Step one was to begin establishing mutual trust between us, and to do that I had to present opportunities for January to need to trust me, which meant introducing the tiniest bit of fear and then quickly showing the horse that she had nothing to worry about. Though over the coming days I would likely try a variety of triggers, such as a crinkly plastic bag or a shiny aluminum pan, this morning I brought in a big red rubber ball I’d borrowed from Stephen last night. All I did was hold the ball near January, which she did not like at all, and then I waited until she settled down and rewarded her with a carrot. After that, I moved the ball closer to her, waited, rewarded, then put it on her back, waited, rewarded, and so on. After twenty minutes, she was okay, to a point, with the giant ball. Really, it was more that she was okay with me in spite of there being a rubber ball between us, which was exactly the response I wanted. She had decided to put her confidence in me even though there was a giant red round thing in the stall.
