Well, my next interesting experience with Bochica occurred about two weeks after the spooking incident. I was riding out in a pasture behind the barn, focusing on a spot in the distance. I had been reading some training books and one of the things that was suggested was to focus with your mind on a spot where you wanted your horse to go. Suddenly Bochica began dancing to the side a little. I looked down, and -- Yikes -- there was a snake right beside us, moving parallel to us. Well, in about a 30 second period I remember thinking the following:
"That snake is the length of a yardstick, he's going to dump me on it, I'd better jump off."
So, can you believe it (I hardly can), I put my hand on the pommel and vaulted from the saddle, landing on my knees with the reins still in my hand. Poor Bochica! I was crawling on my knees toward him, all the time wondering where the snake was--Bochica was backing up, scared to death! Finally, he jerked the reins out of my hands and ran back to the fence by his paddock, where he proceeded to graze. As for me, I was looking around thinking, "Where's the snake?" I'm sure it was long gone by now and wondering what that crazy human was doing. I then realized the foolishness of my action--I should have just slowly guided Bochica away from the snake. I walked back to the paddock and mounted Bochica - back to the arena again. (The arena was my confidence building area.)
The next day we went back out to the pasture and the entire time I was saying out loud to myself, "If we see a snake, we will turn around." During my time in that horse community I ran across several more snakes while riding, but did manage to stay cool.
Next I'll tell you about how I trained Bochica to like the clippers. Stay tuned!
"That snake is the length of a yardstick, he's going to dump me on it, I'd better jump off."
So, can you believe it (I hardly can), I put my hand on the pommel and vaulted from the saddle, landing on my knees with the reins still in my hand. Poor Bochica! I was crawling on my knees toward him, all the time wondering where the snake was--Bochica was backing up, scared to death! Finally, he jerked the reins out of my hands and ran back to the fence by his paddock, where he proceeded to graze. As for me, I was looking around thinking, "Where's the snake?" I'm sure it was long gone by now and wondering what that crazy human was doing. I then realized the foolishness of my action--I should have just slowly guided Bochica away from the snake. I walked back to the paddock and mounted Bochica - back to the arena again. (The arena was my confidence building area.)
The next day we went back out to the pasture and the entire time I was saying out loud to myself, "If we see a snake, we will turn around." During my time in that horse community I ran across several more snakes while riding, but did manage to stay cool.
Next I'll tell you about how I trained Bochica to like the clippers. Stay tuned!
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