Didn't get kicked today

[glenatron]

... but it was a fairly close run thing.


Zorro was pretty annoyed I think. A couple of weeks ago he had some real spooks in the school cos horses the other side of the terrifying hedge of doom were rampaging and he got very anxious. We've worked through the fear- he will now happily browse on the hedge with me swinging my stick and string into it around him and making a fuss generally - but I think he learned that if he threw himself around a bit I would take the pressure off. I figured this out today and realised I needed to keep him going through some of these little tantrums so they didn't become his standard cue to stop.

He wasn't terribly impressed.


Missed me, but close enough to catch the end of the lead rope with his foot...


I think it was a bit of an extinction burst because after that he settled down a lot and we ended up getting some quite calm and low energy work but it was quite a hectic moment.

Comments

[kittyfantastico.livejournal.com]

Wow, he photographs his emotions vividly. Is he as emotive in real life? More than other horses, or is it just his personality?

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

He is quite expressive. And most of what he expresses is "Do. Not. WANT!!!" He's fairly quick to let me know if he doesn't feel I'm getting things right.

[evil-c.livejournal.com]

He is a character :-) The thing with these tantrums is if you can keep them going through them they soon realise its getting them nowhere and they give in. He may try it again every now and then but if you keep him going then they will get less and less and eventually he'll just stop so you are doing the right thing to make him get over it.

He does show his emotions well :-)

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

Exactly, it's just a question of making sure there is no benefit for him in doing them. Stuff like this is why I really like using groundwork, though. It gets a little hectic up in the saddle when he's in that kind of mood.

Fortunately he is really quick in figuring out that something's not working and he needs to think up a new trick. Unfortunately he's really good at thinking up new tricks.

I have to say, I think he's great!

[penella22.livejournal.com]

to be quite honest, I get a very clear impression of his emotional state in the second photograph, and its going something like "You've built the pressure up on me so much and I really don't trust that I can do it, but I know you're urging me to and...I DON'T WANT TO, but ok, there, I did it, and whew, hey, everything is still ok...

is he having a trust crisis? kind of a tantrum followed by like, whoa, doing better?

probably not making myself clear at all, even though it's clear in my head...because it's been a very long and hectic week...

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

I think he was having a trust crisis and I think it has now become the valuable lesson that if he flips out a bit I take the pressure off, which places me in the position of not being able to let the pressure off until he has finished flipping out and is doing something a little more calm again...