Good day/Bad day

I definitely lost my temper with Chev today.

Sigh.

She has very rapidly developed one of my most-hated vices.  After a terrifying incident with a hose the other day (ie, I turned it on and she lost her marbles), she has decided that pulling back is the answer to everything while tied.

I was really hoping that when this cropped up for the first time a few days ago that would be the end of it.  She pulled back, she pulled back harder, she pulled back as hard she she could until the halter dug into her little ears and then she stopped.  And she was fine.  She did not try it again that day.

So that was four days ago.  I haven't been out to see her since then because my SO had surgery and I've been stuck at home doing the nurse thing.

Today, I get her out, tie her at the wash rack (which is actually just a hitching post outside with rubber mats because I don't trust her in cross ties), which is where she has been tied every time since I moved her here EIGHT MONTHS AGO, and she starts getting all fidgety and starts to pull back again.  I talk her through it, and re-tie her with one of those ties that's just a wrap around the pole so if she pulls back again no knots will get stuck.  She doesn't.  But I can tell she really wants to.  I figure some work will get her mind back.

We actually have a really stellar ride.  She is balanced, I really work on being straight in the saddle.  It was great.  I take her back to the wash rack.

She starts getting all squirrely, doesn't want to go in the corner, pushes her shoulder all over me, it's a nightmare.

She pulls back as hard as she can.

Long story short, it ends with my hands bleeding, her being hit quite a few times with the lead rope as she tries to freight-train over me, and her deciding that she's just going to shoot backwards whenever I try to lead her anywhere.  Making her back up more when she goes backwards does nothing.  She likes going backwards.  I am swearing, bleeding, huffing and puffing.  I've made it all worse.

I really hate her at this point.

Then an idea comes to me.  A much better idea.  An idea that doesn't involve me yelling, slapping, getting run over, or further tearing up my hands.

So I hustle her over to the round pen, which is about  8 horselengths from the wash rack.

And I make her work.  HARD.  She runs and runs until she has sweat dripping off her neck.

Then I snap on her lead rope and take her back to the wash rack.  I am completely calm and neutral.  She slams on the breaks before we get there, so I about face her and back in the round pen she goes.

I make sure she does at least 10 laps at the canter both directions before we try again.

Basically just repeat this about 15 times.  I didn't know my horse had that much stamina.  I also felt a lot more calm by this point, since watching your horse go around and around you in circles has sort of a therapeutic effect somehow.  Plus I was thinking, Ha ha, sucker, who's huffing and puffing NOW?

Finally we get to the point where she realizes that if she just steps up to the wash rack, she gets a good long rest.  Wash rack = happy place, rest.  Pulling back = roundpen, hard work.

I did try tying her when I got her on the rack--big mistake, she pulled backwards before I even had it tied and it was right back in the round pen for her.  And 10 laps each way.  I figured I had to make it really clear that it was the pulling back I was punishing, not anything else.

A couple more goes and I had her standing quietly on the wash rack again.  I didn't tie her, just let her sit there and air up some.   She seemed calm and actually, pretty relaxed.

It's been really warm here--T-shirt weather--and very breezy, so she wasn't super wet but she was hot.  I threw my bareback pad and a bridle on her and we went to walk around the arena for half an hour until her chest was cool and her nostrils were no longer flared.

After that I took her straight back to her pen and brushed all the salt off of her coat out there.  We bypassed the wash rack completely for now.  I felt like I had made my point, and the last thing I wanted to do was start that whole cycle over again.

ARGH, I am just so frustrated!  I was hoping this was a habit she'd NEVER pick up.  I think from here on out I'll try to stick with my plan though.  The second she tries any pulling back she'll go into the round pen.  That way I don't lose my temper and she gets to associate the wash rack with a good place to be again.

On a related note, I have not been pushing her hard enough.  I think this latest problem stems from me not being assertive enough.  She is still a dream to ride (because I don't allow her to get the better of me in the saddle--EVER), but she's getting to be a nightmare on the ground--she's lost a lot of her respect for my position, and I think it's because I do the same thing every time:  Snap her on the lunge line, she goes around for a few minutes, I ask her to walk, trot, canter, halt, both directions, that's it.  No groundwork (which I sort of hate, so no real huge surprise there), no real insistence that she obey what I'm asking her to do or that she do anything complicated.  She's learned to sort of ignore me.  So it's time to step that up a notch.

Now that the weather's getting better, maybe I can make up for these things I've let slide or lost over the winter.