First proper tantrum, advice appreciated

[Ginn]

Tilly had her first proper tantrum today

Now Tilly is a very sharp but lazy, clever individual. She learns very quickly and fortunately her lazy streak usually means she finds its less energy to comply then to misbehave. The worst of her behavior when worked (and by work I mean longreining or lunging on a very large "blob" - she never misbehaves inhand) has quite simply been turning in and walking toward me - easily corrected if I use 2 lunge lines rather than 1 as I can turn her back out again and normally catch her before she makes the turn in in the first place. That, so far, has been the worst we have had to deal with.

Today I popped the longreins on and almost immediately realises that she did not want to work - tough, imo that is not her choice and I will not stop because she doesn't want to. Her back and teeth are fine before anyone asks and she is longreined in a roller so no problems there. Her bit is a happymouth loose ring which she has always been very happy with. All I wanted her to do, realising that she was hungry and not in the right mood, was for her to quietly walk around the big field for 10 mins and make a few walk-trot and trot-walk transitions which for her is very simple and easy and nothing new or challenging but basic routine stuff.

To begin with she was reluctant to go forwards and kept trying to "run" through her shoulders back to the yard gateway. This was not helped by the fact I only had a schooling whip as lungewhip is no more! Growling didn't help and we had a lot of bunching up and walking backwards. a few steps before realising that she was on very thin ice and walking forwards but pulling and going through her shoulder. Thinking that the issue was with going forwards I sent her on into trot which just made the running through her shoulders and the contact worse. Put her on a small circle and made her walk round on both reins without trying to run back to the gate (which she hadn't yet suceeded in doing!) and then asked her to go large and walk around the field, changing direction a little and just getting her listening. Had just got her walking really nicely when she decided to tank off back to the gate and I just couldn't hold her as she can really shift it when she wants to - I knew she'd run to the gate and decided the safest option (for me!) was to drop the lunglines as I was being pulled over rather than get dragged on my stomach! Mum was watching at the gate and promptly grabbed her for me and made her stand and wait for me to reach her.

Pick reins back up again and again put her on a small circle and made her walk out and threw in lots of serpentines to get her concentration. When I felt she was listening I popped her on a firm 20m circle and made her trot and when she was tiring made her trot some more, did some figures of 8 and then trot some more on the other rein, really pushing her forward and holding quite a firm contact on both reins, taking it up more if she tried to go through the shoulder and "run". Then made her walk around the field on a long rein, changing direction and calmly walking back to the yard from where she'd tanked of which she did without putting a foot wrong.

This seemed to work very well and I have to say I got some really lovely work out of her once I got her listening but I really do not like pushing such a young horse a)onto such a firm contact and b) physically forward to that extent (not fast however) and only on a 20m circle. Didn't help that the ground is solid either.

She was sweet as anything as we finnished on a positive note and I think she worked harder today then she has in a long while - it certainly made her concentrate and think when I did get her working but I have come away feeling dissapointed with myself and questioning if I did the right thing

Instructor is up for the first time since october on Tues so this is obviously something I shall also discuss with her but also thought this was a good place to ask for some imput...

Apologies for the waffle, choccie for those who made it to the end

 

[Weezy]

I applaude you personally. I think you handled the situation absolutely correctly and she has earnt that napping will get her nowhere - stop feeling disappointed and stop questioning yourself

 

[Ginn]

Not a terrible, evil bully then? As thats how I feel right now

Only really good thing to come of it is that I had absolutely no fear in getting after her today, when I first enlisted the help of my instructor over a year ago it was because she had a tendancy to go up and try and nap inhand when she didn't like something (was nipped in the bud in 2 sessions and she has never done anything like it since) but then I was frightened by her behavior - today I was disappointed and cross with her but felt totally confident with her and at no point considered calling it a day as soon as I go a few mins of not naughty work but actually had the determination that she was not going to get away with it even if we had a long hard hour or 2 ahead of us (which fortuantely we didn't)! Does that make any sense?

 

[Sal_E]

Hi Ginn. I'm not sure specifically what you're wanting opinions on? Also, I don't know how old the horse is but presume she's not backed yet?

In a nutshell, you have to understand that she's testing the boundaries at the moment so you have to be one step ahead of her. So, you should have gloves on so you CAN take a hold of the lunge line & be commited to NOT leting go (that's a trick you don't want her learning), plus ensure you have a lunging whip. If you are not prepared on a day for whatever reason, it's best not to work her than risk her getting the better of you, even if only momentarily.

With regard to you working her hard etc, you won't do her any harm by doing this occassionally, so don't worry - you wouldn't want to make it a regular thing though. Don't try to humanise her too much though - she won't learn by you 'teaching her a lesson', i.e. she won't associate being naughty 20 mins ago with a long hard schooling session, so it's best to not allow the bad behaviour than to try to repremand/punish her for it once she's done it. If she DOES do soemthing unacceptable, try to correct her swiftly & firmly rather than by working her for longer... Not always possible of course...

 

[Ginn]

[ QUOTE ]
not sure specifically what you're wanting opinions on? Also, I don't know how old the horse is but presume she's not backed yet?

[/ QUOTE ]

Opinions were more on the basis that it has been a long time since I've worked with youngsters and this was the first time I've had to deal with this sort of behavior. I really do not want her learning to nap or that she can get away with not wanting to work as I think this could lead to problems later on. So I dealt with the situation as I would if it was any other horse so to speak. She's 3 in just over a month and I just felt really mean for bullying her but then I really don't know how else I could have dealt with this situation so was looking for some advice really should it happen (hopefully not!) again. The only good thing with Tilly is that she is very quick to learn and I will be very surprised if she now doesn't associate being nappy and naughty with "tough, get on with it and the more you play up the harder you'll work" as she is very, very clever (for a dim-witted tb atleast

)

 

[Sal_E]

Ginn, I think you are right to deal with her like you would something more established - you mustn't treat a youngster as if they are breakable. Based on how you say she is, I'd say always take the 'short & sharp' approach with her, or she'll try to take liberties...

 

[Ginn]

Yes, learn't that very quickly - you do not give her an inch and have to constantly keep her concentrated or she gets bored and looks for sneaky ways to be cheeky! Fortunately she hasn't got a nasty bone in her body and learns very quickly from rewards too so it can work in my favour but its so hard when you try to do your best to get it right and really don't know what the right thing to do is

 

[Sal_E]

I wouldn't worry too much Ginn. You will make mistakes occassionally & possibly create more work for yourself along the way BUT you are very, very unlikely to do anything badly enough to create a problem that can't be fairly quickly undone/corrected. As long as you have regular assistance to keep you both on the 'straight & narrow', I really wouldn't worry too much about it. As long as you are clear in your mind on the basics of what is & is not acceptable & basically your methods of correction you should feel confident in most situations (& as I say, for the odd 'new' ones, don't worry if you get it wrong now & again, it can be put right).