Longing! and walking the dog er horse

Yesterday was a training day. Shazaam learned just last week how to move off and longe on a line. Once again he was sticky on his off side but by golly we got it! He longes nicely at the walk and trot and changes direction by doing a roll back without coming in near me. As always we are working on the head down cue and it gets better and better every session. He was having a terrible time with me hanging my arms over his neck, withers, back, and croup but I've been hanging out with him while he eats and just brushing and hanging all over him and he is now pretty much fine with it.

HA! I think I finally achieved the golden grail- he is showing me more and more that he can spook in place. Shazaam hates saddles because some dummy decided to try to jump on him after saddling him before I got him. Since then, the experienced help I was getting tried to saddle him again and he spun and knocked her over- I truly believe he knocked her over because he didn't want to mow me down as I was on the other side of him but about 20 feet away. So much for the backstory and to the meat, last month I did something stupid as green horsepeople are destined to do. I unwittingly place my horse between myself and the hot wire of his paddock. He was eating and had about a foot between him and the e-fence and I was haning on him while he was eating. I accidentally touched the wire and felt the current in my toes. Shazaam spooked in place with just a tap of his front hooves and scooted me over about 3 inches and then happily went back to munching his grass hay. He has spooked the same way around me almost entirely since except for once and he still didn't move but 2 feet from his hay (he scared himself, the big goober).

Since he has been coming along so nicely, I decided after our longing lesson yesterday to take him for a walk around the neighborhood. Its pretty rural with dirt roads so I wasn't worried about highway traffic or anything. I walked him by the only house we had to pass on the route we were taking and oh boy, there were at least 20 dogs on the property that were barking like crazy. Shazaam is used to the ranch dogs and my dogs and he ignores them unless I yell at them and then he goes to run them off, like he is my bodyguard/enforcer or something. Anyway, Shazaam starts to lock up in front of this house and his head went up (for 14hh he can make himself very tall when he wants to). Well I knew I had to get his feet moving to start him thinking about me and not the dogs so I gave him a bump with the rope halter to get his attention and circled him around, asked him to disengage his rear a bit and we started forward again. He was fine after that but I realize now that I should have started this before he reacted by getting tall and locking up- live and learn I guess. When we got back on the ranch property he dropped his head real low and nuzzled me like "You said it was ok and it really was! I'm such a goober mom)

Just a journaling thought here: Because my horse is soooo sensitive, I had a tendency to move and do everything carefully around him. Well that never made his spooks better and in fact I think he took that gentleness as tentativeness and felt insecure from it and it subsequently made him spook worse. I got piece of advise from Marv Walker off his despooking the horse video and that was to act normal and do whatever you do around the horse and he will get used to that- he will know that you control every crazy thing that happens in his environment. Never have truer words been spoken. I flap stuff, slam stuff, and just be my genuine clumsy self and since I started that, Shazaam is fine with it- all of it.

Now when I go to saddle him in a couple of weeks I KNOW that I have to erase the fact that he has a history of aversion to them from my mind so I can just get it on like we do it all the time and everything is ok. It's mentality that is key and since I've learned to teach him to flex laterally and soften to the halter, I'll better understand how to move with him until he stops with the saddle on until I can get it cinched up...we'll see how that goes. Can you tell I'm still apprehensive about it :)