Argh.
So I raced home today, grabbed the blanket off the porch and went to see my favorite mare ever. Ha.
It was in the upper 30's, low 40's....freezing rain. Wind. Cold. Cold. Also cold.
And here I am. In my dress pants. Sheepskin lined fake walmart crocs. Big fluffy winter coat with hood up. Sunglasses. Pocket full of baby carrots.
Walking straight into the howling wind and blowing half frozen rain.
Foxy, you ungrateful horse. Do you see what I do for you? Because otherwise, I would sit and worry all night that you were cold. Shivering. Alone. Freezing. Teeth chattering so hard you cannot even eat. Brrrrrr.
So I haul my ass out there and we have another Mexican Standoff.
The BO moved the mini donkeys out of her field, so Foxy is alone. But she is bordered by two fields full of horses, so that doesn't really seem to bother her. Now she has her old buddies on one side....and the 3 mini donkeys plus Delilah the mule on the other. Delilah is not happy about being stuck in a field away from Rain and the other horses. Oh well! ha!
I like to call that field, 3 and a half asses. Although I don't even know if mini donkeys count as full asses. They are maybe a cheek each, right? So 3 mini donkeys and a mule make 2 full asses.
Do you see the things that go through my head throughout the day?
So, I go into the field where Foxy is. And this is really interesting to me. As I am still walking towards the field, I swear she nickers or something. Or it could have been the mule making funny noises in her field. Or Foxy making noises at the mule. Who knows. But she is standing there looking at me. As I get to the gate, she starts walking away quickly. The usual. She gets to the far fenceline and starts pacing. Trotting. Running. The usual bullshit.
So she runs and runs and runs around me in very large circles. And when she slows to stop and faces me. I just stand there. I had been walking along just behind her (and 50-100 feet away but still walking towards her as she ran). So she stops and faces me and I just stand there.
It's a standoff.
She stands near the fence. Staring at me.
I stand towards the middle of the field. Staring at her.
Then I call her.
And she takes a few steps toward me. And then stops. I continue to just stand there. Call her again. She takes a few more steps. Ends up walking to where she is 5 steps away? Something like that. And then stops. I have my hand in my pocket
That is it! So weird! she runs and runs and runs like crazy. Stops. And then walks over to me.
I swear that horse is crazy in the head.
Who meeeeeeeeeeeeee?
So isn't that kind of weird? I don't know what her deal is. I actually used her safety halter today, which we leave buckled over the crown piece, we just unsnap the throatlatch and put it on like a bridle over her ears. And so she lets me do this with no issues at all, once she is close.
GO FIGURE.
I took her back to the barn, threw her blanket on and then put her back. I am so glad I went out and did that. Piece of mind! Even if it has freezing rain and snow and ice and freezing temps....she will be nice and toasty.
I love my blanket! I'm so stylish, all the geldings love me!
She sure looks unhappy doesn't she?
I have no doubt when I go there on Wednesday to pull her blanket and redo her feet....she will run like crazy to get away when she sees me.
What a goober.
Anyone following the story of the racist chickens (did I even post that here?).
Minor bouts of integration have occurred.
Evidence?
Hard to tell but the two Australorps are on the left (they are resisting integration), and the two white legarockdyottes and two BUTTERCUPS (not EEs!) are at least working towards becoming a stew pot. I mean crock pot. I mean MELTING POT. Yes, THAT IS WHAT I MEANT.
Or was it a Pot Pie?
Crockpot and Stew were having mini cockfights in their bin today. WTF you stupid peckers (hahahahahhaahahhaahhaha). Don't make me craigslist you!
Also, last 3 movies I watched made me CRY CRY CRY. Anyone seen Seven Pounds with Will Smith? Oh man. I am not a movie crier but that movie made me cry at the end. And then I watched some shitty movie about a girl whose mom dies so she goes and lives on her grandpa's farm and then he has this border collie who bites the farmhand and they are going to euthanize him but at the last minute realize the dog was trying to keep the farmhand from feeding the poisoned horse feed. And it was a really really lame movie but the dog was licking the vet's face when she was getting ready to give it the shot and it was horrible and I was just crying allover the place.
Then I watched Marley and Me. OMG I thought that movie was a Comedy. I cried for like....the LAST HALF OF THE MOVIE. Not even just crying but like....sobbing, snotting, gulping ugly crying. My face is all blotchy, my nose is raw, my throat is tight. What the hell, that movie was bullshit. SOB.
9 comments:
I read the book Marley and me like two years ago. I highly suggest it. It's a very easy book to read. The movie wasn't that far off though I think they picked bad actors for the husband and wife.
Sounds like your horse was doing a behavior similar to what you might observe in a round pen. She was turning in to you, acknowledging you. Any head dropping? Licking? Are you familiar with round pen work?
Possible resources:
The work of Clinton Anderson
http://www.downunderhorsemanship.com/
Dr. Robert Miller
http://www.robertmmiller.com
Julie Goodnight
http://juliegoodnight.com/questionsNew.php?id=156
There are many others. Maybe you already have a few favorites.
You have amazing perseverance that will work miracles coupled with adding a few tricks to your bag of training skills.
Even if you don't have a round pen, you can use the principles in a paddock.
Hopefully you and your horse have turned a corner that will save her life and make your relationship more fulfilling. There are some great resources that, if you haven't already, will help you.
I read the book long before I saw the movie and bawled both times. Glad Foxy behaved so you could blanket her. She really is a piece of work, lol..
I have always meant to read the book but never have. After all, I have Asshole, I mean Frankie. He is Marley to a T.
I am familiar with the NH methods, Clinton, Parelli, etc. Foxy was always worked with with at least a nod to that stuff. And she does the perfect roundpen, lunging, free lunging where she turns to face me, will come in towards me and then back back out when asked. She is rusty on her free lunging since it has been a long time.....but I find it so bizarre for her to randomly run like a maniac when she sees me and then stop and look at me, EVERY. SINGLE. TIME I go to get her.
Even while having these catching issues....She has been consistently turning in to me, but moving away when I move towards her or if I ignore her. She generally does not drop her head, lick or chew while we are doing this (although has while being trained in the past).
It has been so long since I "needed" to use these to catch her, that I was going about it slightly wrong the last few weeks....she has never been hard to catch so I never even thought about it. But she was being so bad about being caught, that when I was TRYING to catch her, I wasn't doing it right. I would drive her away even when she was turning to face me, instead of rewarding her by letting her rest.
She really is a piece of work. It's like a darn game! Except she is more angry and upset that she cannot get to her "herd" when I am in there, than anything else. I wondered if she was maybe trying to "play" with me or invite me into the herd or something, but no, when she sees me coming she immediately tries to 'get back to the herd". Then we move through the running away in circles, eventually stopping and facing, and slowly getting her closer and closer.
I find this behavior so bizarre. I wish I could videotape what happens when I go out there.
I kinda understand where you are coming from on the catching thing. I have a wonderful QH mare that I was trained Parelli and I do parelli stuff with and is a great horse. Once you catch her. But she hates to be caught. I have to bribe her by either bringing in a bucket of food or taking her companion out.
When she runs she is very vocal, she squeels and kicks in a way that I know she is saying "fuck you!!". But once caught is sweet and easy going and can even do offline parelli stuff.
I don't get it. I really don't get it.
I have boarded her at two places, two of them it took me at least 40 minutes to catch her on average and the other I never once had a problem. At home she is always a brat about being caught. Even if I bring food.
I just don't get it.
These days she is often refered to as my pissy ass mare. You can tell the days when she really didn't want to be caught.
Sigh.
And then people tell you to do the reverse phycalogy (how do you spell that again?) but I don't have enough time to do that every time I want to ride!
Hi!!! I've been a long-time Foxy reader, but I've never commented, and would like to say that Foxy is GORGEOUS!!! anyways, My friend was having similar issues catching her Mustang gelding, Tribal. What she did to improve it was start catching work in a small space, like his stall, then work their way up to a round pen, then a small paddock, and now she can catch him when he's in a 5 acre pasture with his herd, with no prob!!!
I have a mare that can be hard to catch. I never walk toward her. I let her come to me. If she starts walking away I turn in the other direction and walk away from her. It works every time.
I do the back and forth method.. when they walk away, I follow. When they stop, I stop and turn my side to them. When they give me their eyes I walk away..
It takes some time but it works.
Foxy is not hard to catch in a stall, or turned out in an arena. I have NEVER had problems catching her, other than the first week I had her back 3 years ago. The last place turned out for a few hours daily (or more) and she was never any problem to get, even with other horses in the same field. She tried avoiding me ONE TIME and I trapped her between a ditch and a fence and that was the end of that.
If I walk away from Foxy, she does not follow. She goes WHOO HOO and then does whatever she feels like it.
The following her and keeping her moving when she is running and then stopping when she stops and waiting for her and calling her....seems to work the best....
HOWEVER the plot totally thickened today...will post about it in a bit.
Post a Comment