I was out at the ranch today and got pics of Cocoa!
1. Cocoa (you can see my little brother in the background...he wanted to come see my horsey
)
2. Cocoa yawning
3. classic eye shot
4. isn't he cute
(till he starts throwing a hissy-fit at being tied up along in the arena
)
No his mane isn't cut off, there's just short strands sticking up...the rest of it's on his near side.
And no I didn't pick the color of his halter.
(yuck...I should go buy a blue one)
Had a pretty good time out there. I'm still working with him to get him used to being alone, so just longed him and brushed him & gave him treats.
I'm working on getting him to be ok being alone in the arena, and working on obedience...he's a bit full of himself at times & doesn't listen to me. He was actually doing really good longing...I was actually able to drop the whip part way through. Which is great considering last time I couldn't even get him going without someone to lead him around to get him started.
I realized my problem longing him was that I was trying to make him walk beside me, and then back up as he gets going in a circle. Works with most horses, but Cocoa naturally resists the pressure and doesn't like me trying to force him to walk beside me. He's just way to smart...he knows when I'm gonna longe him so he turns in to face me and won't let me get behind him.
When I try to get next to his shoulder and lead him into the circle he just resists and balks when he feels me pulling on the lead, but I realized if I just let him go I can back him into a corner and snap the whip on one side of him, so he has to run the other way. Works a lot better for him, though I wouldn't do that to any other horse.
I'd run him till he lowered his head and then tell him to whoa, and he'd walk up to me & follow me around with no guidance from the rope. Pretty cool...you guys ever seen join-up demos? I was doing pretty much the same thing, just with a longe line since it's too big of an arena.
I tried to lead him over to the tie but he balked and wouldn't let me tie him (he hates standing, super impatient horse), so I made him run again till he lowered his head & started chewing (sign of submission), and he followed me right up to the tie and stood...well not perfectly, but a lot better than usual. Basically made it into his choice rather than trying to drag him up to the rope...either you follow me over and get tied up here, or you run. Obviously he chose to follow me. He tried to start pawing once but I told him 'quit' and he stopped immediately and didn't try it again (whereas usually he keeps trying to do it...so we're definately making progress).
Ok end of novel.
I just love working with horses.
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