Izzy plays the 7 games online for the 1st time.

I would recommend that you also read the blog previous to this, it explains the games that I am talking about.

Last night I played the 7 games with Izzy for the first time "officially". I was quite surprised how quick she was to pick them up. We started with the friendly game. I rubbed her all over with the carrot stick (which is used as an extension of my arm not a whip.) The goal was to get her to accept it without moving her feet or showing signs of nervousness. She was very accepting of it on her left side which is not really a surprise to me, but it took her longer to be so accepting on her right side. Then the next step was to gently toss the string attached to the stick over different parts of her body and again just trying to get her to relax and accept it. She had some issues with the string on her legs and feet and some hesitation on her hindquarters. But with a little patience she relaxed. I was even able to stand next to her and swing the rope over my head and her whole body without her caring at all, as well as hitting the ground next to her on both sides.

Then we tried the porcupine game. She easily lowered her head to the ground with just gentle pressure on her poll (where the bridle would sit.) using the stick I got her to move her hindquarters around. She has no problem moving them, but she needs to work on keeping her front legs still and pivot. Then I was able to use the same method of slowly adding steady pressure to her jowl to get her to move her front legs over. Again she did well but needs to keep her hind end still. And she easily moves backwards with steady pressure on her nose with my hand or the stick on her chest.

We worked on the driving game. Using the stick like a fence rail between me and her I rhythmically moved the air in front of her to get her to back up, sorry if that hard to picture what I am doing. As soon as she takes just one step back I would stop to let her know that she did it right, then the next time I tried she took a couple steps. I would stop again so she would get the idea that she was doing it right. Soon she would keep going back until I stopped. :) I also got her to back up by holding the stick underhand and sorta marching towards her, each step lifting the stick and string from the ground towards her chest. Next I stood next to her shoulder facing her but and used rhythmic pressure from the stick to get her to move her butt over. Pat Parelli calls in "hide your hinney" She should move her hindquarters away from me without moving forward. This game is great to keep yourself out of the kick zone. We then did the same thing with the front end. I hold the stick so it runs from her head down her neck to her withers and then sorta move the stick without touching her if possible to move her front feet over. It sorta looks like you're shooing something away.

Next we played the yo-yo game. Which once learned is GREAT to keep a horse at a safe distance from you if the horse is spooky or dominant and invades your space. We started with phase one which is just to face your horse and wiggle your finger at them....nothing happened so we went to phase 2 which is wiggling my wrist (at this point the line wiggles a little)...and nothing happened. So I tried phase 3 which is to move my arm just to the elbow....She took one step back, so I stopped. Which let her know that is all she had to do. Then when we did it again I started going from phase 1-3 and she moved back right as I started phase 3 and took more steps back. So I stopped again. I leaned forward towards her and combed the line with my hands with out pulling her to me, she walked to me and I rubbed her head. Each time I sent her backwards it took less to get her to move and she took more steps backwards, and came back to me quicker. Soon I will just have to wiggle my finger and she will backup to the end of the line and stay there until I ask her to come forward.

We tried to circling game next. Phase 1 I lifted the rope and pointed in the direction I wanted her to go. Then phase 2 I lifted the stick. Phase 3 I wiggled the the stick. And then phase 4 I swung the string once at her butt. Similar to lunging but with a set amount of laps, not just mindless circling. It took her to phase 4 to move forward, and she would walk till she was behind my back and stop...which is very common. We will work on it. She should move forward quicker and circle me with out me micromanaging her. In other words I don't move or turn with her Just pass the rope behind my back. Until I disengage her.

Then we did the sideways game. Along the stall walls, so she would be more likely to move sideways instead of moving forward. This has been a challenge for the other horses I worked with but she did rather well. I kept her head facing the wall and would gently "drive" her sideways. If it was her butt that wasn't moving I would tap that if it was her front that wasn't moving I would tap that. Eventually I would just move the stick from her head to her butt and then from her butt to her head and she would walk sideways, similar to a sidepass.

The last game is the squeeze game. You can squeeze them through a tight space or over something. I started with a lot of space between me and the wall and asked her to walk through the space, then stop face me and wait. Each time I took a step closer to the wall making more of a squeeze for her. You don't want them to just rush through or rush over what you using, it defeats the purpose. She should go through with confidence and then wait calmly for me to tell her what to do next. She did great, soon we will start squeezing her over poles and small obstacles.

The more you play the games, the lighter the phase you will have to use. Soon it will look like the ques are non existent. Like in Dressage you can hardly see what the rider is doing to get the horse to perform the task. Im going to post a link to video from Youtube of the seven games so you can see what it looks like when your horse understands what you doing. This is not my video but it is an example. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWii8sNZRlM