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[RC] Spot's Halo - agilbxrI think Spot had his halo on this afternoon. I am still secretely convinced that his horns were holding it up, but at least he had it out of his back pocket and dusted off!
We started up with the tie to the cross ties and no, you are NOT allowed to eat grass in the barnyard. I tacked him up and took him for about a 1/2 mile walk, out the back of the property and out of eye/earshot of the barn and his buddies. Once we got out there, I took his bit off, and I let him eat. He had one yelling fit on the way out, and I just started making him work on the ground, he got over it, and discovered the grass. (this is a huge advantage to having your horse on a sand lot with no grass...you can use grazing as a reward). We stayed out there for 20 minutes or so, then walked back in, me still on the ground and back to the barn.
Then, we lunged for a few minutes, working on transitions, and then I got on in the round pen (via the mounting block...no tight girths), and worked on simple walking and paying attention and learning our "Ed's One Rein Stop". I added walking to that tonight. He got the flexing thing pretty quick from a standstill, so I asked tonight for him to do it at a walk. The first time I asked, we circled about 10 times, then he flexed for me-still circling-and I released. When he got flexing while walking down, I then waited for him to stop moving his feet. That took one time, and now he's stopping from a walk with only about 1/2 circle. Yay! Smart boy. Of course, that's 3/4 of his problem is that he is TOO smart, and on his good days, out thinks me. Sigh... I hate having to work to out think my horse.
Anyway, Spots halo was out tonight. We didn't have any temper tantrums, nor did we do the "I don't want to, and to prove it, I will throw myself backwards at a very high rate of speed with no regard for what might be behind me" . That was an improvement in itself...that's hard to stop!! Well, there is hope for Spot yet I think. My dogs aren't thrilled about it though, I've been threatening Spot with dog food being expensive and Alpo would be thrilled to have a big fat spotted horse!
Juli and the Crew
Spot (i'm a good boy....I got applesauce in my dinner tonight)
Alpine (i'm always a good boy...sometimes)
and the Dogs (what? plain kibble again? we were looking forward to fresh meat tonight!!)
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