Oh boy! How interesting.

Breeze was quite pushy and trying to bite me when I went to feed her this evening. I wondered if this was dominance on her part and thought that after her feed a play was in order with a lot of back up and sideways. The yard and arena were empty and quiet so we had the place to ourselves.

We moseyed along into the arena and played some friendly, extreme friendly, backwards by the tail, sideways over barrels and then circle game. Breeze went off on the circle in a wild canter, snaking her head at me! She kept going then went into a ragged trot and when I asked for cod she kept stopping to stare at me, head in the air and pull on the rope. Aha! I really didn't want a fight and spent some time working out how to ask her to cod quietly but effectively. She really didn't want to go anti clockwise.

We played travelling circle over to the fence so she could cod at the fence to begin with and calm down. Whenever she stopped and looked introverted I let her rest then scratched her and this time she didn't stop for long or go quiet. Nice.

Back on the circle game again and I found by asking her in a little and slowing down I could bring her to me and then ask her to change very softly and because her head is down she doesn't brace. Then I sent her by slapping the c/s on the ground!

After a good few laps her ragged canter faded to a ragged trot and then she relaxed and we had some very good steady trot. On the anti clockwise direction she tried to blow up again but it wasn't so explosive, I used the fence again and pretty soon she could trot calmly and then walk. We have some way to go before she can circle in trot or canter calmly and with any slack in the rope but I don't think it will take too long lol.

As soon as she softened and I could see she was relaxed I asked her in for scratches and carrot and we ended that game there. By this time she was pretty sweaty and I wanted to cool her off rather than just finish so we walked about for a while and she did some sideways over things oh and....sideways without a fence! Woohoo! Breeze will also sidepass towards me if I hold the c/s over her back/rump and bounce it gently. Thanks to Suzanne for that!

Without me realising over an hour had passed when we went back to B's stable via the rough ground for a graze on some succulent weeds, where I managed to lose another hour scratching B on her neck and again she let me groom her all over. I think me having Polo's had something to do with her eagerness to be with me but finding something else to motivate her is excellent.

So, there we are, somewhere towards B finding confidence in herself which has been quite a revelation for me. I find a sense of purpose in everything we do which is so interesting. It also brings me confidence, knowing I can push B a little further and then bring her back. What a wonderful, interesting horse she is!