"bit" of learning

We had a sunny but very cool and windy day here today. I brushed another small horse out of Linus and by the time I was done his coat was shining again. He still kind of looks like a raccoon though because his face hasn't finished shedding.

After grooming, he tried to get testy a few times with me and would not stand to have his feet done. I don't know why but I put it up with it a bit longer than I normally would until I finally got fed up, grabbed my carrot stick and drove him away from me. He knows now that a crack from that (in the air or on the ground - definitely not on him) and I mean business. I flick the end until he gets far enough away from me. If he keeps coming back uninvited, I flick the rope again. When I see him settle I rest it behind me, showing him I will let him back in if he comes nice. Then when he walks over and I "whoa" him, I flick the rope all over his body...it's kind of like our "making up". After doing this with him today I picked up and cleaned out his feet without any trouble at all. I'm glad he is a fast learner....I was especially glad when on my way home saw a girl out trying to catch two yearling Belgians!! I would not be happy having a horse I couldn't catch. I guess I am spoiled having Linus meet me at the gate.

Once I had Linus settled in better I introduced him to a sweet iron snaffle bit. It really occupied him because he always likes chewing on things. I let him just get used to it while I did a bit more grooming. Then I let him sniff the bareback pad and put it on him. He developed a game with this since I bought where now I have to keep the girth strap over his back until I am ready to tighten it. If I let it hang he likes to reach around and pull it off before I get around to the other side to tighten it. Little git!

I then attached the reins to his bridle and tucked the ends through the handle on the pad. I let him get used to weight of the attachment and then we started to work on turning and a little bit of backing. He was excellent with it! I again used my hand on his side to put pressure while turning him and after a few tries he was moving over with the pressure on his side before I even had to touch the reins. I have used a Bitless bridle on Linus for about a year now. He has done very well in it, mostly driving. I find of late though he has been testing me when we are out more and more and really seems to know now that he is the stronger of the two. I haven't used a bit with him yet because I wanted to make sure I was ready for it. I have been worried about getting to tough on him with it and creating a hard mouthed horse. I have done a lot of prep for it and now feel ready and trust myself more. I think my fear of introducing a bit comes from riding a very hard mouthed Canadian/Percheron cross a few years ago. She was so bad that if you let her go you had no control at all until she wanted to stop. I won't have that in my own horse. So, I think we made really good progress today and it went so positively that I think I took more away from it than Linus did!! I kept our lesson at that for today. I was going to lean over him a bit but I ended it on a good note and kept it nice and easy for him.

My pictures didn't turn out very well...hopefully tomorrow!

Donna & Linus

Lunenburg, ON Canada