Less is so much more

Well I finally watched the April Savvy Club DVD and Linda did a demo with a LBI and showed how doing less with Introverts can get them to offer more. Most people with LBIs know that we spend most of our time doing 80% of the work/moving around, and the gorse does about 20% at most! They love to prove that they can make us move our feet more than them.

The example Linda did (well just one of them) was to ask for lateral flexion with about 1oz of pressure on the halter - with one finger and to release as soon as they moved a mm. So I did that with Garbo today - before I even started grooming him. I out my finger in his halter and put the tiniest amount of pressure on it. You could see his lip whiskers quivering which usually means he's thinking about it - and then finally he moved his head towards me about 5mm. I released. He then turned his head all the way towards me and licked his lips! Hah.

I did this about 10 times each side and he licked and chewed after every single one. To a non NH onlooker it truly would look like I was doing nothing at all (they would be bored to tears), but at the end of it he yawned a big yawn. Now Garbo hardly ever yawns. He yawned alot throgh the beginnings of Level One - so normally when he learns something new, but not much at all in L2.

We did some back up and come forward with the halter, and I tried to see how little it would take for him to respond. It didn't take much at all. I then tried porcupine on his FQ - he has not figured out that one yet. LOL.

I groomed him in between all these tries, I am fed up with yet another cover, I have a rain one that has a mesh lining and as he has had no cover all summer - one night of this and all his wither hair has been rubbed short, as has his shoulders. So I swapped him back into his Mark Todd one. I can't find another one like that -it's waterproof and has a flanelette lining rather than nylon - it's really nice.

It's been raining most of the day so I have been watched Parelli DVDs.