A Tiny Step for Lyle, A BIG Step for Me!

Dear Reader,

Today was a tiny step for Lyle. But it was a very big step for me. I have no pictures because I worked completely alone with Lyle. Wayne was not there to "babysit" me. I loved working alone, just like I did many years ago.

Lyle some how know that we were going to work because he met me at the gate. He was very willing to start work. I did not do any pedestal/platform preparation to get Lyle's attention. (That is the purpose of the platform work, to get the horse's attention.) Rather I just lounged him at the walk, three circles to the right and three circles to the left. Then I asked him to stand on his bath mat and I got on board, mounting him bare back and from an old hay bale. Lyle moved away as I started to get on. I hand walked him a few steps, then tried to mount again. After the third little walk of maybe ten steps, he stood still and I climbed on board.

He and I worked on his yielding to the bit. He still has the bad habit of sizing the bit and doing the exact opposite of what the rider is asking. So we just circled around old barrels, old buckets, old hay bales, old tools and old trash until he gave me some nice turns. We also worked on his standing still at the halt. When he would go backwards from the halt, I would just sit it and ask him to return to the original place where we had first stopped. I would ask him to return to that original place by moving him into a forward walk and doing a circle that just "happened" to end at the original place where we had attempted to first stop. After a while he started to give me nice and steady halts, not moving again until asked to do so.

Lyle is slowly learning how to be truly ridden and how to truly give to the bit. Later we will work on yielding his head downward from a cue of the bit. But nice turns have to come first.

He is not yet ready to be ridden out side of my "make shift" rectangular "arena." But once his turns are good, we will enlarge the "arena" using old machinery and trash as a marker so that he knows where the edges of the so called "arena" with out actually being in an arena. This is because I do not want him to become dependent on an arena fence for his security.

Lyle still has a long way to go before he will be safe in open country. But he is taking his baby steps to get the that goal. I still have a long way to go before I get my lost confidence back. But for me, working complete alone with a specific goal in mind is the pathway to regaining that confidence. Lyle and I worked for about 40 minutes. We rode only until he started to completely relax under me and become completely soft and yielding. The end of work was his reward. I am proud of Lyle, he is a nice horse. Oh, and one more thing. Lyle's old, bad habit of shimmying and moving unpredictable from side to side under a rider is slowly going away. He is becoming much more solid under me.

Thank you.

Penny Johnson

Bonners Ferry, Idaho, USA