Tests

Things have been coming along well with Mr. B. We are enjoying our lil walks to the round pen. He's also not as annoyed by the transitions. He's such a sweet lil boy.

I had him out yesterday. I went out to take a couple of photos of him but got distracted by my phone. I saw him walk up to me and I started scratching him but my full attention wasn't on him. Yes I know bad me. Once I stopped scratching him he felt like he should heed me. The lil bugger tried to nip me as he tried to make ME do a turn away. I didn't smack, yell or get loud. I did something I know would make more sense to him and do a more efficient job. I immediately made him do turns away from me. Now it wasn't a hard nip it was a "I think I have the cajones for this" nip. So I calmly asked for the turns away. No touching just a lil "shhhttt" to back to get him moving and BAM we started the turns away. Not a happy camper I might ad. He tried to duck out once so we just did them the other direction. As soon as he relaxed and went neutral I stopped. A min max and a good lesson taught with no blow ups.

I'm rather enjoying this. Not only am I teaching him quite a bit. He's teaching me boat loads. I got my point across without being loud. I'm not a loud person anyways. But with as quiet as I am when I do up the "pressure" it almost comes across as a scream. He's teaching me the middle grounds and I'm loving it.

Now a jump to today. THE FIRST FARRIER VISIT!!! DUH DUNNNNN!! I've been working with Bentley pretty much everyday. As I've stated before I'm very proud of how well he is doing. Well today was the day for the first farrier visit. I was a nervous wreck. No one would know it because I hold it in. But still if I could have expressed it....well they would of told me to leave. Haha.

When it came time for me to get Bentley the farrier wanted him out of his stall. *Butterflies* Mind you Tecate is getting her feet done. She's getting hot shoed at that. So we have the big truck. The acetylene going. The journeyman banging away on shoes on an anvil. Plus the dogs are running around looking for the yummy trimmings. When I get Bentley I make sure to do some transitions. Mostly for me really. haha. As we approach everything he's a little unsure and has a slight hesitation but comes willing enough. I ask him to stand and he does. He has a moment where he things about a bolt but I breath out to him and he stops. Bill, the farrier, comes over and starts talking to him. He explains to Bentley what he's going to do and funny enough Bentley listens with intent like he understands. First leg goes up and he stands for a min. He feels the hoof knife and rasp. He's a little over stimulated with all the noise and goings on he tried to take his leg away. Bill holds it firm but kind and talks to him. He nips and rasps. First foot done. Such a good boy. Left hind comes up. Poor Mr. Man is going through another growth spurt and is having a hard time holding himself and focusing on all the noise. He almost knocks himself over trying to catch his balance but Bill helps him regain it without lettin go. He then explains to me when they go through the growth spurts they just don't have the strength to properly balance and hold themselves up. We do a small circle and Bill finishes the Left hind. Now comes the right hind. We start the same slow lean followed by the "ACK I CANT HOLD MYSELF". So the Journeyman comes over and almost lays on Benltey. Right arm over his back and cupping his belly. Left arm around the front of his chest. His upper body resting on Bentleys back. Benltey sighed and relaxed. He still wobbled a little and tugged a bit. But there was no bronking, no major fights, or freaking out. Just curiosity, a little unsure, gangly, but calm, cool, and a damn good boy for his first trimming.

After getting done I walked him around the truck. Let him sniff anything he wanted if he wished. Which he could of cared less. He watched Tecate get put up and that was it. I put him in the round pen and he munched on the new grass that was growing. What a trooper!! We have a few things to work on but for the most part I think he passed with flying colors.

While I was taking Bentley out today I decided to try something new. He doesn't like the halt transitions too much. He does them when asked but he's getting impatient with them. He also is getting use to his surroundings. Which it looks to be boring him. Soooo......

First I decided to take him on a different path to the round pen everyday. He's getting comfortable with the route we usually take. He's starting to let his attention wander more when we repeat the path. So I switched it up for him. He was very happy with this. Still had his attention on me the whole time. Just enough new to perk him up. But not enough to disrupt his focus. He just seemed more upbeat about it. His ears didn't say he was irritated. Plus this gives us a chance to work on focus when new things come up. I think it will be fun to go for little walks.

Second I decided not to do so many halt transitions. I don't have to do a complete down transition to actually accomplish one. So I'm varying the tempo. I'll pick up the pace of the walk and ask him to keep up. Then I'll bring it back down and ask him to stay with me. This caught him off guard a little. He seemed confused about slow instead of stop. Or a hesitate instead of the complete down transition. But he picked up on it fairly well. Once he understood the "game" he was more attentive. I think it was enough of a change up to keep him thinking.

I think I just have to remember to mix things up for him a bit. I know sometimes I can get into a habit of just doing something a certain way. Or if I get distracted by anything I tend to go on auto pilot. My mind isn't totally on him when it should be. I expect his full attention when I'm out there. I should give him the same. I think it will work good for both of us.

A lil change

Yesterday I worked Tecate in a surcingle and side reins. Prior to me doing this I had Bentley out. I decided to take the equipment over to the round pen. Why not let him get use to seeing these things right?

I set the equipment on the rails and proceeded to roll up the polo wraps. While doing this Bentley came over and started to inspect the gear. I flapped it around a bit. Banged the D rings from the surcingle on the pipe. He didn't spook. He was more curious than anything.

DO YOU SEE THE CHUNK OF MANE HE RUBBED OUT?! UGH!

At this point I get curious and decide to see how willing he is. I got into the pen and took the blanket down. He moved his head back but didn't really back way. So I gave his neck a good scratch and kept the blanket there. I then started to rub his chest with the blanket and moved up to his neck and along his sides. This boy loves nothing more than a good scratching. So he stopped worrying about the blanket. I casually set it on his back. Nothing. He just stood there. So I took it off opened it up and put it on his back like I would Tecate. Not even a head raise. So I took some more pictures.

Needless to say I got a big kick out of it. He followed me around while I tried to get pictures of him. It was rather hard to get far enough away and not fall on my butt to get a pic. I adjusted it a few times and got nothing from him. I didn't want to get too greedy so I went ahead and took it off. Put him up and worked Tecate.

I love this lil guy. :D

On a side note. I hope to god he looks better after he sheds his winter coat. He looks like a lil pop belly pig. Haha. Plus that chunk of mane missing doesn't help either.

Hissy Fits

Things are moving along quiet well with Bentley. He is getting out of his stall on a regular basis. I'm happy with the pace we are going. Its not rushed but its not lacking either. One issue I've always had was not knowing if I was headed the right direction. Training class was always frustrating for me. I always felt I didn't get very much direction. Thus frustration would set in and I had a hard time seeing the big picture.

For once I can actually see the big picture. I can see the baby steps its going to take to get where I want to go. I know how I want Bentley to progress. He'll have some say on that as we go. But for the most part I feel I have a pretty good grasp on it. I'm very excited to see how this goes. I know I keep saying that. But its very true.

I always ask for transitions on the way to and from the round pen. Bentley listens to me quite well when I'm leading. I ask for the transitions when I feel his attention is wandering away from me. As of recently he seems to be...annoyed...with these transitions. I guess like your typical kid. Doesn't understand why we have to keep stopping. The pen is right there why cant we just go straight to it? So I've been making it a point, when we halt, to give him a good rub and praise him. I want to keep this "training" positive. He's always much more willing and calm on the way back to the stall. So I think its just the anticipation of "play" time that gets him ancy.

A couple of days ago Bentley decided to test me. On the way to the round pen he decided he wanted to go visit Tecate. I was without my whip. So I just wiggled the end of the lead line. Normally that's all the pressure I need to get the steps forward. Not this time. He still said no and wouldn't move. (Now on a side note I'm heeding him not dragging. So there is no tension in the lead at all. There is always a loop.) I then put a bit more pressure on him with the lead from behind and he did something that I thought was hilarious. He splayed out this front feet and dug in with his hind. I couldn't help but laugh. I have no pressure on his head at all. Yet he was planted like I was dragging him. The best part of it was he just kinda slumped into that position. Didn't do a spook or jump into it. Just kind melted into it. His nose was pinched his body tense and he was set in not moving. So I went to the end of my six foot lead. I walked from his left shoulder to the opposite side. We were right by the shed that my whip was leaning against. I then picked up the slack and walked back to his shoulder. This whole time he hasn't moved a muscle. Once back to his shoulder I lift the tip of the whip enough so he can see it. He stands up and we continue on to the pen. What a dork.

Now yesterday I anticipated the same reaction so I changed our route. Not by much just where we passed Tecate. I put a bit more distance between them. After passing Tecate it seems that Bentley realized we didn't walk right past her as usual. He seemed a little peeved. He thought about stopping but I caught it. Entertained the thought of turning away from me to go back but again I caught it. So he opted to just walk past me and go around the other way. He didn't bolt but he picked up the speed and tried to make me do a turn away. I closed him off to that idea and he got upset. Since I had stopped everything he tried so far he swung his butt around and faced me. With that started to go sideways. Not running just a fast walk. He wouldnt let me get back to his shoulder. Instead of making it a fight I lunged ( at a walk) him in a circle. Making him do transitions from the end of the lead.

One I was surprised that I could, at the end of a six foot lead, still get transitions. Even though he didn't want me right at his shoulder I technically still was. He tried to trot off but I asked him to stay at a walk. He swapped directions and we did the same on the other side. His next evasion was to try come in and lean in on me. Push me around basically. I used the butt of the whip to make that uncomfortable. I didn't jab just let him put the pressure on it. He stopped and faced me again. So I sat there and let him relax. He was starting to get tense. Everything up to this point was calm. He was peeved but he wasn't spazing out at this point. I wanted to keep it as calm as I could. He sat there for a second and slowly came up to me licking and chewing. I gave him a good scratching for it and we went on our way.

All in all I think it went well. I didn't take it personal that my lil colt wasn't listening to me and was trying to avoid listening. His head was held high, his nostrils were flared and he may have picked up the pace. Not once did he bolt, spook or really spaz out. In the end the came back up to me on his own will. Nothing has been set back. If anything I feel like we took a nice step forward.