02/01/2024
You know that feeling when you want to share something huge but Average Joe will have no idea what you're all juiced up about?
Well here goes...š¤·āāļø
The horse in this video is somewhere between 12 and 15 years old. He's got two testicles, one and a half ears and came from the wild in September.
He is also the scariest horse I've ever worked with.
Once, in early days he pinned his ears and charged at me, so I alley-ooped over the fence like an Olympic athlete.
It was pretty rad if I do say so myself...It was like pole vaulting, except instead of a pole, I cleared the 8ft fence using just my stumpy legs and sheer terror...
And with that, I admitted defeat and never went in his yard againā¦
And a few days later he was shunted off in a stock crate with another stallion - to be trained by someone with skills far greater than my own...
And over the next 7 weeks they were trained by an incredible horse person in Ballarat.
During that time the other stallion progressed amazingly... By week 5 he was being ridden and week 6 he was poking along on suburban streets and cantering through the bush like the ultimate trail boss.
Meanwhile, my little mate with the missing ear was kinda going nowhere...
He did a bit more of the chargey stuff and eventually tolerated a halter but would barely lead and some days it took 40 minutes to catch him in a 6m x 6m yard...
And on the fateful day he came back here, he gifted the trainer a broken rib and prickles in her un**es as he towed her through the paddock on her back.
So as you can imagine I was not exactly thrilled to have him here againā¦
But not knowing what else to do, I chucked him in a paddock and went inside to ruminate on my terrible life choices.
And to be honest, having him out the window has been like a big, brown reminder of how badly things can go wrong with horses.
And while all our other brumbies are the coolest little dudes, this is one complicated m**o...
But over the last few weeks, while googling 'Can you use a dart gun on horses?' we started trying to work with him in the paddock..
Because you know... we got him into this mess, so we had to at least TRY to get him out without a dart gun.
And bit by bit we've made progress...
It just needed to be done on his time and with constant reminders that the poor thing is just scared out his mindā¦
Because TBH, it sometimes feels safer for us to get all big and whacky to show'em who's boss.
Yeah I said it... but Iām sure you secretly know what I mean.
So against all my better judgement I swapped the long, whizzy dressage whip for a bag of treatsā¦ because I figured, if he was going to charge me again, thereās not a lot that a bendy bit of fibreglass could do anyway š¤·āāļø
And fast forward to now, and he comes up and can be caught in the paddock.
Last week I trimmed his front feet and taught him to pick up his hinds with no kicking or nonsense at allā¦
It was huge, seriously.. probably the hugest, biggest most bravest triumphant achievement of my entire life... and it was all done so slowly, in such tiny steps.
But because it was so methodical and so measured and repetitive, it weirdly wasn't scary at all.
Also, his feet were starting to fold over onto themselves... refer to point above about 'creating a mess' and feeling obligated to fix it, if you're wondering why I bothered š¤·āāļø
Anyway, this afternoon we took this video and it probably looks like nothing... But we took him for a walk in a neighbouring paddock.
There was no scooting, snorting, yanking or bolting - he genuinely seemed happy to poke along and it felt like I could have worked him with hay string.
Iāve got no doubt this was only possible by to going right back to the basics, with some really simple stuff I learned from Dr Shelley Appletonā¦ and that means Iāve been mixing positive reinforcement with negative reinforcement - which according to some hoity toity horse folk is the worst crime on earth.
But between whips and darts and certain deathā¦ I kinda gave up on applying the usual rules in this situation.
So for anyone else out there feeling like youāre in over your headā¦
I feel you.
I know the revolting combination of having an oversupply of anxiety and a shortfall of skills.
Itās a brutal realisation BUT itās not the end of the road.
By a) being prepared to go back to the beginning and b) by getting rid of unrealistic expectations and c) taking things really, really slowly - there is light at the end of the tunnel.
But with that, itās really important to find a trainer you vibe withā¦
And there are some REALLY s**tty ones out there.
A few months ago I listened as a trainer told me they weren't 'cruelā but sometimes cranked up a horseās hind legs to lay it down, then the person walked over the top of the horse and left them tied and incapacitated to 'think about thingsā while they went inside for lunch.
This is a real person.
Theyāre well known and I have friends who go to them for lessonsā¦
I canāt even.
Letās move on...
So please, you cant be too careful with who you choose to follow and where you want to learn.
And at this stage, I am not your person.
Iām currently in the down draught, realising how much I have to learnā¦And not in a mopey, miserable way.. Iām actually quite excited about the whopping huge expanse I still get to learnā¦
If you do want to learn and care for my opinion - I canāt speak more highly of Dr Shelley Appleton and her online course - You'll find it at Dr Shelley Appleton Calm Willing Confident Horses
You can learn wherever and whenever you want - I alternate between her and Lucinda Green on my treadmill in the morningsā¦ Itās like the nerdiest, sweatiest, gruntiest, thumpiest learning environment you can imagine.
You should try it. Really you should š
Finally...I share this post and video knowing there will be people flexing their fingers ready to share their opinions about this horse and my choices.
What I should have done, what I shouldnāt have and most likely a comment or two about getting him gelded (refer to the bit about preferring to catch him rather than dart or rope him to get access to the āplums' for clarification on that)
But unless you have been right here, in this exact situation I really urge you not to make assumptions.
Iāve always tried to show the ānot polishedā side of what Iām up toā¦ and this is probably the rawest post Iāve written and it feels weirdly cathartic to share.
Iāve lost interest in trying to 'make an impactā and cant be bothered to try and influence anyone (because we can all think for ourselves, cant we?!?) so I guess I just wanted to share a story about the abrupt jolt the universe can deliver just when you think youāre starting to get things figured out š¤£š¤¦āāļø
Lastly, please don't let this story turn you off brumbies.
This guy is a bit of an enigma and confronting as itās been, itās given me a wonderful wide angled perspective on equine behaviour and the weird positions we put horses in every single day when we expct them to be part of our world.
And really, truthfully... brumbies are generally the coolest, non-spookiest, hardiest things youāve ever metā¦ And well worth your consideration the next time thereās a horse shaped hole in your life š¤
