Abbey now follows the feel of the neck rope with the slightest pressure. I can't even call it a pull. She's doing it very quietly. With the rope on her, she seems much more inclined to have me on her off side, so that has become a non-issue. She's showing signs of enjoying having her face rubbed. When I'm doing that, I rub over her muzzle too, on the corners of her mouth. Then I did that with a wormer syringe in my hands. She didn't much like the feel of that plastic, but after some approach/retreat rubbing, she relaxed about it. I'll gradually put the tip in the corner of her mouth in preparation for worming. Of course, I could "just do it!", but then I would have made an unpleasant memory for her. And no matter how tiny the memory, a horse doesn't forget. I want to build nothing but pleasant memories for her. She's a clean slate and I want her to go to her new owner, whoever that may be, with nothing but good habits and memories. I want Abbey to be programmed to look for the correct response first, before resorting to resistance of any kind. She's learned that there's an answer to each puzzle she's encountered so far. She hasn't had the opportunity or a reason to get scared or resistant.
There will always be times when we need to back up in our training, or take smaller steps or add more steps, but for now, Abbey is an "A" student!
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