Sunday, February 5, 2017

"He's just a baby, don't worry," said Willy

I just want Mag to be over this nonsense already. Today he kicked out three different times at three different things. None of them being me, thankfully. Whoa, stop, I need to realize the importance of none of them being ME.

Now I'm going to ask the blogging world for help because Mag obviously has issues that need some sort of sacking out. Advanced sacking out? If I work on sacking out, he's fine, he's in "sacking out mode" - but if a rope falls between his legs...watch out. And I leave him in the large grooming stall with a trailing lead every day, that he steps on every day....

Ironically the first item of violence today was the wheelbarrow, there was a rake in it as I was moving it out of his paddock and as he sauntered over he the rake handle touched his back leg/blanket and he flipped out completely, kicking and prancing a circle, wild eyed with terror. I was speechless "This is your favorite toy!" and I started pushing the wheelbarrow toward him and he skittered away until he realized, "Oh that thing, it's that thing." Then I took the rake and raked his entire body, forehead to belly, whacking and scraping the blanket, especially near his hind legs. He stood there just fine. Willy came over, "I saw what happened." I ranted incoherently for a moment. He watched me rub Mag between the eyes with a garden rake and said, "Don't worry, he's just a baby." I said, "Still, still a baby." Mag can do no wrong in Willy's eyes - they come from the same land. I often find Willy talking in Polish to Mag.

Then Willy pointed to this new bloody sore on his cheek, which I didn't want to bring up earlier, and he said, "I got this yesterday when Gabi's school horses got into a scuffle and they trampled me." No way! I felt so bad for him. He just smiled.

It was day two of the ground work clinic, so the indoor was packed with people doing the most boring stuff on earth, for a piece of paper. I honestly felt sorry for these people cuz they're all mature horsewomen ('cept for Tanja) and they were paying 225E to learn to lead a horse properly.

But then they went on lunch break and told me I could use the indoor. I had 45 minutes. After a 10 minute warm up I started continuing the lesson that there is an actual difference between a jog and a trot, and that I have DISTINCT vocal commands for each and every gait, which Mag still hasn't grasped. (Is he a dummy, I wonder?) He'll get it eventually.

But today he was acting lookie about the scary corner, and I just let him use that corner to activate his pace, and I set up a high cavaletti directly out of that corner that he flew over, "escaping" which is good because he was getting some jumping practice (it was 12 inches).

Then for some reason he flipped out and started galloping and KICKING HIS SADDLE in the stirrups (that's new) and kicking the freaking arena walls, on purpose. Making such a racket I thought everyone would come running but they were having lunch in the lounge with the propane heater on high.

You don't try to kick your stirrups, you nutcase! I encouraged him to go, including the "jump" every time around, using the entire ring.

I'm starting to realize that when Mag flips out on the lunge - nowadays - it's a desperate need to move, and not obstinance against work, as before. So him running himself sweaty, his own choice, isn't something I need to worry about. I need to take the time to let him play before asking him to work, whenever possible, because he is a baby and he has no opportunity to move in his daily life. But today I didn't have the time. Turns out 3 hours at the barn is NOT enough: )

So I'm OK with this type of flipping out, and since it's my lack of time, it's my fault afterall.

Right as I got him to walk again, the entire clinic showed up. Mag was wet everywhere except the point of his rump (the last place to ever get wet on a horse). His nostrils were huge and red.

In what is probably a breach of etiquette, I handed my panting horse to Gabi, the clinician, because she was the closest person to me when I realized I need to clean up the poop before their clinic continues.

She took one look at Mag and said, "OH MY, what happened?" I rolled my eyes and started jogging to the poop to get it as fast as possible.

I know she was pleased to see my horse actually wet and tired, since she's been telling me I need to run him an hour per day (phooey). I thanked her and took him and said, "He decided he wanted to break down your arena walls, and try to remove his saddle with his hind hooves." She blinked at me shocked. I quickly took him out.

To the outdoor, where I got on him and felt a weird mix of compliance and frustration from him. I felt him saying, "I've done enough today" but also searching for the right answers. I am again happy to say that riding in the outdoor, with all the people, dogs, and horses moving about, is easier than being in the indoor with all the focus on that one spot he can see out.

They even did a lameness trot out with a horse directly adjacent to the arena and Mag wasn't interested at all. Trail riders came in from the access point and stared at us - they're not used to seeing me on my horse outside.

Earlier in the morning I had left Mag in the big open grooming stall with his bucket, so I could watch a little of the clinic. Gabi was working with Tanja and her Connemara Mia at the moment, and that was exactly what I wanted to see. I was thrilled to see Gabi telling Tanja precisely what I had told her weeks ago.

I don't give advice unless asked, but Tanja often asks, and I said the most important thing you can do with your pushy mare is to never yield ground or space to her. You must be aware of who is controlling the space between you. I know, easier said than done for someone who has 6 months total experience with horses! But really, this should be the very first thing one learns, because it's the language horses are born with, and humans find it simplest to just step away from the horse, over and over and over, which is basically communicating to the horse, "You are my leader, do what you want with me" full volume.

I was thrilled to see Gabi stand squarely facing Mia and say, "My posture, shoulders so, tells the horse to not come into my space. If she does, the whip comes into play. Never, EVER, take a step backwards." Then she showed Tanja how to draw the mare in to her space when she would like her close. Awesome. It was perfect. Tanja's face was all tense in concentration, but when they were done she came over to me and handed me the lead rope as she cleaned Mia's hooves (a German custom is to always clean hooves before you leave the arena, because over time the arena footing will leave with the horses. I never do it.). Mia did her typical thing, swinging her head into me to see if I'd yield to her. I swung my elbow up, jabbing her in the cheek. Mia realized it doesn't work. No Mia, I'm standing here, you're standing there, that's what it is.

Back at the stall with Mag, I spent an entire half hour trying to groom the sweat off of Mag. And he loved it. He kept turning his face to me and touching me with his nose, "Hi." I said, "What, do you want the brush?" He accepted, taking the brush in his mouth, holding it, and then reaching his head over the wall and dropping it outside the stall. I laughed and saw another lady laughing at Mag too.

Mag was so calm, so still, I thought he was sick but he was just super relaxed. He let me brush his face thoroughly several times with different brushes and a towel. I am starting to love grooming, well, when my horse is itchy and enjoys. I look forward to the day he's sweaty from being ridden, and then giving him half hour massages afterwards as a reward.


I sent Claudia an SMS that I want Argo to be Mag's godfather, and she said that tomorrow we could go for our first trail ride together, woo!

I'm ready. I'm thinking it's gonna be easier than everything we've been doing so far *lol*

I understand that Mag's "badness" is not bad. It's just rambunctiousness and touchiness, that push my very high (perfectionist) expectations.

"It's not bad, it's not good, it just is."

7 comments:

AareneX said...

Willy is right: he's a baby and does baby stuff BUT like all babies he is learning how to be an adult. It's a frustrating process, I know (Fiddle was a baby until she turned EIGHT (!!!) but now she's fifteen and really a lovely adult.

You will get there!

Dom said...

Part of the problem with sacking out is that it doesn't really imitate real life experience. In real life, a horse doesn't get prepped for the scary thing and then have it happen all iat once. It just sort of happens with no warning... a bird flies up or a rake falls over or a car backfires. Sacking out is a form of flooding and horses go into their "happy space" to deal with it, without ever actually learning from it.

You're better off taking him places and letting him see the real world, then doing concentrated ground work in a round pen or other small space, teaching him to actively seek out and touch things that scare him, rather than encouraging him to "tune out" like he would with flooding. You can desensitize a horse with pressure-release very effectively, but flooding rarely does much except when used as a trick, or to work through a very specific fear. (A good example is Booger who can ignore a flapping plastic bag being whirled around on a whip at home, but will jump sideways if a car comes down a gravel driveway behind her.) If you work with a plastic bag, for example, the horse will become very good at plastic bags and similar items, but not deer or gunfire or umbrellas.

This is why I'm not impressed when people stand on their horses to show how "broke" they are, but do like "de-spooking" clinics where the horses have to continue to move and work and listen to their handlers/riders through scary stimuli.

As for kicking out at the stirrups... I've had a few horses do that. You can tie aluminum cans with rocks in them to their surcingle and turn them out in a round pen to work through it. After that, the jangle of the stirrups won't be a big deal. Ironically, that is also a form of flooding, but in that case, the noise simulates an extreme version of real life (and the horse can make the noise stop by holding still, thereby doing their own version of pressure-release). I've done this method with a few horses who had severe bucking/bolting issues, and I've had great success.

Camryn said...

Just like Mini Pippin at just four he's not just a baby but, a bratty (to Merlin) baby. At least Mags appears to be a respectful to his elders kind of guy.

lytha said...

Dom, I often see people with tarps over their horses and wonder how well they deal with tarps "in the wild": ) I'm not ready to attach things like cans or balloons because I think he might kill himself. But things like coats and rump rugs, those we're working on. And they're not easy for him yet, similarly the Winter blanket he wears every day is also not easy.

AareneX said...

Hana was pain to despook for ropes.

In the month before we moved the mares to Haiku Farm, I'd go to the boarding barn every day and turn them out on the lawn for an hour to get them accustomed to GRASS--the boarding barn had none and our pasture had LOTS! The catch: Hana had to drag a rope from her halter the entire time--from when I fetched her, all the way out to the lawn, and the whole time she was grazing. Food was more important than spooking.

Dom said...

You are right to escalate slowly and get him used to smaller stimuli before moving up to scarier ones. He'll get there! Patience is key, as I'm sure you know.

Achieve1dream said...

I love grooming a horse who enjoys it. One of my favorite activities.

This is one of the reasons I'm glad I raised Chrome from weaning. I was able to expose him to so much stuff in his daily life that I didn't have to do too much flooding.

I think what helped him a lot with whips is I turned it into a game where he chased a wash cloth tied to the end of the whip lash. It's called Chase the tiger. If you search my blog in sure you could find it. I'm sure there is a way to do something similar with a lead rope. Having him follow it instead of it chasing him helped so much with his reactivity. He was getting too reactive to the whip even though I didn't got him with it, but the game fixed the problem. Now I can use it normally and he responds well.