Jan 30
Day one for Shiloh to be introduced to lunging. Unlike Sam, he had no problem going forward. In fact he was a bit explosive going forward at first. For some reason, Shiloh is over reactive to any kind of touching or movement towards his hind end. He is the one that is hard to touch his back legs and I finally had to use a soft cotton rope around his legs to pick them up and not be leaned on or flinched away from. Eventually I did get him to let me hold his hind legs up, but only for a moment or two. I will keep working on this.
Likewise, he was overly reactive to the touch of the whip on his hip. Shiloh( and Bleu, for that matter) had never had the mannering halter (I found out that is the official name for the ring) on, so he was surprised when he couldn’t just take off away from me and I could still hold him. He did settle into the lunge program pretty fast, however, and I was able to get him out on a 20 meter circle almost at once. These Icelandics are very intelligent and learn quickly. Good for me, not good for someone who is less experienced in getting what they want from a green horse. I only went to the left, because I feel if is a mistake to throw too much at a horse the first time they learn a new exercise. He still acts like he is insulted that I should ask him to do anything not his idea, but by the time we were done, after about 20 minutes, he was stopping when I asked him to and walking and trotting pretty well. He is also a pretty good mover, but not as nice as Sam.
Today was Sam’s fifth day of work and I put the surcingle on him. He didn’t bat an eye at it and work as if it wasn’t there. We’ll see if that was just not knowing and that it really doesn’t bother him or if he will act out on the next session. In another couple of sessions, I will put a crupper on it and see what he does then. He went right to work without a fuss and I find that he is easier to catch now that we have more of a working relationship. I really like this fellow.
No comments:
Post a Comment