One of my riding buddies called me early in the summer of 2011 to tell me of a young gelding that she had seen over at the Girl Scout camp nearby. According to her, he had potential, but wasn't being used over there and they needed to re-home him. I need another horse like I need two heads. But I said I'd try to call the riding director-which I did. No call backs so after awhile, I quit trying.
Then in January of this year, she calls me again. He's still over there-skinny now, and now they're scared of him. Camp Director has issued ultimatum-find somebody to fix up so he can be placed, put him up in the auctions (which will mean probable slaughter), or put him down. My friend (she's a real softie) is frantic-and she's begging. So I try calling again. This time the riding director calls back.
This youngster is a chestnut TB/Oldenburg warmblood-which explains the skinny-they usually have a hard time holding weight. The other horses in the barn look good. He moves well-quite well, in fact. Then I put a halter on him and try to bring him out of his solitary paddock and he turns into a raving demon. He's on his hind legs, he's trying to bite and striking, he crowds, he cowkicks and he just plain kicks. About the only thing he doesn't do is try to pull away. He's just bringing it. It's a pure dominance game with him. The riding director's eyes are bugging out of her head.
He's met his match-because I don't give in. I turn that bad boy around and back him down the length of the land (about 300 feet) and through the gate that he was telling me he didn't DO backwards. Then we backed another 100 feet through another gate. By this side, the wheels are starting to turn in this boy's head-he's pissed, but he's thinking. He partially walks, partially backs on down the last remaining distance to the ring-and I back him in there. I haven't used anything but a slack lead and a halter with him so far-he's a little pissed, a lot confused, but he's thinking. I turn him loose to shake the kinks out and to just see what his personality is like.
WOW-this guy can really put on a show! What's more-he's watching to see if I'm watching. He's a showman-very charismatic and flashy-and I am not fond of chesnuts and sorrels. This is the kind of horse you would want for jumping, hunting, eventing-although I'm not sure he'd do well with dressage unless you really worked at making it interesting for him. This guy wants variety and challenges.Don't bore him.
Now I start to work with him-and start finding his pressure points. Somebody-may they be hung by their cuticles to dry on a barn door-has demanded things of this guys until he got fed up and found out that he could rebel and get away with it. If I ask politely but firmly, he's compliant. But if he feels the least bit pressured, he blows up. I start finding his thresholds-where are they, what are they, and will he let me go there.
By the time two hours has gone by, the red demon is gone. He walks calmly and sweetly back on a slack line-a totally different horse. The riding director's jaw is on the ground. I find out later that she had tried using "natural" methods with him, but she didn't know how to read his attitude and reactions. If you can't read the horse's horsenality, all the methods in the world won't help you. You have to know when to do what, how much to apply for how long, and probably most importantly, when to quit. This guy didn't need a lot of pushing-he'd been pushed. He needed somebody to listen to HIM. That's all I really did-I let him talk to me.
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