Was planning on riding tonight but horses all had pedicures today so opted to wait until tomorrow and played online instead. I played using some of the strategies suggested in the Horsenality Report and had lots of fun with it. After haltering and driving Renegade from zone 3-4 to a log in the field I let him touch it and rest there waiting for him to lick and chew...it took a while but I waited (difficult for a LBE like me lol!!). Once he licked and chewed (it was pretty secretive-barely moved his lips and tongue) he put his head down for a bite of grass and I allowed it but then asked for him to line up parallel to the log then asked for the right front foot over the log then the right hind. I didn't wait after the right front went over as he knows this and for the right hind I asked for significant improvement as we've practiced this several times now. It only took him a couple of minutes and he was split in half over the log!! I waited and it didn't take long for him to lick and chew and this time it was very obvious. I gave him some scratches on his withers and his shoulder (his favorite) and went on to something else. I drove him from zone 3-4 to a tree and when he touched it with his nose, we waited. More licking and chewing then on to driving on the fence line first from zone 3-4 and when that was going well I moved to zone 5. Renegade really liked that because I couldn't micro manage him...but he caught on really quickly and stayed on the rail and kept a nice pace. I only had to make two corrections on the way back; he wanted to go sideways so I took what he offered and we went sideways "and then some" until he decided he'd rather just stay straight on the rail. What fun!! It made it easier as we were headed back toward the pasture where the other horses were so he had a bit of impulsion to play with; it wasn't emotional just physical impulsion and that was fun to play with!!
Played a bit with circles at walk, trot, and canter. Every time Renegade broke gait we got to change direction. I'm having a problem with Renegade wanting to come in too close when we do the change of direction and rather than move my feet tonight I tried flogging the cs and string to protect my space and prevent him from coming in too close. It worked but I must have flogged a little too hard cause it sent his nose out to his left and that set him up to throw his right shoulder into the rope and off he went. He didn't go far, and turned around to look at me so I played extreme friendly and with the stick and string and he came cantering back to me!! Not quite sure what to make of this since the "flogging" sent him away but the "friendly flogging" brought him right back at a canter no less!! I need to think on this tonight. I'm leaning towards my intent or maybe even the expression on my face as the difference maker in sending him away and bringing him back or was it my energy? Hummm...how interesting!!
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