Sunday, October 14, 2012

Sometimes It Just Clicks

I've been on the road for a while, so I haven't posted much lately.  I haven't been doing much horse work either, or so I thought.  I'm constantly amazed at how intelligent horses actually are.  Sometimes it takes months of repetition in session after session to learn something.  Not so with the last horse I worked with.  Baby is a 3 year old walking horse gelding.  He earned his name by virtue of being the youngest horse at the stable.  He is gentle, and a pleasure to ride.  But folks were having problems getting him to stand still for mounting.  He isn't actively trying to bully the rider like Hawk, in my earlier posts.
http://randomnotesfromthesaddle.blogspot.com/2012/07/still-life.html#!/2012/07/continuing-education-of-hawk.html
Baby is just young, and doesn't know any better. 

A week or so ago, I had a bit of time after work to spend with Baby.  We didn't go anywhere.  We just spent a little less than an hour mounting and dismounting in the arena.  His performance wasn't bad, but nothing to brag about either.  I thought I'd have to work with him a few more times.  Then, I was gone for over a week. 

Today, I went to the barn to get a few buckets of fresh horse manure.  (That's another story in itself.)  Several folks had just returned from a good trail ride through the local woods.  I stopped and chatted with them for a while.  Everyone took a turn bragging about how their horse had behaved.  Baby's rider chimed in with the rest.  Then the boss turned to me and said "I don't know what you did with that horse, but when you get on him now, he doesn't move a muscle."

Like the title says.  Sometimes, it just clicks.

2 comments:

  1. A good read and you are right. Some times we just click with the horse. My horse Bugs is one in point.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello Stan. Thanks for stopping by. Baby was pretty much a fresh canvas. Still, I thought it would take a few sessions for it to sink in.

      Delete