As I work with Rally, I am finding out more about her personality.
She is very tactile. She has to touch everything with her nose.
When I go to halter her, apparently I have to present the halter to her and let her touch it first (eyeroll). If I don't, she will turn her neck away and walk off a few feet.
However, she is now letting me pick up her front feet.... sort of. I run my hand down the back of her leg, she lifts once I get to the knee, then I can slide down to the hoof and hold the toe, so far only for a few seconds before she paws it away. Every day, a little better.
She will not, however, load in my 2 horse trailer yet. I have several methods to try but it requires her to get more solid on basic ground work, which is coming along..
Progress doesn't have to be rapid! I am happy to work with her at the rate she can deal with.
Working with a mature horse from scratch is much different than working with a foal. I have to deal with her preconceived ideas of humans and her preferred lifestyle!
8 comments:
nice post :)
I think she like you too! She is persnickety like an old woman:) She will be worth all the time and effort you put into her. Wow I think what she could have been if you had her from a foal:)
I wonder if she wasn’t allowed to “make the choice” before and now she wants to be able to do that. Horses who weren’t allowed to be curious and “decide” become super resistant in certain areas. Trickery does the same thing. I’ve had to try and undo lots of trickery and manhandling with a pony. It is hard to get their trust.
Right? Or at least if I could have bred her to Beamer
She was pretty much just left to her own devices until I mentioned that I would be interested in her. She has a few scars so may have been in a wreck or 2. She is both curious and wary. Definitely self preservation in the herd and low on the totem pole, but does boss Patsy around . S**t flows downhill as they say!
Such a pretty head.
She seems lovely.
Glad you are making progress. After my experience with the 5 year old wild mustang, I know you cannot take anything for granted. Sometimes even a different color lead rope would get a reaction. They all process things differently and at their own pace.
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