I have my A number one guy, my main horse jas, he was not taken from a pasture til he was three and then abused for 30 days, dragged behind a tractor, lashed in the face for spooking, beaten for being afraid. Then I have my stonewall, orphaned foal, taken into the livingroom to be bottle fed on the italian leather sofa before the fire and allowed to live with the humans like a dog til I got him at age 15 months. Today they are remarkably similar in many ways when it comes to obedience but on the ground one is distant and stoic and the other is a loving puppy. I kiss them both on the lips and if they are galloping directly toward me full blown I can just turn and walk away and not even worry about being run down.
being overimprinted has its own complications. Being never handled has its own complications. I know the difference. I kiss my horses on the lips but I also grouch and whack them on the shoulder if they act aggressive and disrespectful. Sometimes I cant help but laugh tho, they can be so funny, but then I have laughed at funerals. thats just me. I also have a horse that is so well trained he will move off the least leg pressure and rides in a sidepull like a dream, responding to every least subtle cue, but i cannot for the life of me comprehend how this horse got to be ten years old and dances like a nut when you try to fly spray him. Any horse that won't be fly sprayed at ten years is a horse that has gaps in ground training and some necessary handling was skipped.. jmo. Janice -- yipie tie yie yo
