Pablo and Rojo: Week 3 - Training Progress and Challenges

Week 3 of training with Pablo and Rojo has been a journey of learning and adaptation. Rojo is making strides in responding to commands, while Pablo is gradually becoming more comfortable with new objects. Despite a setback due to an injury, the training continues with optimism and dedication.

Rojo's Progress

Rojo learned how to touch on command today. He responds well to a simple “good boy,” which is very cute. I use a stick first, moving it around his head and rewarding him when he stands still. Then, I hold it out to each side and say, "touch it." On both sides, he complies and receives a reward of a "good boy" or a carrot. We then used the halter and did the same thing, and he continued to touch on command. I was pleased, and he seemed very proud of himself. Whenever we do this and I turn to work with Pablo, Rojo follows me around, touching my hat, hair, or whatever to get my attention.

Challenges and Advice

I had a delay in progress this week due to an unrelated injury. Let’s just say, please do not stick your hand in the middle of a dog fight, even if they are your dogs and they are fighting over a toy. Throw water on them. Generally, they will love each other again within hours, and you will be stuck with an injured hand. I spent some time speaking with Willis Lamm from LRTC, a great organization that assists people with training their wild horses and burros. They have helped me with my four horses and had the confidence in me to work with Rojo and Pablo. We talked about some frustrations with working in a bigger corral, and he suggested setting up a smaller training corral, which I am lucky to have right next to the corral they are located in. He also reminded me that body position and posture are very important and that you can actually be pushing the horse away if your position is perceived as predatory. The LRTC website is http://www.whmentors.org/. Please check it out for a lot of training and handling information; the organization does a lot of great things.

Visits and Observations

Deniz Bolbol from the American Wild Horse Conservation (formerly American Wild Horse Campaign) came to visit. As much as I hoped to show off how well both horses were doing, they decided to only stare at her, as shown by the picture. Hopefully, next time she visits, I can show off their training.

Acclimating to New Objects

I continued to work on getting them used to objects that will become everyday items in their life. Pablo continues to observe from afar, but I put the items down, and he comes up to smell and mouth them a bit before walking away. For Pablo, that is progress.

For Rojo, I take the halter, a stick, a brush, and a wheelbarrow filled with items into the corral. Each item is presented for him to smell, then mouth, and then I touch him with it. I can swing the halter in front of him and to the side while he stands there. I was also able to brush the side of his face with the brush, although he was also trying to eat it at the same time.

Interaction with Others

Our next activity involved my husband, Steve, interacting with both horses. As seen in the pictures, he walked up to them, and once they turned to him, he stopped. Rojo walked all the way up to him, smelled him, got an apple, and was generally very comfortable. Pablo was also very close and relaxed. I plan to continue bringing people in to interact with these guys so they do not become anxious around people who are not me.

Preparing for Next Steps

We set up the small training pen for next week’s training, and I am looking forward to closer interaction with both horses and hopefully getting the halters on. At this point, I hope this “groundwork” over the last few weeks will allow the halter to go on easily and move to the next level of training. For Pablo, that may be a big step, but we will see. I let both horses go in and out of the smaller pen, and neither seemed upset by the smaller area, which is a very good sign.