Early this week, I got to hand the lead rope over to Randy so that Hickory could work on his stranger danger that has him on high alert when someone else is around while I'm working horses. Beyond the initial "Who is this guy?" he did fairly well. Randy was able to get a reaction out of him both on the right shoulder near the front cinch & on the flank, but was able to work through it. Keep in mind, working with horses is definitely not Randy's day job, but it was great to have Hickory exposed to that. On Tuesday, I had Randy work with him again while saddled as well as do the Pick Me Up Off the Fence exercise. If he hadn't had such a reaction on our initial first ride attempt, I would have told Randy to get on as he was nearly falling asleep towards the end. However, wise choices have to be made. Many times, injuries in this line of work can mean that horses have to go home & that's not what either of us wants. Throughout the rest of the week, we continued to spend time on Pick Me Up From the Fence & more Jeffrey's Method, with a focus on the right side. There's still a bit of tenseness when we first start with that, but he's more at ease each day.
The "easy" first ride mare took a bit longer than anticipated this afternoon & had us running out of daylight so Hickory's potential first ride will get bumped to tomorrow (Monday). We'll see if he gives me the green light or if we'll continue to progress as we have been with the Pick Me Up off the Fence/Jeffrey's Method.
- Lexy Nuesch
Next week's update will be posted on Friday.
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.
コメント