Lunging

Last night Diamond learned how to lunge on the line.
She really had no idea what I was asking her to do, until I thought and thought of how to break it down to her.
Step 1 – Hold lead line in left hand and have D facing me
Step 2 – Lightly tap her left shoulder in a rhythmic manner until she moves it out (even a lean was good enough to stop the tapping)
Step 3 – Ask her to keep that shoulder out and walk one circle around
After what felt like tapping for an hour, she finally leaned out, and I immediately stopped the tapping and gave her lots of good girl praise! The second time, I think I tapped longer, and I so wanted to quit because she was just staring at me with her “I hate you” look!! LOL She did try to run me down that time, but luckily, I moved out of the way just in time, and was able to continue the tapping. After a couple more “mow mom over” attempts, she finally got that if she just leaned away, or took a step to move her shoulder to the outside, that annoying tapping stopped.
We finished with a trotting circle and all it took was a ton of patience, and about 20 minutes. I am so very proud of my girl!!!
Tonight, we will review lunging to the left, and perhaps start the lesson on the right side.