Always More to Learn

Whisper has been a real gentleman lately. He’s getting better at his gait cues and we’ve been working diligently on ‘whoa.’ This has been difficult to do which is why it got put off when it shouldn’t have. Whisper has an ongoing fear of a lunge whip (or any article of that type). To him it means move away. We’ve worked on rubbing him with the whip and dragging the string over his back and neck and around his legs. As soon as he realizes that’s what we’re working on he will stand still and tolerate it. I don’t think he really relaxes but he stands calmly. We’ve been working on whoa using a version of Clinton Anderson’s sending exercise. I send him off to the right or left then when his tail passes me pull the lead towards me and step toward his tail while bringing the lunge whip to the ground and saying ‘whoa.’ In theory this encourages him to swing his hindquarters away from me and stop. It works pretty well except when I pick up the whip to rub him with it (good boy) he takes that as a signal to move off again. So we go round and round until suddenly he has a light bulb moment. I say ‘whoa’ and he stops. Don’t need any steps towards tail or whip to the ground. Simply tell him what he’s supposed to do and he does it. OK, it’s not really that easy and it only works well going one direction but it was so obvious when he got it you could hear him thinking ‘duh.’

After my less than successful attempt to maneuver Whisper from the saddle I’ve been working on ways to cue him for turns from the ground. I don’t want to try ground driving as I’ve never done that and don’t want to confuse him. So, he’s been wearing his bridle whenever we work and at the end I attach the reins and work on a few simple things. First he flexes (touches his side with his nose) then he gives to the bit while I pull lightly down on the reins (kind of a seesaw motion). We’ve been working on this for some time and he does it so well that he thinks that any bit pressure means to drop his head. While that’s not wrong it’s not quite what I want right now. After a bit of confusion he discovered if I pulled his head toward me while poking about where the stirrup would hang he should move his hindquarters away. It didn’t take long and the slightest touch on the rein would have him moving away. After working both sides we called it a day. I am very pleased with his quick intelligence and increasing lightness. He is incredibly responsive.