Difficult horses
Difficult horses
A horse that quickly "turns to the right" away from you can be very dangerous. Once he passes a certain point, then there is no way to stop them. They will scrape you against the stall wall or cow kick you on their way by you. If you can, grab onto a solid object and attach the horse to it. Here Melissa is grabbing the stall screen before this horse has reached the point of no return. This may hurt your hand but it can also save your life.
A horse that quickly "turns to the right" away from you can be very dangerous. Once he passes a certain point, then there is no way to stop them. They will scrape you against the stall wall or cow kick you on their way by you. If you can, grab onto a solid object and attach the horse to it. Here Melissa is grabbing the stall screen before this horse has reached the point of no return. This may hurt your hand but it can also save your life. Here Melissa has placed her stiff right arm against the shoulder of the horse and is pulling the lead. This gives you a mechanical advantage allowing the horse to turn back to you with less effort than just pulling the lead alone. This can happen in a blink of an eye so master this technique. You will use it a few times when floating strong willed horses.
This horse likes to rais her head high to avoid everything in her mouth including the float. If they keep it high or do it repeatedly, raise the blade up to their eye level. The horse will quickly think that she can't get away from this very tall person and the head will lower allowing you to work. You may need to do this several times, but most horses respond after the first time you use this trick.
1/7 Melissa works on a difficult horse. A very confident choleric horse that doesn't connect well with people. Here she is talking with the owner while ignoring the horse verbally but connecting with him physically by keeping her right hand gently on the bridge of the nose. The horse is not afraid of her and is listening well. This is a great starting point.
2/7 Melissa works on a difficult horse. A very confident choleric horse that doesn't connect well with people. The head rises which his natural response to everything. It is not aggressive, just a squirm to say he still wants to be the boss and he is starting to challenge Melissa.
3/7 Melissa works on a difficult horse. A very confident choleric horse that doesn't connect well with people. He is starting to tilt the head which is often the escalation to the next level. Notice how Melissa remains focused on the task and ignores the antics of the horse. The fingers of the left hand firmly squeezes the nostril as a way to let him know that his actions are not acceptable. This is all she does because any other actions, such as anything verbal, would be rewarding his escalating bad behavior. Never reward bad behavior.
4/7 Melissa works on a difficult horse. A very confident choleric horse that doesn't connect well with people. Moments later, the horse continues to rais his head. While Melissa probably won't like this photo of her, it really depicts her low energy. This picture could be titled - As the horse's energy rises, Melissa's energy remains low or even lower. This dynamic is essential when working with horses that challenge you. Like a bully on the playground, you cannot acknowledge the bad behavior.
5/7 Melissa works on a difficult horse. A very confident choleric horse that doesn't connect well with people. Melissa's efforts are still being tested, but her persistence and patience allows her to continue to float. Check out the next picture.
6/7 Melissa works on a difficult horse. A very confident choleric horse that doesn't connect well with people. Here, moments later from the last image, the horse is allowed to regroup. Notice how relaxed Melissa is in both arms. there is no energy there to feed the horse, and the horse is responding also with low energy. Check the next image only moments later.
7/7 Melissa works on a difficult horse. A very confident choleric horse that doesn't connect well with people. This image of Melissa is to make up for the other one, but more importantly it shows you just how relaxed this horse is and she is not even half way done. This horse has been extremely difficult to float in the past for other dentistry work even with heavy sedation. The reason is simply because the dentist had not used the leadership skills necessary to connect with this confident and independent horse (these traits obviously seen in the horse standing here).
