Terrific Tuesday.

Some of the fencing is down in the arena in preparation for the makeover. I thought that might make things interesting today. Lots of gaps for a horse to exit from! I've been watching the latest Parelli dvd which is Mikey's Project. It has taken me weeks to find the time to see it and it was worth the wait. We were already halfway there and been following along the same ideas already but it's great to have a reminder of focus. One of the things I am good at is being provocative and interesting to B when we play. I get bored more easily than she does lol. So purpose has always been important for me. We have worked through her RBE terror and lack of focus, unconfidence and behavioral issues to a great degree of success so it's time to increase the savvy level. This is where I see us progressing out of level 2 and into 3 now and I am loving it. We are making words and short sentences now having got our ABC's pretty good.

B continues to be LB for which I am grateful but it does mean she is really trying to assert some dominance and be challenging in other ways. I am very happy to say my sense of humour and patience are limitless these days and knowing what exactly I am looking for from B helps. Expect a lot, accept a little and reward the slightest try.

This is a typical pose of B's at the moment. It says 'No! I don't want to!' Unlike a LBI she doesn't add 'make me'. Instead she will brace and try to back up then if the pressure isn't taken off explode and go RBE. She no longer sticks her head up as high as she can and I don't see much white of her eye. I have to really shut my energy down and focus on my draw and we start again after B has a rest and a scratch. It gets less extreme over time and we are continuing to play with 'going there' and then learning how to come back. We can actually play 'lets not go there' too these days. Like with extreme friendly which is coming on really well. Although she isn't totally calm about it some of the time she isn't going crazy any more.
We have been concentrating on playing some of the seven games a bit closer lately. This is in preparation for more liberty and it is paying off. Now that B is calmer and more confident she doesn't need so much drift. Today we played extreme friendly very close from z3 which initially B found very difficult. So we play the game of if you move please go back to where you were before you moved. I am learning to be very precise and persistent about this and actually I really enjoy it. B gets very annoyed with me sometimes and twice today she braced and wanted to run backwards. I have to be really, really careful not to brace and give her all the slack in the rope she needs. Interesting how she needs less and less rope each time. Sometimes she will paw the ground but pretty soon she stops moving and we can move on to the next thing.
Which today was saddling. I did think maybe we wouldn't ride as time just slips away when we are playing. But B only fidgeted a little and soon decided it was a better idea to stand still and give me permission to saddle her. Same with getting on. She didn't want to stand by my steps but after two or three circles she stood like a statue, watching me get on. She offered lateral flexion and we hung out and relaxed. I don't know who benefits from this more, me or B lol. Such a big issue for me. My butterflies can break formation and scatter in a nanosecond! We hung out, I checked my seat and relaxed some more and we set off for the nearest obstacle to play touch it. Then back again and rest. Did this a couple of times then B decided it was time to explore and leave the arena. Ok by me and we went for a mosey, passing by the mini goat who usually tries to headbutt B while she plays driving game with him.
We stopped off by my shed and B stepped in to eat a bit of haylage while I chatted to Steph. That gave us a chance to play with some back up and then go back to the arena. B didn't brace and seemed very happy to be a partner. I kept the session short and once we were back in the arena I got off. This gave B a chance to relax even more and eat some grass too.

I long for the days when we can progress some more and ride for longer. I have pushed us both too quickly in the recent past and we had to go back to the beginning again. These baby steps, which actually are giant leaps for us, are going really well. Both mine and B's confidence is building. I am so pleased and proud of how calm we are. A little bit astonished at how I can do this on my own. So nice to have that independence, although Pat, Linda and Claire are in my head lol.