Lydia has most likely told you about Dash's irrational fear of plastic bags. Well guess what! She's not as afraid of them anymore!
A few days ago I started swinging the end of the lead rope at a plastic bag before I rode Dash. It was sort of an accident. I was taking her halter off the wall and the lead rope hit the plastic bags underneath. Which Dash is standing right on the other side of the wall; she can hear it, but she can't see it. So she just stands there on high alert snorting. So, of course I had to fix this predicament. When she could actually See the bag she freaked out the first time. It was kind of interesting to watch, but I wouldn't want to be on her. She settled down a bit and as a few days passed she got better and better until she would stand not a foot away from the bags. I was very happy.
Well, Monday it was really hot out and I'm thinking what is the least amount of work I can make my horse do and still have her learn something. So, I whipped out the plastic bag. Before I had only just dropped the rope onto the bags and once or twice picked it up with the end of a whip. Now I worked on flapping the bag all around her and having her step on it. She didn't have a problem stepping on it, but did lean back when I shook the bag. Woot! Woot! Of course since I had nothing better to do I wanted to see her reaction if I rubbed the bag over her. Her reaction was pathetic. She was like, "Oh there's a plastic bag! I'm gonna' die!" Then, "Oh, it's a bag." She licks her lips and cocks a hind foot. The nitwit. Because she obviously couldn't have figured that out two months ago. *Sigh*
So yes, she's okay with the plastic bag now! Whohoo! I will continue working on desensitizing her to it every day, but from here on out I think it'll be easy as pie.
Also, Lydia and I did canter the two duns last Friday, and I would have written a post about it, but I don't know what the heck I'm doing, so I'll just have Lydia do it when she gets back.
Aleythia Johnson
No comments:
Post a Comment