A case of the idontwannas
Jul. 6th, 2008 12:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
primediamondThe thing about a foal is that it develops at a different rate from human children. Right now Prime Diamond is behaving a bit like a three-year-old with a bad case of the "idontwannas". He's perfectly happy following me around, as long as I don't actually tell him to. That is, he'll come right up to me for scritches and following me very closely, as long as I don't use a halter and rope - because when I do that, he'll try his damnedest to go any direction but the one I want him to.
The solution to this is pretty simple - as long as he's going in the right direction, I don't pull on the rope at all. As soon as he stops, or tries to go off in another direction, I pull on the rope enough that the halter puts pressure on his head. This means that following me will give him a reward - he gets rid of the uncomfortable pressure - and not following me will be uncomfortable.
We've started tying the rope of the halter to the bars of his stall a few times. He doesn't seem to mind being tied up at all, he's happy as long as he can chew on the rope, chewing stuff being his favourite pastime at the moment. Yesterday when I was taking him and Melanie back out in the field, he grabbed hold of her rope so in essence he was leading her. Very cute but potentially dangerous, so we're training it out of him...
We've also started separating them for a short while - we simply leave him in the stall while bringing Melanie down about ten metres away to get showered. It's very hot, and she gets sweaty running after Prime D, and the flies simply love a sweaty horse, so it's a kindness to wash her clean of sweat before letting her out to have a long good roll in the dirt. Prime D of course gets frantic, even though he can still see her.
He still tries rearing up when he's too excited or too stressed out to follow my lead. This we handle by basically pulling him down with the halter as soon as he does it. Again, it's a bit cute when a six-weeks-old foal does it, but it'll be dangerous when he's a bit older. Actuallly it's already dangerous - those small hooves are sharp and hard, and I've got at least one bruise to prove it.
There's a new picture up. The horse to the far left is his grandmother, I think - it's a bit hard to tell with the tree covering a part of her. If it's not granny Carolina, it's an uncle. The horse right behind Prime Diamond is another uncle, then there's Melanie and behind her Phoenix, who's a boarder at the stables.
The solution to this is pretty simple - as long as he's going in the right direction, I don't pull on the rope at all. As soon as he stops, or tries to go off in another direction, I pull on the rope enough that the halter puts pressure on his head. This means that following me will give him a reward - he gets rid of the uncomfortable pressure - and not following me will be uncomfortable.
We've started tying the rope of the halter to the bars of his stall a few times. He doesn't seem to mind being tied up at all, he's happy as long as he can chew on the rope, chewing stuff being his favourite pastime at the moment. Yesterday when I was taking him and Melanie back out in the field, he grabbed hold of her rope so in essence he was leading her. Very cute but potentially dangerous, so we're training it out of him...
We've also started separating them for a short while - we simply leave him in the stall while bringing Melanie down about ten metres away to get showered. It's very hot, and she gets sweaty running after Prime D, and the flies simply love a sweaty horse, so it's a kindness to wash her clean of sweat before letting her out to have a long good roll in the dirt. Prime D of course gets frantic, even though he can still see her.
He still tries rearing up when he's too excited or too stressed out to follow my lead. This we handle by basically pulling him down with the halter as soon as he does it. Again, it's a bit cute when a six-weeks-old foal does it, but it'll be dangerous when he's a bit older. Actuallly it's already dangerous - those small hooves are sharp and hard, and I've got at least one bruise to prove it.
There's a new picture up. The horse to the far left is his grandmother, I think - it's a bit hard to tell with the tree covering a part of her. If it's not granny Carolina, it's an uncle. The horse right behind Prime Diamond is another uncle, then there's Melanie and behind her Phoenix, who's a boarder at the stables.