Wrong Side Of The Corral

After the bit of snow we had the night before it provided us with the perfect footing for the round pen so I could play with my boy Blue. He eagerly shoved his nose into the halter and we were off to the round pen. Anna had the new Level 1-2 Assessment sheet with her so we followed through the steps and tasks. At first Blue was great, but as soon as it came to the Circling Game it was like I had a horse I didn’t know anymore. I think he must have woken up on the wrong side of the corral and it was as if he had completely forgotten how to play the Circling Game.

Now it might be because he had gotten himself all worked up about backing through the gate before hand. It was my fault and I should have known that he couldn’t have seen it easily; the poles are white as is the tape used to make up our temporary round pen so I think he thought that the gate was still up and didn’t want to back into it. He kept trying to run past or he would really swing his butt and back up alongside the round pen face rather then go through the opening. It took many tries for us to get him to actually go through it, and even though he licked and chewed and relaxed he still wasn’t quite himself.

For the Circling Game his Send, Allow and Bring Back were great – but when I asked him to change direction while maintaining gate – but no sir was that going to happen, rather then following my direction and lead Blue was trying to run into the pressure and trying to keep going the same direction. It took many tries of this as well until we had two direction changes that were flawless.

That was enough of the Circling Game for one day that was for sure; we then went on to the Squeeze and Sideways Games. And according to the Level 1-2 Assessment sheet Blue would be able to pass both levels for the Online and Liberty work. Granted we need to work more on the change of direction and the sideways at liberty but I think that there will be no issue with those things when he head is with me and on a day he woke up on the right side of the corral!