| Sacking Out |
[Oct. 21st, 2003|11:40 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | ravynesque | ] |
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Sacking out is a term used in training horses, it means touching them with things like halter and lead rope, to get them used to being handled and touched with everyday stable items. i have been working with Ravynesque over the past couple of weeks, getting a halter on her, and working with a lead rope.
She is definitely a bossy bossy horse, greedy for treats and unwilling to share food (or attention) with any of her fieldmates. Even though she is not the largest of the foals, she has no qualms about nipping the bigger ones out of the way if they are in the way of her and food. In fact, this morning, she nearly got me on the forearm (i felt her grip through my heavy sweatshirt) because i had the nerve to feed another foal in her presence <grin>. i swatted at her mouth and told her NO, but for the most part, she hasn't been nippy towards me at all. Though, baby horses *do* bite and i'm sure i'll get mauled as time goes on.
For now, though, i am making good use of her greed and curiosity. If she thinks i have food she will follow me anywhere. Actually, she'll follow anyone anywhere cause she knows they MUST have goodies SOMEWHERE! So last week i started working with the lead line, at first by holding the clip end in my hand with the halter (we don't attach the lead line at first in case the horse gets frightened and bolts), and bribing her with baby carrots to get her to walk forward as i held the halter and lead. That seemed to work well, so then i would make sure she took a few steps after the carrot was gone, so that she wouldn't come to expect to get food all the time.
i only worked with her one day last week (my workload has been heavy), but she remembered well enough this morning. In fact, i suspect that she equates the leadline with treats cause when i went into the field this morning, she sniffed it several times.
So this morning i was able to go on to the next step, which was threading the lead line through the ring on the halter (STILL not attaching it), and holding it folded in half, and lead her around the field. This way, if she were to panic, i could let go of the end of the line and it would safely slip out of the ring. But, not to worry, there was no panic in her, just the eternal quest for food. In fact, i had trouble getting her to stop when i said "Ho"(short for whoa), she wanted to get right to the food in my hip sack. Wendy's horses all know certain voice commands, such as "walk", "trot", "Ho" and "Stand", and i've started to use these commands at the right time so they will all learn them.
The last thing i did this morning was to play a game with Ravyn, in order to be able to touch her on the back and rump. See, she wants to be where the food is, and she's not sure of what i'm trying to do when i walk past her head, so she will back up a couple of steps. So in this game i walk around to her sides, trying to get to her flank, and she will turn to face me. Then i turn and go to her opposite side, which makes her stop and pivot. i go back and forth this way, and eventually i will end up facing her flank, and i can stroke her along the back.
This morning i was able to play this game with her, and end up walking completely around the back of her with my hand on her rump. She doesn't seem bored with me, cause if she got tired of this, she could just walk away, so maybe she is at least intruiged, if not really "enjoying" it, and of course once in a while, when she lets me touch her, i'll tell her what a good girl she is and give her a little treat.
What makes her easy to work with one-on-one, though, makes it virtually impossible to work with any of the other foals, while she is nearby. And, if there is one person in the field, she WILL be nearby! So i will continue to work with her as i can, but working with any of the other foals might have to wait til we can get a round pen set up in the field, so that we can separate out the foal we want to work with.
In the meantime, i'm having a blast working with my "baby".... :-) |
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ravynmaniac's journal
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Ravyn had her surgery first thing Wednesday morning, as her eye had deteriorated overnight and the doc was very worried that the eye would rupture. i'm still waiting on photos from the procedure, but, she did very well and, after an extra-long post-surgery nap, got up from the mat like a champ and walked right into her stall. And of course, started eating :-) . She was dressed in her "hospital gown" and even "booties".
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