The adventures of Gilly the rescue horse and his side kick and partner in crime, Pokey the donkey.

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Being with a horse is a journey that never ends. What they have to teach us is amazing; but we must quiet our mind to hear them. ~ jca

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Monday, May 11, 2009

Gilly is a BAD boy ...................... again!!!

Gilly has been being disrespectful ............ again! He still refuses to cross the creek to go up the old road. He isn't afraid of crossing the creek, just refuses to go over this crossing. He still wants to back up and go sideways, with a "you can't make me" attitude. I can get off him and send him across, make him back into it and even into deep water. He will just stand there relaxed resting one hind foot.

Does he look like he is afraid of the creek? He isn't and where I am asking him to cross is not like this. This was when the creek was up last July.
He also will back up when he doesn't want to do what he is told, he will keep doing this until he gets his way. We need to go back to round pen 101 and do a LOT of ground work. He needs to become respectful instead of sticking out his tongue and giving me the raspberry!
This is what Parelli says about horse personalities that fits Gilly very well:

Left Brain/Extrovert
Characteristics of a "Left Brained" (LB) Extrovert include being mischievous, energetic, willful, disobedient, domineering, and may have a tendency to be mouthy, nip and bite. LB Extroverts are easy to train unless you are boring and repetitive in which case they act up and become unruly.
LB horses are not afraid of people, they are self confident, brave, are relatively insensitive, playful, mouthy, exuberant and dominant. At minimum, these horses can be pushy and disobedient, and at worst they are aggressive. Keep in mind, these horses can be dangerous when they don’t like or trust people.
LB horses need you to become a lot more interesting. They need things to do. They are usually quite playful and are easily bored by riders who are fixated on perfecting a maneuver, and that’s what makes them act up. Because they are so confident they are fast learners.




This pretty much describes the brat boy. So what do I have to do, step up a lot, which is hard for me because I am not an assertive person but to get stinker to be good that's what I will have to do. Guess I'm gonna have to open a can of "whop ass" to get his attention and show him that I mean business! LOL


How Gilly is going to look after a long workout in the round pen............

15 comments:

Paint Girl said...

Oh bad Gilly! Brandy would do the same thing, she would cross water on her own, but when it was time to cross with me on her back, she'd throw a fit, back up, crow hop, try to turn and run the other way. Somehow we got through all that, and now she goes through chest deep water with me on her!
Fritzy is a left brained extrovert. Explains her to a T! So I totally understand!
Good luck!

jane augenstein said...

Paint Girl, oh, thanks for the input, there is hope! LOL I don't want the bucking fit again so hoping that I can find a way through this misbehavin'!

Alice ~ Folk Art Primitives said...

Say it isn't so ~ Gilly ~ a bad boy?! But he's so handsome!! Sounds like a husband I had once!!!
That's a joke ~ but it sounds good!! Hang in there ~

Jacque. said...

You can do it, Jane! You'll see.

allhorsestuff said...

Man! That Gilly boy what a stinker!
Too smart for his own huh!
I think Linda has one of those in her latest gelding Alure.
I just watched a fantastic Savvy DVD with her riding him freestyle, out and about...after she said she may not even ride him...I was proud of her..guess he can really explode!

Well...my first thoughts were to make everything really- intensively- hard except crossing the creek.
Like take him that direction and when he makes fuss...okay..some circles...trotting up and back..more circles...then walk to creek..no go again..well, turn him around and pick another area for cirlcle and laterals and even go as far as going along side the thing he won't go over or cross...till it is finally HIS IDEA to cross..then I would say JUMP off!! and praise- praise-praise!!!
Or...jsut go near and before he thinks of turning..you turn away...work at some other things. I also think haing your carrot stick and line attached to him would be good for the -ground work on the spot- where he disobeys...I have done thins with the Wa...
So...you don't think you can send him over the crrek with a long lunge line and whip?
Kac
Well the can of whoop A- - ...is nearing!

Katharine Swan said...

I'm a little skeptical of the Parelli left-brained/right-brained introvert/extrovert stuff. First of all, the left-brained/right-brained theory has been thoroughly debunked in humans, and why should it be any different in horses? Furthermore, wouldn't you laugh at someone who said there were only 4 different personalities for people, and every person was one of those four? I don't see why horses should be any different in that respect, either.

I think there is a lot more going on in any horse's personality than what this Parelli theory gives us. We can theorize about why our horses do certain things, but we never really know for sure, because they can't TELL us. About all we can do is what works for the individual horse -- and unfortunately, sometimes that takes a little trial and error to figure out.

Before you assume that Gilly is just being bad, though, try to remember that they interpret things differently than we do. So sure, he may not be afraid of water, and he may have crossed THAT particular stretch a hundred times, but maybe it smells different to him suddenly. Or perhaps something sounds different that is giving him pause. Just because he's being stubborn doesn't mean he's being deliberately naughty. He could have good (in his mind) reasons for hesitating, and may be reacting with stubbornness because he resents being told to ignore his instincts.

Just a thought, anyway.

Dusty Devoe said...

What a stinker! Wish I could offer you some advise, but I am still learning how to to spray fly spray on my stinker, bathes, and worming!
Being on the trail has been a piece of cake so far!

Desert Rose said...

Jane...the issue is not the water! You figured that out already. So if he won't go in it forward...try backward with you on his back. Change it up a bit, give him something new to think about so it won't be "boring" and see what he does!!!

jane augenstein said...

Alice, sorry but true, Gilly is a stinker!
Jacque, I hope I can!
Kacy, I have tried all that you have said and still no go! I have worked him on the long line and he will cross the creek, forward and backward, just can't get him to go with me on board. Bugger!!!
Katharine, I do believe some of what Parelli says, not all but Gilly fits pretty well into the profile. When I do round pen work it's not just mindless circles. We do turns, forward, backward, left and right. Jumping all kinds of things but I control his feet. The more challenging the work the more he likes it and the more the play drive kicks in. He has also decided he doesn't want to go past the neighbors horses. He will go to the end of their field then he starts backing up. He does this when "HE" decided he doesn't want to go where I want him to. Not from fear, just because he doesn't want to, it's defiance!
Dusty Devo, they all seem to have their stinky attitudes about some things don't they?
Desert Rose, oh, he will go backward just fine and sideways, I have tried to think of everything to get him across. If I get off he goes across. Just won't with me on.

Katharine Swan said...

Jane, I agree that it sounds like he has a personality like what they are describing -- smart, likes challenges, gets bored, etc. -- but would you really say that ALL horses are one of those four?

You said he won't cross with you on. Just a thought... But you can you mount safely in the middle? ;o) Don't try it if you can't do it safely, obviously, but if you CAN it would sure throw a wrench in his big plans! LOL.

Russ Lowry said...

I know nothing of horses but I really like the first photo, looks like he is laughing!

dexmangoldens said...

Has anyone else ridden him across the creek?? Maybe he's getting vibes from you on his back. Or have someone lunge you and him across. Different ways for different horses. I had a horse that was too smart for his own good too! Would jump the last jump along the rail, land, then immediately turn and head for the next jump. (before I had my seat back) I had to find the way around that and convince him that I did not want to go flying straight ahead when he turned. A lot of leg, and shorter rein on the outside. Carrot stick sounds good too. Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

Blackfeatherfarm said...

Perhaps it is the horses who teach us in the long run. If everything was perfect every single time we tried something with our horses, we wouldn't learn a whole lot. Figuring out the problems and correcting them is how we learn to be better horse handlers and owners. Its the problems that we learn the most from, so don't be too hard on the pretty boy.

LuLo Designs/Blue Eyed Tango said...

Thanks for the information on the bridle rosettes and the link...I'll check it out.

We have the same problem with our 3 year old right now with trailer loading.....just doesn't want to go in right now and he's already been in several times successfully before.
I don't view him as being bad, I think he just needs a patient handler and someone who can keep asking calmly (not in a hurry) to get in the trailer. Too many times we have our own time frames we have to work in or agenda on what we want to accomplish and the horse is telling us....no, there's an issue here I gotta work through. I'm with Kacy, keep asking him and make it hard for him to get the answer wrong. Work him give you the wrong answer and keep him busy when the answer is no to you.....then he'll find relief and maybe want to cross over? I know it's trying on our patience.

Amanda said...

Horses can be the biggest brats in the world when they decide to.

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