beej at "liberty"
been ages and ages since i've even done any sort of groundwork with my horse (besides leading, haha). i spent this afternoon waiting for a tow truck & it was warm & humid. couldn't be buggered riding so decided to have a play instead. we spent about 2 minutes on the line & then i decided to see how he'd go off the line.
well, i'm pretty impressed. although the whole thing is pretty lacklustre, i'm pretty stoked with how he stuck with me. he's got access to two 60x20m arenas here & he was pretty much glued the whole time. my messages were pretty confused as i wasn't really sure what i wanted to achieve with the session (mostly some time on video, haha) & there's a bit in the middle where i want him to change direction & i actually grab his nose. wtf was that about? haha. also, i focused on the crates & wanted him to go up to them but my cues were really meh. i'm also pretty vocal & i've started this *clicking* shit as well, which i never used to do. i think i saw/heard someone more competent than me to it & i've probably parroted them.
i like how he sticks by me, but i also like how much energy i have to throw at him. idk, but he used to wanna kick my head in if i so much as looked at him funny. although i would prefer a bit more UP from him when i put energy into it - tho i notice i'm pointing a lot of that energy at the ground. although we've done liberty work before in the round yard, we haven't done much in this arena & what we have done previously has been pretty much on his terms, lol. in my first year with him too, this horse would bolt on me, whether attached to a line or not, so i think we've come a long way in terms of him wanting to stick around.
anyway, critiques/comments welcome. don't mind my sooky commentary either.
well, i'm pretty impressed. although the whole thing is pretty lacklustre, i'm pretty stoked with how he stuck with me. he's got access to two 60x20m arenas here & he was pretty much glued the whole time. my messages were pretty confused as i wasn't really sure what i wanted to achieve with the session (mostly some time on video, haha) & there's a bit in the middle where i want him to change direction & i actually grab his nose. wtf was that about? haha. also, i focused on the crates & wanted him to go up to them but my cues were really meh. i'm also pretty vocal & i've started this *clicking* shit as well, which i never used to do. i think i saw/heard someone more competent than me to it & i've probably parroted them.
i like how he sticks by me, but i also like how much energy i have to throw at him. idk, but he used to wanna kick my head in if i so much as looked at him funny. although i would prefer a bit more UP from him when i put energy into it - tho i notice i'm pointing a lot of that energy at the ground. although we've done liberty work before in the round yard, we haven't done much in this arena & what we have done previously has been pretty much on his terms, lol. in my first year with him too, this horse would bolt on me, whether attached to a line or not, so i think we've come a long way in terms of him wanting to stick around.
anyway, critiques/comments welcome. don't mind my sooky commentary either.
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