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Why can't she just be like Phoenix?!?
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thistlebloom

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What is the reason for not working her alone in the round pen in halter and line?
If she jumps around and loses the saddle then takes off loose it reinforces to her that she can get rid of something she doesn't want anything to do with, as opposed to learning some coping skills and that she can trust you.
 

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What is the reason for not working her alone in the round pen in halter and line?
If she jumps around and loses the saddle then takes off loose it reinforces to her that she can get rid of something she doesn't want anything to do with, as opposed to learning some coping skills and that she can trust you.

Way I do it gives her the option to refuse or try to cooperate. She listens to me asking her to easy and wait. Once it's on, she won't bolt off. She's similar to my gelding when I first started with him, but to the extreme of taking one step forward and two steps back.
What's not seen in the video is her marching away when I first brought out the saddle and I was still 25ft away. Her moving around and shuffling away from me. She eventually decided to try and that's when I turned on the camera. She could leave at any point, but she chose to try.

At one point, I had a lead when placing the saddle and was able to keep her near & hold the horn to keep it on her as she shuffled around me. But soon I added food and the choice and she started to pick that up better, more easily.

Sometimes, I toss down hay and then intro the saddle or hop onto her or lean on her or sit on her, and so on. Using the food as something she wants and it happens to be her reward for sticking around and allowing my madness. It also helps to keep her brain working instead of zoning out, she's moving her jaw to eat, so she can't zone out. That's why I sometimes wait for any movement after a double kiss, hand waive or such, to let me know she hasn't zoned out into her 100 mile stare down.

I've tried more old fashioned pressure & release on a line with her, but she was quite shut down when I first got her. Adding food and adding freedom/choice of leaving has been very helpful for her. I've even done target training with her.
 
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