Nothing like starting a thread and then disappearing into an
electronic maze of e-mail errors. To all who received a nasty
little message from my good friend Jeff (who is a nice guy, ...
really) my deepest appologies. This is a small company here,
but one who takes great pride in a good product... if not
state of the art e-mail yet. Priorities, ya know.
So... back to the temper tantrum... yes. My beloved horse was
indeed throwing a temper tantrum. Even at 15 and after what is
obviously some very good quality training, he loses it sometimes.
When he throws a TT and I know I have the upper hand, then he
gets to just deal with it. Like breaking his leadrope. I watched
him LEARN this trick. First time by accident. Second time test.
Third time quite deliberate. And I had a problem. MY solution
was to chain his head to an immovable object and let him work it
out for himself. As John said "Your head is going to stay here.
Right here. Your body can go anywhere it wants, but you head is
going to stay right here." Harsh for a horse I deeply love?
Maybe, but if he was going to break a neck, better his than mine.
And much better his or mine than anyone elses. I got respect for
me and respect for the rope. I *knew* I had the upper hand and
I was going to win, so yes... in that case he had to work it
out on his own. He rarely hits his leadrope anymore... And
when he does (Too much sun and fresh pasture oats right now) it's
with a lot less vigor and last time didn't even tighten the knot.
But temper tantrum while circling? What? Have me lose? or risk
getting hurt? No way! I wasn't absolutely positive I was going
to win that inevitable blow up (the one Lynette wrote about
with her mare) so I "won" in a different way. I reduced my
expectations. We circled until I had his attention... even
just for a few seconds... and then I asked him to "give to
the bit". I tell him "Let me see your face...". After a
couple tugs, he turned his head down and around to my knee.
Not calmly or necessarily willingly, but it was enough for
me to "win" that one so I praise him and continued on
down the trail to try a different tactic to get him to walk.
I do not advocate letting your horse get his way by having
a TT. I do advocate good training from the ground up and
taking the time to do proper training. I also do not have
4 hours. Wish I did. So I bought a well trained horse
with very good ground manners. Doesn't mean he's perfect
though. I also think that there are different solutions
for different horses. Endurance horses are very fit.
The more healthy and fit my horse has become, the more
trouble he seems to think up. But it's great to see him
have so much spirit and energy and life!
:) - kat
also... magnumsmom@aol.com in No. Cal.
[hold breath... hope this works... SEND!]
ps: There is obviously right and wrong ways of perminantly
attaching your horse's head to something he can't break. Get
someone with experience to show you how to do this. The
length of rope allowed is very important. Don't allow a lot
of slack, but there is enough rope so the horse doesn't feel
totally trapped and panic. I would guess the amount of total
rope between the post and Magnum's jaw is 30 - 36" each
and every time he's tied... but don't quote me on that
until I get a chance to measure it. Short enough so he
can't get his head up, long enough for him to stand
comfortably.