Ground Dilemmas

Yesterday I worked with Lisa and her new horse Sonny, who is being boarded temporarily here at my farm. We worked together last weekend as well, getting familiar with Sonny’s habits and quirks. Overall he is a very nice boy, but he’s learned some poor manners on the ground and has the habit of pushing into people with his body as well as dragging people by his lead rope at will. We basically led him some, groomed and did a short lunging session to look at his gaits more, etc. He did fairly well, offered some playful bucks on the lunge but they were quickly redirected and him put back to work.

I came home from a short trip to St. Louis to find that Sonny had been mis-behaving on Saturday and a distinct dislike for the whip had become apparent to Lisa, when he offered to buck and kick violently when touched with the whip from the ground. It was for this reason that I was concerned about what he was offering from the ground, and wanted to make sure that Lisa wasn’t in a position to get injured. So we headed out to the barn to mess with Sonny.

Observing the work that I did with him yesterday is interesting. He is a very smart horse, and I believe that it is because of his intelligence that he has been trying to be naughty. If he is given a inch, he’ll take a mile, and Lisa still has much work to do to recognize the small signs he gives, which are so subtle that it is all the more complex. I made certain that his bend stayed to the left as I led him out of his paddock and to the arena. When I would ask him to elevate to change or maintain the bend, he wanted to stop and stare at the other horses, which I prompted him forwards with the short whip in my left hand. To this he responded with some bucks and tail swishing, and I balanced those by asking for more elevation. When he offered to move forwards rather than upwards, I give him a reverse half halt and we proceeded to walking.

As we got to working in the arena, I just went straight to working in-hand with him on the halter, asking him to elevate and maintain the bend to the inside of the circle we created. At the same time I was tapping and stroking him on the haunches and hind legs with the whip. When he offered a buck or kicking, I elevated and just gave him a vocal cue to cease. Then he was allowed to proceed forwards again. Eventually he circled around without any actions from the rear end in response to the touch of the whip. Doing this in both directions, I then tethered him in the middle of the arena and left him to stand and just hang out for the afternoon while we worked other horses. He was noticeably more settled after being worked just the short time, and seemed very relaxed and comfortable with the situation.

I have to say that I really enjoy working horses who present issues like these, because they keep me stimulated and… entertained. haha  Sonny is also, imo, going to teach Lisa far more than she would learn by having a horse who presents no issues from the ground. I have no concerns right now about his reliability under saddle, it is just the little things he’s been allowed to get away with from the ground. So, until Wednesday he is again taking a nice easy break in his paddock.