Fancy Flyer

Just after Christmas we had an opportunity to start another Hanoverian for a local breeder. Since I had got the chance to work with the last one my dad trained (who was very easy) I thought "No Problem right." Wrong!! Its not that he has a bad attitude or anything, he is just scared of The World. The most nervous animal I've ever worked with. Though he is scared of just about everything and everyone, he is very willing to please. Anything you ask of him he'll try, though he may jump out of his skin in the process, he will try and thats all I can ask of him. After the first couple days of working with him I began to realize that this was going to be a demanding experience. His just doesn't retain the trust in fearful obsticles as a horse normally does, its almost like I had to desensitize to everything everyday. Finally when we started establishing a daily routine he began to figure things out a little quicker. With a normal horse you carry his fears just to the edge of his comfort zone and retreat, with Flyer you carry him beyond and bring him back. His comfort zone is really about the size of a pea. For the first time since I have started training horses I actually skipped ridding bareback for the first couple of rides(normally I am at least riding bareback by 2 weeks and it had now been three)... I know, I hated it too. But it started to take up entirely to much time just jumping up and down attempting to lay across his back. So I decided to go ahead and desensitize him to the saddle which took a little more than a days worth of throwing it on and off....and on and off (its a light saddle). The day after I threw it on and off so many times I decided to go ahead and cinch it up. He didn't freak out as much as I thought he would, partly because of the boat bouys that we put on the surcingle a couple of days before. Currently I can get the saddle on him with little fear that its just gonna eat him up! I've been on his back for 3 days, flexing left and right, and forward motion and stop. This normaly happens all in one day. With Flyer, 7 days and counting. ...more on that later. Remember to please leave comments/criticism or just email me at thebartjr@gmail.com