Bill and Juanita, owners of Allenspark Lodge B&B, are living their dream...

running a successful business and riding as often as possible.



Friday, October 9, 2009

Ranger's in Time-out

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

3 comments:

  1. That's twice that you or Bill has had to resort to "alternative training" in the past week. Those little brats!

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  2. They are just lucky we weren't out there chopping wood...
    Bill

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  3. I also use twine, or the string out of my hoodie, or what ever I have handy to move my ponies.

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