Temper temper
Jazz is sound again so I rode. It was extremely interesting.....
But first Zippy, who yet again was totally mad this morning and wouldn't be caught. I have to catch Jazz with a bucket of food and take him out, and then I can get Zippy - in fact he is a little angel then! It was raining again so he had the day off rather that trog round and round in the barn for another day.
Jazz? - well, I took off my coat because it was warm, and rather than hang it in its usual place I put it on the floor and worked around it. The aim was to get it through to him that he is to rely on me to tell him when things are dangerous or not. He was pretty good, and managed to keep his attention on me most of the time.
The saddle seemed to me to be balanced wrongly, so after half an hour I went and fetched the air pump. I put a puff of air in one side at the back, put the little plastic bag with the pump and tubes in down on the floor by the door, and got back on. Now, of course, we had two things going on - he had stopped and didn't see why he should restart AND there was a strange little plastic bag on the floor. He overreacted to it in a huge way - refusing to go near it, running past it flat out, or looking at it the whole time even when we were circling up the other end.
It was GREAT!! Just what I needed him to do. I was able to battle through, flicking him with the whip to go forward (I didn't take my hand off the reins, I wasn't belting him). He backed up, kicked out, ran off and finally did one absolutely HUGE buck. Then knuckled down and did what I told him, for which I was able to reward him with a lot of "good boy" noises.
I'm going to do exactly the same thing as often as I can. I shall do half an hour's good work first, then get off and fetch something horrid for him to spook at. All ideas gratefully received for what he will hate most :-) ! That will kill two birds with one stone - it'll address his issue of deciding that we have stopped work and that he will not restart, and it'll teach him to rely on me to tell him if something is dangerous, and to listen to me even if he thinks it might be going to kill him.
That's the theory anyways!!
C.
posted by cptrayes @ 4:06 PM
9 comments
9 Comments:
Those shiny mylar balloons freak Toby out big time. Plastic flowers, any pink plastic flamingoes around? Garden trolls? Make scarecrow. Blue plastic tarp and he has to walk ON it.
Kenny Harlow/John Lyons technique for scary stuff REALLY works and, over time makes the horse surrender fast. Approach scary object only as close as horse will go. Then begin going back and forth in front of object at safe distance, ideally at a trot, quickly turning at the end of line each time turning towards the object. Keep horse moving back and forth, etc. Gradually getting nearer and nearer to scary object, but keeping horse moving laterally to the object. Horse gets tired of all the work, soon finds approaching object is much less work. Hope that makes the process clear.
What you should find is that soon, horse spooks at scary thing. You begin the back and forth and very quickly horse gives in and says, "Heck, I'd rather look at that thing than do all this silly back and forth stuff."
Kenny got Toby to walk over a very scary blue tarp in less than 3 minutes. The mylar balloon took longer, but soon Toby was just going past it too without a look. (Wouldn't trust him today with a balloon, but haven't run into any lately, so I don't worry too much about it.) If Tucker gets spooky about something that's somewhere I can do the exercise, it only takes a few passes before he too gives in. (Kind of hard in the show ring, though.)
The Jazz, "OK, we stopped, so now we're done working, I quit," is a Tucker thing too. You are spot on about starting up again. My current philosophy is to pick up the reins, get something good and then quit for the day. As I am more sure he is fit and not sore, I will do more in the second session, letting him know he always has to work when asked.
Zip is getting that teenage attitude. A bit young to start, but then again, he is precocious. *G*
Ooooh yes, shiny balloons! Blue tarp is no godo because until this winter I have always fed them haylage off one - too associated with good stuff now!
A friend has suggested an umbrella - I've never known a horse that wasn't scared of umbrellas, so that'll be a good one.
Thanks Jean!
C
children's buggies - with and without hoods! that's always a good one. feel sure you know someone with one of those about.
Flags of different sizes, on long sticks - you could tie anything to a long stick, plastic bags, paper,feed bags... post them in different places where you ride or even in their fields. Maybe place a carrot on top if you can!
ML
Oh I posted good ideas yesterday but blogger did not take it grrr
You also can use noisy thing like :
- electrical tooth brush switch on in a plastic bag,
- physio ball,
- umbrellas open AND closed
- tarp,
need to think more LOL
WOnderful suggestions, thankyou everyone! Claire does buggy have to come with a child? I'm allergic to those :-))))
C
Emergency blankets (those shiny things you get in 1st aid kits and at the end of running a marathon) with a brick on each corner are TERRIFYING, or so horses tell me. Can you beg, borrow or steal a VERY LARGE soft toy to sit in the child's pushchair, or in an adult wheelchair?
How about a tent?
A folding drying rack with - or without - your best knickers on ...
A set of stepladders with someone (Superhubby?) standing on them, waving a flag or umbrella, as Jazz is heading towards a jump ... LOL!
Michaela
Michaela you have a devious mind, no wonder that you like mules:-) !
C.
I bet if the stepladder/Superhubby combination was BEHIND the jump, Jazz would be over even the most terrifying jump in the twinkling of an eye ... ;)
M.
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