Sunshine and lollipops
I'm off to catch a train in a few minutes, but it was a glorious, still and sunny (if perishingly cold!) morning so I wanted to take Jazz out for a hack for the first time in ages. I didn't want to be time pressured, so I left the mucking out and took him first, knowing that I could always muck out this evening.
Things are definitely improving. We applied the dressage head-down-no-leg technique and got down the first hill with only one slight hesitation. But he threw a wobbler half way along the reservoir at a pile of stones fallen out of a wall. Now, this has to be a try-on. Anyone who lives in drystone wall country will tell you that this is a regular occurance, and Jazz has seen fallen stones fifty times at least. Not only that, but only two months ago a whole hundred yards of the wall was down prior to a rebuild and he passed that OK. He was pretty difficult, but only for a few minutes. I ended up being able to use the whip as more than a tickle. He kept kicking out and flicking his back end up, but I felt confident and secure and carried on until he moved. It took three attempts, each one closer to the horse-eating stones than the last, and then he crept passed.
The rest of the ride was perfect, with no arguments at all, even in places where I would have expected him to question me, like the triangle where he can turn and go home, but we went further on up the hill. He's never gone past that without at least raising an eyebrow at my decision, but not today.
Apart from the possible/probable ulcers, I think some of what happened over the summer was that he knew I did not have the strength in my shoulder, and then later my arm, to really control him. The winter mucking out and haylage lifting work has strengthened both right up (at the cost of a couple of aches now and then and two huge splints of bone on the ends of the plate!) Now I can hold him, spin him, and stop him going up the banks and he realises sooner rather than later that he has to give in.
They are both out in the sunshine now, and I'm off the the station.
C
posted by cptrayes @ 10:14 AM
7 comments
7 Comments:
No much is better than a good hack to start the day. Still damp and cold here. By the time the sun is out, I will be at work.
It may take Jazz a little while to realize the tummyache is really gone. Longtime habits don't go away immediately, but I'd guess his being easier to "fix" comes from there not being pain to escalate things.
The little rock pile is far more "horrifying" than a big one. Didn't you know those little rock monsters lurking under there nibble fetlocks? *G*
My Boys were spooking at the overturned black water trough covered in snow. Who knows what was hiding under that!!
I think your arm strength theory has merit. As well, you also might have been unconsciously a bit timid yourself knowing it was weaker and more vulnerable. I have a feeling with Jazz that one frangment of uncertainty on your part really affects his confidence.
I second Jean. I doubt that Jazz knew you were weaker, but he FELT that you were less assertive. He got frighten.
I disagree with you that he challenges your leadership. He is too a coward for that. However he checks if there is a leader. because if there is none, he goes back home, thanks very much ^-^
I bet you, that Zip will challenge you! A big way. You have to keep an eye on him. He will often ask the question "who is the leader?"
That Jazz asks "is there still a leader?"
Anyho the response is the same: calm assertiveness, you are surely good at it ^-^
Better than me for sure!
Ooh you're wrong there Muriel :-) !He argues until he's blue in the face about whether he's the leader or me! His leadership may mean an instant decision to run for home, but that doesn't mean he has none, and he certainly takes it into his head to challenge mine whenever he feels like it.
But I do completely agree that I was protecting my shoulder, then my arm, and I "felt" weaker whether I was or not, and he fed off that mental weakness. Spot on there.
Are the rock monsters furry or scaley Jean? I've never seen one :-)
C
Ah, the rock monsters are not visible to the human eye. That's the key. Only horses can see them. I do suspect they have huge teeth and a very aggressive nature. Scales, I'd suspect, to better blend with the rock surfaces. They lurk in camouflage, waiting to pounce upon the unsuspecting. Toby's an expert on them and he taught Tucker all he knows. (So far, no one's told Chance, and I surely won't--he walked right on by the big gray boulder without a second glance.)
Mea culpa then ^-^
According waht you wrote, I understood that he was not pushy or dominant?
Anyho, you have the right attitude, and get him at his place LOL!
No horse eating rock here, but we have lots of wind, so lots of leaves-eating horses ^-^
Better than horse eating leaves! The leaf monster is always a good one.
Though Chevy's favorite is the plastic bag in a tree monster. Instant eyes on stalks and exit stage left.
Yes, I rather thought scales myself :-) I've told Jazz not to breathe a word of it to Chance.
Yes, he does nice line in dominance when he feels like it Muriel :-)
Jen the funny thing is that because we are in farming country and have strong winds, there are always bits of plastic (silage wrapper, lamb coats, feed sacks) stuck to barbed wire and trees, and none of my horses is ever the slightest bit bothered by them. I never worked it out how that can be less scary than a bit of fallen stone or a smashed car headlight.
I'll be Chevy just freaks out at escaped party metallic helium balloons!
C
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