The Wedgie

Currently in for training at the farm, is a group of Paso Finos who’ve adoringly been nicknamed ‘The Three Stooges’. A feisty little group of guys with their ultra long manes and quick little gaits, you can be sure that as soon as you step foot in the pasture they’ll be taking an interest in you.

One in particular leaves no doubt that he’s the one leading in the shenanigans and will test out whoever’s in close proximity, horse or human. Another of the fellas would much rather stay as far away as possible, and it was this little guy that Dave Seay was going to work on helping on this day.

The goal was to get this horse to want to come to his owner and actually prefer to be by her side rather than off with his cohorts. Not something that can be marked off as complete in a single day, this would be the first step of the learning process.

In the pasture we had the 3 Stooges, Dave, Dave’s apprentice Will, the horses’ owner, and myself. Dave, Will, and I were all on horseback, and the horse’s owner on foot with a halter in hand. The job that Will and I were given was to keep the 2 horses not being worked in their own corner while keeping the trainee for the day away from them. Did I mention they were feisty little guys? They really just wanted to play with our horses, and didn’t give us much time to sit and enjoy the scenery.

Dave began by moving the singled out horse’s feet and stopping immediately as soon as he took interest in his owner. This started as a very small gesture, barely seen unless you were really looking for it, but more obvious with every attempt until the idea of being closer to his owner became comfortable. His owner was eventually able to slip a halter on him without any resistance whatsoever, it was after all beginning to be the horses’ idea to be there with her.

As this was all progressing well and good, Will and I were still tending to the remaining 2 Stooges. Upon one of my less than graceful attempts to move them back to their corner with the swing of my mecate, I suddenly felt my horse go “Ump”, and I knew right away what had happened, a nice big horsehair wedgie! Lucky for me Dave has eyes in the back of his head, and he too knew exactly what had happened. As my horse started to buckle I hear Dave shout, “It’s not going to come out until he relaxes”. Well geez I thought, how the heck am I going to get him to relax with a scratchy horsehair rope stuck in his butt cheeks? But of course there was a sound answer, “keep calm, keep your hands slow, and keep him moving forward”. After a few forward moving disengagements, I felt the breath release, and then the rope…whew, saved again!

My horse has been so patient with me as I’m learning to get handier with ropes and whatnot, he stands for all the abuse I’ve dealt to his ears and legs, even resists the urge to run after whatever we’re moving, but this understandably was a bit intolerable. He is my hero! And Dave’s not too bad either.