Smack! Smack! Smack!

That is the sound of my foot hitting my ass. I did it again. I pushed Cha’Cote a little too far, and made him go all right brain. How could I let that happen? Easy with an RBI actually. It was going really well and I got greedy. Plain and simple. I had canter on the brain and it went so well on Saturday, that I hadn’t realized WHY it went so well on sat. #1 my attitude. I hate it when I let THAT one get away from me. I have spent so much time on getting it really good over the last 8 yrs, that the difference in my attitude is so subtle now, it’s hard to recognize the switch. We were doing trot circles and they were sooooo beautiful. Very balanced with awesome cadence. So relaxed….he was really confident in the trot. There was my first big mistake..not recognizing that it was the first time he was REALLY confident at the trot and QUITTING on that note. But NO, I had to go getting all predator, direct line and GREEDY. Just had to Canter. Which BTW started off good too, thus this is where I made mistake #2. Having survived mistake #1 at this point, I completely abandoned the proven strategy that has been working up to this point. And rather than ask for and receive the canter (insert #of strides) THEN disengage and reward/comfort/reassure him…..I kept him going because he was agreeable. Next thing I know, the circles are getting closer and closer to his corral, then he got a sticky spot, and then he went full blown RBE and refused to do anything other than act like I was going to kill him. OOOPS! One would think, the stage I am at, the extensive knowledge I have on RBE’s (thank you Snookie) that I would’ve noticed this quickly….like on the first circle…..but no….I had to go so far as to take him from consistently picking up the canter both directions, to refusing to going to the left and instead rushing the trot going sideways. DOH! Luckily this only went on for a few minutes when it dawned on me what a complete idiot I was being. So, first thing first…..fig 8 to focus the RBE, then LOTS of friendly game for the RBI. Once we made up, I asked for the canter to the right one time, immediately disengaged and rewarded with a 20min graze fest!
So now the only question I have for myself is this…Do I play with the canter again tonight, so I can prove to him that I won’t be a predator about it……or is doing it again, in and of itself being a predator. Tough call. So, being a Savvy Gold member I figure I will give that hot line a try and see what they have to say about it. Just hung up, and it was a pleasant experience for sure, though I may not have an answer for a day or two. Soooooo, kinda looks like, if I am to wait for a response from them, I am forced to NOT screw up again tonight. Which is probably the right answer anyways. The biggest thing with RBI’s is that you have to prove…PROVE…that you will not push them. It takes very little to break the trust they put in you. And then takes a lot to gain it back. I really don’t want to have to travel that path with him, since I am still on the path of gaining his trust, the last thing I want to do is lose it.
So I guess I will play with trot, and focus on quality and confidence, not quantity and skill. But I am starting to see what he looks like when going from confident to um-er…explosive!
Savvy On
Michelle