I have a wonderful opportunity to do a trial lease with a horse called Rosie! She has done Parelli up to around level three. She is also expecting a foal in April. She is mild left brain extrovert. Here is how our first session went.
I came up to her in her paddock and greeted her. Then I scratched her withers, much to her delight. As I haltered her I noticed how nice it was that she actually wanted to be haltered instead of just tolerating it like some other horses.
As we were walking up the snowy path to the arena she was rushing a little, like she was saying, ''All right, all right, let's get this over with so that I can eat hay again."
So I just stopped hallway to the arena and started to search for her itchy spots . After a good scratch she licked and chewed. We then continued walking. This time she was much slower and seemed to be feeling more positive.
We started with some quick friendly game in all zones to make sure it was OK. It turned out she was a little unconfident in zone 4 and 5.
Her porcupine game was pretty good except she was a little sticky during the HQ yield which surprised me. Left Brain horses usually find it easier to yield their hind end.
Next we tried some yoyo game. To my surprise she wanted to go sideways more than backwards. I persisted until she went straight for seven steps and then quit.
She looked a little bored so I thought: What can I show her that is new and interesting.
So we played with the ball a little. I asked her to push it while going towards it and then push it while going sideways towards it. The ball then rolled to the wall making a squeeze just wide enough for Rosie to fit through.
I wondered if she was confident with the ball in zone five. So I asked her to yoyo back through the squeeze. She looked a little bit unconfident so I encouraged her and smiled waiting for her to ask questions. After she backed through, we had a little rest break.
Next we did approach and retreat, gently working up her confidence to have the ball touch her hind legs . In the beginning she thought I wanted her to yield her HQ but soon realized that I just wanted her to relax. I then tested her limits by asking her to shift her weight backwards towards the ball. We did this a few times and then I asked her to make the tiniest step back. After she did we quit the session.
After I took the halter off in her paddock she stayed there and looked at me as I smiled before walking away. Even thought there was hay right in front of her!
Rosie was such a good girl! I will bring carrots for her next time for sure! I hope to give her a massage next time too.
RSS Feed