So with my plans changed with Cooper, I headed onto working with the other horses. Off i go to get Dicko, to do some ground work. I headed over to the paddock 22 foot lead, halter and stick in hand and - hey presto! Dicko decides that today just isn't his day, and he would prefer not to be caught - but thanks anyway. So i start my walking around behind him (essentially my goal is to chase him until he faces me, and each time he faces me and stops running i stop chasing him, until he waits for me to reach him and halter him), this is a great theory, but in a 12 acre paddock of hills and gullies, with 3 other horses that this that this chasing game is great fun, its not that easy.
But, it does work. I persisted in following them as they bolted and bucked and galloped and played, and watched them wait for me to reach them and take off again. I kept my eyes only on Dicko so the other horses would soon realize that he was the reason they were having to run around a 12 acre paddock in the sun (after the fun wore off of course!).
Eventually (in around 20 minutes), i had all 4 horses looking at me at the gate, and i managed to cut out dicko, once the 2 older horses (shadow and al - 27 & 18) realized that they could stop running they took the chance. Dicko took off again, but once he noticed that the others were not behind him, he turned to go back, and i stopped him. Now i was making progress, now I was controlling his movement, and thus his leader. He came to a stop, and in around 5 minutes i had him haltered.
Now, I know that horses are not supposed to reason, but I think they understand alot more than we give them credit for sometimes, so instead of working dicko like i was going to, i simply tied him up, took his rug off, spent a few minutes rubbing him, and let him go. All that running for nothing - thats what I hope he was thinking!
Onto my last port of call - the young horses in the yard. Squizzy was first up, and today’s goal was building to the trot. Having saddled her, and walked around the paddock and into the yards yesterday, today I wanted to build the trot.
She is such a sweet thing, and she headed straight to me once she realized i was in the yards. I saddled her up, put on the hackamore, and did a few ground circles. She can get a little shitty when she is asked to trot up and perform. Whenever she relaxes in the movement and looks kind and is forward moving, i disengage her and allow her to stand still. Once i had done this a few times, i jumped on her and walked her around the paddock just giving her direction with the hackamore rein, also pushing the turns with the belly of the rope, and using my legs as support.
I asked her to build to the trot - and she stopped. Hmm this isn't going to be as easy as it was with her bareback. I don't know if it is the interference from the saddle or what, but now I have introduced the saddle, she doesn't want to trot. I continued the squeeze with my legs, the clucking and voice commands, and a tap with my stick, and eventually she built to the trot. She wanted to trot more in one direction (towards the shed) than the other so at the start i used this to my advantage. By the end of the session, I did have her trotting in both directions. This was no dressage winning trot, but we got it with no dirt and no bucking, so I was happy. I left her there.
Onto Rocky. Rocky is a 2 year old, who is turning 3 in October, Phil did some ground work with him while his son was staying with us for the school holidays, saddled him, and led me around on his back, and then led Phillip (his son) on him. So, Rocky has had someone on his back, but not been actually controlled by the rider, nor trotted or cantered. Phil has asked me to finish him off as Rocky is quite small and needs a light person to finish the job.
Yesterday I did some ground work with Rocky, and jumped on him, and he was a little - um, tentative, about the whole thing. I will do a post about yesterday. So today, I saddled him, put the hackamore on, and did groundwork. I circled him, changed direction, did backup and draw, disengaged the hindquarters. He is a very smart little horse, and has decided for some reason that this is not his bag. Phil gets him to bow and lay down at the drop of a hat, but this real work stuff is not for him he reckons! I decided not to ride him today, as he is really sticky in his feet, he is not yet free moving particularly in the backup. I wont get on a horse until he is nice and light, so i will keep working with him until he supples.
So, today was a day of changes - and I learnt alot from having to change what i had planned.
April 13th 2010
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