Lizzie, you asked if Penny ever ran away with me. She did, a few times, but she wasn't a horse that ran out of control a lot like some of them do.
Remember, I trained her from scratch. She hadn't had much handling before I came along, though she was friendly and outgoing toward people.
The first time she ran away we were riding on a dirt road in the national forest. A lot of the national forest land is actually pastures, and they are leased out to local farmers who graze their cattle on the pastures in summer. In fact, there have been incidents of cattle rustling, and in the fall, riders round up the cattle in the various pastures and put them in a small holding pen, and then they are loaded into trailers to take them to their winter quarters or the butcher or wherever they go.
So we were sauntering down a dirt road bordered by pastures on either side, but on our left there was a dense clump of trees close to the fence and the road. We didn't see the cows behind the trees till we passed the trees, and there were cows, right by the road! Penny "said," "Eek!" and spun around and took off at a mad gallop. She had never been that close to a cow before. She ran toward home down the road. I used a soothing voice and said, "Whoa, whoa." She wasn't stopping or slowing, though. I wasn't too worried. I can ride at a gallop, and the footing on the road was pretty good. I just let her run, periodically trying to slow her, and soon she got her mind back and slowed down. By that time, we were far from any scary cows.
So of course, my project was to get her used to cows, since we'd be seeing a lot of them. She never really trusted them, but over time, she relaxed about them.
Another time, it was lamas. Yes, someone had a pasture full of lamas on their farm, and we were riding on another dirt road past the place. Penny was nervous about them, but they were way off at the other side of the pasture, so I made her walk past the place. But when we got about halfway by the pasture, the lamas all decided to run over to have a closer look at us. Penny freaked when she saw a large group of outer-space creatures all running toward her. Again, she spun and took off, and again, the footing wasn't unsafe, so I didn't worry, just tried to slow her down, which she did gradually.
One other time she got out of control. I was riding with someone else from the barn, who was rather inconsiderate. She wanted to gallop toward home, something I never did. We always had to walk heading home so Penny would't develop a habit of running home, which is easy to have a horse do, if you run toward home every time. In fact, if you always ask for a canter at the same places on a trail, the horse will soon anticipate it and take it upon itself to just canter without being asked. So the other horse and rider took off, and I tried to hold Penny back, but she got increasingly distraught about being left behind, and then I decided to just let her canter. She took off like the wind. I thought she had turned into a racehorse! There'd be no stopping or slowing her till we caught up to the other horse, so I didn't even try.
All those incidents were pretty early in her training, and she soon learned she could spook at what scared her without having to run for home. Still, she used to do some powerful spooks, teleporting about 5 feet sideways suddenly, and sometimes I didn't teleport with her. I fell off quite a bit in those early days.
I was really relieved when she finally learned to spook in place, just a sudden jolt, she'd stop and snort, but not go anywhere.
Penny was a twitchy horse, not very confident, and she was always that way, though she got better over time. I'm not so sure it was my training as much as her getting older and wiser and realizing she didn't have to waste a lot of energy on scary stuff. She was a bit lazy.
Remember, I trained her from scratch. She hadn't had much handling before I came along, though she was friendly and outgoing toward people.
The first time she ran away we were riding on a dirt road in the national forest. A lot of the national forest land is actually pastures, and they are leased out to local farmers who graze their cattle on the pastures in summer. In fact, there have been incidents of cattle rustling, and in the fall, riders round up the cattle in the various pastures and put them in a small holding pen, and then they are loaded into trailers to take them to their winter quarters or the butcher or wherever they go.
So we were sauntering down a dirt road bordered by pastures on either side, but on our left there was a dense clump of trees close to the fence and the road. We didn't see the cows behind the trees till we passed the trees, and there were cows, right by the road! Penny "said," "Eek!" and spun around and took off at a mad gallop. She had never been that close to a cow before. She ran toward home down the road. I used a soothing voice and said, "Whoa, whoa." She wasn't stopping or slowing, though. I wasn't too worried. I can ride at a gallop, and the footing on the road was pretty good. I just let her run, periodically trying to slow her, and soon she got her mind back and slowed down. By that time, we were far from any scary cows.
So of course, my project was to get her used to cows, since we'd be seeing a lot of them. She never really trusted them, but over time, she relaxed about them.
Another time, it was lamas. Yes, someone had a pasture full of lamas on their farm, and we were riding on another dirt road past the place. Penny was nervous about them, but they were way off at the other side of the pasture, so I made her walk past the place. But when we got about halfway by the pasture, the lamas all decided to run over to have a closer look at us. Penny freaked when she saw a large group of outer-space creatures all running toward her. Again, she spun and took off, and again, the footing wasn't unsafe, so I didn't worry, just tried to slow her down, which she did gradually.
One other time she got out of control. I was riding with someone else from the barn, who was rather inconsiderate. She wanted to gallop toward home, something I never did. We always had to walk heading home so Penny would't develop a habit of running home, which is easy to have a horse do, if you run toward home every time. In fact, if you always ask for a canter at the same places on a trail, the horse will soon anticipate it and take it upon itself to just canter without being asked. So the other horse and rider took off, and I tried to hold Penny back, but she got increasingly distraught about being left behind, and then I decided to just let her canter. She took off like the wind. I thought she had turned into a racehorse! There'd be no stopping or slowing her till we caught up to the other horse, so I didn't even try.
All those incidents were pretty early in her training, and she soon learned she could spook at what scared her without having to run for home. Still, she used to do some powerful spooks, teleporting about 5 feet sideways suddenly, and sometimes I didn't teleport with her. I fell off quite a bit in those early days.
I was really relieved when she finally learned to spook in place, just a sudden jolt, she'd stop and snort, but not go anywhere.
Penny was a twitchy horse, not very confident, and she was always that way, though she got better over time. I'm not so sure it was my training as much as her getting older and wiser and realizing she didn't have to waste a lot of energy on scary stuff. She was a bit lazy.
Chickens are a little violent...
