Sunday, January 18, 2015 Training a zorse has all the up and down emotions you can imagine!! If you read my posts, you’ll know that last time I had placed a bungee neck tie on Zazu to help catch him. Well, the weather finally turned out nice and Doug let the horses out on Friday to play and they immediately proceeded to “free” Zazu of his neck tie. So, instead of getting to try out the new idea, Doug and I had to play chase and corner for about 20 minutes Saturday night when he put the horses up in their pens till we could catch Zazu and put the halter on. Then Doug tried to put the blanket on for practice. Zazu actually reared up, stood on his hind legs and was pawing out towards the blanket with both front legs. It was incredibly frightening. He was terrified of the blanket and Doug was scared to death, too. I jerked Zazu down and immediately put the lead through a ring on the semi and snugged him up to the side of it till he calmed down. Then I took the blanket and held it at his neck and head and slowly moved it down his neck. When he went crazy, Doug would tighten the lead so Zazu could not turn towards me and the blanket. This went on for quite a while until, Zazu let me put the blanket on. Then, when I tried it from the off side, we had to go all through the procedure again. When he “let” me put the blanket on both sides, we put the neck tie on him and called it a night. I was so down hearted and sad, I cried quite a bit last night. Wondering if I had made a horrible mistake. Praying that I was not ruining Zazu. Trying to understand his wild instinct that takes charge when confronted with ANYTHING new. And yet, finding his sweet loving side when I’m just sitting quietly with him. I was mentally and physically exhausted. So, fast forward to today, Sunday. I had no idea what to expect after last night’s big rodeo. I asked Doug to video me trying the neck tie idea for the first time. As you can see from the video, it worked slick. I was so happy, I almost cried from sheer relief. Some things I think are worth noting in the video. Zazu is getting used to having treats. I always put them in a plastic bag and make a lot of noise getting them out so Zazu will get used to the noise and fluttering. He likes to be brushed so I used that ploy to get close enough to snap the lead rope to the bungee. I know that the bungee will come off easily so I tried not to put too much force on the lead rope. Also, I stepped on the lead rope first so Zazu would not associate me with doing anything to catch him which usually sends him on a flight. I think that once he saw the lead rope attached to him that he thought he was caught already so there was no use fighting the haltering. Zazu is very good at leading and releasing pressure from a halter, so he did not test the bungee. If he had not stood still for the haltering and run away, I would have just kept approaching the lead rope the same way. Fortunately, it worked today. Don’t know about tonight when we put them up, but so far so good. I am hoping that with some calm haltering’s, Zazu will forget about all the chasing and stress. So, today I am back on track and hopeful. youtu.be/KtG_738aoJk
Posted on: Sun, 18 Jan 2015 20:36:15 +0000