Playing With Sonny

My horse Sonny is something of a character. A 10 year old paint I bought four year ago, Sonny is a classic Parelli™ left brain introvert. He can be dominant, stubborn and bossy and he would mug you for a carrot. But Sonny has soft eyes and is also calm, dependable and clever. Sometimes when he looks at me I can almost see the wheels turning in his head as he considers the best way to push my buttons. Best of all, Sonny makes me laugh. I know we are not supposed to project human traits on our horses but I can swear he has a sense of humor.
The first time I played the driving game with Sonny I stood directly in front of him, put on my best schwiegermutter (German mother-in-law) look, bent slightly forward and began shaking the carrot stick. Sonny’s head came up, his ears came forward, his eyes opened wide and he stared at me. I shook the stick harder and then tapped it on the ground. Sonny took a step backwards. At that point I stood up and started laughing. The look on his face was really comical. It was as if he was asking, “What did you just say to me?”
Sonny and I have been studying Parelli for two years and have made it through level 2. Generally he likes to play on line but he doesn’t like the Circling Game™ and or doing figure eights. I try to play with objects like barrels or cones as often as possible and sometimes. When he is bored or doesn’t want to do what I am asking he will go over to the object and step on it or pick it up and toss it. He must figure that if he takes the object out of play, the game will stop.
When you play the Circling Game™, it is the horse’s responsibility to maintain a constant pace (walk, trot or canter) and maintain direction until you ask for something else. I’ve had a hard time achieving a good consistent circle with Sonny where he maintains his gait. We’ve been working on the 22 foot line and if I get particular about him maintaining gate he can get a bit defiant, shaking his head in annoyance and lunging toward me. He even has been known to throw in a kick or two, although he is never close enough for there to be a threat of him connecting. If I send him with any energy, he will sometimes lunge away, pulling the line out of my hands and canter off to the farthest corner of the arena, metaphorically thumbing his nose at me. Of course after cantering around a bit showing off, he always come right back looking for a carrot.
The last time he tried to take off on the 22 foot line, I planted my feet and held on for all I was worth. This stopped him short and after turning and snorting at me in surprise, he gave me a better trotting circle. So I was excited to begin working with him on the 45 foot line. I thought Sonny would benefit from having a little more space to play with and I would benefit by having more line to play out when he was trying to take off on me.
My local Parelli™ professional was showing me how to use this longer line and I asked her to do some circle game with Sonny so I could watch. She backed him up and sent him off with some energy. He trotted off shaking his head at her and showing his usual annoyance and dominance behavior. When she insisted he continue to move along, he broke into a canter and tried to take off but she was ready for him. She quickly moved forward with him and flipped the line to pop him on the side of his butt to make him disengage his hindquarters and turn to face her. Boy did he look surprised. He turned to face her and snorted a couple of times. He looked like he couldn’t believe what had just happened. How had that women on the other end of the line reached out and popped him in the butt? When she sent him out on the circle the next time, he stepped off in a nice trot and kept trotting until she asked him to stop. It was amazing how well he went. I am really hopeful that working on the 45 foot line is going to take up to the next level in our development.
In the meantime, Sonny continues to make me laugh. During our last riding lesson, we were working on getting good left lead departures. He had given me a couple of really nice ones so I had ridden him into the center of the ring to give him a rest. I walked him toward a barrel that was standing on end. He walked right up to it and lifted his left leg and put his foot on top of the barrel. Talk about effort. I was so surprised. The top of that barrel must have been three foot off the ground and he put his hoof right on top of it. This from a horse who thinks putting out an effort is walking from one patch of green grass to another! I can’t believe how lucky I am to have this special horse.