PLAYTIME! Sort of....

Since everyone else in the office is on holidays, we got ot leave a little early from work yesterday. Just enough to make it to the barn and still have a little daylight left to play with! And the weather was even being reasonable, so that was a total bonus.

When I got there, Mo was on the other side of the lower pasture fence again, and she just looked at me while I approached, so I went out back with a cookie and a halter to see Indy. When I got to the back door I was swarmed by Trixe and Tucker and Pride. I was able to defend my space enough with out [I hope] being rude, just in a "Sorry I am not just here to socialize with you all today" kind of way. They made their way carefully away across the ice while Indy actually came to me! I was so relieved when she did, because the last time I had a halter in my hand [even after all kinds of great come to me at liberty stuff!] she walked in the other direction.

She walked right up to me and said hi! When I went to put the halter on I wasnt demanding at all, I just WAITED. That is a HUUUGGGEEEEE thing for me that I learned at the ISC. I waited for it to be her choice to put the nose piece over her nose, and that made all the difference to her. As soon as it was her choice, and the halter was on, she licked at chewed A LOT! YEY for good starts!

When I sent her through the gate into the barn she tried to go in her stall, which is the first one on the left, so I had to stop her and brought her back to the gate for a cookie so she would hopefully see the point is to stick with me, not make up her own story lines for now...

We played a little practice yo-yo up and down the barn aisle before going outside onto the laneway - which was now perfectly melted and I have somewhere to play!! We walked partway down the laneway, going handy grass patch to handy grass patch - she was thrilled with that because the pasture is obviously picked clean. The mysterious re-appearance of grass in december is nigh unheard of!

We moseyed down the lane past the swingset and into the yard where there was some tasty longer grass. Indy was pretty pleased with that. After point to point grazing for a little while I tested how light we could be to get up and leave the grass - she is pretty light! On the laneway again we played with walk/stop beside me transitions. The first stop leaked a little, but when I added in back up she understood the intention more and each other stop was right with me! Back up is still a little stick, its not her favorite direction to go, but its definately better!

The first time I transitioned from walk to trot she got this big energy burst and I could hear her doing her BIG TROT behind me, and she came up and passed me for two steps and then, just when I was thinking I would have to get in a power position to hang onto her [we have done this before] she disengaged herself and looked at me like "OH boy, that was a big energy burst... can you help me control it??" I was floored! Indy got a cookie for that! And we played more with trotting not being a scary-cant-go-there-without-being-right-brain place. Just two steps of slow trot and then walk or stop. Transitions, lots of them, until we got a few steps of slow calm trot without it looking like it might explode any second. YEY!

And thats where we stopped! Mo was at the fenceline by this time, and its a good thing she was. I like to play forever, but Indy right now needs short little bursts of learning [because it makes her unconfident] combined with lots of happy go lucky undemanding time, so she still likes to be around me. Having Mo waiting for me at the fence essentially tapping her watch MADE me stop with Indy when I should because I wanted a chance to get Mo out of the icey ring to. So Indy and I walked back to the barn, still practicing our transitions, and when I let her go, she actually turned her head to me AFTER I took the halter off. What a nice treat!

Catching Mo was easy... go anywhere near her, she comes over and tries to find the halter and shoves her face in it so we can GO ALREADY! It might be anthropomorphizing, but to me it looked like she was ecstatic to see me and tickled pink that we were doing something. LOVE IT!

We slowly stepped across the ice and out the gate onto the laneway. I could see Mo visably relax when she realized she had solid footing under her. It must be terrible trying to walk on mostly ice all day! I think it is better out further into the pasture, but come 5:00, they all start coming to the barn begging for dinner!

After loving on Mo for a bit I took off at a trot over to where I had been grazing with Indy. Mo sumarily attacked the grass with an enthusiasm reminiscent of a fat kid given smarties... it was so cute! Her ears were all perked and she was all happy to just eat grass! Thats pretty much all I did with Mo, just hang out with her, shadow her while she ate, let her graze until it was dark and then bring her back to the pasture.

She was so funny when I was trying to leave. She kept shoving her head under the gate chain [two narrow gates chained together, space in between] thinking she could fit and sneak in with me. Then giving up on that and putting her head OVER the gates and into the barn so I couldnt close the doors. Mo got a lot of extra hugs because she was so persistant. I had run out of cookies in my pocket though, so when I finally got the door closed [sorry Mo] I ran into the tackroom to grab a few more then out to the front gate to call Mo for her treats, so she wouldnt get attacked at the back door.

I think she knew exactly what I was doing because as soon as I called her name she was on her way over. I feel like if it had been solid ground she would have trotted to me. She got her extra cookies and love and then I finally had to go home. She always looks so forlorn when I leave her at the gate like that.... I keep telling her I WILL come back though.

It was really nice to be able to play with/hang out with both of them. Even if it was just short, fifteen minutes maybe for Indy, maybe a little more for Mo before it got dark? Or maybe a hlaf hour for both... I am not sure, I lose time when I am there.. but I was there for an hour doing all that I did. But yes, very nice, I felt very successful with Indy, which was a welcome change, as she has been my brick wall, and hang time with Mo always makes me happy.

I am SO glad I got that time yesterday, because today the winds are gusting around 100kms and its COLD. Welcome back Winter.... dang..!

:-)
S