24th November, 2008 Going over old ground

Today I worked with a 7 month old minature Shetland that has recently arrived with Jodie at the Calekio Stud and is proving difficult to lead. Once again we were shown the value of going old ground to make sure that nothing significant has been missed out of his training. By gently using a quarter rope around his hindquarters, akin to a figure of eight rope that we would use with a very young foal, we were able to get him to lead nicely by asking both his front and back end. At this age, foals are still very vulnerable at the poll and it isn't appropriate to use a lot of pressure on the head. I had a lovely time wandering around the paddock with him as if we were off shopping together.

E-mail 26.11.08: Ponies are coming round... the quarter rope works wonders... trying to work out what I use to do that didn't have the same effect. Ami & Kyte are leading sweetly with that.
JH