Defeating the Monstrous Trees

Do you remember these:

The Trees

The scariest trees you've ever seen.

Today I was going to begin the first phase of my new plan. I started by longeing Gambler to warm him up like I always do. But since I have ground poles set up in the arena, the best place to circle was next to the trees. Gambler hadn't been acting spooky up until that point, but it was a little windy, so I should've known better. He walked about half the circle, to the point where he started to turn away from the trees, then bolted. It didn't last very long; I just stopped him and asked him to continue at a walk like I always do. He did it again. By this point my hands were stinging. (Side note: I absolutely love the Parelli ropes. Although my hands sting a little when Gamby takes off, I've never gotten rope burn.)

I led Gambler to a different part of the arena, away from the trees. The whole way there he was spooky and crowding my space; he even bolted again. Once we were away from the trees, I asked him to circle at a walk. He was still tense, but he didn't bolt. Since I haven't been able to get much done with Gambler lately, due in part to the wind, I decided it was time to show those trees who's boss. 

So we attacked the trees again. Or they attacked us. It's merely a matter of perspective. Pat Parelli often says something along the lines of "make the wrong answer uncomfortable." Except he says it a thousand times better than that. Recently I watched one of Clinton Anderson's videos and he stressed the same principle. It got me thinking . . . could I make spooking at the trees uncomfortable?

I began by asking him to circle calmly next to the trees. As long as he walked I stayed neutral. But when he broke into a trot (or bolted into a canter) I increased my pressure by 100%. I drove him forward with my body language and smacked the ground with the carrot stick and urged him forward with my voice. The most important part is that I only pressured him when he was on the side of the circle opposite the trees. When he was next to the trees, I dropped my pressure completely. 

So when Gambler rushed away from the trees, I upped my energy causing him to keep that faster gait until he was next to the trees again. At this point he was given a choice: slow down and chill or freak out and keep going. This continued until he got tired of cantering in blind panic and thought, man I'm really tired. It sure would be nice to take a break. Thing is, he couldn't rest on the "safe" side (away from the trees) because that's where I drove him forward. He had to make the choice to relax and slow his gait on the "scary" side (closest to the trees). It was more aggressive approach than I've taken in the past, but Gambler responded to it well. 

The first time I tried it he cantered for three to five circles before slowing to a trot. I rewarded him immediately by bringing him into the middle of the circle for rest and lots of nose rubs! The second time was about the same, just in the other direction. By the third time he was trotting instead of cantering. Eventually, he got to the point where he would walk two full circles without breaking into a trot or canter. We ended there, on a good note. 

After our tree-defeating adventure he stood ground tied while I gave him a nice long grooming session. I could tell that he was processing what just happened. He was completely relaxed, even thought we were in the same place where he had been spooking earlier. He just yawned and yawned and yawned. I'm sure that I haven't seen the last of the deathly trees, but we've taken a big step in the right direction. I'm just sad that I forgot the camera at home again.