Walking

Fantasy and I have been walking (leading) up the street and back. We're doing this to help Fantasy understand that going out of sight of the other horses won't kill her, to work on her leading skills, and to help her learn to accept what a human asks calmly.

The first trip was a nightmare. Rearing, plunging, screaming, foaming with sweat. Poor kid thought it really was going to kill her. Let me add that this street is about .2 mile, if that, and she could see the other horses if she stood still and looked.

Second trip was hyped and freaky, but all right.

Third trip, she's starting to get the idea. Walk a bit, stay calm, get invited to have some grass. Walk again when instructed, stay calm, have a bit of grass. She got a touch tense when we were on the way back, but overall did really well. After we have another of these, I think I'll start on trailer loading again.


Looking over the log, it seems I didn't include an entry about Fantasy's second surgery and the trailer loading. I'll do that now.

She had an injury that chipped a vertebra in her neck. She had surgery to remove the chips. They were hesitant to be aggressive about digging out the chips, because it was close to the spinal cord. Apparently they missed one.

She was very good to load for the first surgery. We'd been working on it for several weeks--the discussion of this is in her archive, I'm pretty sure.

So I went to refresh her memory about trailer loading when we were planning the second surgery. First session she walked about halfway in, looked VERY uncomfortable. I went ahead and ended there; didn't want to push her past that into panicky. Second session, she walked all the way in almost immediately.

Unfortunately, she then managed to hook her halter over a bolt in the door at the front. It "trapped" her, she fought to get free, and seriously panicked. Poor creature. I managed to get her loose, but getting her willingly into a trailer wasn't going to happen again any time soon. It was 3 days to the surgery. So we tranq'd her for the trip. Gah, I felt guilty. Poor baby was trying to cooperate and do things right. Wasn't her fault she got stuck and scared.

Since then, I have left the trailer alone and been working on bonding stuff. Getting her to calmly accept what I tell her, even when she is scared (such as walking up the street). She's getting better at it.

So as I said, I think after another trip up the street we'll take up strailer loading again. Start fresh and ignore what's gone before. Just do what I tell ya, little girl, and we'll all be fine. ;)

(Added on Wednesday, April 27, 2005 @ 01:45:56 PM)