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ARGH HORRIBLE DAY!!!! NO! FANTASTIC DAY!!!!!

ok, so the day was fine, but Indie and i had a big fight and he had a melt down and stopped lungeing completely and right in the middle of it he freaked out are flew backwards unfortunately catching me off balance and looping the lunge line around my ANKLE!!! i wasn't dragged far, but it hurts and now he doesn't trust me even as much as he did before (which wasn't as much as i thought it was) and i feel hopeless. he has come so far, but not far enough and now i've made it worse. ARGH!!!!!!!! MISERY!!!!!!!!!!

CMhorses Wed, 06/24/2009 - 17:41

If you got back up and continued to lunge him and ended when he was doing something right then it should be okay.

Adell Wed, 06/24/2009 - 17:55

Stop beating yourself up over it. Mistakes happen. Get over it and get back to work. You HAVE came a long way with that pony! Give yourself some credit and some ice for the ankle and things will be better tomorrow.

And IF and I mean IF your not feeling better by Monday... I will bring over some chocolate and make you laugh while I ride :rofl

all that sass Wed, 06/24/2009 - 18:12

i went out and hugged his head. he seemed happy to see me and came when i said "come on" and followed me to the barn for a bit of a break from the bugs. he is still joined up with me and we seem to be alright. I am so disappointed that our lungeing got messed up because he has been doing so well all week and had finally started to relax while lungeing. I think we have more work to do this week to get back to where we were, but i have nothing but time for this little guy so i will try to stay positive. 2 steps back is HARD!!!!!!

rabbitsfizz Thu, 06/25/2009 - 03:23

Sassy this is a glitch, that's all, it always happens with a "difficult" horse and although it is infuriating, I find these horses, once they have learned, because of all the problems, have learned far more than an "easy" horse.
He just took his "two steps back" you know, like "three steps forward, two steps back" instead of looking at it negatively try looking at it this way...you are[i] still[/i] one step further forward!!
You have not lost ground, believe me, all you need to do is keep your cool, as he is a horse, remember, he does not see all the problems you see.
He only knows what is, not what was or what will be.
So get back in there, act as if nothing at all happened, and you will be fine.
Don't think "he does not trust me as much as I thought"
Think "he trusts me far more than he used to"
OK???

lipigirl Thu, 06/25/2009 - 03:49

[quote="rabbitsfizz"]Sassy this is a glitch, that's all, it always happens with a "difficult" horse and although it is infuriating, I find these horses, once they have learned, because of all the problems, have learned far more than an "easy" horse.
He just took his "two steps back" you know, like "three steps forward, two steps back" instead of looking at it negatively try looking at it this way...you are[i] still[/i] one step further forward!!
You have not lost ground, believe me, all you need to do is keep your cool, as he is a horse, remember, he does not see all the problems you see.
He only knows what is, not what was or what will be.
So get back in there, act as if nothing at all happened, and you will be fine.
Don't think "he does not trust me as much as I thought"
Think "he trusts me far more than he used to"
OK???[/quote]

That is good advice ! Stick with it....nothing that is worth having in life is easy !!

all that sass Thu, 06/25/2009 - 04:28

thanks rabbitz and everyone!!!!! i am feeling a bit better since playing with him again last night. I had him walk over blanket on the ground in the sand ring. he seemed curious as to why i was asking him to do it, but still eagerly followed me loose in the big ring and stomped over it when i did without a snort. He will still follow me to the end of the earth so i guess less damage was done then i thought. a boarder thought he was looking like a pet pony which is a several hundred steps forward from when he came. there were 2 horses he has never met beside the big ring and he wasn't interested, he wanted to be with me. this morning i will try lungeing him again and see how that goes. hopefully we can keep it relaxed and calm. *fingers crossed*

all that sass Thu, 06/25/2009 - 06:48

WOOT! lunged almost perfectly this morning! he had a brain freeze when we switched to the left, but otherwise a GREAT SESSION!!!!

all that sass Fri, 06/26/2009 - 14:00

no word of a lie! he was tacked up western by one of my boarders this morning and she got on him with out him batting an eye! while i was waiting for her earlier, i was bumming around the yard with him and decided to go up to the porch to grab something and didn't he follow me right over the bright yellow slip and slide and right up onto the PORCH! silly pony. I think our incident might have been a positive experience for him HAHAHAHAHA silly pony.

Morgan Fri, 06/26/2009 - 14:04

lol thats great, sometimes I think these crashes do do them good. I had a horrid colt who I worked on for 3 years. one day he got mad about walking in the round pen, blew up and bucked me off rodeo style. After that he was completely broke, would pick up his feet nicely and was a perfect gentleman. :shock: It was also on his 4th birthday, one last yahoo :laugh1

accphotography Fri, 06/26/2009 - 14:07

I think some of these episodes are what my hubby calls "juvenile behavior". It's their one last, last ditch effort to resist and almost always the learn something after/during. The next time you ask for the same thing is almost always smooth as silk. I think it's almost like "Ok, I know what you want now, but am I SURE I can't do anything about it? Let's try..."... then they realize, nope, they can't. :laugh1

all that sass Fri, 06/26/2009 - 15:26

LOL, sure seemed that way. he has also been really quiet in the barn for the last couple days! usually he is all hollering and noisy and ANNOYING. lets knock on wood when we say it, but he sure seems to have lost almost all of the rest of his 'stallion behaviors' since coming to terms with being a working pony. he and i stood int eh ring for an hour and watched the other horses working and he was even moving out of their way if they started to come towards him LOL no neck arching or hollering. hope this high lasts! cause i am so proud of him!

i wouldn't trade our fight (including the giant nylon burn on my ankle) for anything now. I will hopefully have pics of Indie under saddle soon! can't wait to share!

Morgan Fri, 06/26/2009 - 15:55

awesome! I think you're attitude in these posts is illustrating something I've believed about horse training for a while now: the importance of emotions over any kind of forumla of cues or anything. Horses can really tell what kind of mood you are in, if you watch them most of their behavior and comunication is based on emotion. When he did bad you were very upset, which probably freaked him out a bit and left him really mulling stuff over. When you came back to him you were asking how he was going to be and he respoded with "I'm good mom!" which made you happy and now he knows that life is much better if he is good and you are happy.
when I'm working with mine they may do something little which doesn't really make me mad but I know it can escalate or just get anoying if repeated and I kind of "turn on" my angry (hard to explain how...i just do :S ) and get my point across lol. usually without more than a look once they know how to read me. Much more effective than a passive swat or scolding, or worse laughing (NEVER laugh at an animals misbehavior, the smarter ones read that as a form of positive attention. save the laugher for after the fact.)
Then there are occasions where something in life in general will piss me off and I go marching out to feed the horses, notice they are all fleeing as I come through the gate :oops: and it helps me calm down. So they do me a favor there to turn my reason back on.

all that sass Fri, 06/26/2009 - 17:37

Morgan, i completely agree. there are times when 'getting mad' is not a bad thing! I tell some of my very passive students to 'get mad' when one of the horses has picked up on the fact that they are going to be able to get away with something. it's never ok, to let your anger take over, but having the emotion you are feeling, when its controlled, is totally ok. Indie has been such a hard project so far because he didn't trust anyone and it made every little step forward was a big achievement. i have been so careful to keep his trust that i wouldn't push an issue to the point of a fight. he is a very honest pony and has never really 'tried' anything, so i have had no reason to get angry before and when i did i was worried i had ruined what we had done. but it seems to be just the opposite, he needed that final confirmation that i was in charge and going to stay in charge. It may not be the last fight we have ever, but it certainly seemed to clear things in his mind!

Sara Fri, 06/26/2009 - 18:39

[quote="all that sass"]Morgan, i completely agree. there are times when 'getting mad' is not a bad thing! I tell some of my very passive students to 'get mad' when one of the horses has picked up on the fact that they are going to be able to get away with something. [/quote]

Oh, I tell them to "get mad" all the time! The vast majority of my students are privileged children who have been taught from day one that it's never okay to "get after" anyone (human or animal) so they sit there like little passengers. That's dangerous! So there I'll be, watching a pony totally taking advantage of one of these passengers, and I'm calling out "doesn't that make you MAD? Get MAD at him! Get after him! Make him work!" When it finally clicks, they learn to ride. :)

all that sass Sun, 06/28/2009 - 07:31

WUAHAHAHA Indie picked up long reining in about 2 minutes. he considered what was happening and then just accepted it, relaxed and went on like he'd done it 2000 times. SO PROUD! he may be ridden today!!!!! I'M SO EXCITED!

all that sass Fri, 07/03/2009 - 20:27

wuahaha UPDATE for anyone not on my facebook and getting hourly reports on indies progress

Indie is walking, steering and stopping under saddle. his rider (the fantastic woman who is renting my small barn LOVES HER) tried to get him to trot tonight and he would walk faster, but wasn't convinced that a trot was REALLY what she wanted, so wouldn't trot. i am SO PROUD of him. he picked up the long reining and under saddle steering in a heart beat and stands perfectly still for mounting (although he prefers mounting from the Off side :P and will only walk up to the mounting block to place you on his off side...though he does seem to be right handed and canters better to the right then left, so maybe that the only side of his brain that works) He is so funny cause if he gets confused he wrinkles one nostril and stops moving his feet till he figures it out. he can not think and move at the same time....sooo cute