Do any of you remember when Master had to put Genie back in the bottle?

“Oh NO, Master!  I don’t want to go back into the bottle!”

That was Remi.

Last week, I gave her a very special few days… and she really, really, REALLY didn’t want to go back to being a horse.  (You can read about her special days here.)

It was difficult to send her back, but I couldn’t have her in for coffee – which was clearly the next step the way things were going….

Remi wants to be girlfriends, I think, – oh and the fact that I have the key to the feed room doesn’t hurt.

HER SECOND DAY AT LIBERTY

So, I gave Remi her special day… she was able to roam anywhere – by herself – and she got to stay over night in the barn and do it all over again the next day.

She could not believe her good fortune!  Remi actually smiled several times.  Truly, it was heartwarming because Remi is a very stoic mare.

Unfortunately, when it was time, she absolutely refused to go back into her pasture with the rest of the Stang Gang.  There was nothing I could do to pull, drag, coerce, cajole, persuade or trick her into going back in with the other horses.

It was not going to happen.

Soooooooo, I became a totally bad owner/trainer and left her out again for a third night.

Yikes.  I had created the monster I was afraid I would create if I treated her special.  But, she deserves to be treated special.  The problem was me.

I think I don’t treat her extra special often enough so she is always afraid it will never happen again.

THE THIRD DAY

I had overnight to plan… so on the third day when she would not go into any of the many paddocks available to her… (I tried to trick her into them all), finally, for some reason, she went into the upper (haunted) pasture, probably because there was uneaten, tall grass in there.

As soon as I shut the gate behind her, she realized her mistake.

That girl ran the fence like a crazy person.  I gave her food and water – no dice.  She was livid with me.  I could see the whites of her eyes.

I calmly told her that I understood, but she was still a horse and I needed her to live outside and be a horse.

Oh, she was M-A-D.

I left her there for four hours.

At the end of the four hours, I had a little chat with her.  I told her that I promised I would let her out again for her own special time, but for now, she had to follow the rules.

Remi (pouting):  Promise?  Pinky Promise?

Me:  Yes.  I promise to treat you specially more often and give you more special girl days with me alone.

Remi:  OK, then, I’ll go into my paddock.

And that is what we did.  She wore her halter and calmly walked across the path and down the hill to the Stang Gang pasture – and went in without a hitch.

I think we both learned.