Our session today was all about patience!  If you haven’t been following along, catch up on Odin’s story on the Colorado Horse Rescue website (here) and on our latest blog post from March 5 (here).

Today’s mantra is…

Odin has been making great progress since our last visit, and the day before this video was shot, Sarah was actually able to get in the saddle and practice shifting weight around a bit before dismounting.  That day, Odin was in zen mode, and able to be mounted for the first time calmly!

Today as we were headed to the round pen, there was a lot of activity in the main barn with many backlit moving shapes.  This was a NEW SCARY THING! Sarah was able to patiently work Odin through this obstacle until he was confident enough to walk up and check out the scary shadow people and confirm they were indeed just ordinary human beings.  

Maybe it was the incident above, or maybe he was just feeling a little less brave today, but Odin needed more patience and groundwork.  He wasn’t quite ready for the challenge of having weight on his back again. This is a great thing to remember when training – just because you did it yesterday, doesn’t mean you should do it today!  To be successful, know how to listen to your horse, and don’t put them in a situation where they probably won’t succeed – it will just shake your and your horse’s confidence. Training animals is never the linear process we all wish it could be sometimes!

Even though we think Odin would make a stellar little jumping pony, he could go in any direction.  Look how great he looks in western tack!

The Learning Curve

When we started sponsoring Odin, we had no idea we would be able to sit in on training sessions that would be this informative, or get a colt starting primer!  The video below shows highlights from today’s training session, including dealing with some of the tension he was feeling today. He still has shown so much progress and is learning which stimuli he should react to (cues from the handler/rider) and which he shouldn’t (adjusting tack – not a cue!).  His world is getting a lot more complicated, but he is figuring it out, moving along the road to becoming a reliable partner.