anniedoherty
Well-Known Member
Oliver had his first lesson at the new yard today. I want to get more control over him on the ground because he is quite dominant and, being about 16:3 hh, I really need him to have a bit more respect so I am having natural horsemanship lessons.
Although he is rising 7 now he isn't very mature mentally and gets stressed by anything new. We started the lesson and the trainer was working with him to assess him. He tried to do join up but Ollie got incredibly worried and decided to leap the 4 foot gate right out of the arena. I was standing in front of the gate and I didn't think he was going to jump because he skidded to a halt in front of it but then he just cat leaped from a standstill and cleared it with his forelegs but hit it and broke it with his back legs which are now grazed.
Not the best start but once I'd caught him we carried on (not with join up obviously) because the grazes were superficial. By the end of the session he was doing pretty well and I was pleased with the progress he'd made. I don't expect the next session to be half as nerve wracking for either me or him!
Although he is rising 7 now he isn't very mature mentally and gets stressed by anything new. We started the lesson and the trainer was working with him to assess him. He tried to do join up but Ollie got incredibly worried and decided to leap the 4 foot gate right out of the arena. I was standing in front of the gate and I didn't think he was going to jump because he skidded to a halt in front of it but then he just cat leaped from a standstill and cleared it with his forelegs but hit it and broke it with his back legs which are now grazed.
Not the best start but once I'd caught him we carried on (not with join up obviously) because the grazes were superficial. By the end of the session he was doing pretty well and I was pleased with the progress he'd made. I don't expect the next session to be half as nerve wracking for either me or him!
