# Kevin



## Carly Rae (Feb 5, 2017)

I just wanted to share a few photos from the past few days of what Kevin and I have been up to






As most of you already know I gelded him on the 11th of Jan. We now do a bit of training of an afternoon.

Photos at the bottom if you dont want to read





My goal in the future is to be able to have him as a lead line pony, but I'm in no hurry so we are taking it nice and slow and so far I couldn't be happier! My main focus at the moment is leading.

Before I had gelded him, I left him in the paddock and I didn't do much with him at all. When I would try lead him away from the others he wouldn't listen to me and constantly pulled on the lead. When I would ask him to trot he would try bite my legs and bound and rear at me. When I watched him play with Toby (my stallion) it was the exact same, so I am assuming he was treating me like I was Toby.

He wouldn't stand to be bathed, he would kick his legs when I lifted them ect. And getting him to stop walking was near impossible.

NOW, all is improving so much! I took him for small walks around his paddock for the first week after her was gelded (He is no longer with Toby, now with 2 full horse geldings and Texas). He had a go at biting a few times, but after I stood up for myself he got the picture pretty quick.

Now I can take him for long walks with just us and he walks perfect. He now knows when I want him to walk I'll click once with my mouth, when I want him to trot I'll click twice and so on. When I want him to stop or slow down I make a deep "wooo" noise. That seems to be pretty effective for us.

I have also taught him to 'Stay'. He is fairly good with it, and its really handy. Sometimes he still follows me, but I only started that 4 days ago



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He is getting the hang of lunging (so am I lol). We just need to work on slowing down to a walk without completely stopping.

I got a tarp out and he actually loved it, it was apparently the most interesting thing out !

It was very hot today, so after our lesson I hosed him down without a fuss. He is also good with the saddle.

Most afternoons I spend about 10-15 minutes with a mix of lunging, leading, desensitizing and a few tricks depending on how we are going. Then I tie him up for 5 or 10 minutes, then lift all his feet. Then brush him and we are all done! Some days I might not do any training and just spend some time braiding or brushing him.

It has been a big help having our friends with their horses here. Tenae and I chat about a lot of training things and I have found it helps a lot.

Thats all I'll say!

Here are the photos!


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## Marsha Cassada (Feb 5, 2017)

Wow, you have both come a long way! It is so helpful to have another horse owner to bolster our training confidence and exchange ideas. Kevin looks so handsome and seems to be taking on his new duties very well. Thanks for the update and pictures!


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## Mona (Feb 5, 2017)

WOW, you two are doing AWESOME!!! I bet if you ever had any reservations about having him gelded BEFORE, they have all been erased from your mind now, and so thankful you did what was best for both of you. May you and Kevin enjoy many HAPPY years together, making beautiful memories!


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## Cayuse (Feb 5, 2017)

Super job! I always enjoy your pictures of your gang. It sounds like every day is a new learning adventure for him.

It must be fun to have your friend there with you. Most of my horse friends moved away over the years, but at least my husband shares an interest in them, so that's a big help.

The big horse on the left of Kevin is an interesting color, I can't tell on my screen what it is. Dun, rose gray? Something else?

Keep on having fun!


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## Carly Rae (Feb 5, 2017)

Thank you all!





I think I'm learning just as much as he is!





I had a go at teaching him to slow down and speed up when lunging. So far I have discovered he listens to me much better without the pressure of the lunge whip, so I have thrown that out. I got him to walk going anti-clockwise, we have got to work on going the other way and walk, he seems to want to trot lol.

I forgot to add these photos too!















Cayuse, thats Banjo our friends rescue horse. Although we have no idea what colour he is haha! Ill add a full body photo of him later



Got to go now!


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## Ryan Johnson (Feb 6, 2017)

I couldnt open the pics for some reason but so happy to read things are going well Carly


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