Back to the Track

Rusty seems to have taken about 10 steps back in training in the past week and a half. When I first brought him home he was so mouthy, always had something in his mouth. His lead rope, my boots, the radio, my shirt, my hair, the cross tie... Basically anything. He didn't bite per say and left not a single mark on me. He was also a maniac to lead around. He'd kick, rear, whirl, buck, run into you, bolt forward, all the tricks in the book and usually in quick sucession. Over the first few months we came to an agreement on the mouthiness, it became minimal and mostly directed at non-human objects that needed some "exploration". His leading progressed to barely ever a problem. We had long walks with the stud chain and a crop and learned that the bucking, rearing, biting, bolting behavior wasn't actually fun.

Fast forward to the last week and a half. The chiropractor was the first night he started back on his past routine. I could not keep his mouth off of me, or the chiro, or the lead rope. What has always been frustrating about his mouthiness is that if you reprimand him he goes into play mode. So say I back him up because he grabbed my coat... he backs up... stands quiet for a second and grabs it again. And he'll do that all night. He loves it. He plays that game in the pasture with his friends. He and one of his barnmates have shredded multiple lead ropes playing tug-of-war games. But as I said earlier we had come to an understanding on this and it wasn't happening anymore.

This weekend's myofascial session wasn't much better. He was trying to grab his therapist all morning. Ramming into her with his full body... It was no good. He slowly relaxed into the session and settled down the mouth and the body. After it was over we let him free to wander around and feel good and loose and relaxed. He walked, trotted, and cantered and it was BEAUTIFUL! I haven't seen him trot like that since I got him. His hocks were moving, his pasterns were moving, his toes weren't dragging. He looked great. He got him self a little wound up and had to be caught before he ran out all the good that had just been done. This is the point where bad behavior number two comes back...

I opened up the gate to lead him to the pasture where his friends were and he absolutely lost it. He bolted past me spun and reared. He reared higher than I have ever seen him rear. Came down and plunged forward. I backed him and growled and did all those regular things. What does he do?! Grabs the lead rope in his mouth. We regained our composure and practiced in and out of the arena a few more times, gradually getting better, until we could finally walk out without a bolt.

I guess the myofascial release must have him feeling pretty darn good. Or at least that's what I'm going to think. It's also the first few days of nice warm sunny weather, so perhaps he's just feeling his oats and sun on his back. I know that at the social service agency I work at the clients get a little wacky when the sun comes out. Maybe it's just the same for a horse? At least I know we've come a long way when he reverts back to these previous naughty behaviors. This week he can go back into some regular work, so I'm looking forward to giving him some solid work. He needs it.