Kirstin breaks her training sessons into short, multiple sessions each usually lasting 20-30 minutes. It doesn't take long for the babies to get bored and lose interest so she stops before it gets to that point. Right now she will be training in the morning, afternoon and late evening. Nothing seems to spook Tuff which is good but can also be bad. In this picture she is using a cotton rope to desensitize Tuff, but he appears to not need much desensitizing. He wasn't bothered in the least bit by the rope-she started at his neck and worked her away down to his hocks.
Tuff still has a lot of his winter coat esp on his belly. Kirstin was really surprised when he let her brush him, he loves to be brushed and stands perfectly still with his head lowered. He has a lot of "that feels oh so good" spots. Like I said earlier, Kirstin has already been able to touch him all over & I mean all over, so brushing this low on his legs was no problem.
2 comments:
kirsten! omg that is soooo awesome! last year thats how sadie mae was and i was so lucky cause i was that much ahead of the game, this year...not so lucky. lol my horse is verry scared of me, and doesn't like to be touched, she hides behind kelsey's horse still, we got them seperated and all she does is cry for him!. im working with her slowly but surely, i had her in the round pen yesterday and ran her around a few times till she wanted to come into me, well she would walk right on the side of me, but never right up to me. i know she wants to come but she is verry scared,, any suggestions,, what do you do?
hey Caitlyn,
Each horse is so different, but what seems to work the best with Tuff is starting out with basic round pen work. The first day out in the round pen, I acted more like a lead horse would, when Tuff would leave a spot, I would go there right away and watch him out of the corner of my eye, if he doesn't move, than make him move and go to the spot he was at. After I have established that I am lead horse, I reinforce that in the round pen by making him change directions frequently. For touching we have always used the bamboo pole to start out with. It's an extention of your arm and you can gradually work your way up to him that way. You just lay the bamboo pole at his withers and seesaw it back & forth applying enough pressure so it doesn't tickle him. You have to do that in a smaller pen though so he can't get away from the pole. You can work your way over his entire body with the bamboo pole. Hope this helps a little. You can email me at kkmustangs@hotmail.com if you have questions about any of what I said or call.
Kirstin
Post a Comment