So I got this great idea to measure Fiona for hoof boots. I decided I wanted to put her hoof on top of a piece of cardboard and draw a template so I didn't have to mess with trying to measure her hoof while holding it. Also, you can slide the cardboard cut out into the boot to see if the shape is close, etc.
I brought my piece of cardboard to the barn, thinking "Oh this won't be a big deal, she walks wooden bridges for crying out loud" Well, I was wrong. I think the introduction to the cardboard started out ok, but I screwed it up.
Fiona looked alittle concerned about the cardboard and the piece wasn't that big, like 16" X 10". So rubbed in on her shoulders and body until she kind of got used to it. Then I tossed it on the ground in her stall. BIG MISTAKE MOM!!!
She flipped out and started running around her stall to try to get away from it. UGH! So I got her to calm down that day around it but didn't try to do too much to fix the issue. That was like a week ago. Today I went back to "fix the problem". Good lord, 3 hours later I did get her to step on it, but she was making me work for it and I was returning the favor.
It was a long and uninteresting process, but I basically let her loose in a small roundpen and set it in the middle. I let her loose because I have learned that I don't like being attached to 1000 lbs of crazy and it hones my timing and direction skills. We wasted about the first hour, while she was teaching me that it's a good idea to get the horse paying attention to you first. She was blowing my off, like a fly on a semi truck. Once I really got on her and made her start working, then she came around and finally would stand near it but I didn't have the confidence or the skill to get her to stand on it without a halter on her. So I halterd her and lunged her over it and then finally made some tight circles around it until she stepped on it for a few seconds. She lurched off of it, after those few seconds, but I let her go back to her stall. She worked really hard for that step.
I got some VHS tapes (yes I know it's lame) of a John Lyons Symposium from my aunt and uncle in Vail, AZ. Aside from all the FABULOUS HAIR, the information in the videos is really great. The first couple of hours he is breaking a arabian mare (go figure right). He works this little horse pretty good, but he does this demonstration where he makes the audience stand up while he is talking and "forgets" to tell them sit down, well...eventually most of the audience sits down on their own. He uses this as an example of how eventually a horse, even one with a lot of energy, will calm down and start listening to what you are trying to teach them. That was a really good lesson for me. I sometimes think Fiona is just going to keep going and going forever. There were a few times today where that happened. She just wouldn't give in and she was convinced that leaving was the best option. But, eventually she "sat down". She decided running was looking like WAY more work than that cardboard. Even if she didn't stand on that cardboard for 15 mins or even do it in a calm way. She did do it. Eventually everyone sits down, good lesson!
Another positive note, we did ride again. It was a short ride in the roundpen, but no wrecks. Actually there were no issues at all. She was a little stiff at first, but we worked that out and she rode like she always has.
