Wednesday, July 2, 2008

This morning we worked on the testing and rubric that we started yesterday.  Today we tested how they came out of a gate (did they run you over?), lunging at a walk, trot, and canter by verbal cues, and lunging over an obstacle.  Lunging is when the horse is at the end of a long rope, and you are in the middle telling him what to do.

This morning, I also got Chaco to step over to an upside down bucket and I got on the bucket and leaned over him.  He's such a baby . . . he doesn't care.  Pat showed me what to practice with him, so I'll be working on that next.  I really want to ride him.

Later today while Pat was practicing getting on Cisco, I enticed Chaco into another stall and tried to teach him to get close enough to the fence so that I could get on him.  He did really well.  After Pat turned Cisco loose, she asked what I wanted to do, and I asked to teach Chaco to drive.  Until he learns to take commands from someone in back of him, he can't be ridden.  So, this is a step in the right direction.  Before we started, I wanted to show her how I got him close to the upside down bucket.  So, he and I were standing there, and I was talking to Pat.  Chaco must have gotten annoyed that I wasn't paying any attention to him, so he picked up his hoof and put it on my foot that was on top of the bucket!  It hurt!  I asked Pat if that was a domination thing (which would have been bad), but she said, no, he was just trying to get my attention.  He got it all right!

After that, we turned him loose outside, and he kept following me around.  Pat watched us and then said that she wished she had the movie camera!  He was so cute following me around like a little puppy!