Linus and I had another great day today accomplishing tasks on my lunch break!! First of all, though not a task but more of a personal issue and as previously mentioned is the dislike Linus has for the bug spray bottle. He has been getting better day by day as he learns that it does bring relief. I have a lotion that i put on around his sheath and upper, inner legs. This is where the horse flies really get him and at times poor Linus looks like he is two-stepping trying to get rid of them. Or he just lies down! Anyway, the cream is first and it works like a gem! I put it on him the last couple of times without bothering to halter him and today I was even able to spray him without haltering. He really impressed me by letting me do that. He's a clever boy and is figuring out that of all the things I ask him to do not one has ever hurt him.
So, on to the challenges!! First off, I coaxed him into being interested in the bike I brought out. I thought he'd be curious but really didn't care. It was my nephew's bike. Since I don't live on the farm my bike is at home and hooked up to the bike trailer...that would make an interesting obstacle for him! There are 2 pictures below with the bike in them. One where Linus isn't wearing a halter. I showed him the bike and walked it around him. Later on, when he had his bitless bridle on we walked the bike up the driveway. This would have looked comical to any onlooker, me leading a horse and pushing a kids bike at the same time!! Point being, Linus is not bother by the bike. I will ride mine around him frequently though so he gets used to different situations.
Then, one that I anticipated big reactions from....but didn't get. The balloons. I blew up 6 and tied them together. I showed them to Linus, he sniffed them and pushed them with his nose then went back to grazing. So, very carefully aiming my camera in one hand and holding a balloon between my arm and torso, I popped one with a nail. Linus jumped a bit as seen in the picture below, but as you can tell from his eyes, he wasn't really startled. So, I continued popping the rest. The photo of him standing still with no halter is while popping the third balloon. Didn't get any reaction at all from balloons 3-6. The first woke him up a bit, the second got a slight flick of the tail. Good boy Linus!
I know I have already mentioned that we did neck reining a couple of weeks ago but after re-reading the mini-challenge forms I realized we were meant to go in a circle on the neck rein. So, we did it again today. After, some practice and me encouraging Linus to move his quarters around he picked it up and we did a circle in both directions. He does have a better side as do most horses and is much smoother when going to his left. Nonetheless, he did it and made me proud. Time to update my forms and think about what we have left to try this weekend. Our long weekend was last weekend and I work til noon tomorrow so I really only have 1 1/2 days left. I'd like to have my stuff in the mail Monday so it gets to Denise on time.
I really have to push myself for the rest of what I may accomplish...I'm still hung up on him self-loading!!!!!!!!
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