Who is the teacher

Gold and I had a very good connection today he lowered his head to me let me pet his face and ears. He inspired me to not give up on the more challenging horses, I can see now why rescues are more challenging. When I started with my other horse I was just learning so now I can see everything from a different point of view. I think he is here to teach me, many times that is the case. 'Horses teach humans; humans teach horses'. He has A LOT more baggage then Annabelle did. He carries it all with him, and has a lot of displaced behavior. I can't be task oriented with him, I have to really focus in our relationship because he has never had a real relationship with a human before. Our first couple times playing I was worried I wasn't going to get through to him, but today that changed.

Riding Gold

My ride today on Gold, first time riding in a saddle with him. When I had him smell the saddle today he was much more interested in it then other days. He is becoming more comfortable with himself. He loves the leg cues, he learned quickly that when he listens to my leg cues I leave his nose alone. I can see the big differences in him and Annabelle. We played all 7 games again today and practiced picking up his feet, he is good with the fronts. The backs are hard for him because of his string-halt. His friendly game was much better around his ears, he actually rubbed into my hand verses putting his head up high to get away from them. I rode him in a natural hackamore. Here is a video of our ride:

http://youtu.be/c-NPDEgEuUw

Gold by Gold

I got Gold on Tuesday, he got into the trailer ok, but he shook it the whole way home he will get plenty of practice with that! Wednesday we did all 7 games and I tried the catching game which took about 45 mins and he still didn't trust me enough to come. Thursday he remembered the 7 games enough to move on phase 2 or 3 instead of 4. He allowed me to lean on his back and slowly lowered his head. Today he was ok with me walking up to him and giving him a treat, he has obedience but no connection yet sometimes he makes eye contact. He is a left brain introvert and I think he will be more comfortable arguing with me when he trusts me a little more. I rode him for the first time today and he did great he even tried to lead ME with his nose! I'm excited to see his progress. :-)

First time riding Gold

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bu9zkCJpub0&feature=share&list=UU6lrbkPsMVxBZJUWA68htTA

New Blog

Welcome to my new blog! I have decided to make this about my horsemanship journey with other horse's that will cross my path., you can still view Annabelle and I's journey at: http://allisonandannabelle.blogspot.com/