Home at last

Home a day late. Flying on standby travel means you have to remain flexible.
We got home yesterday afternoon and after quickly unpacking went to see the horses. Too tired last night to blog though !!
Yesterdays session mainly consisted of some friendly game with the "kids", but we did manage some tarp training with Billy. This consisted of gently throwing the folded up tarp on Billys' back and then wrapping the 12 foot line around his belly to simulate the girth, but one it is easy to release. He was almost completely unfazed by this and just stayed still looking around with curiosity. I have seen others doing similar things but keeping the horse on a tight rope. They are curious beings and it is only fair to allow them to see/investigate what is being done to them, so when his head looked round to sniff and chew the tarp on his back this was not discouraged. This allowed him to categorise the tarp as harmless and not worth running from, which was the desired result. Preventing the investigation would have lead to a feeling of claustrophobia and fear of the unknown. Don't forget that with women and horses first impressions are very important due to their phenomenal memory so make a new experience as pleasurable and nonthreatening as possible !!
Filly was a bit difficult yesterday, but then she is in season again and wanted to a) move and b) dominate. Remembering that the leader of the herd controls movement I used a) to make her move a lot ! We did loads of circling at trot and canter. When she asked to stop I refused and made her do several more circles thus asserting my "right"  as leader to make her move. Eventually the permission to stop was her reward and she approached me looking for comfort which I willingly gave. Thus using a) we overcame b) !
Today I was determined to build on yesterdays success. Filly first. She was even more difficult to start with today, so to demonstrate my trust in her I removed the rope and for the first time in a while we played at liberty. Remember the previous post on this. What a change !! After a few moments of exuberance she was my old fun Filly again. We ran around the school at liberty with ,almost, slide stops. Her ears came up and she really ENJOYED life. It wasn't perfect, but who cares it was so much fun. Even changes of circle direction were performed with ease. After a while I put her back on the rope for some more mounting block training. She willingly positioned herself next to me and I lay on her back several times. She was so happy with this I decided to throw a leg onto her back as well. No problem at all. Forgetting that I had no hat on I fully mounted her and she barely flinched. Then I asked for a neck flexion and with almost no effort her head came round and she gently chewed my boot toe ! Enough for one day so I slid off the opposite side. WOW, I have fully mounted Filly and she was completely cool about it !!
Trying to reduce my adrenalin rush Filly was retired to her box and Billy brought out. In short he was also a star. The training with the tarp was substituted with the bare back pad. After the usual preparation of 1) touching all over 2) placing the feet 3) rope around 4) hind quarter and fore quarter yields the bare back pad was repeatedly thrown on his back and removed. Once there was no reaction to this the girth was pulled under his belly and released several times. Finally the girth was tied in place with just a little pressure on the belly. He was then worked in the normal way. Circling, sideways, hind quarter and fore quarter yields, trotting, walking. Any motion that I can cause that might make the girth feel odd was made to happen. I want Billy to be totally happy with the pad before we try to mount him. Adding the sensation of a saddle and rider in quick succession would be too much for him to process in one go, so I am using the concept of "successive approximation". Using the concept anything new is introduced in logical stages, with each building on the next to approach the desired conclusion. It is very important to read the horse in this process, they are in control of the time line. Pushing too far or too hard will be counter productive. If the process is pushed until the horse gets really right brain and then the lesson is stopped the horse learns that right brain behaviour stops the undesirable stimulus and thus the reaction to the stimulus is fixed. Reading the horse carefully and pushing to just prior to this point is the perfect scenario for rapid progress but risks pushing a bit too hard, the best trainers in the business can do this reliably and that is why they train so effectively. For the rest of us stopping short of this point is the best policy. We take longer to get there but do it safer and with fewer self generated problems to fix.
In summary: A good day. First proper sitting on Filly and bare back pad on Billy !