Our Liberty video

[gottawonder]

Hopefully this works. This is the video of River and I at Liberty, doing the obstacle course. It is a little amateurish, and River was half-asleep, but he stayed with me and he was totally calm. Two years ago I probably could not have gotten him to back up nicely like that, never mind turning on his haunches or even trotting beside me nicely (He really wouldn't trot beside me in hand).

Mostly, he used to resist a lot, if it was something he wasn't used to doing, and it has taken a lot of work to get him to expand his idea of things that are okay to do. That I can now get him to do it without a halter is amazing.

The thing about taking the halter off, is that it shows you that your horse will stay with you, in a big open area full of grass, with his buddies on the other side of the fence, and cars going by on the road that could distract him, or just the opportunity to be anywhere other than working with you.

So even when I watch this, and think it might not be perfect, and maybe I am over-using the cues still, and talking to him out loud a lot, I have to recognize how far we've come.

Two years ago if I had taken his halter off in that area, he would have been eating grass and taking off to go do anything besides work.


https://youtu.be/18QLQizlVYk

Comments

[spatzenpost]

Bravo! It looks so very impressive, dear Gottawonder.

[gottawonder]

Thank you. It has taken a lot of effort, and working on myself before I could see results with River.

[ratunderpaper]

Good for you! This was a great video to watch!

[gottawonder]

Thanks!

[lantairvlea]

I've been meaning to sit and watch and respond to this. Way to go you two! That is a LOT of work and simply him being able to focus on work and not stuff his face is a HUGE achievement. I haven't done much liberty work with mine, but would love to be able to work like this with my crew.

[gottawonder]

Thank you!