Filly has mud fever again. The fields at our yard are better described as swamps. They are just below the spring line on the Oxfordshire plain and so are not getting a chance to dry out even when the rain and snow stop falling.
There are very few scabs on her legs, but they have become swollen again. So she is back on antibiotics and twice daily scrubbing and creaming of the infected areas. It also means that she is stable bound again as going onto wet fields is not a good idea.
But true to my ethos that a stable bound horse can still be trained I am still carrying on with some little bit and pieces.
One item is actually the handling of her legs. Obviously I am having to handle them a lot at the moment for the scrubbing and creaming. I think the difference is that I approach even this operation with the idea of "quality" in the handling. So I am gauging all the time how well she is following the feel of my hand on her legs, how she is reading my "intention" as to whether I want the leg just kept still on the ground or lifted up in response to my touch, whether she tries to take over and move her leg away from me or just follows the suggestion as to where I want the leg to go.
In general I would give her 6 out of 10 at them moment. Generally she follows my feel, unless distracted by external stimuli like another horse walking past. When her mind is on the task of following my feel she mostly does so, but her mind keeps wandering off onto other subjects and I think she then genuinely forgets her job with her legs and moves them inappropriately.
When I feel her doing this I just gently move her leg around, even to the point of tipping her off balance to get her thinking back to her legs and my feel again.
I suspect that many folk would just say she was being disrespectful at this point, and maybe even punish her. I think this would be mis-reading the situation and she would have no idea what she was being punished for as her mind was not on her legs at all. Thus the punishment would have little effect but to damage our rapport.
There are very few scabs on her legs, but they have become swollen again. So she is back on antibiotics and twice daily scrubbing and creaming of the infected areas. It also means that she is stable bound again as going onto wet fields is not a good idea.
But true to my ethos that a stable bound horse can still be trained I am still carrying on with some little bit and pieces.
One item is actually the handling of her legs. Obviously I am having to handle them a lot at the moment for the scrubbing and creaming. I think the difference is that I approach even this operation with the idea of "quality" in the handling. So I am gauging all the time how well she is following the feel of my hand on her legs, how she is reading my "intention" as to whether I want the leg just kept still on the ground or lifted up in response to my touch, whether she tries to take over and move her leg away from me or just follows the suggestion as to where I want the leg to go.
In general I would give her 6 out of 10 at them moment. Generally she follows my feel, unless distracted by external stimuli like another horse walking past. When her mind is on the task of following my feel she mostly does so, but her mind keeps wandering off onto other subjects and I think she then genuinely forgets her job with her legs and moves them inappropriately.
When I feel her doing this I just gently move her leg around, even to the point of tipping her off balance to get her thinking back to her legs and my feel again.
I suspect that many folk would just say she was being disrespectful at this point, and maybe even punish her. I think this would be mis-reading the situation and she would have no idea what she was being punished for as her mind was not on her legs at all. Thus the punishment would have little effect but to damage our rapport.
1 comment:
Found your blog at last!
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