Indy in the Rain

Rain rain go away, come again... next summer. Every day it seems to rain. Every day its just grey and miserable and disgusting. Until one day, it was grey and miserable, but notably less moist. I took this oppurtunity to go out and brush my mud-caked-used-to-be-clean-a-lifetime-ago horse. Indy is the most clean horse I have ever known, she ia dive in the extreme. With all this rain there is little she can do - she looks like a drowned rat.

While I brushed her she stood completely still. I protected our herd of two from even Ivy, and Indy seemed to approve! When I finished with the brush I went to exchange it for a comb and grabbed a halter at the same time. I put the halter on the fence and set to work on the snarls in her mane. Her tial was busy with flies, so I didnt bother. Once I detangled her gorgeous long mane I french braided it... because I like braiding her hair. She has the perfect mane for it - not to long, not to short, not to thick, not to thin!

When I was finished with that [AFTER she stomped on my foot by accident - delightful bruising ensuing] I grabbed the halter and this time she didnt walk away from me! On Tuesday I went to a friends and we discussed many things, among them horsenality differences and how to play with them. I related to her my difficulty with Indy, how she never seemed to lick and chew, and how she was getting duller. When I got her she was most definatley a LBE/RBE and now felt more like an LBI!

It was suggested to me that instead of giving her uber loads of time to think [introvert tactic] try giving her a million and one things to think about [extrovert tactic] SO! First things first, after I haltered her she was crowding me a bit. I gave her a phase one yo-yo and got the innocent "Huh?" from her so I proceded up my phases with some due haste - asking more - and got a snappy backup with an INTERESTED look, and LICKING!

HOW INTERESTING! So now that I had her attention I suggested we go left and off she went, I drive from zone three/ four. I alternated driving with backing and going sideways and got resounding positive feedback! Out on the circle I did tranisitions every quarter - just walk trot, I was on the 12' - and that really seemed to interest her as she kept experimenting with speed within gait all on her own!

I kept switching it up between circles sideways backing and driving and then headed over to the single barrel with the "do something" attitude and got one foot on it rather proudly! Then I walked over and laid two barrels down in a row and played squeeze over that a few times.

I just kept changing the plan, swithcing from one thing to another and she was right with me! Her ears were up, her eyes were bright, she was TRYING and LICKING! When the rain started I didnt even notice it. Only after I tried to go inside and found I was soaked did it occur to me that it was pouring rain. Not just light mist. Pouring. Obsession is fun huh?

Things I learned about Indy: She was introverting at all. She was BORED STIFF!!! She IS still the extrovert I know her to be, I just wasnt challenging her at all! Especially when I switched over to waiting tactics for what I thought was introversion! A major breakthrough and *headdesk* moment for me. Linda always says you have a 50/50 chance of getting it wrong. I just chose the wrong side of the coin! Now that we are on the same page again I think we will make some really great progress!

The only thing left to do is ponder why I thought it was introverted and try to see it correctly next time!!

:-)
S