Ground Driving

Ran out to play with Booker a bit this week in the rain. Anyway I grabbed Booker and the rain had made him super soft. His haircoat was awesome, like someone had spray him with show sheen or something. So smooth and soft. Too bad he was caked in mud from the knees down. Heh. So I groomed quick and ignored his feet cuz yuck. Still has two shoes on though.

I brought the training surcingle with and threw that on and took him into the arena. We did a minute or two of some work on the lead just to make sure he was paying attention to me. Then I worked with the umbrella a bit for my "something old." I had a small umbrella that was one of those that pop open from a button so I did that and he backed up a step but was okay with it. Took a lot less time for him to get used to the umbrella. He didn't like it over his head at first but was fine with it on his back even when it fell off on the ground - he tried to eat it then. After it was on his back he was fine with it over his head and was mostly just trying to see it.

So I hooked up the long lines and did a little ground driving. Mostly figure 8s. At first he was confused. I had the lines on the highest loop in case he didn't like the at his sides but on that setting he was holding his head so high and just sort of spinning himself in circles so I moved the lines down to his sides and he went much better. Did well with the turns but he did not do well with the halt at all. Needs a lot more practice in the arena before he's ready for a drive down the road or something like that. Once he gets that pretty well we can attach the pool noodles to the lines to simulate shafts and when he gets that we can start him on pulling something light from the saddle horn. I dunno what yet though. If we can find that race car tire he could try and pull that, I haven't seen it in the pasture in a while though.

So then I free lunged him a bit since I figured they've been standing still for a while in the pasture and mud. He was pretty amped up, lots of head tossing but didn't seem too sore or anything. Snatched some hay from the pile in the arena ;) I decided to clean off his leg quick, I didn't scrub down past the scab though. I figured any protection against the mud would be good at this point. It could be healed under that more than we think though. We'll see if it falls off next cleaning. He had his usual treats and went back out to the paddock.