me hopping up there… (photo by Kelly Robinson)

today was really wonderful with billy blaze i took out the orange ball and the green ball and gave him some “free” time to play. i sat myself down behind a panel, on a pedestal to read my book. billy played for a few minutes then came and stood by me, head down, and just rested it was so nice that he would rather be by me than play with his ball!

then a young cowboy showed up to work a young horse in the round pen, so i hopped the panel and put my arm around billy’s face so he wouldn’t bug them as they came into the arena… billy was fascinated with the filly in the round pen so i let him explore her while i set up the playground.

when i was ready for him i played the catching game until he wanted to be with me instead of the filly. it didn’t take long! we played with the bridge, walking on it forward and then backing onto it, then standing on it. we played with the half barrel jump. he would walk up to it and very carefully prepare himself, then jump it and turn and face. it was pretty neat since it’s only one barrel and i had it pulled away from the wall. he could have gone around it….

then we played with the pedestal. i asked him to put his front feet on it, then move his hind end around, away from me, both directions.

we played with the cones, weaving at the walk and the trot. the figure of eight, softly and with lots of trust on my part. i barely moved, just pointed

we did some sideways over a couple of trotting poles lined up. we played sideways in front of the poles, then over the poles, both directions.

this is preparation for sitting up there!  did this yesterday   (photo by Kelly Robinson)

then we went back to the pedestal and i jumped up on him! he was a little naughty on the left side, wanting to bite my leg, very dominant. so i let him “run” into my foot. his whole attitude changed! i hopped off and he turned on his own and sidled right up to the pedestal so i could hop on. i would hop up on my belly, then wiggle around and swing my legs up. he would stand so nicely! i played some pushing passenger and let him walk around a little bit.

the barn owner and one of the older cowboys showed up to watch the younger cowboy with the filly in the round pen. they were very excited that i was up on billy! the barn owner couldn’t believe how quiet and accepting billy was of me up there. and how he handled me wiggling all around to GET up there i’m not sneaking around!!

i LOVE the look on my face in this one… this is the FIRST time i sat on billy blaze! (photo by Kelly Robinson)

after i sat up there and rubbed and rubbed and scratched and scratched, he yawned, licked and chewed, lowered his head when i asked, licked and chewed some more… it was lovely. i hopped off, took him over to some nice dirt, knelt down and he quietly laid down beside me and just hung out with me for over 5 minutes!!! that blew the barn owners mind! LOL

it was just the best day! talk about being in the zone….