Tugger10's blog

Something has to be broken.

Posted Thu, 09/02/2010 - 23:58 by Tugger10  Tugger10

Today was the first real play session I've had with Tug for 5 days or so. I had a plan, but I was willing to change it. There were some good and bad moments, but they didn't go from bad to good or good to bad. Instead, they were mixed together so I don't know what that means.

Hmmmm...how interesting

Posted Wed, 09/01/2010 - 02:43 by Tugger10  Tugger10

It's been about 3 days I guess since I've played with Tug. I just haven't had time, and I thought that a few days of UDT would do us good. Well, I really haven't even done that. :( So tonight after he ate I decided to take him out to eat in the ditch. The pasture is about gone, and the ditch is just as green as it could be. Anyways we yo-yoed through the gate, and I tried to see if I could get him to stop by lifting the rope, and then sending him back. He seemed to get that, so we headed to the ditch. I didn't have my carrot stick, so I tried driving him by just pointing forward.

Yesterday's blog.

Posted Mon, 08/30/2010 - 03:32 by Tugger10  Tugger10

This was from yesterday. I posted it on my blog, but not on here. :P

Almost!

Posted Sat, 08/28/2010 - 22:23 by Tugger10  Tugger10

So today I thought I'd try to ride Tug in from the pasture and then do some go/whoa and pushing passenger lessons in the lot beside the barn. But when I went out to the pasture with my mom, the mares ran up to the barn and Tug was at the end. As we started walking to him, I could tell that he was thinking about running in. He did and as he got closer he started to slow down. And instead of running around us like he normally does, he went right past us with an ear cocked in my direction.

We didn't play long, but we rode!

Posted Sat, 08/28/2010 - 03:28 by Tugger10  Tugger10

Tug was at the end of the pasture when I went out with a carrot in my back pocket. The mares were close to the gate, so I took my halter, 12 ft line, and stick to get Tug. I was afraid he'd take off running when I got up to him, so I dropped everything and just went to him with the carrot. Then he followed me back and I put the halter on him. When I turned around, I expected him to put his head down and eat, but the next thing I knew, he was trying to grab the carrot from my pocket! :P

What was the difference?

Posted Fri, 08/27/2010 - 03:11 by Tugger10  Tugger10

Today I played with Tug in the pasture before I brought the horses up. I had planned to do traveling circles, but we got stuck on transitions. Going to the left, his bad side, he did fine. He didn't speed up like he normally does. But he got stuck on slowing down to a walk. He would either speed up when I asked him to slow down, or he would stop and face me. So after a few times of keeping him from changing directions and asking him to keep going, I let him come in.

I'm glad we did simulations

Posted Thu, 08/26/2010 - 01:27 by Tugger10  Tugger10

Tug was swishing his tail a lot after he ate his grain, and it turned out that he had a tick around his sheath area. One day I did simulations for things like this. You know, under his tail, around his sheath, around his ears, in his mouth...all that stuff. My mom asked if he would kick while she was trying to get it, and I told her that he's knows all about that stuff. I just loved knowing exactly what to expect, and how he would handle it. :)

Everything's getting better!

Posted Tue, 08/24/2010 - 23:33 by Tugger10  Tugger10

I've day dreamed all day about what I wanted to do with Tug today. So when I got home from school I brought them up from the pasture and started to play with him. He could smell the carrot I had in my back pocket, but when I reached for the halter and stick in the tack room, he walked off to the gate that leads up to the house. I normally take him out to eat there, so I don't know if that's what he thought, or he didn't want to be caught. So I went and gave Dot a piece of carrot, and Tug walked back in the barn where I haltered him and gave him a piece.

He offered one foot on the pedestal, and we had our first trail ride alone!

Posted Mon, 08/23/2010 - 02:39 by Tugger10  Tugger10

I fed Tug his grain and then I got his saddle and everything out. When he was done we did the figure 8 pattern with cones, and practiced sideways to the left. Then we went to the pedestal and he offered to put his foot on it! Lately I've tried to get him to put his foot on things when I tap his leg with the carrot stick, but I guess I wasn't very clear because he learned to put his foot over things. I've gotten him to kick a barrel this way also. Normally I pick his foot up using the savvy string and put it on the pedestal, but all I did this time was walk over to it.

"You said changing direction was okay..."

Posted Tue, 08/17/2010 - 18:38 by Tugger10  Tugger10

This morning I was flipping through my Level 2 stuff and decided on changing direction. I went out to the barn with my pockets stuffed with apple waffers and carrots and brought the horses in from the pasture. I started by putting Tug's foot on it and seeing if I could get him to put weight on it. Now I will admit that I held a treat in front of him so that he had to put weight on his foot to get it. That may be bribing, but it worked. I didn't keep moving it so that I was luring him, I just held it still so he could get it. Anyways, then we went to the circle.

Leading by the ears...well, almost

Posted Sat, 08/14/2010 - 15:47 by Tugger10  Tugger10

Tug will let me hold his ear while we walk to the pasture, or to his stall without a halter on. This is a big thing for him. When I got him almost 4 months ago, I couldn't even touch the side of his ear. This bugged me because I was used to rubbing my horse's ears and scratching them. But Tug had different ideas about that sort of thing. So we started Level 1 and within a month I could rub the backside of them. Now, 3 months later, I can do everything with them except go deep inside. He even seems to enjoy the scratches around the base of his ears.

How Interesting

Posted Wed, 08/11/2010 - 19:45 by Tugger10  Tugger10

Today, Tug and I played before I brought them off the pasture. We did traveling circles all the way down. But when we first started I sent him to the left but he went to the right. How interesting. When he does go to the left, he normally ends up cantering around like he's being lounged and told to go faster. So I try not to go to the left when I teach him something. Instead, I just ask for a walk to get him really calm going that way. And that's what I had planned to do today.

First time with traveling circles.

Posted Tue, 08/10/2010 - 17:26 by Tugger10  Tugger10

When I went to bring the horses in from the pasture, I played with Tug. When I sent him out the first time, he followed right behind me. So I sent him out again, and he hit the end of the rope as he went around. Then he started to do more of a circle. I brought him in and let him eat grass, and then tried it again. This time when he came around me he would trot or canter. But he really seemed to get it, it's like he realized that it's still a circle. :) I thought that was a good first try, I didn't expect it to be that good!

We had a great session tonight.

Posted Sat, 08/07/2010 - 04:10 by Tugger10  Tugger10

Do you ever have those sessions that leave you feeling like your relationship with your horse just got better, that maybe tomorrow will be even better?

Progress...

Posted Thu, 08/05/2010 - 04:06 by Tugger10  Tugger10

...for both of us. :) It's been about a week since I've played with Tug because of the heat.

Small Breakthroughs

Posted Fri, 07/30/2010 - 22:03 by Tugger10  Tugger10

This week has been full of small breakthroughs. After a bad session on Monday playing with obstacles, then an awesome one a few hours later, things are now going great. I placed grain on a barrel and the tarp in the roundpen. We practiced sideways around the roundpen. Tug wanted the grain inside so he wasn't paying much attention. When we got inside I drove him to the tarp and we played around it for a few minutes. Then we practiced our turns while driving and then he touched the barrel and ate the grain. We tried the figure 8 pattern but he kept searching for grain on the barrels.