Tying without Trauma

Ruby brought the mail and there was the new Perfect Horse issue. John Lyons wrote an article called "Tying without Trauma". Wow! He should have been here yesterday! I got a cup of tea and sat down to read it, but I ended up reading it like I was wolfing it down and running out to try his stuff before I could even sip the tea. It was one of those days where I left unsipped cups of tea in the kitchen several times, and when I went to heat one up, I found another in the microwave where I heated it up earlier.

Lyons recommends that for four days, in each session you have the horse circle you on a leadrope in a roundpen and stop it at random by sharp pulls on the lead. As the horse learns to comply, you increase the speed. We got to a good crisp trot today. Cisco only went sideways once, but he was on the long rope in a 36ft square pen, so he never got free. At each stop, the horse ends up facing me, so I gave him some positive reinforcement each time. He likes that part.

I have been getting on and off Paisley. Sometimes she is tackless, but she never does anything but wait until I get back off and give her a treat. She's been saddled and driven in the pen, now it's time to drive her around the yard. When we graduate to driving down Largo Canyon, I will know I have a real horse.

Cracker Joe is the most eager boy of the bunch. He absolutely loves his training time, but today we had to get a little problem sorted out and he thought I was rather unfair. I wanted him to stand with his rump in the corner of the pen, so when I asked him to move his front legs sideways, his back legs would be not likely to move. He tried to refuse to be in the corner, so it was time to make the corner the only good part of the pen, everywhere else involved cantering suddenly and after three minutes, the corner, with all of its peace and quiet, seemed like the place to be. For a minute after he is coerced into compliance he seems mad, but he gets over it when he realizes that he can still earn rewards.