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Sunday, November 14, 2010

Tacking up is so stressful

My husband taped this without telling me, actually he told me he wasn't taping. You can see me halfway through giving him a suspicious glance.

Look at how tense Coriander is, how cold backed and girthy. Obviously being saddled is a huge issue for him...


Sarcasm doesn't always translate very well in type. I thought this video was funny, it demonstrates very clearly Coriander's motto "I'm just here for the food." Seriously, I can do almost anything to this horse if he's got a pile of hay in front of his face. I'm just making the right thing really, stinking easy.
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7 comments:

  1. Golden the Pony GirlNovember 14, 2010 at 11:01 AM

    haha yeah it doesn't I was watching the video thinking he does not look upset at all he looks really content! Hah I love horses that are easy to please.

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  2. smazourekNovember 14, 2010 at 6:37 PM

    Sometimes I feel really bad about taking him away from his hay pile to ride since he enjoys it so much. But then I remember that the hay will still be there when he gets back and I get over it.

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  3. Grey Horse MattersNovember 16, 2010 at 4:10 PM

    He looked pretty relaxed to me. Dusty hates her saddle and I actually put her on cross ties instead of chasing her around her stall. The trick for her is right before I put the saddle on I give her a treat. Then she doesn't mind so much. It's sort of like going through the toll booth. Nobody gets to ride without payment. Hope you had a good ride.

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  4. MareNovember 16, 2010 at 8:30 PM

    New to your blog, but when I first read this post, I was really confused, and couldn't help but think he looked pretty content to me...and then I read below the video...oh...oops! Hope you had a good ride!

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  5. smazourekNovember 16, 2010 at 9:15 PM

    Hi GHM, my trick was giving a treat at each step: pad on-get a treat, saddle on-get a treat, girth up one hole-get a treat, and so on. I should get a video of Gwen sometime, she's as good as her brother. Considering how leery she was of everything involved less than a year ago I think that's saying something.

    Alexandra Kurland has a video you might find interesting: "Overcoming Fear and the Power of Cues" http://www.theclickercenter.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=74&category_id=7&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=53. It shows an Icelandic pony that had severe saddling issues.

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  6. smazourekNovember 16, 2010 at 9:16 PM

    Hi Mare, nice to meet you! We did have a good ride, thanks.

    I'll stay away from the typed sarcasm from now on ;)

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  7. MareNovember 17, 2010 at 6:04 AM

    LOL...typed sarcasm is hard to convey...but somehow I have a feeling it wasn't you, but me being dumb...

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