Wednesday 17 August 2011

One of the nice things about my life is it is never dull. Since my last round pen session I have gone to the State Fair, worked on some fencing, worked on a few carpenter projects, and a bunch of other little unforeseen things but this afternoon I put the nail gun up and got the girls back in the the round pen.

Catching my horses involves opening up a gate and letting the two year old, yearlings and my riding mare in the round pen which is in the North barn. It is pretty easy, after the gates are open just get out of the road and they will all go in, then just sort off what you don't want to work with. It is simple and I like to think that even this provides some training for even the ones I am not actually working with. I try to do it quietly and without too much fuss and I make a point of touching them all even if it is just to hurry them out the gate.

This afternoon I keep four in the round pen. Even though I didn't plan on working with them all I thought it would be good for Snippy and HB to just be around the motion and the human contact. Started out by walking up to Sweetie and just rubbing her along her back, her neck, and around her face. I then had her follow me over to the fence where I picked up her halter. She lowered her head when asked to and put it right in the halter. I then asked her to back and with very light pressure she backed up. Not just a step or two but four or five actually and without any head tossing. Needless to say I was very proud of her. I lead her around and backed her and she worked with a very light  pressure on the lead and in some cases with just voice commands. She accepted the bridle with no fighting or fuss and has actually figured out how to pick up the bit and hold it in her mouth. As the old timers would say she learned how to pack the bit. LOL She is learning to give to the bit and I think she is about ready to ground drive. I may introduce her to the saddle first and ground drive her while she is saddled. Sweetie had a very good session.

I then walked up to Julie and rubbed her all over and talked to her before I asked her to go to the fence with me. I haltered her and she had to fuss a little bit to let me know she was different. She raised her head when I slipped the halter on but we will work on that as we continue on with her training. There are times Julie reminds me of a Saddlebred. She is a little narrower built and carries her head a little higher than most of my horses. I am not faulting her just stating facts. Today she led very well, she worked well off of a light lead and even backed up for me when asked but again with more head action than Sweetie. Julie likes to have her head up when been led but I suppose that is not a bad thing. Julie accepted the bridle without too much fuss, just the "normal" Julie head lifting but she wasn't refusing the bit or anything.  She is figuring out how to pack the bit and how to give to it. It won't be long and she will be ready to ground drive as well.

Since I had Snippy and HB in the round pen I thought I would just work with them lightly to get them used to me and hopefully get them to accept me rubbing them and brushing them. I started following Snippy around and brushing her whenever I got the chance. Eventually I got her to accept me brushing her from her hindquarters up to her neck then I switched on her and started rubbing the top of her neck. It wasn't long before I had her letting me rub her poll. I think I am wearing her down. LOL HB let me touch her a few times and she wasn't too bad. Just need to spend more time with both of these two girls.