Yesterday's excursion took me to see Queenie, yet another lovely polite and responsive Irish horse that up until she had to go on box rest had not put a foot wrong. As with many horses, a prolonged period of box rest (in this case three months) seems to have affected her confidence - it makes you wonder if they become institutionalised, agoraphobic or just fully paid up members of the flat earth society when they can't exercise their to need to migrate. We just went back to the very basics, asking her to walk right by her owner's side, her head at her owner's shoulder and not in front and not behind. We then asked her to mirror movement and straight away she was happy to reflect posture and speed and was only too happy to have someone slightly more in charge.
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| A real into-pressure response showing that Queenie has not been taught how to move her front end away when asked. Look at the angle of lean! Marc Marquez would be pleased with that! |
We realised that she was more jumpy about noise than she had been before her injury particularly breaking twigs. It is unfortunate that electric fencing can reinforce this fear too. We took her out into her local woods for a walk and at first just stood breaking twigs next to her and then walked alongside doing the same. In time both she (and her owner!) stopped jumping every time a twig cracked.
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Looking very relaxed.
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