TRUE TRAINING 100 - An Anniversary
First, to follow up from Post 99, True’s leg is much better. All the swelling is gone, no further sign of infection, and the two open wounds are clean and healing. He can carry me at a walk, trot, and canter comfortably, with no pain. Thank you for your positive thoughts. We’re good! So…
This post marks one hundred entries about True’s training! It feels like only a moment has passed since “Baby True” came into my life in 2019. What a wonderful companion he has been. Let’s do a little comparison: then and now.
True came to me having just turned three, with a mouthful of baby teeth and a weight of about 1250 pounds. He stood 16.1 or 16.2 hands high. His head was too big for his neck, his croup surpassed his withers, he had spindly legs, enormous feet, and a hay belly.
Well, he’s eight now and still has the enormous feet; sometimes I call him Sasquatch (Sassy for short) because of those feet. They are also perfect, classic round feet that are very strong. True has been barefoot for all but one six-week period of his life. Most of my horses in the past have needed shoes due to thin walls or soles. Not True!
He weighs 1500 pounds today and stands 17.1 hands high, barefoot. By the way, at least one inch of that height, maybe two, appeared during his seventh year—much later than most people would expect. All of True’s sweet baby teeth are gone; he has a mouthful of chompers now. He lives on the highest quality hay and fresh grass I can find, so he has no need for supplements. His coat is thick and shiny, and he attracts attention for his excellent conformation. The croup and withers finally evened out, his neck grew into the size of his head, and the hay belly disappeared.
For most of his life, Trouper has lived in a large pasture with multiple horses 24/7. Nowadays, he is brought in at night, but to an enormous indoor stall (nearly 25 feet square) connected to an even larger outdoor run. The barn is open and airy for excellent ventilation and nice cool horse temperatures. He has about 30 buddies on a 70-acre ranch. Not bad for a horse!
For those of you who remember True’s first lesson, I’m happy to report that he catches very well. In a dry paddock, he comes to me immediately when I call. His performance is undermined when he’s in a 30-acre pasture full of rich green grass and a dozen playmates. Sometimes he comes to me from that location, sometimes he doesn’t. But he never evades me. Only once in his life did he go through an anti-haltering phase—and that was clearly due to temporary mishandling by people with poor skills. Even then, he would approach immediately; it was just the haltering that he disliked. I was able to undo that problem pretty quickly.
True has learned almost all of his lessons—ground manners, round pen, groundwork, longeing, under saddle, flat and over small fences, Western/English/bareback, trail gates and bridges, trailering—through training by reward, usually non-edible reward. True has flourished with this approach, which is based on current neuroscience about the release of dopamine. He seeks to behave in ways that earn non-edible rewards and demonstrates the internal motivation and enjoyment in performance that this training technique creates.
The young colt who was scared of the barn aisle now stands tied in one, completely quiet and patient. The other day, an enormous Percheron got loose and ran frightened through the aisle where True was tied. True never moved a hoof. He can be vacuumed, clipped, fully groomed. He lifts his feet politely for his farrier and stands firm and unafraid for his veterinarian. When horses run with excitement outside, he watches but remains in position. He knows not to urinate in the barn aisle, under saddle, or in the wash rack. His 90-degree spins away from killer birds still occur, but only rarely and much, much slower. And, as you've seen in previous posts, True is very brave with snakes.
Little Mr. Clumsy from five years ago can now walk, trot, and canter in a loose round frame, using his hindquarters well and responding to all my aids without the need for spurs. His circles are perfect, he can do shoulder-ins and leg yields at various gaits, he never misses a lead and backs up readily most of the time (hmm, we still have some resistance to erase on that). He does turns on the haunches and forehand, figure eights, serpentines, all manner of cavaletti or ground poles, easy gymnastics, and low jumps of all varieties. He would be farther along in jumping by now if it weren’t for varied problems with arena footing and owner injuries along the way.
True is sociable, like he was as a baby—loves people, wants attention. Before he is turned out to pasture every morning, he waits for people to walk down the barn aisle. Just as they get to his area of the barn, he snatches his halter off the hook next to his stall door and throws it out into the center of the aisle at their feet. He’s got good aim! Then he stares at them, as if to say, “there’s the halter, take me out please.” Truedini can still open most any gate latch and untie himself with ease, but he doesn't any more.
True and I are bonded deeply. He knows that I am his guide, I will take care of him, protect him from human dangers, and meet his needs. When something is wrong, he gets my attention right away and shows me what it is. One day he injured a lower leg, gimped around on it until I arrived at his stall, then immediately approached me and held the leg up in the air for me to see. Only a rock would have missed his message. True is comfortable and relaxed in my presence, attentive but not worried or concerned unless there is something in the environment that warrants his concern.
I am very lucky to have True in my life and I try to let him know every day how much I appreciate him. Could his training progress be faster? Yes. But then it wouldn’t be so deep. And in brain-based horsemanship, deep bonds are much more important. As you can see, I'm proud of True and happy with the results of my training. We both have much more to learn and are eager to continue the process.
