I am an extrovert, I doubt there is much dispute there. Roxy is a Left Brain Introvert, this means she uses the left side of her brain and is a thinker, has more whoa than go and needs time to mull something over before deciding on her actions. A classic example of Parelli's motto...take the time it takes.
Last Sunday week I finally convinced my family to come check her out and see how we were going. I warmed her up with ground work slowly slowly and as things progressed, she was focused and accepting of everything I asked of her, including giving Jade (7) and Zeke (3) a riding lesson. I had a ride and she was outstanding and I felt comfortable and in sync. Next I decided to ask her to cross a row of old tyres laid out on the ground and she willingly did this, then I raised it to two tyres high and over she goes, I felt confident and she was calm so I went to three tyres high and sure enough over she went. I was chuffed to say the least and Danny my suffering husband was too. This was the pinnacle of what we had achieved so far on the ground.
Fast forward a few days and I am back ready to do some more work. It was windy, threatening rain, horse dealer had arrived with a bunch of nervous horses and I knew all was not as it should be with Roxy's focus. We started out and she was doing ok.
We had a new tarp on the ground however this time it was silver. Now bear with me here while I explain how quickly a Left Brain can turn from calm to complete right brain. I took her over to the tarp and she was nervous but willing to sniff it. When she did this I should have taken her back to a familiar task elsewhere but no extrovert me tried to make her sniff it again and she did but, in hindsight, it was here that left brain was quickly switching to right. I then proceeded to put her over the tyres again. Seeing as though three was a breeze last time I though a single row high would be a piece of cake. Roxy however was still thinking about the tarp and I was moving her along too quickly, not taking the time it takes. She hesitated at the tyres and spun around the other way, when she circled back around she hesitated and spun again. Now here is where I should have realised again that I need to drop my energy and let her switch back to left brain. But NO I had to get firm with her a there were a few well place cracks of the string on the ground behind her back legs. SHE LOST IT! Off she goes almost galloping in circles on my 22 ft line. Then thankfully for her my brain went left brain and remembered the DVD "don't go after a left brain with the string and use your energy to bring them back" so I dropped all my energy and just let her go in circles until suddenly her left ear turns to me, she slows and trots up to me huffing and puffing but with a clear sense of "I have had enough of that I need a cuddle". She came to me for relief and to check in with me, similar to how a panicked foal would with its mother. Regardless of what had just happened this was HUGE for us.
Roxy spend a few minutes with me just being rubbed and reassured and then we went off to do some easy stuff before going back to the tarp. After taking our time she crossed it and the tyres several times and with confidence.
This is all translating to our ridden work and this morning I had a beautiful ride on her, just the two of us around the top paddock of my friends property. We did some trotting and cantering and we also rode through a dam.
This journey is so rewarding and is hard work but I really don't find it hard at all. I just need to understand where she is at personality wise and it all falls into place. I make mistakes but she forgives me for them and we move on and the partnership continues to develop.
The chicken run was postponed so we have two more weeks to work on that also before attempting some stuff in public. :-O
Until then xxx
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