Our farrier/horse training coach dropped by this morning for my first session... Wow did I ever learn a lot! So different training young horses than working with already broken and mannered mature horses. Had to unlearn many of the old habits from my lesson days as a kid... Hope Wendy can teach an old dog new tricks as you really want a 700+ pound animal to have good manners. Lesson one - personal bubbles. How to maintain my bubble, how to back off the horse when they crowd, how to keep their attention and focus on my bubble; remaining loose myself and relaxed when things are going well, and how to give quick (preemptive) directives when appropriate. ie. Pat your head, rub your tummy, jump on one leg, sip a cup of tea and throw out a jump front snap kick as required in the right order, consistently! :S Yeesh. As we used to say in kung fu... practice, practice, practice. Apparently Red, the sweet thing that she is, is really attached to me. So much so that shes quite comfortable getting up and personal in my space, without me even realizing it. On the one hand it means Im her mommy and she has no trouble with me in her space and vice versa. On the down side, when she decides to bounce around, thats a lot of weight bouncing!! Picture a large dog (what? where? around here?)... as Wendy put it she races up to me and rushes right in close all excited when I come in with her just like a big lap dog whos ready to jump right into your pocket. cept my pockets arent that big! On the up side, it means shes happy, and confident and trusting me.... now for some mutual respect. Jaz on the other hand likes her personal space. She lets me in now, but doesnt like Red (or anyone else) in her bubble. She turned out to be the easier one to correct and to pick up on the signals. So the thought just occurred to me... Ive been here before... two young immature creatures, with diametrically opposed personalities , like night and day... what does that remind me of?? Oh yeah... a pair of twins back when they were about 2 years old. Oh my... Ive taken on twins again... what was I thinking!?? Glutton for punishment I suppose! Bring it on! :) Im enjoying this already... what a couple of amazing creatures... Jaz and Red... or Sarah and Robbie... take your pick!
Posted on: Sat, 26 Oct 2013 03:30:58 +0000
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