Gia - session 4 - more round pen work and saddling agian
Last week was a little crazy, so I did not get a chance to work with Gia at all, but she didn't forget a thing from the week prior! As I was bringing her out of her field to the round pen, she was startled by a tarp blowing in the breeze. She only jumped to the side a little, so it wasn't too bad. However, I love using these times as learning opportunities. She was very excited about the grass near the tarp, so I asked her to step closer to the tarp, and when she did, I allowed her to have a few bites of grass. We repeated the process until she was actually touching the tarp, and then we repeated that several times as well. The whole thing only took about 5-10 minutes, but she learned a BIG lesson that will last with her forever. In her brain, she has connected that scary tarps = yummy grass. With this type of method, I have seen horses in the past start approaching "scary" things all on their own, rather than running from them. It's very simple, and it will make other work much easier down the road.
Once we were in the round pen, we repeated the work we did last time - free lunging with and without the saddle. She was pretty quiet with the saddle today. She moved a few steps while I tightened the girth, but she was otherwise unfazed by it. There was absolutely no bucking or fussing when I free lunged her with the saddle on.
She does have a little trick she likes to pull when I work with her though. She is a big horse, and she knows it (we haven't officially measured her in a while, but I would guess at least 16.2hh). And she knows that her size alone can be intimidating to some. So, when I am putting the pressure on her in the round pen, and she doesn't want it anymore, and can't figure out what I want, she pins her ears and makes a move like she is going to come after me. A lot of people would back off at that exact moment, which is exactly what she wants. Backing off at that precise moment would teach her one thing - intimidation works, and she would absolutely try it again, and try it more intensely. However, my reaction, when a horse tries to intimidate me like that, is to make them work harder. In this case with Gia, I charge straight towards her head and make her turn and go the other way, and make her work faster. She tried her little "trick" several times, but each time she had to turn and work harder. She quickly decided that it wasn't really worth it to try to intimidate me, and decided it would be easier to relax and "lick and chew". As soon as she did, I took the pressure off, quit asking her to work, and let her take a break.
I see a lot of people allow the horse to use their intimidation tactics to get out of work. Most of the time, the "trick" starts quite small, but if it isn't suppressed quickly, then it will definitely escalate. It's usually at that point that a person calls for professional help. Most of the time, these problems can be fixed, but it often takes a long time to undo what the horse has been "taught". The sooner a problem is caught and corrected, the smaller it is and the quicker it is to fix.
Once we were in the round pen, we repeated the work we did last time - free lunging with and without the saddle. She was pretty quiet with the saddle today. She moved a few steps while I tightened the girth, but she was otherwise unfazed by it. There was absolutely no bucking or fussing when I free lunged her with the saddle on.
She does have a little trick she likes to pull when I work with her though. She is a big horse, and she knows it (we haven't officially measured her in a while, but I would guess at least 16.2hh). And she knows that her size alone can be intimidating to some. So, when I am putting the pressure on her in the round pen, and she doesn't want it anymore, and can't figure out what I want, she pins her ears and makes a move like she is going to come after me. A lot of people would back off at that exact moment, which is exactly what she wants. Backing off at that precise moment would teach her one thing - intimidation works, and she would absolutely try it again, and try it more intensely. However, my reaction, when a horse tries to intimidate me like that, is to make them work harder. In this case with Gia, I charge straight towards her head and make her turn and go the other way, and make her work faster. She tried her little "trick" several times, but each time she had to turn and work harder. She quickly decided that it wasn't really worth it to try to intimidate me, and decided it would be easier to relax and "lick and chew". As soon as she did, I took the pressure off, quit asking her to work, and let her take a break.
I see a lot of people allow the horse to use their intimidation tactics to get out of work. Most of the time, the "trick" starts quite small, but if it isn't suppressed quickly, then it will definitely escalate. It's usually at that point that a person calls for professional help. Most of the time, these problems can be fixed, but it often takes a long time to undo what the horse has been "taught". The sooner a problem is caught and corrected, the smaller it is and the quicker it is to fix.
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