I've been over to work with Louie 3 times since I last posted. But, nothing exciting. I'm getting in a rut and been lacking in enthusiasm and I can tell Louie feels it and is responding in kind. He has been good but also not getting engaged in what he is doing. So, for the rest of this month my goal is to get back in the game and come up with ways to engage Louie's mind and get us both back in the game.
This afternoon my farrier called. I was in bed but awake when he called. He asked me if I could meet him at the barn between 2:00 and 2:15 PM. I said yes. When I got off the phone that is when I looked at the time. It was 1:45 PM. YIKES, I quickly dressed, had a bagel and made coffee to go. Then Lance, the little red dog and I headed to the barn. I got there at exactly 2:15 PM. The farrier was already there. The driveway into the barn, which is long, was VERY icy. But, around the barn wasn't bad. Willow, the barn owners dog, comes to my truck when I arrive now anticipating that I will have Lance with me. Lance is still a bit intimidated by Willow so I have to make him get out of the truck. But, once out, he seems to have a good time playing with Willow. A few other dogs were at the barn today also and there was a bit of scuffling between some of them. But, overall, they seemed to have fun playing. All of them were a lot bigger then Lance though, poor little guy.
I caught Louie and brought him up to the barn for the farrier. He was not the best boy but not awful either. He didn't want to stand still. When he was done I put him in his stall much to his distress. I had to go get Bonnie's mule, Dolly so she could be trimmed also. Like Louie, she too was a bit naughty but not awful with not wanting to stand still. Wendy, the barn owner, said Dolly hates coming up to the barn even more then Louie. Louie pawed and banged at his stall door the whole time he was in there. Naughty boy!
When the farrier was done with Dolly, I saddled her up to try out a rear cinch on her that I had ordered for Louie. It was just a hair smaller then I had hoped it would be and I though it might fit Dolly better. Wendy told me I should ride her since I had her all tacked up. I might of but I really didn't have time since I wanted to ride Louie. So, after trying the cinch on her I put her back in her paddock.
The barn was busy today. There were kids, dogs, adults and horses all over in and out of the barn and arena. Louie was pretty quiet on the cross ties. I think he was just relieved to be out of his prison cell. So, I decided to give him a funky hair cut for the "Trick your Mule" contest that the MulesOnly internet group was having. Louie stood very good for this and it took me quite a while. We were getting some funny looks from everyone with Louie's new hairdo. I didn't have my camera with me so I'll have to go back with the camera tomorrow to get pictures. Then I can cut his mane all the way down so he'll look normal again.
When I took him in to the arena to lunge him, he was full of it and wanted to jump and buck. It took a while to settle him down. Then when I went to get on him, he didn't want to stand at the mounting block. Now this is one of the things I've worked on the past 3 times I've worked him and he's been perfect about it. BUT, no one has been around the last 3 times. There were too many distractions for him today and he was having a hard time paying attention. After a couple tries though I did get his mind working and he was a good boy. He was a bit bouncy and light on his feet today but didn't do anything bad. I was very pleased that he did not really pay attention to the others riding in the arena. He was mostly jumpy about sounds outside the arena. He does not like hearing things and not being able to see what it is. All the dogs kept running in and out of the arena and that didn't bother Louie at all. It is good for him to get used to this kind of thing. Overall he rode very good. His whoa was great. He backed well. Did his turns on the forehand well and even did a nice side pass in one direction. And he did some of the nicest canter transitions. He still doesn't keep the canter long but today he kept it up longer then ever before breaking. He does that real slow QH type canter which is neat. But, I know it takes a lot of strength to gather up and collect for that so I'm not pushing him.
Something else I've noticed is that he is no longer jumpy about strange sound coming from me when I'm on him. And I'm not even sure when he stopped reacting to this. It's just that today I realized I'm no longer being careful about every little move or noise I make when I'm riding. So, just to test this I flapped my coat, smacked my helmet and made noise with my zipper. Other then just point his ears towards me to listen, he was fine. Kind of neat to find out you've made progress on something without even realizing it.
So, it was a good day at the barn.
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