A short day at the yard today as I was feeling rather tired. As a result I only had time to share time playing with Bonitao.
Ritchie played with him first but again she could see that I was itching to have a go. Outdoor school today so there were rather more distractions than in the indoor. My chair was placed near some cones and a small jump so I had some obstacles to help my imagination.
We started at Liberty but in the bigger space (compared to the indoor school) this was not as succesful as before. We did manage to get some circling games done but then another person and horse wanted to join us so I reverted to online play.
This was pretty successful. We tried all sorts of interesting tasks. The first was a small sideways circle around me and the chair. This needed some nifty stick and rope work as he went behind me, but after a couple of attempts we managed a very nice circle accompanied by lots of licking and chewing.
Next up was sideways over a cone 15 feet away from me. Sending him backwards to the cone was easy, but getting him to pass sideways over it was a bit of a challenge. This was partly because the cone only just passed under his belly, and only towards the rear end of his belly.
Ritchie then swapped the large cone for three small ones and suggested I make him go sideways over all of them. I was dubious that this would work with me sat in a chair 15 feet away, but gave it a go anyway. I think both Bonitao and I were very proud when it worked first time.
So why am I being so successful whilst sat in a chair. Two things spring to mind.
1) I have to be very concious of my body language and facial expressions as I cannot back them up with physical movement.
2) I have to keep my feet still and horses respect the horse that moves least as the herd leader. Thus my enforced immobility makes me appear a more worthy leader. Whilst I try not to move my feet when able bodied it is hard to actually achieve the total stillness I now find forced on me
Ritchie played with him first but again she could see that I was itching to have a go. Outdoor school today so there were rather more distractions than in the indoor. My chair was placed near some cones and a small jump so I had some obstacles to help my imagination.
We started at Liberty but in the bigger space (compared to the indoor school) this was not as succesful as before. We did manage to get some circling games done but then another person and horse wanted to join us so I reverted to online play.
This was pretty successful. We tried all sorts of interesting tasks. The first was a small sideways circle around me and the chair. This needed some nifty stick and rope work as he went behind me, but after a couple of attempts we managed a very nice circle accompanied by lots of licking and chewing.
Next up was sideways over a cone 15 feet away from me. Sending him backwards to the cone was easy, but getting him to pass sideways over it was a bit of a challenge. This was partly because the cone only just passed under his belly, and only towards the rear end of his belly.
Ritchie then swapped the large cone for three small ones and suggested I make him go sideways over all of them. I was dubious that this would work with me sat in a chair 15 feet away, but gave it a go anyway. I think both Bonitao and I were very proud when it worked first time.
So why am I being so successful whilst sat in a chair. Two things spring to mind.
1) I have to be very concious of my body language and facial expressions as I cannot back them up with physical movement.
2) I have to keep my feet still and horses respect the horse that moves least as the herd leader. Thus my enforced immobility makes me appear a more worthy leader. Whilst I try not to move my feet when able bodied it is hard to actually achieve the total stillness I now find forced on me
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