Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Quills and Wills (Willpower, that is!)

Today was all about the Porcupine game! Hence the "quills" part of the title. I've been a bit of a slacker lately, working on the things that are easy (like hindquarter yields) rather than the things we need to improve on. A lot of this was lack of planning on my part, and as of Saturday I've been going to the barn with a game-play, and a general outline of what I want to do/accomplish when I get there. These plans are meant to be a guideline and starting point, and are more to get me motivated than anything else. All plans are, of course, subject to change based on Gwen's attitude once I have her.

Before I get into the play session, a little highlight of my day: when I went to get Gwen, both Star and Cool were dragging the arena again. I ducked into the turn-out, and headed her way. When I got close, I called out my traditional greeting ("hey pretty girl!"). Usually this gets an ear twitch, or a quick glance, which is OK with me. I don't want to surprise her, or make her feel like I'm sneaking up. TODAY, however, I not only got an ear-twitch, I got a whole body-turn and even two steps forward! As soon as she turned toward me, I stopped and leaned against the fence all casual-like (like I had the day before when we just hung out and watched the arena dragging). She stood where she was for a few seconds, and then started heading my way. A couple super-friendly(and kinda nosy!) horses came up behind me to say hello, and totally spoiled it by making Gwen back away (I've come to realize that Gwen is really low on the barn totem pole) but I stuck it out and after they moved on, I continued to Gwen. Did a little rubbing, and then turned away. She followed me a few steps, and it was then that I decided to finally halter her, and off we went. :)

Yesterday I started leaving Gwen "loose" when grooming. I'll either loop the lead-rope over my arm, or over her neck, as I brush her. Today, I did the same thing and she did even better than yesterday! Not only did she stand where I put her, she didn't even try to eat the hay off the ground, and she let me pick her feet no-problem!  (on a side note: if you recall one of my earliest posts about Gwen and her feet, I mentioned that she didn't really want to let me pick them up. Well, I am happy to report that this is no longer a problem, and has not been a problem for over a week now. I've followed the pattern I laid out "left front-hind/right-front/hind, and she now shifts her weight in anticipation and lifts up her foot when I run my hand down her leg. Such a good girl!)

Since the arena was occupied, we used the round pen. There were really scary monsters in the woods behind the pen (or so Gwen tried to convince me), so her attention was a little split for the first five minutes or so. Once she was sure there were no boogie-men, we got down to business. I really wanted to work on forequarter yields and backing today. We ran through the Friendly-game real quick, and then got down to the porcupine.  She made some real progress with her forequarter yields, and I'm going to make it a point to practice them every day until they are as good as her hindquarter yields.

Backing was great, too. We did porcupine on her chest and nose, and I even got her to really back-up without hesitation at one point. I'm using every excuse to back her up (down the aisle of the barn, on the way out to the turn-out) so that she will confidently do this no matter where we're located.

Our circles are getting good as well! This time, I got two complete circles both clock-wise and counterclock-wise without hesitation/stopping. Yay!

Something I noticed/need to work on: Body posture.  Several times, while I was playing with Porcupine on her chest, I caught myself standing kind of lazily. My focus was on her chest, and my fingers, and I realized that I wasn't projecting the kind of energy I should be. She did remarkably better when I was aware of my energy/body posture, and it was focused on "back up" rather than just on what my fingers were doing. It's something I'm going to have to really work at, as I tend to zero-in on the details and forget the bigger picture. Gwen is definitely reading more than my finger-placement.

All in all, I'm super happy, and very excited to keep practicing tomorrow!!

And here's a picture of Gwen that I took from inside the tack room! Aww, so cute!

  
"Can I come in?"



J

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