Re: Pulling Back

[Sue Brown <sbrown@wamedes.com>]

We tied her to a barn suport
>(4X6) and would have let her just have it out except that she might have
>hurt herself if we did.  She was NOT afraid, just spoiled.  I really wish
>I knew then what I know now.  I could have retrained her.
>
>Now, with my yearling, when I first got him, I started with the basic
>concept of giving to pressure.  Once he knew that I "tied" him with a
>rope around a post.  He set back for about ten seconds and moved forward.
>He has never tried it again.  Smart boy!
>
I have one that right now that came to me with the bad habit of pulling
back and up if she didn't get her way.  The first time I tried to lead her
out of the stall and she didn't want to go, she pulled back and reared up.
I proceeded to purposely try to disrupt her balance and pull her down (she
was on shavings and a mat in a *huge* stall so she wouldn't get hurt)...I
didn't completely succeed since she was a strong little chunk (14h. and
overweight!) but I *did* throw her off balance enough that she had to stop
and think about it.  I then proceeded immediately (while the moment was
still fresh -- remember the 3 second rule) to get in her face and tell her
EXACTLY how I felt about what she just did.  She thought about it a second
time and when I growled at her, she promptly returned to moving willingly
forward.  She tried it in the crossties...fell down...we released the panic
straps, repositioned her, and put back in the crossties.  We also put a
lead rope on that we could use if she started to move back and before she
hit the end of the crossties.  This bridged the cues from the being led
part to the now being tied part.  

We had to go thru the same thing when she we tied to the trailer.  We had
just returned from riding and clipped their halter/sidepull to their leads
on the trailer while we switched to their regular halters.  She pulled
back, ran into the stiffer (but well padded) sidepull nose band and stopped
immediately...and stepped forward to release the tension.  We stood there
and watched her as she realized that she was doing this to herself and
pulling back just wasn't going to work here either.  A couple more times of
*thinking about it* and taking one step backwards and that has been it!  

It's definitely a behavior pattern that you have to eradicate on many
levels...and don't be surprised if you need to "refresh" the conditioning a
time or two, depending on how ingrained it was to start with...just be sure
that they are not *rewarded* for their behavior and that they have a clear
understanding that this is NOT permissible behavior, no matter where they are.

Sue   

sbrown@wamedes.com
Tyee Farm
Marysville, Wa.


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