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.

Spring Changes

Gambler watching the neighbor driving across the pasture.

On Saturday, I headed out to the barn planning to have a productive session with Gambler. Instead, a neighbor arrived to remove the manure pile and smooth out the arena. Gambler and Kezi were locked in a far pasture so that they were out of the way. Since I couldn't do anything with the Gambster in the arena, I headed out to the pasture to visit and take pictures. 

Gambler again stayed too close for me to take many good pictures. I don't mind it, because it's a good habit. He consistently catches me every time I walk into the pasture now. Almost immediately after I arrived in the pasture, the camera's batteries died.  I snapped a few more pictures with my phone, but they aren't nearly as good. 

We walked the horses to the barn to feed and groom them. I was impressed by both horses who led calmly despite the scary machinery. Gambler and Kezi have come a long way.

Finally Back!

I haven't been able to play with Gambler in a week. First I made plans for the weekend, no big deal. But then I was sick and then I had homework. Everything seemed to be plotting against me! At long last I found my way back to the barn (and not a moment too soon).

Mom surprised me with a birthday present that I had asked for, but didn't really expect to receive. Wanna  know what it was? Here's a hint:

A new rope halter! I've been using a rope halter I purchased at Fleet Farm years before I knew Gambler existed. It has worked well enough up to this point, but the quality isn't fantastic and it doesn't fit Gambler.

Case and Point.

The Parelli website had sizing instructions, but I found them tedious and confusing so we ordered two sizes: Arab and Regular. I already have a Parelli halter in the Pony/Weanling size and Draft size, but obviously neither of those fit Gambler at all. 

Funny story I have to stick in here - Gambler and I were in the arena. I was grooming him before I tried the new halters so that they wouldn't get dirty if we wanted to replace them. He was more fussy about his feet than usual, so I looked around for something spooky. What I saw was Kezi gracefully meandering out of sight into a far pasture. Immediately I was on high alert. Mom was out of sight and ear shot with Sweetheart. Gambler was on the 12' line. There was no way I could get the gate open and let him go if he freaked. But then I looked at Gambler. He watched Kezi with an unconcerned look on his face, then he licked and chewed, and bumped me with his nose.

 I was surprised to say the least, but I figured that any minute he would notice she was leaving and freak. So I showed him the new halter. I took his old halter off and tried the Arab one. It was a little too small, so I removed it and left him loose in the ring while I grabbed the Regular size from the vehicle. Just as I got back Gambler threw his head in the air and I heard thundering hooves as Kezi galloped back toward us. I was expecting Gambler to run. He wasn't even wearing a halter! But I stroked his shoulder and said "easy" and he just stood there. Apparently somebody missed me. I should disappear for a week more often.

After all of that excitement, I finally tried the Regular halter. It is a tad big, but not nearly as big as the old halter. I left the halter on him without attaching the 12' line and wandered around the arena trying to get pictures. It wasn't official playing at liberty, because I didn't ask him to do anything, but he followed me like a puppy dog anyway.

Gambler shed out a lot while I was gone and his dapples are totally different.

Then we had to try it out. 

Drawing Gambler into the circle.

Asking Gambler to back.

He has been using his neck better lately, not flinging it up as much.

Hindquarter yield.

Then I took his halter off again and took more pictures.

Aaaaachooo!

Aaaaachoooo!

Random artistic shot.

Buddies