My confident little RBI.

My brain hurts! I think B's does too. We had another lesson with Claire today and it was even more incredible than our last. I knew B and I had made big leaps in our relationship but again, to have someone else see it, is priceless.

B and I went in the arena before Claire arrived to warm up. I let another horse be put in the arena while their stable was mucked out. It was AJ who has watched us (at a distance) before but was too busy calling to the herd out in the field to be bothered by us.

I took things really slow to ease B into our games. We did all the things slowly that she likes. Yo yo over a pole and some sideways and we just walked around playing put your nose on this. I got a yellow base from our round pen for her to sniff. We played circle game and it was going well until I felt B had stopped behind me. When I turned around she had put her feet on the yellow base and just looking at me expectantly lol. She cracks me up!

While we played AJ was getting more RB, tearing up and down almost screaming at the herd! Then he suddenly turned and charged at us! I stood in front of B and when he was near I smacked the ground with the savvy string on my c/s, protecting our herd of two. Breeze stayed calm and AJ abruptly about faced and went away. He tried it again a little while later and I did the same thing. Breeze looked at me with what I think was great respect, she certainly had a good look on her face. AJ went and stood back across the arena and left us alone after that.

Claire arrived and we got on with the session. I hope I am not becoming predictable and boring but I am stunned by Claire's praise of both how well B looks and how confident B has become. Claire said she looks like a totally different horse. Calm, confident and looking to me for leadership!

My timing was spot on and our play was fluid and fun. We had fig 8 around the barrels, trot one way, walk the other then did it in the other direction. Weave was good but I tend to rush her at the end and she gets unconfident. Claire suggested I slow right down when she shows me she can't do these turns. I guess I get RB and excited too lol.

Claire has set us some tasks. One of which is improving our draw by asking B to jump over a jump and trot to me. We tried this and it was ok her coming to me but she couldn't back over the jump. I will have to start low and gradually raise the pole to a jump height. Also play with yo yo right up to things in zone 5. Breeze gets very claustrophobic in z5. The other is to practice driving game in z5 with the fence the other side of B. At the end of the session we tried this and lo and behold it was too much pressure for B and she couldn't stay straight. She had to peel off away from the fence, circle and come back to me.

Half way through our lesson one of the horses let himself out of the runway and into the yard to go and eat everyones feed. This horse is always getting out and instead of calling the yard owner (?) I just left B with Claire and went and got him. He is a stubborn LBI and knows how to get his own way lol. He managed to squeeze me against a wall at one point but I stepped away, got my 12' line, hooked it on to his webbing halter and with a bit of persuasion got him back into the runway using a bucket of feed as a lure. The other times this has happened I have used the halter too and he doesn't argue with me then. All the time B watched me, she couldn't take her eyes off me! When I got back in the arena she wanted to be near me and lick my hands.

By the end of the session Breeze looked like she had certainly given her brain cells a workout! She yawned and yawned, licked and chewed and looked like she needed a nap. We went back to her stable and I let her rest and eat some haylage before she went out to the field for the rest of the day. It's incredible how one hour can feel like longer in the best possible way.