I wanted to get a good ride in on the roads today, but as usual, fate had other plans. Jasper is starting to show the effects of being stalled with food in front of him 24/7 and was a bit amped today. But I was determined to get in our planned ride today, which probably wasn't smart on my part. We did a quick 10-15 min warmup in the arena before heading out, and things started out good enough. He was a little balky at leaving the barn, but it didn't take much to get him moving out. We'd made it about 3/4 of a mile down the road when Jasper spotted a horse-eating woodshed.........about 200 feet off the road. I could not figure out what it was he was freaking about, and so told him he was overreacting and urged him forward. He continued to go on until he decided that the woodshed was definitely looking at us and if we didn't turn and run home RIGHT NOW it was going to come eat us. He seriously started to come unglued...prancing, backing, spinning, the whole works. I didn't know what to do with him, and so made it my goal to get him still enough that I could safely get off. We ended up pulling off into a small field and I turned him so he could keep his eye on the woodshed long enough for me to hop down. I grabbed his reins and we continued down the road. His heart rate spiked at 195 bpm, so at least I knew he was genuinely concerned about the woodshed. Ack.
We ended up walking down the road some more and then back to the barn once he'd calmed down. I needed the exercise anyways. Once we got back, I checked in with the barn owner and then took Jasper into the outdoor arena and we cantered for 10-15 minutes. He definitely needed the outlet, and it got both of us breathing pretty heavy.
So here's the question: How do I get him to relax and have a more business-like attitude when we're out on the trails? I asked Lacey (the trainer/friend/student that made such amazing strides with Cricket), and she said to just take him out every day and let him throw a tantrum and that he'd eventually get used to it and get over it. Ah, horses.
3 comments:
Hi , Just found your blog through endurance.net. Love the photo. Lucky you, getting to ride this time of year. Sounds like your boy there is a little unsure and frightened of being out there alone. I try notto give unsolicited advice but one suggestion on your situation; I would try to find something to distract him with, find a log or something to work him on and around,or ask for a couple sidepasses, or hind end release or anything to get his focus on something else. It has worked for me in the past. Good luck
Thanks, Jonna! The weather is a bit unseasonably nice right now here in Eastern Washington, so I'm trying to take advantage of it as much as I can!
That's something I hadn't thought of. He does seem to come back better when he's suddenly being asked to focus on something, so I'll have to give that a try. I think our problem got too out of control yesterday, but I should try that before he gets to that point. It caught me so off-guard--he's never reacted so strongly before!
We're going to take things a bit slower on the transition to the road from now on. I assumed too much after he'd been fairly well-behaved on his first trailer ride out. Ah, well. Live and learn, right?
lol; just when you think you have things figured out, they throw out a new trick at you! The joy of horses..gotta love them!
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