This morning I went out to handle Ffionas feet!I went out at 8.30am. I just got back inside and its now 11am!I am exhausted! I think Ffiona is too!I worked her on the 22ft line, did some turn on the forehand, turn on the quarters etc and then I asked for her foot ...NO WAY are you coming near my feet!So I removed the lead, asked again and then sent her away ... (we have a round yard thank goodness) ... she stopped turned towards me and licked her lips ... I went over to her, ran my hands down her body and she took off ... so sent her away a bit more ... repeated this about 6 times then she stood and let me pick up her off side fore ... I picked it up a few times and then started patting the sole of her hoof with my hand ... she took off again!Sent her away a few more times and then she stood and I tapped, patted poked and did whatever I wanted to her foot ... put it down and did it all again about 30 times.The near side fore didn't take nearly as long ... what a good girl I was thinking!I then tried to just run my hands down her back legs ... no way!She was off again, and again, and again! She let me do it four times and then she was off again .... by which time she was getting quite hot so I put the lead rope back on and tried a different approach.I just kept her moving a little until she 'gave up' and let me touch her back legs. At first I couldn't even get past her shoulder!I had to keep taking 'breathers' as I was getting hungry and had a headache and didn't want to lose my temper (my breathing was getting a little shallow and she picked up on that!)So I did some meditation ... 'I have all day, I have all day' and eventually she calmed down, trusted me and I could run my hands all down her leg and played with her feather.(I think this must have taken a good hour!)Then the near side hind only took about 10mins! She is now hungrily eating breakfast and I am about to go and do the same.Tor
Well today Ffiona drew a line in the arena!She decided that there was on way she was having that hoof pick anywhere near her hoof ... NO WAY!I had worked her on the 22ft line for the first time today and that had gone beautifully ... I did some 'preparing for longlining' ... draping the rope over her quarters... letting her stand their for a while and then asking her to turn around.She got all that without any stress ... So ...I then thought I would do her feet. She has been really good with her feet. She will now hold up her front feet for as long as I like and has started to pick up her back feet but is not yet holding them up. So today I though I would actually pick them out (front feet) ... I didn't think this would be a big deal ... I was wrong!She completely freaked out! The feel of the hoofpick on her hoof sent her into hysterics .... so I was a bit stumped as to what to do ...I thought ... and I thought ... and then I figured I would just keep her moving until she decided to stand to let me even get near her again ...She reared and plunged and carried on for quite a while. She would stand ... come towards me and back away so I thought I would try the hoof again .... NO!!! She wouldn't even let me touch her shoulder! So sent her away again, and again and again eventually she calmed down and let me pick up the foot. I picked it up about 15 times and then stupidly tapped it with my finger ... and then I had to start again! Eventually I got to the foot again ... didn't tap this time as I was running out of light....Poor Ffiona worked herself into a bit of a sweat by the end of it!Tor
This week I worked on her feet handling a bit. She has improved out of site. She will now calmly pick up her front feet and hold them up. She will now stand calmly while I run my hands all over her back legs and will pick the foot up when I ask fot it but I havn't tried to hold it up yet.I continued to decensitise her to the rope. I have been touching her all over with it ... flinging it over her head... rubbing it on her ears ... letting it fall around her feet etc etc ... she is now quite calm about it all. At one point she even dropped her head so I didn't have so far to fling the rope!Notice the way she is now looking at me while I take her picture! This is a new thing!
