I give him a bath and go clean his stall, witch took the good part of the day seeing I haven't clean it out in a while and now that it's so muddy he has stopped going outside to potty.
When he dries I put him out in the round pen to run around a little. He kicked up his heal and strut his stuff, he got so into playing that he slip and feel. He was in such a good mood he didn't even care he fell to the ground, he just started to roll and then he was on his feet and bucking again. I stood and watch him for awhile but now that he fell he was more careful not to get overly carried away again.
Cody is running up and down the fence wanting to get over to Happy playing. I think I will take Cody on a trail ride, we haven't been out for a while and it's such a lovey day. Down the road we went. I have a two mile dirt road to my house with a straight stretch at the end. If I want to lope I do it on the way out never on the way back. Cody is great out on the trail with others but he gets freaked out by himself, especially when the mares start calling to him on the way home. He starts to trot and I stop and back him each time. He knows I don't like him talking to mare when I am handling him and so he starts to get upset and backs up fast and starts to jump from side to side anticipating my spur in his belly. I was such a nice day and he has been good for the last two clinics so today I decided I would ride him bare back and now I was regretting that decision. Some neighbors go for a jog and now are heading straight at us slowly. Well Cody can't make any sense of these to figures coming down the road, he stops, raises his head as high as it could possible go and freezes like a statue. I can feel his heart beating as he flicks his ears back to front, looking for the best escape. I grab a handful of mane and wait, he tries turning to the right and I block with my leg, well it was more like spur cause I'm bareback, feeling the spur in his side he make a hard turn to the left. Thank God I had loped him on the way out and now he is sweaty and I stick glue. I give him my left leg and now he jumps forward prancing down the road as big as he could puff himself up. You would think he never seen the neighbors running before the way he was carrying on. Stopping and backing now is out cause he is more than happy to turn and run so I decide to focus on keeping him looking forward. Finally the joggers got close enough he finally figured it out and went back to the fast walk home. About a quart mile mark he just can't help it and call to the mare again getting himself all worked up. If he started trotting I would stop him and back. If he would call to the mare I would stop him and back but when he call to the mare he knows he is being bad so he gets more nervous and start to run backwards as he screems. What happened to my leisurely ride? The sun is going down and it's starting to get cold out here.
I've had a few horses in training over the years with the problem of hurrying home and the worst one helped me find the best cure.
I had gotten this mare in training started by someone else. The mare had competed at the snaffle bit but was not broke in my book. I took her out on my two miles of dirt road and she was great on the way there but the moment you turn her around the race was on. She would through her head and push through the bridle stopping and backing just made her mad and she would buck or try to run off. You could have her nose bent around to my foot and she still be running blind. She ended up falling in the ditch one day, we didn't get hurt but I had enough of her tantrums and I didn't want to fight with her anymore. The funny thing about this mare was she was incredible lazy in the arena, you would have to over under her just to keep her loping. She was stubborn and smart, a difficult combo, she wanted to do what she wanted to do and that was that. Fighting with her is not working cause she is getting to dangerous. Frustrated and wanting to quite on this mare, I thought of one thing I had never tried before, in theory it should work, if I do it all the way.
I ride her out the road to the end, lopping most of the way it's about two miles. I turned her around and asked her to walk back. She was good at first but started to get pushy as we got closer to home. This time when she would push and toss her head in stead of stopping and backing I would turn her around and lope her all the way out the road again. Something about a straight stretch that makes a horse want to run and I let her run as fast as she wanted to away from home, after about the fourth time out she started to not want to any more. I started to shorten the distance I would lope her away from home and she stopped pushing through the bridle as much. I really wanted to make my point here and expected her to walk home on a loose rein. It was a long day but it worked. I would have to remind her every once in a while with a nice long lope out to the end again but we never had anymore bucking or leaping through the air, running home sideways with her head around to my leg. Redirecting her energy made her change her mind to my way of thinking. She went on to win in open and non pro classes, she even won an all around in cutting, reining, working cow horse and halter. I really didn't like her the first six months I had her in training, she was tough but she grow on me. SPC Cut N Chex
It was dark by the time Cody got wise to the game and walked home without losing his fool mind. The quarter of a mile from home seemed to be hard for him, we spent most of our time there walking toward home then loping away. He couldn't help himself when we rounded the driveway and started to scream, I thought about letting it slide and just get home, it's getting dark and I'm cold, my ass is wet from his sweet but I wanted my efforts today to lasts and before he new it he found himself loping back out a quart mile away again, after that he walk home on a lose rein.
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