Sunny walks peacefully at the end of the ropeSunny is still struggling with being caught. However, with the new hot wire up in the pasture, dividing it into three smaller sections, I decided I could turn her out with the long rope and not have any real big issues. She's been enjoying her time outside where she can graze, even though there's not much grass.
I finally broke down and watched a Parelli video the other day with Darling. I've never watched one before, but figured it couldn't hurt to see what he had to say on the subject of catching. Not having a round pen has made things somewhat challenging, and as I was watching the video I was thinking I could probably fashion some sort of temporary pen for Sunny. Low and behold, Mr. Parelli mentioned making one out of hot wire. Yup, that would certainly work. In the end, I felt good about how I'd been handling things, knowing that something other than my odd shaped paddock full of corners would be helpful.
Even without the round pen, I decided to go outside and see what I could accomplish with Sunny in the pasture. While it's not a big pasture, it gives her more room to move than she had in the paddock. I decided to see how she'd work on the end of the long cotton rope using the same basic techniques I've been trying in the paddock. Sure, I'd have more control of her face than if she were loose in a round pen, but it was worth a shot. And you know what? She did amazingly well!
After just a few minutes, she was turning and facing me, then letting me walk up to her. Darling was outside, so I asked if she'd like to give it a try. Up until this point, Darling had never worked with Sunny. In fact, the closest she'd ever gotten was a couple months ago when she sat down with a pan of grain, so this would be a real test to see just what Sunny had learned in the past few minutes. Keep in mind that Darling has never worked any horse in this fashion before.
Darling stays even with Sunny's hip, keeping the forward motion going.
Sunny decides to look at Darling, so Darling stops moving
Sunny is relaxed and allows Darling to walk up towards her.
3 comments:
Great Progress! Yes, a round pen does make it easier, but you can do just as much without one, just in a different way. :)
Keep it up. Darling did so well! You should be really proud of her.
That's so wonderful. Sunny is coming along very well.
I have no round pen either. I guess we just do what we have to do without one.
We don't have a round pen either...I want one so bad to start doing some liberty work with Maddy. Sunny is coming along!
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