Calabar has been my big, fuzzy, brown challenge for awhile now--and you all know I adore him, sometimes in spite of himself.The last few weeks, I've been spending time re-learning my horse--how to work with him, how to motivate him, how to teach him, and how to teach myself to guide him.
Mostly, he has been cooperative to a fault--trying to anticipate what I want and do it.
Tonight, he decided to test the boundaries a little. He ran into more than he had hit in awhile, and it was good. For both of us.
We got to what he considered the end of his work-day and I asked a little more, knowing I'd always stopped there before, knowing he thought that would be enough and it would be over.
He tossed a little tantrum or two, a couple different times, and was surprised when I just kept asking him to do the same thing that started the tantrum. Yes, please circle around me and trot over the poles. I know you don't like to go the other way, but you'll live. Oh look! You survived! Yes, you can be proud of yourself, now.
Every time he fussed and balked, I just pointed him back the same direction and asked him to make a decision--preferably the right decision.
He pouted a little, but he got over it. He learned I expect him to comply, and that I'm not going to ask him to do anything out of bounds. I learned I can push him past his comfort zone and we can move forward.
It seems we made a tiny bit of progress.
Sounds really good - I do some of the same with Drift, and get the swishing tail but then he does the work and we can be done.
ReplyDeleteI think they all do the same thing. To me it's like dealing with a bunch of five year old children who want their snack break before they are done with their work. A little contrary but they grudgingly do it. Good work.
ReplyDeleteSounds like more than a tiny bit of progress to me:) Great job.
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