How to cure a diva!

This summer was such a bad one, and my time has been so busy, that I haven't worked the horses in over 4 months.  Yes, I know ... shame on me.

Two weeks ago, I had the farrier out.  Well it turned out that Miss Pam has become quite a Diva!  My horse who stood awesome for the farrier had been replaced by a raunchy, impatient mare who didn't want to stand at all, but only wanted to go back to the other horses.  She resisted quite a bit.  It was one of those moments where you find yourself telling the farrier "she's normally really good", which you know he must hear from everyone.

That cemented in my mind that Pam needed to be cured of her new Diva ways.  I figured I knew the best way to cure that.  WORK!!!  It's amazing how a horses temperament changes when they have a job.  So here's how it worked out.

First, I just got her out of the pasture and tied her up.  I left her tied for 45 minutes.  She spend the first 15 minutes pawing the ground and trying to turn herself all around to get free.  The last 30 minutes she settled in, and just waited on me.

Pam the Diva ... standing tied.

Next,  I took my time harnessing her.  She was pretty good with this.  No real issues at all.  Once the blinders were on, she started turning her body a bit, but nothing too big.

Rachael, being the amazing hitch horse she is.

Next came the work.  I ground drove the girls together at first, and the first few starts and stops were a tad rough on Pam's part.  Rachael was a dream and acted like the pro she is.  After the girls were stopping and starting well on command it was time for the sled.  I should note,  Pam was still not staying stopped very well.  She would start to pace and paw to keep moving, however, she would stop on command.  This was OK with me, because HARD WORK cures that impatient crap.  :)


Up next came the heavy work sled.  I got a new work sled this past spring.  It's got metal runners, and it's pretty heavy.  I hitched the girls up to it for the first time and away we went.  I made them walk for a good 10 minutes, then we stopped for a rest.  I watched Pam, and as soon as she started to Pace, off we went, for another 20 minutes.  On the next break, she stood for a few minutes, then paced once, so off we went again.  Another 15 minutes later, we stopped, and she stood perfectly.  Success!!!  I did this a few more times, till they were standing with no intention of moving.  This is the team that I know and love.  Even stood well enough for me to walk away from the sled and snap a picture.  :)

What a good team!  Enjoying a nice break after pulling the heavy metal training sled.

Working a horse hard enough to realize that a break is a good thing is a wonderful cure to the pacing/impatient horse.  Once they realize that a break is something to fully take advantage of, it really sets them up well.  The important thing to note in draft horses, is that it takes a lot of effort to work them hard enough to need a break.  Even on that heavy sled, it was only after an hour of pulling it that they finally started sweating.  Work work work!  It brings out the best in these animals.

The result ... I got my sweet Pam back.  For the rest of the day, she was the horse I used all spring and last christmas.  It was great.

So ... how do you cure a Diva?  Make her work ... and work HARD!  :)