let her get away with something. oops.

[notpoodle]

angels been locked up for almost two days because of the weather (personally i would have left her out, but seeing ALL the other horses were in, that wasnt an option ...). she was allowed back out today and boy, was she bargy :rolleyes: shes not really used to being stabled for that long and she REALLY couldnt wait to go back in the field.

anyways, got her ready to go out. wasnt all that easy because she kept spinning around, throwing her head up and was generally being a pain. managed to pick out her front hooves (which involved me getting rather angry and giving her a smack because she kept trying to stamp her feet down ...). went to pick out the back ones - didnt go too well, she kept swinging her hindquarters at me, spinning and doing semi-kicking motions at me :rolleyes:

seeing i was quite keen to get her back in the field asap and we were both getting increasingly stressed, i decided to not pick out her back hooves in the end .... i know i probably should have stood my ground and somehow MAKE her give me her hooves (shes usually fine with it and 'gives hoof' on cue), but i didnt fancy getting kicked!

do you think that was okay, just the once, or might she have got the impression its okay to not give me her feet to pick out?

julia
x

[galadriel]

I don't think that you did a bad thing to stop fighting. "Winning" isn't everything. Your relationship is. If you get into a fight over something that's not *really* important, and insist on "winning," you may end up damaging your relationship.

The times I really insist that the horse must let me "win" are when the horse is demonstrating disrespect that could endanger me. Aside from that, I usually try not to get into fights in the first place; if I know something unusual is going on that could make something difficult, I may skip it entirely--like trying to handle a horse who's been locked up for an extended period.

If I do get into a fight like that, I don't need to win; I just need to end on a good note. Get the horse to do *some* thing right, then praise & quit. If you're trying to get her to do something that she doesn't want to do, and the situation is such that you need to stop trying, try to make it obvious that stopping is YOUR idea. For example, don't let her snatch the foot out of your hand & stop there; take the foot again, YOU set it down, and move on.

Particularly in a situation where the surroundings are relatively new, and you're still developing a relationship, try just to have all your encounters be ones in which you build on your relationship. Getting into a fight or insisting that you have to "win" will just make both of you stressed & unhappy. Make your encounters happy ones :)

[notpoodle]

hm, at least i got the front ones - theyre easier to hold on to than the back ones :)

im sure she'll be back to her normal self tomorrow!

julia
x

[Yann]

I agree, sometimes it's better to let something pass rather than make an issue of it and have a battle. The context is important, in this instance she was probably stressed at having been in and desperate to get to the field, having a 'discussion' wouldn't have acheived anything positive.

Poor horsey, are you sure she wouldn't have come out for a good run around for half an hour, especially if you were there. I can't imagine how cross Rio would be if she was in for 2 days solid:eek:

[Bobbi77]

In your position, I think I would have done the same. You know that she normally lets you pick out her back hooves with no problems, and you know the reason why she was so hyper this time. I doubt it will have any long lasting effect.

When Holly moved to our new yard, she had been in for 5 days in total - due to worming and a "friend" not turning out when she should have - she normally has the most impeccable stable manners you could wish for (she is 16hh and I would trust her to let my 6 yr old pick out her feet), but she was really bargy and psycho the first day we let her out after this, but I forgave her because I knew he reason why.

Sure enough, later that day she was back to her usual calm self. I'm sure that Angel will be now she has had her freedom back.

:)

[notpoodle]

she was back to her normal self today :)

she was in for two days, day before yesterday i managed to borrow the foal paddock for half an hour (youre normally not allowed to use it, but i convinced them!), so she could have a millabout in that. obviously wasnt enough though. i am glad she's back out (nevermind the fact she now has a scary pair-bond stalker trying to follow us out of the field at full speed :rolleyes: )

julia
x

[galadriel]

Glad she's back to herself again :)