Excuses, Excuses...

So, I have spent the last 6 months halter-breaking, socializing, training and teaching my 5 year old mare manners. Over that time period, I have come across SO MANY EXCUSES as to why "today might not be a good day to work with Frida". Some of them I am responsible for and some are from the peanut gallery at the barn. It's so FRUSTRATING! I will try to list as many as I can, and am interested as to which ones you agree with and which ones you think are nonsense. Mind you I have an indoor at the facility I board at.

-It's too dark
-It's too late
-It's too windy
-She just ate (how long do you guys wait?)
-It's too close to feeding time
-It's too muddy
-It's raining, or thundering, or lightening...
-She's in season
-She just had her teeth done
-It's too cold
-It's too buggy
-It's too hot

Ok, I might have forgotten some others...haha, add em if you got them and debunk the others!

Halter breaking a 5 year old? Interesting.
How come?

Her and her sister were born on a piece of property and did nothing but live in the backyard grazing because their owner had dreams of breaking them in a natural horsemanship fashion (ala Clinton Anderson) but never did. It's been a fun go of it though, first dental visit, first vet appointment ( at 5! ), first farrier visit (god her feet were long!) first halter, first stall, first blanket, first cross tie, etc etc...everything was a first, ha!

-It's too dark
-It's raining, or thundering, or lightening...
^^Legitimate reasons if your riding outside.


-She's in season

^^A good reason to work her if there ever was one.


......

"its to late" could be a good reason, but none other that I see are very good reasons... if its windy, or rainy, or jsut not perfect, all the more reason to work with her! :) just to get her used to listening even with distractions, and to keep you focused on her too. :) it doesnt matter what feeding time is, I wil work my hrose anytime, mind you I don't like to inturrupt her feeding, because I don't liek doign anythign when im hungry, but it also shows her that no matter what the problem is, she needs to listen to you. :)

For what it's worth, I have 80% of the same list.
Just two things are different. Mine is 5 too, but is well into his work for years, not just broke/started.I am curious to that as well
Second,in season isn't a problem. I Thank the Lord for geldings sometimes..
I'd like to answer the one question, "how long" with regard to pre-feed/ feed time?
Normally for me, an hour before, and when he is done..
It's just one of those little battles I don't chose to have...I don't like being bothered when I am eating either.
I do however handle him while he eats (not annoying him, etc.) as to not let him think he has chased me off! One day I will make him watch me eat..ha!

Those first times are always fun!

I got Chance when seh was 4 1/2 and was only saddle broke, not broke to ride, and was abused and bleh bleh bleh sat in the pasture and never touched. So I know where you are with that.

I use 2 use feeding time as an excuse but as long as she's not already eatting I really don't pay attention to it. She use to throw HUGE fits when she heard food but now she doesnt mind cause she knows she's going to get it when she's done anyways.

Muddy is a good one if your riding outside cause it can be dangerous, but if your indoors it doesnt matter. Lol

I've ridden Chance while it was raining, and thundering etc.. but that was in a indoor..

SO I guess it all depends on your facilities.

Since you are halter-breaking, I'm assuming you aren't working her too hard, so the only excuse I think has merit is if she just had her teeth done. Her mouth will be sore, and she'll be groggy from the sedative. I'm surprised no one caught that one?

But all the other ones... you have an indoor arena, you are protected from all the elements except sound, it won't kill you. =]

This is kind of funny to me seeing as how me and Shay-la just got back from one of our traditional winter "night rides" in arctic temperatures hovering into the -30's with the windchill And no, we don't have an arena, just a dirt road and a whole lot of prairie darkness!

The first thing I think when I read the list is - why? Why do you have a list? Why do you make excuses to not work with her? Is there a psychological reason behind the list?

I only ask because virtually every item on the list is somewhat foreign to me. I live in Canada where winters stay in deep freeze for four months - we never stop riding. Between work and living in the city during winter, it's always dark when we get off work - we ride in the dark. We haven't had rain, sleet, snow, mud, heat, bugs or cold chase us off yet. We'll adjust our schedules or what we may want to do to match what the weather will allow, but never could I imagine making an excuse to not see the horses. Even if we don't feel like riding, we'll drive 40 minutes one way almost every day just to groom them and hang around them.

Maybe we're just nuts and the prairie sun has baked into our brains? I truly don't mean any offense, it just surprises me that anyone would need an excuse to not work their horse, let alone a list of them. I've been cursing the frozen ground and ice for two weeks now because it means I can't ride or lunge my green 2 year old, but that doesn't mean I can't groom her or work on ground manners instead. I actually look forward to windy days because it means more spooky things for her to get exposed to.

Then again, the horses are all I live for, people already think I'm loony that I'd rather ride my horse at midnight in -40 then drink at the bar!

Excuses are like 'buttholes' [edited] everybody has one & they all stink !

My old trainer used to say that all the time =P