It's not all connection, learning and gentle teaching. Training a baby horse is also not linear, sometimes it's very much 'one step forward and two steps back'. Sometimes you feel stuck on a plateau for a very long time, not wanting to push him before he is ready. Some days it all goes wrong, a number of things stack up against you and your horse - with the final straw causing the horse to explode. Today was like this.
Ed, aka the UBF, was eating his hay happily in his field and didn't want to learn today. He took a while to connect and bit his trainer's finger. He flashed his ears back a number of times, warning us he didn't want to do anything. We slowly persisted and he agreed to come out of his field calmly and begin his session. Then the wind picked up. And there was a new tiny rescue pony to meet. The dogs were chasing the chickens manically and careered through the tarpaulin causing an almighty crashing of plastic and BOOM! The UBF spooked, reared and looked enormous on the end of his lead rope. We now needed to get him to come down to a relaxed state. He was full of adrenaline and flight, the horses survival system when in times of danger, and he was completely unaware of us. He ran into his trainer, he wanted to see the new rescue pony, all the horses on the yard started neighing, the wind was howling and it had started to rain.
All we could ever expect to achieve from this type of training session is for the UBF to calm his nervous system, licking and chewing and be aware of our presence. It was incredibly important that we were aware of our own states and took a moment to calm our breathing, encouraging the UBF to follow. Danger had passed and he was safe with us. It took a while, but eventually he calmed and slowly walked back to his field, to continue his day.
Some days are just like this - and we will try again tomorrow.
Relaxation and connection in the rain
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