Post by Deleted on Nov 13, 2009 15:13:17 GMT 1
I'm amazing. Not only did I train the horse to go on the trailer, I also trained the weather to stop raining for exactly the time it took. I impress myself sometimes!
Now, the first thing I want everyone to notice about Bob is that amazing clip - a star for a star. I'm told the girl who clipped him thinks she's not all that good at the freehand stuff - I beg to differ!
Bob's a pretty good boy at most things. He's not, though, that keen on the trailer. Sometimes he isn't too bad, but others he's fairly dreadful. The last time had gone from bad to worse as more people tried to help. Which was when Lisa decided to do something about it.
We started with some basic lead work and the L shape. He was only a little sticky, pretty good really, and Lisa then learned how to move him through the L, watching where his feet were going, herself. Not yet perfect, but I think she'll have fun getting him softer and softer.
It was clear, though, that poor leading wasn't why Bob wasn't loading. So, we took him to the trailer and carried on lead work there. He was apprehensive but not much more. Then he showed my how he loaded. We had some of this:
and a lot of this
and a lot of trying to pay attention to anything other than the trailer.
Even with the partitions out and the front ramp down, he couldn't quite bring himself to come and stay on. He got as far as his fronts in the trailer twice but couldn't quite bring himself to get his quarters on, and even then just couldn't really hold it.
I worked to get him really moving around, across the ramp, backwards and forwards, then took him round to the front and loaded him up the front ramp. On like a dream. Second time round he hesitated, but then loaded again. Within seconds he was hopping up the front ramp like nothing at all was wrong.
Once there, we could ask him to stand in the trailer, see his surroundings and start to relax. After that, loading him "normally" became no problem either
Then came time to hand over to Lisa
Now, what bothered me was that I hadn't really put my finger on what Bob's problem was. He'd gone from planting and pulling back to on and off without revealing what was the block. Then we found it. As soon as we had the front partition back in, and centrally rather than swung to the side, he said...
and shot straight back out again.
Don't like that partition... eeek!
I spent 10 minutes just working with the front partition, swinging it towards him, holding, waiting for acceptance, then releasing, unloading once or twice when he'd done really well
Again, Lisa also practiced so that she can work without me to get even greater relaxation.
I don't know if Bob's clunked himself on the partition at some point, maybe even when unloading, but that's clearly the bit that was worrying him and that was at the root of his problem.
I hope that, with some practice and some relaxation in the trailer, using pressure and release with the partition, that Bob will be able to put this behind him and, literally, move on.
(Thank you Judy for the great sequence of photos!)
Now, the first thing I want everyone to notice about Bob is that amazing clip - a star for a star. I'm told the girl who clipped him thinks she's not all that good at the freehand stuff - I beg to differ!
Bob's a pretty good boy at most things. He's not, though, that keen on the trailer. Sometimes he isn't too bad, but others he's fairly dreadful. The last time had gone from bad to worse as more people tried to help. Which was when Lisa decided to do something about it.
We started with some basic lead work and the L shape. He was only a little sticky, pretty good really, and Lisa then learned how to move him through the L, watching where his feet were going, herself. Not yet perfect, but I think she'll have fun getting him softer and softer.
It was clear, though, that poor leading wasn't why Bob wasn't loading. So, we took him to the trailer and carried on lead work there. He was apprehensive but not much more. Then he showed my how he loaded. We had some of this:
and a lot of this
and a lot of trying to pay attention to anything other than the trailer.
Even with the partitions out and the front ramp down, he couldn't quite bring himself to come and stay on. He got as far as his fronts in the trailer twice but couldn't quite bring himself to get his quarters on, and even then just couldn't really hold it.
I worked to get him really moving around, across the ramp, backwards and forwards, then took him round to the front and loaded him up the front ramp. On like a dream. Second time round he hesitated, but then loaded again. Within seconds he was hopping up the front ramp like nothing at all was wrong.
Once there, we could ask him to stand in the trailer, see his surroundings and start to relax. After that, loading him "normally" became no problem either
Then came time to hand over to Lisa
Now, what bothered me was that I hadn't really put my finger on what Bob's problem was. He'd gone from planting and pulling back to on and off without revealing what was the block. Then we found it. As soon as we had the front partition back in, and centrally rather than swung to the side, he said...
and shot straight back out again.
Don't like that partition... eeek!
I spent 10 minutes just working with the front partition, swinging it towards him, holding, waiting for acceptance, then releasing, unloading once or twice when he'd done really well
Again, Lisa also practiced so that she can work without me to get even greater relaxation.
I don't know if Bob's clunked himself on the partition at some point, maybe even when unloading, but that's clearly the bit that was worrying him and that was at the root of his problem.
I hope that, with some practice and some relaxation in the trailer, using pressure and release with the partition, that Bob will be able to put this behind him and, literally, move on.
(Thank you Judy for the great sequence of photos!)