Tandy out on a trail ride

 After about 30 days of lunging and long lining, Doug decided it was time to get on Tandy and ride him. Coco went out as lead horse, but Tandy led the whole way. We are fortunate to have a open space on a private ranch to ride. Mounting and dismounting Tandy are the main trouble spots. I held Tandy and let him eat grain while Doug got on. Also the mounting block had to be up against a rail to stop him from sidling away. Then dismounting was troublesome, as Tandy wanted to jump forward as soon as Doug took his foot out of the stirrup. This horse has been"professionally" trained. But something went wrong. Tandy was very brave out on the trail and did not spook at anything. So different from the Arabians and Thoroughbreds that I have experienced in the past. 

 

Tandy is progressing

Today Tandy was taken out of the round pen and long lined around the horse pens and he  responded to Doug and the bit

well. The last time we did this he was not ready, or reacted to a previous memory that was not good, and freaked out and got wrapped up in the lines. We have discovered that he is very afraid of whips, fly spray and the horse clippers. It makes me wonder what happened when he was in professional training a year ago. Anyway we can retrain him and it is progressing well. Next up is Doug riding him.

And long lines

 Tandy seems to have remembered his training. He will be worked in long lines until he relaxes and yields lightly to the bit.

Tandy is our main focus

 Bit by bit we are reminding Tandy of his training. So far we have lunged him and added a surcingle and bit. Today we were going to add long lines but it actually rained !! So in a day or two we will see what kind of response we get to the bit.