Leading by the Lip

Oooh my, did Prinny and I have a good laugh in our session tonight...I decided to attempt leading her by the lip, which is a L3 task, I admit, I haven't done a whole lot with. I made the disgusting assumption that my horse would probably just follow me, and I wouldn't really have to teach her anything once I got my fingers on her lips. Princess is a pretty easy-going horse, how hard could it be, right? Ah HA! There is a REASON Pat Parelli put that task in the level three criteria. It's NOT that simple. Because your horse may follow, but if he stops, you CANNOT LET GO to encourage him to keep moving. The horse must be capable of following a feel!

A long story short, Princess kept taking a step, (for which I'd stop, reward, etc) and then she'd THROW her head up and curl her lip. It would have been frustrating had the look on my poor horse's face not been so hysterical. I would take her lip in my fingers, and then ask for a step lightly, and Prin would just stand there, ears perked forward, a very befuddled look on her face, with the unmistakable expression of "You want me lead by my WHAT?! Why my LIP?! HUH?!" and then she'd do the above head toss. I actually ended up quitting without any progress because I was laughing too hard. She such a clown when she wants to be.

We did a little bit with leading by the ear too, which she got much quicker, and actually performed really well. Could use a little refining, but she did really well for the second or third time I'd done it, so yay!

It's time for bed for me. I'm zonked.

PS, I was looking at a couple of pictures of Princess from this time last year, and thinking about how she's changed looks-wise. Last year, she had a pretty flat, QHy topline, not a bad banana perse, but just not built or made for collection. Then I looked at some photos taken a couple weeks ago. HOLY CRAP...my horse has bulked. She's getting GOOD BANANA (like REMMER) qualities in her neck, back, and rump that she definitely didn't have last year, especially her nice convex shaped neck. I think my all winter regime of finesse in the 66 acre alfalfa field did my horsey some good! My saddle comes Wednesday, imagine what it'll become THEN! Pix that day for sure!!