Today on the way to the barn I was wondering whether Kai would be challenging my leadership because I have not seen him for a week.
When I got to the gate Kai was looking at me with both eyes from behind the round hay bale. I called him and he took a few steps forward, stopping right on the edge of the ice.
I went into the paddock and disengaged his HQ and he came right over. I held out the bit and he reached and took it without my help. I took it out and gave him a cookie.
When I took him to the arena Kai began to prance around and was wanting to roll. I asked him to take the bit again and then let him loose so that he could roll and prance for a little while. He bucked and ran and lay down to roll and then bucked and ran some more.
The paddock was all icy and it was too slippery for him to play so he was extra excited. I caught him and tied him in the corner for a little while so that I could help scoop the horses’ grain.
I came back and gave him his breakfast before playing some stick to me transitions. Kai does really good walk and trot transitions but he lags behind me during the canter transitions. I persisted until I got a good one each direction and then moved on to practicing walking and trotting with his head down.
Then Kaila offered to trim his feet. Kai pulled his foot away from Kaila several times and I corrected him with phase four right away. I drove him in a very tight and fast circle with lots of changes of directions and then got him back to trimming right away. He figured out that he needed to stand nicely and Kaila could finish the trim. I put the cooler on him and gave him permission to roll when he was done. We ended the session with some more bridling practice, asking him to hold the bit longer each time.
When I got to the gate Kai was looking at me with both eyes from behind the round hay bale. I called him and he took a few steps forward, stopping right on the edge of the ice.
I went into the paddock and disengaged his HQ and he came right over. I held out the bit and he reached and took it without my help. I took it out and gave him a cookie.
When I took him to the arena Kai began to prance around and was wanting to roll. I asked him to take the bit again and then let him loose so that he could roll and prance for a little while. He bucked and ran and lay down to roll and then bucked and ran some more.
The paddock was all icy and it was too slippery for him to play so he was extra excited. I caught him and tied him in the corner for a little while so that I could help scoop the horses’ grain.
I came back and gave him his breakfast before playing some stick to me transitions. Kai does really good walk and trot transitions but he lags behind me during the canter transitions. I persisted until I got a good one each direction and then moved on to practicing walking and trotting with his head down.
Then Kaila offered to trim his feet. Kai pulled his foot away from Kaila several times and I corrected him with phase four right away. I drove him in a very tight and fast circle with lots of changes of directions and then got him back to trimming right away. He figured out that he needed to stand nicely and Kaila could finish the trim. I put the cooler on him and gave him permission to roll when he was done. We ended the session with some more bridling practice, asking him to hold the bit longer each time.