Although it was sprinkling, I decided to see what I could do with Libby in the round pen; I really didn't expect things to go very well, but I decided to follow the old adage, "Do something, lest ye do nothing".
I read a couple of articles on the Internet several times over. One by Julie Goodnight, a very helpful one HERE, and some others.
Once my filly and I were in the round pen, I began swinging a rope in Libby's direction, pointing in the direction I wanted her to go (telling myself, "Yeah, sure... she's going to know what I mean when I point.") and after a couple of false starts and wrong tries, she was soon going around and around... just like she was supposed to do!
And by about the third time of me dropping my pointing arm and my rope and saying whoa, she realized she was supposed to stop. After another round or two, she not only stopped at my signal, but she turned toward me, paused, and then slowly approached me to get her praise for a job well done.
I'm speechless!
I only took her in one direction today. It began raining harder, and besides, I like to end things on a positive note.
What a horse.
It sounds like Libby is a smart horse :)
ReplyDeleteyou have a nice round pen! Cliff did a good job building it.
Nothing is better for starting a young horse than a round pen and some free lunging! Kudos to the both of you for doing so well!
ReplyDeleteWow! What a great job!! You are really giving me the incentive to get a round pen. Sounds like she is going to be a very willing girl for you. Good job and keep us posted!
ReplyDeleteSounds a lot like the Parelli work that one of my friends used to do and it was so successful.
ReplyDeleteShe took a saddleseat show horse who everyone said was half nuts and retrained her to be able to be ridden bareback with a halter.
If I hadn't seen it with my eyes and knew this was a horse who had tried to bite me everytime I fed her and had knocked my husband out I would have thought it was a lie.
Kudos to you for using this method. You've got a beauty and she will just bloom with your kind ways.