Yesterday's Session and Today's Strange One

Yesterday Mom and I both went out to play with the horses; I worked in the round pen and she worked with Charlotte on some equine massage and stretching techniques. I worked Online a bit with getting Wood confident jumping some barrels with a tarp on top of it. I sent him on a circle, and after him stopping and asking a question at the barrel a couple of times, he popped over it and kept on trotting on the circle... awesome! Then we did a bit of Liberty and we worked on our circles. I sent him out and he took off trotting and came in gradually more and more toward me and gave me a GORGEOUS trot that was, well... beautiful. He started leaking in on his near shoulder though, so I gave him extra support in zone 2/3 to get him upright and not so close. When I did that, he was near the pedestal, and he stopped, turned, put both front feet on the pedestal and looked at me like "Is this ok?" I was elated he offered me that, so I went over to him and rubbed his face and scratched his itchy spot for a bit while he licked and chewed.
We saddled up at Liberty with NO fuss and him practically falling asleep.
We did a bit more Liberty, he got up n the pedestal again (Mom got the picture), and then we went into the pasture to ride some. It didn't go too smoothly when I wanted to go away from the pen where Charlotte was, but I tried to minimize the opposition reflex by zig-zagging down the hill. We then went back to the round pen once Mom and Charlotte were finished with another bareback sessions to pop over a couple of jumps. Woody got a little worried since Charlotte left with Mom, so I did the figure 8 pattern with cones to get his mind back on me and the exercise. We ended that when he went around a turn with very little rein use and listening to the eyes-bellybutton-legs part.
I took off the saddle because it was slipping a bit and I didn't feel like messing with it, and Woody and I went over a big cross rail a couple times to end the session (he is a great jumper!).

Today I went out to try some Sideways without a fence (definitely a weak point), and when I came to the fence Wood came trotting over whinnying. But, once I got inside the fence I noticed he was acting a bit off. He would want to be at the gate I came in by the round pen for some reason, and he pooped and it was a bit runny. I got his halter and once I haltered him I just began to rub him all over A. making sure he was physically sound and B. playing friendly game. He was really mouthy with my jacket (turning around and trying to nibble at the pocket... the cookie monster), so I used my elbow blocks to keep his face straight and not scavaging for cookies. I then sat down and massaged his legs and worked on the task of have you horse stand on 3 legs fo several seconds. He would hold his foot up for about 1 second. He kept looking toward the gate and not really focusing on me, so I would comb the lead line until he put his head down and acknoledged me, and we played that game through0ut the session. He gave BIG yawning, lick and chew, and head shake releases as I massaged and combed the rope on both sides of his body. Atfer hanging for a while I let him go. I tried to just be present with him and keep his attention on me without making him nervous thoughout the session (address the horse that shows up).
Terrie is coming tomorrow to trim and hopefully give a lesson if it doesn't rain (it's supposed too), and Mom is going to work with her on Charlotte's new found habit of nibbling and down right biting at people. At first, we thought it was just her being a cookie monster, but Mom got the vibe yesterday that it was dominance and when she did it to me today it seemed dominant. We'll see how they handle that and I will update. I hope Woody is back to normal tomorrow so that we can work with Terrie on Sideways without a fence possibly and maybe even teaching Wood the beginnings of the soft feel of Finesse.... we'll see!
~Eden