Thursday 11 August 2011

This afternoon Sweetie, Julie and I worked on ground control. I want them leading better and softer before we consider moving on to the mounted phase of their training. Also since I had been busy with other things today I was running late and wasn't sure how much time I would have available for the girls.

Sweetie let me walk up to her in the round pen and I petted her and brushed her then when I went to get the halter she decided she really didn't want to play today. Had to hang her head over the panel trying to keep it from me. I fooled her and got the halter on her anyway. We worked on leading and backing. Sweetie just couldn't figure out what I was asking her to do and she started to get frustrated. She wanted to fight the halter and started to rear a bit. We stopped and talked a while then we went back to work. After she had calmed down she started backing like she knew what she was doing. We worked with the flag again and then worked on her seeking the release by turning around. I am amazed how soft she leads and turns when she is seeking release. We worked on leading past and she seems to have forgotten this little exercise. She is picking it up again though.

Julie is just naturally stiffer in her movements and actions. After haltering her we worked on leading and backing. She backs fairly well but is still a little heavy on the leading tried lounging her and she just wasn't sure what was going on. Didn't want to be driven at first but started picking things up in a little bit. She was a little nervous about my flipping the lead over her head when we were doing the seeking release exercise  so we got reacquainted with Mr Flag. After a short session she accepted the lead going over her head. We then went back to the seeking release exercise. She comes around but she is heavy on the lead and lacks the softness I would like to feel and see. She just needs more ground work.

After the session I mixed a little oats and alfalfa pellets and gave the girls a treat. My horses have never learned to eat sugary treats but they love oats. I wanted to see if associating the round pen with a little oats would improve their catching ability. After all was said and done we didn't hit any new ground but we are improving on some of the old areas.