I went to visit Andi today. I think I am a weather jinx! This morning at 6:30am, it was reported that 90 and 105 mph gusts over the ridges! Yikes! I was ready to cancel going to see Andi, but I wanted to see how he reacted in this type of weather - weather, I might add, that I would NEVER ride in myself. But it was wierd, because it was VERY warm today - high 60's, low 70's but constant 20-30mph winds with gusts up to 55mph. Josh was just walking Andi around when I arrived. He has been doing a lot of passenger lessons on him, but teaching him to move forward when asked, stop when asked, and has started using his legs to turn him. Andi is still in a halter, but has been packing his bit. Josh told me he has trotted Andi, tolted him (Andi's choice to tolt or trot - I don't know the actual gait, Josh used the word tolt because he knows it is the term most people use for Icelandics), and loped him. He said he would show me if I wanted, and as you can hear in the video, I said just do what he was comfortable doing in that hellashish wind. He said he wanted to work on a calm walk, and that was fine by me. You can see how sweaty Andi was in only 10 minutes of walking, and that is mostly from nerves in the wind, combined with a THICK winter coat on a warm day. Here is the link to one of the videos:
http://affiliate.kickapps.com/kickapps/service/displayMediaPlayPage.kickAction?mediaType=VIDEO&mediaId=96948&as=6211 Josh has actually trained 5 other Icelandics, and he said Andi's personality is simular to the others, scared, but willing to listen. He did say that Andi has a lot of try and willingness, and Andi has the type of personality that would go if I asked till he dropped. I will definately have to keep an eye on his fitness level and will depend on my HR moniter to keep him from hurting himself to please me! Judging by his sweatiness, I will have to consider a modified clip job on him, but I don't want to have to blanket him. Guess I will go on e-bay and look at a cooler for him! Josh will be taking him out on the trail Monday. With Josh's laid back attitude, he has accomplished a lot in a short period of time in a non-threatening, easy way. It was a confidence builder for me to see what Andi's reactions were in the horrible wind. When he is scared, he scootches forward for a short bit, then just calms down quickly. His spooks consist of a half-step sideways and to see this after only 2 weeks under saddle is re-assuring. I love his forward walk, but I know it is very forward because of the weather. Susan in NV Nevermore Ranch http://users.oasisol.com/nevermore/ __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com
