Hubble's Debut as a Demo Horse

Today I gave a trail clinic to students. It was from 8:00 a.m.- 1:30p.m. That is probably the longest Hubble has had to work yet- with the exception of Horsexpo which was just standing in his stall. It was an interesting day with Hubble. He did really real. I had him side passing and pivoting and giving to pressure, going over and through obstacles... but he did have a few issues. Remember when Hubble came to me that he was covered in bite and kick mark scars? (read earlier posts and see photos)That was every indication to me that he was probably low man on the totem pole. Hubble has displayed in the past that he has issues with horses coming up from behind on him. He displays fearful behavior and tries to run away. Rememeber when I took him to Ranchotel and he spooked at the horse in the warmup arena cantering around? Well, today he did more than spook, he was a run away- a controled run away but in my book when a horse ignores you that is a run away. I was able to turn him and to control him but it was a run away situation. Not a big deal- just something we have to work on. But in thinking about why this occurred I realized it occurred while I was taking my students for a trail ride after a morning of arena work. He had displayed a little bit of concern in the arena so I wasn't really surprised at his behavior. I tell my students all the time, "Know what your horse is going to do before he does it." But I'm finding out that Mustangs (or at least my mustang) is a different species. He's all horse but there is that extra "wild" that may always be a part of him. His keen instinct. When something tells him he is going to die he doesn't take time to think it over. Out on the trail ride he found the other horses intimidating and just couldn't handle them coming up on his back side or getting too close on his sides for that matter. Equine behavior is what it is in that being low man on the totem pole he knows his position is to move out of the way or to get away or get kicked or bit. He was certain this was going to happen to him and he was outa there. He didn't buck and once he hit the bit he came back to me... eventaually. He hasn't displayed this behavior under saddle, yet I haven't riden him with so many other horses around him before. Just one previously. In thinking about this and why he acts so fearfully (and violently exagerated) I can't help but wonder about when the BLM "Gathered" Hubble,(that's what they call a roundup for those who don't know BLM lingo... for heaven sakes just call it what it is- leave the politically correct mumbo jumbo back at the barn), if it was like most gatherings he was rounded up by a helicopter, run towards a "catch", a "Judas" horse usually comes along at some point of confusion and leads the herd into their captivity which is a shrinking pathway that ends in a stock trailer. As the horses run through the "cowboys" close partitions off behind them shrinking their space more and more. Sometimes there may be as many as 15 horses being run into a trailer. Sometimes they aren't all friendly either and definetly are panicked. They have to ride in this trailer crammed all together and quite possibly not all getting along... Think of your own domesticated horses. Some just don't travel well together. Getting a bit banged up is the norm for these mustangs. Once at the BLM holding pens it is my understanding they are separated by gender. Stallions get tossed together. Now I ask you... Do stallions normally get along well together? And how about when there are mares around? Hm... Spells trouble to me. Until they are gelded there they are... all together. And which one of us is so naive to think that immediately following being gelded that once-stallion is going to change his evil ways. He is still going to fight for his position. I have never been to a BLM Holding Pen area but my hunch is that the gelding pens are "active" at first. So logic tells me maybe Hubble fought for his life in one of these holding pens? And he is easily intimidated because of that? Makes you wonder... Also, by nature Hubble is not a Challenging-Personality horse. He is a Social-Aloof-Personality horse. I have made equine behavior one of my areas of study. I have identified five core personalities. Hubble's problem with being afraid of other horses may be something tied to his personality type and herd position together. It helps to understand the "Why" behind something. It helps me anticipate behavior for one thing and tells me how I should approach training as well. Once personalities are identified training can become very spedcific geared for how that personality type generally responds to things. It makes training progress much more quickly and acurately/precisely. Understanding what his herd dynamics could have been gives me things to keep in check. I expect Hubble to be able to learn to control his emotions. But I have never trained a pure mustang before. Only mustang crosses and while they can be a bit unnique compared to a Thoroughbred or a quarter horse, I have never experienced something like Hubble. And mind you I have riden and trained hundreds of horses.
I thought I would write about this so that you can maybe learn some insights from it. Join me next time as I write about how I am overcoming this behavior with Hubble. By the way... what did you think of the water crossing?! Pretty impressive huh? Can your horse do that? Without balking? I'm so proud of Hubble... Oh, one last thing about today that was especially cute. At one point I tied Hubble up so I could teach Spook in Place to the group. When I teach Spooking in Place I need to be "horse free" because I do things like ride a bike, jump at the horses with a tarp, open an umbrella at them, bounce a ball, etc.. The exercise is designed to teach the horses to control their emotions and to listen to the rider. At one point I was jumping around making a "Yeeow!" sound to try to intimidate the horses. Hubble was about 300 feet away and couldn't see me. When he heard my voice that sounded a bit distressed he immediately called out to me and raised his head alertedly thinking I must have been in distress. He was worried about me. Aw... My Hubble takes care of me! He loves me... and I love him too. :-)