So things are chugging right along with Mr. Bob. I have taken him out on the trails twice since our Memorial Day ride and he hasn't spooked or got the least bit silly. He sure walks out nicely. The only thing he does that I find odd is that he has to smell EVERYTHING. I mean everything. At first I thought he was trying to take a bite of the vegetation along the trail because he kept swinging his nose over to every tree, shrub and rock, etc. He never slows down and he never opens his mouth to take a bite so I started watching him and he is smelling it. Weird.
In the arena he is getting better and better. As long as you keep it quiet and have a spot to bring him back to when he gets a little anxious he can learn by leaps and bounds. I have found that my trot circle is where we can go to give him that mental break when he needs it. Yesterday we were working on him staying in frame and transitioning from a walk to a trot to a lope. He does the walk to trot well. The trot to the lope he wants to give me attitude. I put him in his circle, pushed him into the bridle and asked him to trot in frame, then ask him to lope, letting him have his face if he stayed on his arc and quiet. He would do it, but he would shake his head and get all wiggly. So back to the trot and pushed up and into frame he would go. It didn't take long for him to figure out that loping off quietly and not giving attitude would give him some "relief" from the working trot. And... he is much better if I pay less attention to his head and more attention to where I want to go. Big lesson right there! He is going to train me to look where I want to go.
Funny thing about Bob... We also worked roll backs on the fence. With Semper, Scooter and Lily, if you were to work a roll back on the fence and you did the same thing 3 or 4 times, they would begin to anticipate it. They would all start to slow at the fence and be thinking "turn now". Not Bob. I must have done the same thing at least a dozen times each direction yesterday and he never once anticipated the turn. He never even gave it a thought.
It was kind of nice that he wasn't thinking as much about what we were going to do next and more about what we were doing right then. It can get a little tough when you are riding those big thinkers. They are pleasers and get so tuned into what you are GOING to do next that they don't pay attention what you are actually trying to get done. Bob stayed with me and went when he was asked instead of constantly saying "want me to do it now" & "how about NOW".
I keep thinking I should have one of those OSHA signs posted in the barn that counts the number of days accident free. It would say... "60 + days and counting since Bob had a meltdown". He has been with me at the barn for 8 weeks and he is still not exhibiting any bad behaviors. In fact, he is turning into a rather solid citizen.
He sounds like a pretty nice horse already. I've got two who anticipate and one who doesn't - I think the anticipation ones tend to be the overachievers, maybe with some anxiety thrown in. I also have one "sniffer" - never had one before either. It's my horse Red - we think he was a breeding stallion and was gelded late, and he sniffs constantly, although it's much reduced right now - he had a depo provera shot about 3 weeks ago to cut down his aggressiveness for herd introduction, which it's done, and the sniffing is much reduced as well.
ReplyDeleteKate, I had Bob gelded at about 4 months old. He never even had a chance to think about being a stud! He has always been "nosey". Semper is a big sniffer too. He always has to smell your hair and chest. It took me a long time to figure out that he is't smelling your boobs, but that is where most women put cologne so that is what he is smelling.
ReplyDeleteThe overachievers sure are a hard lot to get through the show pen. Semper is a pleaser, overachiever and a worry wart. He so wants to please that he submarines himself sometimes. If he could relax and wait till he was asked it would make life for both of us a lot easier.