That Radar chose today, a wonderful day weatherwise for hunting, to stonk across a rubble car park without the slightest sign of any pain! Toad!!!! It was a meet so close to home, too :-( Oh well, better safe than sorry I guess ...
But you'd believe it, wouldn't you - cos that's horses for you :-)
You won't believe the next bit though. I have been mulling over why Ace was happy to hack when he started his rehab and isn't now. Two things have changed. The first is that I was hacking every other day and now I am doing one in three. I don't think that would have made this much difference.
The second is that I started by letting him go along with his nose on the floor and a stretched back and completely unrestrained, just to make sure he was pain free. And now I have picked him up and I am telling him to move faster and do things my way.
So today, just for the hell of it, I got on and picked up the reins on the buckle. I had the gate to the road open, but I also had the three gates to the arena open, so that if he turned back, I could ride him forward straight onto the arena and pretend that's what we wanted all along.
So what happened?
He walked out of the gate into the road. I gave him a neck rein and body aid to turn left down the hill, and instead of that he turned left and continued the turn sharply.. Just as I thought that he was going to go back down into the yard, he turned even more and continued up the hill away from home and broke into a trot.
Pretty shocked at this point, we continued a long reined hack up to the other side of the A537 and then back down again. He was calm, curious, cautious and lovely. He stopped whenever I wanted with a western rein aid of lifting the hands higher without taking contact with the mouth (both my horses seem to know this instinctively, I have not actively taught them it).
He waited at the junction of the main road until it was clear. He pulled in to let a car pass him in a very narrow spot. He looked at some sheep that ran towards him, prepared to spin if he needed to, and I held my nerve and did not pick up the reins and he stayed calm and carried on walking.
He's not marching anywhere, but he is swinging along with a loose back, and that's all I ask for. I'll be trying the same approach again, obviously, but first we need to do flexion tests on his hocks, because reluctance to walk downhill is often the very first sign of trouble with the hock joints. I don't expect it to show anything, but we must rule it out, since it's so easy to do.
Now tell me you would have expected me to write this today!
C
ps some of you have been kind enough to write to me saying how much you have learned from reading my blog. Please don't learn too much from this one. It is not a sensible way to teach a reluctant horse to hack, and with the wrong one it could end in disaster. It's a weapon of last resort only :-)
pps those of you with a good memory may recall that this non-confrontational non-controlling approach to spooking at the dressage letters also resulted in our first point at elementary. It will be something to bear in mind when we compete again if he continues to spook at dressage letters. Ace is very mare-like in the way he has to be negotiated with and not dictated to. I wonder if he's gay :-) ???
Good old Radar, he never fails to surprise you. But still the rigors of hunting and going out for a long time on varied terrain still probably would not have been a good idea.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting about Ace. It's almost as if when you leave it to him to make the decisions on a hack, so he's responsible for his own actions, that he steps up and takes charge. Maybe when he's in the bridle his brain turns off and he depends on his rider's commands. Out there, in the wilds of the world, he doesn't trust his human enough to keep the monsters at bay. *G*
Then again, I do recall that your non-confrontational method did correct the bad spooking in the arena, so why not out on a potentially spooky hack?
Discretion and valid and all that Jean :-) Radar does have a fairly impressive hole in his foot still. I pack it daily with cotton wool to keep it clean.
ReplyDeleteC
Valour not valid. Arrrrrgh!
DeleteC
Ha :-) Loved reading this - it may interest you to know that I hack out all the rehabs here on the buckle and don't let owners pick the reins up either - not until the horse has more than half a new hoof capsule ;-) Rebalancing of bodies is as critical as rebalancing feet!
DeleteVery interesting Nic. And we are also rebalancing minds with some of these creatures who have experienced long term pain, aren't we?
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Yes, absolutely - remembered pain and muscle memory are always factors, and of course most horses with sore feet have back or shoulder pain so there is another parallel with Ace. So glad he is making such good progress :-)
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