Yesterday it was flipping hot & at least 600% humidity (Hello, Chicago) so I gave him a bath really quickly when I stopped out to visit him and he was a punk@$$ then too. He hates baths, which I've always been pretty understanding about, but now I've had it. I'm sick of him not loading, clipping, or bathing worth a damn. It's time to solve this problem, so he will be getting a bubble bath EVERY day this summer until he decides to chill the heck out. Yesterday he was mad when I wouldn't let him eat grass bc I didn't want the soap to run down into his eyes, so when I pulled his head up, he picked himself up as high as he could and started eating the leaves off the tree. Seriously, Jimmy?! Who trained you?!? Because my perfect horse doesn't ACT LIKE THIS.
His other favorite bathtime trick is to fly backwards without warning and flip out completely because he's "sick of getting a bath". Now, in a wash stall this can't happen, so last summer he was getting over it, but Mommy has student loans to pay now so we board with the lesser-fortunate horses and THEY all stand for their baths at the hitching post. If I tie him up, and try to let him "fight himself" he usually breaks something (lead rope, halter, hitching post...my hand) in his "backwards flights" so now I've been trying to let him ground tie. He stands pretty OKAY for a little bit, then suddenly gets that "OH! Hey! I hate baths! I forgot! Now I'm going to be a turkey" and he flies back. me pulling him just makes him fight harder, so now I've started making horrible "AHHHSSHHHA SHHAA SHHHAAAAAAAAAA SHA SHA SHA" noises when he flies backwards and when he stops and looks at me with the "wtf?!" ears I stop and start cooing him to move forward and he melts into me and goes "Oh geeze, Mom. I thought you were a monster for a second! It was horrible!!"
Any other ideas on how I can make the bath devil child stand like a good boy? Clipping is another issue entirely. Usually he has to get a "cocktail" and now I just use scissors for his nose and leave his ears be. Loading, we found at the clinic using a broom and the "outside is WAY worse than inside the trailer" method got him on in 5 minutes, rather than the normal 25-45 minute fiasco. Mind you: on a big trailer with other horses, he's wonderful and loads like he was born to. It's little 2 horses he suddenly feels like he has wings, and loves to use them to try & fly away.
HELP! When did my angel horse become such a devil?! Talk about feeling like a failure of a mom!
6 comments:
Don't feel like a failure. I have this problem with almost every single one of my horses (minus Scooter). Not so much the bathing, but none of my horses will cross-tie or single tie and stand nicely. Bella is the worst, and will rip off of absolutely anything if you even think about cross-tying her in an aisle. I think it's MUCH more common than you're letting yourself believe! If you get any helpful tips or tricks, you'll have to let me know, because we're in the same boat!
That is so reassuring! I think at Heide's I just took for granted that every SINGLE horse was dead broke and at Diane's I had full service so I never realized it took TRAINING to make them stand still. He crossties super, but the bath thing makes me nuts.
He was water-abused as a baby, so it's a legitimate fear, I know that. I used to walk in and catch his "half owner" spraying him in the face in his stall because he tried to play in the bucket while she filled it with water, so now everytime he hears the "Psssssss" sprayer noise he about jumps out of his skin. He's FINALLY gotten to the point where he stands still for fly spray, but he stands there with eyes and veins bulging all over the place.
..she was the same one who'd beat him in the face because he didn't know how to lead. He's got trust issues, to say the least. It's a work in progress.
Figure out what part of the bath bothers him - spraying a particular part of the body, temperature of water, etc., and work just on that bit so he learns that he can feel safe. Good luck! He may have been punished in the past for not putting up with a bath, and so may fear it.
Yep Kate, that's exactly what it is. He was water-abused as a baby (sprayed in the face when he tried to play in the water buckets & make a mess) so the "Pssssss" sound just makes him nuts.
Maybe you should try some natural horsemanship and start from the round pen basics. If the horse is that scared of the simple things like getting wet or being clipped, he does not trust you or what you're dong with him. Maybe building some trust starting with slow reassuring techniques might help. Not all horses go for this, but I think it's better than "getting a bubble bath EVERY day this summer until he decides to chill the heck out." - which will dry out his skin. Sounds like you've had him a long time, but he's a young horse and if he's been forced to compete so young as much as you say in past posts, maybe he's just never had the time taken to introduce him to things the right way. Good luck.
Anon - Thank you for the feedback. I've done natural horsemanship with him, and so long as he's in the round pen, he's a dream. While I ride, he's a dream. It's when he's in an open environment he gets into that "flight" mode. He's only been to 5 horse shows in his life. I won't actually be giving him a bath every day this summer ;-) That's merely a part of my terrible humor.Thanks again! I appreciate the input.
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