Ground Work Lesson

Halfpass

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Thought I would let you know how my lesson went today.

Had Dido Fisher come out to me, she is a Kelly Marks recemmended associate, although initially dubious (I kind of feel like alot of IH is common sense) she came highly recommended so though I'd give it a go.

She was lovely and really explained what she was doing and why and gave me and my horse some lovely compliments.

I did feel a bit worried though when she advised me to look at Aleeta as though she was a small foal. Not easy with a horse over 16hh!!!

She asked lots of questions to get a rough idea at where I was horse skills wise and where I had got to with Aleeta then took us into the school.

Aleeta behaved impecably (which wasn't really the plan) so we let her loose while Dido and I went through some basic leading techniques and pressure and release which is actually not as easy as it sounds. We then tried to apply what she had taught me to actually working with Aleeta this is where she began to behave how she normally does with me, a little bargy and rearing when she gets bored / frustrated. By applying what she had taught me and with her giving hints / suggestions Aleeta really started to respond well. Dido was explaining why she was doing things and not doing other things and it helped me to realise that Aleeta is not nasty at all just confused with the mixed signals I have been giving her.

The final test was getting her in the stable. It can take me 10-15 mins to get her in some days others she will walk straight in. She refused today so Dido gave some tips and after 3/4 attempts it was taking a matter of seconds rather than minutes.

All in all I was please with the session and have booked another. The only downside was that it did seem quite expensive at £88 although she travelled a good 45 mins to me and stayed for 2 hours.
 
Sounds like it was well worth the money.
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Well she started of with me as the horse her as handler and asked me to do certain things ie lag behind run past lean on her etc etc then she showed me how to deal with each problem. Its all based around pressure and reward but its not full on yanking just small amounts of gentle pressure then once you get a response you praise with a small rub on neck or nose. The only time she ever went into a more aggresive mode was when Alee reared with this she took one step back so as to be out of the way of flying feet and waved the long line at her driving aleeta back then when aleeta tried to run she just kept putting pressure on her to turn in towards her this went on for 10 mins or so and once alee realised she was beaten she stopped turned in, licked and chewed and waited for her reward - a pat on the neck. We did lots of backing up when she did things wrong and lots of light patting anmd pressure release when thing were good. Aleeta responded well and Dido feels that she will come on in leaps and bounds
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Sounds great, really interesting isn't it, especially about giving horses 'mixed messages' and you managed to sort out the going in the stable problem yay! and at least the weather brightened up a bit from this morning
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Sam x
 
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