Time Off = Great Progress!

Apparently giving Rio a month and a half off was a good idea, And it wasn't even MY idea. We had terribly wet weather for an extended period of time and then we had terribly cold weather for an extended period of time. So I couldn't exactly do anything with her. But the weather has given me a reprieve the last couple weeks, we still are getting rain, but we are only getting a couple days of wet here and there with some dry, almost partly sunny days too. So I have taken advantage in this unexpected break in the weather to get my lazy bum out and work with my wild one. 

Rio in December. Photo courtesy of my sister, Ranch Girl.

I wasn't expecting much on my first day back working with Rio. I actually expected to be so far from where I had been in our progress, that I was totally caught off guard at how that first lesson actually went. I started with about 10 minutes of stick/glove work like I always do. Then I put the stick down and approached her. I also went back to the rubber feed pan and cut up carrots. So when I walked up to her and she didn't walk away, I would throw a carrot in the feed pan. I slowly incorporated touch with my hand, reward with a carrot. More touching, more rewarding. I was eventually able to get back up to her cheek, which she has not allowed me to do since our setback in December. I continued this for about 20 minutes or so. I can't push her too much so I have to keep the sessions short and sweet. And you will never guess what happened in the first lesson back at it. The whole time I was doing this approach, pet/scratch/reward/release pressure, she NEVER walked away from me. Not one single time. This has never happened before. She always loses interest in either me, or what I am doing, so she just wanders off. Or she gets nervous and leaves. And I have to keep that pressure on her until I get her to stop again. But she never really wanted to hang out in one spot or felt comfortable enough to hang out in one spot, especially near me. But this day, she did not want to leave me. Now I can blame it on the carrots, but I'd rather believe that she was actually really enjoying all those good scratches I was giving her. She loves being scratched up under her mane and behind her ear. She starts to stretch her neck out and tilts her head. She even pushed her neck into me, which she has never done before and almost wrapped her neck around my legs. She was letting me get pretty close to her, like a few inches.

So after a couple more days of rain, I went out for another lesson. Again I started with the stick/glove and after about 10 minutes I put it down and did the same thing I did in the first lesson. She didn't walk away from me this time either. She really enjoyed her scratches and actually would step towards me if I backed away. She kept moving a foot, then another foot closer. Now that is what I want. I want her to be comfortable with me, being near me and being with me. She was even becoming extremely relaxed, neck and head down. She was even turning her head into me, which she always looks the other way when I approach and for a long time she was keeping her head turned away anytime I went ahead of her shoulder. But she was now more interested in watching me and seeing what I was doing. Or maybe it was because of the carrots. She has never taken a carrot out of my hand, so I decided I would give that another attempt. I put a carrot in my hand and held it out to her. Usually she would walk away in a hurry from even the slightest movement of my hand going towards her face. But she stood there, looked at it, then started bobbing her head. She started getting antsy by stepping from her right front to her left front. She went back to bobbing. And before you know it her nose was 2 inches from my hand. She then stepped back and proceeded through that whole process again. She hasn't attempted to sniff me in months. So this was a very good sign. She so wanted to take that carrot from my hand. She never did do it, but I could tell she wanted to so bad.

After another session or two going exactly like the last two, yesterday we had another great session. She did walk away from me, but it was only because she put me on her left side and she does not give me access to her left side very often. But since she positioned herself with her left side facing me, I went ahead and did a little approach/retreat/reward. She eventually got nervous, walked away, turned around which put her right side facing me, backed up literally right on me. I wasn't facing her completely but I thought she was going to run into me so I jumped out of the way. Not that I feared she would kick me (she has never attempted to kick me), but if she bumped into me it would have startled her and she would probably be not be so willing to continue. So by me moving a couple steps out of her way, allowed her to be comfortable putting herself close to me. She realized I had moved and she kept inching closer and closer to me. I gave her a ton of good scratches and rewards. I tried holding a carrot in my hand again to see if maybe she trusted me a little bit more to actually take it from my hand this time. Nope. But she did do the same thing as before. She wanted to so bad. And she even put her nose even closer to my hand. I think she will take a carrot from my hand in a couple sessions. And when she does it will be HUGE for her. She is really starting to come around, on the right side. My goal in the next couple weeks is to be able to pet her face. I haven't been able to do that since November, I think. I can pet her cheek, but can't go any lower. She gets way too nervous. But she's not nervous with me petting her neck and cheek. I will not even attempt to touch the lead rope again until I can get her really comfortable with my touch and movement. If I even tried that, I would go so far back and I want to continue making progress. 
  
Before our break, Rio wouldn't let me anywhere near her head or even let me get closer then a couple of feet to her after the lead rope setback. But with the time off and our first real session back at it, it's like she is a totally different horse. Well, the same horse is there, I can see some of the same reactions. But she seems more into wanting to try to trust. I like that. Again, I could blame it on the carrots. But I want to believe that she is finally starting to put a whole lot more trust in me. And heck, if carrot bribes are working then that is what we will go with. 

Besides her being so good at our sessions, she has also been hanging out in her stall while I clean it. She started that a few days before I was able to get back to working with her. She usually always ran out when I went up to clean her stall. But she has been staying in there. I work cautiously around her because I want her to get comfortable being in the stall while I am in there too. 

I have been extremely happy with how things have been going the last couple weeks. I get so excited to go out and work with her because she is slowly starting to turn a corner. In a good way. Now let's hope it continues in that direction!