Enjoying Now

Although I have not been blogging about it; I am still studying the old Savvy Club DVD's. Last night I watched issue #35 and it complimented my sessions with girls perfectly today!

Specifically the Lesson with Linda section, that I somehow missed before.

I used the same concept as my last session with Gypsy and headed over to my neighbors pasture. She was much calmer today and actually stayed with me when I took the rope off. It wasn't until my neighbors horses came to the fence to see her today that she "left". She would check in with me and when I suggested we go away from those horses and play on our own she actually chose to be with me and followed!

Gypsy was much more LBE (left brained extrovert) today. Where last session she tried to get too close because she was scared and unconfident; today she would get pushy and dominant. I how found this is not only great exercise for her but for me too! She would mirror me if I walked, ran, stopped, or backed up. Sometimes she would get in front of me a ways throw a good buck, head toss, and a big snort but come back to me again.

I hoped she would stay with me as we headed back into the arena, but she booked it for the gate. Then she paced the fence at the front of the arena calling to Pokey. I started doing the same things I had done last week to get her to catch me again but something was different... So I used Linda's "how interesting" thought to stay left brain myself and not take it personally.

Then the breakthrough thought came. In the Lesson with Linda clip she had said "Match what the horse is doing and add about 4 ounces. Or they won't even know you're in the room!" That was the difference, that made the difference. Once I brought my life and enegy up and tried what I was doing before she turned and "caught me" and we continued our session.

I felt she was testing my leadership today and was very confident with me. So I thought we would progress past just hanging out. I played "touch it" with some objects in the arena as well as moving her front end away from me which to no surprise to me was harder today then usual. I just had to play with the horse that showed up today ;-)

I am still so happy and impressed with the softness and try that Gypsy has been offering.

Now moving on with Pokey's session. She has been moving around really well and I want her to get more exercise. Being an introvert she does not "exercise" herself much at all! So I thought I would try the pasture stick to me game I had done with Gypsy with Pokey.

You see that Lesson with Linda also addressed what you do with a left brain horse that likes to give dirty, snotty looks. Anne, the lady in the lesson, would let her horse pin his ears when he was asked to do something. Linda showed her how to address it, and mentioned how many of us take it from our own horses because they are our "babies" and we see it as no big deal. She goes on to explain that it can be dangerous if left alone and even if it doesn't get to that point the horse loses respect for you as a leader if you do nothing.

I get dirty looks from Pokey a lot and have always let her get away with it. Not today ;-) She was quite comical to play with. She likes to do it behind my back too, so I was playing in different zones, as well as me walking backwards some and I would correct any snotty looks.

By the end of our session rarely were dirty looks given when I asked her to do something. I could feel a difference in her responses as well as her respecting my space more and not crowding.

It has been great to just play with my girls without being stuck on just performing a job or expecting a certain outcome. I do go out with a plan of what I would like to accomplish, but it doesn't frustrate me if the plan changes.

I can finally enjoy where I am, on the way to where I am going, with my horsemanship journey.