Lunging

So before I put Dodge up yesterday we lunged for about 10 minutes. I've done this twice now, each time giving her little clucks, maybe a kiss, and kinda letting her do her own thing.

I am going out there tomorrow and we are going to work on walk. Nothing else. I am going to put her one the lunge line and ask for a walk. I am going to put the whip facing towards the ground and just follow her. She likes to just start "trotting" or whatever that gait is that they do.

I am going to ask for the walk then shut down. I will keep her moving forward but I want her to understand that I want her to walk. Not "trot", not lope. If she shuts down completely I will move her forward again. I am not asking for a fast gait. I am simply asking for her to walk. This is somewhat backwards from what she is doing and I have a feeling it is going to take alot of time for her to understand I am not asking for speed. I am just asking for a walk.

She does well with the shut down, she wants to stop. So I am going to attempt to shut down almost all the way. I read a 1,2,3 method on another blog for horse training and I am going to apply it to her here. But in this training aspect I don't want alot of forward movement and hopefully she will understand that I am not asking for a crapton of movement. Hopefully when she realizes that I am not clucking, raising my voice, or flicking that whip, that she will relax.

If she gets it,then we'll move to another gait. Just right now we need to work on her walk. This will help me with leading I know. It's not just lunging its groundwork for her. Leading is getting alot better. She stands quietly at the stall door now. She still pushes me a little but now knows if she pushes me I push harder. Her owner commented on how Dodge is understand who I am and her attitude towards me is begining to change. Which is a good thing.

Yesterday after I got done mucking out her stall, I felt like crap so I sat down in a chair to just rest for a minute. She came right over to me and nuzzled her head in my lap. I know she was looking for a treat, which she got, but it was still really sweet. After that she never walked to far away from me and always wanted to know where the treats were every few minutes. I think I am making some headway in the treat giving dept training. ;)

For being 19 she is still sharp as a whistle and a quick quick learner. I love her to death. ;)