Gia - session 18 - yep, you guessed it, more of the same ... with a slight twist ...
I brought Gia in today to continue the work we've been doing. I also had a new working student today - Ian. Ian is fairly new to horses, but very interested in getting young horses started, so I spent a lot of time explaining the basic process and where I was with Gia, currently. Because I was so busy talking, I completely forgot to run the clippers in the barn around her today. So hopefully, I'll remember to do that next time. Meanwhile, I showed Ian about grooming and handling a young horse. Gia was a perfect little lady. She did resist when I brushed her forelock, so we worked through that until she was more willing. She was a complete statue when I flysprayed her, saddled her and girthed her though.
We have a new horse occupying the round pen for a couple of weeks, so I have to work with Gia in the arena on the lunge line. That was the only difference in our work today. I started her out, on the line, with the bumpers near the girth. She was a little distracted by the new things to look at while working in the arena, but after a few times around, she got bored with that and remembered her job of relaxing and focusing on me. Then I moved the bumpers to her flank area. She did give a few half hearted bucks today. Since I had her on a line, and not loose in the round pen, whenever she attempted to buck, I stopped her quickly by yanking on the line, which was attached to a chain over her nose. A lot of people do not like to use chains (or whips, or spurs, or even bits and shoes) on horses. For me, all of those things are just tools, and if used properly, they do not cause the horse any harm. After all, the chain by itself doesn't cause harm, but rather the hands that it is in cause the harm! For those that don't know me, I am not a big person - I'm only 5'4" and about 140 pounds. In contrast, Gia is at least 16.2hh and at least 1,000 pounds. If she really wanted to do whatever she wanted to do, she absolutely could and there is nothing I could do to stop her! However, the chain on the end of the leadrope gives me a little leverage to level out the playing field and give me a fighting chance, if it ever comes to that. As with any other tool like a chain, I only use it when I need to, and only as much as I need to, and I always release as quickly as possible. Remember, the release is where the horse really does the learning anyway. So, back to Gia and her bucking attempts today - whenever she started to buck, I gave her one quick yank on the chain, and then calmly sent her back to work. We did this until she could go out on the line and canter on the first try in each direction without even trying to buck. Today, it did not take as long as the last couple of times, and her attempts at bucking were much less intense. Afterwards, she was still not quite sweaty enough to hose off, so maybe next time ...
We have a new horse occupying the round pen for a couple of weeks, so I have to work with Gia in the arena on the lunge line. That was the only difference in our work today. I started her out, on the line, with the bumpers near the girth. She was a little distracted by the new things to look at while working in the arena, but after a few times around, she got bored with that and remembered her job of relaxing and focusing on me. Then I moved the bumpers to her flank area. She did give a few half hearted bucks today. Since I had her on a line, and not loose in the round pen, whenever she attempted to buck, I stopped her quickly by yanking on the line, which was attached to a chain over her nose. A lot of people do not like to use chains (or whips, or spurs, or even bits and shoes) on horses. For me, all of those things are just tools, and if used properly, they do not cause the horse any harm. After all, the chain by itself doesn't cause harm, but rather the hands that it is in cause the harm! For those that don't know me, I am not a big person - I'm only 5'4" and about 140 pounds. In contrast, Gia is at least 16.2hh and at least 1,000 pounds. If she really wanted to do whatever she wanted to do, she absolutely could and there is nothing I could do to stop her! However, the chain on the end of the leadrope gives me a little leverage to level out the playing field and give me a fighting chance, if it ever comes to that. As with any other tool like a chain, I only use it when I need to, and only as much as I need to, and I always release as quickly as possible. Remember, the release is where the horse really does the learning anyway. So, back to Gia and her bucking attempts today - whenever she started to buck, I gave her one quick yank on the chain, and then calmly sent her back to work. We did this until she could go out on the line and canter on the first try in each direction without even trying to buck. Today, it did not take as long as the last couple of times, and her attempts at bucking were much less intense. Afterwards, she was still not quite sweaty enough to hose off, so maybe next time ...
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