Fantastic halts

Mon 14th Sept 09

D didn't come over when I arrived but both horses came down to the shed. D suspicious of bareback pad today but OK to have on after a bit of FG.

Went for a walk first again. It was a bit blustery but dry. Did a bit in the home wood again. Need to play to establish leadership & gets M used to the idea we're going out too. Went up the road this time. D not quite so relaxed this way but listening well and played PTP. Went into the village hall car park, no trailer here today, & then into the little paddock. M only called a few times and, despite having the whole field (too windy to shut him in the barn area) didn't run about or even canter up to us when we got back.

Did some circling & cantering. D resents cantering and always pulls a face & kicks out, bum in, so I'm doing a pattern of 2 strides then halt & reward which he likes! I'm on day 4 with that. He's figuring out that the sooner he canters, the sooner he gets the treat! Will change soon, I think canter-trot, change direction then treat.

Off to the bottom field and I got on. Overall, D was very bracey, he seemed LB but then, as he was reluctant to eat, he must have actually been worried. Thee endless yawning confirmed it! I had thought a lot about the way forward. I'd considered what I did with Ollie (lots of passenger) but decided against this as I have already done a lot of that. We really need to:

· Establish clear phases & what they mean
· Sort out my breathing!
· Reward the slightest try
· Reassure D that there’s something in it for him
· Take small steps

I’m still thinking about how the “cause his idea to become your idea but respect his idea first” works if I’m being marched down to the barn!

Thinking of PP and the mule he motivated to become a champion with 3 buckets of grain, I put 2 cones out about 40m apart. That, as it turned out, was too ambitious! I should have placed them 2 feet apart as that’s as far as I got! But hey, it was forward momentum! (I was back to 1 rein and no C/S as to avoid getting in a tangle – or getting too strong. Need to work on the C/S driving Z 1 on the ground again).

So, to go forward, I started with lift life, smile with all 4 cheeks, bit of a wiggle, legs on then into wip-wap with the rope (decided on this method rather than C/S as easier to use one tool).
D did respond but it seemed to take forever and I had to resist the urge to give up and try something else!

One “problem” I have is that I’ve "trained" D to slow/stop when I breathe out loudly/drop my life. It has replaced “whoa”. Oh dear, as I relaxed a bit from extreme life-up/"Lets go"!, I couldn’t help but exhale and we stopped instantly (yeah, I know, be great for sliding stops later!) I then made a conscious effort not to drop my life and move my body with him and we got a few stagnant steps! As he was so bracey and reluctant to even eat, I did a lot of friendly and left it there. He seemed very relieved when I got off and put his head right down. I wish I knew what was going on in his head! Feel the need for a lesson!