Twosox: Getting interesting...

July 14 2010

This morning before I trimmed Ruffian I played with Twosox. We had a lot of fun but first it took me getting a little bit more creative and interesting. Being creative doesn't come naturally to me, being a RBI it can get very easy to just stick with the same old things, it is consistent! Through my Parelli journey I have learned to be more creative but it is still a process. It is even more difficult when I have the same obstacles, the same environment etc when I am in a new place or have a new obstacle it is a lot easier for me to find creative, challenging and fun things to do with the horses. 

So this morning I knew I had to get more creative and provocative for Twosox. We started off with some circles. I knew what my goal was for our circles this session and Twosox did very well. He kept the slack on the ground and circled really rather nicely! Then we did Figure eights. It took a while before Twosox maintained his responsibilities but once he got it he did really well. 

After that we played with forequarter and hindquarter yields. Twosox was really good on the one side but had a lot of trouble on the other side... most likely my fault for not developing both sides evenly. So we played with that until he was able to do about 1/4 of a pivot and keep his back feet still. 

Then this is where I had an idea to play with our transitions, something that we haven't played with in a long time. So I stood by the pedestal and sent Twosox out on the circle and every time he got to the tire that is planted standing up I would ask him to stop between it and the fence. At first Twosox would just trot on by and not really pay any attention. But pretty soon he started asking questions. I still have to use higher phases to get him to stop but he was at least asking questions and seeing that something was different. After I would let Twosox have a short rest I would ask him to trot off and continue on the circle. By the end Twosox stopped as soon as I relaxed and so after a short rest I asked him to go and he trotted off really nicely. It took a while and it took being consistent but it payed off. When I brought Twosox in had two ears and eyes on me and was very interested. 

So I think I shall have to develop my creativity more and get even more provocative, especially when it comes to doing bigger things and not just little things. 

 After giving Twosox a good brushing to get the dirt and some sweat off, I took the halter off and he stayed with me. Then he followed me over to the gate, I had to close it for my mom so Twosox went out the gate and then waited for me on the hill and we walked down the hill and into the corral together. It was really neat. 

Naturally,

~Keri