Leading Dexter

Today was even a better horse day than Monday. Since Dexter has become a nicer horse to be around, I suggested to Andrea that she may want to keep him and if that was the case, we could come up with a mutually beneficial agreement to cover my time. While I wouldn't have blamed her at all because he is becoming a real sweetheart, I was sure hoping she wouldn't want to because I've become quite smitten with him. Today we had a chance to chat about Dexter's future and Andrea told me she would be happy to have him come to me. She is looking forward to reading about his progress on the blog and because we're not far away, she knows she would be welcome to come visit him. Of course, I was overjoyed and gave Andrea a big hug. I am very excited to continue this journey of learning with Dexter.

*Click for a UTUBE clip.

In order to prepare him for the trailer ride home, it is important for me to have him lead up comfortably. In the past, Dexter would plant his feet and when pressure was added to ask him to move forward, he would bolt away and rip the lead line away. He learned he could get away when he felt too much pressure. I don't want to set him up to fail so I've decided to use a short piece of binding twine instead of a lead rope until I know how much pressure he can handle. That way he'll be permitted to leave if he feels the need to without worrying about him stepping on a dragging lead line.

This concept worked very well and it turned out he could handle quite a bit of pressure. Every now and then Dexter would think about leaving but when he didn't meet any resistance, he quickly changed his mind about leaving.

Thank you for this wonderful gift Andrea,
Tovie and Dexter