Recently, as a favor to one of my trail riding buddies who's been laid up due to a knee injury, I've been turning out his horse while I'm riding Max after work.
My buddy's horse is an 8-year old Thoroughbred Mare who originally was a race horse (I'll just refer to her as "The Mare"). Thoroughbreds have a reputation for being high-strung and this one is no exception. Worse, being a mare, she's a bit moody and you never know how she'll act- definately not my choice for a horse but as they say, "horses for courses"!
Anyway, she gets a bit high-strung and downright crazy when she hasn't been turned out so my buddy asked that I turn her out since he can't make up to the stables. For a couple of weeks I've been turning her out with no drama. The drill is: I'll tack up Max and leave him tied up while I go get The Mare and put her in the main arena. The main arena is pretty big and it allows a lot of room for a horse to run around.
Getting The Mare back in her stall has always been a tad difficult because besides what I've mentioned above, The Mare is also afraid of low-ceilings and the insides of trailers. Our theory is that she was forced into the starting gate one too many times in a somewhat brutal manner and this has given her phobia to low-lying ceilings and the like.
Everything was fine until I went to put her back in her stall. Usually, I lead her to the entrance to her stall and let her walk in on her own. You can't rush the process or force her- you have to talk softly to her. Usually, this is sufficient...
Unfortuantely, not last night...when I urged The Mare into her stall, she took a couple of steps, immediate froze up and then backed out at warp speed. It was like a freight train and I almost got run over. She then proceeded to run around the stable and barn like a maniac until she found a patch of grass to graze on.
15 minutes later, I'd managed to corner The Mare and get a lead rope around her neck. Once again I tried to get her into the stall and once again, she backed out in a panic and it took another 15 minutes to catch her. The third time, she refused to move at all. I'd walk her up the her stall but once there, there was no moving her forward. I tried everything I could think of (and keep from getting injured from a flying hoof) with no success. Talk about frustration- it was a real trial trying to keep my patience.
There was simply something there that The Mare was afraid of and no amount of urging, bribes, gentle tapping from a driving whip, etc. could get her budge.
I finally had to call my buddy to let him know and we ultimately wound up leaving The Mare in the arena and my buddy's daughter will try to deal with her during the day.
Personally, I would have gotten rid of The Mare long ago. She has many undesreable characteristics and I know some people love the speed aspect but to me, it's simply no fun having to deal with a high strung horse who won't even listen to simple commands (whoaa means nothing to her- completely unacceptable).
Of course while this was all going on, the other horses were getting buzzed up and excited. At this this point, Max decided to act up by trying to back up uncontrolably (he was tied up and I was going to move him into his stall). I managed to command him to halt and keep him under control- thank god for all the training I've done! The SOB was definately taking advantage of the situation.
In the end, all this took over an hour and I didn't get home until after 10 PM and pretty much ate a snadwhich and went to bed. What a royal pain in the ass!
My buddy's horse is an 8-year old Thoroughbred Mare who originally was a race horse (I'll just refer to her as "The Mare"). Thoroughbreds have a reputation for being high-strung and this one is no exception. Worse, being a mare, she's a bit moody and you never know how she'll act- definately not my choice for a horse but as they say, "horses for courses"!
Anyway, she gets a bit high-strung and downright crazy when she hasn't been turned out so my buddy asked that I turn her out since he can't make up to the stables. For a couple of weeks I've been turning her out with no drama. The drill is: I'll tack up Max and leave him tied up while I go get The Mare and put her in the main arena. The main arena is pretty big and it allows a lot of room for a horse to run around.
Getting The Mare back in her stall has always been a tad difficult because besides what I've mentioned above, The Mare is also afraid of low-ceilings and the insides of trailers. Our theory is that she was forced into the starting gate one too many times in a somewhat brutal manner and this has given her phobia to low-lying ceilings and the like.
Everything was fine until I went to put her back in her stall. Usually, I lead her to the entrance to her stall and let her walk in on her own. You can't rush the process or force her- you have to talk softly to her. Usually, this is sufficient...
Unfortuantely, not last night...when I urged The Mare into her stall, she took a couple of steps, immediate froze up and then backed out at warp speed. It was like a freight train and I almost got run over. She then proceeded to run around the stable and barn like a maniac until she found a patch of grass to graze on.
15 minutes later, I'd managed to corner The Mare and get a lead rope around her neck. Once again I tried to get her into the stall and once again, she backed out in a panic and it took another 15 minutes to catch her. The third time, she refused to move at all. I'd walk her up the her stall but once there, there was no moving her forward. I tried everything I could think of (and keep from getting injured from a flying hoof) with no success. Talk about frustration- it was a real trial trying to keep my patience.
There was simply something there that The Mare was afraid of and no amount of urging, bribes, gentle tapping from a driving whip, etc. could get her budge.
I finally had to call my buddy to let him know and we ultimately wound up leaving The Mare in the arena and my buddy's daughter will try to deal with her during the day.
Personally, I would have gotten rid of The Mare long ago. She has many undesreable characteristics and I know some people love the speed aspect but to me, it's simply no fun having to deal with a high strung horse who won't even listen to simple commands (whoaa means nothing to her- completely unacceptable).
Of course while this was all going on, the other horses were getting buzzed up and excited. At this this point, Max decided to act up by trying to back up uncontrolably (he was tied up and I was going to move him into his stall). I managed to command him to halt and keep him under control- thank god for all the training I've done! The SOB was definately taking advantage of the situation.
In the end, all this took over an hour and I didn't get home until after 10 PM and pretty much ate a snadwhich and went to bed. What a royal pain in the ass!
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