The girls, Cara and Em, arrived here in mid-June. They were both 12months old then. Cara is a sweetie, she would like to be a Lap Pony. Em, aka The Red Headed Wench, is also pretty much a sweet heart, but she does have a bit of an 'attitude'. A few days after they moved here, once she was starting to settle in, she decided to start testing. When I was dumping her breakfast from a bucket into the feed tub in the stall, she stretched her neck out and attempted to bite my hand. I saw it coming and, growled at her and smacked her lightly. She backed off, not upset, not submissive, but accepting that this was not allowed.
A day or so later, as I was opening the stall gate to bring herher grain, she decided to see if she could nip my hand then. I again growled at her and smacked her lightly. Again, she backed off and stood quietly, seeming to mull this over, while I dumped her grain in the feed tub and left the stall.
Then, a day or so later, as I was leading her out, I could see the little wheels in her head turning. I realized she was looking at my hand...so conveniently holding the lead line just a few inches from her mouth. Sigh. She tried to nip, but I was ready and backed her off.
She IS tenacious. The good thing is that she never tried to nip again in the same situation once I corrected her. So, she does learn. She just wanted to see if there was any time when nipping was allowed. She also tested any new people in the same fashion, so I always warned anyone who might be handling her or near her to keep an eye out. She seems to have grown out of that phase, which is a Good Thing.
Cara tried to nip me once, as I was leading her. I didn't even have to smack her, just growled at her, and she started flying backwards in total submission, head up, ears back, teeth clacking. She never tried it again, to me or anyone else. They're so different.
There were a few other things that the Red Headed Wench tested me on over the summer. She's not nasty or mean, mostly she's just having fun. One thing I learned was that I needed to make sure that Em kept out of my space. That was fine until we got into December and the nasty weather and I relaxed those "rules". During the ice storms or snow storms or just the nasty, cold windy days, I felt bad for poor Em being outside the run-in shed while I was cleaning it out and dumping their grains and hay. So, I started allowing her to stay in the shed and get closer to me while I was in the shed.
Over the last couple of weeks, I've been telling myself that I need to get back into working with Em to get her out of my space. She's been getting....oh, more comfortable around me. Coming into my space. Just not as respectful as she had been. Nothing nasty, just a little niggling in the back of my head telling me that I've been lax with her. You know, that little voice that you should listen to but you put off.
Yesterday morning was quite cold with a stiff wind. I fed and hayed all the horses then about 30 minutes later I noticed Em was standing outside the run-in. Usually, the girls will spend at least a couple of hours eating their breakfast hay before venturing outside the shed, especially on the colder mornings. I decided to go out and check to make sure they still had plenty of hay. As I entered the paddock, Em came over to the gate and she had that impish look in her eyes. I told her to back off and she did, though she did follow me to the run-in, which had plenty of hay, so I turned to go back to the gate. At that exact instant, Em squealed, kicked out, and took off bucking and running. I jumped to get out of the way of her hooves as she went past me, stupidly not paying any attention to Cara. Normally, Cara is not a problem, but she IS spooky and she figured Em must have been running from something scarey, so she took off running after Em. Unfortunately, the angle she was coming from, she couldn't make it between me and the edge of the shed, so she collided with me, knocking me down. Ack! Fortunately, lots of layers of winter clothing and good layer of snow made the landing painless. Thank goodness she didn't kick out or anything, as she could have quite easily gotten me right in the head.
Lesson learned, thankfully with not much damage. My left back and hip are pretty sore and nice shade of purple where Cara ran into me, but I count myself lucky that that's all. I can't be lax with these girls. They don't mean to be bad, they're just young and full of themselves. Living alone here, it would really be bad if I were hurt out there. It could be days before someone noticed I was missing and in this cold weather, i wouldn't last days. As I write this, it's already below 0 and getting colder. Tomorrow the temp might not get above 0 all day. I probably wouldn't last a few hours out there.
Since then, I've taken a broom out there with me whenever I enter the paddock. It's long enough that I don't have to worry about getting kicked if one of them reacts by kicking out. A dressage whip isn't long enough, and Em gets excited with the lunge whip. The broom seemed to me to be ideal. It didn't take much to remind Em that she's supposed to stay out of my space. She is back to staying out of the shed when I'm in there. She stayed a respectful distance from me when I attempted to pick the frozen manure out of the paddock. Hopefully, there won't be any other incidents.
I just hope none of my neighbors reports me for "beating" the horses with a broom. Not that I've actually made contact with the broom--just a lot of growling and posturing. Of course, maybe they'll report me as a lunatic...
9 comments:
I think you're absolutely right to be diligent about keeping the young girls out of your personal space. We both know they don't do anything on purpose, but still it could be a dangerous situation if it got out of hand. Especially now with the cold and ice. Glad you were not hurt badly. It would probably be a good idea to keep a cell phone with you all the time too.
And not to in any way make a blanket statement about chestnuts, but all I've known were testers and just downright in your face with a kind of 'make me do it' attitude. Not that they were bad in any way, just as I said they like to test the waters and see what they can get away with.
Hope this weather warms up soon, enough is enough...Stay warm and safe.
Thanks, Arlene, babies do keep us on our toes. It's hard because they're so cute and basically so laid back. But, they're still big, dangerous critters.
My cell phone reception is pretty spotty around here, but you're right I should try to keep it with me when I'm out working around the horses.
And, as a red-head myself I can make statements like that. I've never owned a chestnut but have part leased and been around a few and they do test, at least when they were young.
Glad you weren't injured! Sounds like you're on top of it now and the girls are paying attention.
That is a scary situtation. I always worry about my neighbor because she lives alone with about eight feisty horses, two of them colts. One time a horse slammed her against a stall wall, broke her wrist and knocked her out. If anything looks or sounds fishy over at her place, I go over to investigate. She does carry a cell phone and have good reception, but it doesn't do much good if she's unconscious.
Bombay took me totally by surprise yesterday. He's my 10-year-old laid back gelding. He wanted to help me shovel manure and tried to take the fork out of my hands. We got in this tug of war that I thought was funny and cute, and I even gave him the fork to see what he'd do with it. He just dropped it, so when I went to pick it up he tried to nip at my hand like a dog trying to get a toy away.
I barked NO, puffed myself up really big, and spun the fork at him like a baton. He took off running and kept his distance after that. So, even the older horses can just decide to up and nip one day.
That is scary. If your cell service is spotty, would it be worth getting one of those emergency call buttons? Don't laugh, you could end up in a seriously dangerous situation!
Billie- Thanks, yes, they definately are minding me better.
NM -- Yes, even the older horses can test their boundaries. They're usually easier to remind where they are. I let Jeeves get away with things I shouldn't--he's always mugging me for carrots, trying to find which pocket the carrot is in and trying to steal it. But, if he goes over the line getting too pushy, I can just lower my voice a bit and say "Uh-huh" and he backs right off. The girls need a much firmer reminder than that. They're not as in-tune to people, yet. Glad that Bombay didn't bite you!
Ruth -- I am TOO young for a LifeLine! ;-)
my cell doesn't work on my farm either, and i briefly considered one of those 'help! i've fallen and i can't get up' thingies, but decided i was too young and i'd probably die of embarrassment before i'd use it, ha ha. though i'm such a klutz i did manage to fall off my hay stack yesterday and sprain my ankle...
with 5 big, rowdy geldings and 2 very pushy mares to manage, i'm often observed screaming obscenities and flailing my arms in the air around the farm, and my neighbors surely think i'm insane ;-)
Above all, be safe. Don't let your guard down, even for a minute. If you are injured and cannot care for your beloved animals, you will both suffer.
How interesting about chesnuts - I'm a red-head too, with two red mares, although only Siete, our "baby", has that in your face attitude. I totally know what you're going through. I spend a lot of time in the stalls and corral with the horses and I'm always very aware of what they're doing or thinking about doing so I don't get caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Please take care - I always have my cell phone in my pocket when I'm outside, especially in this cold, snowy weather.
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