Need advice if I'm being played!

Iseul · 02-13-2013, 08:15 AM

ST just did this yesterday..and took the whole damn herd with her (not sure how since she's 6/7 on the totem...BUT, I managed to go after her (in painful muck boots) and catch her. I stood her in the cross ties since she wasted all my riding time while I helped with bedding for the pigs and did ground work with her for 10 minutes before I threw her back out.
We did lots of moving with me and backing with just a lead around her neck in the run in. She could have taken off, but she knew better that after I took the halter off, it didn't mean I was done with her.

You didn't mess up too bad, so don't be hard on yourself. I accidently pushed her away yesterday, so while I was cussing up a storm and telling them I was going to break their legs when I found them, it wasn't any of their faults, it was mine. Sure I was pissed, but more so at myself than at any of them (except that new mare..the little s**t). I screwed myself over and I'll take the blame, just had to fix it a bit more than if I hadn't accidently pushed her.
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CowboyBob · 02-13-2013, 10:49 AM

"you shouldn't let your emotions get involved too much when training/working with your horse"

Read more: Need advice if I'm being played!

You have gotten some great advice from everyone here, the advice on emotions is probably the best sound bite I saw. Understand Horses send almost their entire life communicating non-verbally as people we rely so much on verbal communication we miss so much of what a horse is telling us.
Horses communicate in looks, head sets, posture, what we see and hear when we see horses out in a pasture is only the tip of the iceberg. The better I learn to understand what my horse is saying to me in his nonverbal communication the better trainer I am its hard and it takes time. But it is worth it. And as you understand his non-verbals the more confident you will become.
Now what to do in the short term about him pinning his eyes at you. Personally I would have a nice time in the round pin with him, you can do the same on a lunge line or even with a halter and lead rope. Remember its all about ground. He wants the ground he is standing on. He is telling you "this is mine". Well if you are the leader its not his ground its yours make him move you don't have to be super physical about it its not a big deal make him move.
Look at horses on pasture or better yet around hay feeders, don't look at the BIG fight, look for the small victory look for one horse moving in to the feeder and other being moved off. Its not always a big bite and kick sometimes its a look, sometime a swish of the tail small things. Now if the small doesn't get it done then its bigger and bigger then its bite and kick.
Best advice learn to speak horse its a lot easier the trying to teach a horse to speak human. Good luck don't get discouraged you will get it, it takes time. In the end you will be better for it and so will he.

Sunnylucy · 02-13-2013, 07:19 PM

Cowboy Bob, I have to tell you I re-read your post several times because it really rang true for me. I was so focused on his physical well-being and getting him better, that I was emotional about it and started feeling about him as a mother with a child and was projecting emotions onto him that a child would have for a mother, and he never felt that way because horses don't. I was working so hard for him that I forgot or just plain ignored how I would have handled other horses differently, because he was mine and I had wanted him so much. Now I'm left with a horse that obviously doesn't respect me and a horse that I don't trust like I used to. I'm going to have a long think about all the good advice given here and see what I can do about fixing this. At least he just does it with me, and behaves with everyone else, which as you can imagine really makes me feel bad. Thank you all.

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