Saturday's Work Session!!

Today I did get to work Navajo which was a bit of a surprise as I had no intention of doing so..Anyway first thing in the morning I go out and take care of Navajo..I did the usual things and then I decided to work a bit on him coming when I whistle which is coming along very good..I have carrots which is his reward when he comes when I whistle..So that was not really unusual because I usually try to take carrots out and get him to do things for me to earn the carrots so to speak. Well then of course I figured ok that is all I am going to do for today:) Well, I did all my inside work and the last thing was taking out the trash..Well since I had turned Navajo out even though it is quite cold for about an hour (so he could stretch his legs and spend some time outside of his stall) I figured I would bring him in. I had the trash in hand and realized what a great opportunity I had :D He hates platic bags..well hate is a strong word..He doesn't like them..at one point he hated them. So I whistled for him to come to me (of course I had a carrot) and he came. Then I introduced the bag of trash. Once he saw I had the trash in hand he was a bit warry of me and the trash bag :D Well I rubbed it all over him, set it on his back and just mainly got him used to it. Then I set the bag on the ground and got him to come up to me and the bag. He did really awesome and toward the end the bag of trash was of no concern to him anymore:) So I was like for the final test I am going to hop on with the lead rope as my reins and we are going to take the trash up to the DUMPSTER..hehe. We have only done this one time before but the last time I had the halter on. HE was ok with me hopping on him with the trash and listened really well to my leadrope/reins and leg cues!! I got him to go up to the trash dumpster and stopped him by it..We were to far away from the dumpter and since I didn't know how he would respond with me opening the dumpster I just got him to walk away, stopped him and then hopped off and walked him back to he dumpter to put the bag of trash in it..Overall he did wonderful and it was a very short and sweet training session. It is 20 out with a slight breeze that goes right thru you (or so it seems). Then I put him in the barn and let him munch on carrots as his treat for doing so well!! I am proud of my horse..He is more bombproof than he was when I first got him..it also has to do with the trust I believe! Have a wonderful and hopefully cozy weekend:)