Here we are again

Back trying to get Cal to gain confidence in me.  As a result from previous days of accidently and impatiently blowing past thresholds and resulting in unhappy sessions.

The horses were in the house pasture when I went to play.  Did my best to get Cal to catch me.  Then made it my goal to get to the arena with a confident horse, and end the session there.  I ended up doing a lot of friendly game and of course, some waiting, but for the most part, Cal was licking and chewing pretty quickly.  Overall, I feel pretty good about the rapport I was building with him.

I played a tad with my yo-yo game on the 45' line, seeing if I could get the back up a bit quicker and steadier.  And then seeing if I could get my bring back at phase 1 (not using the rope at all to help).  Never got it, but I've started down the path and have started getting the foundation for a better bring back.  I also discovered I had to isolate driving the hindquarters, because he's started avoid moving his hind end, and instead moving his front end to face me.  Because the disengaging the hind end is so important for improving draw, I knew I needed to play with that.

Another task I focused on was backing by the tail at phase 1.  This is really about me, and release at the right moment.  It's the release that teaches.  I've been expecting a lot really quickly, and stopped releasing, before Cal really understood the concept.  I got three excellent steps at phase 1 at the end.

We never got to the arena, because instead we discovered the terror that is the pass between the house pasture and the arena pasture.  Actually, we didn't even make it through that.  Play for tomorrow.  That's what I did.  I hope I built Cal's confidence in himself and in me, so that when we play tomorrow, we can go further.

And I also discovered there's an apple tree in the house pasture!  Awesome!  Exciting thing to remember for next fall!  XD