Can't I Ever Have a NORMAL Day?

Went to the barn this afternoon fully intending to work with Coos on his driving, had it all planned out. First I was going to free-lunge his brains out, then ground-drive him and work on his stops/standing, then hitch him to the cart and work on his stops/stands, maybe with a nice little trot up and down the road to finish up the day. I had all day, I wasn't in any hurry, it's a beautiful sunny day w/low winds and temps in the lower 70's.

WRONG!

Seems today the local Baptist Camp was coming to the barn with 50 teenagers to ride horsies and have a cookout!!

I did get the horse lunged until he was puffing, got him brushed, got him harnessed up...but then the Baptists showed up...managed to get the hell out of the barn before all 50 of them crammed in there! They had 10 horses saddled up & tied in the arena waiting for the mob of teens...yikes! Unfortunately I'd already brought up my cart, and it was soon engulfed by bodies...well, guess that part of the plan is out!

Ha...due to the lunging (I suspect), I halted Quz right outside the barn, and he USUALLY kicks up a hissy fit, wanting to GO GO GO, but instead he cocked a hind leg and stood there, watching the world go by, nary a care in the world! Okay...fine. ..I'll wait. I just stood there, enjoying the warmth of the day, the sun, the nice springtime smells. Eventually Quz got bored and started turning to the left...I jumped to action & promptly lost control, he ended up facing me halfway up a hill with the reins wrapped around his neck! (remember that t-shirt on eBay? Yeah, that!)

Got him untangled & pointing the correct direction, we stood there about half a minute, then got him walking. We pretty much spent the next HOUR walking here and there, stopping here and there, standing around, waiting...then walking, then stopping at random times. At the first driveway we stopped, facing out to the road. A car went by, and as soon as it passed, he started to move forward w/o any direction from me! Can't blame him, that's been our routine all this time; wait for traffic to clear and then walk on!

Got him stopped okay, we walked around a bit more, came back to the driveway, stopped...he decided he'd had enough, and started spinning! Just like the smarties on Chronicle of the Horse said, if he wants to go in circles, go in circles!! I kind of lunged him around and round and round and round and round and round and when he tried to stop I made him go around some more!! Once I saw he was upset and displeased, I stopped, making sure he was in the same direction we started in...and we stood... and stood....and stood...he let out a mighty sigh...a car whizzed by... we stood some more.

Yeah, my feet are sore as heck, you bet!

We went up the road a bit, seemed like as soon as I got to a spot w/the narrowest shoulder, THAT is when a big long line of cars came along, topped off by a truck hauling a huge white boat! Blinkers or no, Coos managed a pretty good spook at that!

Had two more episodes of the spinnies, and he got himself lunged in tight circles for his trouble. Towards the end of the session he was stopping on a dime, standing calmly and relaxed, and ready to move forward with a verbal cue. I remembered NOT to slap the reins on his butt, but used voice and then whip-tap, and it seemed to work!

Ha, could hear the racket from inside the barn from all the teenagers... had to bring the horse in through a back door to avoid all the crowds, & untacked him in his stall. LOL, almost before I got his bridle off he stretched out to pee, poor boy!

Think I'll do at least one more ground driving session before hitching him up to the cart, just to make sure he remembers. But it's nice to see some improvement in just a time or two.

One good benefit to having those Baptists show up; the owners cleaned the barn nicely, raked & smoothed both the indoor AND outdoor arenas (they look awesome!) & graded the driveway. The teens sure seemed to be enjoying themselves, even though they were being led around. Hope it brought in good $$ for Bob (anything to keep my board from being raised!)