Day 1 (03/23/09)

Mama Vali has adopted Cosmo.  All horses that dare approach are being greeted with bellers and flying hooves!

 

 

Day 3 (03/25/09)

I’ve had a couple short sessions with this smart pony now.  My general impressions so far:  he shows very little interest in trying to understand me (he’d rather shut down and ignore me), he’s used to plowing through human’s personal space like a little bulldozer, and he’s quite unconfident with a human on his right side.

We had a big breakthrough moment yesterday.  While asking him to move forward online, I was blessed with good timing in blocking his nose as he came into my space (instead of going forward).  He spent several minutes processing (yawning, jaw twisting, eyes rolled back, etc.).  It’ll be fun to see how the next session goes!

Got his front hooves trimmed.  He was wonderful and didn’t even mind the clean up crew (i.e. my hens) working underneath him as I trimmed.  Wish I had a photo of that!

 

 

Day 5 (03/27/09)

Got his hind hooves trimmed yesterday.  Big abscess hole on outside heel of right hind and both were quite high inside but, overall he’s got healthy feet with little damage.

Saw him in fear mode yesterday.  Mama Vali didn’t follow us up to the indoor.  He did some whinnying and his feet were mobile (very out of character!).  Took advantage of his energy, started a figure eight pattern.

 

We had our first ride today. He was great for saddling and mounting – a nonevent.  He was also accepting of rubbing with hands and legs while mounted. Started lateral flexion and took a passenger lesson.  Figured he’d just stand around or go out the arena gate to rejoin Vali.  But, it got interesting when the neighbor’s herd came streaming down the hill to get a look at the new guy!  Cosmo trotted right out to meet them and then everyone trotted the fence.  It didn’t last long but, it was fun to be a part of the play

Day 7 (03/29/09)

Update to general observations:  Cosmo is becoming more interested in my actions and starting to read my body language instead of making his pattern assumptions all the time.  He’s become dramatically more respectful of my personal space – haven’t had a bulldozer moment for a while!

 

Mounting from the right causes him anxiety so we’ll be playing with that some more.  Had a second passenger ride; these seem to be blowing his mind.  They leave him really processing (yawning, eyes rolled back, etc.)  He gave me a beautiful light as a feather steady feel back up from his chest yesterday.  Taking him away from his new love, Vali, is challenging but, should improve with time and is getting a little easier each day.

Day 12 (04/03/09)

My schedule and the weather conspired to leave Cosmo to his own devices for a few days.  We had a really short session yesterday; longer today.  I’m on to his front leg over the rope trick and have been managing the rope accordingly.  His failed attempts (at this cute trick!) have resulted in long nose blowing, jaw twisting, eye rolling sessions.  Very exciting!  He’s still tuning out immediately to any attempts to draw him forward from the front.  Now getting some feather light steady feel hind quarter disengagement.  Introduced steady feel yield of forehand for the 1st time today.

 

Was no problem to saddle and mount from the right today – that was quickly resolved.   We had our third passenger lesson riding today.  He went nowhere but, we got to practice lateral flexion.  On the first one he still tuned out immediately – nobody home!  But after that they were soft but, slow and he stayed present.  Led him out into the pasture and got on again.  He walked off to a hay pile to eat.  My going along and relaxing with him got another round of nose blowing.  Playing mind games with this guy is pretty fun!

 

Day 14 (04/05/09)

I asked him to walk for the 1st time yesterday riding.  We went from hay

 

pile to hay pile (no surprise there!).  Quit when he was going with me just bringing up the energy inside my body and turning my toes out (Yes!!!!).  It’s going better separating from Vali.

 

Today was the best separation experience so far.  Used his anxious mobile feet indoors in a figure 8 pattern.  He’s drawing now without checking out to lala land in the 8 and off a rope spin.  Drawing forward from a standstill caused him to disappear (his ONLY check out today!) but, it was very brief.  We did trailer simulation loading into the run-in shed door.  Cosmo met the big green ball today.  Right away he gave it a good shove and seemed delighted when it rolled away.  Eyes bright, ears forward he went marching after it.  He should be a fun soccer player!  Maybe a cow pony?!?!

 

 

 

Day 18 (04/09/09)

Steady pressure yields on forequarters and hindquarters are getting nice.  Started teaching back from one lifted rein.  Today he & I managed to keep him from totally checking out on a lead forward (flickered out/in/out).  Blew, twisted his jaw, etc. for a long while after that one!  I started asking him for lateral flexion in the walk and some trot riding as a passenger for the 1st time today.  Cosmo & I have spent about 12 hours together now and he’s already changed a lot.  I’m very pleased with how he’s coming around.

 

 

 

 

Day 19 (04/10/09)

Started online circles, had one lap of walk each direction.  He surprised me with his willingness – awesome.  Started riding a figure 8 pattern at the walk today.  Getting the brace out of his steering will take a while but we’re off to a good start.  Another great session today!

Day 26 (04/17/09)

Have about 41/2 more hours in with him.  Steering is getting much better on the 8.  Next ride we’ll change to follow the rail.  Introduced hindquarter disengage mounted today – nice step each side.  Introduced trot circle online yesterday.  Learned we needed a big boost in confidence at a distance.  Today he understood and I was able to ask for trot – got a few strides.  He learns sooooooo fast!  I was able to take him into the indoor ALONE to saddle today in total calm, our relationship is headed in the right direction.

Day 38 (04/29/09)

Life is what happens when you have other things planned!  Combination of a bad cold and not enough time led to Cosmo having 12 days pretty much to himself.  Was able to visit with him in the pasture a little and scratch his itchy spots but that was about it.

 

Today we had an awesome session!  This little guy is carrying a load of baggage around from past “lungeing”.  He’s been going quite right brain, even so far as sticking a nose in the sand and hiding (like a right brain introvert).  Today, he dropped another case off at baggage claim.  The circle is really coming along.

 

The topper though was ‘follow the rail’ riding.  Today was our first session and he OFFERED to trot!  Not some little jog but a serious forward trot all the way down the long side and around the corner of the arena.  By then I got my mind back (although I was still grinning ear to ear) and asked him to slow to a walk before he ran out of gas and thought of it himself.  When I asked for trot later all it took was bringing up the bubbles inside my body and starting to turn out my toes.  Off we went again in a nice trot.  I’m crazy about this little guy!  He’s teaching me lots.  The capacity for forgiveness and learning these gorgeous horses and ponies possess is humbling.

 

PS – Cosmo is being adopted!!!!!  I’m just waiting for the paperwork to come.  He’s going to teach some lucky kids a lot about horsemanship.

Day 46 (05/07/09) Cumulative hours invested - approx. 26

A few days ago I played with his confidence at a distance and ability to read me while I was sitting.  After that session he followed me around for a while.  Very cool!

 

Follow the rail riding in the arena is going well.  He’s trotting off nicely, changing directions, coming down to a back up, etc.  We’ll probably play corners game a time or two coming up and then get off this pattern for a while.

Was able to saddle in the indoor ALONE on a very windy day - huge!  On the way in we played with trailer simulations at the run-in shed.  He spooked a laying hen out of one of the mineral tubs and scared himself.  It was pretty cute.  We’ve begun steady pressure yield of the forehand starting from a standstill.  This is pretty challenging, he’s really testing and practicing pretending I’m not there. Didn’t take long today to get a step – I’m pleased with the progress.

 

Cosmo offered three continuous laps at walk on the circle today – yes, yes, yes!!!!  He showed a bit of displaced behavior right before the breakthrough (ground his teeth and stuck his tongue out the side of his mouth).  More of his “lungeing” baggage being unloaded.

 

He’s showing signs of unease around mounting.  Although this sounds like a bad thing – to my thinking this is good.  Instead of frozen statue, he is behaving in a more extroverted manner and we can work through this to increase his confidence.  Today I played with getting on, laying over him, and getting off over and over until he was relaxed about it.  We’ll be doing more of this coming up.

 

We had a long discussion about going in a particular direction today.  He spent a lot of time chewing on the stirrups and contemplating what he could possibly come up with that would frustrate me so I’d give up.  It was really fun to watch this little guys wheels turning.  Each time a tactic was unsuccessful, he’d come up with a new one.  Took about an hour and then he just calmly and sweetly walked off where I wanted to go.  What a guy!