No. No they don't. Really. They don't.
If given the choice of a)carrying a rider on their back while they work on bending or b)lounging around and eating all day; they're going to go with B 99.999% of the time. And who can blame them? I'd rather lounge around all day watching a Storage Wars marathon, but unfortunately my horses have foolishly become accustom to their lifestyle. Which, funny enough, consists of lounging around and EATING.
Of course there is that 0.001% of the equine population that does enjoy their job and does have a great work ethic. I can tell you just where they reside, too: in a stallion barn.
How does this relate to Dino? He has a bag of tricks he uses, when he's asked to do something in a training session that he doesn't want to do. Its a small bag and once he's exhausted all of them, he'll actually do what I'm asking of him. You might be thinking: "There could be something wrong that's causing him to react that way; pain or fear. Maybe you're just not speaking his language or you just haven't played enough games with him..." I have very little use for New Age Horse Trainers and hardly anything nice to say, at all. So I will say this: horses are like teenagers. You walk a very fine line between disciplinarian and friend.
My trainer asked me one time how things were going with Dino and I. "You mean besides the bucking, bolting, and rearing? Oh, we're good," I responded. Those aren't Dino's only tricks. He can back up faster than a reiner and he'll change his tempo from super slow to high speed. He also likes to drop his shoulder and fall in with his hindquarters. Lately it's dropping his head below his knees and then hanging on the reins, giving me great discomfort in my lower back. None of this makes Dino, or any other horse for that matter, a bad horse. I just always need to be ready to counteract Dino's next move. Flex his jaw and keep his poll as the highest point. Come with a little spur or a tap of the whip to keep his hindquarters in line. As for the bucking, bolting, rearing, and backing up: that's longeing.
A week or so ago, Dino ripped a D-ring off my surcingle when he backed up nearly a 100' and then bolted. Dino then ran around the arena like a mad man, probably didn't help I was chasing after him with the lunge whip. But I didn't care, he was going to keep his feet moving until I told him he could stop. And stop he did and came directly to me when asked. How could I be mad? Instead we just went back to work and finished our session. Dino still didn't want to trot, but was more than happy to after I turned the tables on him and made him canter...a whole six minutes. Everytime he broke back down into a trot, which was about every 30 seconds, I cued him back into the canter and each time he picked up the right lead. I was so happy with him because we've been struggling with the right lead all summer.
I think what really started this episode, was that Dino wasn't happy I moved up the side-reins on the surcingle to keep his poll higher. I then ran the lunge line through the bit to the top D-ring on the surcingle, so that I could continue flexing him and engage his inside hind. The first day Dino wasn't happy with this new arrangement, but he went along with it. The second day, he threw his little temper tantrum and ripped the D-ring off my surcingle. Which is typical, the first day back to work from a break or doing something new, Dino goes along with it but you can see the wheels in motion. The next day, he acts up. No big deal and in the end, his being 'bad' didn't get him anywhere, he still had to work. The way I see it, it is merely a rough training patch that I try to turn around to accomplish my goal. In this particular example it was not as successful as I would have liked. He was never forward in the trot, but he didn't want to canter anymore and he was out of tricks. :)
And I can't even be mad at him about my surcingle. I bought it from Dover Saddlery about 13 or 14 years ago. I'm amazed it held up this long. I don't even use the nylon girth that came with it, instead I just use my dressage girth which just seems more comfortable. As far as I'm concerned, Dino did me a favor...heck Dino just bought me AND him a gift - a new surcingle.
Sometimes, its just the little things that can really make one happy. :D
Dino on our first cold morning, requiring the use of a quarter sheet.
(September 16, 2011.)
(The above picture is prior to my moving up the side-reins. Again, here they are only looped around the girth. When I first got Dino, like a lot of off-the-track-thoroughbreds, Dino carried his head too high and was above the bit. In an effort to encourage him to bring his head down and come over his top line, we placed the side-reins around the girth. This also helped in teaching him to carry himself, not use me for balance, and take contact with the bit - as the side-reins were on the last hole. Well, it served its purpose and now Dino needs to bring his poll up and eventually carry it as the highest level. Therefore the side-reins are attached on the second ring from the bottom, and have been taken in to the third hole.)
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