I have been playing with Hieldorf. As much as I have been with any of them, which isn’t a whole lot. Most of what we do I use for The Confidence Challenge. That has been tons of fun so far. He works perfectly to demonstrate how a horse who has never done it reacts when introduced to positive reinforcement. Plus he’s a beautiful model.<\/p>\n
It warmed up a little last week and I managed to go out and play with him again.<\/p>\n
We’ve done enough +R that he comes running up to the front corrals when he hears anyone outside. So he was at the gate and I was able to close a gate between him and the other horses. Part of the reason I’m finding it difficult to work with a horse right now is Rusty. He is insanely jealous of me and chases any other horses away when I try to catch them. I have to catch Rusty and lock him up in order to mess with anyone else. I think I need to work on that \ud83d\ude09\u00a0 Rusty stood outside the gate the whole time I worked with Heildorf and had a temper tantrum.<\/p>\n
Hieldorf has been ridden. I prefer to restart all my horses from scratch though, to make sure they know the things I think they should. Hieldorf is getting the same treatment. The first thing I really really want them to know is how to step over to a gate for mounting. It makes getting on much easier but it also lets them get used to you above them before you are stuck to their backs.<\/p>\n
As chill as Hieldorf is about most things he scatters as soon as I step up onto a fence. Here we are working a little on getting used to me above him. Trying to show him I’m not scary and wont eat him. He is totally not convinced.<\/p>\n
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