Frisky | Learning to Trust

I was getting very frustrated but very fit from running away from Frisky. I couldn't brush her without an attitude and foot-stomping or her trying to bite me. So it was just a brush on her whithers when she permitted...if she permitted. Her face tho. If looks could kill.

I could almost lead her but it wasn't the easiest thing. She was free to roam around the farm most of the time. Eventually, after a month or so she did start to want to be around me but mostly in the hopes of bullying me for salt. I swear if she knew the song Villian by KD/A she would be walking down the pavement to that song.

I remember one day she was on some sort of mission. She had her ears pinned at me, teeth snapping and trying to push me over which was a first. I reached my breaking point. I'm like I feed you and take care of you and you make it so damn hard! She was all up in my space. Which in some sense was better than her staying 4-6 feet away from me and trying to kick at me. Sigh. Like I said in the previous post. She was no longer afraid of me but now just directing me and being the leader. I was clueless that I was encouraging this behavior unintentionally. For example, I would back off/ move out of her way and yield to her by trying to avoid being bitten. I am not all for hitting a horse and but in this instance, she was being very disrespectful. Horses love to push boundaries, especially strong-headed dominant ones. I had an epiphany. What would another horse do? I have seen other horses correct each other. Like when the little colt would bug Freedom she would "pretend" kick out and squeal at him and he would back off. If that didn't work she would "nip" him.

I slapped her. Right on the nose (which made more noise than anything else) when she tried to bite me. She stopped dead in her tracks and just stared at me ears forward. Probably in shock. Did Cristina just slap me? Mighty me?! Did that just actually happen? No way.

She pinned her ears lowered her head and tried getting in my space more aggressively. I just started yelling at her and waving my hands and charged at her hoping she would not call my bluff. The look of confusion and disbelief on her face was precious. She turned and tucked her tail. I was careful not to move forward in case she decided to kick out in defense or defiance. I took my slippers off and started flinging them at her. She started to run away. What sorcery is this?! Did Cristina just take off her feet and throw them at me? She's gone mad! I then grabbed anything I could get my hands on and threw them (more like tossed it was all an act) at her. She took off. I stopped. She turned around. She stared at me. Ears forward. I think she and I were both processing what just happened. She pinned her ears and lowered her head and started walking to me. I read that ear pinning is very bad. I was unsure if she was going to try again but the way she was walking felt to me more submissive and calm even accepting. She stopped a bit away from me. Which I was fine with at that point. I think we were both unsure of each other from that point on. She started eating grass. I took a deep breath and went on to do something else. It took a lot of time to trust each other but we did start to bond slowly over time. She did still pin her ears and threaten but would more toss her head and pretend to bite but I would just wave my hands in her face. I would stand my ground and make her move away. Nope, remember where that got you last time? We hit our turning point. She had a halter on while wandering around. This is not a good practice btw but I was watching her. She somehow got her front hoof stuck in it. Nothing serious. She handled it really well. It was the funniest thing. She was like. Hmm. Well, this is awkward. I saw it happen. She saw me. And she hobbled over to me with her foot and face in the ground toward me. I got down and freed her. After that, I noticed she was watching me and following me around. I would be doing something she would not be far behind me. She would even come up to me and let me pet her. I also started to trust her not to bite me as she stopped trying to bite me. I eventually was able to touch her face, then her neck, and I could brush her and she loved it. The legs and bum were still off-limits. She would get very uptight and pop her bum up or squeak. I was also still unsure how to correct that because she wasn't aggressive about it but more afraid. During the dry season, it would get really hot in the afternoon everyone would go into siesta mode. My dad and I would play card games and sometimes I would just sit on the terrace. Frisky would come over every time and seem interested, she would just hang out and fall asleep facing us. I was resting one time and she got very close to me and then fell asleep on me after a long staredown of distrust. Are you going to slap me? Not unless you try to bite me! You can still see on my face me contemplating relaxing or being ready to lose my leg.