Tonight Xena and I did something different; we had our first liberty session since moving to our new barn. We’ve done a bit of liberty in the past, mainly quietly walking together, or a few close-range games such as the Sideways℠ and Yoyo℠ — but tonight was really amazing!
What We Did Today
5:05 to 6:45 p.m. = 1 hours, 40 minutesCounting the Minutes
- Catching Game
In the last couple of weeks our catching game has ranged from 10 minutes to 55 minutes. I never know how long it will take to catch her, but at least I’m becoming quite adept at gauging the tempo of the game. Tonight I caught her within about 8 minutes, with only a couple of circuits around the round bale.- Boredom
Over the last few days I’ve suspected Xena was becoming bored with our usual games. We’ve been concentrating on Yoyo and Sideways games for the past couple of weeks, and tonight even I was bored with improving our technique. Interestingly too many nights of the Sideways game often causes Xena to automatically walk sideways when I’m on her right side, even if my intention is to walk forward. When this happens, I gently lay my hand on her cheek and guide her head around until she’s facing forward. Then I quietly walk forward, ignore her, and concentrate on not giving her any commands. After a moment she walks forward with me.- Liberty
I decided to try liberty tonight, because I felt we both needed a change and because the barn was quiet, so it was a good opportunity to try something new. This was the very first time I’ve asked Xena to trot with me at liberty, but we’ve done quite a bit of trotting in hand with a rope. I was in awe when she stepped into a nice quiet trot, and we ran together, side by side, all the way around the indoor arena, without a rope! It was amazing! She kept pace with me, and when I stopped, she stopped. When I asked for a change of direction, she changed direction — it was amazing! (Did I mention that already?) We also played the Figure 8 Pattern with cones, stepped over a jump that was about 20 inches tall, and played Hide-Your-Hiney; all at liberty.
I might be repeating myself, but it really was amazing!
Xena's YouTube Channel
As they say, this warms the cockles of my heart. What is the phrase, “slow and steady wins the race”? :)
It really is amazing what a horse who has connected to you will do.
Thanks the the encouragement Peter! I’m finally starting to understand that our training sessions are a balancing act between my expectations, and Xena’s mental and emotional ability in a particular moment.