Venturing Out with Respect

In the last several weeks, it has been very VERY cold in Roanoke VA. At one point it was 8 degrees. I pretty much stayed out of the cold except for feeding the horses for those weeks. Yesterday it was 38 degrees (or around there), and when I fed the horses that morning, I took a good look at Woody and realized "man, that pony really is FAT!" With that motivation and the idea of walking on the driveway for a bit to get him exercise, I ventured out into the cold with my jacket, hat, and gloves. I got on his new black halter (which looks gorgeous on him I must say) with very little to no trouble, opened the gate while Charlotte wasn't looking, and headed out. We hung out a bit, then began our journey. Through the expedition I asked him to Stick to Me, traveling circles, Touch It, Change of Direction on circle, and Falling Leaf. We went all around: up and over the wooded hill, by the "bridge", behind the tractor barn, by the swing set, around the circle garden, and down the hill to the pond. We were just running around and exploring and trying to fit some learning experiences in there periodically. When we went to the tractor shed, we were doing driving from zone 3, and when he approached the black plumbing pipe pile, he snorted and wheeled around (almost on me, but I used my blocks to stop him). We did approach and retreat until he warily touched the pipes. Then, I picked one up, and walked away with it with him following behind me. After becoming more confident with following it, he let me touch him all over with it. I threw it about 20 feet away from us, and drove him from zone 3 to get him to touch it. He was wary again, so we did Squeeze between me and the pipe until he was confident. Finally, he was able to go up to it, sniff it, eat it, and eventually walk over it.
After that we walked around and explored more.
Today I went out, but when I got out there and gave him his piece of carrot, he wasn't as willing to follow me to the barn as usual. So, I went to get the Chase the Tiger flag and some Cracklin' Oat Bran pieces to play with them both. Once he did it a couple times, he really got into following it around and I even got him to canter after it! I also learned that by holding it lower, he would stretch his neck out lower and his back and step would start to bounce and be more fluid... how interesting! Eventually we made our way up to the barn and put the flag away and took the ahlter out. After an easy haltering, I opened the gate and headed out. We did much of the same stuff from the day before, ut from 22' away rather than 12'. We practiced going over some barrels, too, and for some reason Woody was trying to avoid jumping them. He jumped it, but came right into me and into my space. So, I backed him up quickly and sent him out again. This time, he stopped in front of the barrels. Sat there looking from me with his ears up to the barels, and finally walked over them. I liked that he thought over it, so we moved on.
At one point I was trying to get him to go forward to drive, but he was being lazy and not listening to my finger directing him, or even the stick starting to move, so I played the "I'm-going-to-hit-the-spot-you-are-standing-on-and-if-your-not-gone-thats-your-problem" game. I exagerated my movements with the stick and finally smacked right where his butt was. He looked at me surprised, and when I asked him to go forward again I got a "yes maam" response. Another thing that I did was I wanted him to ask the question "can I graze?" rather than stick his face in the field and assume its ok. So, when he would put his head down involuntarily I would either hold the rope so when he reached down he would bop himself or wiggle the rope until I got his attention. He had the typical Woody temper tantrum the first time by scratching the ground fiercely and trying to put his head down at the same time, but along with being his temper tantrum technique, it is also the sign that I get whenever I am on the verve of gaining more respect or another breakthrough of some kind. Once he asked me a questin and acknowledged me, I let him eat.
Along with these breakthroughs we began to o some driving from zone 5 with some incredible results. I was able to walk behind him and lead him with the rope, and also throw the rope to the other side of his head to direct him the other way. We encountered Woody's "greatest fear", too. We were playing Touch It, and I spotted some big rocks, so I had him go over there, and he put his nose very confidently on the rocks! Woohoo.
We have had lots of good things going for us recently, and I am really pleased in the changes that he is making regarding addressing me as his leader. I have realized that he will like me the same, if not more, when I show him leadership and assertiveness. We'll keep you posted!
~Eden