Practice...

So yesterday I went outside to play with Woody. It has rained the past few days in huge quantities, but, surprisingly the field wasn't wet. I went out, and, at first Woody didn't want anything to do with me. So, I went up to the barn, hung out up there for a bit, and finally decided to go halter Charlotte: THAT would throw him off. Sure enough, as soon as her halter was on he couldn't leave me alone. He followed us up, and after putting her in the stall (they both love that thing!) I haltered him no problem. I groomed him a bit cuz he was FILTHY, then we headed outside to play a bit. He was totally focused on the grass at first, but I practiced using my soft phases with intensity and then big phases. However, he didn't need any big phases to get him moving, so I was proud of him for that. We play a bit of traveling circle, Stick to Me, and Touch It with his nose. We made our way to the trailer, I let down the ramp, and we began practicing that. He went in almost all the way in the very beginning, however, when I asked him to try again, he would avoid it, and go around the trailer. I went with him, and did some Sideways down the side, until we came to it again. He kept having trouble, so I changed the game to Touch It on the ramp with all four feet. He finally did this calmly with big licks and chews, and when I directed him in again, he went partially in, then freaked out. I still don't know what happen; maybe he saw something he didn't expect to see, I'm not sure. But we did that same pattern of going on the ramp and sitting, then asking for an effort and he made his way about the whole way in, but backed out again. I figured that was a good stopping place, so I let him graze a bit, then we went back inside.
Last time Terrie was here, I put my saddle on him for the first time in forever, but it was slipping very badly and she pointed out I would need a breastplate for it. So, Mom got a matching black Wintec breastplate, and I tried it on him with him stading perfectly still while I tacked him up. But, the breastplate was too big in the girth area, surprisingly, so we are going to get the cob size instead of the full. I then made his halter into a hackamore, and headed to the log to mount. One of the big things Terrie pointed out to me is that when I ride him, I need to have a purpose or else he will start taking over: he needs to feel my focus and leadership. I led him over to mount him, playing a bit at liberty on the way over, and when I got there, Charlotte pulled right up next to the block. I said "how interesting" and swung onto her bacl with nothing on her head and with a carrot stick in my hand. She actually responded quite well to the carrot stick, seeing as how she has never done carrot stick riding. We rode around moseying for about 10 minutes, then I hopped off to play with Woody (he had been following us around behind us).
I mounted and we played the game of Touch it, and I was trying very hard to focus on the object and make a clear distinction for him in my body language and energy when I'm focused on something and relaxed when he has accomplished it. He had a bit of a tantrum when I wanted him to touch the log because he was convinced I wanted him to go up to the gate, so I had to keep circliing him around to face the log again. However, once he did touch it and I relaxed, we spent a good 5 minutes there hanging out while he licked and chewed and yawned and licked and chewed some more. BIG RELEASE. We played a bit more, and he was more willing after the log episode, then I dismounted and headed back to the barn.
Overall, he did a good job and I think I am improving in my focusing abilities and he is learning to follow my lead better too.
~Eden