Category: Magic

Magic walked into the trailer today like it was where he wanted to be. I will have to do some experimenting. I know one way that works and one way that does not.

I groomed Magic and walked him to the trailer. I opened the door and he walked in. I paid attention to what I did. I left the whip out of sight leaning against the trailer. I did not cluck or coax. He obviously knew what was expected of him. I believe that when you train, especially with pressure, a horse or dog to do something and you fail to get him to do it, then you have trained him how not to do it. That was our situation Friday but Magic did not learn the wrong thing. I am happy to be wrong this time!

Magic is smarter than Mark Twain’s cat. The cat sat on a hot stove. He learned a lesson but it was the wrong one. The wisdom was not to sit on a hot stove but the cat learned not to sit down at all.

It must be something else, not just the height. Maybe he sees a “gaping black hole” under the trailer rather than just a step up. A loading ramp might work but will be a lot of time and expense just to test. It might work if I elevate the tongue somehow. I could easily solve the problem here at home by just always loading at the present location but I could then run into the problem when I am away and have no option to park favorably.

I groomed Magic, did two minutes work on the lunge (lead) line, went to the trailer and Magic loaded like he was eager to get into the trailer. He walked in without me clucking or anything. I stayed on the ground and threw the lead line across his back. It is like it is a different world. We loaded two more times. I just walked him up to the trailer, he would look down to check the footing, and then just walk in. The only difference between this pleasant experience and the two hours of hell we endured Friday is six inches. It is not like my trailer is real high. Lots of other horses have loaded with no noticeable problem. We will keep on doing this for several days.

We worked at the trailer again today. The first two hours did not go good. Then I moved the trailer so the step up was not so high. At the new parking situation, he loaded twice in ten minutes. The step up is about 18 inches and the new perspective made it less than 12 inches. I don’t think the height is that important but I will not argue with success. I will continue working at the new parking situation and hope it will be that easy next time. I feel guilty that this might be the problem and I have put Magic (and myself) through this ordeal just because I missed the obvious. Rosie Crawford, our local horse trader legend, always drove a one ton ford and loaded thousands of strange horses onto that high deck. But he was Rosie Crawford and I am John Brown. I just moved the trailer out of desperation that what I was doing was not working. We will see what happens. I hope it is the problem. I’ll buy some low profile racing tires for my 1972 Hale Stock Trailer!

Magic and I worked at the trailer again today. It took about an hour. He did load. Magic has worked hard to diminish the effectiveness of the rump rope as a persuasion to help him get into the trailer. He will just stand still and buck. I thought it was just wasted effort on his part but he has learned just how to buck in a way that unseats the rump rope. The rump rope was effective in the past but he has patiently learned how to evade that pressure. I guess you might say Magic and I progressed into a fight today. I even called him a name when he bumped me out of the way. Magic is the only one of us that can claim to have drawn blood but I claim victory. He did load. And we did it in a way that I think indicates progress.  I would ask him to move forward, tap him with the lunge whip and he would push his way between me and the trailer rather than take a step towards the trailer. One of those times was when I called him a name. I think name calling is not effective and indicates a failure of character. I apologized. But something that happened during that time convinced Magic that he should not push me out of the way. So we made progress in that he would take a step, make a move, towards the trailer when I asked him to step forward. Then we would rest and regain our composure. I would ask him to step forward again. We just kept that up and finally he leaned back on his haunches and jumped up into the trailer. That was the first time he has loaded while I was still on the ground. I have hope that we have made progress and will get this loading problem behind us. We’ll work on it again in the morning.

Dale Moody the farrier came yesterday. We shod Magic and trimmed CeeCee, Glory, Little More and Roxie. Last time we sedated Magic and he did much better. I would have sedated him this time but I completely forgot about it and I did not have any sedative on hand when I did think about it. We have not ridden as much this month and he has had very little “hammer de-sensitizing”. I did not make the necessary preparations. However, Magic was very good anyway.  He only pulled his foot away once and none of his previous shenanigans. This is excellent progress.

Today we did a little practice trailer loading. Last time I went riding on the Buffalo, it took from 15 to 30 minutes to load him each time. So we need some more trailer training. It took about 30 minutes for him to load today. He did load.

I have taken a more assertive behavior towards Magic recently. His behavior, beginning when he pushed Peggy, has convinced me that he has been testing my resolve. Now if he pushes, I let him know it is not OK. I even whack him occasionally. It seems to be getting the right results.

My one year report to New Vocations Racehorse Adoption Program:

I adopted Magical Minister in late January 2011. He was at the New Vocations Lexington Facility. Lisa Molloy was very helpful with all parts of the adoption, shipping, questions and advice. Due to the distance, I adopted him sight unseen. I inquired about several horses. Lisa reccomended Magical Minister. I took her advice. She was right! Magical Minister is the horse I needed. Magic has a lot of confidence and no spook. I live on a remote farm in the Arkansas Ozarks. On our rides we have jumped deer, elk and a bobcat. Magic is cool. He just keeps on walking. All except once when I found out he can really move fast. We were in a pasture with cows and passed a big pile of logs. A little calf was in a nook up in the logs scratching himself. We just happened to walk past his only escape route. The calf bolted and the only direction he could go was directly towards us. Magic moved out of the way, quickly. By the time I hit the ground, Magic and the calf were out of the way. Magic waited and did not run off. He is a good horse.

Magic and I rode with Don and Carol on the Buffalo National River today. We started at Steel Creek at 10 am. We went downstream to Beech Creek and followed it up to the dirt road that goes down the Steel Creek Beech Creek divide. We followed the road south until we could take the trail that goes around the Batesville sandstone bench to the Slatey place. We ate lunch at the Slatey place. Carol’s goal was to see the big landslide but we ran out of time and had to start heading back. We ran into ice storm damage about two miles before we got to the Slatey place. Most of the Buffalo country escaped the ice storm damage due to the influence of the river and the valley. There is a huge difference in the forest that escaped damage and the forest that was damaged. There was only a degree or two difference in the temperatures but that is all it takes in an ice storm. From the Slatey place we went down an old road about two miles to the river. That trial should be named “horse hell trail”. It has washed bad, all the dirt is gone and all that is left is rough, angular rocks about suitcase size. Once we got to the river, it was about 8 miles upriver to Steel Creek. We met three girls with four horses going downstream. Magic does very good on the trails. I rode in the lead for a while on the way back. A horse has to have confidence to lead and Magic can handle it. Magic finished the ride in good condition.

I must admit that there were times that I thought the ride was too long, too steep, too rough and too fast. This is not the first ride that I have thought those thoughts. There are many kind people that have led me on Buffalo trail rides. Ted Spears, Carol Chaney, Peggy Thompson and others have been very generous to share their knowledge of the trails. I am going to go on rides that start later, go slower, and have more rest stops.

Magic and I took the same ride today as we did Tuesday. We looked hard but found no sheds today. I did notice (perceive?) that we might be improving just a little bit. I hope. At least that is what I felt today. Like we might be making slow improvement. All we have to do is keep it up for a long, long time and we will be very good. We are working on bending his neck, giving me his head when I ask for it. Clinton Anderson does it a lot, too much I think sometimes. (Maybe that is because he can do it and I cannot.) Magic will give his head but is very persistent about moving his feet. I don’t like to keep trying something without improvement so I switched it up a little bit today. I asked him to bend his head, just a little, while we walked straight ahead. True to previous experiences he is more inclined to bend to the left than to the right. But he did do it, just a little.

Tomorrow we are off to ride the Buffalo. We will ride with Don and Carol Miller starting at Steel Creek.

It was cold, 21 degrees, but not windy this morning. Magic and I rode in the Oak pasture, up on Shirey and in the arena. He was well behaved but the frost put a keen edge on his attitude. Magic does test the situation occasionally. His rebellion is most often balking. I just wait and give him some time. With his good nature, his decision has always been to go ahead. He does it less now than at first so it is not a problem. It is just part of the process of becoming a good horse. We had not been up on Shirey for some time. The deer hunters have a huge very tall “blind” out in the middle of the field. It does not bother Magic but he did give it the eye. The oats we planted for the deer are thick and tall. I let Magic graze a bit. Riding around the perimeter, I spotted a shed. (A shed is an antler voluntarily relinquished by a male deer. They shed antlers every year.)  Then we went down to the arena to do some exercises. There I spotted another shed. This one was a spike, more difficult to find because it is considerably smaller. I left the shed on the ground planning to come back and pick it up after the ride. York was following along behind us and when he passed the shed, he noticed it. I jumped off Magic and encouraged York to pick up the antler and bring it to me. And he did! I like to end on a good note so we all went back to the barn. The ground was frozen and Magic’s footsteps were louder than normal. It was a good ride. The sun was shining.