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"She is trying to get into the barn to get to the feed"
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Dear Keith...
Monday, February 13, 2006
Do you ever give advise for desperate horse owners. I have hired 2 trainers so far and neither one of them has been able to help me with this particular problem.
I have a filly who I am training in Circus Dressage. She learns quickly and I have been quite pleased with her, but she has also learned to think. I am not sure you should ever teach a horse to think through problems!!!! She is now using all of that logical rationalization to figure out how to get into the barn and try to get into the feed. The first time she broke in she was able to get to the horse candy and sweet feed and I had to have her stomach pumped out at mid-night that night.
Since then I have locked up all the feed and the only thing she can get into is the hay. That seems to be good enough for her! About 2 weeks after her first successful break in, she managed to break in again. She could not slide the door open, like she had the first time, so she pushed it off it's track and out into the barn. It fell back in and trapped her in the barn until I could get the door back on the tracks and slide it open to let her out. I then tried new locks and tying the door to the side of the stall. If she can get a hold of the rope, she works until she unties the knots, so I try to tie them so she can't a hold of them. About a month ago, she once more got into the barn and I tried putting a bale of hay in front of the door to keep her from pushing it in. Two weeks ago I came home and her nose was bleeding from where she had tried to push the door open again, so I thought I had successes in locking her out, but this morning she had once more forced the door opened. Isn't there any way to teach her that this is not suppose to be a challenge to see if she can figure out how to unlock the stall door every time I get a new way to lock it? I have now shut her completely out of the barn, but hate to do that when it snows and gets cold. Any suggestions?
Pamela in Colorado |
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Reply
Uh… next time get a horse that ain’t so bright?
Hi, Pamela – thanks for the email.
I’m afraid you’re on your own with this one – but I’d still love to meet you at one of our clinics. (And you can tell us all how you solved this!) You can find a list of our upcoming clinics here on my site: http://horsemanship101.com/John-Lyons-Trainer-Clinics/Where-and-When.html.
Good luck and let me know how it goes.
Keith
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Reply
The little brat knew I was angry with her when I found the barn door open in the morning, and when I yelled at her, she ran off and kept running and she didn't get feed. The stalls are opened out into the pasture and I keep them open all the time, but I closed them for punishment. That night I just threw her hay on the ground. Come the next morning she meet me at the pasture gate and bowed and then gave me kisses, then shock her head and smiled, she went through her tricks like she was saying "Mommy I am sorry!" So I let her back in her stall, with a new lock, only time will tell how long it takes her to figure this lock out. I would bet that she is out in her stall right now working on the new puzzle! I need to work up a new routine called Houdini the Medicine Hat Paint!
There is something to be said about a "dumb" horse!
Pamela
Parker, CO
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Suggested Article: "Scared of My Horse"
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