Day Five - Finding a Focus

Friday dawned sunny and crisp and I headed off to the Parelli center ready to begin the routine that would take us through the remainder of the course. From here on out, the first three hours are for working with our horses. Since each student/horse partnership is at a different stage of development, this time allow each of us to focus on whatever specific area where we need the most development. During this time, a number of "focus stations" are manned by the instructors, but students are free to attend them or not because they are completely optional.
The first of Friday's focus stations was devoted to knot tying, and since I hadn't known several of the knots that were tested earlier in the week, I took my halter and lead line and headed over where I learned to tie a "bank robber's" knot and a "horseman's bowline". The bank robber's knot is a quick release knot useful for tying horses in a trailer. Legend has it that it gets its name because it was the knot favored during the wild west era by bank robbers when they tied up their horses. The horseman's bowline is useful for tying a horse to a rail and is related to the bowline I learned in Girl Scouts. The instructors demonstrated the knots and after I was sure I had caught on to the concept, I tied a few sample knots before returning to Sonny's pen.
The second focus station I wanted to check out was dedicating to improving the circling game. When I got to the assigned location, there were lots of other students with there horses and I didn't see any of the instructors. Because Sonny sometimes takes off when I press him in the circling game, I decided to go on up the hill to the honeycomb, a set of four round pens set inside a larger enclosure. I figured that if he tried to get away from me up there, at least he would be contained.
Sonny doesn't really like to play the circling game, probably because it requires that he expend some energy. Give his druthers, he would rather eat than circle. So I generally have two problems with Sonny in the circling game. One is getting him to maintain gait and the other is getting him to canter more than a few steps at a time.
Since the instructors didn't seem to be on the field yet, I decided to try out some of the strategies I had seen during Thursday's demonstration and make a game out of getting Sonny to maintain a trot. Facing Sonny, I brought up my energy and asked him to back up. Then I sent him off in a circle around me. As long as he stayed in gait, I focused on staying absolutely neutral, keeping my posture relaxed and my hands as close to my body as I passed the lead line behind my back. But any time he broke gait, I walked quickly backwards and sent him off in the opposite direction, trying to tag him on the shoulder with my savvy string as he went by me. I was playing the game of tag with him. I was trying to communicate with him that if he trotted around me and I'd keep still. But if he dropped out of a trot and I'd make him change direction and tag him on the shoulder.
It didn't take Sonny long to figure out the game. After a bit of snorting and shaking his head at me, he was trotting with a whole lot more energy and pretty soon he had gone six laps without trying to walk. I was ecstatic with that so I disengaged him and brought him back for a cookie. After a brief rest, which for Sonny is almost as good as getting a cookie, I sent him back out and asked him to canter. Using the same strategy, I soon had Sonny cantering a complete lap without changing gait. One lap may not sound like much but in all the time Sonny and I had been playing the circling game, I had never before gotten a complete lap so when he given me a complete lap twice, I decided to call it quits for the morning.
At 11:30, we had a demonstration. Beran, our Australian instructor, led the group in a lesson focued on preparing our horses for saddling and riding. He explained to us that we play with our horse on line in order to prepare them for riding. He told us that we should see our horse walk, trot, canter and gallop with rhythm and relaxation before ever mounting. He said that if we can't get our horse's energy up and then bring it back down in all gaits on line, our horse was probably not ready for riding. He then showed us the proper way to saddle and mount a horse safely. During the demonstration, we got a first hand look at a horse that wasn't ready for riding when Gen's big grey warmblood broke away from her and took off at a gallop.
After lunch, each student had an individual coaching session to help us identify our focus for next week. Before I met with my coach, I gave some thought to what I thought my focus areas should be. I picked maintaining gait at the circling game, improving the squeeze game, and increasing the distance I can get with Sonny when backing him up or sending him sideways. My coach helped me break each of these down and identify specific strategies I could use. She then asked me to identify specific goals for each focus area for next week. Armed with the strategies and goals, I spent the remaining time on Friday playing with Sonny on line.
I am encouraged by the progress Sonny and I made during the first week of Fast Track. While I was nervous during the first two days of testing, they helped me to identify a number of areas where I need to improve. If I can keep my focus, I think we have a pretty good chance demonstrating solid level three skills before we leave the Parelli campus.