I didn't do much with him today because we were both so out of the habit and out of shape, but I wanted to see how he was going now that he's had shoes on for a few weeks. Plus, I wanted to see how much he remembered!
He was very good for the most part. He's not as quick on some of the commands as I was hoping, but that will come back with a bit more time. Still, he listened incredibly well and followed me around the pen quite willingly, and we even did a bit of lateral work too!
The one problem we encountered was when I was taking him out of the pen back into the barn. The horses were being brought in for supper, and he wanted to run past me. He actually DID get past me the first time when I had my guard down and was opening the gate. After that though I brought him right back in and we went to work. He threw a temper-tantrum and reared up and SQUEALED while striking out. He was *so scary*. (rolls eyes) Anyway, after we worked his obnoxiousness out of his system, we then walked through the gate, stopped halfway through and then backed up all the way again. Then we walked almost all the way through it, backed up, and walked all the way through it stopping several times through. THEN we drove out of the gate and then drove back in again. A few more steps of lateral work and we walked out nice and calmly and went back to the barn.
Silly horsey. Still, everything else about the work was really good, so overall I'm happy.
And Alex- who knew all those techniques you taught in the clinic would actually work in the real world?! ;P
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8 comments:
Sounds like a great first day back to work. I'm glad you used what you learned to get him to settle down. Whether people believe it or not....I don't teach that stuff just to entertain people....it really does work. ;)
I gotta say:
"He threw a temper-tantrum and reared up and SQUEALED while striking out. He was *so scary*."
That IS scary!! Do you wear a helmet when you are out there??? Be careful!!
I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought your description sounded scary. It sounds like you felt in control of the situation despite him acting scary, so that's good!
Maybe Pepsi just wanted to spend more quality time working with you rather than join the other horses in the barn? ;)
Hahaha glad to hear that Alex is teaching "real world" skills in her clinic! ;) Oh dear Pepsi, so naughty!
Do be careful with the striking out! The bratty POA that Dare used to ride did that to me once and I clocked him with a feed bucket that I had in my hand. :P I would be maaaaaaaad!
Yeah, I tried to teach my 3 yr old (I know, stupid purchase) how to clip - and her response was to strike the clippers out of my hands. Bad response, mare. Sold.
Yes, I should say that if you had BEEN there and SEEN him, it really and truly WASN'T scary. But I can totally understand how it sounded scary in the post.
He KNOWS better than to do that. WAY better. And THAT'S why we had a 15-20 minute 'conversation' afterwards about the PROPER way to behave around humans.
Oh, and yes Gabby- I DO wear a helmet when I lunge him/work him in the round pen....just in case. ;)
Sounds like an eventful first day back to work! But I'm glad it went well once you worked out the kinks. :)
Good for you for getting things under control and using everything you learned to work Pepsi through things! Yay!
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