Hi Carol,

Right after I made that post I had a 4 hour session with my trainer. She
works extensively with Harry Whitney and is very good. She had me doing
a whole lot less to get a whole lot more response from my horse. At
first it was like a foreign language to me even though I have been
training for years but now I am getting it. My horse is so sensitive and
yet he was shut down from previous training, so my sending his hind end
away I would cause his fear to come up and he would get very robotic in
his responses. He would still do everything but with no though attached
to his feet.

So now first I get him to connect up with me before ever sending him off
on circle, that took her 1-1/2 hrs the first time.He obviously had
something bad happen to him in the round pen before and would turn and
face but not walk to me. Then I use just my body walking in a circle to
get him to move, only using my rope if necessary. Before I would swing
my rope easy and then bring up the energy more and more with it. He
would move but with alot of resentment and always looking outside. Then
when I want him to stop I simply stop and wait. If he does not notice I
hit the ground with my rope and then wait.In just a few times doing this
now I can just wiggle my rope on the ground and he comes to me. When I
move him around the pen with my body language instead of my rope he
moves more freely, does not toss his head and kick out at me. We got
lovely canter transitions over and over again and he was bent toward the
inside instead of looking out!

So I guess this ole dog is going to learn some new tricks thanks to my
new horse who has some baggage. Its so cool to see him becoming more
trusting in such a short time and that is also translating to the under
saddle work as well and to his spookiness. He was really distracted
before and always looking around, now I can keep his attention pretty
easily and we will start to venture out on the trail. Gina

Carol Higgs wrote:
> Excellent Post Gena!
>
> The only other I would add is try to leave on a good note where both the horse
and the handler are happy. I try not too over do a good thing, once he is moving
well in both directions give him a break let him walk out or just do something
else.
>
> Carol
>
> --- In training-horses@yahoogroups.com, Gina Kindscher <morningsunranch@...>
wrote:
>
>> Hi Cara,
>>
>> I have a new horse and even though he does not sound quite as fearful as
>> your horse, some things sound similar. The thing you have to be able to
>> do is get to his hindquarters and shut down the engine. Its best to
>> always work in an enclosed area and this may mean his corral or any
>> place where he cannot get away. Using fences as a barrier can really
>> help when he goes to pulling as you can try and move with him until his
>> body is going along the fence. If you can work on the getting his
>> hindquarter to move away from you really well on the longeing circle,
>> over and over again, then when something comes