Molly in Ohio
----- Original Message -----
From: sassyme808
To: haflingerfriends@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, February 25, 2010 9:47 PM
Subject: [haflingerfriends] Haflingers are Smart!
I know.....tell you something that you don't know, huh! LOL I'm purely amazed at my horse's ability to learn quickly, or retain something that he'd been shown months ago. The trainer has told me several times how smart Charlie is, and he has amazed me at how fast he picks thing up before, but I still can't get over it. In our lesson last night we worked on our "whoa" and back-up. He's already had a very solid whoa and a servicable back up, but last night the trainer had me put my body in position first at a stand still......leaning back in the saddle with my feet forward, and my seat bones deep in the saddle, then say "whoa" in my deepest drill sergeant voice, then ask Charlie to back three steps. We repeated this several times, and I noticed that he would get lighter and lighter at the backing up until I could pick up the reins like I was holding a fine bone teacup and he would drift backwards three steps as sweet as can be, with no pressure on his mouth. He then had me put him into a trot and reminded me to put my body into position before saying "whoa." Well.....I leaned back with my feet forward.......and Charlie put on the brakes so quickly that my "whoa" came out in a little pathetic squeak of surprise, and I barely picked up the reins and he drifted back ever so gracefully! The trainer laughed out loud at my surprised face. After letting Charlie rest for a few moments for reward, we worked on neck reining. I'm still very clumsy at it because my old (as in 30 years ago!) teaching came too naturally, practically dragging the neck over, when he was trying to teach me to not cross the rein over the center of Charlie's neck, and I would get dis-com-booberated trying to tip his nose gently with one rein after guiding first with the neck rein, and helping with a small amount of leg. He had worked with Charlie just a bit with neck reining during training, but not a whole lot. But, by the end of the hour I was guiding him in large loops with neck rein only! Smart boy! He learned it despite my inconsistent cues. Next week we are working on steering around barrels, which will be interesting. What I like best is that Charlie never seems stressed or unhappy. He tries so hard and thrives on being praised and rewarded. I've seen so many horses resent being worked, or look dull and resigned, but of course he doesn't get worked that hard, and he knows there are apples and scratches at the end of each session.
Marlene in (raining again) Oregon
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
------------------------------------
Community email addresses:
Post message: haflingerfriends@yahoogroups.com
Subscribe: haflingerfriends-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Unsubscribe: haflingerfriends-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
List owner: haflingerfriends-owner@yahoogroups.com
Shortcut URL to this page:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/haflingerfriendsYahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/haflingerfriends/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/haflingerfriends/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
haflingerfriends-digest@yahoogroups.com
haflingerfriends-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
haflingerfriends-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
