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Discussion on What SHOULD I have done??! | |
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Member: drlarry |
Posted on Wednesday, Aug 5, 2009 - 11:29 pm: My four-year-old gelding is coming along nicely in the round corral. My wife came out to see, and I was "showing off" the way he ground ties, and stands quietly while I throw a blanket all around him. He's done PERFECTLY with it every time. Till now.Something spooked him - I have no idea what - and off he ran. At a full gallop,'round and 'round, and about every fourth or tenth step, he caught the lead rope and JERKED his head, which upset him more. He completely forget I was there, and didn't look like he would ever stop. I kept sayng, "This has never happened before," and I truly didn't know what to do. Of course I was afraid he'd crash into (or through) the fence, or bust a leg, or some other horrible thing, and even though I knew he'd eventually run out of steam, this was going on far too long. I think he must've gone around thirty or forty times. Finally, or course, I got him stopped, and calmed us both down, and all is right with the world again, but I think there must be a right way to have handled that, and I don't know what it was. Today was much more normal - uneventful really - though we didn't try ground tying. But w will again, and I'm anxious to hear whaqt y'all think about all of this. Best! Larry |
Member: amara |
Posted on Thursday, Aug 6, 2009 - 12:03 am: Dont be too hard on yourself Larry. A 4 year old is still a baby, and apt to scare himself at the silliest thing. He's not irreparably harmed. Remember the old saying "Troubled minds move feet (and ears, lips, tails, nostrils and eyes)"Is there any reason why you couldnt have "stopped" him? I know you didnt have a hold of the lead rope, but you said he was in a round corral, (am assuming round pen,60ft diameter or so???), so couldnt you have gotten "in front" of him and blocked his route. He probably would have turned and gone the other direction, requiring you to do it a few times until finally his attention was on you and not on himself. You'd obvious have to get yourself far enough in front of him to give you a safe distance, and you'd need to be a "big enough" distraction that he saw you as something to be avoided and not run over. That can be a little scary at first (but you get used to it). Was he ground tied while you were throwing the blanket over him? teaching a horse to ground tie is a wonderful thing, but i never ground tie when i am working on something else, especially with a young horse that's got a lot of learning and maturing left to do. You also may need to work on your relationship with your boy. you want your horse to look to YOU EVERY time he gets scared. He should see you as the comfort zone, and you want to set it up so that a templated response is formed every time something scares him - he gets scared and he sucks right up to mom/dad for comfort. I set things up by providing pressure in controlled situations, and manipulating the situation so that I'm the release point (by using objects or sounds or high end exercise or whatever). Well, just my .05 cents worth here. Good luck with your boy. Mel |
Member: drlarry |
Posted on Thursday, Aug 6, 2009 - 1:10 am: Thanks Mel. Yes, I stepped in front of him, but he was WAY more committed to running than I was to standing in front of him! You're right - one thing at a time would've been better, but he'd been doing great at it.....right up till then. Live n' learn. I don't feel like I did any "damage," but I did feel like there was a better solution than waiting for him to run outta gas. Thanks for the input - no more "showing off!" |
Member: scooter |
Posted on Thursday, Aug 6, 2009 - 6:51 am: Hi Larry I have been working with my horse and liberty training. When I first started that journey my horse would run off quite often galloping around like a race horse! I just let him go until he didn't want to anymore. Once he stopped and faced me we went right back to work.Ground tieing is not easy to teach, especially when you are doing "scary" things to them. I am on the other side of the fence, If they want to run and aren't going to hurt themselves I just let them. If my horse takes off now he may only go a couple times around and come back in by himself. He don't like to work that hard scared or not! |
Member: rtrotter |
Posted on Thursday, Aug 6, 2009 - 11:54 am: Hi Larry,Don't be so hard on yourself. I had a similar situation happen with my yearling colt when I was breaking him to drive. He had handled everything like a pro from the harness to picking up his feet. He also lunged both ways with long cloth lunge lines. He had been so good that I decided not to use someone on a third line the first time I wanted to drive him from behind. Like you I am not sure what spooked him, unlike you I was in a fairly large size paddock when he decided to go bonkers. He went bucking and kicking around that paddock like the devil was out to get him. At first, I tried to stop him, but then I realized that he was scaring himself and I had nothing to do with it, so I let him do it until he calmed himself down. The two lines were through the turrets on the side of the harness and the lines were not connected together, so there was really nothing that could hurt him, I was lucky in that way. Once he realized that his temper tantrum wasn't working he just stopped turned around and looked at me, as if to say ok, I get it, these lines aren't going to hurt me and ok lets get to work. He let me pick up the lines and he walked forward like he'd been doing it his whole life. He was hooked and jogging two days later and never looked back. I jogged him about 2 1/2 weeks, 2 miles a day and then turned him out. He will stay out to be a horse and grow up for another few months until he begins his "real' training to be a racehorse. I originally had my reservations about starting him as early as I did, but I would do it again in a heartbeat. He was much easier to handle, he has all his basics down pat and he respects people, which is a lot more than I can say for his brother who was brought in much later and had to be gelded because he was such a terrorist. Your horse will be just fine, both he and you need to look at this as a learning experience. Rachelle |
Member: erika |
Posted on Thursday, Aug 6, 2009 - 10:06 pm: Larry, been there, done that too!I had two yearlings that loved to play with a plastic tarp. I thought it was great despooking training until one flipped the tarp over her head and couldn't get it off! She ran off, bouncing off the fences until she finally got it loose. I thought I had blown it good, but the next time the tarp came out, she was fine again, and stomping on it. Good thing he didn't hurt himself on the rope. Just tack it up to "one of those things"! Erika |
Member: alden |
Posted on Thursday, Aug 13, 2009 - 5:18 am: Frankly I like it when this happens to me, in the round pen, because it's a training moment. Much better than it happening out on the trailI'm guessing but it sounds to me like he felt the rope was chasing him. I'd go back and try my best to find what ever cause his heart attack, and recreate the situation until he's fine with it. I think it was Clinton Anderson that says let them have their heart attacks because it is a learning moment. My old friend said it a little different, he used to chew my butt if I moved around young horses to gently. He'd say that's fine if you are ALWAYS gonna tippy toe around them, but it's not training them for the real world. Another thing is if they have really blown up put pressure on them to stop or turn, but don't get in their path! Not unless you want a hoof massage therapy Alden |