![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
glenatronToday Othello arrived. We spent the morning putting up an electric fence across the field so that there is something between him and Joe while they get to know each other. This will hopefully save on them beating one another up.
He is a little taller than Joe but quite out of condition and he doesn't travel well- he arrived soaked with sweat. I was away at rehearsal for most of the afternoon so I had to pretty much put him in his field and dash away, returning to give him tea. His owner, who is absolutely lovely, was in floods of tears at parting with him but I think she knows we are going to be doing the best we possibly can for him.
He comes with a reputation for being strong and for being quite happy to walk all over people, which are things I'm planning to explain it is easier for him not to do. I am very aware of the theory here but actually transferring it into practice with a very clever and strong horse will be another matter. Strong horses aren't a problem but strong horses who know their own strength and how it relates to the strength of humans can tend to want to use that to their own ends, which are typically ignoring what humans want them to do and just dragging them off to the nearest tasty patch of grass.
The first thing that we'll need to do is get him confident in his environment, which should happen naturally in a few days, once he's got used to the sights and sounds of his new field, then I'll need to get him confident in me. At that point we can start working on stuff.
Right now, he is in a totally new field, a long way away from anywhere he has ever been and it's night and it will be full of unfamilliar sounds and smells and he's going to be pretty scared. I really wish there was something I could do to help.
He is a little taller than Joe but quite out of condition and he doesn't travel well- he arrived soaked with sweat. I was away at rehearsal for most of the afternoon so I had to pretty much put him in his field and dash away, returning to give him tea. His owner, who is absolutely lovely, was in floods of tears at parting with him but I think she knows we are going to be doing the best we possibly can for him.
He comes with a reputation for being strong and for being quite happy to walk all over people, which are things I'm planning to explain it is easier for him not to do. I am very aware of the theory here but actually transferring it into practice with a very clever and strong horse will be another matter. Strong horses aren't a problem but strong horses who know their own strength and how it relates to the strength of humans can tend to want to use that to their own ends, which are typically ignoring what humans want them to do and just dragging them off to the nearest tasty patch of grass.
The first thing that we'll need to do is get him confident in his environment, which should happen naturally in a few days, once he's got used to the sights and sounds of his new field, then I'll need to get him confident in me. At that point we can start working on stuff.
Right now, he is in a totally new field, a long way away from anywhere he has ever been and it's night and it will be full of unfamilliar sounds and smells and he's going to be pretty scared. I really wish there was something I could do to help.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 16 Oct 2005 15:30 (UTC)no subject
Date: 17 Oct 2005 13:29 (UTC)*i had some 'my little pony's when i was little, so probably not really a very useful piece of advice - the other would be not to draw on him with biro, but maybe real horses are different :)
no subject
Date: 17 Oct 2005 13:31 (UTC)Chalk and coloured hairspray are a different matter (allegedly)