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Oct. 1st, 2012 11:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickOn Sunday, we went to visit Callie (she'd been sold) and troubleshoot some issues for her new owners.
Callie is the bay mare I broke to ride in 2008, ridden by the nasty child Heather the following year at the competitive ride, then ridden by Alannah the year after that for 4-H and the competitive ride. She was sold to a family near McConnellsburg, for their 8 year old daughter, this fall. And this is good. Callie will make a good kid's pony. She's solidly broke and has never offered to be bad in her life.
So we get a call that the pony is "bucking". WTF? They've had her maybe two months. She never, ever bucked when being broke to saddle. The worst thing she ever did was raise her front feet about three inches off the ground in a pathetic attempt to rear, whereupon I immediately leaned forward and beat her about her ears and head (with the flat of my hand) until her front feet were back on the ground and we NEVER had that problem again. She has never offered to buck or even looked remotely like she was going to buck.
We get there. Nice field, good fencing, ample and healthy pasture. Callie looks fat and sleek. She'd always been a "friendly, walks up to you" horse, persuasion but she cantered briskly away from me (and I had grain in a bucket) for forty minutes. Callie was wet with sweat from running away from me and I couldn't get within twenty feet of her. This, from a mare who used to whinny and trot over when she saw me coming. We finally herded her into the barn and caught her there. WTF?
Her whole body was hard and quivering. She was tight. Her halter had been adjusted too high on her face so that the 4-3-2 rule is not in effect (4 fingers at the throatlatch, 3 fingers at the noseband, 2 fingers below the cheekbones). It rubbed the fur off her face at the cheekbones... she wasn't raw yet but she was going to be if that kept up.
She is jerky and sudden about the face. This is not like her. And she's tight. I fix the halter. We explain to the people about the halter and how it should fit. We ask the people to recall how Callie was when they brought her home. "Yeah, she was real easy to catch, friendly and stuff." "And how is she now?" "She's like you saw, runs away practically forever." Mmm-hmm. So you can SEE the change. What do you think is CAUSING the change?
We ask some more questions. "Who's been handling the horse? Has anyone been riding her?" There is a random twelve year old girl standing around. She is not part of the family. Apparently she live "just down the road" and is "real good at riding". Mmm-hmm. "The twelve year old rides her. She gets on her and canters around, says the horse is too 'spunky' for 8 yr old that the horse is ostensibly for. 8 yr. old's father says 12 yr old can 'get on her and ride her like a cowboy'. She really gets Callie to move out." We explain, carefully, and using small words, that having the horse "move out" all the time is not suitable for a kid's pony and that letting other people ride Callie in a "cowboy" kind of way will make her unsuited to being the 8 yr. old's pony.
The mother says that the random 12 yr old rides Callie in a halter. "She used to use the bridle but now she says that Callie goes better without it." (Translation: The 12 yr. old can't get a bridle on Callie anymore. Callie does not put up with being whacked in the teeth on bridling. If you are slow and gentle in your movements, even if you're kind of clueless, she will nicely pick up and spit out the bit for you... but if you are rough or fast, you're gonna be riding in a halter because you are not going to be *able* to get a bridle on her. I am not sure that Callie *can* be trained to tolerate being whacked in the teeth needlessly.)
The mother says the 12 yr old yanks and cranks and kicks and pulls on the horse all the time. (And the horse, who is 7/8 arab and wearing a halter, HAS NOT BUCKED THE CHILD OFF YET. Has not, in fact, bucked at all.)
We go over safe tying, safe leading, safe foot-picking-up, safe handling. We explain how the random 12 yr old should NOT be allowed to ride this horse any more or she will ruin it. We explain that the mommy and the 8 year old should work together on leading and tying and grooming and taking the horse for walks for a while until they feel more comfortable. We left them a phone number to call in the event of difficulties.
*sigh* They are such babes in the woods. I don't know how this is going to work out.
Callie is the bay mare I broke to ride in 2008, ridden by the nasty child Heather the following year at the competitive ride, then ridden by Alannah the year after that for 4-H and the competitive ride. She was sold to a family near McConnellsburg, for their 8 year old daughter, this fall. And this is good. Callie will make a good kid's pony. She's solidly broke and has never offered to be bad in her life.
So we get a call that the pony is "bucking". WTF? They've had her maybe two months. She never, ever bucked when being broke to saddle. The worst thing she ever did was raise her front feet about three inches off the ground in a pathetic attempt to rear, whereupon I immediately leaned forward and beat her about her ears and head (with the flat of my hand) until her front feet were back on the ground and we NEVER had that problem again. She has never offered to buck or even looked remotely like she was going to buck.
We get there. Nice field, good fencing, ample and healthy pasture. Callie looks fat and sleek. She'd always been a "friendly, walks up to you" horse, persuasion but she cantered briskly away from me (and I had grain in a bucket) for forty minutes. Callie was wet with sweat from running away from me and I couldn't get within twenty feet of her. This, from a mare who used to whinny and trot over when she saw me coming. We finally herded her into the barn and caught her there. WTF?
Her whole body was hard and quivering. She was tight. Her halter had been adjusted too high on her face so that the 4-3-2 rule is not in effect (4 fingers at the throatlatch, 3 fingers at the noseband, 2 fingers below the cheekbones). It rubbed the fur off her face at the cheekbones... she wasn't raw yet but she was going to be if that kept up.
She is jerky and sudden about the face. This is not like her. And she's tight. I fix the halter. We explain to the people about the halter and how it should fit. We ask the people to recall how Callie was when they brought her home. "Yeah, she was real easy to catch, friendly and stuff." "And how is she now?" "She's like you saw, runs away practically forever." Mmm-hmm. So you can SEE the change. What do you think is CAUSING the change?
We ask some more questions. "Who's been handling the horse? Has anyone been riding her?" There is a random twelve year old girl standing around. She is not part of the family. Apparently she live "just down the road" and is "real good at riding". Mmm-hmm. "The twelve year old rides her. She gets on her and canters around, says the horse is too 'spunky' for 8 yr old that the horse is ostensibly for. 8 yr. old's father says 12 yr old can 'get on her and ride her like a cowboy'. She really gets Callie to move out." We explain, carefully, and using small words, that having the horse "move out" all the time is not suitable for a kid's pony and that letting other people ride Callie in a "cowboy" kind of way will make her unsuited to being the 8 yr. old's pony.
The mother says that the random 12 yr old rides Callie in a halter. "She used to use the bridle but now she says that Callie goes better without it." (Translation: The 12 yr. old can't get a bridle on Callie anymore. Callie does not put up with being whacked in the teeth on bridling. If you are slow and gentle in your movements, even if you're kind of clueless, she will nicely pick up and spit out the bit for you... but if you are rough or fast, you're gonna be riding in a halter because you are not going to be *able* to get a bridle on her. I am not sure that Callie *can* be trained to tolerate being whacked in the teeth needlessly.)
The mother says the 12 yr old yanks and cranks and kicks and pulls on the horse all the time. (And the horse, who is 7/8 arab and wearing a halter, HAS NOT BUCKED THE CHILD OFF YET. Has not, in fact, bucked at all.)
We go over safe tying, safe leading, safe foot-picking-up, safe handling. We explain how the random 12 yr old should NOT be allowed to ride this horse any more or she will ruin it. We explain that the mommy and the 8 year old should work together on leading and tying and grooming and taking the horse for walks for a while until they feel more comfortable. We left them a phone number to call in the event of difficulties.
*sigh* They are such babes in the woods. I don't know how this is going to work out.
