Monday, June 14, 2010

Joey Day 14

Well, the day went well. Kathryn and some friends came and watched all that Joey has learned over the last couple weeks. And as usual things didn't go as planned, which is actually a good thing iwth horses as far as I am concerned. Sure, it would have been great if everything would have went off without a hitch, but that rarely happens with horses expecially out on the trail. So I think this was a good thing because it gave me opportunities to show her what to do when the horse doesn't do what you want.
It all started when I started to saddle him. He didn't want to stand very well, so I moved him a little. He finally stood after a few tries and let me saddle him without being tied up. I moved him around like I normally do and went through the daily exercises. I flanked him out and had him get the rope under his tail. But I gotta say that it took a lot of pressure to get him to even think about bucking while flanking him out. And when the rope got caught under his tail, he learned to lift his tail instead of clamping it which is a huge thing. I had him move a liberty around the pen and then hook on to me and follow me around. Then it was time to get on him. Again he stood pretty good and we went through the exercises, backup, flexion, disengaging, one rein stop, etc. Then I got him to canter the best he has done yet. That was a blast.
The real test came in taking him out in the yard where all the grass is at. Judy thought he would want to eat, but no! He didn't. He didn't have time to eat. First off, he was a little antsy and then a biker went by and he lunged forward, which hyped him up a little more. Then he wouldn't stand to mount so I moved him around and had him change directions, leg yield, etc. He finally did stand, no problem and I got on. backed him, flexed him and then let him move out. The one thing that he doesn't do very well is to follow his nose, so I just began to turn that into leg yields. However, he really needs to follow his nose instead of thinking he go in whatever direction he wants when I want him to go another direction. So we have time to work on that. All in all, he did a good job and we had some good issues to work on. All of the issues just let me know the things that still need to be worked out.

1 comment:

kathryn said...

DEAR JEFF, IT WAS SO GOOD TO MEET YOU AND "PUT A FACE TO THE NAME" ! I CAN'T TELL YOU HOW MUCH I ENJOYED WATCHING YOU WORK WITH JOEY!! YOU CERTAINLY HAVE GOTTEN TO KNOW HIM AND CAN READ HIM SO WELL. YOU WILL NOW BE KNOWN AS THE HORSE WHISPERER!! HE HAS COME A LONG WAY IN A SHORT AMOUNT OF TIME . I'AM LOOKING FORWARD TO LEARNING FROM YOU SO I CAN CONTINUE HIS LESSONS.
THANKS SO MUCH FOR A GREAT DAY !!!!
KATHRYN