The listening horse

I hate it when horses do stuff because it's just routine. I want my horse to notice me, and listen to me. Listen to what I am asking it to do. A horse that listens to me, will also (hopefully) talk to me. Not in words, but in his own little horse language - raising of the head, attention of the ears.

Gally has now learnt to move his hind quarters away from me (and not kick out) when I gently push with my fingers. (Yay!) He has learnt to stand still (and not kick out) when I brush his hind quarters. (Yay!) But he is not great when it comes to picking up his back legs.

Just the other day though, I saw him thinking. I asked him to pick up a hind leg, and he initially stood still. I kept asking. So he moved away. I kept asking. So he lifted up his leg ... and kicked out.

Ok, so we're not quite there yet. Training in progress. But he was thinking. He went through all the motions that he knows I approve of, trying to find something that would satisfy my prodding.

(Please don't hold it against the horse for kicking out. Firstly, his kicking out is not very dangerous - I've seen much worse. Secondly, it is his natural reaction to being prodded by something. All I have to do, is replace the reaction with the response I would like.)