The last few days have been stunningly beautiful. It’s easy to forget that we had snow for more than a week then torrential rains. Except that I’m still picking manure from that time it was buried under snow, impossible to wheelbarrow.
During that time I focused on precision with my horses. We can always become more precise. With Bragi, his job is to stay out of my space when leading. He is learning to stop and backup a step or two when I stop. Odin’s job is to pay attention to me. He would prefer to ignore my requests but when I ask him to move his bum, he needs to move his bum. At first I asked nicely, then popped his rump if he didn’t move. He’s much more attentive now.
Today Odin and I refreshed our memories about trailer loading. He is not a fan, mostly because he doesn’t feel very confident. We start gently. Need to move your feet to get the nerves sorted out before getting in? Okay, let’s trot a couple circles. Ready to try to get in? Front feet in then back out. Rest a moment. Try again. All the way in, good boy. Let’s back out and rest.
I build a little each time. Get in, get out. Get in, shut the divider, open the divider, get out. Next time add closing the trailer door. After that we take a spin around the driveway circle then get out and graze for a bit to clear our heads. Then we do it again, take another spin around the driveway circle, get out and graze for a bit.
Finally, we repeat the first step: get in and get out. Graze and we’re done for the day.
This is also good practice for Bragi being alone for a little while back at the barn. We can hear him whinny occasionally for Odin; Odin is very good about not calling back to him.
Currently my favorite training resource is Karen Rohlf’s podcast Horse Training in Harmony. Karen is a professional dressage rider whose philosophy is that horses can be high level athletes and happy too. Her podcasts make me want to go out and play with my horses. I’m getting a lot of inspiration from her.
My on-the-ground trainer is Meghan Valenti (Valenti Horsemanship). I’m lucky to have found her several years ago when I had an Off-the-track-Thoroughbred (OTTB) who grew up traumatized from the racetrack then whatever post-racing life he had. Meghan has given me lots of training tools to use over the years and with a great deal of practice, they are working!