easy rider

I got him figured out. The easier I am on him the more he likes it. Yes, Buddy is like the rest of us. He wants things to be soft and calm and if they are he will be too. I did a little bit of ground work with him. He opted for liberty work. I turned my back and walked away for a second, talking to Felice and when I turned around he was walking down the arena with saddle on, lead rope dragging in tow. So I just walked after him then he wanted to play catch me, not me, but him, so I talked him into catching me and took the lead off and then talked him in to doing things for me without a halter on. He disengaged, moved his shoulders over and stayed with me. However, we had some parlaying to do before we got to that point. It is amazing how fast he can decide it is alot easier for him if he stays next to me and follows my lead than it is to blow me off and walk away from me. For your information this technique works on kids too. Get them busy and they will stay out of trouble and if they want to play around don't try to stop them, just redirect their energy until they have a change of attitude. I digress. Back to Buddy. After a few minutes of this I put the bridle on and got on. We worked on getting him to move his hip and shoulder over with my rein and leg. I would ask for this then let him walk off and start again. He was getting real soft. I asked him to trot and he offered to canter for me. He has a nice canter. He is getting softer everyday. Anyway we had a good session of working on connecting the rein to his feet so that when I pick up a rein he moves the corresponding foot. It won't be long and he will be giving me leg yields and such. I also had him stopping with softness and backing up. Andrea, if you are reading this he is doing real good.

For anyone who is interested in attending a clinic. I am planning a one day clinic for January or February. We have 6-7 persons who said they would come, but we have room for a couple more. If you are interested let me in the comment section or email me @ jeffrey@i2k.com and I will get back to you.