About a year ago, we had a situation here...Legacy had decided that the small animal that was visiting our pasture, was certainly like her favorite cat, and would LOVE to have its back scratched...wrong! it was a porcupine! and Legacy ended up with a nose full of quills.....ouch!
Well, ever since that incident, and the pain involved ( even under sedation ) of pulling out those quills, Legacy has been a bit fussy about having her nose handled. Since she will be going into training soon, I have been slowly working with her, to build her confidence back again...after all, how can she learn about bridles and the bitting process, if no one can get near her nose!
After this first happened, she was even scared to have a halter put on...She remembered the halter was involved in the pain, so, most of last summer, on every herd check that I did ( while they are out on pasture ) I took a halter and quietly haltered her, building back her confidence that there was no pain involved. I also tried to work with her nose, but there just seemed to be a block between Legacy and I, something we could not seem to overcome.
Per my agreement with our trainer, I am to work with Legacy for a month before she heads out in March. Ground work, into to bridle and saddle, teaching her to lunge, all these are things I need to start doing, but.....how can I start, if I can not get near her nose?
Faced with a Feb 1 st start date, for my portion of the training prep, I knew I needed to get over this hangup, but every time I tried, I just ended up frustrated, and Legacy was not advancing with this issue.
One day, while surfing RFDTV, I saw that one of the clinic guys was working on a horse with head shy problems...ears especially....so, I recorded it..to see if I could learn something that would help our progress....Chris Cox was working with a paint mare, that had serious head shy issues, and as a result, reared, backed up, would throw herself over backwards...could his training in this matter help us? Well, long story short, it certainly DID ! In the past, I always went in with the idea of getting Legacy to accept my hand on her nose, Chris, did the opposite...he went in with the idea, that he would FIRST get the horses mind, then he would approach the trouble spot....and wow ! he made great progress with that paint horse, it was not easy, she pulled all her tricks out of the bag, but....he gave me some really great tips and things that would work for Legacy and I....and it DID work. First I sacked her out...she had always been so easy to work with, and I started the session by getting her mind into what we were doing....I sacked her out, I did a few turns over the forehand and the hindquarters, and then, when I had her thinking about what she was doing, I started gently on her face...giving a HUGE reward ( no not food ) of petting for the slightest attempt to handle the situation, and build confidence.
Many folks don't watch trainers of disciplines they are not interested in...Chris is a western trainer, but I certainly learned from him on this occasion. By the end of our session, Legacy was allowing my to stroke and cuddle the right side of her face...the left side will be an issue still, but I only wanted to accomplish this in very small steps....and end for good, her reluctance to have her nose handled...We had some so far, that I left things in a good spot, and as we progress, we will tackle that sensitive left side. I now can worm her again, that had become a problem, and she needs her teeth checked before heading out to the trainers. We are on our way! and I will be blogging about our training progress as we go...my very first HOMEBRED to start under saddle...yeah!
Hi Linda!!! What a lovely photo of Legacy! I have to tell you how much I appreciated your post. Recently I had a funny thing that happened with Reese....I think the last few times I put on his bridle, it pulled some ear hair. He became for sensitive to his ear being touched with the bridle and even knocked me down with his head a few times! And it doesn't take much with that head and my small frame! lol. Anyway, I worked for a day or two and although some progress was made, it seemed like we would go back 2 steps each time, then start over. I am finding that this seems to be a little bit of a dominance thing and if I can grab his mind, he protests LESS. I was still feeling I hadn't cracked the nut entirely so your post really helped me! I should call you sometime to talk. I hope RAC'er's see this because it is really good info!!! Denise
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