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In fairness, her owner
had worked hard at the things she ought to do, like standing still for
grooming and picking up her feet and tapping them gently with a
hammer, in preparation for shoeing. That was an intelligent
thing to do!
He also spent many hours teaching her how to
load into his trailer and did an exceptionally good job of that.
He liked playing around with her, but didn't know what else to
do. So when she came to us for breaking and training, Tilly was
outraged. She wasn't having that.
First, she had lost her loving owner who let
her do what she wanted. Then, she had to share her life with a
load of other horses. She didn't like that - so they didn't like
her, because she had no social skills whatsoever. The only thing
she could do well was assert herself, driving away intruders and
saving anyone else the bother of doing it. Gradually, she
started earning respect, making friends with the other horses and
mixing with the group, like a normal horse would.
Predictably, she
didn't take kindly to basic training. She didn't mind the saddle
or bridle. No horse ever does, but when it came to riding and
doing what we wanted - that was a different story. She had
"stubborn" down to a fine art and niggled or fought over
everything. Having lived such a sheltered early life, she was
also very nervous and spooked or startled at just about
anything. An unhappy combination. |
