jyuukai
Well-Known Member
Hey guys! As I mentioned in my Re-Introduction thread, I've been ground driving my mare lightly (from pasture to barn) since she was a young yearling and over the last summer and till now we moved up to ground driving her in a circle/down the road/all the other fun places more grown up ponies drive
I do have a question though. She is not the first horse I have ever 'started' but she is the first I have started for harness! I notice that while she will gladly take direction from me she has a very hard time staying straight in any way shape or form! If I am 'driving' her down the driveway or the road for instance I must constantly switch the hand my whip is in as she drifts left, and then right, and then left again and she absolutely loses all sense of direction unless I keep steady contact with her mouth.
I do not mind giving her direction in this way, really, as I understand she is young but I think it's time for her to start learning this skill on her own. I would like to be able to trust her enough to point her in a direction and she continues to go that way, leaving me free to work on other things with her! Do you guys have any exercises we can work on to help us out?
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Well I went out today (2/2/12) on my own to work with her. I typically don't go out without a friend because of some dogs in the area but I just had to try this out! Booooy was she HOT today
Spooking at everything and wanting to trot trot trot! Which was good! I made her keep up the energy at a walk and she was much easier to drive today, none of that wet noodleness, except for when we saw some scary BUSHES on the road lol
I had to take her off the pavement because of how she was acting, I was afraid that if a car went by she would act stupid, so we went into the field today. We did lots and lots of lines and circles mostly at a big forward trot and some at a good walk. She did very well and after about 10 minutes she gave me that nice stretch into the bit that she occasionally shows me
I wanted to keep going but it is 70F here again and she has full winter jammies at the moment, so she was working up quite a sweat! I gave her a half an hour of grazing in a big GREEN field as a reward.
THANK YOU GUYS!! For giving me all that good advice! I took parts of everything that every one of you said and kept them in mind for our workout today and it went SPLENDIDLY! I am so glad I asked on this forum!!
I do have a question though. She is not the first horse I have ever 'started' but she is the first I have started for harness! I notice that while she will gladly take direction from me she has a very hard time staying straight in any way shape or form! If I am 'driving' her down the driveway or the road for instance I must constantly switch the hand my whip is in as she drifts left, and then right, and then left again and she absolutely loses all sense of direction unless I keep steady contact with her mouth.
I do not mind giving her direction in this way, really, as I understand she is young but I think it's time for her to start learning this skill on her own. I would like to be able to trust her enough to point her in a direction and she continues to go that way, leaving me free to work on other things with her! Do you guys have any exercises we can work on to help us out?
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Well I went out today (2/2/12) on my own to work with her. I typically don't go out without a friend because of some dogs in the area but I just had to try this out! Booooy was she HOT today
I had to take her off the pavement because of how she was acting, I was afraid that if a car went by she would act stupid, so we went into the field today. We did lots and lots of lines and circles mostly at a big forward trot and some at a good walk. She did very well and after about 10 minutes she gave me that nice stretch into the bit that she occasionally shows me
I wanted to keep going but it is 70F here again and she has full winter jammies at the moment, so she was working up quite a sweat! I gave her a half an hour of grazing in a big GREEN field as a reward.
THANK YOU GUYS!! For giving me all that good advice! I took parts of everything that every one of you said and kept them in mind for our workout today and it went SPLENDIDLY! I am so glad I asked on this forum!!
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