Today I had a lesson scheduled with Marj to learn how to gain trust and respect from Zorro, as well as some basic ground work. I wasn’t nervous about the lesson, but I was nervous about how we would get Zorro there. It took us TWO hours to load him the first time we did it, and that was WITH Marj’s help. This time, we would be on our own…
So, Britney, Daniel, Mom, Dad, Mike, and I all gathered around the trailer. First we put Onyx in, which took about 30 seconds. Hard to believe it used to take 45 minutes to get her on! Then I got Zorro and led him over to the trailer. He walked right up to it and even stuck his head in without hesitation. But he refused to go any further!
We lunged him, pulled on him, pushed on him, lifted his front legs, everything. He still would not budge. Sometimes he would through a fit and back away from the trailer, yanking as hard as he could. I got a few scrapes and bruises trying to pull back! We didn’t want to let him “win” by misbehaving, but at the same time we were nervous that he would hurt himself or one of us.
After about 40 minutes of this, we left a rather desperate and frustrated voice mail on Marj’s cell phone. We decided to give it ONE last try. We lifted his front feet onto the trailer and Mike, Mom, and Dad lifted and pushed his butt towards the trailer. Then he finally stumbled in to the trailer! We showered him with praise, pettings, and even gave him some grain.
When we finally got to the lesson, Zorro unloaded rather easily and was eager to explore the new surroundings. Marj has maybe two dozen horses, including several Paso Finos! Zorro was very interested in meeting everyone; but alas, we had work to do.
I learned the basics of lunging. How to tell the horse to go and how to tell him to stop. Basically, you point in the direction you want him to run, and if he doesn’t go, you wave a stick-and-string at him. If he still hasn’t gone after three seconds of waving, you whack him on the neck with the stick-and-string.
Regarding whacking: It’s tough to do to a horse you love, but it’s not cruel. It’s sort of the equivalent of horses biting and kicking each other to establish dominance. A little pain is necessary for you to gain respect. As long as you only whack when he’s naughty and you reward him when he’s good, you’re not being cruel. You’re just establishing who’s boss. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to hit Zorro… I don’t want to hurt him, but I also don’t want him to treat me like a doormat. It’s better for everyone if he respects me and obeys me.
So the first time I tried lunging Zorro at the lesson, he wouldn’t move so I whacked him. He was very quick to get going after that! I didn’t have to whack Zorro again for the rest of the lesson. That one whack made him realize I wasn’t going to let him get away with being naughty. I lunged him several times, in both directions, with relative ease! I fumbled with the lead rope and stick-and-string several times, which often resulted in me accidentally asking him to stop. With practice, I’ll get better at it.
Mom had quite a bit of trouble with Onyx during her lesson. I was practicing with Zorro at the time, so I didn’t see much. But I did see a lot of whip swinging and dust flying. Eventually Richard took the reins (there were no literal reins, this is just a horse pun) and REALLY worked on Onyx. He was quite rough with her, but by the end of it, Onyx was as docile as a kitten. Wow!
After the lesson, Marj helped me give Zorro a bath. We washed his really icky mane with coconut shampoo! He looks soooo much better! Plus we worked on his hose-tolerance skills and patience with standing tied. After initial resistance, he was pretty well behaved during the process.
After the bath, I decided to ask Marj for advice on how to get him to pick up his feet. In the past, it’s been a battle for every foot just to get him to lift it long enough for me to pretend to pick his hoof. It was taking me a good twenty minutes! And I wasn’t even ACTUALLY picking his hooves! But, when I went to demonstrate to Marj, Zorro picked his foot RIGHT UP. The first time I asked!! This is very exciting progress! But I did feel a little silly in front of Marj…
Then it was time to load Onyx and Zorro to take them home. Again, Onyx practically floated onto the trailer. But Zorro was another story. It took a lot of pushing, pulling, and some manhandling from Richard, we got Zorro on the trailer after about half an hour. The best part is that he eventually stepped in on his own volition! We finally convinced him that the trailer is a happy place! This is a good sign; he will be easier and easier to trailer each time.
All in all, Zorro and I had a great day and we made a lot of progress!!
