I have decided to retire Teddy from dressage and trail riding, and concentrate on ground work with him. He just has too many issues that aren't improving and as soon as I think we are getting somewhere with something, for reasons unknown to me he reverts back to an old bad behaviour or he continues to resist in a behaviour I am trying to correct, which I find incredibly frustrating on both counts.
Lately I have had to contend with him deciding that as soon as he sees a halter or lead rope in my hand he runs away and it has taken me, at times, over an hour of constant too-ing and fro-ing to catch him. I try to do this in the way I first taught him, without a bribe etc and he was good to catch for a solid year but suddenly he wont accept this again. Even if I leave the halter and lead rope on the ground and walk away he will walk to me but he wont go within 50 metres of the halter and lead rope. He acts like its a snake in the grass. Once I have him he is fine but I am at a loss to understand why, in a blink, he can revert back to an unwanted behaviour. I ensure I am consistent and as patient as I can be, but I have my limits and I feel I have reached it now.
I have never been able to take him out trial riding and this is something I'd love to do. I have friends that invite me to trail ride with them and I have to say no as I cant trust Teddy on a trail. He still isn't up to it after all of our ground work lessons, dressage lessons, day to day ground and saddle work at home that I do with him once or twice a week, after all the daily contact where I reinforce behaviours, after getting floated to Bolinda once a week or so, being socialising etc. All of this and I still cant say we have progressed all that far. After two and a half years of working on Teddy's behavioural issues where I feel that I have achieved some great improvements it ends up being me going out to see him one day to find that someone has wiped his mind's whiteboard clean and I have to start all over again from scratch. This is not an exaggeration. I've made all the excuses for Teddy that I can.
Here is an example - Today I went out to the paddock with some licorice
for him and he initially stood as far back as he could from me and
craned his neck to take the licorice. He was stretching that much that
he just reached the licorice with his lips. He wouldn't let me touch him and he was acting like he was
ready to run off and I didn't have
anything with me, just licorice. Go figure!
All this is not a matter of riding or training ability on my part because even a very experienced rider would have trouble settling him on a trail ride and after all these years of dealing with all the horse people out there who think they are "experts" I can tell you I'm just as good, if not better, than most of them when it comes to dealing with a horse. When it comes to trail riding the best I can do is take him to the reserve across the road and ride him around when no-one else is there, but it is never relaxed enough to be enjoyable. I find myself gauging a ride by how well I got through Teddy's issues and a good ride is when I've dealt with fewer problems. I can honestly say that I've never had a problem free ride on Teddy and this isn't something I can "sell on". It would take a very special person for me to move Teddy on to.
So I'm at the stage now where I want to progress with my riding and the only thing that is holding me back on achieving this goal is dealing with Teddy's behaviour. It may be catching, hyperactivity, the constant head tossing, the stepping away from the mounting block, the unpredictable hunching in his back where I wonder if he is considering bucking (this is also fairly new). He has been thoroughly checked by vets and his health is good apart from the minor beginnings of arthritis in his front fetlock which is treated and he shows no signs of lameness and bolt around a paddock freely.
To put it simply - I just don't get it.
I will continue to work on these things with him but on the ground. Maybe, if we go along well, he can graduate to some free style work etc. but he is virtually retired now from riding until something incredible happens. I am confident enough in my riding to want to progress and to feel
happy and content in that progression. To do this I need a horse that
can travel with me and Teddy isn't that horse. This may be a failing on
my part but I really have tried. I've learned a lot from Teddy and from watching others whose horsemanship abilities I am confident in. I've come a long way since the day I got Teddy and I'm happy with that and for all the lessons I have learned along the way thanks to Teddy.
I will get another horse for riding (I've been looking for about 5 months now and I finally thing I have found the right horse) and Teddy can be a companion to that horse as long has there is harmony in the paddock for the most part.
I recently went through the Parelli level one sessions with Teddy, which I haven't done in months, and he is still very confident with that, so I will work more on going through that ground work program. I just may find that Teddy has another calling and skill set. Only time will tell.
Wish me luck.
