Today was a long hot day but... I finished before dark and had a tiny bit of time so I decided to take Funny up to the arena and do a few minutes of in hand work. I was talking to a friend about her contact issues and she mentioned that I should do it in hand. Duh! So after they ate and had wandered off... I checked in with Mike and then grabbed her bridle and the whip and my treat pouch. She was in the middle pasture so I caught her and put her bridle on and we headed up to the arena.
We got to the corner outside the arena and she spun and reared and got loose and took off. At first I was PISSED! It hurt my hand... and it was just rude. So I marched back down the hill and decided that I was getting my gloves and my helmet, because... clearly I needed to be better armored. But then I told myself... don't react. It's over now. She was in her stall with her reins looped over her foot, but luckily nothing broke. I walked in and untangled her and then asked her to walk out. She stopped and balked, so.. I whacked her butt with the whip. That pissed her off so she started to pull back, so I whacked her again and she came forward. I immediately released and then we walked back up to the pasture. I did a few stop and do pillar 3 moves. And she started to relax and calm down. We made it to the arena without any other attempts at escape. And perhaps it wasn't belligerance.... maybe it was a legit spook. But I sort of doubt it as there were no deer or anything that I saw and the rest of the herd was still back at the barn. But oh well. Carry on.
We went in the arena and did a few steps of pillar 3 the other way and then I put the reins over her head and we walked around the arena with me "holding contact". It was hard to keep the contact AND allow her to stretch into it. So... we did it for a bit, but... then I was worried I was just creating a draw rein effect instead of teaching her to reach into the contact. So ... screw it. I had my helmet on... I just got on bareback.
We did our homework from our lesson. I did walk and halt and we worked on keeping a steady connection and I widened my hands when she got behind the vertical or above the bit... and I narrowed my hands when she was reaching softly forward into the contact. Or even if she was just... softly in the contact. And it went much better today than it did yesterday in my lesson. So then I got brave and tried the trot. And, she wasn't bad. She didn't want to go as fast because I was sitting, which... helpful info! (Although I'm not sure I want to sit on her yet, but.. maybe that's not too bad of an idea). She also fought me a little bit because when I kept the contact, she tried to stop. But we got the hang of it. And we had some decent moments. It was definitely better than our lesson. Perhaps because I was being softer... although I do still think I have contact.
We finished with a good forward neck and a fairly decent trot. So I gave her cookies and got off. Then we walked out of the arena and I pulled her bridle off, fed her another cookie, and then turned her loose. Except she kept pace with me. And when I stopped, she stopped. No halter! Although, ha, she knew I had the cookie fanny pack on me. But I didn't give her a cookie every time... although I did give her a few more cookies. :) Good girl!
So.. we'll see what happens tomorrow.
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