I had a great training session with Katai today and made a lot more progress.
I have to admit that I use some of Clinton Anderson's techniques to teach basic ground work. As a rule I don't like "methods" and I'm also not a huge fan of the current trend of "natural Horsemanship" trainers that sell anything they can for about ten times what it is worth. I don't have any of Clinton's products other than one book, I tie my own rope halters and I use a lunge line.
However, I did find that when I do ground work myself without following a book I tend to bounce around and skip stuff, part of the artsy brain type, and I'll manage to get everything done but it will take me twice as long. For that reason it is nice to have a nice list of steps to take.
Today I round penned Katai to each side with the western saddle on and got a couple of bucks out of her. They were sissy little bucks but it is the first time I had seen her do that at all so it was great for me to know. I also desensitized, which is the easy part for her, had her wear the bit for awhile and worked on backing away from pressure and yielding her hindquarters. She is getting so much better so quickly and it should be about 2-3 more weeks before I get on her depending on how much time I have to work with her and the weather.
The specific plan tomorrow is to work on more of the lunging type techniques, yielding her forequarters, and more backing and round penning.
I can't wait to spend more time with my girl!
