A Ho-Hum Day?

I went to the barn yesterday, but had forgotten that it was big equipment day. New sand was being put into the ring, large trees were being cut down and the grass cut. The horses didn't seem bothered by the commotion, but I bagged the day anyway. I did give Matilda one of the apples that I had forgotten to bring her last week. I didn't even ask her to do anything for it!

Today was a ho-hum sort of day. I remain unclear as to what to do next, so we spent our time reviewing and refining. I made sure that Matilda moved back when I said "back" and over when I said "over". She just does better and better.

I tried to get her to back further away from me, but she just wasn't happy going more than a few steps. If I moved with her, walking into her while telling her to back, she goes and goes.

We continued walking together. I am clarifying that she needs to walk on my right (even though the carrots remain on my left) if she wants to get rewarded. She only bit my left leg once!

She also stops when I stop and if I back up, she either backs up with me or adjusts herself to face me. That's pretty neat, I must say.

I didn't feel like bringing a lot of stuff into the paddock with me today, so I had to be creative in order to mix things up. I decided it would be cool if Matilda lifted her feet high in the air, one at a time, like circus horses and elephants. I don't know that there is any functional reason to do that, but we might get some groovy looking dances going.

I love starting work on new stuff. I love watching her work out exactly what she needs to do to get that click. Today I only clicked if she lifted her right foot. It didn't matter if she was moving forward or backward or side to side, every time the right foot lifted there was a click. It took a lot of clicks for her to even remotely figure out what was going on. By the time I ran out of carrots, however, she was almost exclusively moving the right foot.

I am really nervous about asking for more before I am 100% sure Matilda understands what's going on. I wanted to start asking her to hold the foot up longer or higher, but I just wasn't convinced that she was ready for me to push her. If I push to soon, she can get frustrated and all the foot movement goes away. She will give up and the behavior is extinguished. So for today, I remained content to reward any foot movement. I did see signs of the foot hanging in the air a little longer here and there but nothing really dramatic.

Another fun thing today was my husband Ron's visit. He hasn't been to the barn in an age and it was good to see him out and about. He got to see some of Matilda's back and over behaviors and seemed suitably impressed. He also had the opportunity to ask her to back and she performed for him too! I even let him give her the end of work apple.

I guess if this is what a ho-hum day is like, we'll take it!