A day full of it....

[gone24now]

I'm sitting here finally at 9 pm and can't beleive the day that we have just had. :eek: Started out by the vet being an hour late to our barn to take a look at Luke. Because of this I missed two appointments, which I will probably be dinged for. Vet finally arrives Luke is outraged when the thermometer goes in, but even more so when the vet puts his hand in his mouth to check around. Jeesh!! So now that the vet was late, I only have about 1/2 an hour before my RI arrives. So I tack him up and me and my son (6) walk him with the halter and line into a large fenced area that I take lessons in. On the other side of this area is a gate that leads to one of the pastures. There was a mare in this area so I walked with Luke over to the gate to close it, as I didn't want an altercation between the two. As I went to close the gate and latch it, I got a really strong shock from the fencing. The type that actually throws you back a bit, and of course as I was holding Luke it went through him as well. Well Curtis got scared and stepped back and backed right up into the electric fence again. Now I have a horse running toward the barn and a screaming 6 year old running after him. :mad: That gate is not grounding out properly and it's the last time I touch. So now Luke is ****ed about the vet, freaked of the shock, and in walks my RI. So we try to calm him out with a bit of lunging, but he is still a bit freaked. I hop on and it just not his day, but I didn't want to get off at that point giving him the idea that if he acts this way I will stop. So I persevered and after a lot of sweat and determination he calmed and we stopped on a positive note. I took him back to the barn outside and put his tack away. As I did that the RI decided to give him a hose down. Not a good idea, his freak was back on. Holy shmoley!! The dance that it became. What a poor guy... to much in one day. Tonight went and sat with him, put my feet up and read a book. Gave him some favorites... life savers and watermelon and left with him happy.

When you know that your horse has been pused too far, do you always have to end on a positive note on your terms?? Or is it OK to just stop when he wants to?? I don't think I would have hosed him down, but...I really wondered if today broke some of his trust with me. I hope not.

[Ptaty70]

that's one hell of a day!! It's necessary that the vet comes out, so you can't help that, it's unfortunate about the electric shock and probably poor judgement from the RI re the hosing (probably cos they hadn't seen how he'd reacted to his shock!!), but I shouldn't think you've lost his trust. He'll just be super super wary around the electric fence again.. as I am too, so I don't blame him!!

He's obviously comfortable around you and I personally think that going to sit with him in his stable was the best thing you could have done and was probably really appreciated!!! I think that this 'chat' was your ending on a good note. I would probably have taken the pressure of the hose off him and just given him a sponge bath as the hose hitting his skin on top of the shock probably worried him. A sponge bath means you both 'win'.

maybe tackle the electric fence issue slowly so he doens't have a problem with it going forward. Mine got a buzz from one, so we walked in and out of the gate without rushing, with lots of praise and treats. He now respects it, won't go near it, but will trust me enough to walk 'through' it.

Will be interesting to hear how he goes. Don't WORRY!!:p

[stormandsummer]

Try not to worry, my horse got zapped once by an electric fence close to the gate, i was mounted at the time and landed badly on my shoulder, breaking my collarbone :eek: so consider yourself lucky that no one got hurt ;)

He still trusted me, it did take some time to stop him barging through the gateway everytime but in time although he is wary now, we still have a great bond and trust too :D

I think he would be more unforgiving about the vet lol

I doubt the trust would have been broken but he will be wary of gates for a while. Try not to worry

[sancho]

Dont worry, I would say you did everything right for Luke to realise you are there for him no matter what happens.

The fact you went back down to be with him says it all! :D

[Blair Witch]

Don't you just hate days like that! I think you ended on a good note.

[gone24now]

Yes you are all right, he was all back to his normal self yesterday, following me around everywhere looking for big hugs. We went back into the area where the gate is and he was fine walking the rail past it. No hesitation or quick retreat what so ever. And instead of fast trotting toward his stall gate, he had a nice pace for me to practice posting. What an awesome guy!:)