Monday, July 28, 2008

Day Four - A new horse

There is a great post on GNL about knowing when your horse is paying attention to YOU. I decided to try it today with Canyon to see how he reacted.

The last time I was out, I didn't have any time to really work with him. He was a bit miffed and because I had the kids there I couldn't go through some of the hard core training moves. It was 98 degrees and all of us just wanted to ride and leave.

Today was different. I had all the time I needed to focus on training. And it was remarkable. I made sure he had his eyes on me at all times. I turned him, got him to set his head perfectly, worked on his leads, and was rewarded with the calm, compliant horse.

In other words, a different horse entirely.

Thanks to Rudy, who has helped me get past a few challenges including demonstrating the appropriate level of "energy", the John Lyons/Keith Hosman course, and the great things I've read here and there, I really feel like I may be on my way to making this relationship work.

My next post I'll be talking about shoeing and a hive update. I did get him in some horsey Nike Air's (or the horse equivalent) and I do think that has helped a bit in his general attitude. But more on that later...

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