Tuesday, May 14, 2013

River is a Very Bad Horse.

I'm too annoyed with him and stressed to do a whole big long story.  Short version:

Last night, I asked the BO if she could bring River in because I was going bowling.  Halfway through the second game, BO called to let me know he was loose and running up and down the road.  I bowled another frame and left because I was too stressed to have fun.  As I was leaving, she called to say he'd been caught.

Turns out, he reared a few times and snapped the breakaway on his halter, which then fell off.  He panicked and just went nuts.  He was in the road, nearly ran into a car...  finally caught him and just stuck him in the indoor, which is where he was when I got there.

I don't know what is up with him.  He's been SO GOOD for me for the past month or so.  He's had squirrelly moments, but nothing major, just "hey, stop being an idiot, it's fine".  He just plain does NOT like some people.. BO knows that he hates her, but there's absolutely NO reason for it.  She's never done anything to him... heck, she's the one who feeds him 95% of the time!  And frankly, even if he doesn't like people doesn't give him an excuse to be a complete and total asshole.  To make it worse, when he gets scared, he just plain loses his mind, so that's really not good.

So now I'm bringing him in every night.  (Which I was before anyway, but if I couldn't do it, someone else could bring him in.  Now, if I can't do it, he's staying out.)  And he and The Mare switched turnouts with another pair.  So they're closest to the barn, hopefully that will make him easier to deal with.  Next step is separating him from The Mare.  We're also going to leave him out some nights.  He doesn't do well with a set routine.  He starts anticipating and acting up.  Maybe if he doesn't know when he's coming in and when he's staying out, it'll set him off kilter enough that he stops being a total jerk.

And I'm going to call the trainer I got him from, maybe there's something that happened to him..  sigh.  Stupid horse.

4 comments:

  1. Sounds like a be nice halter time, sucks!

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    1. I told her if he does it again, she should catch him with high speed lead.

      Looking at the Be Nice halter.. I don't know, he hated the rope halter. I'll have to ask if they used a chain and how. I've been doing the chain over his nose and under his jaw back to the near cheek ring, and that works well for him.

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