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Day Twenty-six: Today was my first official lesson with Ryan and it went extremely well. In ten minutes Ryan showed me how to get Samson leading. We basically just used forward pressure on the lead rope, as opposed to the sideways, angular pressure I had previously been trying (suggested by the "other" trainer) until he yielded forward and immediately released. If he took a step back I moved one step back with him and kept steady pressure, no jerking or pulling, until he took a step forward. Ten minutes, that's all it took, and he understood what was expected of him!
Breakthrough # 13!

How much more gentle can he get?

Day Twenty-eight: We need to move Sam's roundpen since it is on the side of the barn and blocking the only way to get a truck or trailer behind the barn to the corral. Sam is doing so well with leading that Lori decided to try putting him in a stall. We secured a turnout area directly behind the barn for him in the morning and by early afternoon we opened his pen and I led him out of the roundpen. He walked out very quietly but once he realized he was in the larger turnout area he started to run, thinking he was free. As soon as he came to the end of the lead rope (with me hanging on and following him as he pulled), he realized we were still connected. He immediately stopped and came over to me like a little lamb! We composed ourselves and I walked him up to the barn. His stall is the first one at the end of the barn. Lori said he might have trouble crossing over from the dirt to the concrete floor of the barn but that didn't seem to bother him. My heart was pounding because I didn't know how he would react to being enclosed in a stall. He must have felt my tension because as he took his first step into the stall (where hay was waiting at the door entrance), he bolted back. Again, as soon as he realized we were still connected by the lead rope he came right back to me. We went back to the stall and he walked right in with me without a hitch. Lori closed the stall door on Sam & I, so I would realize that he wouldn't kick me (another wacky fear of mine) while I was in the stall with him.

Sammy stayed in the stall overnight so he could get used to it and there were no problems. The next day, when I took him outside, he walked out like a gentleman. He was able to say hello, over the fences, to the other horses in two different pastures. His mustang body language seems to be working well with the domestic horses - he seems to know just how make friends and not enemies. The other horses seemed to be accepting him. The only horse that was a slight problem was a very large gelding that wanted to keep him from "his" mares. He came at Samson with neck stretched and teeth bared. Sam backed away slightly the first few times and then reared up as if to say "I'm not going anywhere so let me play". The gelding finally gave up and Samson accomplished his goal by persistance. He didn't back down but he didn't cause trouble either. Cool Colt!

Day Twenty-nine: Today we turned Samson out with Piper, a 35 year old pony. He behaved very well considering he was a baby who wanted to play with an old man who didn't! He followed Piper all over and begged Piper to play. Piper just wasn't wasn't in the mood and Sammy finally gave up and went back to eating hay and saying hello to all the other guys over the fence. I am continuing to work with forward pressure/yielding and picking up his hooves; He's progressing very nicely.

Day 47 with blanket and pony saddle!

Day Thirty-five: Well, over the past few days Samson has had a few little adventures. He's been turned out with Piper on and off...they both have free reign in and out of their two stalls at the end of the barn. Their stalls are across from each other so we linked the two stall doors open so they can go in and out at will. Samson is enjoying his stall quite a bit more than I thought he would. One day, he got under the chain that locked the two stall doors together and Lori found him in the barn eating hay. The front barn door was open but he didn't go anywhere except straight for the hay. Samson is very curious and loves to stick his head between fence rails and in places it probably shouldn't go. We try to keep a close eye on him but we had to change his stall because he figured out how to get out of the first one. He was found eating grain that another horse hadn't finished. Samson only gets a handful of grain at this time so we didn't want him to colic. He is now in a stall that he can't escape from - it was previously rigged for another escape artist who longer resides at the ranch.

His real adventure however was when he was put in a turnout paddock along side the barn after he got into the grain. He was very quiet all morning but then he spotted two mares out front and just had to say hello. He'd been eyeing them up in the barn and nickering softly to them for days. Well, around one o'clock Saturday afternoon, over the fence he went...flying across an open, unfenced field! This was the first time I really saw him move. There were many volunteers at the ranch that day and they said he looked spectacular galloping across the field. As soon as he reached the mares, he stopped to talk; Maria & I went into the pasture with the mares, grabbed his halter and Lori jumped the fence and led him back to the barn without a problem. He was so tired that afternoon, I couldn't even get him to stand up so I could clean his stall...he needed to finish his siesta before allowing me to clean up!

Notice the German Shepherd in the background..he's great with large dogs,
small barking dogs, cats...nothing fazes him!

Day Thirty-eight: Today I took Samson out to the big corral for the first time. Tom was with me and all went very well. The roundpen is now set up inside the corral so we decided to put Samson inside the roundpen for the night so he could be outside. He walked into the roundpen (small door) without a hitch. I watered and hayed him and let him settle in for a while. Tom said "why don't you take him for a walk in the large corral?"...so I did. He was a perfect gentleman for one loop around the corral. All of a sudden he realized..hey, there's open space!...lots of it! He started pulling the lead rope, pranced and even reared. I was surprised at how calm I was (big difference from a few short weeks ago!) I know he trusts me so I wasn't afraid of the rearing - I knew he was just in "play mode". Well I managed to settle him and walk him back to the roundpen but when I unhooked the lead rope he flew out the pen door before I could close it. There was a tractor mower running nearby which spooked him a litte but other than that he settled down very quickly and let me bring him back into the roundpen. Piper, the 35 year old pony was in a paddock adjacent to the corral and when the tracter spooked Sam, he went over to Piper and sniffed Piper's nostrils; Piper's breath must have told Samson that there was nothing to be upset about and he immediately calmed down.

Day Forty: This afternoon was my second training session with Ryan. Again, it went very well. We worked on yielding to backward pressure so Samson doesn't crowd me. Ryan explained that I am Samson's safety net; he comes to me for reassurance so we don't want him running me over! We worked on backing him out of my space and moving to sideways pressure to get his butt out of the way. It amazes me how fast he picks things up...ten minutes of work and he's backing up, standing a foot away from me and not crowding. We also picked his hooves for the first time and he was excellent!
Breakthrough # 14!