Friday, November 13, 2009

Domino 28

Again this record is a day late as I didn't have time yesterday to write this out. I had Lou and D work in the pen while I monitored them. I really want him to have a good grasp of the things that I have worked with D on so that when he goes home on Saturday he will be able to continue with a somme effectiveness. So I had him work on backup, moving the shoulders over and disengage the hindquarters. He is getting better at this with D and while I don't expect him to become flawless yet he is making some good progress and D is responding accordingly. Then I had him work on lunging. You know some people think it is easy to get a horse to go in a circle. But try it. It isn't as easy as it looks. What usually happens is the horse ends up lunging the person on the ground because the person on the ground doesn't understand the importance of body position, body language and where the horses motor is at. I have been taught and I teach that it is like riding a horse from the ground. The lead rope is the rein and to imagine you are in the saddle so your feet and shoulders are pointed in the correct direction. Well it took some time, as it always does, but Lou got it and is much quicker about getting into position and driving the horse forward. Once he got that then it was time to teach the one rein stop, disengagement and backup all in one from the ground. He finally got that once he understood to think of the rope as the rein. We are going to work more on these things today and have one last ride before Saturday's long one.
I had an interesting few moments this am when I went to feed the horses. It is friday the 13th remember. D's door on the stall was shut so I had to open it up, but while I did he shot into the stall and decided to go through the next open door into the hay area. No mind you, that door is barely wide enough for me to walk through without turning sideways and here is a 1200 pound horse squeezing through that door. He got his hips stuck and all I could do is stand there and see what happens. It was like squeezing toothpaste out of the tube, but he popped through, breaking my header board. Unfortunately, the door on the other end was also open and so through that he went don't ya know. Now he was free, no halter, naked as a jaybird to go anywhere he wanted. So I put my horsemanship head on and followed him out there and had to catch him just like I would in the pen and disengage his hindquarters. I grabbed the halter/lead and some grain and commenced to do just that. He skittered away from me a few times but in a few minutes I had the halter on him, tied to a tree while I put the other horses up so that I could bring him through their paddock. I got it all straightened out in about 10 minutes or so. But that is my Friday the 13th story so far. Now I just have to fix the barn a little.
You know I might add, I did some praying as I did this too. All I needed was for him to decide he wanted to go on a tour of the countryside. Anyway all is done. hope you have a good day. Stay tuned for later update about today's session.

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