"The horses were amazing on the weekend. That little Fjord horse knows EVERYthing I know how to do. EVERYTHING. shoulder in, shoulder out, half pass left, half pass right... backwards, forwards, whichway do you want it lady? He's amazing. I guess the only thing left is to hitch him to his cart and let him teach me to drive..."
Jill was enthused, her co-workers were busy. And, she was really just thinking out loud how she needed another part time job...
"And the two year old, she lunged for her first time, and she understood." Anyone could tell Jill was horse crazy and had found some new equine-love-of-her-life magic.... but, were they in love with her too?
Her companion had noticed how much better the young one was visit over visit.
And the lovely assistant also noticed how, Jill, upon switching roles with the barn hand in the effort of getting the stubborn about the driveshed beast, to actually walk through the outer building and into the barn, by simply tickling with the whip where she wished she could place a leg aid and how he went forward so correctly after being asked with this finesse instead of pulled or chased.
W o w.
2012-04-23
2012-04-12
Open House Goals?
"The sanest one, the calmest, safest, most trainable of the the herd reared up in the cross ties and broke free and went running loose down the barn hall. You know that expression about closing the barn door AFTER the horse? I got very lucky." Roomie said to her coworkers, reporting on her weekend. From now on we close that door, even when its warm enough to have it open.
"And as for the mr. premature and bottlefed? I find him to be very different from every other horse I have ever worked with. He's so mouthy and far too in my space and rude. He's a lot more like a 2 year old than an 8 year old. He's had a lot of pasture living but he still seems like he has a hard time reading the herd and honoring social cues... I find him somewhat frustrating to work with. It's almost like I'm trying to speak a language to him that he's not all that fluent in." she was mostly talking to herself. The guys at the music shop weren't really into horses. She was on-line researching his issues on the chat forums. About 65% of folks seems to think euthanizing a horse made more sense than bottle feeding it, because of the problems it left the animal with for life. About 30% of participants had made peace with the animals as untrainable lawn ornaments. And very occasionally there was a story of a bottle fed horse that became a useful riding horse.
Next time, she thought she would bring in the bottle fed chesnut character first and let him hang around in his stall while she groomed and worked with some of the others. She was hoping he would turn out to be smart, and learn quickly, even if he responded to training differently...
Apparently, he'd had some professional training that amounted to nothing since the trainer couldn't deal with him. At home, Jill agreed that if you have patience, you could get through to him. They discussed how even when he is not overly pushy, the reminders to not be so have to be constant. He is different, just different mentally. Very self confident, almost oblvious to danger and unware we are not his physical playmate. "The horse seems to want to identify with people, more than with horses. He doesn't quite 'get' that he is a horse. He doesn't seem to care if he's with the herd or not, he is so overly very interested in people. It seems sometimes he's thinking he's a human with four legs or that we are horses with two legs."
When she'd been out in the paddock picking up rocks, he'd come right over and she'd thought he'd might hurt his teeth with his assumption every thing was mouthable. And then he was in her space the whole time she walked to the edge of the paddock to place the big potato sized stones. In hindsight, Roomie was pondering the crazy idea to try and teach him to move the rocks on his own! He'd love the attention.
"And as for the mr. premature and bottlefed? I find him to be very different from every other horse I have ever worked with. He's so mouthy and far too in my space and rude. He's a lot more like a 2 year old than an 8 year old. He's had a lot of pasture living but he still seems like he has a hard time reading the herd and honoring social cues... I find him somewhat frustrating to work with. It's almost like I'm trying to speak a language to him that he's not all that fluent in." she was mostly talking to herself. The guys at the music shop weren't really into horses. She was on-line researching his issues on the chat forums. About 65% of folks seems to think euthanizing a horse made more sense than bottle feeding it, because of the problems it left the animal with for life. About 30% of participants had made peace with the animals as untrainable lawn ornaments. And very occasionally there was a story of a bottle fed horse that became a useful riding horse.
Next time, she thought she would bring in the bottle fed chesnut character first and let him hang around in his stall while she groomed and worked with some of the others. She was hoping he would turn out to be smart, and learn quickly, even if he responded to training differently...
Apparently, he'd had some professional training that amounted to nothing since the trainer couldn't deal with him. At home, Jill agreed that if you have patience, you could get through to him. They discussed how even when he is not overly pushy, the reminders to not be so have to be constant. He is different, just different mentally. Very self confident, almost oblvious to danger and unware we are not his physical playmate. "The horse seems to want to identify with people, more than with horses. He doesn't quite 'get' that he is a horse. He doesn't seem to care if he's with the herd or not, he is so overly very interested in people. It seems sometimes he's thinking he's a human with four legs or that we are horses with two legs."
When she'd been out in the paddock picking up rocks, he'd come right over and she'd thought he'd might hurt his teeth with his assumption every thing was mouthable. And then he was in her space the whole time she walked to the edge of the paddock to place the big potato sized stones. In hindsight, Roomie was pondering the crazy idea to try and teach him to move the rocks on his own! He'd love the attention.
Jill agreed and added that he seems to have a sense of humor too to be the kind of horse that
steals ball caps and brings them back. And hoped they could find him a new owner that would be the kind
that would like it if that the silly horse would try to play games, like
stealing his hat and, turning his head, hang it on the horn.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)