Saturday, January 23, 2010

Strategy, not force

Lucy's basically had the week off this week due to me being too busy at the car dealership banging my head against the wall, but I finally brought my new car home on Wednesday, so last night I had time to ride after doing her stall.

I spent at least ten minutes getting on because once again she refused to stand at the mounting block. She got two chances with me patting her and going nice and slow, but walked off both times. Using strategy over force, I asked her to turn her head to the right, since she tended to either walk off or swing her hips to the right. I figured if she had her head turned to the right, it would be almost if not totally impossible to turn her body the same direction. If anything she'd turn her body to the left, but I was standing there on the mounting block so she wouldn't get very far. Anyway, my plan worked perfectly and with her head turned, she stood quietly while I mounted from the mounting block! She got lots of praise.

After I finally got on, she walked and trotted around on a loose rein and we did some (zoomy) canter work. For having four days off, she was really well-behaved.

I am looking forward to this weekend because we are going to have two visiting horses at my barn, and both are excellent on the trails. Their owners have promised me a real trail ride on Sunday! I hope Lucy behaves herself...

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