Transformation

Cal caught me quicker today than the past two days.  Yes, he caught me quicker, and was unable to leave the herd.  I feel like he's licking and chewing quicker for the most part...but then we slip back and I find myself once more waiting what seems an eternity.  I am discovering that I can interrupt that if I wait a bit.  Let him start thinking about coming out, and then help him a bit by backing him a step and waiting again.  If he's closer, playing friendly game with the carrot stick can draw him out, too.  He stepped over the 45' line, and with him introverted, I didn't want to approach him until he was ready.  My draw is not so great without a rope, especially with Cal struggling to control his emotions.  So I had to wait quite a bit, back him up, wait more, and he licked and chewed several times before I was able to draw him to me.

He seemed to be taking longer today to be able to move his feet, a sign that he's gaining confidence.  I almost ended the session when he started loosening up a bit.  But I didn't, and after another bunch of seemingly endless waits, an unexpected change happened.  Cal turned away from me, quite deliberately, and started dragging me back to the herd (we weren't that far away).  I followed, panicking slightely while reading him.  If I messed up here and read him as confident when he wasn't, could I blow the trust I had been gaining?  But no, I asked him to yield, and had to go through my phases before he responded.

And he was suddenly very willing to move his feet.  My slow, unable to move introvert was gone.  So I used the backward S pattern to move his feet while drawing him towards me.  I was still wary of pushing him off the cliff.  As I moved him around, we made it quite quickly to the arena, and I was able to get him moving even more on the nice ground inside the arena.  He went right in the arena with no hesitation, and I followed him from zone 5 as, on his own, he went to explore the far end of the arena.

His curiosity and confidence were pretty thin, though, and he soon got quicker and wanted to retreat.  So we did, left the arena, and found a upside-down water tub to play touch it with.  When I headed back to the arena, I had a plan.  My right-brain introvert was gone...he was now right-brain extrovert.  I needed to change my strategy.  I played some touch it with some of the obstacles, then went onto the figure-8 pattern.  It was set up pretty big, so Cal could easily trot the figure-8.  At first I had some trouble balancing my drive and draw, and I think scattered Cal a bit more than he already was.  But I found the rhythm, and as I did, he did, too.  Pretty quickly, he was trotting the figure-8's with a more relaxed body and his lower, and I got some blowing!  Yeah!  I successfully dealt with his changing horsenality!

After he was a bit more connected, though still a little unsettled, I played with seeing if I could get him to stop by the closed trailer, and realize that was the happy place.  Of course, I also focused on seeing if I could do it using more of that 45' line.  I played some friendly game with the tarp, too.  And did some sideways.  Trotting sideways, which went well.  I had taken off some of the edge with the figure-8 pattern, but he was still kind of frizzy, and the sideways trotting helped bring him down even more.

I did some circling game.  The trot looked pretty nice.  He had a nice relaxed posture, but I was at the far end of the arena, and the circle was a bit lopsided.  When then got a bit better, I decided to try for some canter.  Half a lap to the left, and a lap to the right.  That was my goal, and it went quite well.  I probably could have gone for a bit more, but I didn't want to push it.

When I finished with the circles a lot of the extra buzz was gone, and Cal was about as calm and relaxed as he ever has been just standing at the scary end of the arena with me.  I read him, saw his confidence, and decided to just hang out with him a bit at liberty to end.  I read him well, and he was totally stuck with him after I unhaltered.  When we stopped, he was plently confident to stand still.  Interestingly enough, he seemed to be struggling not to fall back inside himself.  I guess without the safety net of the halter, there are still doubts.  So I played lots of friendly game and some touch it, in order to provoke his thinking.  It worked and he licked and chewed and was absolutely great!

He was with me, and let me tell you, if felt so beautiful.  There's still mistrust there, but I think today was a sign of what could be if I truly gained his confidence.