I rode Connor, our good looking palomino, for a second time over the weekend. He did really nicely, a lot better than last Thursday. Several of you have asked for more details about what I’ve been doing with him. I have two longer posts I’m working on, one about some of the specific exercises I’ve been doing with him and one that’s a bit more general about evaluating and retraining the rescue horses. I’m planning to finish them up and post them both later this week.
He was ten times more responsive on Saturday for ride number two than he was on Thursday. I think it really helped that I didn’t demand much on Saturday–we stood around for a long time and really only walked several small circles before I got off. I rode him for 10-15 minutes on Saturday. Lots of woah and go, and lots of work on steering, mostly working on small circles and figure-eights.
Connor tends to tense up and brace when he feels the rein cue. So, I would put him on a circle, then immediately stop him and reward him when I felt him starting to bend, soften and give to the pressure. Our circles were looking and feeling a bit more decent by the end!
Again, slow and steady wins the race. It’s always better when we go at the animal’s pace and give them time to think about what’s happening. Karleen, at Clickety Split wrote about this principle today on her blog, expanding on some of the ideas I touched on in my posts about riding Tex. Check it out, I think she makes some really great points about how it’s not just our animals, but us as well, who need to take time sometimes to stand around and think.
Also, I think we’ve found someone to adopt Connor! She came out and met him on Sunday and really liked him. She realizes he still needs some refresher work and plenty of miles under saddle, but she is an experienced rider and should get along nicely with him.
We have a really nasty storm system blowing in for most of this week, so she decided to wait until after the weather passes to get everything finalized and move him to his new home. He’s been a fun horse to work with for the past month, but it’s always nice when they get adopted. He’ll get more one on one attention and it will give us more time to work with some of the other horses who also need more training.
You have an award over at my blog – pass it on only if you feel like it.
Hi Mary,
Great news on Connor getting a home.
It’s amazing how just a few simple words (mind you, coming from the voice of experience ) can trigger that light bulb…aha!. ..moment.
Looking forward to more of your posts later in the week, and will look at Karleen’s also.
Thanks
Gayle
Yay for Connor!!! I’m glad he has a home lined up. 🙂
Thank you for the compliments and suggestions. I’m really proud of my Chrome. I never even thought of the jealousy factor! I bet separating them would help a lot. I want him to be able to work around other horses (donkey), but maybe during the teaching phase it would help to separate them. That’s a great idea. I’ll practice with the opposite hand. I tried it a couple of times yesterday and it felt awkward crossing my arm across my body, so I’ll try the turning to face him. I didn’t even think of that. Also thanks for the suggestions on resetting his head after lowering it. I didn’t even think of that! That might help me get it more consistent. 🙂 I’m so thrilled with how quickly he picks up on things. Thanks again for your suggestions and praise for my colt. 😀
Thanks for the comment. I was really unhappy that I hit Chrome, but it was more instinct than anything because he was threatening me. The fact that he didn’t try it again and wasn’t acting upset or head shy made me feel better about the whole situation. I’ll check out the link you gave me. I would never do it habitually because then obviously it wouldn’t be solving anything. I really didn’t even smack him that hard. Just enough to startle him and make him move away from me.