So I got this nice show barrow yesterday... And he is already got me scratching my head. He was born in January (I'm blanking on the exact date). He is incredibly friendly, and even though I didn't pick him for this reason, it's a nice perk. He wasn't at all stressed by the hour car ride home and when I unloaded him he just followed my ques strait into his pen. He walked like a dream. The main reason I picked him is that, even in a not exactly nice-looking field/pen that was uneven turf, he is true eye-candy to watch. He is insanely confident, classy, and has a smoothness equal to a cat. He's big-boned and seemingly perfect in every aspect. But I've discovered his one slight problem. He is too smart for his own good. He is also kinda stubborn and rather bold. He literally has no fear of ANYTHING. So he only respects the whip if it's going the way he wants (he doesn't get his way of course) but I'm already realizing he is so self-assured he figures he can just do this himself and twice gave me the slip. What I need advice on is this:
1. How do I channel this boldness to really help him shine? When I went to look at him I was actually only out to look at his littler brother (my guy is going to possibly need a lot of holding) but I literally could not take my eyes off him, he catches your eye and really holds it.
2. How can I get him to obey the whip without breaking this tremendous spirit and without making it worse? (I don't want him to get so used to the whip that it means nothing.)
3. How friendly is too friendly?
Edit* He was on a pasture a week before I picked him up. SOooo he roots like crazy, I want to break his desire constantly root, I try to keep his head up, but in the learning stage he is hard to get up, so he finds something to root and then is total hell to break away.

One, I would say if you just got him then I would not start with the whip yet. I would wait a week or 2. Even though he is friendly he needs to build a bond with you and trust you. Then start working with him and make the whip a good experience. You can just rub him with it while you walk. Let him think that he is going where he wants but you can start to get him used to being turned with the whip.

mjw1980 wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 30, 2020 8:41 am

One, I would say if you just got him then I would not start with the whip yet. I would wait a week or 2. Even though he is friendly he needs to build a bond with you and trust you. Then start working with him and make the whip a good experience. You can just rub him with it while you walk. Let him think that he is going where he wants but you can start to get him used to being turned with the whip.

Thanks for the reply. He was already broke to the whip. He trusts me quite a bit... I took him for a couple relaxed walks with the help of a Jelly bean or two and picked up some slightly more serious walking again today. I appreciate the advice. It certainly helped me combat the guilt I was feeling by not walking him. LOL. I just picked up walking my bred girls again. LOL.