Billy learns to catch me. A Friendly Filly

Back from the USA and after failing to sleep, straight to the yard.
Started playing with Billy as he is still in a field 24 hours a day. Due to the fact that his field mate cannot be left alone that is where I have to play with him. I have had a few issues with him not catching me so decided to spend a whole session working on this. He would come over but after a while he would move a short distance away and then, when far enough, run away. I needed to get him more connected to me so catching game seemed like the right way to go about it.
The method I used is the old predator / friendly switch. If Billy was ignoring me I would go into the pose of an approaching predator and stalk him. This creates discomfort for him as being stalked by a predator if you think you might be lunch cannot be a nice feeling. If he continued to ignore me I would throw the end of the rope at him and try to tag him. To start with this resulted in him running away, as you might expect, but it did heighten his awareness of me being around. You might think it odd that I am apparently driving him away when I want him to come to me, but bear with me.
As he became more aware of me and made the slightest effort to look at me as I approached I would immediately switch to friendly pose, look away and stop approaching him. I then had to study him with my peripheral vision to see his reaction. If he turned away again, then back to predator, if he looks at me then stay friendly. He is learning that as long as his attention is on me the predatory behaviour disappears. He is teaching ME to be friendly.
As this progresses I ask for more response. To start with a glance with one ear is enough, but as we progress I require him to move in my direction before getting the comfort of a friendly look. Pretty soon he is walking right up to me and following at heel ! If he leaves then of course the predator reappears. We had a lot of fun with this game, plus some extreme friendly game with a horse fun ball which was in the field.
Toys and obstacles are great to get my imagination going and keep it interesting for both of us. The fun ball has a handle on it that I could thread a 22 foot rope through. Now I could drag it, swing it etc. Use your imagination, I probably did it. Billy was skeptical to start, but when it kept dragging away from him, or swinging away from him he got curious and readily followed it.
Being autumn it then got dark, so time for Filly indoors.
What a difference from the previous session. Yesterday and today I kept wanting to ask where the real Filly was, because this friendly, inquisitive version was so different. YoYo was much better, today a stern finger waggle got a reasonable response and an ears pricked "what are we doing next" look. She was also like her old self when it came to cuddles. No mouthing or biting, just calm and affectionate. We played all the usual games, sideways is not as good as it was pre ring worm so needs work, but the rest were pretty good. We did a lot of stick to me at trot which gave me a good work out. I few dominance issues easily corrected with forequarter yields.
Today I particularly did a lot of work just getting her to automatically move into the mounting position when I got on the mounting block and then just getting her to stand there whilst being scratched. I can't be bothered to get the horse to go to the mounting block every time I want to get on, I would much rather they just got into position themselves when they see me on the block. This went really well. Whilst standing on the block I could direct her such that I could get on either side without moving so much as a toe myself. True partnership.
A quick note on which side to mount a horse. The traditional side, left, is only taught as a result of old military doctrine. A cavalry officer wears his sabre on his left hip so that it can easily be drawn with the right hand. Therefore if you mount from the right side and swing the left leg over the hind quarters a neat shaving of horse meat comes of ready for dinner. Therefore one should mount from the left side swinging the right leg over, which the horse finds much more comfortable, but means you have to get your meat from elsewhere. Now I don't wear a sabre as there is a law against long knives in public in the UK. It therefore does not matter which side I get on and I can't help feeling that alternating sides has got to be better for my thighs and the horses back.
Finally I had a wonderful compliment from Filly today. When we first enter the indoor school she loves to have a quick roll in the sand. I make a habit of crouching down as she rolls to appear less threatening. Today she rolled several times and then stayed on her belly chewing a hoof. I moved over and started to scratch her neck, she placed her head in my lap and stayed there for a while. It is important to me because a prey animal is very vulnerable when lying down, and to let me, a predator, approach and touch her shows great trust. A special moment.