02/10/2022
Ice Man’s Story Part 2
The owner continued working with Ice Man, building trust and creating a strong bond. He is an amazing ranch horse and loves to work cattle. She started using Ice in competition/barrels.
He developed the habit of blowing up (bucking) while running the pattern. He would do well until the 3rd barrel. He wouldn’t do it in practice, only competition. After brainstorming with the owner, we wondered if one issue could be a sudden view of the crowd in the bleachers on that turn. Like stage fright or loss of focus/distracted by crowd? (An example for us to relate to… Do you remember your first performance? Maybe it was a memorized piece at the Christmas service. You knew it cold! You could say it over and over at home, in the car, in the store… But, when you stood in front of the crowd, looked up and saw all of those people, your mind may have gone blank). We also discovered pain was likely an issue. And he had diagnosed ulcers.
In a cooperative approach with the owner, I used ongoing relaxation techniques for balancing, behavior modification, increasing the animal/human bond, and pain management. The owner worked with him, building trust, adjusting the pattern, listening to each other, providing ongoing veterinary care, etc.
Comments received from the owner after our sessions included that he seemed more willing to listen to cues and ran the pattern better; he handled competition well, he didn’t mess with her in any way, he was a good boy; he is training better and handling competition better;
Ice Man’s behavior issues improved/resolved. They are both enjoying competition now. They are in the money!
Ice is a regular client and truly enjoys this work! Ice especially benefits from a specific technique that releases congestion in his vertebrae/helps with pain. He settles into the relaxation response and absorbs the healing work so well.
Owner Testimonial
Ice Man was purchased with back issues and with that came bucking issues. He spooked at everything then would try and dumped me. Over a year of slow riding and trust building and Kris working with him, he is a different horse. He rides out unafraid and this winter I was even able to have him pull kids in a sled. His turn-around has been amazing!