I decided to play with Ruby for a little while yesterday. "Oh boy," was that interesting!! Ruby was in the pasture with the other horses at the same time I played with her (for lack of a round pen, man I need one of those!!!). She aces Level 1 friendly game, so that's not a big deal. Porcupine with the hindquarters was pretty good for the first session, but the forehand was kind of difficult. I didn't do the driving game, because the porcupine game needs work first. Mainly I focused on the yo-yo game, because Ruby likes to run people over. I had to go to phase 4 a couple of times and she just stood there (tells you something, huh?!? lol) even as I created a ton of commotion. I considered switching to a different strategy for phase 4, but she started to get it. So, she backs up pretty nice now.
But now, here's my dilemma. Ruby kept wanting to walk away, so I decided I'd send her out on a circle. It took phase 4, and she started trotting around. She didn't circle around me, though. Either she would take a couple steps and stop, which is alright (just resend!) or she'll decide to start trotting away (the normal one). So eventually, she reaches the end of the rope (22'), and I start walking after her. I can't yo-yo, because the rope is taut; I didn't work on driving game (oops); and I can't bend her neck towards me, because the rope will either be between her 2 front legs or on the other side of her neck. So, she got away from me twice (and got the other horses all worked up, it took me at least 5 minutes to catch her once), because those things happened.
I realize now that I set us up for disaster by not preparing properly (WAY smaller pen, better games 1-4), so I think I'll chalk up this session to a learning experience. Though, I still anticipate trouble with the circling game, because she gets the rope caught between her legs a lot which really reduces how much I can control her. I also don't really know how to get her to actually circle and not run away. All in all, I suppose Ruby has a lot to teach me.
No comments:
Post a Comment