motorgypsy
03-12-2006, 04:18 AM
We'll get some pictures tomorrow but we're just so pleased with her improvement. This is the mare that freaked over everything - freaked like would try to jump out of a stall window or jump to the moon over nothing. You couldn't catch her, touch her or even get a halter on her. She has had two excellent trainers who said she just couln't process change well. So we've been working on making it a point to vary her environment and basically ignored her for several months while she adapted to life with five alpha mares and one old pinto mare.
Last update we told how we got a blanket on her and how we finally got a halter on her and were working on catching her.
Now we make her come to us and stand very still for us to attach the leadline to her halter before she gets fed. We walk up to her and stand sideways about six feet from her and gesture with one hand for her to approach. If she doesn't we move away from her and gesture again. If she's not close enough to be caught we move away again and gesture again until she comes. If she doesn't come ina minute or two we feed all the other horses first. If she does come she gets fed first. She now approaches readily without spooking and lets us lead her to her feeding station and we just drape the lead over the fence so she's not tied at all for feeding. We then lead her to her other feed dish for her hay cubes and she comes quietly and politely. Before we'll let her go she has to stand very still and not pull away while we unclip her leadline. She'll come to both of us also. Twice a blanket buckle came loose and she allowed me to reattach it without going nuts. She'll let us touch her head and face and shoulders now without panicing but still doesn't want her legs back or butt touched. She also no longer swings her butt to us as we approach but will swing it out of the way to let us pass by her when she's eating.
It's so neat to see her progress. She stays in two different pastures with dogs, wildlife, a cat, tractors, target shooting nearby and all sorts of scary things and she's fine with them. She used to panic when the rain hit the tin roof but now ignores that also. We throw buckets around her, jump around and any time she jumps, I jump too, then tell her to stop scaring me so much! It's pretty funny actually. The other mares have accepted her and don't beat up on her although they will run her away when we start feeding. We tie all the mares at feeding time at individual feeding stations so noone can get beaten up and I think this helps her gain confidence also.
Little by little.
Last update we told how we got a blanket on her and how we finally got a halter on her and were working on catching her.
Now we make her come to us and stand very still for us to attach the leadline to her halter before she gets fed. We walk up to her and stand sideways about six feet from her and gesture with one hand for her to approach. If she doesn't we move away from her and gesture again. If she's not close enough to be caught we move away again and gesture again until she comes. If she doesn't come ina minute or two we feed all the other horses first. If she does come she gets fed first. She now approaches readily without spooking and lets us lead her to her feeding station and we just drape the lead over the fence so she's not tied at all for feeding. We then lead her to her other feed dish for her hay cubes and she comes quietly and politely. Before we'll let her go she has to stand very still and not pull away while we unclip her leadline. She'll come to both of us also. Twice a blanket buckle came loose and she allowed me to reattach it without going nuts. She'll let us touch her head and face and shoulders now without panicing but still doesn't want her legs back or butt touched. She also no longer swings her butt to us as we approach but will swing it out of the way to let us pass by her when she's eating.
It's so neat to see her progress. She stays in two different pastures with dogs, wildlife, a cat, tractors, target shooting nearby and all sorts of scary things and she's fine with them. She used to panic when the rain hit the tin roof but now ignores that also. We throw buckets around her, jump around and any time she jumps, I jump too, then tell her to stop scaring me so much! It's pretty funny actually. The other mares have accepted her and don't beat up on her although they will run her away when we start feeding. We tie all the mares at feeding time at individual feeding stations so noone can get beaten up and I think this helps her gain confidence also.
Little by little.