Junior's Attitude
Below you'll read about how to do connections with a defiant, aggressive yearling ...
QUESTION: I recently had my yearling colt (Junior) gelded. He's been really docile, but I am thinking of keeping him for my own use and I would rather ride a gelding than a stallion. Anyway, it's been a month since he's been gelded, and suddenly, he has a really bad attitude. He recently kicked my son.
Last night, I went out to try to do a connection exercise with Junior. When I asked him to move away from me, he came at me and knocked into me. I started yelling at him and making huge gestures with my arms above my head. He still didn't move away. He reared and stood his ground. I started whirling a lead rope and he backed away a short distance and stood his ground again. I actually started whacking him with the lead rope and screaming at him and he reared and came at me. I finally got him to back away and do a couple of circles, but he started looking as if he were going to come at me again, so I stopped asking him for anything, haltered him and tied him up for a while.
So what do you think? How much force is too much when trying to get the horse to move? I feel bad because I was really beating on this yearling before he would back down. It was a soft cotton lead rope, but still . . .
ANSWER: First off ... remember that you're dealing with a yearling. He's the equivalent of a 3 year old boy. (3 horse years to 1 human year) Old enough to be disciplined but within reason. You wouldn't expect your 3 year old son to sit at the dinner table with his hands folded in front of him and his napkin neatly in his lap waiting for you to pick up your fork, first, before eating. That's just not possible and neither is it possible for a yearling to fully go through the bonder and have it "stick". Ain't gonna happen, Girlfriend! *G* And, just as you wouldn't beat the daylights out of your 3 year old son for throwing a temper tantrum or telling you "NO!", you *would* apply stern discipline as his "MOM" and then direct his attention elsewhere. So ... keeping that in mind and now applying it to your yearling ...
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