Horse vent

So, Hank has decided that if he must longe, I can just hang it up on the whole riding thing.

I had him in the cross ties (not his fave, he walks back and forth and back and...). Groomed him, saddled him up, put the bridle on with his halter on his neck, still attached to the cross ties, thinking that he would have no choice but to stay still enough for me to mount. He pulled one of the buckles off of the ties..... Grrr.

Okay, so I take him into the arena (tug-of-war, he wants to go outside, at this point I don't care what he wants) and longe him for about 25 minutes - trot, walk, trot, walk, both ways. Then he does follow-the-leader behind me, stopping when I do, backing up on command. We were both sweating at that point. I start to take him back out to the cross ties and he starts yanking his head towards outside. We longe again. We do follow-the-leader outside, as a positive. Then Terri (barn owner) has to step behind him in order to get him back into the barn 'cause that's not where he wants to go.

Ya know, he was fairly well behaved before he came here... not perfect by any means, but I could at least get on him. I have another lesson with Terri next Monday and she suggested escalating the response to his walking off during mounting - he is in no apparent pain, no flinches with massage or shifting during saddling.

I'm glad I have someone to help me. I think one of the larger problems is my experience base - I'm always trying to figure out whether or not the problem is me - am I giving crossed messages? am I doing this right? instead of - okay, is he pushing his limits with me?

Okay, end vent.