On 11/03/07, Virginia Tupper <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Thanks Wanda.  That makes sense.  I expect with time he'll figure out
> I'm not that scary!
> V

I'm just waiting for the horses to come in for their afternoon siesta
so I have a few minutes at the computer and then I'm bolting out the
door..

But something else occurred to me. Does Orri ever have a chance to
watch you working with other horses?  A time when you are just working
around him, not focused on him at all?

For a while one of our statements around here was, "let's go scare
Dagur."  Which really was a despooking session.  Sometimes we wouldn't
even go near him.  I remember unfolding a tarp about 50 feet away from
him.  Of course Gusti and Solon came up for a close look, so the
despooking session wasn't worthless, but it gave Dagur a chance to
watch us (Cara and/or myself) working around the other horses.  He was
able to observe and eventually, over time I noticed that he began
moving in closer, asking for attention.  Eventually Cara and I
separated him, and worked with him one on one.  AND then eventually
when he was separated he started asking for the 'game' to start.
That's when we knew he was really ready to start.

It occurred to me as an owner who is trying to train my own horses -
that we don't appreciate the amount of time that has to go into
building a solid mount.  There is no time frame that would be suitable
to apply.  I think when we're paying a trainer to train a horse we
expect a good bang for our buck, when in reality.....the training
could conceivable last for two or three years and quite possibly a
lifetime...

Anyway, I am lucky that I have Cara to help me, because we can often
bounce ideas off one another during a session.

Wanda

Reply via email to