Along Came Prestur!

On Sunday, July 13, I went down to check Komma at 11 PM and I discovered this. The last time Komma had been checked was an hour ago, so this first photo is as close as I've come to getting there at the "right" time. And forget about video.

I ran up to get Sarah and the camera. Fortunately the house is only about 100 yards from the barn. We watched in awe as our foal lay there on the ground studying his new world. It was almost as if he was making up has mind whether or not to stay. Komma lingered over him, impatiently encouraging him to get up with a few pokes of the hoof. She had had enough. He must definitely stay.






We went down early the next morning to see how the foal was doing. Typical scene, nursing from his mother.

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But there was something, the way he placed his front foot...

We had a problem!

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Now there was nothing we could do but call the vet and wait.

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How serious was this? Would he need surgery? Would he always have a limp?

And he looks so cute... It crossed my mind that instead of a future riding horse, I would have a lawn ornament, albeit a cute one for a while. All we could do now is wait.

Fortunately, the vet, Bernado, is our neighbor and he was as able to come right away. He also brought his stallside manner...

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We, and I mean, "we", made a splint and wrapped the foot. I could not film the process because I was holding the leg and extending the fetlock while Bernado wrapped.

We could see improvement and after 2 days, Bernado came back to see how Prestur was doing and if he needed to change the splint.

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Now I knew I would have my riding horse!

Post Script -- The morale of the story is call the vet right away. It would seem self-evident, but I got this note from a German friend:

Hi Stan!
Congratulations again. On Sunday you had the most beautiful foal of the world. Now you also have a healthy one! I am so glad.
In May someone called me to treat a foal which also has a contracted fetlock. Unfortunately this "foal" is already two years old. Isn´t it a crime to leave a foal with such a handicap for two years untreated?

I am so glad that Prestur is so well!!

The First Lesson

Thokki is ready for his first real lesson.

Knútur Berndsen, an Icelandic trainer, made a barn visit to check Thokki out and start him off in the training that is appropriate for a horse of his age. But hold on! Before we actually meet Knútur, how about learning how to pronounce his name! It is k'NOOtur. The accent over the "u" changes the pronounciation to OO as in "through". Otherwise the "u" would be pronounced as the "u" in "butter".

We wanted to be able to load Thokki into the trailer in case of an emergency such as taking him to the vet, etc. We tried and although he did not seem afraid of the trailer, he balked at getting in. So we decided to impose on Knútur to teach him how to load.

But first things first. Knútur wanted to see where Thokki was in his learning. So Sarah went off to the pasture and put a halter on Thokki and led him off. No problem.

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About that knot...
I didn't really get it the first time around, so on another day I asked Knútur to tie it again so I could shoot a close-up and memorize it. After all, how many people have Internet in the paddock?

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So now Knútur will see how he handles in hand.

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This flies in the face of much that I have heard about the Icelandic method of raising the horse. In Iceland I have visited with farmers and trainers who prefer that the horse be raised away from much human contact in a large herd in nature.

Are we fussing with him too much? Will we mellow him out so much that he will be a dull horse later on, too used to people, not willing to work?

It was on my mind. So I asked...

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That was a good answer and it resonated with our needs and abilities to care for the horse. Perhaps, at some point, we will send him off to play with other Icelandics his age in a large herd. But not yet!

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Certainly, one of his tasks will have to be to let his feet be picked up when the farrier comes. Knútur showed us some tricks that also apply to larger and older horses.

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Thokki does not need to be "trained" to be sprayed. That is not Icelandic!

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Enough for today! Knútur will come back and start working on trailer loading.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE NEXT LESSON, TRAILER LOADING.

Trailer Loading

The next day, Knútur came back to work on our issue of trailer loading, why we asked for help in the first place.

Knútur felt we should start with the basics. The object is for Thokki to be led into the trailer. So now comes leading lessons.

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I shot these videos with the intent of documenting how this was done rather than how to do it. So think of this set as not How To, but How Done. I put aside the aesthetic of pacing the videos to hold interest in the viewer. I assume that the viewer is already interested in training horses and wants to see the pace of how it was done rather than how it should look on a tv with a remote control at hand. If you are bored, jump to the next video or... well, this is what actually took place. No corners of faults have been cut.

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Now it is time to take Thokki to the trailer and analyze the problem and come up with a plan for a solution.

We saw that he was more confused than upset about getting in.

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It was a conceptual issue... we had taught him to follow a lead, but now he would have some stepping lessons.

I've edited out very little of the process in order to demonstrate that a stressed horse does not learn as well as a calm one. It takes patience and repetition. Here is how it happened:

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We decided we would all take a break: Thokki for grass, us for coffee. Then we would continue.

Over coffee, Knútur came up with a fresh approach.

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Let's try it!

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We now we can do it on our own. We gave Thokki a rest to go back to living with the rest of his small herd.

A reminder: this was filmed and edited in pretty close to real time, the time it actually took to do the training! I've seen people spend a lot more time than this winching a yearling onto a trailer and stressing him against trailers and learning for the rest of his life...