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.
I was skimming through old pictures and I happened upon this one. I don't remember the picture, but I remember when it happened. Gambler is spooking at a saddle pad laying on the ground out of the picture. He looks gorgeous. That neck! And he looks so much skinnier. Part of that is that now he has a summer coat, but part of it is that I don't see him often enough to keep him in shape. He's definitely an easy keeper. But I'm not worried, it's good to go into winter with a bit of chub.
It's a reminder of just how far we've come. Today I put a big blue tarp on the ground right where that picture is to set all of my stuff on (it is a misty, moist day and I didn't want the camera or my equipment to get wet). When I walked Gambler by it he didn't blink an eye. He was curious and wanted to eat everything, but I didn't get the slightest spook out of him.
I went to see Gambler by myself again today, so I only have a few pictures. The weather was perfect. It was my very favorite kind of day. All day there was a layer of fog drifting in the air, thick enough to make everything seem magical, but thin enough that you could see. I absolutely love that weather. It was wet, but thanks to the sandy nature of the pastures at the barn, the footing was great. The temperature was about 39-42 degrees Fahrenheit. Overall, it was the perfect day.
I only had about half an hour of daylight to work with, but I made good use of it. I started by playing the friendly game with the bareback pad and the girth/cinch thing that comes with it. I lightly threw the pad onto his back and then pulled it off then repeated those two steps until he either licked and chewed or cocked a leg in relaxation. In the end I never did get the girth/cinch thing tightened, but he did relax and we ended on a good note.
He was grunting again today. I have a new theory about the grunting. I think that he is remembering an old injury. If I very, very lightly set the girth on the place where his back becomes his butt, he grunts loudly. But when I feel it with my hand, lightly slap it with my hand, groom him, or anything else I don't get a reaction. He isn't hurt, but he acts like he is hurt. For a long time this weirded me out. I know my horse, and I know when he's pulling one over on me. When I rub the girth on his neck and he grunts, someone is definitely just trying to get out of work. But whenever I touch that one place with the girth he genuinely thinks that he is in pain. But he isn't, I've messed with his back a ton and he isn't. So my new theory is that he was injured there, probably with a saddle on or while being saddled, and he freaks himself out and thinks that if he lets me saddle him he'll hurt himself again. So I'm just going to keep on keeping on and slowly step-by-step show him that I'm not going to hurt him.
After he relaxed I put the pad away to give him a release. Then I longed him for the first time in a long time. I was amazed at how responsive he was. He backed up with a wiggle of the hand (I didn't even have to shake the rope!) and he picked up a trot with a cluck and a pointed finger. I asked him to canter a little, but not too much because I haven't worked with him in a while and he's seriously out of shape. He seemed to enjoy himself and even offered a canter once when I wasn't asking for it.
Finally I ground tied him (sorta, we're still working on that) and gave him a good grooming. I picked out his left front foot and his right front foot! Since I was grooming him in the arena instead of the barn I had the room to back him up. So when he kicked out with his right front I backed him up and tried again. Right away he was licking and chewing and let me clean out his right front for the first time in weeks. Not that I haven't cleaned out his right foot, but it's always a battle and he usually pulls it away before I'm done.
Today was the perfect winter day. I would be overjoyed if the next four months were like this. The snow melted, the temp cool but not below freezing, the ground damp but not slippery or boggy: it was wonderful.
I think the western saddle might be too narrow for Gambler (*cough* fatty *cough*), and even if it isn't he has been working himself up during the saddling process. So I put the bareback pad on him instead. I know that he doesn't have an issue with the bareback pad because I put it on him way back in June or July without any negative reaction. Today, however, he tried to get out of it by moving around and grunting. I know for sure now that the grunting is an excuse. He is not colicking. I haven't put a saddle on him for weeks. He doesn't grunt consistently. Not to mention that he was grunting before the girth even touched his belly. How does that work? It just so happens that I have one of the goofiest, smartest, brattiest little horses out there.
I longed Gambler walk/trot in both directions with the bareback pad on. I would have asked for a canter, but the ground was still a little sketchy. He didn't react at all to the bareback pad once it was on. Then I sent him over a "jump." It was a pole on a tarp on the ground with buckets on either side. He didn't jump it, which didn't surprise me because it wasn't jump-worthy, but the point wasn't to jump it. The point of the "jump" was to give Gambler something interesting to think about so that he didn't get bored.
After that I did more mounting preparation. I've gotten on him before, but I want to slow down the process. So many horses, both green and fully trained, have a horrific habit of taking off when the rider gets on. Right now I want Gambler to learn to stand calmly and quietly while I get on and off. He is doing much better. I can now stand on the mounting block, rub his back, and lean on his back without him moving around too much. He still gets fidgety when I jump up over his back though.
I have pictures, but the light was fading and neither Gambler nor I were holding very still, so they're blurry.
I think the biggest setback in Gambler's training is the lack of consistency. When I spend time going over the same task three or four days in a row he picks up new skills quickly, but when we take a few days off he falls behind again. The barn owner installed a light on the side of the barn that shines into the arena. It doesn't give a lot of light, but I think it's enough to get some basic stuff done. I want to see what I can still do with Gambler's on Tuesday and Thursday, even after the sun has gone down.
A few hours ago I published a post about how I had lost track of my purpose. I got so focused on riding and training that I lost the relationship and the trust. So today I determined not to worry about getting on his back, but not to put it off either. I just wanted to develop our relationship, because that would naturally lead to riding. I had high hopes for the evening but I had no idea just how awesome it would be.
I walked out and tried to catch Gambler, who was way out in the South pasture. He looked up at me, nickered, and started trotting. I thought "awwww, how sweet." And then he trotted right past me and chased Kezi all the way back to the barn, leaving me to eat dust behind them. Thanks Gamby. Much appreciated. At least they had the decency to run around me instead of over the top of me.
I look so cheerful wandering through the pasture. :P
After we fed the horses, I took Gambler out into the arena. I've never really played the Parelli games in order with him. He did surprisingly well! I didn't need to use very much pressure at all to get him to lower his head, back up, yield his forequarters and hindquarters from either side, or come forward to me. I introduced him to the game of circling as the Parelli's do it, which is slightly different from how I've done it so far. I normally face him as he circles me, but they stand facing one direction and expect the horse to keep going around them. At first Gambler was really confused, but now he will go two to three full circles at the walk without checking in with me.
The barn owner brought Kezi into the arena for a while to see how she would react to a tarp I had set up under some trot poles. It was the first time we've ever tried working with Kezi and Gambler at the same time. Gambley was a little anxious when Kezi was walking through the barn and he couldn't see her, but as soon as she was in the arena he was fine.
Kezi photobombing ;)
Since my goal for the day was to play with Gambler and rekindle the bond between us, I set up a few fun obstacles to play with. Gambler's favorite! My goal was to do some liberty work with him because I haven't in such a long time, but I started by leading him on the 12' line. He didn't have any problem whatsoever.
Then came the moment of truth: I took the lead rope off. Since we haven't done anything like this in so long, I really didn't know what to expect. Gambley surprised me! Here is a video of him going over the tarp/trot poles.
There were definitely times that Gambler just walked (or trotted) away from me, but he always came back.
A couple of times he dodged around the tarp, but he loved the jump. He even trotted over it a couple times.
licking and chewing
Somebody had an itchy chin.
Signs of relaxation: lowered head and licking and chewing motions.
I asked him to walk onto the tarp, stop . . .
back up a few steps . . .
and walk on.
I was tempted to only show pictures of Gambler being good and edit all the "oops moments" out of my videos, but I decided against it. I want to show anyone who would ever want to try liberty that it isn't going to be perfect in the beginning and that is okay. Your horse is going to walk away from you. He's going to walk around the obstacles or awkwardly stand looking at you. There were a few times Gambler stood looking at me and I knew if I walked after him he would walk away. So I waited. It took patience, but every time I waited, he walked over to me.
He's thinking about coming to me.
Still waiting.
And he comes over to see what I'm up (or down) to.
Snuggles
Gambler trotting over the jump at liberty.
I let him check out the mounting block too.
But wait . . .there's more! The best part is that I got all the way on my horse today! I didn't "ride" him because he was holding still and I was just laying over his back. But I jumped over him sideways many times on both sides and stayed on there quite a while. There was a point when he saw my boot out of the corner of his eye and spooked, but he never bucked or anything like that. I fell off a ton (landing on my feet) while he was standing still. It is way harder to balance while laying sideways over a horse than you would think! I think it's ironic and amazing that the one day I didn't put all my effort into getting on his back was the day I finally mounted my horse.
