Post by chrisbetson on Aug 7, 2008 22:32:33 GMT 1
She was 17 hands of warmblood cross dark bay mare and I fell in love with her the first time I rode her, she offered such a lovely trot and canter within a few minutes of getting on her.
I got her home that same week and was looking forward to a long and happy relationship with this lovely horse that was so well mannered on the ground when I went to see her.
The first shock was when I tied her up outside the stable to groom her and tack her up for the first time - she went straight back and up, broke the baling twine and trotted up the road on her own, constantly stepping on the leadrope, jerking her head and rearing again - fortunately a private road and only as far as her field, where she stopped and allowed herself to be caught.
In the next two weeks she broke two leadropes, a headcollar and the light fitting outside her stable!
Desperate to find a solution to this I talked with a friend I made on another forum who suggested someone she had used and who had solved problems with her ponies.
Enter LizP ( take a bow
) a small person clutching some lines with some difficulty having just lost part of her thumb in an accident.
We started by catching Scully in the field - I was told in no uncertain terms that I wasn't being firm enough and I was shown how to take control and keep her moving - once I had passed muster on that we went up to the stable to work on this tying up issue.
We first did some backing up training getting her to take one step back and then yielding immediately she moved, after a little while I was able to make her take one step after another.
Then we put a long rope on her and "tied " her to a post - running the long rope round the post so I could pull on the other end to put pressure on her.
At first we had some strong pull backs which got less and less as the rope kept pressure on as she pulled, she only got release by coming towards the post - eventually I was able to walk her in a circle up to the post and "tie" her with very little reaction.
Then we repeated this with the tie ring on her stable and after a few fairly gentle pull backs she realised there was no danger and even caught herself doing it and stopped.
It took a few more repetitions to cement the new behaviour, but now I can tie her up to the same frayed old bit of baling twine that has been there for the last 3 months without any problem.
Round 2 came with trying to load her in the horsebox - I had tried it alone one day and all I got was a lot of ramp pawing and turning away.
Next day I had a lesson with my RI on her and after the lesson asked if she would help me load Scully - well, that's when the fun started - we got the same ramp pawing and sniffing I had the day before when I tried it on my own but then we got rearing and all sorts of naughtiness!
She found that she could avoid the ramp by going sideways to the left and squashing my RI who was trying to encourage her on. After around 20 minutes of this she actually got on the ramp and suddenly galloped into the box - took me totally by surprise and of course she came up the wrong side of the ramp so she had her head where her bum should be, whereupon she bangs her head on the hay rack and gallops out of the box again!
No amount of persuading would get her back in, so I rang one of the yard staff who came over to help, so now there were three of us with lunge ropes round her bum and through her bit - but still she avoided coming onto the ramp!
Another 1/2 hour later I moved the box out into the yard where there was more space and we tried again but Scully had the measure of my two expert horsewomen and if there was an Olympic Gold for horse stubbornness, Scully would win it hands down.
Enter LizP again (another bow please, Liz) after a session doing some leading work and some training in using the Dually halter I got for Scully - Liz said let's try walking her over the ramp of the lorry.
So I backed it out into the open and we had the usual reaction from Scully - going off to the left and then rearing.
Liz had me take of the ramp fence and hold it alongside the left of the approach to the ramp - hey, scary or what!
Scully carried on rearing and resisting but after asking again and again and then backing her off and letting her come forward herself, after 10 minutes Scully was standing on the ramp like it was perfectly normal behaviour!
A few more minutes and she loaded right in - not once but 3 or 4 times - just up and in, turn, peer out and then walk down without a care in the world!
I was excited, Liz was emotional (her first load after the accident) and Scully said she didn't know what all the fuss was about!
We still have lots of issues to solve with my complex mare but with the support I get from Liz and others I have every reason to expect we will do it the IH way.
I got her home that same week and was looking forward to a long and happy relationship with this lovely horse that was so well mannered on the ground when I went to see her.
The first shock was when I tied her up outside the stable to groom her and tack her up for the first time - she went straight back and up, broke the baling twine and trotted up the road on her own, constantly stepping on the leadrope, jerking her head and rearing again - fortunately a private road and only as far as her field, where she stopped and allowed herself to be caught.
In the next two weeks she broke two leadropes, a headcollar and the light fitting outside her stable!
Desperate to find a solution to this I talked with a friend I made on another forum who suggested someone she had used and who had solved problems with her ponies.
Enter LizP ( take a bow
) a small person clutching some lines with some difficulty having just lost part of her thumb in an accident.We started by catching Scully in the field - I was told in no uncertain terms that I wasn't being firm enough and I was shown how to take control and keep her moving - once I had passed muster on that we went up to the stable to work on this tying up issue.
We first did some backing up training getting her to take one step back and then yielding immediately she moved, after a little while I was able to make her take one step after another.
Then we put a long rope on her and "tied " her to a post - running the long rope round the post so I could pull on the other end to put pressure on her.
At first we had some strong pull backs which got less and less as the rope kept pressure on as she pulled, she only got release by coming towards the post - eventually I was able to walk her in a circle up to the post and "tie" her with very little reaction.
Then we repeated this with the tie ring on her stable and after a few fairly gentle pull backs she realised there was no danger and even caught herself doing it and stopped.
It took a few more repetitions to cement the new behaviour, but now I can tie her up to the same frayed old bit of baling twine that has been there for the last 3 months without any problem.
Round 2 came with trying to load her in the horsebox - I had tried it alone one day and all I got was a lot of ramp pawing and turning away.
Next day I had a lesson with my RI on her and after the lesson asked if she would help me load Scully - well, that's when the fun started - we got the same ramp pawing and sniffing I had the day before when I tried it on my own but then we got rearing and all sorts of naughtiness!
She found that she could avoid the ramp by going sideways to the left and squashing my RI who was trying to encourage her on. After around 20 minutes of this she actually got on the ramp and suddenly galloped into the box - took me totally by surprise and of course she came up the wrong side of the ramp so she had her head where her bum should be, whereupon she bangs her head on the hay rack and gallops out of the box again!
No amount of persuading would get her back in, so I rang one of the yard staff who came over to help, so now there were three of us with lunge ropes round her bum and through her bit - but still she avoided coming onto the ramp!
Another 1/2 hour later I moved the box out into the yard where there was more space and we tried again but Scully had the measure of my two expert horsewomen and if there was an Olympic Gold for horse stubbornness, Scully would win it hands down.
Enter LizP again (another bow please, Liz) after a session doing some leading work and some training in using the Dually halter I got for Scully - Liz said let's try walking her over the ramp of the lorry.
So I backed it out into the open and we had the usual reaction from Scully - going off to the left and then rearing.
Liz had me take of the ramp fence and hold it alongside the left of the approach to the ramp - hey, scary or what!
Scully carried on rearing and resisting but after asking again and again and then backing her off and letting her come forward herself, after 10 minutes Scully was standing on the ramp like it was perfectly normal behaviour!
A few more minutes and she loaded right in - not once but 3 or 4 times - just up and in, turn, peer out and then walk down without a care in the world!
I was excited, Liz was emotional (her first load after the accident) and Scully said she didn't know what all the fuss was about!
We still have lots of issues to solve with my complex mare but with the support I get from Liz and others I have every reason to expect we will do it the IH way.
;D
