Short Session

I had to take it easy today because of the toe injury. I started out clicking Chrome's greeting neighs and nickers. I got about three good ones before he went mute. I asked for a smile and then went into the pasture. When I put my hand on the gate to push it open he went for my hand thinking I had a treat, so I worked on 'leave it' with him. He quickly remembered his manners and waited patiently for the click.

At one point I held my hand out sort of low and he actually reached up to paw with his leg. I don't know what I did to make him think leg, but I liked it so I clicked. Then I started tickling the point of his shoulder and he would pick up his foot. Sometimes he pawed and sometimes he held it up. Maybe teaching the Spanish Walk someday won't be so difficult. He did it on both sides, but I didn't want to encourage too much pawing so I went to his side and asked him to hold his hoof up for me to take. He did perfectly on both sides.

After that I did some lateral flexion. He's getting really good at paying attention to which side I cue regardless of which side I'm standing on. He still offers them without a cue, but I ignore those since we need to work on stimulus control. :)

After that I was going to work on back lifts and the trailer, but my toe was hurting and I was really starting to feel nauseous so I called an end to the session. Sigh. Why did I have to get hurt? I didn't work with Zeppelin at all and I think he was really unhappy about that, but I'll try to do something tomorrow.

Edited To Add: Oh and I forgot to mention that a friend of mine came over to borrow a trailer and I introduced her to Chrome. He did his smile perfectly and was being very friendly and then he tried to bite her!! He was really going for it too but luckily I was watching closely and stopped him. What the heck! Is it normal for a young stud colt to try to bite and/or dominate every new person he meets? Will this go away when I geld him in a couple of weeks (he turns two in May)? He doesn't try it with me anymore because I've established myself with him, but for new people I don't want him acting like that! He's getting a bit chunky so I'm cutting back on his oats (may get rid of the oats completely - he eats Enrich 32, oats, beet pulp and timothy pellets because of a hay shortage over the winter, but grass is coming up so I'm cutting back) and when my toe heals I guess I need to get back to walking him again. Any advice is welcome. Just don't be too harsh. :) Thanks guys!