>The games have been going great--then, the last few times I've played >with Orri he's been acting paranoid about the CS. He's >responding to the games with my hands but as soon as the CS lifts he >starts getting nervous. I'm not doing anything with it that I would >think conveys any reason for him to be scared....why was he OK before >and now he isn't? >Virginia
That's weird Virginia, I have the opposite problem with most Icelandics. They are so unafraid of me waving things at them that I have a hard time getting them to move from the motion of the stick. Orri may be different if he were aggressively trained to lunge with a whip. Does your present trainer lunge him? He just may asume the carrot stick is a lunge whip and he needs to move. It is strange that he is ok sometimes but not others. Don't progress to any of the driving games until he is completely comfortable with the stick being rubbed all over him and then when you do start the driving games, make sure you rub him with the stick after each drive. When I worked with a fairly wild Icelandic import, I started with my hand about 3/4 of the way down the stick (less stick toward the horse) and kept the excess close to me. He may also be more comfortable if you approach him with the stick close to your body and stay close to him as you work the stick with gentle motions up his legs or over his body (start with the area he's most comfortable with). This would be less like lunging, where the trainer would stand back and wave the stick. Use smaller movements than you have been. If he's still having trouble with the pressure, you could combine clicking with the pressure release. Cherie
