01/15/2023
The benefit of a break.
This little bay filly has been a handful truth be told. Historically she has been reactive, untrusting, aggressive if pushed too far, and just overall not pleasant to be around. Admittedly, I did not enjoy working her some days simply because I expected there to be an outburst or fight.
We put her through the paces in august (halter breaking, lunging, rope work, saddle breaking etc). She took twice as long to get with the program. Two steps forward one step back.
As we got busier on the cattle side of operations we decided to give the fillies a break. Let them mature more mentally and physically.
Fast forward to pulling them back into training this month and WOW was there a huge difference.
This filly was in your pocket, yes mam no mam, and so much more relaxed. You can see her thinking through the exercise rather than reacting.
Although not the best comparison, these two photos were roughly 6 months apart. Even in just a mundane snapshot you can see a difference in her demeanor and understanding.
This was a wake up call to me. There was a quote that has stuck with me lately “if something isn’t working, don’t do it harder”. I haven’t given such a long break with a younger horse I was working for multiple reasons; however, I do believe if this filly was not allowed to sit for 6 months we would have possibly snowballed into a continuous fight that was not constructive for anyone.
Getting excited to continue to work with this gal.
