Attitude: CHECK!
Lucy has been quite the terror lately coming in from her paddock. She gets so panicky toward the end of the day, as if she's worried no one is going to come and get her. When I make my way down to her paddock, she starts running around madly, spinning on her hind end to change direction, and in general acting like a total nutter. She stands quietly for me to attach the leadline (which lately has included a chain over her nose) and then proceeds to try and drag me all the way back to the barn.
She doesn't like being slowed down and she has reared a few times, but her go-to maneuver is to try and muscle me out of the way with her shoulder. If she gets really annoyed, she spins around and stares at me.
Any thoughts on how to handle this? I have been doing some ground work with her to get her attention on me, so that her brain has thoughts other than DINNERDINNERDINNER! but I don't think she retains that very well, especially if it's someone else bringing her in.
Yep, that sounds annoying! So she is excited about eating dinner? I would either vary the places and times she has dinner so she does not fixate on the particular time and situation.
ReplyDeleteOr pick a day when you have looots of time on your hands and work on taking her out of the pasture and only going towards the barn when she is calm. This could be difficult because it will get worse before it gets better.
Or teach her to target and then you could get her to target up to the barn earning goodies and I guarantee she would forget all about dinner and barn then! I recommend this one. It will take longer at first but you will be able to use it in a variety of different situations.
Good luck!
ah this would make me go crazy as well. we had a horse like this at our old barn and every time he would try push or be too strong I would send him in a circle around me. After doing a million circles he got sick of it and would behave.
ReplyDeleteI think it would help to bring her in when she isn't getting food. If she thinks she is getting food every time then I don't know if she will change her craziness...because ultimately she wants that food. Just bring her in and take her back out. Or bring her in to groom her, and take her back out. Anything that doesn't involve feeding.
Good luck!!