First, I want to thank everyone for your supportive comments. It meas a lot to me. I wish I could reply to each one but this comment format does not allow for replies.
Day 2 was a lot like day 1. She really is not a very curious horse. It rained Saturday night so the lot was muddy. I set her hay in the door of the barn right where she could see it and she could stand outside to eat just to keep it out of the mud (she had been in the barn at least twice that I saw on Saturday) When we got back from church she had not touched it. Also, I have had a tub with sweet feed in it that she won't touch. She won't try to look at or touch anything I'm holding.
I finally got her to check out the stick and rope by laying it on the ground and backing out of her 12 foot flight zone.
She still wouldn't touch it but she will lower her head now. With a lot of slow work I can get my hand within a foot of her shoulder while I am rubbing her withers with the stick.
I'm trying to work lower down her body with my stick but when I got here she kicked. That earned her a spanking and some trotting around until she would hold still for both sides. Now a 3 trainer from the county has posted videos on Facebook of her actually leading her horse off the trailer and the first day rubbing it all over and flexing it's neck while she is standing at it's flank. I'm so far behind. I have to keep telling myself it is not a race, so hard to stay patient. I guess I just need to stop looking at Facebook.
4 comments:
It is so very hard not to compare ourselves to others, we all do it. It's not much of a challenge when a trainer draws a tame one...lucky, perhaps - but anything can happen - all the way up to competition day. Try to focus on what you are accomplishing, and your unique beautiful mustang. You are already making important strides, even if it doesn't feel like it. Sweetwater will warm up to you, you'll see.
The before and after will be amazing! Also there is a really good Netflix Western titled "Sweetwater", very fitting name!
That other gal leading her mustang around has an entirely different horse, & no 2 take to training just alike. So yes, stay off Facebook if it distracts you.
When you reach each milestone with Sweetwater, you'll know that you earned it honestly.
My cousin has had a license to catch wildies in the Rocky Mtns every year for as long as I can remember - he loves them. He always says that once a wildie learns something they have it down solid and don't need a lot of repetition.
He also comes from a relatively famous QH raising family; he told me once that quite often come springtime the QHs will be fractious for the first few rides but that the wildies never miss a beat.
The wildies are his first pick for children's horses too.
You're doing great, keep it up.
Too bad they can't normalize the competition by comparing where you started with where you get to. You have the opportunity for a bigger achievement than they have.
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