Partner Mindset

When I arrived at the barn on Tuesday, it was windy, cold, and rainy. It was the type of day that Gambler uses as an excuse to be afraid of everything. Keeping this in mind, I set up the arena as usual with ground poles, a jump, and the saddle. Gambler needs to face scary experiences with the saddle on his back, because that is when he is most likely to buck and rear and bolt. The more situations he learns to carry the saddle through, the safer it will be for me to ride him through those same scary situations. 

Before I brought Gambler into the arena or saddled him up, I had to walk out to the far pasture to catch him. Actually, he caught me. He trotted up to me with energy, and stopped a reasonable distance away without crowding my space. That is a good sign! I gave him a massage and picked all of those nasty ticks off of his chin and then haltered him.

As I tried to walk him back to the barn, however, he reared, tried to bolt, and nipped my hand - all unacceptable behavior. At first I jerked on the halter, bopped him in the nose, and spoke tersely to him in effort to make him behave. This, of course, didn't work. Then I thought about what I was doing and tried a different approach. Using the yo-yo game, I backed him across the pasture. Every time he spooked or wasn't paying attention to me or misbehaved in some other way, I asked him to back up faster. If he backed quickly, lowered his head, perked his ears toward me, or showed any signs of relaxation I released the pressure and let him rest. I backed him halfway back to the barn before he calmed down enough for me to lead him normally. 

I led him the rest of the way on a loose line. He licked and chewed and yawned, even when Kezi realized he was leaving and came thundering past us to the barn. 

When Gambler and I were in the arena, I saddled him up and then headed straight for the horse-eating-trees. We played one of his favorite games, half-circles at the trot or canter. It took him a while to get into it because he was still pretty right-brained - spooking and bucking. He doesn't mind the saddle until you add other stimuli. Wind is okay. The saddle is okay. But wind and the saddle? That's something else entirely!

Bringing Gambler in a little to switch direction.

I'm not sure if he is bucking here or just jumping into the canter - probably a little bit of both.

Asking Gambler to walk on.

Here he is settling down and thinking instead of reacting.

Grumpy face much?

Snuggles.

Once he was acting like a partner instead of a prey animal, we played the circling game over ground poles. 

Gambler and I had a break through with the sideways game! I've been trying to play it from to close to him apparently. When I stepped back and gave him some room, he started to understand.

I wasn't sure how clear these pictures would be, but you can definitely see the sideways here!

I promise I did it on the other side too, I just don't have pictures of it.

Yo-yo game!!

Backing. . . 

Backing . . .

Backing . . .

All the way out on the 22' line!

And bringing him back in.

More snuggles.