Lessons learned

Sometimes things are so flippin’ obvious that I want to slap myself on the forehead when I finally realise I’ve been wilfully obtuse.

Miserable day here, today; strong winds and rain. It’s still relatively mild, but with the damp, there’s a chill that settles into the bones.

My day off from yard work, so I puttered around at home for a while before going to see Max. I can never leave it too late, though, in case he’s run out of hay and nobody’s noticed.

From his appearance, dry rug/wet face, I knew he’d been hanging his head out of his box trying to catch somebody’s attention, or on the lookout for me, the walking feedbag.

“’Scuse I! Hello? No food in here. Ate it. Where’s more? Thankyouplease? Hello?”

Topped him up, for which he was very grateful, and then settled in to a grooming session.

There were electricians in the indoor school, which put paid to any notion I had of taking Max in for a bit of work. Just as well, because I didn’t really want to. The school doesn’t half rattle and bang in a strong wind, and I know we wouldn’t accomplish much with the distraction.

Instead, we did some clicker training in his box. Once we began, Max turned his back on his hay and faced me square on, with an intent look in his eyes. I love that look! He seems to be really concentrating, trying to figure out what I’m asking him to do.

We started off with kisses, because it was easy. The hard part was not offering the click if I hadn’t asked for the kiss.

We played a bit with that, and “Show me your teeth”, but it was just clowning around, really.

Then when he focused again, waiting for my next request, I gestured to my left and said “Max, left!”

His head turned first and then, clever boy, he started to turn to the left and take a couple of steps. What an enthusiastic response he got to that!

That’s when his look changes, a bit. He almost imperceptibly shakes his head, as if to say “Not sure what I did, but it was good and there’s a pony nut coming!”

Tried again, and he repeated the action, so more praise.

We tried right then with the same arm movement, and he looked to his right, but didn’t turn and take the steps. OK though, it’s just a little movement that needs to be encouraged, so I was still pleased.

And that is where I should have stopped. But I didn’t (not to mention not thinking through that my left is Max's right, so how do I transfer to the saddle? Do a reverse in my head?)

In my enthusiasm for Max’s willing attention, for the look on his face, for the little head shakes of confused delight, I kept going, throwing new things into the mix and Max’s responses, as a result, became more hazy, his confusion more evident.

We were still having fun; there was no tension or weirdness, but we just weren’t getting anywhere.

It took me thinking it over on the drive home to figure it out. I was reassessing, and thinking he started off so well, but then just trailed off and suddenly realised that I’d asked for too many different things.

I should have stuck to the turns to each side, and left it at that. Kind of a “rinse and repeat” thing. Pretty darned obvious once I stopped to consider.

Well, it’s all about learning, isn’t it? And not just Max learning.

No harm, no foul. I’ll know better next time and resolve to not overwhelm my boy just because he’s receptive and eager.