Gunny and the Bridle
In November, I had started to add tack to our trail walks. One day I decided to tack Gunny up by the horse trailer instead of in the barn. We had recently moved a mare out of Gunny's pasture and this was the first time that I had brought Gunny around to this view of the pasture. But I didn't realize this at the time.
So I brought Gunny around and when I went to bridle him, I had "non-cooperation" big time. I managed to get him bridled and took him on his walk. But I wanted to come up with a better way to deal with this newly discovered and newly developed issue. Bridling had never been difficult with him before. So I spent some time thinking about what was going on and how I was going to handle it the next day. During my journaling I decided that my priority needed to be calm + cooperation. I also decided that I was pretty sure that Gunny understands the bridling process, so this was not a problem of him not understanding what I was doing. I realized that Gunny hadn't had a chance to view the pasture from this perspective to see that "his mare" wasn't visible from this angle either. The following paragraphs are from my journal entry after going out applying my plan...
"One of the ideas that I had was that if Gunny didn't open his mouth for the bit, I would just put the bridle on with his mouth closed and he could wear it that way. Sure enough, I went to put the bit in and he had his mouth clamped shut. I tried to keep the bridle in position as much as possible as I lengthened it enough to put on with his mouth closed. The bit fit on his upper lip perfectly. I put it on and proceeded as if this was just fine with me. I petted him leisurely as he looked at me. His expression was kind of comical like he wondered what the heck I was doing. I took my time picking up his halter and hanging it up.
"By this time he was looking into the pasture to see if his mare had returned. I used the rein to gently bring his head back to me and petted him again. I decided to try bridling him again. Lo and behold, Gunny took the bit in his mouth right away. The proof of how well this worked will be in the next time I go to bridle him. This was a good example of him finding out the consequences of his actions but the consequence, from his point of view, needs to clearly be something he caused and not something I did to him."
As a side note, this proved to be the only time I needed to do this. Gunny has taken the bit like a pro each time I have bridled him since.
In the next several posts I plan to explain the thought process that I went through to come up with this plan, why it worked so well, and how it was different than my typical way of journaling. By explaining these things, my hope is that I can make it easier for someone else to apply this way of thinking and define a unique plan that will work for them and their horse.
So I brought Gunny around and when I went to bridle him, I had "non-cooperation" big time. I managed to get him bridled and took him on his walk. But I wanted to come up with a better way to deal with this newly discovered and newly developed issue. Bridling had never been difficult with him before. So I spent some time thinking about what was going on and how I was going to handle it the next day. During my journaling I decided that my priority needed to be calm + cooperation. I also decided that I was pretty sure that Gunny understands the bridling process, so this was not a problem of him not understanding what I was doing. I realized that Gunny hadn't had a chance to view the pasture from this perspective to see that "his mare" wasn't visible from this angle either. The following paragraphs are from my journal entry after going out applying my plan...
"One of the ideas that I had was that if Gunny didn't open his mouth for the bit, I would just put the bridle on with his mouth closed and he could wear it that way. Sure enough, I went to put the bit in and he had his mouth clamped shut. I tried to keep the bridle in position as much as possible as I lengthened it enough to put on with his mouth closed. The bit fit on his upper lip perfectly. I put it on and proceeded as if this was just fine with me. I petted him leisurely as he looked at me. His expression was kind of comical like he wondered what the heck I was doing. I took my time picking up his halter and hanging it up.
"By this time he was looking into the pasture to see if his mare had returned. I used the rein to gently bring his head back to me and petted him again. I decided to try bridling him again. Lo and behold, Gunny took the bit in his mouth right away. The proof of how well this worked will be in the next time I go to bridle him. This was a good example of him finding out the consequences of his actions but the consequence, from his point of view, needs to clearly be something he caused and not something I did to him."
As a side note, this proved to be the only time I needed to do this. Gunny has taken the bit like a pro each time I have bridled him since.
In the next several posts I plan to explain the thought process that I went through to come up with this plan, why it worked so well, and how it was different than my typical way of journaling. By explaining these things, my hope is that I can make it easier for someone else to apply this way of thinking and define a unique plan that will work for them and their horse.
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