Ranger had the audacity to "snake dance" with me this morning! He decided the hay I had given them didn't have enough alfalfa mix to it, so he very sneakily took Estes' hay, by pretending to eat nicely by her until yours truly turned her back. I was picking the corral and when I looked over my shoulder he had pushed Estes away. I moved Ranger away, sending him back to his own hay. When I turned around again, he was standing in the middle of Estes' hay, giving her what-for to move off. When I walked over and told him "no", he put the old head down and started the snake dance. Not a good idea! I still had a very sturdy manure fork in my hand and it comes in quite handy as "alternative training". It never touched the old boy, but he got the idea I was not happy about his behavior.
When he calmed down, I leaned the fork against a tree, got a piece of twine and looped it around his neck. (A piece of twine is how I move all the horses around. see Baling Twine) As I led him to the small pen to eat alone, he danced very carefully around the fork. Obviously, it wasn't to be trusted. Funny, I had just walked past him with it without even a flinch (after we had come to agreements). Bill said putting him in a small pen to eat alone wasn't much punishment, since he was locked in with his own food. Shows how little he understands his own horse's psyche. Ranger would take a bite, then walk back and forth along the fence staring at the other horses at the big feeder. He got the picture. He's a dominant and he was being kept away from the herd. He was much subdued when Bill and I let him out three hours later. He very nicely let me put the string around his neck and lead him back to the herd.
Juanita
That's twice that you or Bill has had to resort to "alternative training" in the past week. Those little brats!
ReplyDeleteThey are just lucky we weren't out there chopping wood...
ReplyDeleteBill
I also use twine, or the string out of my hoodie, or what ever I have handy to move my ponies.
ReplyDelete