Walking with focus

Another session spent watching the herd. Rosie seems slightly more accepted now, but it is interesting that whenever possible Filly puts herself in the middle of the herd. They were initially indifferent to my presence with Filly positively moving away from me if I rested my hand on her withers. By being passively persistent and just following her with my hand in place she soon understood that this was just Friendly game and became confident with my proximity. I even spent sometime making sure I mimicked her front leg movements with my own legs. This clearly further reassured her and soon she was grazing right next to my foot. This seems to be a sign of friendship as I have noted that Moo and Filly often seem to be trying to eat with their noses as close together as possible.

At this point a car alarm went of in the car park at the yard. Fearing it was mine (it wasn't) I set off at a brisk walk across the field with strong focus on the destination. The herd followed me at a trot, where before they had been largely indifferent to me. A herd leader walks in such a manner from one feeding area to another and I guess that when I showed such behaviour I triggered in them the desire to follow a visually strong leader. This just serves to illustrate how important it is to maintain focus whilst interacting with our horses, not only when riding but when leading them around as well. Of course it is only important if we wish to have them see us as the leader, if we don't care about our leadership then texting or talking on our mobile phones whilst leading them is perfectly ok.