L was two and a half when I brought her home. She was halter broke and that was about it. I had spent the afternoon with her at Ferme Litjens and she wouldn't let me close enough to touch her and she had no idea what an apple or a carrot was, so treats weren't going to help build our friendship. I figured we'd just sort that all out later.
After giving her a few days to settle in and get acquainted (it didn't take her long to learn about carrots!), we did some leading and decided to see if she'd cross tie.
Nope. That wasn't a good idea. Oh she cross tied just fine but as I was going to learn - trust was going to be a huge issue. At the slightest provocation she just broke the cross ties. Nothing to it. Next day I decided I'd just tie her lead rope off to a post and groom her. Nope. Broke the snap right off the lead rope.
Truth is L was quite the handful and I was going to learn a lot. It's the main reason I decided to blog. To share training stories. I have tons of training stories. Being with L is the most comfortable, secure and satisfying place in my world. People see us now and they have no idea how much work it took to get here.
You know how you might drop a brush while you're grooming your horse? Well. I'd drop a brush and she break the cross ties and go out the other end of the barn backwards. I was going to spend a lot of money on cross ties.
This was winter 2003/2004 and just about every single night for *months* I threw brushes around the barn. I dropped halters. I made obstacle courses with feed bags and bedding bags. I dropped jackets and blankets. I kicked milk crates over. No you can't desensitize your horse to everything. But hopefully somewhere in this organized chaos she'd get the message.
L is very smart and attentive. Part of the challenge is the simple fact she does not miss a thing. That's part of the alpha thing. And she is extreme alpha. Hey that's a good name for a blog! There was a time she'd get all woofy over just a bucket in the wrong place. It's very funny now. But it wasn't very funny then.
There was a time when I was so scared of L I could barely put on her bridle because of the way my hands would shake. I'd break out in a sweat just thinking about saddling up. She was a scary horse when she was younger. She was bold and dominant and she can still throw quite unforgettable tantrums. For a long time I thought I'd just never get it.
Edit 8 January 2011: Tying troubles
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