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Thursday, February 17, 2011

Yummy Carrots!

I bought baby carrots the other day to see if I can get Chrome to eat them since they're healthier than treats. They'll be cheaper too when we start growing them ourselves. :) He made faces over the first one and then started inhaling them. :D

I worked on head lowering first. I realized he was biting at my boot again so I moved my feet away from him (which resulted in a strange spraddle legged crouch for me lol) and asked again. I got him to lower his head several times, down to just a few inches from the ground and he even held it there for a second. He didn't try to snatch away this time. I did a little bit on both sides. He's getting it, just needs more practice. He gets tired of that one quickly and walks away so I don't do it for too long.

Then I worked on his lateral flexion. He's way more flexible on his left side than his right. I did some on both sides and he did perfectly! He only tried to yield away from me once or twice. I just ignored it and waited for one with the feet still.

After that I worked on hindquarter yields. He's still having trouble with them, so I think I'm going to leave it alone a while. I really think it's because of his sore leg so I don't want to push it. He knows to move off of pressure and that's good enough now. I don't have to get it absolutely perfect right now. I noticed I was pressing harder waiting for him to do it right and realized I needed to take a step back. I would rather him be light off of pressure than worry that he puts his feet perfectly or doesn't step forward, etc. I'll pick it back up later when we get the club hoof under control and decide what we're going to do about the hock.

After that I did some backing and grownups are talking just to finish off the carrots. We were even working around the feed shed and he was being a good boy. He's definitely an afternoon person like me. :) Oh and I also forgot to mention that since the warm weather both of his testicles are down and staying down, so he's definitely not a cryptorchid. Thank goodness! I'm trying to scrape up the money to get him gelded before it gets too warm. I don't think I would have been able to afford it if he's been cryptorchid. Well, that's all for now. Carrots got two hooves up and Chrome gets an A+. Good session!

1 comment:

  1. It took Cole a week to decide he liked carrots--now they are a training staple for him. I don't know if I would waste good, homegrown garden carrots on him. They are too delicious.

    I only have so-so success growing carrots--they usually are only a couple inches long.

    Don't forget green beans are a good treat--and they have very little sugar in them.

    I'm glad his training is going so well.

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