catherine's story...

That is so cool. I am super jealous! I wanna break a horse sometime!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Its alot of hard work and it can be very frusterating. But in the end the final product is SO worth it!!!

So I plan on riding anakin again tonight. I want to know waht sort of excercises I can do while on him. I know alot of transitions and circles I can do to balance him up. But after a while those get boring. What else can I do??

Do some figure eights, some serpentines, but remember to get him straight and slow him down before the change of direction. Half halt him to let him know something is coming. Then use your inside leg, supporting outside rein, inside rein to supple and create the new bend. Also if he's never done them, it is okay if he breaks to a walk through the turn. Depending on how many rides he has had, you can start asking him to move of leg a little. Half half on outside rein and use your inside leg to ask him to step over with his hind. One step is all you're looking for; do this at the walk. If he doesn't step over, tickle him with the whip and when he does immediately praise him.

Yup, I'm just going to go out and say it, I am a complete CA freak. I love his training program. I've fixed a lot of issues with horses that I had problems with.

Alot of the CA stuff really works for this horse, but not all because he is so flighty.... if I do something to try to get him to not spook he ends up being afraid of me for a day or two. Its like he doesnt trust me until he knows that whatever im doing inst going to kill him. But I think eventually he will trust me. But it will just take time. And I jumped him yesterday for the first time under saddle. It was pretty funny. He was so awkward but it was fun :)

If he is flighty, desensitize, desensitize, desensitize!! Horses tell you what they need when it comes to training. If he is spooky/flighty, he is telling you, "Hey trainer, I need you to show me more scary things to get me quiet!" If he's lazy and not afraid of anything, he is saying, "Hey trainer, I need you to do more sensitizing. I need more transitions and more 'move now' exercises!" Figure out of good desensitize/sensitize ratio for him. :)

So. I have been working alot with anakin. He now knows how to lounge, both ways and he behaves himself. He used to rear up at me. Almost as if he was challenging me... so every time he did that.... I ran at him... shaking the lounge line in his face and yelling at him to stop.... I probably looked crazy to people who drove by and watched but... it worked. Now I just point in the direction I want him to go in. I say trot.... he does it. And he changed directions perfectly... even better than my bomb proof horse! Undersaddle he is starting to gain balance at all gates and even over fences. I can't wait until next shhow season!