He can't even be a proper punk!

Thursday:
So I had bought Longe Whip (people at Fleet Farm gave me a "why would you need a BIGGER whip" horse-abuse look) Wednesday, and had a longe line because they were on sale before, and was all prepared for hell to break loose. I had had a bad day at work, was ready to be no-nonsense and de-stress. Didn't mean I felt like beating him, just that I was too drained from the stress to put up with B.S. and too tired to get all that rough on him.

Luckily Kate was around so I explained what I was going to do. She's very no-nonsense, but also very Western. She does not longe, do ground work, etc. Her horses do not hold their feet well, do not tie so well, and one does not catch well (may have been abused in a previous home, though). However her horses do tack up and ride exceedingly well. Nothing fancy, maybe a little side pass, but can canter through the woods without a fuss, stand for saddling and mounting and bridling, etc.

So anyways, I explained what I was going to do so that she didn't think big whip= big retard. She knows I'm a noob and just might think that. I get him out, and after a few "quit"s and light halter jerks he didn't graze. The horses had just come outside- they have a run-in shelter they hide in during the day away from the bugs, so he probably DID want to graze. He stood like a rock for grooming. He was cocking a back leg pretty far when I wanted to pick it, but a fwop to the belly stopped that. I'll clarify: a fwop is a kick. Some people freak out about that. I point my toe and strike with the whole surface from the toe of my boot to just below my knee. It's very blunt. He has a pretty big, fat belly to kick. I'm rather certain it doesn't hurt. Were it painful, he would probably move at least a step and not just look at me like "Aw, crap. Fine," give a big sigh and then behave.

So he's being good. Too good. I showed him Whip and he tried to eat it. I rubbed it on him and he nearly napped. His friends were watching. We began longeing and he was being perfect. A few touches with the whip and he stopped trying to eat and had a positive work ethic. Decent working trot. I was so impressed I didn't realize his friends moved away so we then followed them. He was worse behaving on the grass where they were than on the drive where they had been. He'd be distracted or try to grab a bite, trip, then flip out like it was somehow my fault. Or, he'd trot faster and faster, canter, then gallop and flip out. Big farty bucks. We haven't worked too much on downward transitions on the longe, because usually it's hard enough to get him to go, and they aren't a problem under saddle. So sadly, I thin he was probably just trying to please me by actually going faster, but then frustrated because he hit a peak. I let him have enough line to finish it then asked him again to trot like it never happened. Heck that's even more work for him, and it's not getting him out of anything. Wasn't going to whip him for it because he'd probably not figure out why, again it doesn't happen under saddle, and it would just make the rest of what we were doing harder for him to learn. He'd be all "OMG she BEAT me!" and ignore all the "good"s and "atta boy" etc. for things he was doing right afterwards.

So then we walked into the woods and chilled. For all my riling up, he was ready to nap in the woods. I think he was tired. We walked back, worked near friends, then chilled in the woods again. At this point it was getting dark.

So, successes:
1) He stood well non-grazing. He was a bit pissy for saddling, but that's an ongoing thing. I did sit on him for a little while and he was good for that.

2) He longed very well, for him. He really was trying. He was not heavy-headed, and I was good at being fair. Maybe a little weak on my part, but better than crude.

3) He was being so good I didn't notice his friends leave. Hmm, maybe that's a failure. He was respectful of my space. I could tell his friends were gone when I went to sit on him.

Failures:

1) He did not flip out when leaving his friends. Makes the problem harder to fix. He didn't want to leave them, but stood with me perfectly fine in the woods.

2) He needs his feet did. He was trippy, which he wasn't last time I saw him. I'll call Kelly, they'll be taken care of. They're also chippy, which he's never had before. Dry, I guess?

3) We need to do some down transitions. I'd give them, but he didn't act like he knew ones other than "and ho."

Always always, a work in progress. He did get a decent exercise though; I think he and his friends are being lazy.