WTH. Mag has never been looky, he's never reacted in fear at things that worry most horses. Was that all a fluke, is that time over? As soon as Mag took the lead, he started overreacting to every single thing. A bench, a stump, a patch of darker ground, he'd slam on the brakes and even start to turn as if to retreat. The first few times it happened I could not get him moving at all, so Argo very slowly passed us, removing the danger.
It just kept happening and Mag was actually looking for things to be afraid of. AGH! I apologized for how slow he was going. "Do you want to go home today Mag?" I asked.
"What is wrong with your brain?" I asked.
At the top of the hill, nearly home, there were all those tractors and trailers and tarps and from this trail, also a water trailer and bathtub. Mag could not take it, even though we were there yesterday. I think it was the bathtub. How ironic, he has two in his paddock, one for food, one for water.
Mag stood there bobbing his head up and down, trying to get a better look at whatever it was, and snorting loudly. I knew it was not time to push so I asked Claudia to give us a minute. I just sat there asking what his problem is, trying to be amused but it wasn't working, I was annoyed. But I just sat there and wiggled around and rubbed on him and tried to be patient. I'm pretty sure if I'd put my leg on him, he'd have done a 180. So we waited.
And he finally made the decision that it was not too life-threatening, so he scooted forward. We both praised him. Claudia said, "Your horse is SO GOOD. Did you see how he didn't spin or back up, he just stood there thinking about it?" I sighed, "Yes, you're right." But where is his foolhardy courage? Gone FOREVER?
I must say, I understand he is behaving 100% normally for a young horse, 4th outing. It's just, until now I thought he was way above normal.
I'm going to ask Gabi to take me out again and talk to her about it, perhaps she'll have ideas for me. I don't want to make it too easy for Mag (he must learn to lead eventually) but I don't want to overwhelm him so soon either. I have a few options. Ride side-by-side as often as possible. Take the lead but only for very short periods, switching positions repeatedly. I guess those are all I've got.
It occurred to me that it might be Argo. Perhaps Mag feels better with mares around. Cuz they got into a nasty fight today.
We had just left the barn and Argo pooped and Claudia said, "NOOO!" and I said "WHAT?" and she said, "I have to clean it up." WHAT? I had no idea that's a rule in Wuppertal. Good heavens! She handed me Argo's reins and ran back to the barn to get tools. Mag and Argo nipped each other with dirty looks on their faces, hm, that's new. Normally Mag chews holes in him and he just stands there enjoying it. A moment later they attacked each other at the same time, both biting with the intent to injure! I couldn't believe it! I yelled at Mag and backed him up (I couldn't punish two horses at once) so I'm sure Argo thought "Ha, I won, you got busted" but then Mag forgot? about the grassy embankment in front of Tanja's new house. He ran into it and FELL DOWN onto it! I'm sure Argo was laughing, "Ha, you got busted AND you fell down, you double-dumb-a$$!"
I have no idea if any of that led to Mag's stressy behavior but it's not out of the realm of possibility.
I mounted up on the city street, not happy about that, but where we were going I had no idea. Finally in the woods we were on the most technical trail yet. Well, for Mag, not for me. But Mag really had to watch his feet, there were tiles and bricks thrown down as footing, and tree roots, he's never carried a rider over tree roots. I was not as relaxed as I could have been, in fact, my stomach was starting to hurt from stress.
But we went on and onto another single-track and this one had a fallen tree with two branches over the trail, that the horses must step over individually. Thankfully we've done 2 months of ground poles and cavalettis so it was fine. Then through a creek, Mag didn't even hesitate, he just stepped into the water like a pro. Yes!
We came across a great blue heron - very strangely, it was standing there in the woods, right by the trail, watching us. I said, "Just stay there, big bird!" I didn't need him taking off directly over Mag's head, these birds have like 6 feet wingspans. They eat rabbits. That's probably what he was doing in the trees, hunting rabbits.
Then it was time to climb the "mountain" and all our troubles began.
So, thoughts, ideas? I know, I know, he's NORMAL. But oh how I wish I had the horse from yesterday, today.
More than anything I want to go back to that very same trail and just let him take his time getting home past all those scary things. Like, no pressure at all, just waiting him out. Cuz I don't think he's got Mara's ONE HOUR balk in him.
He doesn't, right?: )
10 comments:
Babies will have bad days too. You both need to relax and learn to trust each other. I'm sure your stress was stressing out Mags (happens with me and Ashke all the time). I think you are right in thinking that the fight between Mags and Argo was also a contributing factor.
And Blue Herons nest in trees. Raise their babies there.
Yup, yup, totally normal. Maybe even a little overdue--he's been SO GOOD lately, I've been wondering when he would try out some different behaviors.
Your next ride may be better, or may be slightly worse. The trick at this point is to encourage the behavior you want, and give no support to the behaviors you don't want. And yeah, it's a challenge!
Herons nest in trees in swamps. When I worked at the library in Kenmore, every spring we would have a live "heron cam" broadcast onto a huge view screen by the desk. The herons were in the swamp right outside the library--the setup we had didn't have sound, but we would leave the door open on nice days so folks could see AND hear the happenings among the herons. And then, there was the day an eagle stole a baby heron from the nest...during storytime at the library. OMG, the squawking. I think we permanently traumatized some of the moms, but the baby eagles ate well that day. Circle of life, baby!
Ya I think hes normal too. He is young and really his 4th trail ride something is bound to go wrong. And if thats all be glad! He will get over it and be better you are doing all the right things. It sucks when they seemingly go backwards but hes just learning.
Blue herons are the weirdest things we have then in our creek standing there catching fish just a big clumsy weird looking bird lol
I always found with young horses, the first rides go well, because they are trying to figure out their balance. After they get their balance and are a bit stronger carrying their rider, that's when they start acting up and pushing the boundaries.
You have good people helping you, you're doing a great job!
Just before reading your post, I'd read Anna Blakes post (see you follow her as well), thought of it as soon as I'd read yours! It's like she knew Mags was going to have an iffy day.
Totally normal- the first few times there was so much to occupy his brain that he didn't really have time to 'notice' these other things. Now he is.
how great that you get to deal with this now rather than when you are home alone!
I would advise not allowing your attention to be on the 'thing' rather then on what you are asking. A look is okay but the key thing is that he's responding to you- which means you have to give him something to do- bend, circle, walk, trot - doesn't matter what it is.
You have all the tools you need to work on this!
And then you have to look at what did go right: He didn't take an hour to move forward. He didn't bolt. He didn't buck and throw a fit. You both came back whole. HE WENT THROUGH THE CREEK WATER!
You know when you're like 13 and are about to go to the mall for like only the 4th time and till now it was SO COOL but then this time while you were waiting for your mom to get the car keys you had a awful stupid fight with your very best friend because he looked at you weird fir like NO REASON and then you even FELL DOWN and could have just died right then and there but your mom still made you both go to the mall anyway?
That.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plRQNZb1EeY&index=22&list=UU413ZepFqtG6Bhb8Lv7ugFA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KczBxYJLSSw
Not sure what you think of Warwick Schiller but look at these videos and see what you think. There are a few along the same line.
If Mag gets a rest for stopping and you sit quietly he is rewarded for the spook. It's not a matter of giving him a hard time, just making him 'busy'.
Carol, I had that same thought when I realized there was no scary end to the arena, that took weeks to develop. Now we have a scary end. Why? Same thing, I think.
Camryn, I'll read it!
Jayne & Teresa, I've seen those videos and love everything Schiller has published so far. However there is a difference between rewarding a spook and not starting a fight/explosion because my horse is locked up/frozen, and force is not an option to get him past the thing that is scaring him. If he were eyeing things as we were moving forward, I could bend him and get his attention on me. If he's frozen, thinking it through is the better choice, and then he decides that he'd rather go home than stand there all day, so he rewards himself for the correct decision. It's like creek crossing for the first time. It's something that honestly scares the horse, so letting them stand at the water's edge and think will get you across faster than circling the horse on the bank in the hopes of showing him how difficult the "wrong thing" is (the wrong side of the creek).
When Mag stops to stare at something scary, he's trying to figure out if he will survive or not, so that is not the time to add to his stress. At least at this point in his life.
Here is an article that I found today that I was amused to see contains the two options I considered for Mag - riding side by side when possible, and trading places often with others. If you scroll down past the creek part, you'll see the spooking on trail part where the authors seem to share my perspective.
http://equusmagazine.com/article/build-trustworthy-trail-horse-10655
If you can't view the link...
"After surviving the initial spook, you still have the scary object to contend with. Aadland recommends stopping a comfortable distance away and allowing the horse to reassess the situation. "Get far enough back down the trail so the horse isn't afraid, but keep him looking in that direction," he says. "When the horse relaxes, ask him to move forward. Stop him whenever his anxiety reappears, and again let him relax before moving forward. Repeat the process until fear of the object is gone. "
And I did this a lot with Mara: "A shoulder-in can help you get past a still-spooky object. As Swigart explains, the horse's natural inclination is to keep his eye on the spook while bending his body away from it. When you push the horse forward into a walk, engaging his hindquarters, then use your leg to push his shoulder toward the feared object, you turn his evasive movement into a classical maneuver, the shoulder-in. He'll want to keep the fearful object in his sight until he gets past it. Then have him do a shoulder-in on the other rein so he's facing away from the object. "The purpose for doing the shoulder-in in the opposite direction after the horse is comfortable enough to actually turn away from the scary object," says Swigart, "is so that you can pretend--to both him and yourself--that that was what you had in mind all along."
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