I came home full of new inspiration and hope for Magnum. I was ready to try again with him. This time, with Kert’s words ringing in my ears, I set him up in the small paddock. I made a ‘magic circle’ so I had a ‘laneway’. If I was all that Kert had taught me, it would work – I thought… but Magnum did not understand why I was on one side of this ‘circle’ with a dressage whip and rope.
I changed it….. I moved to the other part of the paddock and opened the gate for him to join me. I had some sliced carrot, I also had the halter and a rope. I threw away the whip. I really wasn’t expecting anything to happen, I remained calm and just wandered around.
Magnum stayed close. He knew I had carrots. I pretended I was Kert. I did what I thought he would do. I gave him a carrot using the hand with the halter in it. Then I walked away in a loop… he followed me. Next I touched him with the halter in my hand, gave him carrot – and walked away.
He followed me again…I ignored him, focussed on my walking, breathing and posture – then turned and rubbed the halter on his nose – more carrot – then left him.
I continued this over the next few days and we progressed to getting the halter on!!! I was so excited I ran and got the camera!!
Eventually I captured this on film – I was so happy!!
Why did it work, especially after i had tried treats before? Well, I think a few things…
I do have The Master to thank for teaching me about being aware of my movements – and really not being anxious about it. I learnt to just wander away from him…it was up to him to follow. The halter became just another thing I touched him with – and eventually having the halter going on him was no big deal – the same with the rope – ….but I didnt carry the whip..
While I had success with Magnum, the same couldn’t be said for Saadi. Arguing with a 600kg Percheron in the corner of the Magic Circle was scary. I certainly wasn’t getting the upper hand with leadership!!! Hmmmm……
So as I discovered, some things were working – and some things weren’t!
During this time, I was in contact with Kert via email – and one day I had a request to ring him….he wanted to talk about a project and wanted my help…
Well it was a great honour that Kert wanted to talk to me – and of course I dutifully made a time for a Skype call.
But before I tell you about that, I will tell you first about ‘The Gathering’…..
COMING UP – THE GATHERING OF THE MASTER’S STUDENTS
IF YOU ARE NEW TO THIS STORY, PLEASE START AT THE BEGINNING HERE – Part 1 – An Introduction
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