being played

I think I am being played by Shyloh. Sure, the first week she was probably like WTF? But, she is a Haflinger, so she is incredibly intelligent. I think she knows I won't hurt her, but she plays the part. 

Who me? No. . .never. . .

Case in point. . .My new training splint boots came in the mail. When trying to put them on her legs, she kept picking her legs up. I thought it was because she thought we wanted to pick her feet. Leslie said, no, she was being disrespectful. She did it two times, then Leslie smacked her on the side. I was like whoa! It was loud! But Shy immediately kept her legs down. She was not distressed. And Leslie said it did not hurt her, it was just loud because she cupped her hand. And it turned out that the boots were too big. . .

I have to remember that horses communicate through physical contact. They express themselves through bites, kicks, grooming, pushing, and other forms. If Shy was in the wild and she did something disrespectful to a top horse, she would get a warning kick or bite. And that is all that Leslie did. 

In the relationship between me and Shy, I have to be top horse. This is something I really need to work on because I am not comfortable being physical with animals or people. I do not hit my dogs and I do not hit my husband. I also expressed to Leslie that I don't want to cross the line where I (or anybody else) goes from demanding respect from Shy to being abusive in her eyes. 

I know I have a lot to work on personally, and I feel that Shy is going to push every one of my buttons. Like I said, she is a Haflinger. . .We lunged today. Which, by the way, is a lot harder than it appears! I was dripping buckets of sweat and Shy was making me work! Lunging is supposed to have the opposite effect, Shy is supposed to be doing all the work! One way, she does a great job, the other way. . .not so much. My goal is to stop walking on eggshells around her and assert my authority.