Learning to tie, Phase 1

Last summer, I tied Nox to a metal fence to see if he was used to being tied.  It turns out, he was not.  He pulled back so hard that he bent the metal fence into an almost perfect right angle.  I have been grooming and tacking him up in his stall ever since.  Racehorses are usually groomed and tacked in their stalls, so he was just fine with this arrangement.

I want to be able to tie Nox.  It's important for safety reasons, and if I ever do show him, I may need to tie him to a trailer to tack him up if stalls aren't available. 

So, Phase 1 of Learning to Tie: Ground Tying.  (I'm pretty sure that at some point in his young life, Nox was trained to tie, but since his reaction was so strong the last time I tried it, we are starting at the very beginning.)  After I free lunge Nox and finish our work in the ring, I hook his lead rope to his halter and lead him near the fence.  I tell him to "Ho" (that means "stop"... hardly anybody actually says "whoa") and drop his lead rope on the ground in front of him.  If he takes a step one way or another, I calmly use the lead rope to guide him back to where I placed him.  While he is standing there, I groom him.  If he moves, I place him back in the original spot.  I walk away to the other side of the ring, sometimes even out of the ring, and he is expected to stand in the same spot.

It only took a few minutes for Nox to understand the exercise.  I can walk out of the ring, come back, and get through a full grooming session with him barely moving at all.  The stable owner walked by a few afternoons ago and said, "Look at him standing there quietly!  What a good boy!"  I was so proud.

I'll continue to ground tie Nox when I groom him, moving a little closer to the wall of the indoor arena each time.  When I think he's ready (several weeks out, yet), I'll slip the end of the lead rope through a ring attached to the wall, and see how it goes.  I hope that if I spend enough time teaching him to ground tie reliably, I can trust him to stand quietly when tied.  If patience and time can do it, I think we can get there! 

No more broken fence rails!

Nox, ground tied.

The grooming and circles continue...

I haven't written lately because not much has changed since the last post!

I can't believe that Nox isn't bald by now.  Every day I curry him and there is so much hair coming out that his stall floor looks like I've shaved him.  It's been warmer the past few days and I've been leaving his blanket off, but tonight the temperature is falling back into the teens.  Since Nox has lost most of his winter coat, the blanket has to go back on.

Last Saturday, we really worked hard.  He was moving so well and had energy to spare.  After 30 minutes of free lunging, I rode him for another 20 minutes.  Nox was a little sore the next day, so he's been on "light duty" since.  I lunged him tonight and he looked much better, but again had more energy than he knew how to handle.  Nox was bucking and snorting and trying to cut into the circle.  He can be such a stinker when he doesn't get enough exercise.  He has, however, learned how to lunge to the right without any hesitation or resistance.  I've posted a video of him walking in a circle to the right.  It may not seem that impressive, but considering it's taken me a few months to get him to walk this calmly in this direction, I consider it a major accomplishment!