TCJpart80 Tom & Henry

GETTING UNDER MY FEET:

Now, please understand, I love Tom & Henry being around me when I do stuff.  I love it that they find moving my broom, eating out of the bin, going into half mucked-out stables, flinging hay all over my carefully swept floor amusing....it just means they love being with me...doesn't it?

...but there are times...occasionally...when I just wish they'd let me get on with my jobs....! But I don't really mean that, because every time I'm with them I learn something more about them.

MOVING YOUR HORSE:
Getting your horse to move out of your way, or move where you want him can be as easy as pointing at him, remember horses communicate entirely with body language.  Subtle changes in movements: a flick of the ear, a nod of the head, a swish of his tail, can tell us all what our horses are saying.  If you can get good at this, and you’ll need to spend a lot of time with your horse, the things you can do on the ground can help you in the saddle.

Going backwards:  firstly I started with my hand on his chest and add pressure. Horses don’t like any pressure, they’d rather move out of the way, this we can use to our advantage to teach our horse to yield.  So add pressure to your hand, and say ‘back,back,back’ give him a food treat.  Progress to laying your hand with no pressure, and then work with pointing your hand at his chest, and keeping thaat perceved pressure on until he moves...and he will do.

When he arrived here Tom didn't like brooms, not scared, just irritated by them I think.  I sweep my yard twice every day, so he's used to it by now, but only quite recently has he been able to tolerate it to the point when he got in my way and I accidentally jabbed him with it...he just stood there!

I can now sweep right under him and between his legs and he doesn't even bat his long eyelashes at me.  Only because he gets around my stuff whilst I'm using it, is he now relaxed about the whole affair.

So being around all my 'stuff' apparently is good for them.

Henry likes to go into my just finished stable, all clean, new fresh shavings, swept to within an inch of it's life, and roll...when there's 3 acres he could be using for that!!

Boys!

Not scared of bins, plastic bags, logs, buckets, stools, brooms...or any of the pieces of equipment I use around the yard or my poo-picking devices either.

They see these things every day, as as we know with horses, repetition is key.

Jobs take longer though, I can never be in a rush because they just want to be under my feet every step of the way!

In fact I have begun swapping their fields to a new one on Saturday mornings (proper deep cleaning day), just so they're occupied with new territory and not getting in my way whilst I go about the job of the BIG muck-out, haybar empty etc.

But, if it sounds like interesting things are happening...like I'm standing in my bin to make more room....well, they can't resist wandering over.

 

Everything you do with your own horse is an exchange of understanding between you both.  The more things you do with him, the more situations he can share with you the easier his coping mechanism will be out there when you're riding.

 

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..if only I could adequately explain to T&H that hay is tidier IN the haybars and not taken out and spread all over the floor....hmmmm!

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!!