Photoshoot and Lesson with Terrie

 First off, this past Tuesday my friend Macy came over to take pictures of me with the horses and around my house for a school project of hers. The pictures found in this post are some of the better ones from the bunch. They all turned out great; she is a really awesome photographer.
Now on to this past Wednesday. Terrie came over at one o'clock, and she trimmed all the horses pretty quickly. She says that Teddy's white line is looking much better and the stretching that was evident when we first got him has virtually disappeared.

I asked if she could stay and help me with Woody some, so following the trim she and I had a conversation about Mr. Woody. My concerns with him recently have been that I have felt I have had to stay on top of him CONSTANTLY and keep him focused on what we are doing. He has become less interested in me, he has been more difficult to focus, and has, in general, begun to act like, for like of a better word, a brat. I have not known exactly how to approach this. I have been conflicted concerning how to deal with this horse; oscillating back and forth between either giving him time, not pushing him, and waiting for him to come to me... OR just going along with my plan and not paying attention to it.

Terrie helped me see that the solution would be to just continue with my plans, keeping in mind that in general, horses don't like to work. They aren't going to be jumping out of there stalls to be tacked up or haltered. This does not mean he cannot be okay with being ridden or haltered or groomed or played with, but he will not necessarily love what we will be doing. She told me the number one thing to remember with him is FOCUS. He needs to feel like he has a purpose, he has a job, and what he is doing is meaningful. Making him canter 6 laps without break is not meaningful to him; however, cantering a straight line to a tree, dismounting, picking up limbs, remounting, trotting to the limb pile, throwing the limbs in the pile, and cantering off IS. If I have focus and a feeling of we have a job to do, he will be ok with having to carry me. He will be calm, willing, and soft because he knows there is a purpose to what he is doing.

Now, of course, I already knew all of this, but somehow hearing it again really helped me to understand what was going on. When I haltered him, we weren't doing anything meaningful, he got bored, so now every time I come in the pasture he goes "Oh great. Here comes another hour of meaningless movement." I want his attitude to be, "Sure, whatever you want to do is fine with me. What are we trying to accomplish today?"

With all this theory in mind, I started working with him by directing him from zone 3. When I asked for him to walk off, and he did so sluggishly, I said, "Come on! Let's go, we gotta get going!" He picked up his pace, and the first time I asked him to turn towards me, he started pushing through on the pressure of the halter. Though I was able to change that thought pretty quickly, I knew I had missed the first clue his thought was leaving. From then on I started watching his eye, and watching where he was thinking. The second I felt him start to leave, I asked him back. If I missed it and he started pushing through trying to escape the pressure, I had to match that energy and get that thought back to me. Pretty soon he was really in sync with me, and he was stopping, turning both ways, and starting when I was.

Next I hopped on the round pen fence and Woody came right up to pick me up. I slid on, he seemed fine, so I backed out and started the same exercise, only now on his back. Immediately he tried to push through the halter to go up to the barn where Charlotte was happily munching hay, but I changed that thought and had him turn on an indirect rein. Because I was very aware of his thoughts, I was able to tell when he began to slip, and I was able to change it. Once again, pretty soon he was with me, and we were in sync. I would fast walk, slow walk, stop, roll back, and turn on the forehand, then do some indirect rein and direct rein turns. He was easy to direct, and with me. I was happy with what I had learned and been reminded of.

I hopped off, took the halter off, and what do ya know? Woody didn't leave me, and as we began to walk to the gate, he followed right behind me. I guess when you offer good stuff to your horse, he'll offer you good stuff in return...

~Eden