Started off the day putting hoof moisturizer on and not getting kicked at! A win! I know, that used to be a thing.. weird eh?
I then brought back the tarp and worked with backing over it, wearing it, and dragging it beside him as we walked. He kicked at it the first time I asked him to back over it which made me giggle. Predictable Oak. He was NOT a fan of it dragging along side him as we walked though he managed his fear well. Gave it the ole side eye. He also figured out pretty quickly that if he stepped on it, it would stop making the terrifying whoooshing noise. So we did that for a while.
Moved on to what I thought would be an easier lesson: trotting in hand. I tired everything I could think of to get him to trot including running in front and pulling and running beside him while using a whip to tap his bottom... well those are the only two things I could think of... He balked at both. Acted like I was simply crazy.... Oh well. Recruited the husband to encourage with a whip behind and that only made him pay attention to the man with the whip... of course. Obviously we skipped a step somewhere and we need to backtrack. Or it could be like the hoof polish and that he gets magically better about it one day. Let's hope for that.
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| So mysterious and broody |
Why do we need to trot in hand you ask? Well besides lameness exams I was thinking about how it would be fun to take him to a local show and try a halter or in hand class. I have never done anything like that before (obviously) but I thought it would be a fun short term goal to work towards. Evidently we have a lot to learn before we are ready. I missed that part of equine 101. Youtube here I come!
Oak Training Log May 10
Location: Arena
Duration: 60 mins
Activities: Confidence with tarp. Backing over it, wearing it and walking with it dragging beside him. Trotting in hand.
Observations: He was pretty reactive to the tarp dragging beside him and trying to get him to trot in hand was a whole lotta nope.
I had to laugh- it was difficult to teach STeele to trot in hand- he kept looking at me like 'why? what is the point of this?' I went back to the lunging and since he responded to the voice command I added that in and after a bit he got it.
ReplyDeleteIt is a good ground exercise- I use it with Carmen to see how tuned in to me she is- we walk, trot, halt, walk, back up. It's really cool when we can do it at liberty.
Good point! I think I need to be more consistent with a vocal cue when lunging... that may help :) I think it just shows we need to keep working on the basics... we are a while away from liberty work ;)
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