Driving On

Cisco, Chaco and Sparky are in driving school. Right now they are only driving in the ox-pen, but in a few days, they will be ready for the open road. Surprisingly, the best one is Chaco. He turns, backs, and moves his hindquarters on light cues. He walks straight. In contrast, Cisco and Sparky try to second guess me and end up wandering more than following the fence line. I'm not sure how much to force them into line or if I should just take any forward movement as a gift.

We spent quite a few days working on halter driving. Brad Cameron shows it in detail in his Mulemanship I video. It's also the "Dance" in Frank Bell's 7 Step Safety System. Cisco needed the practice, just to get over his fear of ropes. Jerri needed to master being able to get the animals to walk around her. We took our time and got these issues worked out before we attached any driving lines. Cisco's stress was minimized, Jerri can handle the calmer animals.

The animals wear a surcingle and a web-halter. I have considered putting them on the bit at this point. I should, I know, but they aren't doing badly in their halters. Making bitting decisions is always hard for me, even if I know I really only have one full-cheek snaffle to choose from. They need to learn that resistance is futile and the bit will help them come to the conclusion faster. Maybe I will introduce the concept tomorrow with a squeeze bottle of molasses and the bit without any headstall. I think when I get it going the first day I will just lunge them at liberty carrying the bit and headstall, we will practice some flexion in hand, then the second day I will put a tiedown on them and get them to going along with their heads down even with their withers.

Today I ordered Andrew McLean's horse training book: Training the McLean Way. I loved his The Truth about Horses, so I expect this one to be equally good. I will report on it on the Hinnywhisperer Blog. It has to come all the way from Australia. Shipping is $25!!!

Speaking of the Hinnywhisperer and McLean, I started putting assignments up for my students on the Never Stop Learning forum under the Horsemanship discussion. If you would like to join us, just register for the forum and get to reading. The first assignment was reading Everyrider on Leadership, the second is reading McLean on the seven principles of horse training. You can email me your assignments or post them as a discussion on the forum.

This morning, it was the day to tend to the freshly exfoliated hooves (thanks to a few days of rain). I got Sparky, Chaco, and Cracker trimmed. They were all perfectly mannered, quietly standing for the grinder. I must admit that their hooves have never looked better. Very nice natural hoof shape, finally outgrowing the cracked quarters they had developed with my previous farrier.

Finally, just before the evening feeding, I had the students don their helmets and we took a spoon, a round rock, and JD into the round pen. I lunged them around while they tried to maintain enough elasticity to keep the rock in the spoon. They all did great. I took the last ride. JD was obeying my voice commands. My trotting position was only slightly better than theirs. I know what I need to work on. It needs to start with absolute awareness of what my body is doing.

Yrs,
Patricia