Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Where are we at?

Last week I drove out to the barn and discovered one of the most beautiful sunsets so far this summer. The night itself was marvelous. The air cool, the sky an ever-shifting sea of color; I was entranced. Every few moments the clouds looked entirely different. I could hardly look away long enough to play with Gambler. 

The beginning of the night.







Kezi rocked the lighting, as usual.
Gambler tried . . . but his posing game was sub-par.
Since I haven't been at the barn on a regular basis I am still reviewing the basics with Gambler. I was glad to discover that Gambler remembers the seven games. There is always room for improvement, but he hasn't totally reverted to old behavior like he has in the past. It is so much fun playing the games with a horse that understands them. It is like a language. Now that he has learned the letters, I can start making words, and even short sentences.

Playing the Yo-Yo Game
Playing the Yo-Yo game between two ground poles.
We interrupt this presentation to show you the sky.
Backing through the poles the other way.
Seriously, the sky! Pictures do not do it justice.
Here I am asking Gambler to take just one step forward or back.

This cloud!
Playing the Friendly game.
Asking for a forequarter yield.
Playing the Circling game.
Friendly game with a barrel
Then we played with transitions. Here I was asking for walk-to-canter transitions. 
I also asked him for a steady, balanced trot, but I don't have any pictures.
And then the sky looked like this
At this point there was a drag race or something like that going on a couple miles away.
I know I should have redirected his feet and mind so he was focusing on me, but he looked so pretty! I was pleased with his reaction (stopping and staring vs. bolting) and how quickly he did refocus on me when I asked. He has come a long way!
Walking and later trotting over the ground poles.
Asking Gambler to lower his head because he was spooking at the loud car noises again. That sky though!
Backing Gambler to the gate so that he couldn't run away from the scary noises and he had to think.
While the horses were eating, I ran outside and snapped some more pictures of the sky. These were taken with my phone, so they can't come close to how incredible it looked in person.









Very Important Sidenote: My friend Arianna who I have mentioned in this blog before in on an awesome summer road trip and decided to blog about it. Check it out by clicking this link!

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