Round pen work with Louie

Well, I don't really have a round pen. Just my front paddock which is about 70'x80', not quite flat, a bit rocky and my but the weeds have gotten tall in the corners this year. Actually, I did not really plan on working with Louie today. But, somone on the MulesOnly internet list was asking about cruppers and fitting them. And said it would be nice to have an illustrated article on it. So, I decided to do my best to provide him with one. So, I went out and caught both my horse, Marie, and Louie. They have very different builds and so they require different cruppers. I thought It would be good to get pictures of both.

xxxxxxxxxx Both Louie and Marie are quiet and stand nice to be tacked up. They were tied to my trailer and I just hung hay bags and they were both happy to stand there and munch hay while modeling tack. It was SO hot and horribly humid. Once done taking pictures, I decided I might as well work with him as he was all tacked up.

I didn't want to do too much with the heat and humidity though. So, I turned Marie loose and thought I'd lounge Louie. When I went to get my lounge line, I spotted my sack of soda cans and thought I'd bring that out and introduce Louie to it. He didn't like it much but didn't throw any big fits. I shook it all around him, threw it behind him and under him. He was ok, though not happy. So, I bounced it on his saddle a few times. There was no explosive reaction so I turned him loose. I decided to let him work off the lounge line since if he really got running, I'd not be able to hold him anyway. We'll, when he heard and felt the cans bouncing against him, he did get running. He took about 8 quick laps around the paddock. He went fast but didn't look panicked. More like he was trying to see if he could outrun the sack. He decided he couldn't and quieted right down.

We then worked on verbal commands of walk, trot and whoa. He made no more fuss about the sack of cans hooked to him except when he came close enough to the fence a few times that the sack hit the fence. This startled him but he did no more then just hurry forward a few steps. And he never so much as attempted to buck though any of this. He was a very good boy. Due to the humidity, he was panting pretty hard when we were done. So, after I untacked him, I hosed him off. He glared at me at first but them seemed to realized how good if felt and stood quietly. He's such a nice boy to work with.