I have tried to have Matilda around the barn more and more over the last few weeks, making sure she spends time in the cross ties being groomed and even giving breaks during our work outs by putting her in a stall or bringing her up to the barn at feeding time so that she can eat in a stall. I don't know that there is any good reason to do some of these things, other than my desire that she be more and more a part of barn life. Getting used to seeing people and being seen by people.
She is very quiet in the stall.
No big deal, although she will try to steal your food if you eat in a chair that she can reach. Matilda doesn't mind being stared at or petted by random passers by and it's nice to see people walk by, pet her nose and ask "Is that Matilda?" every once in a while and express an interest in riding her.
She is also quiet in the cross ties... for pre-work grooming. If you remember my last post (and I didn't, I had to go re-read it before starting this one. Sheesh.) you will recall that I complained about Matilda being annoying while I tried to groom her after some work. I attributed this to the feed cart going by. Not so. She is always annoying in the cross ties during the untacking and grooming process before going back out to her paddock.
This makes no sense to me. She should be quieter, by my reasoning, after a little bit of a work out but instead wiggles and moves back and forth. People walk by and ask, "Is Matilda going to break out of the cross ties?" (At this point no one expresses an interest in riding her.) She also punches me in the arm as I walk back and forth in front of her. In fact, one day I spent more time than I wanted walking back and forth close in front of her nose simply clicking when she left me alone. She's a little better about that now.
This tends to be a dangerous time for me. I am apt to lose my temper as I try to go through what should be a relaxing process. I lost my temper a little bit today, jerking at her halter as I tried to keep her still. Shortly after, I stepped back and took a deep, sighing breath as I put my hand on her back. As soon as my hand touched her back she took a deep, sighing breath too. I realized that she was just as frustrated and confused as me. As much as I was gritting my teeth by her not getting it, she was pinning her ears back because she couldn't figure out what I was after. That was enough to calm me down. I hugged her neck for a second and went back to work.
After a lot of trial and error, I found that if I just froze the brush wherever it was when she started moving, waiting until she stopped moving before resuming the brush stroke and clicking while said brush stroke was in progress (sheesh again) - THAT she started to understand. I was, by the end able to brush her face (which she abhors, by the way) and one side of her body while she stood quietly and got a click and reward at the end.
And her feet... I used to pick up each foot and click and reward the moment it was in my hand, immediately releasing it. Now I can pick up a foot and click and reward with every other foot that I clean, her hoof resting fairly gently in my hand for as long as it takes. When tacking up, that is. When untacking, I have to click for each hoof. Clicking while I am actually brushing or picking out the hoof but only if she is not trying to pull it away. (If that isn't a neat trick.... wiggly hoof, hoof pick and clicker in hand, where does that third hand come from??) It's getting better. She really only tries to pull her rear hooves out of my hand and, in all honesty, I haven't spent a whole lot of time on it. I'm usually out of carrots by the time I get to her feet. I am trying to be more conscious of my carrot rations these days.
So, we are hard at it! Who knew a simple brushing would be so much work?!? Next time (tomorrow, I hope) Matilda on the Ground...
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