Rosie, one of the herd, has left the yard leaving just Moo and Filly together. This leads to a small problem if I want to play with Filly, Moo can't be left alone. Solution : play in the field next door which has jumps, dressage markers and lots of lush grass. A real test of Filly's respect for me !
We started playing on line which was progressing very well. With a light bow in the line as she circled me she was giving me all the green lights to play at liberty.
Taking the rope off I was ready for her to just ignore me and eat grass but remarkably this was not the case. We started with the easiest task, "Stick to me" which is a bit like heel work with a dog. This is the easiest as she is close to me which keeps the bond strong. Walk, trot and halt worked perfectly with very little tendency to try and eat.
Emboldened I decided to try circling expecting a long walk to get her from the far end of the field. To start she did large circles which actually pleased me greatly. If she could stay connected to me and circle at a distance I was not going to nag her to get closer.
At one point she did apparently leave me. The circle took her to the fence and she just kept maintaining gait but along the fence not around me. I just stayed relaxed and contemplated the long walk when suddenly she turned and faced me, still trotting, and came straight as an arrow to me. I think she just got a bit confused when she got to the fence and never actually meant to leave. On a second occasion she did leave and I did have to walk to get her, but she readily re-connected and stayed with me back to the work area.
I have recently started to work on "lead by the tail". This just consists of lightly pulling on her tail and asking her to follow the feel of pressure backwards. I have tried this with limited success in the past but at last it is coming together. The pressure on the tail is of course applied in phases and released on the slightest try. In this case she started with her ears pricked and pointing forwards as I applied the pressure. One ear twitching to face backwards was the initial try and rewarded with a release. Three of four attempts later we had a front leg moving backwards, followed by a pace or two. I tried this in the field at liberty and it worked !
In many ways, whilst we did nothing spectacular or new, this was one of the best training sessions we have had together. Having that sort of connection in a lush grass field felt very special.
It was only topped by what happened as we walked away from the field. Ritchie looked back to find Filly a long way from Moo and as close to us as possible looking over the fence at us with her ears pricked. We were at least 100 meters away before she turned and went back to grazing.
We started playing on line which was progressing very well. With a light bow in the line as she circled me she was giving me all the green lights to play at liberty.
Taking the rope off I was ready for her to just ignore me and eat grass but remarkably this was not the case. We started with the easiest task, "Stick to me" which is a bit like heel work with a dog. This is the easiest as she is close to me which keeps the bond strong. Walk, trot and halt worked perfectly with very little tendency to try and eat.
Emboldened I decided to try circling expecting a long walk to get her from the far end of the field. To start she did large circles which actually pleased me greatly. If she could stay connected to me and circle at a distance I was not going to nag her to get closer.
At one point she did apparently leave me. The circle took her to the fence and she just kept maintaining gait but along the fence not around me. I just stayed relaxed and contemplated the long walk when suddenly she turned and faced me, still trotting, and came straight as an arrow to me. I think she just got a bit confused when she got to the fence and never actually meant to leave. On a second occasion she did leave and I did have to walk to get her, but she readily re-connected and stayed with me back to the work area.
I have recently started to work on "lead by the tail". This just consists of lightly pulling on her tail and asking her to follow the feel of pressure backwards. I have tried this with limited success in the past but at last it is coming together. The pressure on the tail is of course applied in phases and released on the slightest try. In this case she started with her ears pricked and pointing forwards as I applied the pressure. One ear twitching to face backwards was the initial try and rewarded with a release. Three of four attempts later we had a front leg moving backwards, followed by a pace or two. I tried this in the field at liberty and it worked !
In many ways, whilst we did nothing spectacular or new, this was one of the best training sessions we have had together. Having that sort of connection in a lush grass field felt very special.
It was only topped by what happened as we walked away from the field. Ritchie looked back to find Filly a long way from Moo and as close to us as possible looking over the fence at us with her ears pricked. We were at least 100 meters away before she turned and went back to grazing.
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