01-06-10
Malibu
MO
A regression day. We tried having Stevie go first and MO lost her marbles. Walking into the ring everything seemed normal, she was excited and paying attention to the sheep. I let her off the leash and she started to run up and chase them but quickly got distracted by the ground (hay, horse smells, longing whip, mud, poop), the sky (blue, some clouds, not much wind), the air (more or less still, the flies are back), the color of the dirt in the sun against the faded pink color of the wooden fence, Mike tied up by the gate, etc. I kind of lost my patience and stalked after her for a bit then we tried ignoring her and I would chase and tug on the sheep, then we tried letting Stevie back in and MO only wanted to play, then we put MO on a leash while I worked Stevie thinking it could make her jealous.
Nothing seemed to work super well but in the second and third runs she showed a little more interest, especially with me running after the sheep and tugging on their fur. By the end of the morning I was exhausted and she was just confused.
Stevie
A great day, almost polar opposite of the MOster. We continued to work on “stand” as something where she has to be on her feet and “walking up” as something slower than a run and faster than a stand. She’s a very quick learner. It seems pretty clear the whole trotting thing was something of a result from being in heat, though she won’t run unless the sheep are running. She also won’t slow down if the sheep slow down. If the sheep stand still, Stevie stands still. If the sheep move Stevie moves. If the sheep run and then slow down, Stevie runs until she can get to the head sheep and turn its head.
I’m pretty sure she didn’t cross over on a single outrun and for the first time I was able to walk away from the sheep and give her a “that’ll do” and she came with me without me having to walk up into her to block her off the sheep.
The new thing we need to look out for is her habit of always wanting to go to head which cause her to overflank and overrun the sheep and the handler.
