So I gave the baby horse a break and went home and settled myself. Then went back out to the farm at lunch time and stood at the gate. Goggles is well trained (he's trained us well?) and comes trotting or cantering up when someone stands at the gate around that time of day. I let him eat lunch, then put on gloves, his rope halter, and the 22' line, and went and stood in the shade in the ring. He walked circles for a solid 5 minutes, much longer than it took him to settle and connect in the past. Hrm. Then he did. Then we practiced the other blocks of moving his shoulders and haunches and having him stay in line with me, responding to my body language. Good boy.
Our next lunge session I started with more ground work. We then went back to the barn and popped on his bridle and surcingle and headed back to the ring. I honestly was not sure how the two types of training sessions were going to connect; the "gear" is different and the goal is different. The cowboy ground work is more mirroring and in line work whereas lunging is sending him out around me. But he was markedly better. More settled, more balanced, more in tune.
In other areas we seem to be figuring our shared goals out much more smoothly. We took a hack with Ms. GY on her guy and had a grand time. He (re)learned that he likes puddles and enjoyed splashing in them the whole ride. He led most of the way, including around some areas we had never been before. When we got back we trotted a few circles in the field and then I pointed him at a few of the log stacks he's jumped in hand. He popped right over the first, cantering softly away. The second I took for granted, and he elected the swerve around route. I chastised myself and pointed him back at it. He hopped it much bigger, but again cantered softly away. We did that one twice more to solidify it and then called it a day. Definitely a successful first few jumps!
We also made it back down to JT's for a lesson and she confirmed what I'd been feeling: he's come a really long way with his balance and steering. It was really, really nice to hear her positive feedback. He is my first restart project since early college, so I am living in perpetual fear of screwing him up while I'm muddling around unsupervised.
Last week was a trailer intensive week. The GY's went out of town so I took the liberty of housing my trailer in the arena for the week and putting Goggles on it multiple times each day. I wasn't going for closing the butt bar, I just wanted him calmly going on and then staying on until I asked him to back off.
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| Florida summer chic (aka my treat pouch got moldy and I haven't yet cleaned it) |
I went back to straight ole bribery, sans target. Just holding a carrot in one spot until he stepped forward to grab it. Repeat with another carrot two feet further in. The first time we made it all the way in he did realize he'd crossed his fear line and went backwards more quickly than I would have liked. The second time I took smaller steps coming in. And then he ate several carrots while all the way in before I asked him to back out.
When we went to JT's I did use ace for the trip down. He was much more peaceful while driving. I didn't repeat it for the return trip home, 4 hours later, but he was still SO much quieter back there. Hopefully the chemical aid helped his brain relax and have a positive experience that will continue forward.
So that's the baby horse update. I'm still just over the moon thrilled with (almost) everything he does. He's just sweet, sensible, and really wants to learn how to do the right thing. (He did break his stall door the other day, I wasn't over the moon with that, but he's a large baby horse and things happen. Although none of us know exactly what did happen, he didn't have a mark. Everyone was in under the fans, and he's not spooky so I don't think it was an accident. So hopefully he doesn't make this a pattern!)
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