Val 4/3

Val was given his usual beauty treatment, with special attention to the feathers. He had been drying in his stall for several hours (not that it's all that muddy out, but it's raining now so that's about to change!!!) and I went through his feathers in detail to make sure they were healthy and brushed through all the layers (and layers, and layers, and layers.....) I feel like I need to put a hair clip on the top layers just to get through to all the rest! LOL!

I repaired his vetwrap (his braids were trying to escape their wraps--the beauty of using vetwrap is you put on the minimum and just add more when needed!) and gave him a really good grooming in the grooming stall. Normally, I do everything while he's tied in his stall, so this was his first time in the grooming stall.

Since his manners have been (overall) getting better, I can be less "disciplinarian" and more "friend" now. I did reprimand him for pawing every time, and had to teach him how to move his hips back and forth on touches to his hip points. He pretended to be made of stone and actually moved IN to me, so I had to actually teach a "hips over" cue. He was resistant at first but receptive by the end. Since I want to still engage his play mode instead of constantly being a "wet blanket" for him when I handle him (you need the horse to WANT to work for you to be a good motivator/trainer!), I started roughousing with him a little and he took it well without the normal labrador-retriever "jumping in the lap" kind of behavior. For example, normally if you handle around his ears, he wants to be scratched and he'll just about throw you across the stall and knock you out with his jawbone if you start touching that area/scratching. Makes getting a halter over his ears REAL interesting. He's been learning manners when being haltered and in general when handling/scratching his ears. Normally he'll stand for a few scratches and then revert back to trying to lean into you/knock you over/throw you across the stall. Now, he stood politely, not even considering any of the above. I handled all around the "trigger" area (can't put a bridle on a horse like that!) and he was excellent. I started manhandling him (normally this would ramp him up and get him too playful) by mugging him, hugging him, laying over his back, actually laying ON him, head by his withers, feet dangling off his butt. He did get a little fidgety for that and began anticipating it and knocking into me when I set up to stand above him (pre-mount work), but overall was very good. I backed down to hugging him and hanging on his neck and he stood for it fine, no fidgeting. The most remarkable progress for this is that I was REALLY invading his space and he wasn't trying to invade mine (for once!) I've been trying to impress on him this whole time that I can invade his space, but he can NEVER invade mine. (Them's the rules, they may not be fair, but you live under my roof....sound familiar? Did we all just flash back to our teenage years??)

After that, I fit the horse sized harness to him. I had to shorten everything but the girth :ROFL: . Even with the crupper on (usually a "buck button" for a horse who has never had one on before) he was calm. I walked him around with the saddle, breeching, and crupper and he was fine. Also reviewed his "turn right" and STAND and STAY work too. He was very well behaved, even though it was night, high wind, and a horse returning from a clinic had just pulled up in a trailer and he was all excited about who this new horse was.