Buckaroo Banderas & J Goes Back to School

 

This is one of my favorite photographs of J and I together, even though my eyes are closed.  J is looking handsome and dappled; we’d just finished a fun session of jumping at our old stable.

 

Although I called him a pig headed buffalo with a walnut sized brain in the previous post about his bad behavior (Pale Horses), I still just think he’s the bees knees.

Horse and pony alike got worked today.  In the morning, J and DH entered ground school together.  We are still waiting for the Clinton Anderson DVD’s (thanks everyone for the suggestions).  Today we covered the basics of leading, moving away from pressure and free lunging in the indoor arena.  Everybody did really well.  By the time DH was finished and ready to turn both horses out into the pasture, J was already listening better and respecting DH’s boundaries.  It was a very good start.

In the afternoon, I harnessed Banderas to let him get the feel of new things like the breeching (the part that goes behind their rump).   Once out on the lunge line, he turned into a miniature rodeo bucking bronc the first time he felt that breeching on his haunches as he moved.  I’m not too surprised, he is sensitive about having his haunches touched and just needs to get desensitized to it in general.  He quickly settled down to be a sensible gentleman after that.  We walked all through the neighborhood on a lead line so he could get used to the feeling of the harness as he moved.  He was much more confident about “neighborhood things” like mailboxes than he was the first time I walked him outside Ranchette.   Next stop: long lining.

Tags: ground driving, ground training, harness, horse, line driving, pony