The Work Machine...

Some horses don't want to wait and Compa is making up for lost time. Every day he presses me for more.


The work is so easy for him. He accomplishes what I give him and then wants more. Today he learned to lead from the right side. It was difficult for him because he just couldn't understand why I would chose that side when he was leading perfectly from the other. Why change a good thing?

I certainly understand his logic, but he doesn't see much out of his right eye. No, there is nothing physically wrong with him, it's just that he's always chosen to see things from his left eye. He constantly tries to move me into his left eye when we're together. He likes having my herd in his left eye, he looks out is stall window with his left eye. It's like being right or left handed. It's what's easiest for him.

When I moved to lead him from the right side his confusion became apparent when he spooked at everything in his left eye. Well, I want him equal on both sides. This mistake becomes readily apparent when one mounts the first time and the horse sees a leg in their right eye. They don't usually handle that idea very well and spooking or bucking or a myriad of other anomalies occur. I want him sure and confident the first time I mount. I don't want to lose any trust, so I create equality prior to that first ride.

I ran my fingers through his mouth today. When he enjoyed that, I ran the lead rope through. He loved it! I repeated this a few times and he was bored, looking for something else. I spent time switching eyes. That was a bit more of a challenge for him. I enjoyed finding something that perplexed him because so far, he's been way too easy. I've started enough colts to know that when things are going well during the ground work, they might not go so well during the mounted stuff. If I prepare this colt thoroughly, he will be easy then, too.

After 90 minutes of various tasks, I led Compa back to the barn on his right. He was much improved from the lead out. In the barn he wanted to sniff my dead cow. He made mouthy noises all over it while he inspected it thoroughly. He's been wearing the bare back pad since his second day, so I decided to swing the saddle up on him from his right side. Might as well get it over with. I made sure the saddle landed gently and he reached around and smelled it. No big deal.

I repeated the saddling several times, swinging up, dragging off, allowing all the gear to pull and rub along his back. He didn't care. He was so happy to be introduced to another piece of equipment.

Maybe tomorrow, he can carry the snaffle around while we work in the round pen...