Breaking Down The Problem

I was working with my yearling this morning.  What seemed like a basic request to free lunge in the round pen became a big problem ending with his massive temper tantrum.

My yearling knows how to both free lunge and lunge on-the-line, but today he said no.  At first I thought pushing him, growling at him and just asking again and again would work. But it didn’t.  I stood there confused. Lunging is a simple request and something he knows.

Finally I thought about the pieces he needed to be able to lunge.

• Move
• Pay attention to me

Both of these pieces were lacking. It was easier to access his hind end so I was able to get his hind legs moving. Then I went to the front end to move his shoulder – and there was the problem. He would not yield from his right shoulder.  After re-schooling stepping left from the right shoulder for a while, I was able to get back to lunging. I’m sure we will need several days of reinforcement.

Today’s experience was an interesting lesson for me. To think something so basic (in my mind) as lunging would need to be broken into smaller pieces (for the Yearling’s mind) wasn’t something I was expecting. By breaking down the pieces, I was able to stop his tantrums from escalating and we ended with a successful training session.

…Now, mind you I have a hole in my shirt from his tantrum attention-getting reactions.