I got home from work early enough (and hubby was working late) to allow me time to play with all four horses last night. For Captain, our play consisted mostly of me drawing him to me at liberty. This can be a bit of a challenge as he tends to get lost without the connection of a halter and lead rope (remember, he's blind). I'm trying to teach him to follow the sound of my voice. We had a couple of hesitant starts then I think he figured it out because he came walking to me, when asked, in a very confident manner...not his usual hesitant, careful steps. Of course, he got lots of lovin' and a few cookies for his efforts.
Play time with America consisted of some online play with the 7 games, then a little bit of stick to me at liberty. I was attempting to get America to trot when I asked. She's pretty good at walking with me already. She had a bit of a time catching on to the trotting then when she finally got it, she would trot right past me. I decided not to worry about that at this point...the whole idea was to get her trotting when I upped my energy and I didn't want to confuse her by trying to shut her down. Also, when she would trot past me, I would go to a slow walk or stop and she would stop, turn and come back to me...she didn't just keep trotting away from me. I'll take it for now...the rest will come with repetition! We didn't do any trailer loading tonight...she's been doing so well with it and I don't want to overdo it.
Renegade was actually the first horse I played with. He was waiting at the gate, nickering at me and just had that "please come play with me look on his face". I decided to play "fetch" with him as it's always been a favorite game for him and we hadn't played it for quite some time. I actually thought we'd have to do some refresher work but he got it right away. I would throw the Jolly Ball and point to it, Renegade would walk or trot over to get it, picked it up in his teeth then either walk or trot back to me with the ball. He kept dropping it at my feet but I wanted to get a bit provocative so I asked him to put it directly into my hands rather than drop it on the ground. Haha...he caught on right away. I loved the look he had during our play time...he was so engaged and was enthusiastic, actually putting effort into the game. We had lots of fun; I think we both needed it!!
Play time with Bert consisted of continuing the friendly game. He's gotten good at it on line and can finally stand still when I throw the string over and around him and slap the ground with the stick and string. He's gotten so good at it on line, I decided to try it at liberty. Tossing the string over and around him went well and he was able to stand still but when I slapped the ground with the string, he was o.k. with it until I got to zone 4 then he felt the need to move his feet. What that tells me is I need to go back on line and do more in zone 4 until he's completely comfortable then we can try liberty again. All in all, we had a good session and Bert is making terrific progress!
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