Outstanding progress by my two human and two horse clients today. Kesali trotting on the long reins for the first time and working in a much bigger, grassier, field. For Jackie something really clicked today and the connection between her body language, eye contact, and her pony really made a difference to their way of going.
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| Using body language to answer his question: Can I come in? Actually, no. |
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| Out to one side rather than straight behind, and the eye contact asks him to focus his attention too. |
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| A nice lean over to finish. We do this from both sides. |
"Thank you so much for today. Really loved the feeling of connection that the eye contact brought. And I believe Kesi did too and found it easier to work out what I wanted him to do as a result. Tried a bit of long reining with Copper after you went. He is a bit more reactive than Kesi but we still managed five minutes of good long reining (first time for him) and then did some mounting block training. He would have been pretty easy to get on too. Did what you did, leaned over, gave him plenty of love and rubs and started to put a leg over. Simples!"
In the month since I last saw Woody, his owner, Sam, has been quietly practising her groundwork so that he now leads nicely and doesn't run her down or rear under her nose. He used to rear at the drop of a hat through fear and defensiveness. Instead he can now take a bit of direction without being terribly offended.
Practising putting the headcollar on a different way so that he can wear a Dually later when he is led out. This 'over and under' technique saves doing 'the flick' with the crown piece and means that you don't have to loosen off a Dually as it goes up the nose. Woody is pretty suspicious of any new thing or way of doing things and so repetition is everything.
Asking him to step back one step at a time - he used to rear if you turned towards him with any sort of intent at all.
Going for short walks out of the field and back again in order to build his confidence about going to new places. Sam is going to practice the 'bean bag race' without racing over the next few days.
Repetition of the early leg handling work that we did in the stable last time. He isn't as worried about an inanimate object touching him as he is a human.
"Feeling so much more in control after today's session. Instead of taking one step forward and 3 back, today has proved that we can move forward, if only one step at a time." ST
