Once upon a time the favored horse became replaced by the new guy.
Lucky Star, the “Horse of No” was a difficult horse for the human. He was dominate over the world, had little to no work ethic and didn’t react to pain stimulus. Horses that are reluctant to move won’t win many fans in the human and horse world. It takes a ton of horsemanship knowledge to work with these kind of horses. Lucky wasn’t the most difficult ever horse. There exist “horses of no” that lie down when their human rider requests movement. Thank goodness Lucky didn’t figure out that trick!
One day the raffle horse came into the human’s world. Cisco was eager, willing, friendly and strived to do more than asked. The human’s long years with Lucky made her very appreciative of a willing horse. Lucky Star became a pasture ornament. The fun of dealing with Cisco took the human’s insane desire for forward movement away from the “horse of no”.
At first Lucky Star was grateful to Cisco. Being a pasture ornament allowed Lucky a lot of time spent pretending to be a wild mustang running free with his herd of two mares and Cisco. Gradually, Lucky became a little bored in his 15 acre wild horse experience. One fall day when his grass was starting to die. Lucky decided to to expand his mustang roaming area. He jumped the fence, trying to get into the hay pasture. He made it, but in doing so, got a back foot caught in the fence. He tried to become a three-legged horse.
Lucky laid down for 12 hours at a time. He would not get up. The pain killer drugs produced colic. Colic kills horses. The vet started coming every day and giving a pain injection and avoided the colic causing medication. This allowed Lucky enough pain reduction that he started standing up at least part of the day. The colic went away. Along with the pain of recovery, his human spent a lot of time hanging out with him. Horse and human spent a lot of time together. Human worried and horse suffered. The treats he missed when the human started to spend all her time with Cisco resumed. Lucky Star will do almost anything for treats. Trying to cut off his foot was an accident. But the treats were wonderful.
There were some sticky recovery times when vet and human wondered if Lucky would live. This experience was the third time in his life when death was knocking on the door. Each time Lucky had a dedicated human taking care of him.
Lucky survived and his foot started the healing process. Again, Lucky became a pasture ornament while Cisco got all the treats, rubs and human time. A small resentment started building while his leg healed. Lucky wondered how he could get his human back again. How could he become the favored horse, not work and get all the treats?
Lucky made certain he was first in line with anything his human did. However, his argumentative brain would not give up his love for domination and his hatred of anything that resembled work on his part. He wanted his human back again, but just couldn’t change the “No” that lurked in his personality. The human tried last summer to get through the domineering Lucky Star. There was no fun in the trying and again, Cisco won through.
Lucky Star got older and less extravagant in his need to be the ruler of the free world. Three people came forward with the need and desire to have a horse named Lucky Star. The human owner was thrilled! Lucky Had to be ridden so that he would be ridable success. Hmmmm, thought the owner, Lucky Star might work out. Oh wait, the human owner had just the slightest bit of fun riding Lucky.
Then the unthinkable happened. Cisco came up lame and the healing process is not an overnight process. Lucky’s human started giving him treats and spending time riding and playing with him. The human took Lucky back into her heart.
Lucky Star did suffer through this process. The human employed “thunks” using a riding crop. The thunking was done on his shoulder, not the rear end which might buck. The thunking was done rhythmicaly every one, two and thunk. One day, he decided that arguing was not working. The “thunks” were very irritating.
Lucky decided to become a partner with his human. He decided it was easier to do what the human wanted, Immense rewards were experienced. Lucky Star got those beloved treats and he got rest time where he was rubbed and stoked. His mane and tail were combed and the itchy dandruff went away. Oh what a wonderful world enjoyed by a partnered groomed horse,
Lucky decided to fully participate in life with the human. Gradually, he got rid of almost all argumentative actions. On this past weekend during a two day clinic with Tony and Jennifer Vaught , he changed. Lucky Star got impulsion! He moved at the human requested speed, for as long as the human wanted! Miracle!
His new nickname is…..ROCKET MAN!
His human is having fun. Rocket Man is having fun and treats!
This romantic drama of the horse wanting his human in this story is called anthropomorphic. Horses do not think like this. Horses live in the moment. What really happened is the human used love, language and leadership. The human finally became physically effective. It took years!
Here are many articles to help all humans deal with the overwhelming number of horse and human problems. Go wild! Go Crazy! Read all these articles! learn Horsemanship!