Dear Reader,
Lyle has crossed a real "watershed" in his training. Today we rode, and Lyle accepted the bit sweetly for the first time. He would seize that bit, but when I corrected him for this he accepted my correction graciously. When he would seize the bit I would rein him in the direction that I wanted him to go and not in the direction that he wanted to go. I was extremely careful to give him the release for the smallest try. He trusted my hands to use the bit as a friend and helper and not as an enemy. Several times he would seize the bit and I did not re-act quickly enough. When that happened I would just give him the cue that he had already started on his own. But every time that I was able to "catch" him before he was committed to seizing the bit he literally embraced my direction.
If Lyle got unsure we would always ride back over to his platform and he would mount it. He would stand there for a moment and calm his own emotions. Once he had settled on his own, we would continue our ride. I never rewarded him for going to his platform. Rather I just accepted it as a security blanket sort of thing and then we continued with our work. Lyle does distinguish between his platform and the bridge that I have in my big make shift arena. He crosses the bridge as part of his work. But he sees the platform as his own special space that he shares with me.
He is still not ready to ride out in a huge area. So I have a arena made up out of panels, farm machinery, the walls of my hay barn and the deer fence. I have this set up to make an arena with zig-zag and irregular sides. I also keep re-arranging the obstacles that I have inside the arena. This is so that he does not become bored of the arena. The zig-zag sides are a real good training tool for Lyle also.
Once we are riding in open spaces I will have Wayne take some pictures and I will post them. I am thankful for Lyle!
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Penny
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