Lucy was not a happy horsey this morning when I went out to work. I worked her after I messed with Aztec. Mind you, work is a loose term. I watched her run in circles in the round pen. That is what I'm calling working Lucy.
So here's how the morning went:
I went out and moved Lucy to their stall, so I could move Aztec in and out of the pen without worrying about Luce getting out. She was completely cool with that. Went right in. After working with Az, I walked in Luce's stall and touched her neck. She jumped. Not big, but enough for me to pet her slower. I finally clipped onto her halter with a lead, and I tried to walk her over to tie up, like I did with Az. Nope. No ma'am, she said. She planted her feet and wouldn't budge.
So after waiting her out with pressure on the lead, she finally took a step. I threw the rope down. (I tend to over exaggerate when I'm first training horses. I want them to get the right idea with as little confusion as possible.) I literally dropped that lead like it was hot. She chewed. Yay, progress! I thought. I recollected myself and picked the rope back up. I asked her to move and lead. And what do you know? Another stand off. Now, I realize that I can maybe out wait her, but I most certainly cannot win a battle with this girl. She's huge and really headstrong. I did wind up dragging her over to be tied. And then that ball game began.
After I finally got her through the pen door and into the barn (where she's been a hundred times before), I pulled her over to a tie out ring. I slipped the lead rope through the ring, and pulled her up close so there was just enough slack, but not too much for her to potentially get caught up if she continued on her nutty streak. I *quickly* tied a quick release knot and back up slowly, so as not to freak her out, since all of a sudden quick movements send her over the edge to a point of no return. And.... drum roll, please....
She stood there.
No fuss or carrying on. Nope. Little turkey stood like she'd been tied up a thousand times. No big deal. I was pretty excited to see that she didn't lose it over not being able to move about. She was chill as I could have hoped for. I left her tied for maybe ten minutes, then I moved into the round pen.
Let me tell you, that was no fun whatsoever. Got in, and she wanted to run. Asked her to stop and disengage, and she wanted to run me over. Asked her to move out, she took off ninety miles an hour. There was no winning with her. When I tried to avert my eyes and pet her shoulder, she bolted. I moved my arm, she bolted. I blinked, she bolted. Like, for real? What is this mess? Finally I gave up. She was dripping sweat, I was sun touched, and Aztec was staring at the gate, seeming to say "you fool. If you just stand there, she lets you back out. Calm the heck down." So I put her in a stall with just a teeny bit of water, since she was too hot to drink all she wanted.
BUT, this evening when I went out to feed them their dinner, I worked her again. She was still in the stall, so she was easy to catch. This time, she followed me, like she learned to a week ago. She walked right into the pen and faced me. I touched her forehead and ears and neck, and she was calm as could be. I decided against asking her to move too much, since she wasn't already trying to act silly. I did put a grocery bag on the end of my extension stick and rubbed it all over her. Never flinched. She did try to eat it, but that was just cute. So I let her. Not swallow it, but chew on it. It was so funny. (:
I also brushed her while she was calm. She stood perfectly still for that as well. Never seemed fazed by anything I did. My guess for her actions: severe horsey bipolar disorder.
No comments:
Post a Comment