Pot boiled over!
Butkins didn't come in with the big boys again last night so I left him out there while the other two stood in for an hour or so eating some food. When I went to move the big boys to the barn, Buttie was there at the gate, so I let him have the few nuts that were in his stable, to show him how good it was to come in.
The cats are on a final warning! There are RAT droppings in my haylage and I have lost two bales, gone musty with holes in. They need to get off their furry little backsides and DO THEIR JOB!!! They've been warned - no food, no fires until that rat is gone. (nah, I couldn't do it!)
Jazz and I went to Sonia's for a lesson. He was very uppity today. I don't know if he thought that he was going hunting, or if the mirrors upset him (they are new, though he did not appear to care about them particularly, it was two other spots that he knows well that he was making a fuss about). He did some really good work and Sonia was very pleased with the progress he has made in his elevation. She says he is progressing very fast indeed.
But suddenly he decided that the pressure was too much for him and he blew up,and tried to climb out of the indoor arena by going over the top of the bales of straw (two hestons high!) which the arena is lined with. Sonia has never seen him behave like that before and says that she is pleased to have seen it because now she understands just what I've been dealing with. (Judith, she confirmed that this type of behaviour is indeed very common in young warmbloods, particularly Dutch ones.)
Anyway, between the two of us we coaxed him to calm down and produce some more excellent work, while being very careful not to push him so far that he found it so difficult that he blew up again. He's done some great trot and some fantastic canter and one severely good canter/walk and some really very passable simple changes. All in all he was a good boy.
C
posted by cptrayes @ 2:34 PM
8 comments
8 Comments:
Good heavens. I need to warn Stacie about the Dutch warmbloods before she buys one in her quest.
That is scary stuff. I don't think any of my Thorougbreds, even at their worst ever tried anything like that. The one thing they seem to have is a sense of self-preservation. I think that would totally unnerve me.
But I am so glad Sonia saw it. Not only did she give you some strategy to help avoid such a reaction but she affirmed your suspicions about it all and let you know it is not something you created or caused. It helps to have some validation.
I can remember your frustration and pain when people were criticizing you at the competitions when he jumped so erratically. I hope this makes you feel better about it all.
Meanwhile you are just going to have to find that fine line between pushing him too far and pushing enough to get the training done. (Kind of same way I have to deal with Tucker who shuts down instead--but could explode.)
Buttie is certainly "his own man," isn't he. Chance is a lot like that too. There is a certain air of self-confidence I really appreciate. Makes for an endearing personality. (And a really good ride. Think you might drive Buttons eventually? I think he'd be really good at it.)
Ooops, meant to add...are your cats actually ratters? At one of my old barns, only one of the cats dared to go after the rats. She was amazing. But the others would not tangle with them.
That's why I worried about the haylage bales here. Both mice and rats and maybe even the squirrels might decide to chew through and then the bale's ruined.
Hungry cats do not tend to hunt as well has happy, fed ones, actually.
Goodness were you on his back when he decided to run up the heston bales? That reminds me of a friend's warmblood (not sure if Dutch) ran up the side of a haystack I wouldnt have beleived it if I hadnt seen it for myself. He stood on the top looking down at us all as if to say how did that happen. We had to dismantle the side to make some steps so he could get down, crazy fool - fortunately he grew out of it eventually. Mind you Monty is an TB/ID and still a complete nutter at 16 so at least warmbloods grow out of it lol
Re Buttie - what on earth is he up too - think you should get some night vision set up!
Anne
Oops that rings a bell...this is how Polo ran through the fence when Ali arrived.He will literally explode up in the air or run without thinking when he either gets too excited or really scared,he's definitely not a Warmblood though:)))
Hence why it was white knuckle stuff when Ryan said I had to ride him through the 'hot psycho' episodes during our second lesson with him!It did work though cos he's never put a foot wrong in the school since then.
This is where Buttie doesnt quite fit the bill of a dog..I guarantee you'd have no rats or mice if you had a Border!:)
You can tell Stacie from me that in her situation, I wouldn't buy a Dutch one younger than seven Jean, you have no idea any younger what they might turn into!
I do plan to teach Button to drive eventually, I thought it might be a lot of fun.
I'm sure he's a dog Nicola, he loves having his head stroked :-) Not good with rats though, I agree. One of our cats is a ratter, because I have had two dead ones delivered in the last 3 years. But he is getting old now and the younger male may be less brave. And our female is a girlie, far too fastidious to catch anything for herself - she just waits for a male to bring it in for her.
Anne I was on him, and stayed on him. He did it three times, at the same spot each time, before we managed to catch him and stop him from getting to where he could get away from me. He has always gone "up" to escape situations he doesn't like - up on the tack locker in the lorry, up on the banks if he spooks on the road. It's a weird idiosyncracy, I've never known it before. Even Sonia thinks he's wrongly wired somewhere after seeing what he did today.
I just hope it's not a sign that we are in for another summer of argument, like last year.
C
good that RI saw it though, there's nothing worse than telling people what your horse is like and them really NOT getting it because they haven't seen it...
You are so right Claire, it actually takes a weight off my mind as Jean suggested. He's an odd horse and no mistake - he has been crying this morning because I have been playing with Button - really anguished cries that I am not with him instead. What an emotional creature, and would you believe it that one of my best friends doesn't believe a horse has emotions!!
C
ps You are right - it was obvious from how Sonia reacted that although I had told her all about him, she hadn't really believed me!
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