- Thread starter
- #21
Thank you everybody for the wonderful advice! I am slowly reading and rereading everything so I can retain it all. I will print out a copy when I go back home.
Unfortunately I had to leave for college last night as my spring break was over, but I did get a chance to work with her before I left. I was just working on forward, stop, and back up. She did try to rub her head on me a few times, but I just continued to push her head/body away from me and gave a sharp NO. She seemed to understand and tried it less and less the more I made her work. I think with consistency, she'll learn. She really did wonderfully. She was leading at my side, stopping with just a whoah (Most every times...sometimes she was distracted! LOL) and I was using pressure and taps on her chest with a crop to get her to back up. By the end of the hour, she was back up with just a little pressure on the lead rope. I'm hoping with enough repetition, she will back up with just a point of the finger or a word command. I was able to show my dad exactly what I've been doing and he will work with her about 15 minutes every day until I'm finish with school. Then we are going to bring in one of the trainers we've spoken with to help us with some other aspects of her training. This will be early may.
She LOVES being praised though. She loves being petted and scratched behind the ears. She's really getting the hang of pressure release which is awesome. She also ties pretty nicely and we've been working with some desensitizing. We are just taking all different things around the farm and getting her used to them. She doesn't flip out, just looks startled and settles down very quickly.
I am very pleased with her so far. I may end up going home a few weekends before I finish this semester to be with her. At least I'll have four whole months to work and train every day. When I am not home, my dad is planning to learn my methods so he can work with her to keep up with the training.
I'm hoping this will be a nice project for my dad and I. We are starting completely new, so we know any mistakes made are things we've done. I am also very happy to have a horse of my own again!
I do have pictures, but they are not very good. Maybe I'll post one unless I get a better one after her feet have been trimmed.
Oh yeah, and thank you for the info about teaching to turn. She does need work on that!
Thanks again for all the help! I knew we had some very knowledgeable horse people here!
Unfortunately I had to leave for college last night as my spring break was over, but I did get a chance to work with her before I left. I was just working on forward, stop, and back up. She did try to rub her head on me a few times, but I just continued to push her head/body away from me and gave a sharp NO. She seemed to understand and tried it less and less the more I made her work. I think with consistency, she'll learn. She really did wonderfully. She was leading at my side, stopping with just a whoah (Most every times...sometimes she was distracted! LOL) and I was using pressure and taps on her chest with a crop to get her to back up. By the end of the hour, she was back up with just a little pressure on the lead rope. I'm hoping with enough repetition, she will back up with just a point of the finger or a word command. I was able to show my dad exactly what I've been doing and he will work with her about 15 minutes every day until I'm finish with school. Then we are going to bring in one of the trainers we've spoken with to help us with some other aspects of her training. This will be early may.
She LOVES being praised though. She loves being petted and scratched behind the ears. She's really getting the hang of pressure release which is awesome. She also ties pretty nicely and we've been working with some desensitizing. We are just taking all different things around the farm and getting her used to them. She doesn't flip out, just looks startled and settles down very quickly.
I am very pleased with her so far. I may end up going home a few weekends before I finish this semester to be with her. At least I'll have four whole months to work and train every day. When I am not home, my dad is planning to learn my methods so he can work with her to keep up with the training.
I'm hoping this will be a nice project for my dad and I. We are starting completely new, so we know any mistakes made are things we've done. I am also very happy to have a horse of my own again!
I do have pictures, but they are not very good. Maybe I'll post one unless I get a better one after her feet have been trimmed.
Oh yeah, and thank you for the info about teaching to turn. She does need work on that!
Thanks again for all the help! I knew we had some very knowledgeable horse people here!
