Friday, April 9, 2010

Cont.'d

Unedited! Sorry.
Ok, so because I wasn’t as faithful documenting each try, this is coming from memory  So I wasn’t able to load Big Boy the next time I tried. In fact, it was hard to just get his front feet in. Eventually while I was lunging him at a trot behind the trailer, I realized he was tired of this game and I hadn’t round penned him enough ahead of time. He jerked his head and before I felt it on the rope, I let go. I knew I couldn’t hold him. He went running around the pasture, I caught him, then he got very tired because we lunged for a lonnng time. Ok, so this attempt sucked and what made me the most angry was that I let myself get frustrated. I hate when that happens because it affects me and my horses. Onward to the next time, same routine, lunge in round pen(making sure he’s actually a little tired) then lunge by trailer and then try to load. The idea of round penning him isn’t to actually wear him down until he’s so tired he can’t refuse. I round pen him until he’s tired because he’s very fresh. Big Boy had the whole winter off, didn’t work too hard the summer before and for about a year before that was a pasture ornament due to me working a lot and then being pregnant. I just want to take the fresh out, not abuse him. Next, the idea of lunging next to the trailer is to say we work outside the trailer and we relax in the trailer. Now that you know my philosophy, guess what? He loaded! And without me having to put the first front foot in for him. The problem is now, despite loads of praise and nothing bad happening in the trailer, he wouldn’t load a second time. This is frustrating! I want him to load because it’s a skill; I don’t want him to be a one trick pony! Not to mention, there is no grass and there is no hay, so these horses have got to go! Lol, so I can’t remember if he loaded again before we had a chance to move the horses, but if he did it was just the same as before, one trick pony. Now comes moving day. I set the alarm on my phone before I work with Big Boy. I give myself 10 minutes to take off the fresh and 15 minutes to try and load him. He didn’t load  So I called hubby who was taking care of baby and said, all right come down here, we’re taking the other 3 and he can just stay. The other 3 loaded great and they went to my brother in law’s where there’s grass. We came back and I decided to try one more time with Big Boy. After about 15 minutes of me standing in the trailer asking him to come in, I shifted to the right side and he came in. Did I try again? Nope, I shut the doors and took him to the other horses. I plan on still working on loading but right now only half the round pen is with the horses. So for now, it’s break time from the horses. I’m sure they’re happy.

No comments:

Post a Comment