Leading

 I'm pretty happy with Theo's willingness to learn. He is still his own boss outside but in the barn, he's a pretty cool little dude- and that's my nickname for him at the moment, Little Dude. 

I also love that the mares come when called, hopefully this will rub off on Theo and as time goes by he too will come when called after he's weaned. 

Tonight's session was improving his leading. So far, he has only given me one step at a time so it was time to ask for a little bit more. He has gotten used to having the rope flipped over him and around his legs, without wanting to move off; so now it was time to use the rope to ask him to move forward when I use it with pressure. You might think that he would be confused, with me wanting him to stand still and accept the rope, and then wanting him to move off the pressure, but this smart little fellow had no trouble figuring it out. I place the rope around his rump leaving plenty of rope to lead with from the halter (I use a 12 ft. lead). First I ask from the halter and if he hesitates I add a little pull on the rump rope. It only took a couple of times for him to get the picture and lead nicely. 

As you can see, that rump rope is draped down over his hocks and ankles at times, but he was fine with that. I think tomorrow I should be able to lead him without it and only add it if needed. He is easy to catch now in the barn, but I still can't halter him out in the open, but that will come. Today is only his 9th day of lessons. Also, I use a smaller diameter rope for working with foals and it is tied onto the halter so there are no big metal clips banging his face. I'm also asking him for his feet every time I handle him, and I can hold them for a little longer every day. 

Good boy Theo!