Monday, December 6, 2010

Weekend Update

It was a pretty crummy weekend to ride. The terrain wasn’t suitable for Cruiser, so we stayed in the arena. My sister joined us on her horse. Both days, when we were done, we took Cole for a walk up and down the hill to the river. I must say, he is noticeably improving. The first trip up and down goes well. The second, he starts to get bored and the third, he tries my patience. The good news is, he used to try my patience every time we went on the hill. If I solve this problem—it is our worst one—I feel he will improve with everything else. I click him when he is good, stop him or circle him when he tries to trot or walk in front of me, and make him stand until he settles down whenever he gets wound up.




I rode him in the arena Friday night, and he is getting better. We trotted on the safe end and walked full laps to the scary end. I have clicked him so much for quiet behavior over there that, not only does he behave there, but he keeps trying to go over there! Now, it is only scary for me. I am getting better, too. He did have one bad spook, but he was in the middle of the arena, at the time.

1 comment:

Achieve1dream said...

Hehehe maybe you should take chocolate chips and when you click him in that corner give yourself on lol! If it works for them maybe it works for us! Isn't it crazy how long it takes humans to work through fear? I don't understand it at all, but I still get scared. It's probably because I don't have a horse to ride, so I get nervous if I'm riding someone elses horse because I know I'm out of practice. :)

Glad they are both doing well.