Dreamers boot camp from the devil

[PatriotsDreamer]

DAY ONE
While i did my daily chores, i put Dreamers rope halter on and left him tied in the isle to practice patience, he fell asleep. After i was done with my chores we headed to the arena. We lunged for 10 mintues. Mainly walk-trot, but did some very light cantering. He did very well except when it came time to canter he did protest with some head tossing showing his disapproval, by the end of the lesson he was transitioning nicely and smoothly. After our lunge session we did some desenatizing to His hay bag being thrown all over him( empty) shook crazy, tossed over his head, at his legs, at his belly, around his belly, at his butt, he didnt care:rolleyes:. Then we used a top peice to a shavings bag that i cut off. He was leery of this. i rubbed starting at his neck, all over his back butt, legs, belly, chest and then ears and face, i steadily lightly threw it over him, Didnt care, i shook it as hard as i could right next to him, didnt care. he did care when i would walk up to him with it shaking, but it was getting dark and i wanted to end on a good note so we will continue this part another day. All in all he did VERY well.

[Annie&Dixie]

That's awesome! I hope he continues to do well :)

[JackieB]

Good boy, Dreamer! You can do it!

[Arrow]

Great job! He'll be the old Dreamer soon, I'm certain--he's such a good boy, after all, he was raised right, wasn't he?:)

[PoniesRock101]

aww hes doing great!

[IrisGreen]

What kind of bags were these? Plasic or paper? I sound like a bag lady... lol That's great he did so well!

[vicklynn]

Good job! Im sure he will be back to his old self in no time.

[cloedoll]

Woot woot! That's great, I hope he continues to make progress and be a respectful young cutie pie when his boot camp is over. xD

[Miracle Whip]

:)

[PatriotsDreamer]

Thank you for all the comments everyone.


What kind of bags were these? Plasic or paper? I sound like a bag lady... lol That's great he did so well! This was a plasict( top of the shavings bag). haha i feel like im grocery shopping at schnucks.

[PatriotsDreamer]

DAY 2
I lunged Dreamer for 12 minutes today( w-t- light canter). Still a little snippy when asking to canter, kicked out once at the whip but was corrected and cantered perfectly by the end of the session.
He learned something new today that he didnt know before. Side stepping. I backed his butt up to the wall , held his head steady, and used the whip to guide his body sideways. He really tried hard and was doing alot of lickin'. We worked on this for probably 10 minutes.
We also worked on pivoting on the front end which he did PERFECTLY, REALLY KEPT THAT FOOT PLANTED. and then acted like he forgot how to pivot on the hindquarters. I took him to a corner and we exersized this until he started to remember. We worked on this for probably 15 minutes.

We then moved on to the same bag we were using yesterday for desensatizing. He was acting afraid of me dropping it in the air above his back. so i did this a couple of times and when he would go to move, id give him an "ack", "stand" and only his skin would flench when it hit him, his head was still elevated though. He caught on quickly. We practiced this probably 10 minutes, and ended on a very good note.

I am already seeing my old horse shine back through all the clouds. It wont be long and he will be back to his old self in no time.

[Kowgirlkate]

You guys are on your way :). It sounds like he did very well

[Me'N'Chic]

Keep up the good work! How is your eye?---and everything else?

[PatriotsDreamer]

Day 3
Same ol same ol... lunged for about 12 minutes. Then worked on side passing and pivoting, reintroduced the scary bag. Nothing exciting he kept falling asleep.



Day 4

He did make me VERY proud before the lesson, He SPOOKED IN PLACE! to my handfull of junk i was carrying. Hard work is already paying off.
Lunged for 12 minutes , mainly at the trot and some cantering transitions since someone decided to throw an attitude about it. :nono: He kept kicking out at the whip so we worked with that some more until he was tucking his butt and not kicking/shaking his head. He decided he was going to be afraid of the lasso today. so we worked on spooking in place while i thew it at him. He did very well. I took my lasso and looped it around each leg individually and we worked with stretching and lifting( i did this way because its easier for him not to put his weight against you, just some refining and not really necc.) He did very well with this but the rope felt funny to him on his back legs and he did swing them around a bit, nothing serious though. We then worked on pivoting, and then on side passing again( with head low rather than elevated some). He also got his mane and tail washed with some heated up water since it was in the 50's and he had been itchy due to dry skin. He loooved this.

edit to add: I forgot to mention we walked the drive up to the busy road. he did amazing and REALLY suprised me by not even spooking to a bike riding by( was afraid of this before.) he did watch it ride by but not nervously or anything. He did VERY WELL AND GOT A HUGE PAT!

[MyHorseBiggs]

Sounds like ya both are making GREAT progress! :D