Patience

I woke up late again, not that it really matters.  I am not working right now, there is no real schedule except what I set for myself.  However, before I become a complete couch potato I decided to get control over myself and wake up earlier in the morning.  More like 7 am instead of 8:30 am.  So, on this particular day I woke up at 8:30. Again.  I am not happy with myself!

I am still tired although I slept late, and when I go to turn out the horses, I feel lazy. I need to put fly masks on them first, though, which is not a big deal except for Bella.  Let me back track here.  I have owned Bella for about 12 years and during that time she has always had issues with her head, and more specifically her ears.  She came with an old injury on her forehead, a deep crease in the bone.  I am not sure if this has caused her to have headaches, eye problems, or just gave her a general fear of things near her head.  Or perhaps it was a string of unfortunate things that happened when I first got her and tried to bridle her (once when I was putting on the bridle someone made a really loud noise which freaked her out and similar such incidences).  In any case, the traditional methods of working through it only made it worse, much worse.

My last try was a year or two ago when I diligently tried what I call the "rub it out" method.  Just keep touching her head until she gives in.  She didn't give in, really.  I mean, yes, I could have stood out there for hours until she gave in, but we weren't getting anywhere. And yes I was being gentle and going slow but it was only getting worse so I stopped.

Then, of course, I discovered clicker training.  At first I was merely hopeful but when I used the method on Bella's infamous head shying problem, she responded very quickly.  Delightfully quickly.  Then she wounded herself in almost the same spot as the previous injury on her forehead.  Great, I thought.  I will never be able to touch it, but after a few days with the clicker, I could.  My neighbor was watching my horses and she was even able to doctor the wound.  Wow. 

I started to work with her some more to have her accept a fly mask.  So far so good.  I never put it on all the way, I just worked on it for a few days and then we left on vacation.  So here we are, mid-summer and the flies are horrendous.  I really want to put the mask on Bella, so I worked with her for a few days and it went really well. 

Here we are, back to that particular morning when I woke up late.  Normally I take the masks out to the pen and just before opening the gate I put masks on everyone.  I really feel too tired (lazy) to take Bella back to the tie rail and use the clicker to put on the fly mask.  It went so well the previous few days, perhaps...perhaps... just maybe...she would be nice and let me put it on without all the preparation.  Ha ha. HA.

I hold it up to her face and she jerks back.  Of course she does.  So very few days of training doesn't easily erase so many years of a deep-set problem.  I tuck the mask into my pocket.  She looks at me, like my mother would look at me, as if to say, "Cari, you know better."  I open the gate and she flies out, head high.  She could have let me put it on her, but I blew it.  I didn't ask right.

Patience.