Just one more time……famous last words!

So I was unable to play with Rose or Cha’cote all weekend do to the horse show, fathers day which spilled into Monday. Finally last night…..time for ME and MY horses.

I started with Cha’Cote, a good curry, bath, fly spray……then play. Right now is basically just getting him back in tune, but he honestly feels better than before the break…..confidence wise. Circling kinda fell apart, but not bad. I was able to do some…passenger walking in zone 4-5. I don’t know if I could call it driving. Sometimes I was directing, but mostly just following him. He had gained A LOT of confidence with his feet. He stepped on the hula-hoop last night for the first time, and he didn’t come out of his skin. He touched the kitty litter bucket with his legs (skeptically though I might add) he pushed the ball with his nose and legs, side passed over the log onto the pedestal, and then we went to the trailer.

He of course put the front feet in strait away. I asked him to get out and instead he hopped right in. He is definitely more comfortable going in, now that he can turn around and walk out. I sent him out, and then I sent him in again. No hesitation, he jumped in. Practically ran in. So we did it about 10 times, until he could walk in confidently, in a way that it appeared to me that he was thinking his way in. Viola, I sent him in from the fender, and from about 10 feet away from the trailer. He has finally given the trailer his stamp of approval. One more and we are done. Aren’t those the famous last words? I should know better. No sooner do those words run through my mind, when something happens to make wish I could eat those words. This was no different. I sent him in, he went in…….and then trailer door came untied and started to swing shut. He came unglued. He scrambled and as he did, he got closer and closer to the floor of the trailer, apparently looking for a trap door in the floor. I managed to get a hold of the door, opened it and encouraged him to come out. He did, and then bolted. Mini learn burn to follow. I got the door tied open again, and brought him back to the scene of the crime. He was such a good boy. He went back in twice with no hesitation. Lots of lick-chew. We left and played a little bit more of sniff this, touch that and ended with some undemanding time. So now we have to play the friendly game with the door, go for some short rides, un-load and re-load at an unfamiliar place……then see if we can do it with Spirit in the trailer. That way, Jason and I can take the boys to a schooling show together. Can’t wait. Next one is July 10th. Will try to video it tonight.

Now for my session with Rose. I purposefully have not let the herd out in the front yard while I didn’t have time to play with her. I want her to know that when she comes out, it is to have fun with me. There is no grass left to speak of anyways, so nothing more than trouble and the hay shed to get into. I started by letting them all out, and leading her by the mane from the hay shed to the front yard where her halter and 45’ line were waiting for us. I we started with our assignment of me sending her to something, then letting her figure out what to do with it once she got there. From that I am to take her Idea and ask her to do more. We did lots of that. Lots of kill the cones, sidepassing over things, and her rolling the ball under her bely, then backing while keeping the ball there. At the end, I taught her pick her leg up when I do. So I think I will do some mirroring with it in the next session. I did some zone5 driving into the trailer and made her hug the big tractor tire. I bought some pool noodles and forgot to use them…..and I am in the process of collecting milk jugs for a toy. I was going to put some rocks into the barrel that has a hole, but noticed that it was inhabited by yellow jackets, so we left THAT idea….and THEM alone! We played a few games with Snookie, mainly for me to show her that Snookie is not a safety zone, and she will have to find interesting things to do with her if she wanders into Snookies bubble. Lesson is two fold. Since Snookie is NOT a fun and games gal and the alpha, Rose started thinking twice about getting too close. And since Snookie would really rather not be bothered, she learned it is better to stay out of the play area or she may become the next victim of experimental play things. She is so bonded to Rose now, that I can’t wait for the day for her to jump in the trailer during one of Rose and I's trailer loading practices. So far she just runs around us in a total RBE panic while we play with the trailer, thinking that I am going to take Rose somewhere without her. The panic is lowering in intensity…..thank god…..but still. Poor old gal. I know she misses TigerLily something fierce. As do I. She was the BEST horse ever. RIP my lovely girl.

So I need to build up my play ground, and come up with some new ways to play with the toys we do have. I can totally see now, how I have been INCREDIBLY boring for my partner.

Savvy On

Michelle