Monday, November 17, 2014

Ride 78 - Uh... who is this horse??? Confusion...


We got a dusting of snow last night!  Weird!  It's not supposed to snow in November lol.  I can't wait for the temperature to get back into the fifties midweek.  Today it didn't even make it to forty.  I think the highest it got was 36.  Yuck!  However I have vowed to not let weather (well minus rain) stop me from riding, so I went out and rode!  It was not the best ride ever....


I only rode for about 28 minutes and we stayed in the yard... let me tell you the whole story in order starting with tacking up.  As you can see in the picture below I decided to use my nice white dressage pad because the fleece one wrinkles under the saddle sometimes (the pad is more forward like a jumping or all purpose saddle).  I've been trying not to use this pad because I won it at secret Santa years ago and it's a nice, pretty pad that would be great for showing.  I finally decided it was stupid to have it sitting around for years just because I wanted it to stay clean.  It can be cleaned!!  Chrome was a turd about me tightening the girth. He would NOT stand still and for some reason he was overreacting when I corrected him (I was not being mean, just telling him no and tugging on the rein to his noseband).  I don't know if it's because something was uncomfortable or if it's because he was looking for the horses across the street (that's what he's looking at in the below picture)... I did run my hand under the saddle before I tightened it and it felt like it might pinch in the front?  Actually it felt like a lot of pressure all the way down so I think it's too wide and sitting further down from his spine than it's supposed too... the thicker fleece pad must fill up that extra width because it doesn't bother him with that pad.... anyway, moving on.  We can come back to this if we need to.


I also set up my bridle differently.  I've wanted a halter/bridle for a long time so I could have a pair of reins to the halter and a pair of reins to the bit, that way I could ride off the halter, but have the bit as back up, then I realized I still had my rings on the noseband from when I was using his bridle as a sidepull, so I just snapped my other reins to that ring.  Unfortunately when he broke my bridle he also broke the reins so they can't be buckled and they are too short to be using as split reins... I'll find my other reins if I decide to try this again.


I rode him around the driveways and the circle in the middle of them, weaving in and out of trees.  He had a very forward walk and was feeling really energetic. He was listening great to the reins on his noseband.  I wasn't even holding the reins to the bit.  Then we did some trotting around the trees. It was so much fun because he was so forward!  Then my dog started barking at the neighbor... I yelled at the dog and Chrome slammed on the brakes.  I called Jackal and he slowly made his way to me.  As soon as I went back to riding, the stupid dog went right back to the fence and was barking!  Grr!  After two more times of calling him away I got frustrated, dismounted, chased the dog down (and scared Chrome by waving my arms around... oops, he's not normally so reactive).  Did I mention it was extremely windy today??

So anyway Jackal and I both got in a bunch of burrs and the dog started freaking out because he thinks they are ticks.  I took him to the house, pulled off as many burrs as I could and then put him inside... he will not be outside when I'm riding alone again...

So I got back on the horse and it went all downhill from there.  He was being balky and resistant.  When I cantered he went full on bronco (okay it was still crow hops, his legs weren't going out or up, but it was still huge bucks compared to what he normally does)... I think it's because I asked him to canter and he went eagerly, but when he got close to the car (where I tack up and untack) he tried to stop so I kept bumping him with me heels to keep him going.  About two strides past my car is when he started bucking.  Luckily I was able to stop him even with just the noseband reins.  I trotted him all over the place and tried again.  Same deal.  HORSE!!!!!  I wasn't scared, but he was starting to make me nervous because I didn't want it to become a habit, so I cantered again, but this time I said good boy before we reached my car... he took that to mean he could stop and slammed on the brakes.  I was getting really frustrated at this point, but since he didn't buck I called it quits on cantering.  So I started trotting him around again and he started major balking!!!!!!

I finally had enough, got a tree branch and popped the crap out of him.  He shot forward like he was being launched from a cannon.  His tempo sucked, but he did stay trotting.  After he trotted for a while without trying to stop I asked him to walk, then I unsaddled him and got on bareback because I was worried maybe his back hurt from the thinner pad... he was still balking bareback a little, but once I got him going he dropped his head, lifted his back and relaxed a little.... so maybe it was partly the saddle???

The other thing is he was mugging me so bad!!!!!!  He doesn't normally do that, but on my last ride we found some persimmon trees alongside the road and I stupidly fed him some, so now all he can think about is getting fed.  Every time I said good boy or patted him on the neck he slammed on the brakes and started looking for treats.................  so yeah he won't get treats from the saddle unless we decide to start clicker training again.  The crazy thing is I haven't fed him any treats at all in months and months because I don't have any.  I ran out.  So yeah, feeding him persimmons one time is all it took to turn him into a turd.  Ugh!  So that's my fault.  I shouldn't be feeding treats without using the clicker because then he expects them all the time.  With the clicker I'm able to tell him yes you get a treat and the lack of a click means no treat.


So I finally dismounted, got the mail and led him back to my car.... where I tied his butt to the light pole!  Then I sat in my car and watched him through the side mirror while I seethed and thought about everything that had happened...

 He knew I was in the car.

 He tried untying himself (rope is in his mouth).

 He tried rubbing his halter off of his head 
(doesn't work without rough tree bark hehe).

 He paced around and stared at me.

 He yawned.

 He stared at me some more.


I cracked the door open and he was so far forward he didn't have enough rope and had to contort to look at me LOL.

He peeked at me out of the corner of his eye.

He stared at the horses across the road (he could see all the way up the driveway from where he was tied), then he eventually chilled out and relaxed.  So I untied him and put him back in the pasture.  He went straight to his hay bale and started eating.

So here is what I think.  He was great before I dismounted to put the dog up, so I think when we walked to the car he thought we were done.  When I got back on he got pissy.  He kept doing what I asked, but he wasn't eager and forward like he was before.  Then when I cantered him he started off eager, but tried to stop at the car and when I kicked him on he got frustrated and bucked.  I yanked him up and he stuck his nose in the air and stopped.  So the second time he was not as eager because he was expecting to get his face yanked off.  At the same spot he started bucking again and got his face yanked off.  The third time I told him good boy because I realized I was focusing too much on what he was doing wrong and not praising him. He took that to mean he could slam on the brakes by the car............ so he's basically being barn sour and because my tack is in the car that's his barn.  Annoying.  When I forced him to keep going (away from the car) he started balking.  Also the donkey and goats were galloping around at this point so he wanted to go out to the pasture and balked when I tried to get him to leave.  So I don't know.  This whole thing has me super confused.  His attitude once I tied him up makes me think he was just feeling good because it was cold and windy and then he thought we were done when I put the dog up.  When I get done riding him I always either let him graze in the yard or I put him in the pasture and feed him....

So my game plan is, STOP feeding him right after a ride and STOP letting him graze after a ride.  I'm going to start tying him up after riding so that he can think things over.  The barn sourness has gotten progressively worse the longer I've ignored this. He used to be more excited about leaving than he did about coming home.  I want that horse back!  I know he has fun when we are out, but then he starts thinking about grazing or getting fed and he just turns into a butt.  So along with tying him up I'm going to start practicing riding him, getting off, riding more, tying him up, riding more, etc.  When I get home from riding out on the road I'll ride him some more at the house so he doesn't think that as soon as we get home he's done.

While I was riding I was thinking maybe his back hurts, maybe it's the new saddle pad, maybe it's the two reins, maybe his feet hurt, maybe it's the bit, etc., but after thinking about it I think it's the sour attitude.  He was perfect before I got off to put the dog up.  So for now I'm going to work on that, but I'll still pay close attention to everything else.  I palpated his back as soon as I took the saddle off, before I got on bareback and didn't get a reaction at all.  Next ride I'm going to use my normal pad and only the one reins and see how that goes.  There were too many variables in this ride (reins, pad, wind, dog, etc.) to determine the exact cause easily.

Anyway sorry for rambling.  I'm going to try to stay positive about this.  I'm irritated for getting so frustrated with him, but I don't want to let him get away with murder either.  So I'm setting some boundaries and I'm going to stop being lazy and we will see how it goes from there.  If you read all of this, I'm amazed and thank you.  :D

23 comments:

  1. I think your assessment is pretty spot on, also love that pic from your driver's mirror and him looking at you made me really lol even if you were super mad.

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    1. Hehehe my heart was melting inside when he looked at me like that even though I was still irritated with him. It's impossible to be upset with him for very long at all. He's such a sweetheart. :) Thanks for reading!

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  2. It's so hard to decipher what's going on when a horse changes his behavior and you just happened to change a few things in his routine. Look how long it took me to figure out that Rock threw two riders because I had simply loosened his noseband, and that caused the buckle on his bridle to poke him in the eye when someone pulled on the right rein. At least it was an easy fix, but I poured a lot of energy and resources into trying to solve that mystery.

    When we yell from a horse's back, the horse can feel it in addition to hearing it. I remember the first time I yelled out to someone when riding Gabbrielle, she bolted. She thought I was yelling DANGER to her. My dogs have gotten into the habit of barking at the window every time I walk or ride a horse up or down the driveway, and it always makes us jump. There's no use in yelling at them to stop, because they can't hear me. So, I have to choose whether I want to keep riding or walking, or whether I want to tie up the horse and go deal with the dogs. I need to get into the habit of closing the windows and blinds if I want an uninterrupted ride, I guess.

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    1. So true! Yes I remember how long it took you to figure out what was wrong with Rock... I hope whatever is wrong with Chrome is a simple fix too, but I'm seriously thinking it's the spoiled, barn sour attitude because I've been too lax with boundaries and discipline... we will see.

      I felt so bad for yelling when Chrome stopped. I never even thought that he thought I was yelling at him. :( I yell at him when he chases the dogs in the pasture so he knows yelling means to stop.... imagine the mixed signals I was sending. Yeah I did a lot of things wrong today, but lucky for me Chrome is a laid back guy and he will forgive me for it. I'll leave the dog in the house and I'll concentrate on what I'm doing better next time. :) Thanks for reading and commenting Nuz!

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  3. It is hard with such smart horses (I am going to guess that Chrome is smarty pants). My Arabs are pretty anticipatory...

    The SFM has learned during a lesson what walk/trot/canter means and is guessing and working on how to spell all of them too...I don't take lessons weekly, just a few times a year!

    So, I agree that he is probably a bit sour and the cooler weather probably didn't help! The horses at my barn were all feeling fresh and a bit like jerks!

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    1. Yeah smart, easily bored, anticipatory horse are as lot of work lol. I'm guessing the cold and wind had a little to do with it. I wasn't expecting it though because he's not the type of horse who acts spastic when it's windy. In fact someone told me not to ride Halloween evening because it was windy and I just laughed. It was a great ride that night. :-) We all have bad days I guess. He thought we were done and I let myself get frustrated at the dog and then at him. We will do better next time. :-)

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    2. Oh and that made me laugh about SFM! Don't let her get around Chrome since she's that smart hehe. He doesn't need any help with outsmarting me!

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  4. He does sound like a smarty pants :) I bet once he figures out that you're determined to keep him working he'll be back to his old happy self in no time!

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  5. Just wanted to point out that, if Chrome gets to stop cantering every time he bucks or crowhops, you're rewarding and reinforcing that behavior. I know it's WAY easier said than done, but ignoring the bucking as much a possible and keeping him going forward is the only way to "cure" him of that habit. I know when Salem was in the habit if doing handstand bucks I was VERY tempted to pull him up right away, but I knew I had to keep him going forward and reward him by stopping only when he was behaving.
    I'm sure you know that, but sometimes it's harder for us to see things when we're the people involved, so I just wanted to make a note of it.
    Fingers crossed that your not-so-great ride was just a fluke and you can get your sweet, happy boy back!

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    1. Yeah I had thought of that already. Unfortunately where he start bucking there was nowhere left to go. We were out of room. I never would have gotten him back into a canter. That's why I immediately pushed him back into a trot and went around to do it again. Since he didn't buck the third time I just called it quits. I need an arena so bad!!

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  6. Oh! And Salem's bucking and reluctance to go forward all started because of poor saddle fit!! I had no idea and felt terrible when I found out my saddle was too small and was pinching him. Of course, by that time, he anticipated pain so much that I really had to take him back several steps (with a properly fitting saddle!). So, yes, saddle fit can absolutely be a factor!

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    1. I know. I'm really worried it could be saddle fit. I can't remember for sure but I don't remember him bucking when I cantered bareback, but he also didn't buck when we were jumping and he didn't buck when we cantered in the field on the road and he had the saddle on both of those times..... the only time he's actually bucked is when we are headed away from where he wanted to go... even the time he crow hopped in the pasture was when we were going away from the gate. Yesterday he didn't buck until we got past the car. There have been lots of times we've cantered in the saddle that he hasn't bucked. It just all seems too coincidental to me. I am still looking into the saddle fit, but I don't know what to do because there are no saddle fitters around here. I might have to ask my trainer, but I highly doubt she will come to my house... and my trailer needs fixed before I can haul him over there. I don't know.. I'll figure something out. He was acting resistant and crappy when I rode him bareback too so I just don't know. I'll do some experimenting and see if I can figure out what is going on. Thanks for the comments!

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  7. Sounds like saddle fit would be a good thing to confirm.

    My trainer used to have to spell G-O-O-D B-O-Y... ;D

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    1. LOL that your trainer had to spell it! That's awesome. I'm going to try to look into the saddle fit. :)

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  8. oh Chrome - how frustrating! i think your assessment of what all happened and plans moving forward sound like good ideas. idk if you ever read my first blog post about how isabel bucked me off the first time i rode her - but it was similar. she didn't want to canter past the gate and got pissy when i insisted.

    anyways, it's irritating and frustrating when the horses challenge us about working. but hopefully Chrome learned something during this ride, and will be less resistant next time. good luck!

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    1. No I haven't had time to go back through your archives! I didn't know she'd bucked you off! Now I really need to go back and look through your blog, once I've caught up on the ones I'm behind on. I hope he learned something too... fingers crossed lol.

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    2. i'm sure he did learn - they figure it out so quickly! and it's a funny story about isabel (and kinda similar) so if your interested: http://fraidycateventing.blogspot.com/2014/08/meet-isabel.html

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    3. Thanks for linking it! That saves me some digging hehe. I will go back and look at your archives though when I have time. :D

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  9. Do you read Lytha at http://horsecrazyamerican.blogspot.com? She JUST had a post about the same, what happens when the horse decides to say no because they don't want to do it. Good for you to push him forward, while you are very well bonded, he does need to remember that you are the alpha/the boss and he is supposed to do what you want when you want (within reason of course) :)

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    1. Yes I read her blog! It's one of my favorites. I'll go check out what she posted. :)

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  10. Was a weather front moving through your area on this day? I'm noticing that both of my horses are more reactive on days when a front is really moving in or out. They get freaked about things that don't upset them any other time because the weather is impacting their bodies in some way I can't understand (I suspect a combination of barometric pressure changes and temperature changes). (Lights, dogs, me clapping my hands, me moving at any pace above a SLOW one, entering/exiting stalls, entering exiting the GIANT barn doors....yeah...lol - all of that is suddenly a problem for them to deal with.)

    When it is cold and wet, Griffin has heightened sensitivity along his back. If I brush or rub with ANY force he ducks away from it, but as soon as he's dried off, the sensitivity and over-reaction disappears. I think he has very little tolerance for the water dripping through his hair and coming into contact with his skin from the brushing/toweling. He's been this way every winter and is okay all the other times, so I'm not concerned that it is a medical thing so much as a little quirk.

    Additionally, with the first arctic cold front moving in last night BOTH horses were sensitive about being rubbed down. (I'd put them inside at lunch while it was raining so they would be dry by night fall for me to return and put their blankets on before the snow and temps went into the negatives with windchill.) I fluffed up their now dry hair after nightfall and then rubbed them both all over with the towel just in case there was lingering moisture. Q pinned her ears at me as I reached certain parts of her belly at first, but then seconds later when I'd return to the same place she'd been pissed about before, she was FINE. Zero reaction no matter what I tried. Horses. I swear. Griffin exhibited his typical "OMG DON'T TOUCH" behavior, but was less reactive the more I massaged with the towel.

    So, anyway, lol, the point of this long ramble is that maybe Chrome was affected by the cold front moving in or out, too, which may have lent itself to his behavior on some degree (body sensitivity?). I definitely think your assessment is moving in the right direction re: not feeding or grazing afterward. Appy has a great point, too, about Lytha and her horse Mara; Chrome may be trying the same things with you. Griffin is headstrong like that with me when His Agenda isn't followed. He does the exact same crowhopping obstinate behavior when he's miffed about things, too!

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    1. It's very possible! The barometric pressure gives me horrible headaches so I can sympathize if it bothers our horses. I'm not 100% sure a front was coming through but I know the temp had been dropping significantly and it got down to 15F last night. Thank you for sharing all of this information with me so I can pay attention to the weather and see if I can find a connection. I will tell you this. I don't think I have ever ridden him in thirty degree temps before yesterday. I hate being cold so I normally don't ride in the winter, but I decided this year I'm not letting the weather get in my way. So the cold temp was definitely a "new" factor for us!

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