I hope you got to enjoy the warmer weather this week, even with all of the wind. I think it reached 91° here on Thursday.
This week, we continued to Desensitize & Yield the Hindquarters Stage 1. We also added Yield the Hindquarters Stage 2, Yield the Forequarters, Lunging Stage 1, Flexing, & Sending.
Throughout all of the exercises, she's been a bit protective & reactive about her head, which leads to her being a bit "dramatic" in how she responds to pressure. I compare some of her reactions to a deer - react first, think later. A lot of what we're working on within our groundwork exercises is to dial that reactivity/responsiveness down a couple of notches.
This week, she was also introduced to receiving her morning feed in a feed bag that hangs from her head. It's been a bit of a process to acclimate her to that. Today, she was doing much better & it took much less time to get on her. She beginning to associate it with food & is beginning to understand that it's not grabbing her nose or trapping her head.
She's also been a bit difficult to catch. Even if horses are relatively easy to catch at home, it's not uncommon for this to pop up during the initial stages of training. The bar is raised a bit more than they're used to at home once they come to training.
To help combat some of this, we've been doing a lot of rubbing & scratching her head & neck before catching, when turning loose, while leading, & in between exercises. She's been getting much more confident & less reactive with her head. This will carry over into being easier to catch & throughout our groundwork exercises.
Next week, we'll practice loading & unloading into my slant load trailer as we prepare to make the trip to Knotty Equine on Wednesday, April 19th.
Next week will be a bit shorter as I'll head down to TX for my annual Business Mentorship Mastermind from Thursday through Sunday.
- Lexy Nuesch
Next week's update will be posted on Wednesday.
I do my best to get these updates posted in a timely manner, but it's not uncommon for me to be outside until after dark, depending on the weather, my schedule, & who gets worked when so updates will sometimes be posted quite late in the evening. Don't be alarmed if you don't see your update right away. In rare cases, I may have to push them until the next morning, but I'll reach out & let you know if so.