Wrangler’s Log, Day 26: March 4, 2024

Something happened over the weekend to scare Lagertha. She no longer takes the alfalfa from my hand gently, but rather darts in from the side and does a snatch and grab, as if she’s afraid I’ll hit her or something. That’s so discouraging. At one point, she accidentally bit my thumb by coming in from the side that way, and it scared both of us. All day she continued to do the snatch and grab thing. I did my best to remain calm, and let her just take the hay without wanting any contact. She’s also moving away more when I clean her stall. I was able to scoop from right under her belly if necessary. She’d only move away if I asked her to, but now she won’t let me get within three feet of her. By day’s end she still wasn’t softening. But there’s always tomorrow.

Wrangler’s Log, Day 28: March 6, 2024

Today Floki came over to me while I sat in his pen and took alfalfa gently from my hand several times! He’s starting to rub his nose back and forth over my palm the way Lagertha was last week, and he even reached toward my knee like Lagertha did last week, but stopped just short of actually touching me!

Lagertha continues to take alfalfa from the side of my hand, but with less of a grabbing action. She still isn’t back to where she was last week, but she’s better than she was two days ago. I wish I knew what happened to make her so cautious when she was fine last two days before when I was here last.

The good news is that I will be moving the horses to their new quarters on Sunday. The new place is called La Rosa de la Montaña, and they raise and show Paso Fino horses. The owner is really nice. She has taken out the wall between two stalls to give Floki the extra space that he needs, and designated one of the two foaling stalls for Lagertha. I’m anxious to get the horses moved. Stacy very generously allowed me to use an old camper trailer that she had, but there was no electricity or cell service back there, so I did a lot of living out of my car in order to have heat and cell service. And the biggest thing is that Brent and I haven’t been away from each other this much since we started dating.

I’m only staying up here in Huntingdon for four days this week, but I’m very happy with the progress I’ve made with Floki this week. He still doesn’t get close enough to take alfalfa from my hand if I’m standing, but he’ll even take it from my hand while I’m in his stall if I’m sitting. In other words, I don’t have to be in the next stall now. Every little step feels like a reason for celebration.

For those who wonder how to gentle a mustang, this is only one method. But for my horses, it’s the only method. It’s called Positive Reinforcement, or R+ and it does take longer than (for example) roping them or using a flag or rope to desensitize them. In my personal opinion, neither Floki nor Lagertha would take well to this type of desensitizing. I feel like Floki would endanger himself with his blind panic, and I feel like Lagertha would never forget any kind of pushing or strong-arming, and would take a very long time to allow you near her if you tried. It’s a much slower process, but once you get the horses to accept you, you’ve got their loyalty for life, and that’s the kind of relationship I want with these horses. There’s nothing wrong with some of the other methods employed by other trainers, and they may be faster, but this is my choice.