I thought for a few things about what I should teach him.. the first thing that came to mind was teaching him how to follow me without a lead rope or such. So I went to youtube to look for movies on how to train a horse how to follow their owner.
Something else I saw however triggered my memory as to a book I read about a man named Monty Roberts (a great horseman). There's a thing you can do with your horse called "joining-up". Its a technique used to help people build trust between themselves and their horses. I decided to give it a whirl.
After getting ready, driving out there, and having a nice little chat with the rancher's wife (Mrs Randal) I grabbed a bucket of oats, his halter and lead, and a longe whip.
Once I was set I lured Tango into the round pen and closed the gate. Of course I had to stand and wait (tapping my toe impatiently) as he finished snacking on the bribe I brought him (next time I'll only give him one handful, although with mouths as big as theirs you'd think they'd chew faster). After Tango had finished his oats I pushed (not physically I used body language and voice commands) him to the outer edge of the round pen.
Using the longe whip (you never touch your horse with it as that causes fear, thus defeating the whole purpose of this exercise) and my body language I got him to trot around the edge. It was going well, however his buddies Razz and Brown decided they were gonna see what was going on and why they hadn't gotten any oats. Tango lost concentration on the task at hand when his "buddy" Razz decided it would be a good idea to nip at Tango over the fence. However ol' trusty Brown would come right behind and scare Razz away.
At first I thought it would be helpful for Razz to be razzing on Tango (haha excuse the pun, I couldn't help myself) however trust a horse to love the one that pesters you. The Redneck began to stop at the side of the round pen where the two horses were, and almost refused to budge, however with my awesome skills of persuasion (that was sarcasm) I convinced him to go again.
For a while I felt like we weren't making progress but then I saw that he was starting to respond to me. At first it was subtle, like his inside ear slightly tilted towards me. Then as I kept going he started licking his lips (a sign that a horse is understanding what's going on). Finally he made a third, more obvious signal, his eye rolled (haha just like a teenager) and he snorted at me (in exasperation you might've said). Thinking maybe he was ready I dropped the longe whip and turned my back to him, hand out. He stopped immediately and faced me, however he sighed and promptly walked back to where his buddies were.
Not a fan of rejection (sorry for being melodramatic, but I am a girl you know) I picked the longe whip back up and pushed him back into a trot. He kept trying to stop at the gate and at the spot on the fence where Razz was however after a while Razz and Brown got bored and went for a drink. A drink of water that is, the Randalls do not have alchoholic horses, just for clarfication.
Then it was two, The Redneck and I. I pushed him and he started to respond more and more. So I stopped and tried again.. he took one step towards me but stopped there. Turning around I pushed him more.
It was unusually warm out today and the two of use were working up a sweat. However finally when I thought I would have to stop to take off my sweater he stopped when I paused in a step. So I turned around, he took a step... I dropped the whip... he took another step. I stuck out my hand and he took two more steps till he was only a foot away from me. I took a step, he took a step. I walked a circle around the pen with him following me.
Attaching his lead rope to his halter I just let it drape over his neck. I gathered my equipment and walked back to the barn, him following me the whole way. Happy with the days success I scratched him on the neck.. a place a friend told me horses especially liked to be scratched because it reminds them of when they were foals.. and smiled at how blessed I was with such a smart horse.
The Redneck and I.... he's my trusty side kick, we're a couple of buckaroos, partners in crime.
(p.s. I figured out what went wrong with my ride yesterday, I don't think I'll be falling of again any time soon. Thanks Mr Randal for the insight!)
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