Indie, a Clydesdale cross with Dutch Harness, came in for training on Nov. 29th 2012, as a three year old that hadn’t had much handling. That was a little tricky in the beginning, with her 16’2 hh stature with larger than usual bone structure. Her nerves were on high alert, which resulted in passage, three feet into the air as her natural way of going. It took a couple of hours loading her onto a trailer, and once arriving at Isaac Royal Farm, she decided that the cement floor in the isle was alive and the stalls just didn’t look like home, so we let her spend the night in the indoor arena, since the events of the day seemed to have been a little traumatizing.
Training began with teaching her to lead and respect Lydia’s space without stepping all over her feet, that needed patience and a time frame, along with lessons in free lungeing at walk, trot, and canter upon command. Later Lydia introduced the saddle during her training sessions. Once that was working well she added the bridle. Once she was accustomed to the bit and allowing the bridle to be put on without resistance we added long, side reins during the free lungeing phase. Lydia took each step slowly, giving Indie time to think about what was being asked of her and time to make decisions. When training horses, slow and patient is the only way to progress quickly. That brings us up to Dec.22, 2012.
Lydia just finished working Indie, and her amazing touch with a young horse worked its magic as usual. Today she put Indie on the lunge line for the first time. She kept the long, side reins attached and it worked without incident. Lydia only asked for walk and trot as this was a new introduction. She quietly worked on the line responding to each command with ease and grace. Indie’s high-spirited nervousness has settled down to quiet concentration, led by Lydia’s calm spirit in her classical approach to training. We will keep you updated each week with Indie’s progress.
Carolyn Sharpe Rose's Blog 