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Discussion on Close Encounter of the Weird Kind (Part II)
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Member:
Dyduroc
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Posted on Tuesday, Apr 19, 2005 - 10:22 pm:
My little warhorse (thank you, Christos, for the nickname) has been very brave about riding past the scary farm. She freezes in place the instant she sees the emu, assumes the warhorse stance and glares at the bird until it runs away. Then we go on our merry way.
However . . .
I just learned that the owners of the scary farm added 2 ostriches to the menagerie! (I'm planning to drive by tomorrow afternoon to verify this new piece of information.)
While we can ride past the scary farm again, I won't consider it a total success until Surprise trots by focused on me and ignores the surroundings. We're nowhere near this goal, but with each ride-by, she's less tense and resistent.
I'm probably over thinking this one, but I don't want to risk another melt-down.
Any and all advice on how to handle the ostriches is welcome.
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Member:
Mrose
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Posted on Tuesday, Apr 19, 2005 - 11:32 pm:
Maybe Surprise will just consider ostrich as big emus? Personally, I would just expect her to treat them the same as she does the emus, but be prepared for any other reaction. The fact that she can pass by the emus should help her a lot.
I love your mare's name - and it sounds like an apt name for her!
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Member:
Christos
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Posted on Thursday, Apr 21, 2005 - 10:30 am:
Yes, D, you're surely overthinking.
She has learned to spook still, with all four legs on the ground, and that's a great achievement. She'll probably have the same reaction with everything that spooks her now, so you need not worry that much.
Training a sensitive horse to absolutely ignore whatever is thrown at it takes years. You surely sound on track towards that goal, just be patient.
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Member:
Dyduroc
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Posted on Thursday, Apr 21, 2005 - 11:32 am:
Sara, I hope she thinks they're just big emus. The only way I'm going to find out is to ride down there but I've decided to wait until we've had a few more sessions with our instructor. We need to go back and do some remedial work on responding to the bit before we face the ostriches!
Yes, she's very aptly named. She certainly keeps me guessing!
Christos, you're right about her learning to spook in place! It's not fun, but it's better than having to rein in a run-away freight train!
Glad to hear there's hope that some day she might ignore everything going on around us. I'm learning to measure progress by comparing the present against her behavior/performance 6 months or a year ago. She's come a long way but she's still a work in progress.
Thanks for the advice on being patient. Patience has never been my strong suit and working with my little girl has certainly forced me to look very closely at my shortcomings.
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Member:
Vickiann
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Posted on Thursday, Apr 21, 2005 - 12:07 pm:
One thing that will help her is that if you relax and act like the ostrich is nothing. Don't even look in the direction it is located -- look instead to the distance in the direction you are going. Be happy, confident, and if you can find a way to put a smile on your face, you will also smile in your butt. If she freezes on you, calmly, quietly and confidently circle her around until she willingly takes a step or steps forward. Then praise her and release from the circling exercise, starting again if necessary. I've seen riders teach their horses to be afraid and spooky by overreacting in advance when the horse wasn't originally too worried about the object. If the rider keeps worrying about an object or location the horse has no choice but to be concerned too. Good luck and stay safe. Safety is always number 1 to me, and I believe it is no disgrace, and can in fact be the smart thing,} to get off and walk my horse past or up to spooky items under some circumstances.
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Member:
Dyduroc
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Posted on Thursday, Apr 21, 2005 - 3:51 pm:
Thank you, Vicki. In hindsight, I realize I'm responsible for teaching Surprise to be nervous when we ride past this place. The advice I got in my original thread was instrumental in allowing us to resume riding this route.
You're right about the circling exercise. It works well. The only place it doesn't work is at the scary farm. Once her attention is riveted on the emu, the skies could open up and rain frogs and she wouldn't budge! If she's true to form, it's just a question of time before she realizes there's nothing to be afraid of.
Getting off and walking her just isn't an option. There's no problem with dismounting and walking her when things are going along calmly. Once she gets nerved up, however, all it does is add fuel to the fire.
Great ideas. Thanks for replying.
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New Member:
Epribish
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Posted on Friday, Apr 22, 2005 - 11:11 am:
I kept my horse for many years at a barn that at one point decided to raise ostriches. They were kept in the back 40, but were easily seen from the riding ring. Some of the horses could have cared less. Some, like mine, knew they were out to eat him! It took months before he would pay attention to me when we were at that end of the ring. There was also a trail that led right past the ostriches into the woods. I know exactly how you and your horse feel. Regardless of what my horse did I gave him a "job" to do-leg yield, flexing, etc. I filled his mind with so much stuff it eventually made him temporarily forget the birds. The ostriches were eventually taken off the property, however my horse still thought they were there for many years later! So, sit deep and keep your heels down.
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Member:
Meggles
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Posted on Friday, Apr 22, 2005 - 4:42 pm:
D. With most scary objects I do tend to look the opposite way but one of the tricks I've learned to use with my mare where strange animals are concerned (usually its pigs or cows) is to behave in the same way towards the animal as I do with my horse when I approach her. When I greet my horse in the field she gets a great big smile, a hello and we have a good old chat (or at least, I do!) and she reacts positively and is pleased to see me. When we approach strange animals that my horse is worried about, rather than avoiding the situation I tend to talk to them over the fence in the same way that I talk to my horse and with a great deal of enthusiasm. If my mare has serious jelly legs I ask her to stop (before she gets chance to make that decision for herself) and we have a good look and a bit of a 'chat' with them so that she has chance to absorb what she is looking at and also to let her consider how I am behaving towards the animal. It seems to relax her and make her think that if her human likes this strange creature, why should she be worried about it. Eventually I can just walk her past the same animals without any major reaction. Having silly names for things will also relax you and make you laugh about things. It might not be conventional, but it works for me!
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Member:
Dyduroc
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Posted on Saturday, May 28, 2005 - 6:59 pm:
This is too funny to keep to myself.
Yesterday I finally got up the nerve to ride past the scary farm and deal with the ostriches.
The emu saw us coming and disappeared into the farthest corner of the bird pen! Silly me for worrying about training my horse. It appears we've successfully trained the killer emu to vanish!
1st hurdle overcome!
The ostriches were 'sitting' on the ground and only gave marginal notice to our riding by. OK, Christos, you were right--I was overthinking the whole thing.
2nd hurdle overcome!
Low and behold, there are 2 new species in the bird pen--peacocks and turkeys. Surprise did a great haunches in so she didn't have to take her eyes off the birds but she kept moving!
3rd hurdle overcome.
Now comes the good part. The owner of the scary farm was out in a pasture milling lumber. He looks like the stereotypical mountain man--long, shaggy beard and hair, green flannel shirt, overalls--you get the picture--and I got this flash of him building a big wooden ark and loading his animals two by two...
Turns out his name is Fred and he's a really nice fellow. And by some strange coincidence, he's my farrier's cousin! Shame on me for listening to rumors about him being an antisocial cur!
D.
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Member:
Hwood
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Posted on Saturday, May 28, 2005 - 7:15 pm:
Isn't that just the way, D???
Once we get up the courage to face our fears/uncertainties, and walk through them, we look back and say, "Hey! That wasn't so bad. What took me so long?" and we find that entirely new doors have opened up . . . in this case, a new friendship and new freedom to "hit the trail" with your horse.
Thanks for sharing. I needed reminding.
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Member:
Mrose
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Posted on Saturday, May 28, 2005 - 9:14 pm:
...and the moral of your story is: you should never prejudge either horses or men! Good for you and Surprise!!
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Member:
Christos
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Posted on Sunday, May 29, 2005 - 2:17 pm:
Yeap! A little patience and trust goes a long way most of the times.
And Holly is right, we all need reminding from time to time.
Congratulations, D.
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