Sometimes you're right but it doesn't make a difference if your horse believes you're wrong. I've been working with Best on leading and lunging to the right and he just doesn't believe it is the proper thing to do. He's not mean or obnoxious about it, but if you give him an inch he'll put you back on his left side. My big achievement of the week? He made it one round of the lunge line going clockwise without stopping. Stop the presses!
Actually it is a big deal for Best. For 11 years everyone worked with him in one specific way and now, in a very short amount of time, I'm asking him to give up those 11 years of training for something very different. Even when he was in harness they turned him to the left more often than the right. That's hard for him to learn such a different way of going.
Draken never had any issues with people being anywhere around him, which I think was a result of being at Morrisville College. So in an effort to help Best I've tapped into my local library. Currently I'm reading Clinton Andersons' Downunder Horsemanship for some advice and have found his concept of "comfort zones" to be helpful with Best.
I did have to put us both in 'time out' on Sunday though. Best was bending to the left but just wasn't getting it to the right. It was very frustrating for both of us. However, before either of us did something stupid I put us in the center of the ring and we just stood there for a while, chilling. When we hit the rail again we still couldn't bend to the right, so I stopped and went to the left. We finished on a semi-positive note. Before we go back to work on bending I'm going to spend some more time working with him on the lunge line. Realistically, if he can't get a round circle with me on the ground then it's probably to early to be asking for it in the cart. Hopefully that will get us going in the 'right' direction.
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