Hello,
i just watched this weeks's video and as always found it very interesting.
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One question, i've always been told, and this video does it too, to start on the legs. I still have a pretty hard time bathing Dayka. I have tried starting with her legs and she does not tolerate it at all. She doesn't have a problem with water on her feet as she'll very willingly walk into rivers, ponds, puddles, etc, the hose is just not ok for her.
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When i want to bathe her I have to start at the withers. Usually i'll use a bottle rather than the hose (although it works with the hose too), pour with one hand and massage with the other so the water gets in. Then when her shoulder and neck are wet she will accept the water on her legs.
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My question is, where do you think this comes from ? Isn't it a bit strange that she'd accept water on her back rather than her legs ?
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Fyi, I haven't worked on it, i haven't tried schooling or anything, that's not my question in this topic, I am just curious to understand this as it seems strange to me.
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(and yes, i will definitely get to it properly :)
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About This Week’s Lesson
Standing still for bathing
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Hi Lucie,
What you describe is quite normal, a hose is a little bit like a snake, and some horses tend to protect their legs from what they THINK is a snake. The fact that Dayka accepts the hose on her whithers means that she doesn't have an ASSOCIATION with that action. Let's say her instinc doesn't kick in there. Now when training horses we very often have to work with their instinc first, only to turn it to what we ask, when there is trust between horse and handler. So go ahead with your beautiful training, asking for small incremental steps and Dayka will learn that there is no pain involved with the hose on her legs.
Keep the good work going!
Miriam
Hi Lucie
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I agree with Miriam - it's the snake thing :-) There are also horses that have been 'snaked' around the legs with lunge whips (not suggesting for one minute you have done this; just explaining this can happen wiht horses who have had other owners)so they are very careful to stay away from anything that touches their back legs. Thirdly, I have known horses who have clearly been walloped with a hose pipe; in this scenario, you would get the association problem that Miriam talks about.
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The best way is the way that works best for your horse using Monty's methods as a framework that we can adapt as our horses need. I'm still working on mine, he hates being bathed and as I don't show him I think What the hell, he doesn't need to be bathed. :-)
I haven't bathed Shilo EVER.
I did laugh to my self when our vet came to give vaccinations and remarked how good my horses looked with their shiny coats ... She asked if they had just been washed , No, I said, they have never been washed...EVER, I just groom them well.
I do however remove mud from the legs in the winter,but I wait for a couple of hours after they have come in to the stable and then brush it out, they have never had any problems with skin conditions and so on, and like Vikki, my horses are not show horses, ( they just look better than a lot of show horses even if I do say so myself)
Horses don't have shampoo in nature......:-)
Dionne
I thought about the snake analogy. Vicci, you're right, i never used a whip on her... but her breeder did so that might be a factor too.
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Would you say that she's having the same flight reaction to the bottle coming near her feet because she associates anything coming near her feet to those snake/whip memories ? She doesn't mind the farrier for example and she doesn't mind the hose when it goes to her withers.
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I certainly don't bathe her to keep her clean since the first thing she does once i let her go is roll in the dirt everytime ... but poor Dayka is allergic to bug bites so i have to have a rug on her all day and it rarely goes under 30° in the shade where i live so i need to cool her down when i take off the rug for the night
Now we have running water our guys are starting to get hose downs and apart from the old mare we care for, none of them liked running water on them so we're starting from scratch with all of them. Each horse has reacted differently, Sonny hates being wet when tied up and needs freedom to move, so we allowed him to be on the lead rope and go around in circles, once he stopped the pressure of the water went away.
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We have short snake like hose pipes around the field like snakes and they completely ignore them so it's not the actual hose, but the feel of the water itself.
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We started by making it rain on them and we do not use any jet type force at this time. I saw a photo from the previous owners of them holding a jet of water on her saying she's fine with showers, but the look on her face whilst she was boxed in this little corner tied up said everything. Putting your finger over the end of the hose and spraying it up into the air creates rain type effect of the horse, then incrementally let it go to a stream and direct to the withers for a few seconds then back to rain. Do that a few times then end the session, if it's hot they dry off quick and find some mud in the process :D .
Dakota has had 3 days of this and by day 2 the whole body could be sprayed and yesterday everywhere apart from the head was done on a loose lead and no stress.
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BamBam differently, we started at the feet with him and worked our way up, but that's what we found he felt more comfortable with.
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Barney the rain spray first and even after a few days of it he's not ready for it to be on the body yet. He was Mr Scared when we rescued him, so find his trust levels with new things are difficult. Every time it's not that do I trust you, but it's new and scary and I don't like new things. When we first got him he fought every new thing, now he'll stand with a worried look on his face :D.
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Sonny we had to itch the hose on his back first and it's taken 3 sessions for him to now stand still and let the water go all over him except his head. Yesterday we left him at liberty and started with rain over him then he let us jet him all over.
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Small incremental steps, there is no hurry to make them stand for a full hose down. Once they're fully happy with the hose spraying at them we'll add shampoo but not until they are 100% happy at liberty to stand and be hosed down.
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Lucie, have you thought about hosing her down before she goes out to get the sweat off her? We find with the mare we care for she's covered with sweat most of the time and the flies love her. But with hosing her down before she goes out gets rid of excess sweat and smell and the flies are leaving her alone more, so no need for fly rug. In the evening she gets a light spray hose down to get rid of day sweat and keep her cool for the evening till the flies go to bed.
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Remember training doesn't have to be a dead set way, what's important is it's done without pain, without stress so the bond between you and your horse can get even better.
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Mel
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Guess what.... New video on standing still washing your horse :D
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http://www.montyrobertsuniversity.com/training/2031189029
Bigger Guess what..... it's been a busy week and I've just realised it's about this weeks lesson lol... Time for a break :D.
Have a good weekend everyone!
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Believe me i'm soooo against using rugs. i think they cause more problems than they solve but she really needs it. She gets blisters from being bitten by flies/mosquitoes and before i used the rug she would just stay in one place all day to avoid them, so much so that her hind legs actually started swelling from the lack of movement. And she's turned out 24/7...
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With the rug, she has normal activity during the day and no blisters. I've had to remove the rug this week (35° all day, everyday...) and they're coming back already.
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You are right about the sweat, i've noticed that too, that's why i try to hose her down in the evening after i take off the rug & after she's worked so that she doesn't have the excess sweat from the day.
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I've had a lot of work this week, haven't really had much time to do anything really. i'll get back to it :)
Thanks for explaining all your different horses, it's interesting to see how each has their preferences
Did a quick google search to check how you guy say this, it's not "blisters" but hard bumps from insects bites :D (still learning new terms here!!^^)