Saturday, August 8, 2009

Pushy horses

Howdy!

I thought I would let you know what is up around here. We have had Sharon's family here for a few days. They left on Thursday. We had a great time with them. Sharon played several hours of pinochle with them. I think she got her fill for a while.
I had a new horse delivered for me to work with last Monday. She is a 7 yr old Quarter horse that I have found out is very pushy. I have had to work everyday on getting to stay out of my space. You know there are people like that. They are the bullies, those who think that you are there to serve them. They show up at work, at home, at the store. They live among our acquaintances and friends. So I have had to make her know the boundaries and to be consistent with her at enforcing them. With people you know you might have to draw a line regarding your time or conversation. But draw the line and stick to it no matter how they whine about it. This horse has to learn to be under authority and until she does she will not be a safe horse. I was told that she has bucked her owner off 2x last fall, but not lately. I have to wonder if she has just not been put in a situation where she thought the answer was to buck. So Yesterday I made her buck by something we call flanking out. It is when you put a rope around their girth and after asking them to move off to the right or left you tighten the rope around their girth or flank to make the buck and hopefully stay with them until they stop or slow down without bucking and possibly give you two eyes. Unfornately, I did this three times and she still didn't really give me a calmness I am looking for. In fact, in taking the risk she doesn't really like me anymore. So I have to work with her more and win her back and then try again. I can't safely get on her back even though she has been ridden until we work through this. So I will start again on Monday. In the meantime everything about my mannerisms around her will be soft and gentle. The problem is that she is okay with having things her way, but when I or another rider adds pressure will she blow up? Who knows? The thing that has to happen is that she needs to willingly yield to pressure no matter what. That is just going to take time. I've got just over three more weeks with her and I am not sure I will get it all accomplished. If this horse is going to be a good horse these things have to be worked through. It is kinda like raising kids. No one wants to raise a tyrant or worse yet a passive aggressive person who will blow up when least expected. Allow that with a horse and the consequences can be injurious, to say the least. I will keep you posted on the progress.
In the meantime take things slow and easy and you will have a more harmonious outcome.
See Ya!

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