Marehaven Farm
Longmont, CO
Thank goodness she got her brain from the Percheron side!
April 28 / 2008 07:03 PM Filed in: Kelton
Kelton's level-headed
nature continues to amaze me. When I first
started leading her from the trailer to the warm up
arena at the show last weekend, a train went by the
south end of facility and that sent her head straight
up and made her go tight with tension. So we
stood there for a bit and watched it pass, and then I
asked to her walk with me to the arena. She
settled right down and I felt fine getting on her,
and she was fine in the arena even though we were
alone. She continued to be fine even as people
led horses past and riders came in and out of the
arena. And she was completely relaxed in the
indoor arena, which we'd never been in before.
It's easy to take those sorts of things for
granted until I see other horses being goofy or
remember spooky or buddy sour horses I've known in
the past.
I certainly wouldn't say that Kelton is "bomb proof," nor that she's a "dead head," not by any means, but I really like how sensible her reactions are. I've learned that if I just let her look at things and sort them out on her own, without trying to "make" her doing something, she gets over them quickly and will in fact usually go closer to investigate (after having given the questionable item a good, long Thoroughbred stare). I'm sure it helps that because I've become familiar with her reaction process, I tend to stay pretty calm in the saddle (which is not how I react on a horse whose "fear response" I don't know anything about, even though I know that my getting tense will just make things worse!)
The other day I wanted to ride Kelton in the afternoon by there was a tractor digging a ditch for a water line right along the driveway, and one long side of my arena is right next to the driveway. I took her out there anyway and figured if she was antsy, I would either ride only on one side or leave the arena and ride in the pasture or something. She gave the tractor a good look, but when I asked her to march on by on a long rein, she did, and never gave it another thought throughout our workout. What a good girl! Have I mentioned how much I love this horse?! ;-)
I certainly wouldn't say that Kelton is "bomb proof," nor that she's a "dead head," not by any means, but I really like how sensible her reactions are. I've learned that if I just let her look at things and sort them out on her own, without trying to "make" her doing something, she gets over them quickly and will in fact usually go closer to investigate (after having given the questionable item a good, long Thoroughbred stare). I'm sure it helps that because I've become familiar with her reaction process, I tend to stay pretty calm in the saddle (which is not how I react on a horse whose "fear response" I don't know anything about, even though I know that my getting tense will just make things worse!)
The other day I wanted to ride Kelton in the afternoon by there was a tractor digging a ditch for a water line right along the driveway, and one long side of my arena is right next to the driveway. I took her out there anyway and figured if she was antsy, I would either ride only on one side or leave the arena and ride in the pasture or something. She gave the tractor a good look, but when I asked her to march on by on a long rein, she did, and never gave it another thought throughout our workout. What a good girl! Have I mentioned how much I love this horse?! ;-)
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