Odin

Odin continues making progress, Odin style—which, as we’ve learned, means at exactly the pace Odin believes is appropriate. 😊

On Wednesday, after Butch had worked with the brush the day before, Odin took one look at the chute and essentially said, “Nope. Not doing THAT again.” He had had a pretty big reaction to Butch and the brush in the chute on Tuesday, and apparently his memory was working just fine.

So, we pivoted.

Instead of insisting on the chute, we began working with the hand brush in the holding area beside it. No surprise, we didn’t get very far, but we were actually quite pleased that Odin was willing to explore the brush at all—outside the security of the chute and, even more impressively, without a treat sitting on top of it. That alone was something.

After about 30 minutes, we decided we’d done enough there and it was time to revisit the chute. And in true Odin fashion, after firmly informing us earlier that the chute was absolutely unacceptable, he walked right in when we directed him.

The brush, however, was another matter.

At Butch’s suggestion, I finally placed the brush directly on Odin’s neck, prepared for a reaction similar to the one he’d had the day before. I’m glad I was prepared, because he gave me one. It lasted about a minute. When he reacted, I removed the brush from his body but never took it out of the chute. I simply gave him enough space to move safely through what he was feeling. When he settled, I placed the brush on him again.

And this time, he was okay. He relaxed. And then he received.

There were a few more bumps in the road that day, but overall, his recovery went beautifully. By the end of the session, Odin walked calmly out of the round pen and joined us in the barn for his customary treats as though nothing particularly noteworthy had happened.

Apparently, according to Odin, the incident was closed.

When we met again on Friday, we really had no idea where he would be ready to begin. Would we need to go all the way back to the beginning? Odin answered that question for us. Bravely, he began almost exactly where he had left off.

He calmly received the brush on his nose while standing in the holding area. Then Susan and I both stood in there with him—close quarters for all three of us—and for a while, he continued to receive the brush. After about 30 minutes, though, we could see his anxiety beginning to rise. So rather than asking for more, we offered him the chute. Just as he had on Wednesday, he walked right in.

Susan worked with him first using the pole brush. He was a little hesitant initially, but once the brush was actually on his body, something seemed to click: “Oh, right. I LIKE this.” And he settled in and enjoyed being brushed.

When Susan finished, I took over, but I wanted to return to the hand brush we had been working toward. Odin let me know he wasn’t quite ready for that yet, so I backed up a step, brought out the pole brush…and employed what I have come to call The Slip.

What’s The Slip, you ask? Well, I introduce the pole brush and the hand brush together and then, without missing a beat, quietly slip one out and continue with the other.

Is this slightly tricky? Perhaps.

Does it work? Apparently. 😂

Odin didn’t even flinch. He stood there and thoroughly enjoyed being brushed for quite a while. And then, because apparently I was feeling particularly sneaky, I tried another little experiment.

As I brushed him, I began slipping my hand between the bristles, allowing him to gradually feel my hand mixed in with the sensation of the brush. He knew. He kept turning his head and looking back at me as if to say, “Something about this arrangement has changed…” But he stayed. And he received it beautifully.

I’m so proud of how Odin has recovered since Tuesday. What could easily have become a significant setback instead became another opportunity for him to tell us where he was, for us to listen, and then for all of us to find our way forward together.

Butch hasn’t worked with him again yet. We’ve deliberately given Odin a little space there, and Butch will return to the process when Odin is solidly receiving everything again. There is no hurry.

With Odin, we are learning again and again that progress isn’t necessarily about getting somewhere faster. Sometimes it’s about discovering how much can happen when there is enough room to react, recover, remember—and then choose to try again.

Everything in small and timely doses.

Odin style.