After a few more sessions of line driving with Shyloh and she was ready for the kids to try with her. Some obstacles Shy encountered:
Shy met Stella, a Jeep with a plow attached, and was instantly suspicious of her. Where did she come from and why was she there? Shy's reaction was to stop and stare, but I eventually got her moving toward Stella and around her in both directions. Shy kept giving her the hairy eyeball but listened to me and kept a slow, steady forward motion. |
| Oh Stella, why u so scary? |
The next obstacle we faced was walking through the barns. There are shadows and horses in stalls and other things that were going to "get" Shy. Again, her response was to stop and look. I let her think about it and decide what she wanted to do before asking her to Walk on. She would walk a couple steps, stop, then walk a couple more. But after a few times going through in each direction and Shy was able to walk through without stopping. Shy really seems more calm and comfortable in the open bridle. An obstacle I encountered:
I have been doing our line driving after work. It is always a rush to get to the barn, tack up, and get to working before feeding time. With Shy being in a Pasture and herd situation, she can't miss feeding time or she won't eat. Normally, this is not an issue. If the feeders see me working with her, they will feed last to give me time. There is also the option of leaving Shy's feed out for her so I can give it to her on her own. However. . .there is this one Lady who feeds who still harbors resentment at Shy and me from the last time we boarded there. Shy kicked her horse square in the vagina and the lady was pissed at us and anyone who thought it was kinda funny. It's not like I can control my horse's actions in the pasture or that I told Shy to do that. And it was over a year ago! Get over it! Anyway, she was us working and fed the pasture horses first and didn't leave Shy's hay out, so we had to cut our session short. Pretty crappy, right? |
| Totally okay with short work sessions |
But, since I am disinclined to participate in barn drama, I just ended our session and put Shy back with the herd. One, it is not like Shy is starving by any means, and two, they have pasture to graze upon all day. Oh boarding again. . .any one else have any silly/dramatic boarding situations?
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| It's not the lushest grass (which is good for us) but Shy has access to it 24/7. |
