I did not intend to play with Billy at all until the bandages came off his hind legs. I don't want to be thought responsible if he hurts those legs again before they are fully healed. Yesterday, however, I had a spare hour and so went to spend some undemanding time with him in his field. Things don't always go to plan however. In his field there is his good friend Prince and next door are Bonitao and Naz. Ritchie had collected Bonitao to ride him which always disturbs Naz a little so tensions in the area were already slightly elevated. Then Prince was taken away, again to go riding. This left an agitated Naz and a deserted Billy. They fed off each others nervous energy and Billy started to show why he is to be a race horse. This was not a desireable state of affairs, afterall I was not playing with him to avoid him getting anxious and hurting his legs again.
The only solution I could think of was to get a halter on him and try to calm him down. Fortunately he still sees me as a leader, even after four months of not playing, so haltering him was fairly easy. The only downside was that I was now having to use the only halter to hand which was a wide webbing type with a typically short lead rope. (Why do people use 6 foot lead ropes ? If a horse is getting upset I prefer to send them to the end of at least a 12 foot rope if not a 22 foot one to get over it. It seems that with a 6 foot rope, particularly if they rear you are drawn in towards a dangerous animal. Geometry dictates this has to happen. With a 12 foot rope even if the horse rears you don't have to get so close). With the halter on Billy settled fairly quickly and I lead him to a nice grazing spot. If he got agitated I just sent him on a circle at walk until he calmed down. If that failed then we changed the direction of the circle with a indirect/direct rein manoeuvre. This is quite a complicated task for Billy to complete with the hind legs crossing over then the front legs doing likewise. Thus I got him thinking to his feet to get it completed. The important word here is THINKING. It forced the left side of his brain to kick in and start working which let him think through the current situation a realise that he was not in danger not having his field buddy as I was there to look after him. A few indirect/direct reins and his head lowered and he relaxed and started to graze. I had to repeat this on several occasions, but it worked consistently.
He did try to push into my space whilst in a confident state but a little wriggle on the rope, or a waggle with my stick backed him away again thus preserving my personal space.
I was very impressed with the fact that he could still remember all the aids I had taught to play the seven games him despite not having been played with for four months. But then the games we play are just slightly modified versions of the games horses play naturally which of course they are unlikely to forget and the aids are designed to also mimic horses body language to the extent that a tall two legged being with a stick can.
The only solution I could think of was to get a halter on him and try to calm him down. Fortunately he still sees me as a leader, even after four months of not playing, so haltering him was fairly easy. The only downside was that I was now having to use the only halter to hand which was a wide webbing type with a typically short lead rope. (Why do people use 6 foot lead ropes ? If a horse is getting upset I prefer to send them to the end of at least a 12 foot rope if not a 22 foot one to get over it. It seems that with a 6 foot rope, particularly if they rear you are drawn in towards a dangerous animal. Geometry dictates this has to happen. With a 12 foot rope even if the horse rears you don't have to get so close). With the halter on Billy settled fairly quickly and I lead him to a nice grazing spot. If he got agitated I just sent him on a circle at walk until he calmed down. If that failed then we changed the direction of the circle with a indirect/direct rein manoeuvre. This is quite a complicated task for Billy to complete with the hind legs crossing over then the front legs doing likewise. Thus I got him thinking to his feet to get it completed. The important word here is THINKING. It forced the left side of his brain to kick in and start working which let him think through the current situation a realise that he was not in danger not having his field buddy as I was there to look after him. A few indirect/direct reins and his head lowered and he relaxed and started to graze. I had to repeat this on several occasions, but it worked consistently.
He did try to push into my space whilst in a confident state but a little wriggle on the rope, or a waggle with my stick backed him away again thus preserving my personal space.
I was very impressed with the fact that he could still remember all the aids I had taught to play the seven games him despite not having been played with for four months. But then the games we play are just slightly modified versions of the games horses play naturally which of course they are unlikely to forget and the aids are designed to also mimic horses body language to the extent that a tall two legged being with a stick can.
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