Back to the Drawing Board

When I was a kid one my favorite cartoons was a scientist named Clyde Crashcup. And whenever he had to fix a failed plan he always said "Back to the drawing board!" So that's been my in my thoughts, back to the drawing board and review the problem and find a solution. Why did that silly horse bolt? And what to do about it?

Ted did some ground work to get Brass back to thinking correctly

I know why he didn't stop, because I'd been using one rein at a time to slow down. Bad human! I dulled the one rein stop. That became pretty obvious when Ted rode him yesterday and tuned that up. So okay I take the blame for that part of the incident but not all the blame.

The one rein stop was reinstalled

So what else happened? Well it's sort of hard to explain but I think he just had been walking and trotting along behind Linda's mare for awhile, and just zoned out. We know he is still green with 6 months of riding, we know he is ADD, we know he doesn't always remember his lessons, and we know endurance riders day dream and zone out so why not the horse. I think you know the scenario - you're going along through lala land and suddenly wake up with a start and ask yourself "How did I get here?" I think Brass did that and scared himself. He bolted, jumped the sagebrush, now I was off balance and trying to pull his head around, etc etc. It all snowballed into a mess.

Ted added some speed and did a few things to spook him up but brass was good

So that's my theory and I'll stick to it until a better one comes along. But Ted and I have cussed and discussed this whole thing. Not that it was any of his fault, oh no - I take the blame for the mistakes I made.

I worked on more desensitizing

Since Brass is so reactive to everything, I decided we needed more desensitizing. Just about the only thing he spooked at all day was trail ribbon. So I hung trail ribbon on his neck, his legs, his head and his back. I took Easyboots and put them around his pasterns and let them flop around and be annoying.

I just kept piling stuff on him and walking him around with it. I rattled it, moved it, tossed it anything I could think of. Put the tarp on him and under him. Put my trimming chaps over him. I tied things to his tail and let him drag them around so stuff behind him wouldn't spook him.

I made sure that he always moved with the packages because the standing horse is not the same as the moving horse. If you do any of this yourself do it in small increments and build on it slowly. And do everything from both left and right sides both. I'd have him move off and then return to me, and then I'd take the stuff off if he was calm and standing still. Maybe this will help the problem of the dirty dog leaving me. "Come to me if you want the nasty stuff off of you", I told him. So this was the lesson that came from looking at the drawing board one more time. and I somehow doubt it will be the last time.