Ace loves his Buddy Bopper. I have to sneak up on him to take pictures, because as soon as he sees me watching he stops. He spends a lot of time just standing with his chin resting on Buddy, but Buddy gets a lot of workouts and gets dragged all over the place. He's holding up well. He's only deflated once. He does need a little more pressure now that the weather has gotten colder, and I'll try to take care of that this weekend.
Things have been fine with Ace. Last weekend we had a bit of a wrestling match over picking up hooves, and I have the bruises to prove it. I sought some support and advice on COTH, and you can read the discussion here. We made it through, and haven't had any trouble since. The farrier was here this week. I am so thankful for my unflappable farrier. We brought Ace to the crossties, and Kim held him while I wiped the mud off his legs. I thought that might be tricky, but he barely noticed. Then I held him in addition to tying him to one wall or the other. He was well behaved for all but the right front. We had done the left side easily. The right front he always manages to snatch away from me, but not burly Kim. Kim held on, and Ace tried rearing to get away. The third time he got a lot of height and smacked his noggin on the side of the roof trusses. Besides some dust and cobwebs, he was unscathed. It sobered him up though, and he stood still for the rest.
7 comments:
I LOVE when they punish themselves! My old gelding decided to rear once while loading in the horse trailer--the first time he tried it (sans head bumper) was the LAST time he tried it. :)
I totally agree, and I think youngsters learn the most sometimes when they punish themselves... When I taught Mac (my yearling) to lead as a four month old, I used a "butt rope" to encourage forward movement in addition to his lead rope. Two or three days into learning to lead, he decided it would be fun to rear up instead of moving forward when asked. Unintentionally, the butt rope slipped down and took his back legs right out from under him mid-rear. It was obvious that he thought that I had flipped him (which, I suppose I had... albeit not on purpose). But it was the best lesson he ever learned about leading. He has NEVER tried to pull away from me again, even if he gets extremely worked up over something.
Some lessons are best learned the hard way I suppose!
Love reading your stories about Ace--- Mac is 20 months old now, and (while he is not boring by any means) his shenanigans have settled down significantly! I just love the young ones... =)
I think he may rethink rearing again after punishing himself by banging is head. I must admit I've never seen the Buddy Bopper. It looks interesting. I'll have to check it out.
Self Punishment is the way to go. He did not hurt himself, and I didn't even think about it until Kim said over his shoulder "He's alright isn't he?" Then when he finished that hoof and stood up, he told me a story when he was apprenticing many moons ago and a horse did that, hitting his poll just right, and crumpling dead on the floor. I know it can happen. When I was just in college, I worked for an Arabian show stable. My favorite horse was a gorgeous little "Banbury Cross" type grey stallion named "Champ". A few years later, while my sister was working for them, Champ reared up (uncharacteristically... )at a show and fell over backwards on the pavement. He hit his poll and was euthanised a few hours later. Not something you want to have happen often. But, I admit, I've made the most impression on Ace when he has accidentally done himself in and attributed it to me.
Ace must have been writing emails to Sincere, had the same issue. Same results.
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