Today was supposed to be a Parelli Class with Terry but she was called into work. Instead I just worked with Clyde on some of the 7 Games. All the horses are up in stalls now beacuse of flooding. Clyde is in the temporary stalls in Chinooks. He seems to know that he is in there for a reason. Usually if he is in a stall for very long he gets a bit testy. He was very calm tonight and was happy to see me. We walked up to the arena in the dark. It was a bit scary, not knowing if a car going to come rushing down the hill as they tend to do. I brushed him a little and fed him a few treats. It seemed that he was trying to figure me out. I hadn't really said hello properly. I usually say his name and at least touch his nose and give him a good pat. I was trying to get him brushed quickly and get him out to the arena so we could start our games. As I was brushing him he was checking me out, trying to see what my motivation was. It made me think about something that Sammanatha said. She said that when you approach a horse to keep and open hand and gently introduce yourself-even if you are old friends. It is a courtesy. It shows that you have respect for them. Playuing the parelli games also shows that you are interested in more than just getting on thier back and and going.
The games went really well tonight. During the friendly game Clyde was a bit distracted becasue there were other horses in the arena. One of them (Jack) was being roughed around by a yuong girl and he was not pleased about it. Clyde couldn't keep his attention away from the two of them. He also had an itch on his face that he kept bending down to scratch against his foreleg. So , when he would get his respnose right I would scratch his face in the itchy spot. Pretty soon after that I had his full attention. Hw definately made progress in the "giving to preassure" department. He moved when I pushed against him on all sides and even crossed over both legs at once going sideways after I pushed on his back hip and front shoulder. We made small changes and I rewarded him for any movement that was not out of alignment.
He made dramatic improvement on giveing to preassure from his mouth. My goal is to disengage his spine so that if I need to stop him he is willing to give his head to one side and I can be in "control" My goal is for him to trust me enough to give to preassure with the slightest request. Toinight he was much better about the side to side action(pulling his head to his shoulder! IT was amazing he new exactly what I was asking of him. He got confused a few time after the initial good responses so we tried again and we ended on a positive note. The most imporvement of the evening was definately his willingness to release his head downward when I touch the top of his head. He gave imedialtely! He is really making progress I am so happy about it.
Catherine came in to the arena at the end of our session and asked if we would like to let them run loose. IT was really amazing to watch them all run together., Honestly, Clyde looked a little beat as Catherine said he was out in the pasture all day, but he still seemed to enjoy himself. It was fun to watch as they really do play games with each other. Biting, kicking, tag and just plain- the run game! There were times when it seemed that they all forgot that we were humans and wanted us to join in thier games. They would come charging in our direction excitedly. We used out lines to calm them a bit to remind them that we can't take the beatings they give eachohter. I could almost see the realisation cross thier faces, but then before to long they are off on another game. Clyde came over to me a number of times during the free for all. It looked like he wanted to be near me as a protective measure, like I was his den mother, or his pasture friend. I love it.
The Tea Room will be open for dinner this coming Thursday for West Seattle Art Walk!