>>> If horses know what happens before it happens and can read us like books, etc etc etc--then why doesn't my young handsome steed read the truth of me? There's nothing to fear from me and my stupid stick.
Most Icelandic horses I have encountered aren't inherently afraid of a stick...but then I know that most of them have had gentle starts, or were totally unstarted when I got them. There's always the chance that he's had a bad experience with a crop or lunge whip. Horses have LONG memories. It's always easier to train a horse than to retrain one. Tivar obviously had some training somewhere along the way where he was lunged in a mindless, punishing sort of way. It took a while to get him used to the idea of walking a circle. I never tried to get him to trot a circle and I certainly didn't want to "round pen" him when I saw the zombie mode he'd go into. Tivar would go on the defensive any time he perceived he was going into a training situation, so we had to keep everything VERY low-key. When we non-trained him in a fun way, he was a gifted student, very willing to learn. I used a little of the Parelli games with him, but only in a very watered-down form, tailored to match his reactions. The key will be staying positive and not getting frustrated. If you do get frustrated (and I was the master at it, and I still can do it) change what you're doing. Karen Thomas [EMAIL PROTECTED]
