Okie dokies

Alrighty then....I've decided to combine multiple days into one blog. It was just seeming too.....blah for me. So here is an update from the last post.

I've been working on heeding with lil Bentley. I've been worried about doing too much and making things unpleasant for him. So I've been taking major baby steps. Leading was him following me without me having to pull on the rope. Once that was done with no hesitation. I would move to the shoulder and ask him to step forward and I would mirror him. Things were going fine.

Today I was teaching my husband how to heed Tecate. He was doing rather well. His one mistake was his tentativeness with Tecate. He didn't really ask her to go forward into the walk. It was more of a "Walk....forward?..maybe...please...one step...ok we'll stand." Kind of asking. So I demonstrated how you to properly ask then tell. Well while I was watching Tecate be the best teacher ever I had a light bulb moment. Tecate knew what he was asking but acted half asleep and would just arch her body around his. Kind of blocking him from asking. Which in turn Troy was content petting her. That right there reminded me of someone. ME. When I've been asking Bentley to walk forward he was doing what Tecate did. Hellloooooooooooooooo. DUH.

So with my retarded self I went into Bentley's stall with a dressage whip and a new goal. I was nervous I was gonna spook him but I know I needed to be less tentative with him. Guess what. THAT LIL BUGGER HAS BEEN PLAYING ME!! I got at his shoulder leaned a lil forward and asked him for a step. He wen to wrap his lil neck around me. I gently pushed him off and asked again this time touching a lil whip (rubbing the rump). He sighed looked forward and about fell asleep. Tapped a few times and he started to walk. Grrrrrrr. Here I am feeling like a total retard beginner. I was treating him like MY horse...like MY baby. I made it personal again. DAMN IT!! Because I'm such a tard and was kicking myself I stepped it up and asked for halt transitions. HE WAS PERFECT. WEENIE!!!

In conclusion....Don't make training YOUR horse personal. Christ on a cracker I feel like a newbie. *sigh*