Crazy Horse?

I’ve just looked at the title of my blog, Life with a Crazy Horse. There’s not been much crazy going on lately. When I started this blog, I was convinced that Fox had something wrong in his head. Since then, I think a couple of things have changed.

For one, my whole attitude has changed. I am no longer afraid of him. It took a while to admit to myself that I was. It was a pretty shit feeling. Now I am more assertive and no longer lose my temper. These things have made it so that when Fox does act up, then it doesn’t affect me in the same way it used too.

During this very prolonged rehab process, we have formed a much stronger bond. There has been a lot less of me going ‘You will do this’ and a lot more hanging out stuff. I really feel like Fox is no longer so aloof or distant. This may be just wishful thinking LOL but I’m pretty certain.

I have more knowledge. More knowledge of learning and associations and reinforcement. How bad experiences have shaped Fox’s behaviour and how to unlearn them. Some obviously will be easier than others to unlearn.

More knowledge of Fox’s history, I’ve not been told anything new, but have picked up on a few things. For example, Fox hates being wormed. As some of you who have read from the beginning may know, Fox was regularly sedated by a past owner. She would sedate him to do pretty much anything including riding. I’ve recently found out that the sedative is oral and looks a lot like a wormer tube. The association Fox now has of something that looks like that is ‘in a few minutes I’m going to feel like crap’.

I also have more knowledge of training. Not saying that I’m a trainer by any means, just that I now know a lot more techniques for dealing with problematic behaviour.

So I’ve learned a whole lot that has affected Fox’s and my relationship. Sure Fox still has ‘issues’ that will need to be dealt with, float loading, worming, vets and so much more but now I have a bigger ‘tool kit’ if you like that I can use to deal with these problems.