What a great day with the horses. Ritchie started playing with Bonitao whilst I watched from the comfort of my garden chair. but I was itching to play with him myself.
Again I played at Liberty with him and again it went incredibly well. We started with just some simple YoYo games as he was have trouble being drawn to me, backup was fine. Without a rope it is difficult to go up the phases with the draw so I had to use other tactics. I drew him with my hands for a 30 seconds or so. If he did not respond I sent him on a circle at trot or canter to make him work. After a few repetitions of this Bonitao worked out that if he just obeyed my hand signal to come towards me he did not have to work as hard as when he ignored the signal and got sent on a circle. Soon his draw was enthusiastic and attentive. Whilst he was close to me I threw the string on the carrot stick around his neck and applied gentle pressure to get him to take a step closer. On the first attempt he flew backwards and stood looking at me and snorting. On the second attempt he took a tentative step forwards and was rewarded with immediate release of the pressure. Lots of licking and chewing.
Once he was really close I used the stick and string to apply gentle downwards porcupine pressure to get him to lower his head. He very quickly caught on and lowered his head on light pressure.
We also played lots of circling games at the various gaits, and then moved onto figure 8 around some cones. It was very rewarding to be able to sit in a chair and get Bonitao to do figure 8 at liberty with enthusiasm. Great fun.
The icing on the cake was when I managed to draw him to me, get him to lower his head and put his halter and rope back on for Ritchie to lead him away. Now there is a challenge for you all to try.
Filly was up next and Ritchie brought her into the school for a roll and a quick play. Ritchie was a bit reluctant to let me play with her as she can be a bit pushy at times. However I was really keen and so she relented. This was my first attempt to play online whilst sat in the chair. It takes some thought about rope management ! We started with Friendly game to get her over her lack of confidence with the chair. Very soon we were just doing simple stuff like YoYo and circling game. Again it went better than expected, especially the circling game. Walk, trot and canter. Of course her draw was very easy as she always takes the opportunity to be as close to me as possible. Again she seemed to sense that I am not fully able bodied and seemed to take care to be more gentle than usual. Lots of gentle sniffing, especially of my legs which was interesting, and no sign of her usual tendency to bite or nibble.
It felt so good to play with my little friend again, and she seemed to say "thank God he is back". What a buzz.
Again I played at Liberty with him and again it went incredibly well. We started with just some simple YoYo games as he was have trouble being drawn to me, backup was fine. Without a rope it is difficult to go up the phases with the draw so I had to use other tactics. I drew him with my hands for a 30 seconds or so. If he did not respond I sent him on a circle at trot or canter to make him work. After a few repetitions of this Bonitao worked out that if he just obeyed my hand signal to come towards me he did not have to work as hard as when he ignored the signal and got sent on a circle. Soon his draw was enthusiastic and attentive. Whilst he was close to me I threw the string on the carrot stick around his neck and applied gentle pressure to get him to take a step closer. On the first attempt he flew backwards and stood looking at me and snorting. On the second attempt he took a tentative step forwards and was rewarded with immediate release of the pressure. Lots of licking and chewing.
Once he was really close I used the stick and string to apply gentle downwards porcupine pressure to get him to lower his head. He very quickly caught on and lowered his head on light pressure.
We also played lots of circling games at the various gaits, and then moved onto figure 8 around some cones. It was very rewarding to be able to sit in a chair and get Bonitao to do figure 8 at liberty with enthusiasm. Great fun.
The icing on the cake was when I managed to draw him to me, get him to lower his head and put his halter and rope back on for Ritchie to lead him away. Now there is a challenge for you all to try.
Filly was up next and Ritchie brought her into the school for a roll and a quick play. Ritchie was a bit reluctant to let me play with her as she can be a bit pushy at times. However I was really keen and so she relented. This was my first attempt to play online whilst sat in the chair. It takes some thought about rope management ! We started with Friendly game to get her over her lack of confidence with the chair. Very soon we were just doing simple stuff like YoYo and circling game. Again it went better than expected, especially the circling game. Walk, trot and canter. Of course her draw was very easy as she always takes the opportunity to be as close to me as possible. Again she seemed to sense that I am not fully able bodied and seemed to take care to be more gentle than usual. Lots of gentle sniffing, especially of my legs which was interesting, and no sign of her usual tendency to bite or nibble.
It felt so good to play with my little friend again, and she seemed to say "thank God he is back". What a buzz.
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