Groundwork and glass recycling

I took Mag for  his third walk today and he was spectacular, scaring drivers and bus drivers passing by, with his high  neck and tail over his back. Fortunately for me, he is polite on the lead despite stress and snorting.

I have to admit I was not completely calm, I refrained from coffee this morning.

The horse followed behind as we made our way to the hiking trail parking lot/glass recycling station. I went further in, to the Schutzhund club. I had this idea that their gravel parking area could serve as a place to do groundwork with a horse, despite the puddles and trees everywhere.

It was great. Except for all the trees.

I intended to teach Mag, for the first time, to follow my finger to tell him which direction to make a circle around me, and then disengage his hindquarters to stop, facing me. And then to follow the other finger the other way, and so on, and then to stop altogether, and to back (stopping and backing he should know by now). Then the reverse on the line, from circling me right to left without hesitation.

It didn't all go smoothly. The disengaging the hindquarters was too abrupt for him, and he told me so by shaking his head at me defiantly. I needed to start with more intensity that I needed, knowing how lazy he could be from his past, so I felt the intensity was justified. For example, I didn't start him moving around me at a walk, but rather at a trot, because I wanted to instill the impression of forward and "NOW"  so he got a little offended. No bad language, just the head shaking, til I got what I wanted and toned it down.

I let him just walk around me, and change directions every half circle. It started to get good and I wanted to keep going but I realized that it was enough, so I stopped.

He tends to creep forward to me for touching and I kept backing him, but moving toward him and rubbing him behind his ears or giving a bit of carrot.

I tried to work on standing still but Mag just started tearing roots out of the ground and eating them and grabbing whatever plant he could, and even digging at the earth. Hm, what to do.

I walked him over to the Schutzhund center, with all their obstacles, and stood with my back to their gate, wiggling it to see if that bothered him. No response. I told him how he doesn't want to know what happens here. "Here they make predators more aggressive than they would normally be." (Nothing wrong with that, the only dog breed I truly love is the GSD.)

I saw that standing there, with nowhere for him to go, and no trees to uproot, tear down, he had to settle a bit. I think that's a good place to start for tying training in the woods, stand where he has nothing to do but wait. We'll see.

A lady came with a Bernese and Dachshund, both off leash. I stood there and Mag became entranced by them. "What is this amazing circus!" He held perfectly still, straining his neck toward each dog as they walked by. The dogs were the first thing that made him hold still. He looked like one of those Scottsdale Arabians that are now practicing their poses in Arizona. I think even that dog lady appreciated that.

Then someone parked at the recycling center and started dumping glass into the containers. Mag was disturbed, but stayed with me. I laughed, "Yes, we all have to do it here, recycling. Do you want me to give you the many types? Plastic, paper, glass, garden, kitchen waste,...it goes on....and it's by law.."

I didn't let Mag stop at the recycling center, even though we passed right by the guy doing it. Mag was uptight, prancing by his Jeep, putting on a show for the guy. I reminded Mag to stay behind me and he did. 

After that on the sidewalk toward home,  so safe - but even a commuter bus passed by Mag and he only flinched. I consistently make him just stand still, but not away from traffic, just facing away if he needs to leap. He consistenly stands still and lets the vehicle pass. I can't wait to see what he'll do when the horse-drawn carriages go by, when the weather warms up.

I forgot to say that this morning I brought out a big tarp and it really bothered Mag, so I hung it on the fence above his food and water, and by the end of the day, the wind was whipping it around, and he was fine with it.

Once home I just let him go but did not feed him or release them to pasture. That's just my thing, when returning home, there won't be any reward of any kind other than the massive reward of being home.

30 minutes later I turned them both out and ....

tonight...

I decided that tonight they could stay out all night.

Like grown ups. OK College students.

I put out hay, fed them both beet pulp, and left the gates open.

My animals are not to be found. It's dark out, 8 pm, and they're enjoying their freedom.

Gute nacht.

PS - I'm watching Scottsdale and loving the examples of great horsemanship, and hating all the unhappy horses (Western Rollkur!?). But the examples of kindness and happy horse performance make up for that. Wow. And I have the best horse of them all.