Vacation! And Tess being Tess.
I took off Friday and Tuesday, so I have five days off in a row!! Woo! Initially my plan was to do nothing, with maybe a little cleaning since my parents are coming in a week. And ride. And church. And a lesson on Tuesday. And take Tess to the vet. lol
But today was supposed to be nothing after taking Tess to the vet at 10am. She got in the trailer okay. At the vet while waiting she was a bit anxious, and called a lot. I did some C's*, and she started to pay attention to me again. She still called some, and tried to eat anything she could find. And still tried to get as close as she could to me.
Tess was not happy about the blood taking or the shot giving.
Getting back into the trailer required a little assistance from the vet tech.
So, once we got back home I unloaded her, then wanted to load her back to see what the deal was. Yeah. That led to an hour long discussion/ordeal. O.M.G. I started with C's, and got her into the trailer after about 10 minutes. Wanting to make sure she got the point (this is probably where I should have let it go), I praised her, and then unloaded, wanting to get her in once more time. C's, me whapping her with the end of the lead and then the ET stick, her leaning on the line, both of us getting hot and sweaty. Oh, and me kicking at her when she tried to run me over. After about 20 minutes I just tied her to the trailer and went in the house.
After a bit I went back out to try again. It devolved into me making her do little trot circles in front of the trailer door. Once I got her to trot up and put her front feet up on it, and she quickly realized what she had done, and jumped back off. *sigh* This is a mare that already knows how to load. She has loaded by herself, with other horses, and in trailers other than mine. She was not scared; we were both stubborn and pissed. Finally, finally I got her to put both front feet up on the trailer, and she kept them there. I praised her and called it done.
I'm waffling about what to do next. The trailer is still hooked to the truck and behind the barn. I may try again on Sunday or Monday, or may wait until K comes on Tuesday. She's good at both loading recalcitrant horses, and mediating between Tess and I when we have a spat.
This evening when I went out to feed she looked/acted like she was not feeling good, or sore, or something. argh! Not sure if it's from the immunization, or from working so hard this morning. She's had the shot before, and did fine as far as I remember. But, she was hungry and went for her dinner right away as per usual, so we'll see what she looks like tomorrow.
The rest of the day I did dirty chores-cleaned the tack room toilet, picked up the dog poop, cleaned the pounds of hair from under the couch holy crap!
Mayhaps I need to reconsider the definition of 'doing nothing.'
*A 'C' is where instead of doing a whole circle around you, you bring them up short halfway, say 'whoa', and encourage them to then go the other way-with your body, the whip, and the lead/rein. It can be done, for instance, down the side of the arena so they learn that they need to keep their focus on you, and can help when they're somewhere new and are scared (like I did at the vet). It's also something that trainers do at a trailer when a horse is being a butt about going in-keeps them moving, and makes the interior of the trailer look inviting because they can stop. :)
But today was supposed to be nothing after taking Tess to the vet at 10am. She got in the trailer okay. At the vet while waiting she was a bit anxious, and called a lot. I did some C's*, and she started to pay attention to me again. She still called some, and tried to eat anything she could find. And still tried to get as close as she could to me.
Tess was not happy about the blood taking or the shot giving.
Getting back into the trailer required a little assistance from the vet tech.
So, once we got back home I unloaded her, then wanted to load her back to see what the deal was. Yeah. That led to an hour long discussion/ordeal. O.M.G. I started with C's, and got her into the trailer after about 10 minutes. Wanting to make sure she got the point (this is probably where I should have let it go), I praised her, and then unloaded, wanting to get her in once more time. C's, me whapping her with the end of the lead and then the ET stick, her leaning on the line, both of us getting hot and sweaty. Oh, and me kicking at her when she tried to run me over. After about 20 minutes I just tied her to the trailer and went in the house.
After a bit I went back out to try again. It devolved into me making her do little trot circles in front of the trailer door. Once I got her to trot up and put her front feet up on it, and she quickly realized what she had done, and jumped back off. *sigh* This is a mare that already knows how to load. She has loaded by herself, with other horses, and in trailers other than mine. She was not scared; we were both stubborn and pissed. Finally, finally I got her to put both front feet up on the trailer, and she kept them there. I praised her and called it done.
I'm waffling about what to do next. The trailer is still hooked to the truck and behind the barn. I may try again on Sunday or Monday, or may wait until K comes on Tuesday. She's good at both loading recalcitrant horses, and mediating between Tess and I when we have a spat.
This evening when I went out to feed she looked/acted like she was not feeling good, or sore, or something. argh! Not sure if it's from the immunization, or from working so hard this morning. She's had the shot before, and did fine as far as I remember. But, she was hungry and went for her dinner right away as per usual, so we'll see what she looks like tomorrow.
The rest of the day I did dirty chores-cleaned the tack room toilet, picked up the dog poop, cleaned the pounds of hair from under the couch holy crap!
Mayhaps I need to reconsider the definition of 'doing nothing.'
*A 'C' is where instead of doing a whole circle around you, you bring them up short halfway, say 'whoa', and encourage them to then go the other way-with your body, the whip, and the lead/rein. It can be done, for instance, down the side of the arena so they learn that they need to keep their focus on you, and can help when they're somewhere new and are scared (like I did at the vet). It's also something that trainers do at a trailer when a horse is being a butt about going in-keeps them moving, and makes the interior of the trailer look inviting because they can stop. :)