More Adventurous
17 June 2007 22:31![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
glenatronSo after Wednesday's antics, it seemed Zorro had got a bit anxious about the side of the school by the monster hedge of doom- on Friday I was focussing on groundwork and I had a real fight to get him to pay me any attention in the school at all. He was really trying to escape, offering a whole set of resistences, going as far as rearing ( he can balance a very neat three quarter rear ) and striking out at me. It was fairly hectic. Eventually I settled for a little bit of what I asked for as a good stopping point and went to think hard about what he needed from me to make him feel safe.
On Saturday we spent the day working on approaching the scary side of the school in the most non-confrontational way we could, with plenty of gentle movement, lots of approach and retreat and me staying between him and the scary stuff at all times, rewarding him with lots of rubs and scratches when he was able to stand with me close to the scary edge of the school. That really helped him and we got pretty much to where we could stand together a metre or so from the edge of the arena. It will take a couple more sessions to get things to where he feels brave enough to go there on his own, but it was definitely a step towards what we needed.
He was a lot more generally mellow as well, which may relate to the fact we just moved their fence a few metres further along the field so he wasn't as hungry as he has been.
Today, as documented by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sleepsy_mouse we both rode out down the lane and on to the common, which has been our ambition for probably most of the last two years, being permanently thwarted by circumstances beyond our control. It was a bit of a nerve-wracking trip for me- although I've handled everything Zorro wanted to put my way in the last week I'd be lying if I said it hadn't knocked my confidence a little. Consequently we are both a little more on edge with each other which meant we were both a little jumpy. We had a few slightly anxious moments on the way, but by the time we got back pony and I had settled and I think next time will be a whole lot easier. It felt pretty awesome to actually be out on the bridleways even if we did only do a short loop on them. Jasper quite wanted to go on a rampage and Zorro quite wanted to stop for a picnic, but neither did and I think we can be well pleased with them and maybe even a little bit pleased with ourselves.
On Saturday we spent the day working on approaching the scary side of the school in the most non-confrontational way we could, with plenty of gentle movement, lots of approach and retreat and me staying between him and the scary stuff at all times, rewarding him with lots of rubs and scratches when he was able to stand with me close to the scary edge of the school. That really helped him and we got pretty much to where we could stand together a metre or so from the edge of the arena. It will take a couple more sessions to get things to where he feels brave enough to go there on his own, but it was definitely a step towards what we needed.
He was a lot more generally mellow as well, which may relate to the fact we just moved their fence a few metres further along the field so he wasn't as hungry as he has been.
Today, as documented by
sleepsy_mouse we both rode out down the lane and on to the common, which has been our ambition for probably most of the last two years, being permanently thwarted by circumstances beyond our control. It was a bit of a nerve-wracking trip for me- although I've handled everything Zorro wanted to put my way in the last week I'd be lying if I said it hadn't knocked my confidence a little. Consequently we are both a little more on edge with each other which meant we were both a little jumpy. We had a few slightly anxious moments on the way, but by the time we got back pony and I had settled and I think next time will be a whole lot easier. It felt pretty awesome to actually be out on the bridleways even if we did only do a short loop on them. Jasper quite wanted to go on a rampage and Zorro quite wanted to stop for a picnic, but neither did and I think we can be well pleased with them and maybe even a little bit pleased with ourselves.