Well, today Charlie and I had a lesson with my instructor Sarah.
Since last time he's got much better at "parking" and standing still where I have put him while I move away. This time I wanted to focus on two things: the first is my inability to concentrate on something and to prefer hopping from thing to thing, which doesn't help himself understand at all! The second was a tendency I've observed for Charlie to resist through the shoulder, especially the right shoulder, when he doesn't like what he's asked to do or doesn't understand - even to the extent of, once or twice, striking out with that leg.
We worked on leading and getting him up and moving along with me, and then we worked on the right rein. Sarah could immediately see the difference. She asked me to send him on a circle around me, which I failed to do as before because he got enough rope to go backwards and did that instead. So she showed me how to circle him on a short rope. He was not keen and resisted a lot, and she bumped the rope on his shoulder until he yielded it and moved away.
I worked on this for a while too. We gave him lots of breaks and he was thoughtful and licked and chewed, and he showed a lot of improvement. Sarah explained a bit about resisting through the shoulder and how it shows itself in babies and told me what to do if he went as far with his resistance as rearing: (1) keep yourself safe, (2) as soon as you can, ensure that there are consequences with a strong downward jerk on the halter. I felt a bit oo-er about this but she is very safety conscious.
Anyway, we thought we would finish up by walking him around the perimeter track (we'd been working in the school). This was at the end of a 45 minute session and we soon learned that he had had ENOUGH!
He walked nicely as far as the bottom of the track proper, when you start to move away from the shelter and school. As I turned to walk up there what did he do but jib and lift both feet off the ground? I was astonished, but administered the downward jerk as instructed and he came down and walked obediently for another 5 metres. Then he started to pronk about like an idiot. I got him back but Sarah and I agreed that he must have had more than enough and we needed to finish, but that we should finish on a reasonable, obedient note, so she asked me to circle him once in each direction. Left rein - no problem. Right rein - he kicked out! Nowhere near me, but very stroppy. I sent him back with a waggle of the rope and asked again: he complied this time politely so we led him back down to the shelter and I went to take his head collar off.
Sarah said, "When you've been working against their instincts for a while, they can go a bit ballistic, so it's a question of light blue touch paper and stand clear." I did stand away and as expected, he bounced off and had a caper, buck and fart, dash in and out of the shelter and then galloped back up to us.
He's got lots of character and Sarah thinks he is inclined to be dominant, so I need to be extra-sure that he doesn't push me around without my noticing it. I think I need to be prepared for more tantrums! We've also agreed to stick to half-hour lessons for him for now rather than blow his tiny mind.
I think I am still ok with all this....