Day #5 7/22/2010

Today I went to work with Touch Diamond / Bravo / Name T.B.A. and my goal was to do work to refresh his memory on lifting his feet. We also were going to work on leading and respecting personal space.

He did really well with the leading. We walked up and down the long driveway for about 30 minutes. We worked on walking up and down and doing half halts and walking to the side, and not walking faster than me. To break up the monotony (because he is so smart and gets bored very easily) we did circles, and broke the driveway down into sections. When he did exceptionally well, I would let him graze for a mouthful or two, then we would go right back to working.

By the end of 30 minutes, he was respecting my space, was halting and walking on command, and would quickly stand quietly until I told him it was ok to graze. I do not want him pulling on me to get down to eat, instead I want him to be respectful and wait until I allow him to graze, and to understand I *WILL* let him graze when it is a good time. This is with the goal in mind of being on long rides during endurance rides and ride & tie rides and not eating everything in sight and not working.

Today I also worked on getting him to allow me to touch him all over. He is very calm and has no problems except around the swelling on his cannon.

We did not work really hard on lifting his feet because his rear off side cannon had a bit of swelling that seemed to be too sensitive, but he was not limping or favoring it.

So smart and patient! I am very proud of him.

I didn't get any "different" photos or videos today.

Until next time -
Happy Tails!
Lucy Roberts

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