Mounted search and rescue

[Karen Nesbitt <spanishequines@yahoo.com>]

Well, since we have been having a discussion on bells, today I worked with 5 different horses and a set of jingle bells (the type that tie to the harness on a driving horse)  and got both good and bad response!

 

Horse number one I was able to walk right up jingling the bells and tied them right on her halter.  We longed with a saddle on and that went well for this mare.  I next tied the bells to her saddle.  No problem and then took the bells and tied them to her tail.  This mare enjoyed the noise the bells made no matter what we did with them.  Mare was 8 years old, has had limited riding and doing fine.

 

Horse number two, tied to the halter and to the saddle she was fine, but that was all the further we got. A four year old filly, just broke to saddle, no rider.  She seems to enjoy all we do, but needs further work.

 

Horse number 3, tied to the halter this filly would strike out trying to dislodge them from herself and well, needless to say, she was a tad "rattled"  but after workin gwith her for a few more minutes, she seemed to accept them ok until I untied them from her halter and put them in my pocket which turned the tinkle tinkle sound to a deadened noise, much like a rattle snake and needless to say the filly came unglued!  This was a three year old filly who has a tendency to strike with her front feet.  Working with the bells was not as easy due to her striking..  She also came unglued afterwards at the hitching line..just out of resentment and showing us she is a fighter.  But we were able to calm her quickly and got back to basics to finish on a good note.  Can't wait to tie them to her tail...NOT!

 

Numer 4 filly, we got as far as tying the bells  to the long line and was able to longe her with the bells swinging in her face and hitting her breast.  On this filly having had the previous filly come unglued, we found the best way to tie te bells were to use a quick release so in case the horse came unglued we could get the bells off quickly to settle the horse down.  We train on the theory, don't start no bucking and there will be no bucking and when they get unnerved we want them to quit that behavior as quickly as possible, get back on a good note and begin again and so we can end HAPPY.  Filly number 4 was a four year old, just broke to saddle only having saddled 2 times prior.

 

Filly number 5,  only got as far as tying to the long line and longing.  She is a three year old, some what timid and was fair to accept the bells.  She has yet to be saddled

 

Point of all this, different horses react differently to the noise.  Some like it.  Mare #1 accepted them readily and was licking her lips in pleasure to the sound.  Also, points of tying the bells, different locations ON the horse will create different reactions.  Not all pleasant and the sound of the bells, from a tinkle to a dead thud rattle as in the ones in my pocket.. well, here again, different horses reacting differently.

 

So there you have it!  Bell breaking in breif.. go slow, go cautious and do not expect them to like it the next day!  But keep at it! Today, it was jingle bells, tomorrow, the cow bell.  Semi horns and train whistles... oh joy!)

 

(Due to age, horse IQ and time restraints on working with the animals and their different levels in training, I would say we had a pretty good day!)

 

K. Nesbitt

Vmsar

Iroquois County - Illinois