What a Cool Horse!

WOW I met a cool horse today!! He may just be the horse of my dreams...

He is a six year old Connemara Thoroughbred gelding. Nothing flashy, just medium bay with a star. He is a pretty good size, maybe 15.3. He can move like a floaty cloud. Just wow. This boy OOOOZZZES charisma. There is just something about him... that *it* factor, is there in spades!

His temperment is amazing - he is a total LBE. Confident, playful, spirited, curious! Smart, brave, athletic! He belongs to the barn owner where I was going for a lesson, and since the owner is away on vacation, my student is going to start playing with him until she can return.

He has never done any Parelli before, so we were going to start at the beginning with him. When she brought him into the arena though, he was basically a kite. A happy, confident, exuberant kite, but a kite none the less. He was NOT going to stand still, and he was basically trotting and cantering circles around my student, occasionally bucking when she accidentally pulled on the lead or he hit the end of it. Poor guy just wanted to MOVE! With all the ice rain we have had, there is a good crust on all the snow, so the horses dont want to move through it. With this being his first adventure into the arena in months, he was just happy to have good footing!

As soon as it was safely possible, we got the lead off of him and just let him move his feet! WOW. Just wow. Thats all. :) He ran, he played, he bucked, he goofed off, he tested our bubble, and then he asked a question. It was such an interesting thing, watching him play around. Everything he did had a purpose. He checked out every obstacle in the arena. He cantered circles near us, moving about two inches closer to us [we were in the corner, protecting all the things he could get tangled in or hurt on] He just kept testing the bubble. How close can I get to you guys before you move your feet? Luckily I was armed with a carrot stick so I was able to just claim my space, without managing to offend him.

What was really cool about him was how EXPRESSIVE he is. If you just claimed space, he was totally fine with getting out of the way, even if he got tagged. IF he felt like I was coming after him, or being unfair, he bucked! What a goof! I love that dignity! I hope no one ever takes it away from him :)

Once he had moved his feet, he became very curious about us people! He would check in and move off and check in and move off, so we started tracking him, since he was more walking/trotting now, rather than cantering/bucking. He was immediately curious, and basically ended up giving us small liberty circles, yielding his hind quarters as we followed him. It was amazing!

The whole key was to shape what he was already offering, and not give him anything to brace on - part of the reason we stayed at liberty! He followed us all over the arena after that, checked out the tarp, checked out the brush jump and poles on the ground. All four feet on the tarp and he jumped the jump on his own. He got fixated on the door for a bit, because his buddy was out there, so we went over and claimed the door as our space. He figured it out pretty quick and really started softening and offering to connect and come over without bowling us over!

We played with him from our spot. sometimes he would fixate on the outside, so we would see how little it took to get him to refocus. He was so light!

To finish, the student connected with him and walked over to where the lead rope was and took him out. He tried to revert to his usual pushy self so I had to remind her to treat him with zero brace and just yield his hind quarters without pulling to get him to focus. As soon as she did that, he was soft and connected and everything went wonderfully. She said it was the best he has been about turning out through the gate :)

What a cool horse!!!! I had so much fun playing with him :)

:)
S