2010

2009

Displaying Posts in Category "Doctoring"

View all blog posts

FRIDAY, JULY 16, 2010

Doctoring: Natural Horsemanship Applied

Four years ago, I volunteered at a natural horsemanship-based ranch for the summer. It was an incredible experience, and what I got out of it was definitely worth forfeiting a paycheck for. One story from my summer there really stands out for me – about truly understanding and applying the concept of approach and retreat.

One fateful day, one of the horses decided to attempt to saw his leg off on a vinyl wire fence. It wasn’t pretty. He cut all the way through the skin and right down to the cannon bone. So we had a nasty wound that couldn’t be stitched up to doctor twice daily.

Oh right, I forgot to mention – up until a few months earlier, this beautiful gelding had been untouched. Since then, he’d been gelded but not handled too much. So we were doctoring a gaping wound on a partially wild horse!

Prior to his injury, we could catch him but it took some time. By the time I left the ranch to return to school, we couldn’t get him to leave us alone when we were out in his paddock.

We had obviously done something right. Instead of being more sceptical of people after having his wound scrubbed out several times a day, he wanted to be with us. And in my opinion, it’s all because of how we used approach and retreat to care for his leg.

This guy had never been hosed, but this wound needed hosing. We started by putting the water on and trying as best we could to keep it on his leg while he danced and pranced and worried (approach). As soon as he calmed down – voila! – the water came off his leg (retreat). Then we repeated. And repeated.

And repeated.

Same thing when we were scrubbing the proud flesh out of it; when he got worried or lifted his leg, we kept cleaning until he put it down (approach). When he relaxed, we’d give him a break (retreat), then start again.

Soon he just stood there for anything, and would actually wait at the gate to be doctored, eager to come and hang out with people. Oh, and giving him a bit of grain when he came out of his paddock may have helped, too!

Since then, I haven’t had any problems doctoring horses, no matter how bad the wound. By staying calm and continuing what you were doing while they throw a fit, then rewarding them for relaxing, they start trusting you and, even if it hurts, they’ll put up with more. By doing this, you can turn a potentially bad experience into a good one – and even into a training opportunity.

POSTED BY CELENA AT 1:04 PM      0 COMMENTS     POST A COMMENT
CATEGORIES: APPLYING NH, DOCTORING, NATURAL HORSEMANSHIP TECHNIQUES