Chat
02-20-2017, 10:09 AM
We took our team out for their first drive of 2017 yesterday. They haven't pulled together since the Christmas parade two months ago. They were spunky and Finn was fractious at first, but they soon settled and went very nicely for most of the drive. As we neared the truck they got quite strong though, so I took over the reins from Phil and really put them through their paces. We made lots of donuts in the road and I drove them away from the truck several times. We practiced walk-trot-whoa transitions, and when we got back to the truck I made the boys trot circles around it for several minutes until they were quite out of breath (at least Finn was). I don't want them thinking that going to the truck means an automatic end to their work. In fact, arriving at the truck may even be the hardest part of the whole drive! When I drove them away from the truck after their vigorous workout they were quite compliant about walking nicely away from it. I stopped a couple hundred feet down the road, got out, rewarded, and led them back to the truck.
I was very happy with how the boys did for having been out of practice so long. Finn was kind of mean to Sputnik and occasionally tried to bite his ears, but he wasn't terrible. He also didn't have the greatest attitude. He started off both balky and chargey (couldn't make up his mind!) and even reared a couple of times when we first started, but he eventually settled, did the work, and was rewarded. Hopefully next time he'll have a nicer attitude about it. I don't think Finn will ever really enjoy pulling like Sputnik does, but that's ok. If he can eventually learn how to just put his best face on and do the work without complaining, he'll find it's not nearly as bad as he thinks. Not every activity has to be your favorite to still be enjoyable or at least tolerable. Sputnik has gotten pretty good at putting his best foot forward even when he's not sure about something. Finn not so much. We've come a long way with Finn in the last month, but he still has a ways to go.
I was very happy with how the boys did for having been out of practice so long. Finn was kind of mean to Sputnik and occasionally tried to bite his ears, but he wasn't terrible. He also didn't have the greatest attitude. He started off both balky and chargey (couldn't make up his mind!) and even reared a couple of times when we first started, but he eventually settled, did the work, and was rewarded. Hopefully next time he'll have a nicer attitude about it. I don't think Finn will ever really enjoy pulling like Sputnik does, but that's ok. If he can eventually learn how to just put his best face on and do the work without complaining, he'll find it's not nearly as bad as he thinks. Not every activity has to be your favorite to still be enjoyable or at least tolerable. Sputnik has gotten pretty good at putting his best foot forward even when he's not sure about something. Finn not so much. We've come a long way with Finn in the last month, but he still has a ways to go.