Ruffian: Waiting for that relaxation!

February 3 2011

Ruffian and I had a fantastic session today. We played up in the riding on the 12ft line. Since things were going well in the corral on the 12ft line and Ruffian was confident and connected I decided that we were ready to try it up in the riding ring. I took my 22ft line up just in case Ruffian needed a little extra room but we didn't need it.

We started with Touch it because after all the snow we got on Wednesday, it was actually only about a foot and a half so really not that much... we are used to more ;) but it was the most snow we have gotten this year at one time and everything looks so much more scary when there is a foot and a half of snow on it right? Well Ruffian thought so.

After he figured out that everything was the same we did some circles. Ruffian was connected and kept the slack in the rope almost the whole time. While going to the left he was super relaxed, he had found a really soft rhythm and he was so connected. So after 4 laps I asked him to come in.

While going to the right everything was going well until a lot of snow fell off of the fence and spooked Ruffian and so after that Ruffian wasn't not confident around that part of the riding ring. At first I wasn't to concerned about it and we continued playing. He didn't look really right brain or anything. We did continue doing circles until Ruffian stopped coming in on the circle a bit on that side.

Then we played with turning circles into sideways. This was fun and Ruffian caught on really quickly. When we ended Ruffian was able to trot on the circle and then I would walk over to the fence and then push him sideways. At first Ruffian would stop and then go sideways but at the end he had more "flow".

While we were doing some squeeze games at the one end of the riding ring that Ruffian wasn't 100% confident about being around I noticed that it was a bigger issue than what first caught my eye. Which I should have known because when Ruffian is scared or worried it never looks as bad as it really is, that what makes him so complex because he can go from being extroverted and playful to being really introverted.

So I decided to go back to circles and wait for the relaxation. It took about 12 circles until Ruffian started blowing and stretching, lowering his head and relaxing. Once he did that and I could tell that he was relaxed I brought him in and he was way more relaxed. He came in and his head was low, he was licking and chewing, and he was actually sweating!! So there must have been some emotional sweat in there because it was only 12 circles at a trot and even though it was warmer it wasn't that warm.

Then I took the halter off and we hung out at Liberty for a while before going down to the corral. Like Mr. Parelli says "Take the time it takes and it will take less time" If I didn't take the time today, it very well could have been 20 circles tomorrow... 30 the next day and it would have just gone on and on.

Ruffian teaches me so much! Principle #7!!

Naturally,

~Keri