Re: dealing with refusals-how far do you push them?

["Tracey" <tracey@tbt.co.za>]

Abby wrote:


>Now, I say "Let's go through the water", and if it's so hard that it takes
me more than about 5 minutes or so of pointing and waiting, I just get off
and lead the horse across.  Unfortunately, this method usually
gets me wet.  I've walked through waist-high water in my leather boots and
breeches, but have found that the horses seem to just want a confident
leader.  The scaredy ones, the pigheaded ones, and yes even
the horse that could wait longer than I could.  She will now cross any
water, as long as I give her a few minutes to decide she trusts me.  I NEVER
rush them.  EVER.


I agree wholeheartedly with Abby, but just wanted to add (see, Steph, it's
not just a "me, too") that, with some horses, not even this works.  Toc is
such a horse (sigh!).  What I have found works with him is taking him to the
water, asking, getting off, asking, standing for a while looking at the
water, discussing something which interests him (food, politics, food,
capital punishment, food, whether Kierkegaard was a genius or simply
schitzo, food) and then leaving it.  After doing this on and off for a
while, the day comes when he'll simply decide himself to cross the water on
first asking.  I don't know how it works, or why it works, only that it
works.


Toc is the only horse I've had to go this route with, and I only discovered
this method after being forced to stand at a puddle for hours on end and
finally running out of things to discuss, going home, and doing it again the
next day, but it's worth bearing in mind.


Tracey