So today I applied some of my new knowledge in my session with Chance today. Brought out the big scary ball again, left it up at the top of the paddock and down I went to get Chance who was grazing at the bottom of the field. He allowed me to catch him easily, so again I must not have damaged the relationship too badly from our last session. I then played a lot of the Friendly Game, rubbing him all over, stirring up yet another dirt cloud around us, scratching all of his itchy places, rubbing the goobers out of his eyes, getting him to lift his tail, picking off a layer of his chestnuts and more rubbing. He was licking and chewing, nice and relaxed in no time. So now it was time to get down to “business”.
I drove him forward from Zone 3 up the hill, and eventually over to the “Play Ground” that Anna and I have set up. I had rested the ball against one of the logs to ensure it didn’t go rolling down the hill on me. So we began to go through the 7 Games, no where near the ball, not focusing on it what-so-ever. I worked on getting him paying attention to me, not the ball, doing what was asked of him and putting effort into the tasks.
After I was content with his performance we began to play the Circling Game about 40 feet away from the ball. Each time he went between me and the ball I would take a step closer, when he hit his threshold, I let him stand, process then changed directions. Each time he found a new threshold I would allow him to stand there, process, and then ask him to move on, if he hit the same threshold and didn’t make any further progress towards the ball I would drive him on until he found a new one. If he seemed to get unconfident about the location of the ball then I would immediately have him back up and change direction.
Circling.
Once we got about 14-16 feet away from the ball I sent Chance on a circle to the right and he drifted towards the ball, I let the rope slide and followed him. He walked up and sniffed at the ball. This was HUGE for him, it was 100% his idea to approach the ball, needless to say I was extremely happy with this development. I allowed him to stand there close to the ball, licking and chewing, blowing out the stress and anxiety and allowing him to relax.
Chance having a HUGE breakthrough!
I then took him away from the ball rather then ask him to go to it again to convince him even further that it is NOT about the ball! So we went further down the field and worked on the Sideways Game and the circling game over objects, some yielding with the Driving Game and slowly made our way back up the hill. A began to then ask Chance to squeeze between the ball and I, and just like the circling game we would take a step forward when I knew that Chance was comfortable with the space between him and the ball. If he hit a threshold I would wait, then ask him to move on again.
Before long we were squeezing right beside the ball and Chance wasn’t hitting anymore thresholds, he would easily squeeze back and forth without stalling. So I then began to focus on making the stopping point near the ball, then backing him away, then squeezing between me and the ball, then backing away. Eventually he wanted nothing more but to just go and stand by the ball. He was licking and chewing, standing with a leg cocked, blinking so he was thinking and actually being confident around the ball.
Hanging out with the ball.
At this point we had been playing for almost an hour, we would do some sessions close to the ball, then retreat further down the field after I had another breakthrough with him. I then started placing some pieces of carrot on top of the ball, so when he got confident enough to approach the ball and rub his lips on it or bump it with his nose there was an added surprise. It didn’t take him long to catch on that the Saber-Toothed Ball was also a treat dispenser!
Break time.
After I was quite content with how far Chance had come in this one session and feeling much stronger as a leader I decided to up the ante a little bit. And I started tapping the ball with the end of my carrot stick. Chance didn’t react quite like I thought he was going to. He looked at it cautiously, lifted his head some but kept his feet still, blinking and thinking, not turning tail and running. I just kept a rhythmic pattern up with the tapping I did on the ball and would stop and rub Chance with the end of the carrot stick for a few moments before going back to tapping the ball. Soon he was creeping up closer and closer to the ball, letting some of the tension escape his body and relaxing once more.
Starting to relax.
I had him licking and chewing almost constantly, blowing out all of his stress and relaxing beside the ball, and at this time a few of the other horses in the field had come over to investigate the ball confidently. So I decided to make it a game for everyone and I would put treats or pieces of carrot on top of the ball and in no time there were all licking the ball, nudging it with their noses trying to figure out where the treats were coming from and getting them without knocking them to the mud. The halter came off and Chance stuck by, looking for more treats on the once terrifying ball.
I am extremely happy with how the day went and can’t wait to continue to build the relationship between Chance and I, to become a stronger leader, one that Chance can depend on and continuing the wonderful journey down the road with Parelli.
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