106. Horse Temperaments

Today i had an absolutely horrible day with Spice - she has come into season and her levels of fear proved to be sky high. So, when i attempted to long rein her out of the yard she basically wasn't having any of it and for 20 minutes proved that she would do absolutely anything including walking backwards for the length of a field not to go through the yard gates.

To say i was dissappointed is an understatement i was thoroughly gutted. I couldn't understand how brilliant the day before had gone and how badly wrong today was going. It was as though she had regressed back to the day before day 1!

So what am i doing wrong?

After all our hard work it seems we are still coming up against the same issue...(fear). It seems that once Spice has decided that there is a reason to be afraid there is literally no telling her that there isn't. After 20 minutes of trying my best to get her to go through she was wet through with sweat and i couldn't help but think i was fighting a lost cause.

When i compare Spice to a 2yr old colt who walks out of the yard away from his mother as happy as larry past pedal bikes and motorbikes without so much as a jump in any direction i can't help but question whether my training with Spice is ever going to make any real difference.

Throughout my time with Spice i have been trying to make her more confident, more happy and more secure by using the most gentle training methods possible and whilst i know Spice feels 'safe and secure' with me and respects me i realise that there are still times when her fear will over ride all of this. I do not believe that she will ever stop being afraid of things and stop reacting. So, do i just stick to what she is naturally good at? Schooling and jumping?

Afterall, there's a reason why horse trainers in the police force choose horses based on their temperaments.

I hear all the time that it's never good to let your horse win a fight and i completely agree with this. However, i think it's even more important to assess what your chances of winning are before deciding to take part in the fight. When i think back to today, there were clues before i even set out that things weren't going to be plain sailing. For example, as i long reined spice to the end of the field and back she had a big spook and attempted to bolt which if i had have taken note of this gave me a massive clue as to how she was feeling temperament wise. So, was it wise to then ask her to do something she is knowingly more anxious about doing in view of the fact that her fear levels were already quite high...? knowing that i might get a fight...in hindsight i can say it wasn't. At the end of the day if a horse really doesn't want to do something you wont win the fight afterall you are fighting against a 1000lb animal.

But all i could think about was the day before when she had walked straight through the gates without an ounce of fear so she surely wouldn't have a problem doing it again but i was wrong, for reasons unbeknown to me - she clearly did.

I don't think i can ever take anything for granted with Spice just as humans have 'off days' so do horses and couple that with the fact that she is 'in season' and naturally quite nervous i was probably asking for trouble. So, what have i learned?

To take each day as it comes, never 'expect' anything and always assess everything. Just because your horse jumped 5 foot yesterday doesn't mean it will necessarily jump 5 foot today.