In my last blog, I outlined the beginning steps I follow to build trust with a mustang.  I would like to point out here, that I try to continually follow those same steps with every horse I deal with, every time I approach them, in order to maintain a high level of trust.  When I go out to play with my horse, I make sure he is willing to approach me with two eyes and two ears focused(step1), I look to be invited into his space before approaching too closely, I attempt to never make a horse feel invaded.(step2), I take a moment to find a skritchy spot and help him to value my presence(step3) and be sure he isn't resisting my touch before I ask to put a halter on him(step4).  Of course when this is done on a daily basis, all of the steps can be accomplished in a matter of a few seconds, but being aware of having your horse's cooperation, and correcting tiny trust or respect issues, at the start of every lesson can make all the difference in your relationship.
    To continue with the steps of halter training....
   Step 5 Give to the Rope.  By the time I put a rope over the horse's neck they usually have a good understanding of yielding to fingertip pressure and will bend their neck towards me enough that I can ask for a hindquarter yield to each side.  I choose to use a rope for leading before going straight to the halter because it feels less entrapping to a horse.  Mustangs fight against pressure because they are terrified of being trapped and killed.  I give them every advantage to be able to break away from me in the beginning so they can learn that the pressure is not there to trap them, but to communicate with them.  I find that if I allow them to take the rope out of my hands and get free a few times they will accept pressure much more quickly.  Also, lighter pressure is far more tolerable.  I will often hold the rope with only my thumb and index finger to keep myself from applying excessive pressure, only if they are ignoring that pressure will I increase it . When you use extremely light pressure and release with the slightest yield, it is surprising how little it takes to get a horse to respond. 

     Now, I'm sure there are some of you out there screaming at your computer.
 " I don't have time for all of these ridiculous steps!"
    Keep in mind that giving a horse time to think things through and really understand what you're asking for will save you time in the long run.  Horses can learn each of these steps in a matter of minutes if they are given the proper feel and timing. Patience is a huge component of having proper timing, a horse can only learn something in minutes if he feels like you are allowing him all the time in the world to figure out what he needs to do.  Stetson went through steps 5-7 in about 20 minutes, and was completely confident at every stage.  I can't stress enough how important it is to give a horse the time they need to think!

  Stetson is learning so much, so quickly that I could not possibly record all of the advances he makes in one lesson in a single blog post.  If you have seen the pictures I have shared on Facebook, you already know how much progress this horse has been able to make in a very short time, but what I did not say there is that all of those pictures were taken on one day.  Those are pictures of his 3rd day of training, about 5-7 hours teaching time total.  This is a very smart horse!  No offense to any of my readers, but if I threw my training methods at you as quickly as I have thrown them at Stetson, I don't think you would get much out of it, so I am going to go through each step systematically explaining what I am feeling for to signal it is time to move to the next step.
   STEP 1.  Keep your eyes on me.  Many clinicians recommend causing a horse to run around the round pen right and left, then teaching the horse to turn to the inside of the circle and "face up" to them.  I skip several of theses steps and begin by just drawing the horse's attention, when it looks at me with two eyes I turn my back to it and walk away.  The horse soon sees me as very little threat and ignores me.  Then I apply pressure, just enough to make it so the horse feels like it can't ignore me. Repeating this again and again, the horse will soon keep its eyes glued on me, using the horse's focus to bend its neck I can quickly cause the horse to yield its hind end right and left, pretty soon after that it will begin taking steps towards me, and even following me. 
  STEP 2. Let me in.  Each horse is different and it will take various amounts of time for them to follow long enough to begin drifting into arm's reach.  I measure arm's reach as the length of my arm with my training stick in my hand, about 8 feet.  Their being that close tells me that I have been given the trust to be in their personal space and can start asking to actually touch them.  Stetson only took  about 10 minutes to come within arms reach, that is not typical of  a mustang, most will take several hours, or even days to willingly be that close.  When I have been "invited" in to their space I begin using retreat and approach to close the gap and actually touch the horse with my stick. Sometimes I will use a fence corner to restrict the horse's movements while I approach, but I prefer if the horse is willing to stay still or even approach me at the center of the pen.  Most horses want to sniff and bite the stick a lot before allowing it to touch them, but Stetson and Crystal, the mustang I trained last year, showed no interest in smelling, or even looking at the stick and let me skip straight to massaging their neck with it.
   STEP 3. Trust my touch.  Once I can touch the horse I spend a lot of time petting, rubbing, and scratching to ensure that the horse not only allows me to touch it all over its body, but also enjoys the attention.  This is the only time that I really appreciate mosquitoes.  Finding bug bites a horse can't reach is one of the best ways to bond with a horse.  If I find an area that the horse is defensive about, indicated by muscle tightening, or skin flinches, I do not make an issue out of it.  I rub an area that the horse is completely comfortable with and then lightly swipe my hand across the touchy spot quickly, while walking away.  This allows me to practice re-approaching the horse many times, while also letting the horse know that I don't mean to hurt or even worry them about any spot they don't want touched.  Only after the horse is very confident with me touching it with two hands over nearly its entire body, can I move on to introducing pressure.
STEP 4. Fingertip yields.  I find the least threatening way to introduce pressure is with my hands, because it is very easy for the horse to escape the horse begins to gain confidence quickly.  Many trainers will tell you that allowing a horse to break away from pressure will teach them to push through pressure rather than yield, and that is true of confident horses, but horses that are afraid of being restricted will grow more relaxed if they know it is very easy to get away.  Only when they are relaxed with the pressure can they think about what you are asking for and release their tension enough to yield to the pressure.  The beginning of a yield is a horse not resisting.  Which  to begin with feels like the horse's muscles relaxing, nothing more, but it builds into the horse slowly moving away from the pressure while still keeping the contact with my hand.  After I can bend a horse's head around to the right and left, as well as yield its hip, and move its shoulders over I will begin introducing ropes, halters, and leading.

Stetson flew though each of these steps in no time.  On average a mustang will take about a week to get through step4 and be really ready for rope and leading lessons.  Stetson had completed step3 in four one hour lessons over the course of two days.  On day three we did a long two hour session and were able to go through step4 and all of the steps for haltering and leading, as well as introducing fly spray.  I can't say enough how impressed I am at this horse's ability to learn quickly!  The steps I take for introducing ropes, halters, and leading will be the subject of my next blog.