That's right, I did even more liberty with Pistol today. I feel like he and I are both bored online, because he's already playing with some level 3/4 tasks online. He's so busy-busy-busy all the time, I need to keep teaching him new things every session, or else we lose our focus and start on the dominance games again. So, I've started playing with even more liberty, and he's gotten really connected to me. I can tell he's really watching my body to see what I am going to ask of him. I know you're not really supposed to do anything at liberty that you havent done online, but I was just playing with him and seeing what he would do, so I stood behind him in Z5 to play extreme friendly, and I wondered if he would back up again. So I asked him to, and he did, but this time he barged into me. I thought "that's not good", and I sent him forward from Z5. He picked up on it right away, and moved away, so I then asked him to back up again. This time when I stopped and he didn't, I tapped him lightly on the rump with my carrot stick. He stopped, and gave me the goofiest look like "whaaat?" I played around with that a bit more, and got him to the point where I would back up, ask him to back up to me, and tap him to get him to stop. I would like him to understand eventually that he really shouldnt back up into me without having to tap him on the rump all the time, but I figure that will come with time. For now, I rewarded him BIG TIME every time he did it right, and pretty soon I got some licking and chewing, a sigh, and a big old yawn! Time to move to something else! :) So I grabbed my grooming stuff, and started brushing him, and working on his feet, since his farrier is coming in about a week. Last time, he was HORRIBLE for the poor farrier. He wouldnt stand still, leaned on her twice, tried to kick, literally walked away with just 3 feet while she was still holding his foot, you name it he did it. This time around I'm hoping she will be pleasantly surprised by how good he is. When I was working with him today, still at liberty, he picked up all 4 feet for me, not once, but TWICE. And... he held them up in the air for me to grab them, and waited until I set them down. I'm so proud of him! I've only had him about 2 and a half months, and the amount of progress we have made is unreal. I feel like he already knew this stuff, and was just waiting for someone to come along that knew it too. I usually play with him at least twice a day, and I've had days where I play with him 5 times a day, because he wants to. Its such a nice change from the very first week I got him, when he didn't want to do much with me. Now, any time he sees me, he whinnies at me, and heads for the gate, and if I meet him there, he whinnies even more. I can just tell he has so much FUN with what we are doing, even though I'm pushing him a tiny bit, because he thinks all the time. His mind is always going, so the more I play with him, the happier/calmer/smarter he is. This has been such an interesting time, seeing just how much progress I have made with him in the short amount of time I've had him. I feel like I've been working with him my whole life, we just have such a tight bond.
On another note, I got some more information about the working student opportunity yesterday, and I am VERY excited about it. I'm really hoping to get accepted into the program, because paying for a fast track course right now is completely out of my reach. But, heading down to the ranch to work off my board, Pistol's board, and my tuition is very doable for me. Plus, I think it would be a fabulous experience for Pistol and me. I can't wait to hear back from Ann Kiser!
No comments:
Post a Comment