Aug. 12, 2010 On Line

On Line

I love how my confidence is growing, and with it Z's confidence, curiosity, and abilities. Spent longer than usual playing on line, today, because of this confidence on both are parts, including my increased confidence to push Z further, and to realize that by putting the relationship first, she will not break.

Ball Play
Showed her the ball at her stall door, she could have cared less, just kept eating her hay. I picked it up, she hardly blinked; put a treat on it which she ate. Later, she touched it and playing friendly game I was able to get her to move it with her leg. Yahoo! Big Achievement, especially because she had no negative reaction to either touching it or its movement.

Tarp
She showed a lot of interest in the tarp today, putting her head over it, with her nose close to it, and just "hanging". Easy to get her front feet on it. After a lot of "hanging around" she actually pawed at it with a front foot!!!!! The sound of it moving made her jump back, but she stayed calm, and kept coming back to it. Another Big Achievement!!!!

Circle with Obstacle
Walked and trotted calmly over pole on ground, both directions! 

Circle
When I later stood on the tarp and it made noise she went right brain on her circle. Instead of giving up, I worked on desensitizing her by continuing to make the noise and letting her move quickly away. I had to bring her down sharply went she started to get out of control, but after awhile she didn't care about the noise and walk/trotted easily. I didn't add a canter to this (or the obstacle) - gotta leave something for next time!

Obstacle
Put a pole six inches from the ground using jump standards. Played friendly game. At one point she went back, pulled the pole off and it got caught up between her legs. She looked at ME for a reaction, I just shrugged so she didn't get excited. Then she walked over the mess. Later, I put the pole back up and she walked over it without hesitation.

Squeeze Game with Rope
Spent quite a bit of time with this game, as she was very skeptical and un-confidant. She'd start walking when I had the rope around her neck, so I walked with her.  Often she'd turn towards me before I could get the rope around her rump. But eventually it worked, and I kept repeating because she would relax afterwards. Each time I did it she was less excited.

This was really pushing the limit; she was getting sweaty, but she kept showing that she trusted me.  After we finished I took off the line and she swung her head at me. I did stretches with her, which she really liked and it helped dry the sweat. A very nice way to end the session.