Good Morning

 Words and phrases I don't ever need to hear again, at least not in this life.

Kiddo

Doggo

Fur Baby

washed out of the program

back yard breeder

quality breeder

adopt don't shop

Quick confession. I just can't go back to the old format. Back then, I told stories of horses I was currently training. Those stories brought up some good training discussions and the blog readers and I enjoyed them. Then, the work I wrote about and the conversations we shared triggered horse memories from when I was a kid. So, more stories ensued. 

I haven't tried to train anything except my aging bladder for the last several years. These days I don't hold back and I keep few secrets. Those of you who read this blog from the beginning will remember how long it took me to admit I have an arm amputated just below my elbow.

I'm old, I have Parkinson's Disease, one arm, and skinny legs. 

There, it's all out in the open. 

I still want to write, but I think there will be more of it if we just see what happens. Are we good?

I do, however, have a new project. Scrub, my Foundation bred dun gelding started watching me about a month ago. I step outside and he might be across the field, but when I look, he's pulled away a bit from the other two and  fixed me with both eyes. The only time he doesn't is when he's running or flirting. 

I think he wants to engage. 

Go ahead and accuse me of humanizing him. I don't care. The keen attention he gives me tells me its time to begin my project. I want to do some liberty work, but make it happen for reals, you know, train him at liberty. I watch the videos of these dancing horses, and the handler invariably has a whip, long or short, and the horse tosses its head like an Arab in a halter class.

I'm going to try to teach Scrub by triggering his curiosity. See f I can keep him interested and curious enough to work with me. No saddle, no halter, no whip, no treats.

Scrub is the horse I started by teaching each step just once. I didn't repeat cues, I showed him once and when we seemed to have it down, I quit for the day. Forever after, whatever we learned one day was part of what we built on the next. It kept me occupied during my long and difficult easing out of the working cowhorse world. I ended up with a curious, willing horse loaded with try. He is friendly and a troublemaker. 

I'll attempt to take pics, maybe some video, as this unfolds. We can talk about it. In my bizzaro world, this will be fun. It's funny, while I'm laying this out a story popped into my head. Guess we'll see where this goes.