DAY 18: Yesterday
was a "Good Day!" Great session with Roscoe last evening. We tried
working in the round pen (3rd time) and did work on the line too. Our friend
and horse enthusiast Angela Butt came by to learn how to work with Roscoe on
the ground...plus she is Super-Groom and he likes that! The session started
with some basic desensitizing exercise
and flexing exercises then we took the lead line off the halter and
established a direction at the walk. We got "two eyes, did some
"mellow” direction changes and even got him to "lock on" sans
the line. This was the smoothest session in the round pen so far. His flexing
is getting betters and his HQ Yields are nice. Backing...we're working on getting
more energy in his feet versus not pushing too much. He is feeling much better
and has more energy to be sure. He actually broke into a trot and a lope a few
times all on his own. Looks like the
"diet" is helping him gain weight and making his coat look much
better too. He seems willing to try any of the training exercises and catches
on quickly to most of them. Sometimes we can see the “I have no idea what you
want” look in his eye so we adapt, adjust and try again until he gets the right
answer and feels confident in the action. .No real complaints so far...lets
hope it stays that way (it never does but we can hope).
DAY 19: 7:00am -
Almost 80 degrees out! It is going to be a warm one. Laurie and I will take
Roscoe and Argent to the local area in the afternoon. The goal is to keep
refining the ground skills on both horses. Roscoe may get to do a couple of
laps and big circles under saddle if his ground work session goes well. Argent
is working on a variety of things and is doing well (he likes to show off to
his buddy). 5:00pm – Still warm out. Off we go! The “goal” today was refinement
and getting better at the exercises. More energy and a quicker comprehension of
what was asked was also part of the aspirations for the day. We were 80%
successful. Some of the backing exercises were still a little slower than we
had hoped even though the understanding had improved. Yielding of the
Hindquarters Stage 1 and Stage 2 were pretty good. We did more trotting with
Lunging for Respect Stage 1 and even got some nice tight changes of direction
with Stage 2. In short there was improvement. Again, human patience was the
challenge because of our own hopes and projections. Working with Roscoe forces
a reality check on the human to be sure. We have to let go of our “wants” in a
training situation and really listen to what Roscoe is telling us. Some
exercises he picks up very fast and others he is challenged by…he is willing to
try…but the understanding of what we are asking is not as clear. We, as human,
work on refinement and clarity too. We want to be clear, concise and not “baby
sit” our horses but we also need to be patient and give them the opportunity to
learn and grow. It forces a mental and spiritual “slow down” and refocus. Good
for the body, good for the soul.
DAY 20: Another
round pen day with Roscoe and Angela. Roscoe seems a little stiff from the
previous session so we kept it light and basic (more mental than physical for
Roscoe). Angela is picking up the skills pretty quickly and Roscoe got lots of
breaks and cookies while we chatted about the Method and the goals we were
shooting for. Good attitudes and performances by all concerned. We've started a
"photo journal" of Roscoe's progress and training. We took some
pictures the day we gt him home and again on Day 17 to see if any changes had
occurred. It seems some changes have happened! We also took some of Roscoe
working on the line. He is soft, responsive and understands that the human
means a rest and cookies and everything else means work. Not a bad starting
point!
DAY 21-22: Roscoe
got a couple of days off to relax and enjoy being pampered. Not a bad way to
spend a couple of days.
DAY 23: Sassy and
spunky would best describe the attitude of Roscoe and Argent today!
Today was the last day for Roscoe’s prescribed pain medicine
dose (he was down to .5 gram dose in his afternoon feeding this week). We now
get to add more supplements to his diet to help with his hoof growth. He has
really hard feet but the uneven growth and poor hoof care, (which our farrier
trimmed back as much as possible) took its toll on Roscoe and getting them back
to a healthy, normal balance is our goal. In typical Roscoe fashion, he met us
at the gate ready to go another adventure. Argent however wanted to play the Keep-A-Way
Game with Laurie and ran all around the pasture being silly (he is such a
pretty mover it is hard to stay miffed at him for too long). When I went out to
“help” Laurie catch her boy, Argent knew the game was over and walked over to
Laurie. We load them up and off we go to the local arena!
Today we
were going to mix it up some. We were going to tack Roscoe up and do his ground
work session. The vet said we could start to add weight during the training
sessions. On the ground he can do a mix of walking and trotting and we can
start doing “conditioning” rides of 10-15 minutes mostly at the walk but with
some short bursts of trot worked in. We’ll need to keep the size of the rider
smaller than me for a couple of weeks and see how it goes. Awesome! Roscoe
saddles up like a champ which is nice. He has that “been there, done that”
attitude about it. We left the rope halter and lead on and took the riddle down
with us to the arena. We progressed through the Fundamental Exercises 2-5, 7
and 8 (these were OK’d by the vet). He is performing these exercises much
better and seems to have a decent grasp of the concepts. He “knows” what
flexing is and almost beats me to the punch on his right side…I start to pick
up the lead and his nose is on the girth line. Crazy! Tap the Air (when
backing) was tough for him at first. Now he backs off to a respectful distance
when the stick is waved. Marching he knows well. Wiggle Wave Walk and Whack
still “scare him” a little but it is getting better. Steady Pressure is getting
lighter and lighter. His hindquarter yields are nice (both Stage 1 and Stage 2)
Lunging for Respect Stage 1 went well at the walk and trot. We even dabbled
with Stage 2 and it looked comfortable for him (not perfect by any stretch but
comfortable). Introduced the Yielding the Forequarters exercise. It took a
while for him to sort of get the concept. He can sure bend his head away from
the pressure a lot before moving his feet! At least we established a starting
point.
So now it
is time to put the bridle on and let Laurie do his first conditioning ride.
It was at this point a “challenge” presented itself. Roscoe
was acting like a child who does not want to eat his vegetables! He dropped is
head to the sand and turned his face away from me. Then he would not open his
mouth. Finally after a good ten minutes of advance and retreat he took the bit.
It was not a “fear” issue as much as a “I don’t wanna” issue. He knows the bit
means “work” and didn’t want to do so. Laurie mounted up and flexed under
saddle a few times at each side and then did Follow the Fence at the walk,
adding large circles to the inside every 20 feet or so. He was a little
tentative at first but has he moved out and realized it didn’t hurt anymore he
gave us his “big boy” walk and really moved out well. A couple laps each way
and then a nice rest. Next Laurie did the cruising lesion and added some short
burst of trotting and ending with a one-reign stop. Most of the time Roscoe
listened to her seat and if he missed that cue when she reached down the rein
to pull back he stopped. That is nice! His transitions were rusty but not
explosive or overly jerky. He seems to want to elevate his shoulder instead of
dropping it into a turn. He even tried a roll back of sorts when asked for a
direction change. He gets and A for effort! We have a great deal of
conditioning to do in the weeks ahead before the winter hits. The goal is to
get these exercises comfortable and to build up both his confidence and his
muscles so that he can perform what he knows (and wheat we’ll show him) with
ease and comfort. All in all it was a good day!
DAY 24: Due to a
schedule situation with work we only got some round pen time in today. We spent
about 30 minutes reviewing the previous exercises and we are seeing some
improvement in the understanding and execution of the exercises. This was a
super-light day training wise. Roscoe made some improvements. We’ll call it a
win.
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