My husband, as many of you may have gathered from my posts thru the years, is retarded I think. But a good man. I guess. I posted about him having Tivar stand tied to the front porch and someone emailed about it so I thought I would share my husband's training program with you all in hopes any of you might have similar goals.
I was riding Tivar and decided I needed some half chaps cause the stirrup leathers were pinching my legs. I tied him to the front porch railing and ran inside for a minute. When I came out Tivar was dancing and pawing. My husband was watching him intently and talking to him like this, in a low soothing tone "its ok Teev, don't dance, its oooookayyyyy". I got on him and off we went. then I go out a few days later and find Tivar tied by a lead rope to the front porch rail while my husband sits in the swing reading the paper. I say why is Tivar tied to the porch. Donny says "The Teev needs to learn the porch is ok". Tivar is standing there sort of calm, but mildly perplexed. His ears flick back and forth between me, then donny, then back to me. I say well he's ok now. Donny said, see, it works. I say well thats nice. So then I go two days later outside and Tivar is tied to the porch and donny is sitting in the swing. I say, i thought Tivar was ok with porches now. Donny says "he is but we are hanging out". I say ooookay. Tivar is calm and relaxed but his expression is still a little like "who is this man and why am i here" So I go out two hours later and Tivar is gone and Nasi is tied to the porch and Donny is cleaning his saddle with a toothbrush. I say "now you are making nasi stand tied to the porch?!?" Nasi is looking at me all calm and mildly perplexed. I go back in. A half hour later I see a glimpse thru the window that he has put Nasi up and has brought Traveller out to tie him to the porch. I cant help it. I go out there. "Donny, I can see why you would need to desensitize a horse who has problems standing tied but i just dont understand the point of this..." and he says, this is classic: "You have your training program i have mine." i swear. I am not making it up. so if any of you have been wanting to learn how to tie a perfectly calm horse to a porch railing maybe I can talk donny into cutting a video and selling it commercially. Janice -- yipie tie yie yo
