Holly's Introduction to Archery

 

I hauled my targets and archery equipment out to the barn on Sunday to get some practice time in on Joe. Since I had the targets set and had my bow and arrows handy, I decided to introduce Holly to them. Holly continues to improve each day I work with her. She had two bad days in a row where everything seemed to set her off. I could barely get her blanket off while she was in the cross ties while she snorted and pawed.  Even on those two days, she worked well and was focused on the lunge line. It seemed that something back in the barn had set her off, she kept looking at the entrance to the barn where her stall is and would react anytime someone would walk through that space. There have been reports of a cougar sighting in the area, but I have a hard time believing she would be the only horse reacting if it had cruised through the barn. None of the other horses were acting like her. On the second day of Holly’s panic attacks someone let me know they had been giving her grain when they were feeding their own horses in the same aisleway. I had also been giving her grain with supplements. It wouldn’t surprise me if Holly is more sensitive to diet changes than other horses, especially when the extra helping of grain happened to highly processed and covered in molasses. She was back to herself within of day of being taken off it. She has worked well for the past week with no additional meltdowns, so it seemed like a good time as any to throw something totally new at her. There is no reason to train Holly for mounted archery other than my own curiosity. I have no plans to shoot off her back, I’m in no hurry to even sit on her. Joe did so well with his introduction to it, but he’s mostly good with everything I throw at him. I was curious if the method I used on him would work as well with Holly, or had I just been lucky with Joe due to his quiet nature.

The method I use is something the barn owner (Holly’s owner) taught me when I bought an unbroke AQHA mare from her 20+ years ago. Her training methods were “make your way the easy way”. When we wanted a desired behavior, like having our Western Pleasure horses go slow on the rail, we made it their reward. For the Pleasure horses we did all the hard work off the rail and at the end of the ride they got to walk a lap on the rail on a draped rein. Over time that walk became a jog and eventually a lope. The horses would practically pull you to the rail in the middle of a training session and then slow down once they hit it. We rarely had to school or correct them once they were on the rail. If they sped up, we went back to the middle of the arena and did more hard work.

When I first introduced Joe to archery, I made it our “cool out” after a ride. I started on the ground with him at 10 yards from the target, facing it. I stood between him and the target, with his lead rope draped over my arm. He could step back if he wanted to without running into any tension, but I would be able to grab the rope before he left the scene. I had walked him around with the bow in my hands, then while I was waving it around. I added an arrow to the mix, once he realized the feathers were not edible, he lost all interest. When I took my first shot with Joe on the ground, he merely flicked an ear towards the target. I walked with him at the end of the rope and continued to shoot the target, at which point I think he may have yawned. Within week I repeated the same process from his back, always picking up the bow at the end of my ride as his cool out from more intensive work. To this day when I pick up my bow from his back, I can feel him relax and almost say “sweet, I get a break now!” It did take a little convincing at one point when I asked him to trot and canter while I was shooting (hey, we walk when you shoot the bow), but I’ll take that any day over a horse that runs off when I drop my reins to take a shot.

I used the same ground introduction for Holly that I had used for Joe. We did our regular groundwork session on the lung line in the outdoor arena. I walked her by the targets a few times since they were a new addition since the last time she had been up there. She paid no attention to the targets or my quiver of arrows. When we were done lunging, I walked her towards a target and picked up my bow which was sitting on top. That scared her, she didn’t expect me to pick up a big curvy stick and lift it in the air. I didn’t make a big deal out of her reaction, just showed her the bow and then walked around with it with her a few feet behind me. I’ve found horses tend to be less afraid if they can follow the scary thing for a bit, over time it almost seems to trigger their curiosity. I had a mare that was terrified of anyone swinging a rope, she was brave about everything else, but had been roped as a foal and wanted nothing to do with anyone swinging anything rope like. This became a challenge during the years I rode her on a rodeo drill team, and we had to warm up with the team ropers. One time I put her about 5 strides behind a guy that was swinging a rope while loping his horse around the pen. I kept her behind him, following the horse with the cowboy’s rope swinging in a loop. The mare went from flipping her head each time he would swing, to settling down and even closing the space between her and his horse on her own. I used this method with Holly, first with the bow and then I picked up an arrow and continued to walk with her behind me. I drew my bow a few times with zero reaction from her. I then had her stand facing the target while I took my first shot. I kept an eye on her when the arrow hit the target, nothing, no reaction at all. I took another shot, and then a few more, still nothing. I might as well have Joe at the end of the line. I grabbed an arrow out of the quiver and walked her across from the target, taking a shot while walking past the target. Still no reaction. This is exactly what I was hoping for. The little mare that fears the shadows in her mind, could care less about the silly human shooting fast feather sticks at the colorful wheel. 

 

My goal with Holly remains the same, get her healthy both physically and mentally. That happens by getting her out of her stall every day and doing something with her. I don’t have any riding goals for her, and I don’t have plans to make her into an archery horse. If I have targets set for Joe I might as well use them with Holly. I like being able to add in Mounted Archery training on occasion to her work sessions, it feeds my curiosity about how her brain works and what triggers her fears. I'm thrilled that the method I used to introduce archery to Joe works just as well for a more reactive horse like Holly.