Post by sepia on Sept 4, 2010 6:15:45 GMT -6
"Shall we try something new today, boy?" The question was addressed to Lee's new stallion, bought as Decebal, renamed Decebal of Dacia when he'd done some research, and called Dec most of the time. It was only a week or so since he'd bought the ten year old, but he was quite pleased with their progress so far. The Kiger Mustang was halter-broken, and led nicely, and seemed to be getting used to Lee. He also seemed to be pretty intelligent - pushy and headstrong, yes, what stallion wasn't, but quite trainable, in his opinion.
This opinion explained the equipment currently carefully stacked up outside Dec's stall as Lee let himself in, headcollar in hand, and had a brief battle of wills about putting it on. A cavesson, lunge rein and lunge rein were neatly placed next to his customary grooming kit, for today Lee was going to try lunging the dun stallion. The equipment had all been used before, though not too much, as they were among the last horse-related purchases his father had made before he died. Lee had saved them - along with most of the rest of his father's horse equipment, a positive plethora of varying sizes of saddles, bridles, boots and training aids - from his mother's rampage. This equipment had been most of his luggage coming to Blue Ridge, and he was rather glad to be getting a chance to use it.
Grooming Dec with confident, firm strokes, Lee spent five minutes giving the horse a massage down his neck and along his withers. He was a firm believer that a variety of methods could be used to train horses, depending on the individual horse, and so wasn't the sort of person who looked down upon the more natural methods, such as T-touch, or herbal supplements. Humming gently under his breath in his native Welsh - a language he knew bits of, though he was hardly fluent - in a habit he'd picked up to keep horses calm, he was soon buckling the cavesson on, and attaching the lunge rein to it. The heavy headcollar substitute would give him more control than a normal headcollar, and Dec didn't seem to mind it too much, though he tossed his head around a little as he tested the weight of it.
Sticking on his own hat and gloves - he was not going to get whacked on the head today, thank you very much - he led Dec out of the barn, nodding his head to the people he passed, and headed for the Round Pen, carrying the lunge whip in his off-hand, and being very careful to keep it still and low. Glad to find the pen unoccupied, he led the stallion in. Politely, Dec went, his good manners when being led shining through even as his ears flickered to catch every sound and he raised his head, nostrils flaring as he assimilated this new experience.
Lee continued walking until he was standing in roughly the centre of the ring, then paused, giving Dec a chance to take this all in. Head held high and tail kinked up, it was clear he was slightly unsettled, and excited, but he seemed fairly calm, so Lee continued. He'd never before worked with a horse who'd never lunged before, but he had worked with horses relatively green to the field of lunging, so was quite confident. He was going to start by having Dec working at slightly longer than arm's length away from him, which would mean that he would still be walking a circle but, sooner or later, the distance would be increased so that he stood in the middle while Dec worked around him.
"Walk on," he said, firmly, picking up a walk himself, glad when Dec followed the command and moved forward into an active walk. He started by simply leading the horse in a circle, so he got the idea of what they were doing and then, after a few circuits, lengthened the lunge line between them, so that Dec was walking about a metre away from him. Dec eyed him slightly strangely, but as there were no distractions around, kept on walking with the gentle encouragement of Lee pointing the handle of the lunge whip at his hind hooves. After a few more circles in this vein, Lee moved back again, now facing his horse so that he was walking sideways, to about four metres away, extending the length of the whip handle he had pointed at Dec's hind hooves.
"Da bachgen," he crooned, softly, to keep Dec's attention on him, keeping an eye on where his ears were pointed: currently they were, mostly, focused on him, a good sign. "Good boy," he continued, lapsing back into English, "Nice and easy."
This opinion explained the equipment currently carefully stacked up outside Dec's stall as Lee let himself in, headcollar in hand, and had a brief battle of wills about putting it on. A cavesson, lunge rein and lunge rein were neatly placed next to his customary grooming kit, for today Lee was going to try lunging the dun stallion. The equipment had all been used before, though not too much, as they were among the last horse-related purchases his father had made before he died. Lee had saved them - along with most of the rest of his father's horse equipment, a positive plethora of varying sizes of saddles, bridles, boots and training aids - from his mother's rampage. This equipment had been most of his luggage coming to Blue Ridge, and he was rather glad to be getting a chance to use it.
Grooming Dec with confident, firm strokes, Lee spent five minutes giving the horse a massage down his neck and along his withers. He was a firm believer that a variety of methods could be used to train horses, depending on the individual horse, and so wasn't the sort of person who looked down upon the more natural methods, such as T-touch, or herbal supplements. Humming gently under his breath in his native Welsh - a language he knew bits of, though he was hardly fluent - in a habit he'd picked up to keep horses calm, he was soon buckling the cavesson on, and attaching the lunge rein to it. The heavy headcollar substitute would give him more control than a normal headcollar, and Dec didn't seem to mind it too much, though he tossed his head around a little as he tested the weight of it.
Sticking on his own hat and gloves - he was not going to get whacked on the head today, thank you very much - he led Dec out of the barn, nodding his head to the people he passed, and headed for the Round Pen, carrying the lunge whip in his off-hand, and being very careful to keep it still and low. Glad to find the pen unoccupied, he led the stallion in. Politely, Dec went, his good manners when being led shining through even as his ears flickered to catch every sound and he raised his head, nostrils flaring as he assimilated this new experience.
Lee continued walking until he was standing in roughly the centre of the ring, then paused, giving Dec a chance to take this all in. Head held high and tail kinked up, it was clear he was slightly unsettled, and excited, but he seemed fairly calm, so Lee continued. He'd never before worked with a horse who'd never lunged before, but he had worked with horses relatively green to the field of lunging, so was quite confident. He was going to start by having Dec working at slightly longer than arm's length away from him, which would mean that he would still be walking a circle but, sooner or later, the distance would be increased so that he stood in the middle while Dec worked around him.
"Walk on," he said, firmly, picking up a walk himself, glad when Dec followed the command and moved forward into an active walk. He started by simply leading the horse in a circle, so he got the idea of what they were doing and then, after a few circuits, lengthened the lunge line between them, so that Dec was walking about a metre away from him. Dec eyed him slightly strangely, but as there were no distractions around, kept on walking with the gentle encouragement of Lee pointing the handle of the lunge whip at his hind hooves. After a few more circles in this vein, Lee moved back again, now facing his horse so that he was walking sideways, to about four metres away, extending the length of the whip handle he had pointed at Dec's hind hooves.
"Da bachgen," he crooned, softly, to keep Dec's attention on him, keeping an eye on where his ears were pointed: currently they were, mostly, focused on him, a good sign. "Good boy," he continued, lapsing back into English, "Nice and easy."