As you can tell I've been pretty slacky about doing actual WORK with this pony. But I had several good reminders that it's time to get back to training.
First, Gobie had his feet trimmed again on Friday. His feet are actually looking pretty good! They're still kind of dry and cracky, but they're definitely benefiting from some consistent farrier work. That's the good news. The not so good news is that he was a bit of a jerk for Ben, the poor farrier. He handled the naughty pony extremely well, mind you. And Gobie wasn't dangerous or anything. But I felt bad about him trying to grab his feet away, trying to run away, etc. We didn't use nearly the amount of feed as we did the first time so it was certainly evident that Gobie wasn't so good the first time because he wanted to be--it was because he was distracted by all those delicious noms.
Before Gobie got trimmed he was positively dramatic about being separated from Honey, who was first to have her feet trimmed. Honey's feet are pretty terrible and she needed the farrier most of all. Her feet are super dry and cracky and she even lost a shoe which took a good chunk of her hoof with her. She was being antsy about having her feet done, which isn't characteristic. And Gobie was very passionately calling to her, and running along the fence. He was less nutty when I joined him at the fenceline.
Second, apparently the horses engaged in some stupidity that ended in knocking over Bonnie and her hitting her head! She is fine but has a good lump on the back of her head. Poor Bonnie! I don't know the specifics, but she was out with the horses and Gobie and Cinder had some kind of an altercation (probably about Honey?) and someone knocked Bonnie over. Rude!
So today I went out with the firm intentions of doing some ground work. Sam and Locksley accompanied, to get out of the house. We got right down to business, and Gobie willingly left a little mound of hay he had been munching on.
As I led him from one paddock to our working area, he stopped. I had been trying to get him to move by moving off to a 45 degree angle and starting again, but he was getting wise to that and walking only a couple more steps. So I tried an apparently much better tactic: wiggling the lead rope and bumping him under the chin annoyingly until he took a step forward. This got him moving in no time, and each time he stopped, we repeated the exercise. He definitely got it, and tried my resolve a couple times but as a way to keep him moving (and keep me moving not so much) it worked like a champ.
The first thing we did was the usual backing up, and turning on the forehand yielding exercises. He's quite good at these so I feel like it's always a good place to start and judge how he's feeling. As usual he was very accommodating.
Next was the fly spray. It's a training exercise all by itself, but it also makes other things easier if your pony isn't swishing his tail and stomping his feet to get rid of flies and other nasty winged biters. I'm happy to report that Gobie was pretty perfect when it came to the fly spray. He was a little flighty at first, but I ask him to stop and he did. I was able to spray up and down on both sides and he stood still like a champ. If he did start moving, he would stop when I told him. He's practically an old pro now.
Heartened by his fly spray expertise, we moved on to some desensitization. I have a white plastic bag tied to the end of a dressage whip which I shake like a crazy person all over the place. He was really good about this, too! He wanted to move away at first, but I ask him to stand still and he did. And I was really shaking it--loud, and furiously! And he stood there, a bit unsure, but very well. Now we'll have to start using other things and see if he remembers who to look to when scarey or novel things happen.
We then tried a little lunging. To be fair, I'm not that great at lunging in general. But he was doing a pretty good job at figuring it all out. I got him moving around in a circle pretty effectively, though he would decide to stop on his own and then no get moving again. But he did have good brakes when I asked him to stop. He would even turn in and come up to me when I asked. It was the getting him moving and staying moving in a particular direction which was tricky. I even got him to go from a walk to trot (though I don't know if you could technically call it a trot). So as soon as I can figure out if I'm doing everything correctly, I expect the actual lunging lessons to go pretty well.
After lunging a bit, we tried being tied. As far as I know, Gobie's never been tied for any length of time. So I thought now would be a good time to start as any. Step one was wrapping his lead rope once around a round fence post, taller than his withers. He's a pretty mellow dude, and barely even noticed for the first couple of minutes. Because I was standing right there, with the end of the lead rope in my hands, I gave him enough room to put his head down and get grass. Eventually, though, he pulled back and realized he couldn't go anywhere. No big deal, though. He just moved forward like he was supposed to when he calmly realized pulling back wasn't getting him anywhere. If he freak out, I could give him extra rope so he could back up, and then take up the slack again when he was relaxed. But he was pretty good about the whole thing. He was dancing around a bit, going parallel to the fence this way and that. And he also neighed to his friends. But for the most part it was an uneventful first go at being tied. Next time we'll do it again, only for a longer period of time.
It was super hot out so Gobie got a break for some water and a wander around the paddock. I should probably mention that the whole time Locksley was barking his head off. He's not a farm dog by any means, and is pretty observant of anxious animals and humans. So whenever he see me working with Gobie, he's very concerned about it. The more he sees it, though, the more he's bound to get use to it.
The last thing we did was picking up feet. I had Sam stand on the other side of the fence with Gobie's lead rope, while I picked up his feet. He was very good with his front feet. But, as I kind of expected, he wasn't good at all with his back feet. It's partly my fault. I'm a giant wuss, for no practical reason, when it comes to back feet. I'm pretty sure I don't stand close enough, and I'm pretty sure I don't hold the foot securely/reassuringly enough. That's because I want to jet out of there quickly in case he wants to kick. Academically that makes sense, but I've never been kicked before so there's no practical knowledge for that. Because of these failing on my part, I think he wiggles his foot around which reinforces my "better stand away!" behavior. Instead of going for picking up the foot I think I need to scale back and be happy with being able to touch the leg, stand close to the leg, and work my way up to picking it up and picking it out. And I probably need to psych myself up for getting cow-kicked a little and just get over it.
So actually the last thing I actually did was the yielding exercises. To end on a good note. I was getting a little frustrated about the feet thing, so I didn't want to end negatively for me or the horse. He was of course, great with backing up and everything. So I let him join his pals in the shade.
The whole thing took maybe an hour and I felt like we cover a lot of stuff, most of it kept short and sweet and positive. I wish I was able to come out more frequently since the lots-of-short-sessions method seems to work really well for me (who gets tired/frustrated/lazy) and the horse. I am also coming to grips with the fact that it's been a zillion years since I've trained a horse, and I've forgotten in muscle memory and actual memory some of the stuff. I need a refresher, and maybe a buddy! And patience and sustained motivation! Wish me luck, friends :)
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