What a change from Tuesday! Leo acted like an old plow pony! We had so many breakthroughs last night. I've worked with Leo for a year now and he's never been relaxed on the lunge line. Never has relaxed enough to put his head down or even walk on the lunge line. His gait is always a fast trot at the very minimum. I worked on keeping him nice and relaxed this time.
I also tried some big NO-NOs from how I was taught to do things. I was always taught you need to face the horse while lunging and always stay 'behind' their forwards motion. I was taught to keep a straight line from elbow to the horses mouth, and keep the other arm free for encouragement. Plus I always stay on high alert to make sure the line isn't dragging on the ground for the horse to get tangled up.
This time I had Leo out on a circle trotting around and I just stood in one place. Not turning as he went around the circle. As he trotted behind me I just switched the end of the lunge line from one hand to the next behind my back.
Before I even attempted this, I made sure I was in a locked ring so if Leo got loose he could go anywhere. Plus I knew that if he ended up stepping on the lunge line he wouldn't freak out. He would stand there and wait for me to help him out. I also knew he wasn't going to do something stupid behind my back, like trying to run me over.... etc
By standing in one spot and not facing Leo for the entire circle it made him much more relaxed. He used the full lunge line and stayed out in a larger circle, it's usually a challenge to keep him out on a larger circle, in both directions. His trot rhythm slowed down and smoothed out.
After we had gone both directions I even got him to calmly walk on the full lunge circle in both directions! The first time ever! He was calm and even stretched his head down to the point where his nose was only inches off the ground. (no he wasn't trying to eat grass! lol)
This takes our whole relationship to a new level of trust. :) I'm so excited. Afterward we went back to the barn to do grooming and clicker training.
I put my target on a stick today, so I could move it around easier. It worked well. We worked in a small paddock and Leo left a couple times to go eat some dead grass. I was able to distract him from the grass most of the time. :) We also worked on backing up. I placed my had on his chest and just waited for him to shift his weight back. As soon as he did, I clicked and gave a carrot. This new exercise caused our light bulb moment! As soon as I clicked Leo started looking to me for a treat. During our next session we may work on picking his feet up..... it would be wonderful if Leo started holding his own feet up! lol much more back friendly.
I can't decide if Leo is just finally starting to trust me more or maybe it's because I'm ready to trust him....
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