Archive for July, 2010
Sakima’s First Visit from the Vet
It seemed I had been fired by the bare foot trimmer and he disappeared from the radar refusing to answer my frantic text messages when I came back from a trip to find Sakima with a damaged coronet line. I was on my own in unchartered waters worried that Sakima had an abscess and what to do about it.
I was the only person he let near him, so each day I drove 3hours 
back and forth from work to treat the stubborn wound that refused to heal. Little point in calling the vet as Sakima would not let him near him, let alone. After a week and no change I decided that if there was no change I would call the vet.
I started to prepare Sakima to accept a needle. By using a paper clip as a substitute needle he learnt that the grasp of the skin and prick of the paper clip earned a reward.
Sakima and the Fear of People
Fear can be just hidden not replaced
What is fear in a horse? We see it everywhere, biting, bolting horses or shut down horses. What are our human responses? Force, yell, hit, react, pressure – we see them every day as people handle their horses.
Most domestic horses learn to respond to these traditional methods and they learn the behaviour that their person wants and go onto, to have worthwhile partnerships with their humans.
What of the horses that don’t learn or won’t learn and still revert to their fear responses when in a stress situation? Everyone has seen it – the balking horse, the horse that bites or bolts despite the threats and force; melted out to the horse. We know where they end up, owner after owner and then a one way ticket to the sale yard.
I had one such horse.
