The morning after hauling Eason to the clinic and having her tell she didn't want to go in the arena, I watched the groundwork class for a bit, then went to check on her and found her looking a bit peaked. She had diminished gut sounds and tension in her abdominal muscles. I did some bodywork, including visceral therapy, targeted to help her feel better, and when her gut sounds increased and she perked up I offered her the scootboots again. As I did so, I visualized walking away from the arena, towards the big field of dried weeds in the opposite direction. That time she took me up on my suggestion, and lifted her feet for the boots and put her nose willingly in the halter.
For the next three days, I asked her every day if she wanted to go in the class. Her answer was always no. But she grew more willing to get closer to the arena and watch the proceedings. On our walks, I alternated between leading her at a distance, with her behind me as though she was on a narrow path; leading her a few feet away from me at walk and trot while matching strides; and letting her lead the way, with me back by her hip so she could pick our route. I did all work from both the left and the right side.
We also spent some time hand-grazing in a grassy spot by the arena where she could see what was happening.
The goal is to raise the horse’s stress level enough that you are pushing her out of her comfort zone, but not so much that she goes over-threshhold and into panic mode. If she can learn to self-manage before she hits panic, she’ll develop resilience and curiosity. Watching her get worried, then mindfully take a deep breath and lower her head let me know we were on the right track. If she didn’t take the steps to self-manage, I helped her by gently touching “pressure release” points, as Tristan Tucker calls them, which often brought her back to baseline. If they didn’t, or she tightened up right away, I would draw her attention to her tension, let her become aware of it and think of releasing it, and then immediately turn for home.
By the end of the clinic she was leading me further and further from the arena, down the road to a neighboring pasture, and across the road into the forest on the hill where we did a small loop. I always turned her for home before she became significantly anxious. Each outing increased her confidence and her curiosity, until by the last day, she was relaxed, curious and comfortable both in her pen and on our adventures. She no longer threw a second glance towards her amorous lover, who still professed his passion for her every time we left -- though he did gradually decide it wasn't worth fretting for the entire time she was gone, as she always returned. 🤣 And she was willing to bop noses with the terrifying cows and stand closer to the arena, watching the horses as they did their work without anxiety.
On my next installment, I'll finish up the series with a description of how I asked her to do something she DIDN'T want to do, and how that went. Drop a comment if you like reading about my adventures with Eason.
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