It was like someone flipped a switch in my head and I was able to just be savvy! And talk about playing with the horse that shows up! George was a different horse than I've ever seen him be!
When I walked up to his stall, he nickered to me softly, walked right up to me when I opened the door and stuffed his face into the halter as soon as I undid the knot. Hmmm...maybe I did something right last week?
I let him out of his stall, once again on the 22-foot line, and just sat there while he checked everything out, then we slowly but surely made out way to the arena, playing "touch it" with everything we could find. At the half-way point we hit a HUGE threshold, and he went flying backwards at the speed of light. Then I asked him forward, and he freaked and ran backwards again. I let this happen two more times until it clicked and I backed him farther than he wanted to go back, and it made him curious about going forwards. And *eventually* he walked calmly by. He let me know what he wanted to check out and was more than happy to go look and touch the things I thought would be fun to touch.
Once in the arena, I offered the yummy leather end of the carrot stick to George and he hungrily tried to ingest it. "Suddenly", the carrot stick was no longer scary. He let me rub him with it all over and toss the string over his back in a rythmic motion. Just last week, I couldn't get within 20 feet of him with a swinging string! I tried to take a few pictures of George with the carrot stick in his mouth, with him swinging it side to side, then holding it like a dog holds a stick he just caught, with him chewing on the savvy string or grabbing the rope and leading himself; but every time my phone came out of my pocket to snap a picture, it became far more interesting. How do I solve this curiousity? Well, I think it's going to involve a phone cover and a leash to attach it to. If he can't put his mouth on it then he is just more determined to swallow it!
Today George was sweet and loving. He planted all four feet, lowered his head, took a deep breath and just relaxed. It was so wonderful to spend undemanding time with him without feeling like I might die! Not once did he invade my space, but several times he asked to come in and I let him get some good scratches! He let me past Zone 1 to Zone 2, 3, and 4 on his left side without thinking, and then on the right side after I asked permission.
So all in all we played the friendly game and the porcupine game, and had lots of fun just being together! I was very tempted to hop on his back and ride around bareback and in the halter, that's what an amazing frame of mind he was in today, but I decided to quit while I was ahead. I'm not about to push him, and it's really only the third time we've played. On the way back to his paddock, some horses in turnouts start rip-tearing around their pasture just as we were walking by and whereas last week one of these horses farting would've caused an all-out gallop, he simply stepped up his walk to a trot for a few steps, then looked at me and went right back to the walk. Also, the entire way back to the paddock from the arena, I drove him from Zone 3, which was beautiful because last week and even when we started today he wasn't confident with me in any zone other than Zone 1 and absolutely was not confident walking anywhere with me in any zone!
Oooh, and also, after I put him away he rolled twice while I stood by and watched! Then I went and got him some grain, and when I came back he backed up for me and waiting until I gave him permission to come eat the grain at my feet. Last week he couldn't bring himself to eat with me anywhere near him!
I can't wait to go see him tomorrow! I hope today was a good omen for things to come!
Here's a few pics from today!
On the way out to the arena
Hehe, the scary carrot stick is touching him! no scary anymore!
checking out my boots, I was sitting on the barrel
I just wanted to touch on the word *eventually*. I use it in every context, probably even those it wasn't meant for. Sarah Konst brought the fluid motion of eventually to my mind. Similar to Pat Parelli's saying, "I've never seen it take longer than two days." I just make myself an "Eventually List". I know whatever it is, it will happen eventually, so I am not going to push it. Today, (Hmmm, day two, how interesting) we moved through thresholds with savvy and got friendly with the carrot stick and string!
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