Lucy was a HUGE brat during our ride on Monday. Long story short, there was another horse being ridden in the ring when I was in there. Lucy has made it quite clear she hates this particular horse. She pins her ears at him and gives him a nasty look whenever he's around. We were coexisting fine until she randomly flew backward at him from a standstill with the intent to kick him...WHILE I was riding!!!!
The long version:
Lucy is stalled next to a chestnut QH in the barn and she absolutely despises him. She barely missed kicking him when he got too close to her hind end while out on a trail ride, and since then she has had it out for him.
As I said, Lucy and this QH were giving each other the stink eye the entire time we were riding on Monday night. She reacted when he picked up the canter, and every time he would pass her, though he gave her a wide berth, she pinned her ears flat against her head and got visibly upset. Finally I just chose to stand in the middle of the ring while the girl riding him cantered. Well, everything was ok until she got around the far corner where we were standing. Lucy tracked him with her head/eyes as he rounded the corner, and when he got closer to her she pinned her ears and RAN backwards at him, legs flailing and everything. He responded by spinning around so his hindquarters were aiming right at her. I yelled "NO!" and yanked her head around in a one-rein stop hoping to get some control of her hindquarters so she couldn't kick him. It was really scary. They didn't make contact but I was so shaken up that I made Lucy do a few more minutes of work so she didn't think she could act like that and then be done, and then I took her back to the barn. I was really mad at her but I was completely at a loss as to how to show her that, short of beating the you-know-what out of her, which obviously wouldn't be constructive.
Her dinner was waiting in her stall and again, I didn't want to just put her away and let her think she could eat dinner after acting like that, so I made her stand in her stall with her dinner right there and I did ground work with her. She was so good and so quiet and obedient. The aggression had completely disappeared and she had a soft look in her eye.
I am lucky that my friend whom I board with is really excellent at working horses on the ground and establishing boundaries. She's an excellent rider, too, but I really admire her skills working with horses in hand.
Here's a video, showing my friend working with Lucy first, and then I give it a shot halfway through:
Just compare Lucy's body language in the beginning to the video to how she is acting when my friend's part ends. She's actually trying to do what my friend wants, instead of automatically tossing her the equine bird before my friend even finishes the request.
I hope this ground work will translate to having a better handle on Lucy's feet under saddle. I also hope she never tries to attack another horse with me on board again.
Interesting! That kind of helps me with Buck, the little horse I am training! I actually have him at my house right now... I trained him enough at his house to where I could ride him over here. he's out in the cow pasture getting use to my place and I plan on getting him in the round pen tomorrow. We have a lot of ground work to do!
ReplyDeleteLucy looks like she is so much more relaxed after a few minutes... I think if that was my horse that tried to attack.. I would have gotten realllly mad! Flint actually bit someone not so long ago, but it was an accident :( He did lunge for another horse on a trail ride and happened to get the girls leg. I spun him around in circles and kicked the mess out of him, but I was too worried about the girl to actually punish him good enough! I will just have to be on the lookout next time we go out on a big trail ride like that. in 13 years that is the only incidence we have had out of him!
And if anyone was interested in this the way I was... I found some videos by a trainer that are very good and in fact is the same language Maddy is using. (Not my favorite school... but oh well!) ;)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7JmW3PXAGs
This youtube user has some great videos!
That's a good video. Check out Clinton Anderson's videos, too; he is who Maddy got the training techniques from. He has a groundwork video that goes over a lot of this stuff :)
DeleteYeah I have looked at some of his stuff before! He was actually in Perry at the Fair Grounds a couple of weeks ago. Of course, I didn't find out til the day before! I was upset. oh well!
DeleteLucy, you stinker! Bad girl!
ReplyDeleteMy goodness, Kate, she sure is opinionated! Horses make me feel better about people. I always feel bad when people don't like each other, but then you see it in horses, and it makes you understand that sometimes that's the way it is.
I've rewrote my comment a bajillion times but the gist of my message is this: I'm so grateful someone has come out and mentioned that their mare has acted unacceptably. I've felt so alone reading other blogs where their mares are just so nice and never kick or bite or pin their ears at other horses. Thanks for being honest!
ReplyDeleteTrust me, there is nothing I'd love to say more than that she is the most un-mare-like mare I've ever met. I'd also love to say she's the quietest and most trustworthy OTTB I've ever met. Sadly she fits the most obvious stereotype for an OTTB mare, and not in a good way. This blog is about learning to make the best out of the horse I have; I'm not interested in trading her in for a different model or selling her. It wouldn't do anyone any good to lie about her shortcomings here :) Granted, I also sing her praises when she's a good girl!
DeleteI had this happen once on one of our old horses....back across the show grounds trying to kick everything. We had to tie him to the trailer and smack him gently with a crop on the ass every time a horse went by. Magically, it worked. Hope Lucy realizes her silly mistake.
ReplyDeleteI do this with Laz ALL THE TIME. He was SUCH a brat, rude boy when I first got him. NO respect for space, etc. Since moving him in September where he spends his days thinking he's a retired stud with 2 other geldings, he's reverted back into some pushy behavior so I've been doing more groundwork. It's amazing how well it works and will translate into saddle. Just like anything else, it's allowing them to make the right choices that are easy vs the wrong ones that are hard. I mix it up from Clinton/Parelli/etc. Sometimes I think Clinton can be too aggressive, other times I think Parelli can be tooooo mundane. B/w the two; Laz seems to understand the Parelli games better and it relaxes him. Lucy is a smart smart girl, she'll get this sooooo quick!
ReplyDeleteFrom what I have read on your blog, I don't think you are causing this behavior in Lucy like I was in Riva.
ReplyDeleteI was having a lot of trouble with Riva when riding in our indoor with other horses/riders present. She would pin her ears, snap as they went by, and once lunged at another rider's leg as she passed (came really close to connecting!). I did some reading and realized I was tensing everytime another horse/rider came close to us -also lifting the rein to block her. From what I read - I was making Riva think there was something to worry about. Once I realized I was doing this, I tried to stay totally relaxed as other horses came near us and Riva quit reacting!
Like I said, I don't believe you are doing this - but thought this might help someone else with their naughty mare.
Daatje hates grey horses. No reason for it, she just really hates them. When out hunting, If we're near a grey, she'll make faces and get a subsequent strict reprimand. She originally tried to lash out/bite grey horses as they past us, but a sharp "no" and a swift kick got the message across. If Lucy does that again, you need to have a serious "come to Jesus" moment with her, if you think she could process it mentally. You're doing great with her, stick with it!
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