Learning a new horse trick

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It takes time, at least for me.
Let's go!

It all started out about a year ago when I discovered Tristan Tucker on youtube and watched his free videos on problem horses and an interesting way to teach them to relax under pressure. But I was super impressed by the ability to teach the horse to “present themselves to the mounting block”.



So the next day I went to the barn, took a dressage whip and a pocket full of mints and had Q doing a haunches in on both sides in just a few minutes. Wow. Then I applied the haunches in at the mounting block, fences, tree stumps, etc. Cool.

Then Q started showing me he knew the game by doing it before asking. Then he progressed to walking to the block without me holding him.

And then we tried to do it from afar. I asked D of our barn crew to hold him while I got on the mounting block and called to him. The first attempt was a fail. The second was a success.


We have paused on saddle training these days and are putting in lots of time bareback, which is a different kind of cool. Its so much fun to ride in shorts and sneakers again. Especially in this weather!

Comments

  1. TeresaAAugust 1, 2019 at 12:05 PM

    It’s my favourite trick. It’s so useful.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nat DAugust 2, 2019 at 9:13 AM

      And I feel it changes the tone of the ride. Everything starts relaxed and easy.

      Delete

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