Another fun session with Mini yesterday. He was in a smallish paddock when I arrived at the farm and so I decided to play with him there. As usual I started the plan as can be seen via the link on the right side of the blog. Item 1 : Have horse catch you.
Well Mini did come up to me, but then showed a reluctance to stay with me. Time to play the catch me game with him. I do not know if he has played this before so decided to assume that he hadn't. As my previous posts on the subject have explained the catch me game is designed to make it more comfortable for the horse to remain in your presence and give you attention than to ignore you and go his own way.
If Mini did not pay me attention then he got driven around the field, should he give me the attention of just and ear then the pressure was removed a fraction, if he gave me both eyes then I backed right off.
Mini showed a few right brain tendencies during this game so I had to carefully balance pressure with retreat to keep him thinking his way out of the pressure I was applying without putting on so much pressure that he just tried to escape. At times this meant very very little pressure, and at others I had to get relatively strong. I also employed a bit of mirroring towards the end of the game where I just matched his energy and movements, trying to create a harmony between us. I also took to kneeling down when he gave me two eyes to completely remove the pressure. The worked like magic, just as it had done with Salvadora.
When the game ended is was very very sudden. He turned to face me, and unlike previous times, where he just stood and stared, walked straight up to me with a confident look. We then played the "stick to me game" at liberty for around 20 minutes. Only once did he try to leave me, so back to catch me game and he was back by my side. I can only assume that he had done some liberty before because it was very smooth and responsive.
I guess because of my personality type I find liberty easily my best Savvy of the four, and certainly the most fun one. Looking forward to another session soon, just hope it stops raining long enough !
Well Mini did come up to me, but then showed a reluctance to stay with me. Time to play the catch me game with him. I do not know if he has played this before so decided to assume that he hadn't. As my previous posts on the subject have explained the catch me game is designed to make it more comfortable for the horse to remain in your presence and give you attention than to ignore you and go his own way.
If Mini did not pay me attention then he got driven around the field, should he give me the attention of just and ear then the pressure was removed a fraction, if he gave me both eyes then I backed right off.
Mini showed a few right brain tendencies during this game so I had to carefully balance pressure with retreat to keep him thinking his way out of the pressure I was applying without putting on so much pressure that he just tried to escape. At times this meant very very little pressure, and at others I had to get relatively strong. I also employed a bit of mirroring towards the end of the game where I just matched his energy and movements, trying to create a harmony between us. I also took to kneeling down when he gave me two eyes to completely remove the pressure. The worked like magic, just as it had done with Salvadora.
When the game ended is was very very sudden. He turned to face me, and unlike previous times, where he just stood and stared, walked straight up to me with a confident look. We then played the "stick to me game" at liberty for around 20 minutes. Only once did he try to leave me, so back to catch me game and he was back by my side. I can only assume that he had done some liberty before because it was very smooth and responsive.
I guess because of my personality type I find liberty easily my best Savvy of the four, and certainly the most fun one. Looking forward to another session soon, just hope it stops raining long enough !
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