D pretty relaxed and went down further than on previous occasions without getting RB. Then....there was a strange squeaking coupled with barking and the horses in the field next to us took off. D's tail kinked straight up. It's really comical - as soon as his adrenalin comes up his tail shoots up in the air. I was standing behind him the other day when it shot up vertical and I actually pushed it back down like a lever!! I don't know why I did that but I was laughing so I was obviously tickled by it!
Stranger still, when I pushed the tail back down his adrenalin dropped immediately! One to experiment with as I've also noticed that stroking his tail calms him too.
Back to the squeaks and barks....a chap was coming up the lane with a bicycle and a terrier. There was a pause of a few seconds as D watched the other horses when I thought "Great! He's not going to respond". Then D went into stallion mode, let out a huge snort, and pranced up the lane sideways! What was different was that I found it quite amusing whereas in the past I have found it scary! I guess that old teacher, experience, has shown me that:
- I can keep hold of D when he's like that (control would be putting it too strongly!)
- He's not out to hurt me and tries to avoid treading on, or pushing into, me
- It doesn't last long!
Now, before D got high on adrenalin, I had pushed him on past about 6 thresholds. Each time I waited him out then asked him on when he relaxed. I mention the number as this is relevant to a later blog! I was actually wanting to go right to the bottom of the lane - aha - MY GOAL!! More on this later......
No comments:
Post a Comment