Hi Karen, I think that the more tools and possibilities that you have to apply when working with horses is ideal. Keeps a person from getting stuck. A couple of questions/ comments.
>>We've only done small groundwork sessions with her up until now. She'd be fine for a while, and usually, since the sessions were short, she was good the whole time. But sometimes, she's suddenly get distracted by something and she'd totally forget we were there. I would definitely agree that her walking over people and reacting to other horses when people are around is not okay. I wonder if her being raised with just one other horse (or maybe this is not so) and with who knows what kind of handling -maybe not having boundaries set? I wonder if her response of getting distracted is her coping mechanism when she is stressed or not really understanding what is being asked?? >>>I asked her to go forward again. She wouldn't look at me and wanted to stop and eat. Every time she'd stop, I'd ask her to go forward, but I didn't let the string touch her after that first time. I gave her plenty of opportunities to turn and face me. I think this sounds really reasonable and while I would see what you were doing more as free lunging which is a great way of just quietly getting them to move forward and respond to the handlers signals. I wonder why, if she is moving forward and responding to the whip movement that it is so important that horses turn and face up and then walk to you? This is not the only way to use a round pen and I think your adaptation (at least from how you thought you should use it) of going over to her makes sense to me. For me the idea that a person would consider 'join-up' the only 'right' answer from the horse. This isn't intended to be critical just looking at how sometimes there can be different ways to use tools. I have done the same thing you did only used our indoor arena, which as you know isn't too large (50' x 100') but allows the horses to find straight lines as well as corners. It will be interesting to see how this helps her in the herd situation. Don't you think that no matter what we do the bottom line is - did it improve the situation, make it worse or not change it? That is kind of how I look at most things. Robyn Icelandic Horse Farm Robyn Hood & Phil Pretty Vernon BC Canada www.icefarm.com
