I am having problems with stroppy young males at the moment: one of them human one of them equine.
Yesterday I sacked Beigna, my barman, in a fit of rage. He had been annoying me for quite some time. For instance, if I said something like: 'Beigna, please do empty the ashtrays. Why do I have to keep asking you? It is your job!', he actually answered back: ' I don't like it when you talk to me like that!' I mean, really!
On the other hand, I am genuinely sad to let him go, because he was with us from the beginning and he had many good qualities too. He was scrupulously honest with the bar money, he was good at doing barman chatting, i.e. he would entertain our house regulars with ' have you heard the one about ...' etc.
But I spent all my days being angry with him, and that is no good.
As far as Xaloc goes, it is a bit the same sort of problem: he is young and tries to get the upper hand. Yesterday we went for another walk and I nearly lost him- he is quite strong. So now I am looking for a trainer to help me. The problem is the local people are extremely harsh with their horses. Is it necessary?
I have an English book called 100 ways to improve your horses schooling.
It tells me to talk to the horse a lot, amongst other things. So at the moment I am talking to Xaloc, but I have a really strong impression that he is looking at me with utter contempt, thinking: 'what is that stupid toubab woman talking about! What a load of namby-pamby crap! As if I care, I am a Farafin horse!'
Oh, dear. And poor Dolly is not at all happy either with the new addition, and kicks him whenever possible. Next week we are going to give them separate stables, and I will take the rope off their feet (an African custom) because their pens will be enclosed.
Does anyone out there know if one should hit a stroppy horse, or just keep talking???