So I got to the barn today and grabbed my awesome cross ties from my car. They have a quick release so I thought, even if he fought and WON against them, he'd break free and typically, as soon as he's free, he's calm.
Jimmy was just getting his lunch when I got there, so he wasn't really thrilled that I was taking him away from that, but tough toots, Jim. You're at least 100lbs over weight. This "lunch" thing only happens because you're in recovery. I pulled him out of his stall & grabbed all the bathing supplies and walked out to the "area" where we give baths. He knew right where we were headed so started to pick a fight as soon as we were aiming that way. I have said this before and I'll say it again - I know better than to pick a fight back with him. He's too strong and stubborn for me to ever win, so I just let him have his fit, flying backwards, then he steps forward & I coo at him. FLIES back....forward, coo. You get the picture. It took three tries for him to walk all the way up to where he gets his bath and as soon as he got close enough I snapped the quick release on one side of his halter & threw the loop end of the cross tie over one of the hitching posts.
He saw me do this, and froze. It was that easy. I put the other side on, and left the lead rope on for good measure, but really, it didn't matter. Soon as he realized he was cross tied, game over. Mom = 1 Jimmy = 0. He stood like an ANGEL the entire bath. Not as much as a stomp of a pretty little hoof or anything. I was shocked.
Mom just added a new toy to her bag of tricks ;-) In case you were wondering, this is the look of defeat:
When I sprayed his mane, the water even spattered onto that tarp-covered fan behind him, and he stood there like "I'm tied up, can't move if I wanted to, Mom. I'm not scared. Whatever". It was unreal.MOM WINS!!! I LOVE IT!!!
4 comments:
Very cool - you changed the rules!
Hahahaha I love those moments! I started cross-tying in my stalls. Then, no matter what, there's nowhere to go! I can even fly spray their faces and scrub Bella's ears when bathing her. It's a miracle, lol. Hopefully some day it translates into aisle cross-tying. Here's to hoping! Glad I could put the seed of thought into your brain:D
My friend Chrystal (http://cleighosis.blogspot.com/) had the exact same problem with tying to the hitching post. Duke (her paso) would literally sit down. It got to the point where we would just laugh about it cuz there was nothing else we could think to do. Then one day we put him in cross ties and wow, he was perfectly fine. I wonder what their malfunction is with being tied to the hitching post! lol
It's so nutty isn't it?! Some things about them I will never understand :P
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