Getting Ready for Deworming

Hi Friends!

The exercise I have chosen for this week is fundamental, from my point of view, for the preparation of the yearlings.  It is the introduction to the girth.

This process takes place with a leather pad that has a girth attached; in Parelli we know it as the Bareback-Pad.  We use it to get them used to having some weight on their back and also, specifically, to help them accept the sensations of the girth.  This will avoid problems in the future when we move on to the next stage and begin to ride them.

In the video, you can see the process that we follow.  First, we want Holandesa to smell the pad and not be frightened by it.  As you can see, she accepts it easily, so Alex moves on to touching her with it all over her body, while always staying aware of her body language.  Alex approaches her from both sides of her body, and is very patient throughout the exercise.

Now, I would like to explain and highlight how we should introduce the girth. This must be a slow process.  Never hurry to tighten the girth 
quickly because this can be dangerous. The yearling’s reaction when feeling the girth tighten, could be to enter ‘flight’ or ‘fight’ mode.  The horse could feel trapped, as if a predator were attacking him, so be very careful!

Today’s objective is to reach the point of bringing the girth into cinching position, but without actually connecting it to the pad.

The steps:
* Acceptance of the human: This means that the yearling must feel comfortable with us.  His body language must show signs of relaxation like: a level neck, no tension in his body, and breathing in a relaxed and normal way.

* Acceptance of the pad: This is what we saw in the previous video.  The yearling is not afraid and accepts being touched all over with the object 
that we want to put on his back.

* Preparation for the girth: The yearling accepts the sounds made by the metal pieces and the feeling of the girth on his sides and belly.

* When we pass the girth under the yearling’s belly, we then hold it up against the horse so that there is a soft contact on the entire girth area, but without cinching or tightness.  We bring the girth up to make soft contact, then release and start again.

* We will repeat this process until we are sure that the yearling accepts the contact and feel created by the girth.  Then we will be able to slowly add pressure and start to tighten the girth - very slowly and softly.

Next week we will continue to explain this process and give more instruction and advice!