Radio Silence

I disappeared again. As this blog continues through the years (assuming that I will continue blogging) you will find that I often disappear around this time. May is my favorite month because of the bustle that accompanies it. So many wonderful things happen in May - all at once. The result is that I am sleep-deprived, overworked, overwhelmed, and frazzled; but content.

I can't possibly catch up on every session that I didn't post about, so I guess it's a good thing that Gambler and I haven't done much. I haven't ridden him since the day he bucked me off. Before anyone jumps to conclusions, it is a mere coincidence that I have been too busy to ride him since that day. My hope is that Gambler realizes that and doesn't make a habit of bucking so that I don't ride him for a month.

The truth is I have been incredibly pressed for time. Too busy for blogging and some days too busy for the barn. *gasp* When I did make it out to the barn, I was too tired and unmotivated to do any serious work toward riding. That being said, Gambler and I have spent quality time with each other in the pasture. I've played some games with him and given him lots of scratches. We are actually much closer than we have been. Where we have idled in training, we have grown in our relationship. These days Gambler comes to greet me in the pasture and watches wistfully as I drive away.

And here is the photo dump:

On May 12th, I only had a few minutes to work with Gambler. It was a windy, spooky day, and the trees were making him nervous, but he didn't bolt. 

On the fourteenth I was able to play with the white barrels for the first time. I purchased some barrels for Gambler to jump because he jumps sloppily and I didn't want him to gash himself on the metal barrels. 

At this point the barrels had been sitting in the pasture for a day, so Gambler was  wary, but not afraid of them.

The goal is to have Gambler travel between the barrels and then jump over them (squeeze game), but he just wants to paw them (friendly game). 

Then he started cantering around because of the horse-eating-trees. At least he was "scared" enough to move through the barrels. 

On the 15th, we gave the barrels another go.

First we tackled the trees so Gambler could remember that he isn't afraid of them.

"But they're scary!"

Sometimes he moves so beautifully.

Itchy ears

Back to the barrels.

And he thinks he should paw them.

That's more like it!

And we have a jump!

I thought he might have tripped over the tarp a little, so I moved it.

Back to pawing. 

Now that high school is finally behind me, I can focus once more on starting Gambler under saddle. That is, until college or other future plans drag me away again. 

I don't have any pictures from today, but I spent most of the session just relaxing with him in the arena. I scratched his scratches, and played a tiny bit at liberty. Then I played around with mounting prep. He was really good, a far cry from the grumpiness he gave me in January, but I made sure to really look for relaxation. I think part of the reason he doesn't fully trust me on his back is because I haven't respected his feedback. I sat on him bareback for a while and then called it a day. 

Getting Back into the Hang of Things

On Sunday I started by letting Gambler loose in the arena in his halter. Whenever I play with Gambler at liberty he runs (or walks) away from me to get out of work. The goal is to show Gambler that my presence doesn't always mean work. I took some pictures of him playing with his little ball. I wrapped a barrel in a tarp to make it more exciting and he had a lot of fun biting the tarp and then faux spooking. Sadly, I didn't get any pictures of him jumping backwards away from the "scary" barrel. 

When Gambler lost interest in biting the ball and running away from the tarp-covered barrel, I clipped the 12' line onto his halter and played some games. 

I've been focusing on "drift" with Gambler. He prefers to either be in my face or on the other side of the pasture, so I've been asking him to linger somewhere in between while we play our games. 

At this point Marguerite brought Kezi into the barn and tacked her up. Gambler and I are watching her catch Kezi here. 

While Kezi was in the barn, Gambler started to get anxious. He wanted to run in circles, so instead I groomed him. He is becoming more emotionally mature, able to handle longer separations from Kezi without freaking out. 

When Marguerite was riding Kezi in the arena, we played the squeeze game with a couple of barrels. 

At first Gambler made up something scary and spooked at it, but I knew he was just testing me because Kezi was in the arena. I ignored him and he settled down. 

Scooting the barrels closer together.

Then I led Gambler over to the tarpy barrel (next to the horse-eating-trees).

We played the circling game. If Gambler wanted to go around the barrel to the outside, I let him.

If he wanted to go around on the inside, I let him.

If he had wanted to jump it, I would have let him. The only requirement was to keep circling.

Gambler just wanted to paw it.

He partially jumped it once, so I rewarded him by moving on to the next game. 

We circled over this jump again.

Raising the jump a hole. 

Gambler was lazily trotting over the jump, so I raised my energy and jumped a little beside him. 

We did more than just jumping, but these are the only pictures I have. Gambler and I also played some driving game for forequarter and hindquarter yields. At the very end, I stood on the mounting block and played the friendly game with the stick and string. I would like to start using the stick and string while I'm on Gambler's back, so it's important that he is comfortable with it above his head and neck.