So here's where I'm at with Marty as of today. I've been working with him twice a day for about 20-30 minutes. It's been very hot outside so that's enough for both of us. But a few days ago our session was going so well we were 2 hours into training. Finally Marty threw his head down and shook it a few times and pawed once. He's been so good, I figured this was his way of throwing a 'temper tantrum' so we stopped. I really haven't had one bad day with him yet.
I will post some more pics of Marty in the next few days.
I can lead Marty around now better than any of the other 4 horses I've had for 20 years. He Whoa's before I can get the word out. I can touch him all over and I've picked up his front feet. He's not showing any aggression but his ears are still back 40% of the time. But when he's happy, he's really happy! I can now walk into the round pen and catch him and put his lead on. I've stopped lunging him at this point because I think I need to get him out of the round pen soon. We can always go back in if we need to. I can remove his halter and put it back on him with one arm over his head. I've pulled his tail toward his head. My friend Shelby, came by last week and showed me how important it was to get to his side (right in the middle) without him blocking me. That's what my 18 year old Gelding Bo does all the time. Marty was blocking me quite a bit too. But finally today I was able to get to both sides (in the middle) without him blocking me. The trick was to move fast before he knew what was happening. Now I can do it slow or fast and can walk behind him or in front of him and stop at his middle sides and he just stands there. He's soooo smart. He catches on soooo quickly. That's why I want to do everything right so he doesn't learn any bad habits.
My next goal is to have the lead rope in my hand and make him do circles. I don't want him to follow me. I want him to follow the rope. But when I point the rope to the right Marty just faces me. So I took the whip and tapped his shoulder but nothing happened. When I tapped his hip then he finally took a step to the right where I was tugging the rope. All the while I was trying not to move my feet. If this is the correct way to do this, I have a feeling it might take a little while because he seems content just staring at me. I'm remembering to take the pressure off the minute he moves his feet.
As soon as I can be assured our fence is hot (it comes and goes, you know how that is...) I am going to start trying to lead him outside the round pen in the pasture section and show him what a hotwired fence is. If he does well with that, then I can let the other horses in the section next to him and they can start getting to know him.
I also plan to tie him to a post for a few sessions to start training him to stand and not pull. But he seems to have learned that pulling doesn't get him anywhere so he barely does it anymore.
It was so cool to discover that I could hold on to him when he did pull away. He's still strong, but nothing like my 16 hand mustang Bocephus. I tried so hard to hold onto Bo's rope one time I actually 'bit the dust'..... literally. I had quite a vertical 'gravel trail' going down my face after that incident. I am learning so much with Marty, that once he gets out of that round pen, I think Bocephus will be visiting it a lot more......
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