TCJpart71 Tricky

 

 










TRUST ISSUES:

Sherlock Holmes said 'horses are dangerous at both ends and crafty in the middle'.

...but horses are only a combination of their own need for safety and survival, their personalities and what humans have done to them.

Tom & Henry don't get suspicious with me, and although their need for safety and survival are never far from the surface, no human has ever done anything horrible to them, a few frights yes, but they have overcome these situations and learned there's nothing to fear, and anyone who so much as looks at them funny, NEVER gets invited back!!

Tom is a suspicious horse, he doesn't really like strangers even now he's 9, every vet who comes to see him has to make friends with him first, you can't just storm into Tom's stable and approach him, not that you'd do that, only I can do that, he'll stand in the corner with his bum toward you as a warning that he doesn't like it. Everything with Tom has to be slow, quiet and calm.  Tom will always stand still for me fiddling about with him.  A big horse, he is brilliant in a crisis, and never flaps about.

Henry is far too nosey to be suspicious, he wants to be involved in everything!  Yet to the outside world Henry is the crazy one and Tom the calm one...Henry can be very calm and sensible surprisingly, he doesn't fuss, and when it's needed...and he seems to know and understand when I need to administer important first aid for example...he'll behave accordingly, without fuss and let me get on.

Only this week when both of them had lost a shoe and Steve was on his way, I put hoof boots on them, in the pouring and driving rain.  They both stood completely still, not tied up at all, with their legs rested across my kneeling lap to struggle putting the boots on...it's a 2 handed job don't let anyone tell you otherwise...get help if your horse won't do this for you.

They might get irritated if I'm taking too long to do something:  this morning, it's pouring with rain, but I needed to replace their Naff Off Citronella tags, so getting soaking wet I proceeded into the field where they're grazing, began with Tom he just stood there and I was done in a few minutes...his plaits needed re-doing too...but Henry, he just wasn't interested this morning in standing still.  I did get the job done but he was being impatient with me because he just wanted some peace. I was trailing him around with a half-done plait in my hands. 

When I was finished, I began to wonder whether some people might misinterpret their horses reactions, because they forget how different a horse is to us.

A horse that's 'dangerous' at either end has become this way out of sheer fear and a need to protect itself, lots of time and work will be needed with this horse if he's ever to trust anyone again...and if not handled with sympathy and care and the appropriate amount of time and patience, it could go either way depending on the personality of the horse...Tom wouldn't give anyone a second chance, but Henry might.

...and as for the crafty in the middle part...not sure I agree, unless we're talking food-related!!