I took Andi to his Cowboy Trainer today. It is only fitting that my little palomino is getting his training in Palomino Valley! My trainer, Josh Foster, is a natural horsemanship trainer in the vein of Bill Dorrance and Ray Hunt and the like. I just love to watch Josh with a horse (he's a mule and donkey trainer, too). He is so quiet and easy, and I left Andi in VERY good hands.
I unloaded Andi and put him in Josh's round pen while we talked about him. I told Josh that Andi had a bad round pen experience with my trainer that trained Whisper a couple of years ago. That was the time she was roundpenning what she saw as a stubborn stallion, and all I saw was a scared horse running from her. I told Josh that since, I really have never round penned him, just worked him on the end of a lunge line, so if he got scared, I had some control over him. In the first two clips, Josh and I had finished talking and he went to introduce himself to Andi. All Andi had done till then was calmly explore the round pen. http://affiliate.kickapps.com/kickapps/service/displayMediaPlayPage.kickAction?mediaType=VIDEO&mediaId=89975&as=6211 http://affiliate.kickapps.com/kickapps/service/displayMediaPlayPage.kickAction?mediaType=VIDEO&mediaId=90002&as=6211 Josh then asked Andi to move around the pen a couple of times to see his reaction. This was slightly nervous for me as I remember his last round penning a couple of years ago. I was relieved by Andi's experience with Josh, to say the least. I was especially happy with Andi's eye. http://affiliate.kickapps.com/kickapps/service/displayMediaPlayPage.kickAction?mediaType=VIDEO&mediaId=90013&as=6211 Josh then got out the flag to see Andi's reaction. I have worked with flagging him before, but I also told Josh that Andi can get scared with "BIG" movements and he wanted to get BIG with Andi, then stop being BIG when Andi stopped and looked at him. Andi took it all in stride. http://affiliate.kickapps.com/kickapps/service/displayMediaPlayPage.kickAction?mediaType=VIDEO&mediaId=90022&as=6211 When I left Palomino Valley with an empty trailer, I was not sad at all like I expected to be. I was very happy and very excited that I found a trainer such as Josh. I will be getting frequent updates, and getting my first lesson on Andi in 3 weeks, then again before I bring him home after 30 days. And yes, I know 30 days is not long, but Andi has a solid foundation on the ground, and I like and enjoy training, but I wanted someone I trusted to put the first 30 days of RIDING on Andi. Andi deserves a confident first rider and not a scared middle-aged woman who will "put teeth marks on the saddle", as Josh says. I love that expression! And yes, I would have put teeth marks in the saddle, and Andi deserves a RELAXED, CONFIDENT rider to start his saddle work! Susan in NV Nevermore Ranch http://users.oasisol.com/nevermore/ ____________________________________________________________________________________ Boardwalk for $500? In 2007? Ha! Play Monopoly Here and Now (it's updated for today's economy) at Yahoo! Games. http://get.games.yahoo.com/proddesc?gamekey=monopolyherenow
