a Good Lesson

Its raining...again. There is so much mud that we cannot wait for things to freeze up and get a good cushion of snow. We did have a couple of very nice days this week. I took advantage of that, though for not as long as thought I would be......the excitement in Linus on the weekend when I took him out really enforced for me that I have to play him out a little bit and help him expend some of that energy before we do much. I haven't tried lunging much since the May mini-challenge because I wasn't sure if I was a bad teacher or Linus didn't know what I wanted or both. So, Tuesday I went out with halter and carrot stick with the aim to teach him what I wanted no matter how long it took. I had the afternoon to do it if that's what it took. Within about 10 minutes Linus was trotting around me on the line. I didn't get it. Why all of a sudden did it click. I was being more assertive and projecting a stronger leader role so maybe that helped. But he is also older and more mature so maybe that played a role too. There was some bucking but I just took a strong step toward him and flicked the rope and kept him moving and he seemed to figure out that as long as he kept on the go things were calm. He stopped on whoa and turned to face me right away. I walked up to him and he dropped his head, licking and chewing. Then I swung the rope from the carrot stick all over his body just to make sure he was still ok with it. It was a really great session. I kept it short and then took him out to a pasture that we have moved the cows out of for the season. He had a good run then started going at what was left of the pasture. He should have new harness in a few weeks. I stumbled across a seriously well-priced website for horse tack. Its worth checking out. www.chicksaddlery.com

Watching Linus grow this past year has been pretty exciting. Hard to believe that by this time next year I will have at least sat on him, if not had a couple of short rides. I will soon have to take an "anniversary" picture since Linus has almost been home for a whole year. He has grown so much. Its truly been a blast!!!