Right now I am lucky to own five horses and I know the complete history of four of them. It makes everything so much easier when you are working with and training them.
This is not a post that is against taking a horse on with an unknown history for I am all for it. It just means that you have to listen so much harder to what your horse is telling you if and when they do have issues.
For example, we have the sweetest little shetland type pony out at the barn. She is fairly young, likely around 5 or 6, a very pretty little girl.
The sad part is she is so fearful of adults. It is tough to know if she was abused or if she is afraid of us because she is so small and we're so big.
She is difficult to catch and when you finally do catch her, she stands there compliant, but you can just feel the tension in her body and you can tell that she is ready to flee at any second.
About once a week I have been going in her pen and doing rudimentary ground work with her just to get her accustomed to contact although I may need to step it up and do it daily so her family can enjoy her. I also choose to do it at liberty at this stage so she doesn't feel all trapped and panicky.
She came from auction so we really don't have any history on her at all. I feel awful for the poor little beast as she is very kind, just very afraid. We can trim her hooves and everything, but she is so scared the whole time, her little body tense and on alert. I know she will come around and honestly it will just take time and patience.
I look forward to the day when she is happy to see me and comes up to visit of her own free will. I just wish she could have told me her story.
Just my two cents...
No comments:
Post a Comment