Well the title says it all after my session with Sheza this evening. I haltered mom first as usual and went back for Sheza who was ready and waiting at the gate and put her nose right in the halter again. It was so great that she haltered immediately two sessions in a row, here's hoping that behavior will stick around for a while though I won't count on it considering what she did after the nice haltering job. I don't remember if I mentioned on here previously that on Saturday I finally bought mats to put in our wash rack because the concrete is very smooth and slippery and I didn't want Sheza hurting herself when she is tap dancing around in there. Well on Sunday evening when she first haltered nicely I led her right over and onto the mats with no hesitation, into her cross ties and no big deal! This evening..not so much. I went out there at 7 pm and it took me until about 8:20 before I got her to walk on those mats again!! It was SO INCREDIBLY FRUSTRATING. I am honestly not a patient person in my every day life so I have to be very aware of that when I am working with Sheza, as these things are all foreign to her and that's fair. I think the major issue I had with it this evening is that she had just walked so blithely onto the mats the other day without batting an eye and suddenly tonight she wouldn't come within a foot of them from the get-go! What IS IT in their little horse brains that makes things acceptable one day and absolutely scary the next? I am lucky to have my steady Blaze who eyeballs rocks and stumps once in a while but is *never* dramatic about things and I am having to breathe deep and seek peace when dealing with the extreme girl drama that is Desire and Sheza. Desire isn't so bad, she reacts to things and snorts and blows but so far still does what she is asked, but Sheza and her amazing staying power when it comes to something she doesn't want to do--well, lets just say I feel like I have a long road of battles ahead of me with this one. I did finally get her on the mats and once there she sniffed them and wasn't too worried about it, then I hosed her down since she was absolutely dripping sweat from the long intense session getting onto the scary black mats...I have to say, I walked away from her a couple of times today so I didn't take out my frustration on her, and I am a little discouraged right now but that's just part of the game I guess. I just really hope that every single thing isn't a battle with her as she grows up, because its exhausting and no fun.
I think the 1st time she stepped on them she didn't see them, didn't pay attention, just wanted to be with mommy. Now today she woke up and said, What the hell? you want me to step into those horse eating black holes? no way Jose, it ain't happening. Sometimes its the time of day and the way the light hits it. When they look at things they see it like the mirrors that hang in the corners of the stores, distorted. So they have to learn to trust our judgement. She will learn and it won't be a battle everytime. Black mats, very shallow tiny streams that look black, that they don't think they can see the bottom. Thses just look like big black bottomless holes. I have noticed that near dusk all the horses tend to become very spookey. Jeez Salty launches when he's in front at every & I do mean every sage brush on the way home. I hate it when he's in front, spook, spook, spook, launch, slamm. When I first haltered a young horse of mine nammed Haay Cowboy, it took me 2 sweaty very physical hours to get him to accept the halter on his head. He went to bucking and throwing himself on the ground and flipping over, just because of the halter. I thought he was going to kill himself & I couldn't get the halter off, but by then I just said fk it asshole, wear the halter. After 2 sweaty hours, he quit like it never happened but was totally dripping soaking wet. I understand your frustration. It will ease and she will be more understanding as she gets older. Tempertantrums are interesting in horses, I never had kids but I sure could see the tantrums even in young horses. LOL.
ReplyDeletehahaha I love your comment. It was very sweaty and very physical, that's for sure!! We have had many an encounter that ended with her finally heaving a sigh and giving in, and both of us pouring sweat. I agree that its interesting because in her case anyway she usually knows exactly whats up (as in the haltering rodeos, she sticks her nose in the halter but then skitters away) and really sticks to her stubborn guns for a looonnngggg time. Oh and "fk it asshole" or something similar sure went goes through my head during these situations, I swear I go through the "7 stages" when I am butting heads with her..despair, anger, hope, etc etc LOL
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