A small thing I know....

Cortrasna

Cortrasna

Grumpy old nag
Aug 5, 2009
10,124
3,499
113
Ireland
Very happy today with my Dolly. :wub:

Since I have had her she has always been rather reluctant to have you do anything around the area of her nearside ear. As she is hogged to help deal with her sweet itch problems, you can imagine that tidying her up can be quite fraught and needing a LOT of patience!:frown:

The first time I fully clipped her we found that she had several scars in that area, including one that almost totally circles her ear on that side...I can never be certain but I am inclined to think that she has probably been very badly and cruelly twitched on that ear at some point in her past.:devil: Or maybe just had some sort of accident involving that area.

So over the past two years, anything I need to do, including just grooming that area has been very carefully and reassuringly done, in the hope that one day she might trust me enough to happily let me re hog her without any stress for her. Very slowly in the time I have owned her, things have gradually improved.

Well...Today she was a super star, just carried on munching her hay net whilst I clipped between her ears, and even stopped stuffing her face and lowered her head to allow me to tidy up the little tuffty bits right by her lower ear.

I can't tell you how ridiculously thrilled I am, not for how much easier it makes the job for me, (which of course I am!) but absolute proof that she finally totally trusts me and is not worried or frightened by anything I might need to do for her, even in her 'high risk' areas!:redcarded:

:dance::dance:
 
This brought a tear to my eye,not a small thing at all its huge and I can just imagine how your feeling too!
Well done for all the hard work and patience you have obviously put in with dolly and what a wonderful thing to finally think we have cracked it together :)
A true partnership :D
 
How lovely is that feeling? Being 100% trusted by your horse is an amazing feeling:angel:

I think its about time we had some pictures...of the newly hogged angel :biggrin:
 
That's a major thing, not a small thing.

Horses will just tolerate a lot but to have earnt her trust like that is what horsemanship and our relationship with horses ought to be about.
 
That is a MASSIVE hurdle you have overcome - shows she truly trusts you.
 
thats huge, not a small thing, well done you, and how lovely for Dolly to have such trust in you. Poor thing, I have never seen or heard of twitching using an ear, is it a common thing?
 
Tillytoo said:
thats huge, not a small thing, well done you, and how lovely for Dolly to have such trust in you. Poor thing, I have never seen or heard of twitching using an ear, is it a common thing?
Click to expand...

It can sadly be very common I actually seen it used at a collage which I thought wad utterly disgraceful.
A farrier asked me to do it to a pony once,I promptly told him to leave and never come back.
 
Its lovely when you get that extra bit of trust, the little jigsaw piece hovers and finally fits into place.
 
she is such a good girl for you and to have just shown you that little bit extra is so special. you wonder why given she is so good, it was required.

twitching does work, i often use a neck twitch as a relaxer as it does seem to calm them down if they are worried.

good girl Dolly!
 
newrider.com
Top Bottom
Back