, and just doesn't have Cody to follow around. The front pasture is fully fenced, but is not the twenty acre space of his usual area, so I hope Twist is taking this time to think about it. (In the meantime, I have to admit that I have been bringing Twist a pile of apples daily... perhaps he is not learning his lesson in this extended time-out, but once we get the horse fence up next weekend, I won't have to worry about him escaping anyway.)

Since the cold weather arrived, I bought Twist a pony-sized blanket to keep him warmer in the unending wind thast the Perrydale area is famous for. I wondered if he would have some trouble with getting used to it, but he has yet to buck or try to run from it. Once I let him smell it and feel it, he was fine with me laying it over his back. I worked from the front buckle, to the belly strap, and finally the back two straps, which go around each of his rear legs-- all with no trouble.

We have gone for several walks from the Vincents' house recently; Twist has seemed to enjoy getting out and about. I will be starting some horse lessons soon on a mustang ranch outside of Dallas, and eventually plan to take Twist for some of the work.

*  *  *

November

After putting up a new fence and returning Twist to his big pasture with Cody, there have been no more frustrating escapes and Twist has gotten to stay where he should be! He can't use his lacking height to crawl under the fence wires and run happily to the apple trees, so he has accepted that I have him beat-- at least for now. 

I have begun taking lessons at Double D Mustangs (a mustang rescue and riding facility near Dallas), where I have begun to ride Cody. His first ride happened this last Wednesday before Thanksgiving, and for not being ridden in eight years, he did marvelously! Cody needed a moment to get used to the saddle and cinch again, but he never bucked and was happy to be working, so I had a great first ride with him thanks to my trainer, Kim.

I can hardly wait for my next lesson; I will be working with Cody again, with the goal of eventually using him to pony Twist. This will be a great way for me to get both of them out on longer "adventures" and progress in Twist's training, and I think it will be fun for all of us. Until then I am focusing on some more manners with Twist, taking him to my lessons just to get him into a new environment and working with him at home on my next three ground-training goals: ground tying, coming, and stopping on command.

*  *  *

(Leading Twist back to the pasture)

(Saddling Up)

(Riding Cody) 

(The mustangs at Double D eating their dinner after my lesson)

December

In my recent lessons I have been working with Twist more than Cody. Twist is getting a great chance to learn some more manners, and I am learning how to handle his naughtiness a bit more. Twist has reached his terrible twos-- if I don't want him to do something, he will be sure to do it. A perfect example is his rope-biting: one day as I had him tied and was grooming the dirt from his shaggy winter coat, he kept biting and yanking on the lead rope, to which I responded by pushing his face away each time. Eventually he realized that he was not to be biting it, so he rested his lips against it, watching me to see if he could get away with it. As soon as he wrapped his lips around it, I reminded him again that I was watching, and he persisted like this for a while more until finally giving up.

I have been able to use one of my class periods to work with Twist and am receiving school credit for it, which is very helpful in that I can spend so much more time with him every day. We have been trying new things to strengthen his attention span and coordination, breaking up the lunging routine and giving him fresh things to think about. In my lessons, I have also gotten a bareback bad on Twist with no trouble, which will prepare him for being saddled and ridden (a bareback pad is like a saddle pad that can be cinched on). 

I can't wait to see what we move on to next, and with Cody to help me I plan on being able to pony Twist by the summer!

As the new year draws near I have been working Twist a bit harder, looking for new things to keep him challenged. I have introduced him to bandannas, tying them around his feet and across his face to further desensitize him, though these are things I will continue working with through January at least. 

I have also spent some intensive time training him to lay down, but I have only gotten him to his knees so far; I want to give him a break for a while before we approach this from a new direction, pulling him over from his right side down on his left instead of pulling him down to the left and then sort of tipping him. He has done well, but with my inexperience I do not want to do more harm than good with the concept.

I have been looking for inspiration to the Extreme Mustang Makeover documentary that I got for Christmas, which shows the efforts of several of the trainers from the 2009 competition with their horses. It has really helped just seeing how some of the trainers handle their horses and react to what they do through the training process, and watching it reminds me just how far Twist has come from last May. It is one of my favorite movies, and being more of a real-life documentary makes it all the more enjoyable. (I strongly recommend it to anyone interested in mustangs... you can look for Wild Horse, Wild Ride online!)

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(This is a good bow)

(Cody and Twist, enjoying some cookies)

(Finally to both knees...)

(We're waiting to get out!)

(A good picture of Twist as he ignores me...)

(Twist loves investigating Smudge, the cat that often follows us around the Vincents'.)

January

I am saving the date: Monday, January 7th, 2013, the day that we first saddled Twist!

At my lessons on Monday we did not take Cody, so I spent my time working with Twist's ground training instead. Kim (my trainer) helped me through the process, which entailed putting a saddle pad on him, introducing the saddle to him (I let him smell it), then throwing the saddle over his back. 

Through it all Twist stood unbothered. I cannot say I was completely surprised, but I had expected him to be stubborn about it if anything. I kept waiting as I played with the cinch under his belly, rearranged the saddle pad, wiggled the saddle for him to suddenly decide that he was done with this evil thing, but he did not once cause any trouble.

All of the desensitive that I have done with him surely helped making a saddle so easy. From feed sacks and shirts to blankets, tarps and more recently the bareback pad, he has had a good many things on him, and I know that this made a saddle so much easier! 

After saddling him and toying with the stirrups to remind him that they were there, I lunged him for a while. We did not go above the walk, just focused on letting him get used to the feel of the saddle. And not once did he buck, kick, try to run or throw a fit! 

By the end of our lesson I could hardly stop smiling. Saddling Twist was just such a huge step forward to the bigger things that we will begin working on before I get on and ride him... and as I look ahead on the calendar it gets harder and harder to wait, but I know it will all be worth it in the end!

*  *  *

(Playing with the cinch, getting him used to it under his belly...)

(Tightening the cinch...)

(...and it's on! As you can see, Twist was very concerned!)

February

This month flew by quickly, and quite a bit has happened. We saddled Twist for the second time, and I rode Cody more in my last lesson. But even more exciting: I bought a round pen and can now work Twist easily each day, and I took him for a presentation at our school Animal Day.

First, the round pen is a forty-foot diameter size. The average round pens are in the 40, 50 and 60- foot range, so it isn't a huge one but I prefer it for ground training because I am able to be closer to Twist and manage him a bit better. It is set up in the pasture so that I just lead Twist into it and begin our work (with Cody watching from close by to make sure I don't steal his buddy).

The Animal Day presentation was a HUGE success. All day, for classes aging from kindergarten to sixth grade, I gave speeches about Twist relating to what kind of a horse he is, how I trained him, and what mustangs can be used for. The Animal Day event is an annual at Perrydale as a part of our FFA week, which is a week of daily activities related to agriculture. Besides Twist, representing horses, there were goats, chickens, rabbits and pigs, not as large a variety as in past years (we have had cows and farm equipment other years) but still a great mix for the elementary audiences. After talking about him, I let each class come up and pet Twist, which could have been chaotic as you might imagine-- classes of kids, some unfamiliar with horses, swarming to pet a mustang that isn't even a year out of the wild yet. But Twist had no problems at all; he looked like he was totally used to the crowds of eager petters, and we received many complements. Many didn't realize he was a mustang until I gave my speech; some even said he was better behaved than many of the domestic horses they had been around. Twist definitely made me proud! 

At the end of the day, I hauled Twist back to his pasture, where Cody was running up and down the fence screaming for him. When I let Twist out, he took off running with Cody, and by the time I had unhooked the trailer and was leaving he was still going, just happy to be free after a long day of speeches.

Twist has come so far since last May. It is hard to believe it has gone so fast in some ways, but at the same time we haven't even reached a year yet, and he behaves so well in whatever situation I put him in. I can't wait to start riding him... I know that we will have many memorable years together out seeing new places and doing new things!

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 (Twist getting a snack in between our presentations)

 (A funny picture I got of Twist)

 (Twist eating his grain in the round pen)

 (Twist thought we were following him when he took off running across the pasture... but when he realized we weren't he came back in a hurry!)

March
Though the month is still new, I have already done several good things with Twist. He has been saddled four times now, with no trouble to name (yet!). In our last lesson, we moved forward by bridling Twist for the first time after saddling him as usual, and he took it pretty cooperatively. He played with the bit in his mouth the entire time, as we walked and trotted around the arena and lunged. Every time we saddle Twist he looks like a funny little pony just waiting to be ridden! And with a bridle on he looked even more "grown up" (though he has not actually grown much).
Twist has also had his second farrier appointment. His hooves are healthy and in good shape, and I am learning more and more about horses' feet in the hopes of one day doing Twist's hooves myself. At first he wasn't completely sure that he wanted his feet clipped and filed, but halfway through Twist relaxed and let the farrier finish up. I am so proud of how far Twist has come!

 (First Bridling!)

March 14th:

The moment I am sure you have all been waiting for in Twist's further training came much, much sooner than I had anticipated. I have marked Thursday, March 14th as the day that I first got on Twist! Yep, in my lessons we saddled and bridled Twist, went through our lunging, and then I thought we would just do some handling practice. But Kim had me put my foot in the stirrup... then bounce with my foot in the stirrup... then stand in the stirrup, and lean across his back... and finally get on! To actually be sitting in the saddle of a horse that I have brought out of the wild and worked to train myself was such a rush, and I could not stop smiling. And of all the times that I got up and got down, Twist did not try to buck me off once. He acted like I practice with him all the time. 

To be honest, I was kind of hoping he would throw me once... but I won't complain that he didn't. I am so proud of Twist. Each new accomplishment is special for any horse and trainer, but Twist has not even been out of the wild a year yet, and I have made so many memories with him that I will forever look back and smile at! All of a sudden, all of my time and goals with him gathered at this next big step, and finally the finish line was in sight: riding him out each day at the Vincents', taking him camping in the summer to ride trails, taking him to my lessons to ride. It is so close! Looking back at the videos and pictures we have from the pick-up day last May to now is a huge reminder of all we have done. In some of the pictures, I remember how excited I was that day to post on the blog about our progress... the first time I led him, the first time I loaded him in a trailer... and in others I remember how frustrated I felt, having to leave with what I saw at the time as nothing accomplished. But each day we have built off of the next in some way. And now, I can see how all of it has come together! I can't wait for my next 'ride' on Twist (even if it's just sitting in the saddle)!

March 28: Twist and I had our first vet check-up today (well, Twist did, but it's the first I've taken him to). After spending the night at the McMinnville fairgrounds to save some time and just get out a bit, Twist got in the trailer and we drove to Carlton to see our vet. I got Twist his basic vaccinations, and he stood still for both shots. When it came time for the nasal spray, Twist wasn't sure he wanted the long tube shot up his nose, but it was done and over quick enough. The vet agrees with the general consensus that he is not going to grow much more, but she believes he will fill out a bit like many mustangs do and be a sturdier horse. She was impressed with his behavior, and we were soon on our way back to the Vincents'.

Throughout the day, Twist was visited by some friends that hadn't seen him since last summer. (They are actually who pointed me in the direction of Teens and Oregon Mustangs two summers ago, and I would have never started out at the FitzGeralds' without them!) My aunt and cousin also came to see Twist, so he had a good day of socializing.

*  *  *

(Twist wondering what we are going to try to pull over...)

(Ready for his first shot)

(Second shot)

(All done!)

(Twist and our dog meeting for the first time, in the fairgrounds arena. Doc wasn't sure what to do when Twist started rolling!)

April

A lot has happened since I last updated Twist's blog! With the pictures that I have been able to get of our progress, I am going to just let you see for yourself how far Twist has come instead of trying to describe it! I am so excited and even as I type it's hard to stop smiling ... I would go on forever if I tried to tell you about it, but I will at least let you know that:

     -he has still yet to buck (except for once when we used a thin saddle blanket instead of a thick pad, and he arched his back a few times but I was not on him and he was too lazy to put much effort in)

      -I have ridden him several times now for short periods (I will wait to start really riding him until next summer at the earliest)

      -I have bought his first saddle (but had to return it because it wasn't the right fit, so I'm still looking for the right one).

(Twist all dressed up in his pony costume!)

(Climbing on...)

(Me thinking: AHHHH!)

(Pony Rides!)

(He is very concerned about being ridden, as you can tell.)

(Don't make fun of his size. He will grow one day. At least that's what I keep telling myself.)

As you can imagine, this latest progress is such a giant step forward that I am too excited to try giving you a brief update. I think I could write a novel trying to tell you everything! Twist has come along so well, and the feeling of riding a horse is amazing on its own, but when you know that you have trained that horse yourself AND brought it in from the wild, there is just no way to describe it!!

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May

As of May 19th, I have officially had Twist for one year! He has come so far, and the time has flown but yet it seems like I have had him forever. Twist has continued to progress in our weekly lessons; our routine consists of saddling him, longing him-- we are working on his balance to reach a canter, see footnote for more details-- and the most exciting part, getting on! Twist has yet to buck me, and though I think it would be kind of exciting to see if I could stay on, I won't complain about that. He is beginning to understand what I want when I put pressure on him with my legs, and he is reading my body well when I want to stop or turn and go a different direction. Twice now we have even reached a trot, just by building up energy and speeding up his walk until it is just easier for him to trot!

Since he is still so young, I do not ride Twist at all outside of my lessons, when I spend probably twenty minutes at the most on his back. I love being able to ride him, and would love nothing more than to be able to get on him and go for a day's ride outside, but for ow I am totally satisfied with letting him finish growing and not putting too much weight on his bones. 

My great grandparents were able to come up from Arkansas this month, and they saw Twist about a week after his one-year-out-of-the-wild mark. This was especially exciting because they saw him at the pick-up day, and they are able to see how he has jumped from day one to year one. They were so impressed with how much he has changed; no longer is he the shaggy, scrawny, nervous little yearling that I first met. I can't wait to see what else Twist will learn. Our next task for the coming summer is a bicycle... he is not too sure about the wheels, and I am excited to finally have something scary again (he is used to all the tarps and wiggly things that I was able to challenge him with before).

*Footnote*

Longing a horse actually takes practice because they have to find or learn their balance. When a horse is pulling on the line and running in an irregular circle, they are usually off-balance; they have to learn how, and I help Twist by pulling him in as he starts to pull out, or pushing him out as he starts to come in. I also increase his speed gradually; it is easy for him to hold his balance at a walk around the circle, and he has learned good balance at different speeds of a trot, but cantering is the next thing we are working on. I push him at a fast trot and continue to drive him forward until it is easier for him to move into a canter, and I let him go a short distance at a time, increasing it as he is able to hold his balance longer. Twist is doing very well longing on a line, and we work on this every week to build his bodily balance, because he will need it all later. His body and muscles have to learn the movements and learn how to hold his body the right way.

*  *  *

 (Twist finally losing most of his winter hair)

 (Yep... he is IN the feed tub.)

 (Twist got to meet a bunch of people at my uncle's wedding, which was at the Vincents'.)

 (

(It's a bit hard to see, but I am longing Twist for the first part of our lesson.)

 (Now for part two of our lesson...)

(Kim is longing Twist with me on him. I give him the commands, and she has a hold of him just for re-enforcement.)

June

Since getting out of school I have been able to take Twist on several trips and continue working on his training for 'the real world'. Early in June he spent about a week at a farm where I was house-sitting, and we were able to work in an arena there on saddling, longing, and general ground manners. This has been the biggest thing with Twist-- ground manners-- because as many people new to horses, I am still learning the difference between behavior that people think is cute and horses do in disrespect. Twist is not at all a bad horse, but I have not clearly established lines for him to respect. For example, a horse rubbing their head on you might seem cuddly to people, but in herd language this more means 'you are my scratching post, and I can be disrespectful if I want'. These little things (that can indeed grow to be bigger things if not caught early on) are what I am learning with Twist; he is not allowed to bump into me, rub on me, or do other careless things that could one day become dangerous. 

Twist's ground training is at times frustrating for me, mostly because it can be so repetitive and boring. But it is more than worth it when I can see his progress day to day, and I know that having good manners is the essential basis for any work that I will one day do with him in the saddle. 

Twist also got to go camping with us at Flying M Ranch, where we took him last summer with Kigali and Erica. He stayed in a round pen at our campsite for three nights and did wonderfully-- the time out and about was so great for both of us. We walked trails through the woods there, crossed and played in creeks, and did a lot of socializing. Twist was led around by several kids that he hasn't been around often, and lazily followed them over little obstacle course jumps over-- and over-- and over. He looked like he might have been sleeping some of the time, but he really showed how much training he has had when he behaved for little kids that sometimes didn't even come up higher than his chest. I was so proud of him! Those memories are the ones that keep me going when our training gets frustrating, and help me to be able look back at what I thought was a big deal at the time and just shake it off. Twist will surely have his flaws as a finished horse, just like any other trainer's first horse does-- but I will always be proud of him.

(Twist in our yard, meeting the neighbor girls... we stopped at our house on the way out camping, so he got out of the trailer for a few minutes, not a sight that often occurs in our cul-de-sac, I am sure.)

(There were probably ten young kids camping with our group, so Twist always had visitors at his pen.)

(Twist loved the attention he got camping... any time someone would walk close to the pen, he would come up nickering to be pet.)

(For those of you who followed Twist's training last summer, this same little girl, now four, led him around in his second month out of the wild. She wanted to lead him again any chance she got while we were out camping!)

(Harder to see, but Twist is following Sarah over a little jump.)

(A second grader very into horses...  he did the haltering, leading, and jumping without help from me, and Twist cooperated like an 'old man horse' that really doesn't care what is done with them.)

(Twist going over a little jump.)

 (Twist was not at all afraid of the people sitting above him on the fence, as some mustangs may be.)

 (An idea of what we hiked in... Twist loved getting out in the trees again, instead of the open farmland of Perrydale!)

July

Twist spent a second week at another farm that I was house-sitting, where he was in a pasture across from three other horses that he has never met before. I gave him a bath (he was not too happy with me about that), took him for a long walk on the trails around the property (up steep hills, through the oak woods, and around the pond), and tried another saddle on him. We are now onto our fifth saddle in trying to find the one that is just right for him... but I think that I have an idea now of what I need, since we have found what is too long for him (he has a short back) and what the major areas of misfitting are. I am not looking for one too hard since I still have another year or two before I am spending much time riding him, but I think that the next one will be right.

I was able to go to one of the four days of the Buck Brannaman clinic in Corvallis (no Twist, I just went as a spectator), and am so glad that I went! By far his is the best clinic that I have been too; I learned more than I can begin to share, and have begun applying it in Twist's training. I am seeing great results with this, especially in Twist's bodily balance (I learned new things about helping horses have good balance), spacial respect (I REALLY learned what lines to draw to keep a horse from picking up disrespectful habits), and general disposition towards training. I cannot emphasize enough how helpful Buck's insights were, and I plan to go all of the days next year, and eventually get Twist actually in to one of the clinics when he is four or five and I am riding him. I really like how Buck treats the horses and how they respond to his training, and I hope to continue training Twist in Buck's style. 

Twist is always improving, but yesterday in our lesson focused on space and balance I saw a leap in his progress that has really got me excited for what more we will be doing.

*  *  *

(The horses that were at Buck's clinic. Buck is in the middle, in the light shirt, talking about bridling work.)

(Buck demonstrating a turning exercise for balance training.)

(Catching Twist before one of my lessons... he is busy trying to keep the other horses away from me.)

(Saddle number 4, good in length, but not right over the shoulder.)

(He did look handsome in that saddle!)

(A picture I took from the branches of a tree, in Twist's 'vacation pasture' where I house sat. He thought I was a cougar when I wiggled the branches above him!)

(When Twist knew that it was only me in the tree, he was content grazing, but still thought I was a bit weird I think.)

(A picture I took sitting next to Twist as he grazed.)

August

The last month of summer is already close to ending... Twist's black coat has become smooth and streaked with red from the sun, and he is very rounded-out from the good grazing! We have been working on some ground training recently similar to what I watched at the Buck clinic, focusing on turns that teach him better balance by lifting his shoulder to move more backwards away from me (versus stepping forward and toward me to turn around, for those of you unfamiliar with this). Twist has done great with the exercises we do with this, but his real growth has been in his general demeanor.
Since I have started new things with him, especially the turns, Twist has come around to being a bit more respectful than the two-year-old bugger that he has been. I leave each day I work with him feeling very accomplished and satisfied with our work; he looks to me in our training and I can see him thinking about what I am asking him, correcting himself, and doing things better. He is more patient and more cooperative; and I think that much of this lies in our new work, which uses techniques like the turning exercise to better establish our working roles. He is learning to be more respectful of my space and looking to me as a leader, which I have learned works wonders with horses.
Through reading books, watching videos and listening to things like I was able to at the Buck clinic, I have learned that being a leader for your horse-- expecting their respect and establishing firm boundaries-- will actually make them enjoy being around you more than if you just try to be their friend. This does not mean that you are mean to them, it just means that you draw lines for them to keep on the right side of. I came to understand this with the explanation that horses, being herd animals, look to their dominant counterparts for leadership. They feel safest with the horse (or human) that takes on the leader role, because in the wild this is necessary for survival. I think of it this way: if a horse has to choose between his friend-- the pushover that has not demanded his respect-- and his leader-- the respected one that has established clear boundaries in behavior-- the horse will choose his leader, because that is the horse that knows where he is going and that can keep other horses safe. So by stepping into the role of the leader, humans are able to earn their horse's respect and establish a firm foundation on which to build their horse's loyalty and work ethic. They look to you for guidance, and will choose to be with you because of the security and predictability that you offer. In so little time I am suddenly seeing this with Twist, and it is a huge step forward in his training (and my horse experience!).
With our new steps in his training, I am really satisfied with how Twist is moving forward. It is so hard to wait to be able to use his daily training sessions for riding-- I can hardly wait to be able to get up in the morning and take off on a long trail ride-- but it has been worth all the time that I am spending with him out of the saddle, really getting him to be a better horse from the ground up (and I a better horse trainer).
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(Hard to see... Twist being worked with by a third grader, blocked from view in front of me.)

(Twist in his stall at C Bar K Stables, the boarding facility that I am opening.)

(A funny picture that my mom snapped of Twist.)

(Twist in the arena, dusty from rolling.)

(Twist does not like his mouth played with!)

(Scrawny yearling to handsome two-year-old!)

(Finally able to see his brand again, after it was covered up by his thick winter coat.)

September

School has started again, and I am fortunate enough to be able to have some Work Release time each day to spend with Twist. We continue to work on our circle exercises, and I am adding some on-the-go forehand and haunch turns (we go right into a turn from a walk, and after completing the turn we continue at a walk right away... this gives it a faster pace and keeps him responsive to my body language).

Already partway through the month, Twist's coat has just thickened ever so slightly, and though I love his sleek summer coat, I also like his shaggy dark winter hair that comes in later October. It is hard to believe I am moving into my second winter with Twist-- and I am hoping that by next spring he will have grown just a little bit more, as his higher hips might promise. He is definitely filling out, and his neck has the thick mustang ridge that I have looked forward to him getting; he has always been a handsome little guy, but if he grows just an inch more I will be even happier!

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(Leaving for a walk to go pick blackberries)

 (On our walk...)

 (Twist: I hear something!)

 (Of course, we have to enjoy some apples after a long walk!)

October

Twist's hair has quickly grown long and thick. The cold days have returned with winter, and when I don't bring gloves, I bury my hands under his thick mane to warm them up-- it is definitely a plus for his coat to be so grown out, even if it means that his brand is almost totally hidden.

We have continued on our balance and movement exercises on the ground; now that we have made progress with our circles workout to help Twist learn some more flexibility ('bend'), we are beginning to move on to applying this bend on the longeline, moving at a faster pace for a longer period of time.

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November

Our work on the longeline has continued for several weeks now. It is something that we have a good deal to work on, and the next step of the process has been very difficult for both of us; now that Twist is able to keep himself better balanced on the longeline without leaning against it to carry himself, we are adding cantering to our longing exercises. But what we have found (I, with the help of my trainer,) is that Twist does not pick up the correct lead when he is running the circle clockwise. The problem is that I am not familiar with this to be able to teach Twist, so it has been a learning process for both of us: I had to learn what a 'lead' even is, AND how to identify when he is in the left, right, or crossfiring (when his front feet are in one lead and his back feet in the other). I finally began to understand the whole thing, and I have become better at identifying which is which, but the really tough part has been strengthening Twist to be able to do it physically. It is a very frustrating challenge for us because I feel at times that my inexperience only makes it all harder for him, but we will keep working on it until we have it!

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December

Finally we have seen progress with our lead issues, and Twist is able increasingly to pick up the proper lead and carry himself around the longeing circle in it. I don't know what I would have done if we hadn't seen some improvements soon... but now that we are, it has only been getting better each day. We will continue to work on this to build Twist's strength and balance, but now that he has 'gotten it', we are able to move onto some fresh work.

Twist went to his second vet appointment and got his routine shots done, and I was able to ask the vet about beginning more riding on him this summer, when he will be about three-and-a-half years old. The answer to the big question: she believes he is definitely ready to start riding now!

My energy to be looking for a saddle is renewed and I am so excited that we have finally reached the point of riding! The past two years working on our ground training has been huge in preparing both of us for work off of the ground, but it is hard to wait so long to be able to ride... now, all of our efforts are beginning to bear fruit, and I can't wait to see what the coming new year holds!

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