Play with the horse that shows up...

How many times do I have to hear this?  How long will it take to finally sink in?  Did good yesterday and today at least!

Yesterday I had some tension in me and I think Cal knew it when I went out to play.  He wasn't very interested when I first came out.  So I gave the horses their hay, and hung out a bit.  Taking it slow seemed to warm both Cal and me up a bit, so I played a bit of the first 3 games at liberty in the upper pasture.  What do you know, all that practicing online made it really easy.  Cal knew what I wanted, was willing to do it, and because I've been keeping slack in the rope, had no problems with staying with me.  I then tried to do some driving from zone 3.  It sort of worked.  I could get us lined up, and then we could walk a couple steps together, but Cal would stop, unwilling to go further.  Upon contemplation, I realized that this hesitation was unconfidence, and was no different than what I played with online.  Therefore, get it good online, and it'll probably transfer to liberty just like the basics of the first 3 games.

Perhaps becase I didn't push yesterday or maybe it's just the mood he woke up in...but Cal was pretty confident today.  As I ventured out, all the horses were standing in front of the arena, except for Cal who had wandered off by himself to graze.  When he saw me, he came over from a decent distance, his ears perked.  I happily breezed through the first 4 games.  I'm so glad they've become easy again!  Then I went on to play with my driving from zone 3.  We traveled all over the upper pasture!  With confidence!  With the other horses out of sight for the majority of the time!  YAY!  Even did a little trotting.  I finally got 4 laps at a walk both ways, so time to move on to some trotting circles.  And did some sideways.  With my ingredients all prepared, it went lovely.  =)

I know this is all the very very basics, but I feel like they need to be solid to move up, and the reason I was having so much trouble is that they just weren't there anymore.  Now I feel like I'm progressing back to where I should be, and when I get to playing with level 3 tasks, I'll actually keep progressing, rather than stagnating like I was.

Still have to get to playing in the arena with confidence.  Also think I'm going to start playing on the 22' line again soon.  (Been playing on the 12' for convenience, since I've been doing a lot of the first 3 games.)  So that's where I'm at now.