NH Lesson

Ahh, just wanted to post a picture of my horses' barn in the nice summer daylight.

Last night I gave a ground lesson, it was a lot of fun! I encorporated natural horsemanship principles, and was very successful.

My student is an 8 yr old, and this is her pony. He's been hard to catch, quick under saddle. I've been working w/ him on these issues, which really were not the issues at all. He's just scared, and humans had taught him he SHOULD be scared of them, and what they do with him. So lots of patience and friendly, and now he does a great w/t/c and amazingly, can be caught.

So yesterday's goal was to get this little guy to cross through a huge puddle. of course the little girl just wanted to tug on him to get him through. Dobie just planted his feet and waited. So after I watched this, I asked the girl if she could touch her horse all over with her hands, both sides. HUGE sigh of relief from the pony. Then i asked her if she could touch him with my CS. More relaxation. then i asked her if she could move him away from her touch. taught her phases, rub/press/rub, and when to release.

She wanted to go back to the huge puddle. So I gave her a scenario. I said: "You are watching the news and you see this cool person who swam across an entire ocean. You now want to do it too, but you don't know how to swim just yet. I am your teacher...what should i do? Should i throw you in the ocean with a life jacket? or should i probably teach you how to swim in a pool, first?"

She got it, and picked the pool. So then i asked her if she thinks it would be smart to try and get Dobie to cross a small wet spot instead of the big scary puddle? She chose the small one.

So, approach and retreat, practice w/ the porcupine game, and 3 times more friendly game, Dobie crossed the small puddle, then the next biggest one, and then didn't even flinch when they crossed the huge, deep puddle. He even stood in it with his little girl. She was ecstatic.

More friendly game, and done for the night. Job well done!

-Ally