When I went to see him yesterday, I wasn't sure how it would go because it was very windy and Andrea had just brought home her new horse Sunny, so Dexter was also distracted by his new pasture mate. He pleasantly surprised me by continuing with our progress, even with the extra distraction. I actually felt I could have haltered him yesterday but I was in a hurry to get home and so I made the decision to wait. It was definitely worth the wait.
The first order of business was to encourage Dexter to lower his head - not easy for him at first. Since meeting Dexter he has kept his head high in the air - ready to depart from the slightest movement. I made the decision to kneel down so I was less intimidating to him. This is not something I would typically do with an unfamiliar horse, however Dexter has never exhibited any aggressive behaviour and it really helped him relax and lower his head. As he became more relaxed with my presence, I started asking him to lower his head with very light pressure on his poll. Once he consistently lowered his head for me, I felt comfortable introducing the halter.
Initially he played with the halter, taking it into his mouth and I just let him play. Eventually, I brought the throatlatch over his neck until he was comfortable with that process, and then I just slipped in on. Except for the fact that Andrea and I were beside ourselves with joy, it was actually pretty uneventful.
Andrea mentioned that in the past, while leading Dexter, he would plant his feet and when she applied pressure from behind he would race off, pulling the lead line from her hands. Clearly, Dexter's previous owner didn't do a very thorough job of teaching Dexter to give to pressure. I've decided not to attach a lead line until he is consistently giving to pressure.
He is also moving his shoulders and hips very respectfully; always keeping his attention on me. The nicest thing to see is Dexter relax - huge for me. Relaxed horses are thinking horses.
Dexter is a joy to play with!
Tovie
2 comments:
Awesome job, Tovie. He is a beauty alright. How so exciting for you to make that progress, must be rewarding.
Hello Tovi, well as you know I had the farrier out today and we had aggreed to leave Dexter alone, so he was the one horse that I was not going to catch. He put a big smile on my face as I was out there he was the only one wanting to be caught!!! I had the halter in my hand and he just followed me everywhere, I have never had that experience with him before that he actually wanted to be with me it was so enjoyable, thank you for that!!!!!
Oh and just to ease your mind I did not try to halter him (although very tempting, lol!)just gave him pets and kisses! It is so nice to have him relaxed and have him enjoy my company!
Thank you,
Andrea
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