Skittles - back to basics

I took Skittles into the round pen today to start at the beginning with the Friendly game again. The horse that showed up was a high-headed skeptical Skittles, only slightly less scared than yesterday (left). I took the halter off and worked with her at liberty. So she chose when to come in and when to leave (tests my savvy!). I started with just the carrot stick, scratching her nose, neck and body as she let me. When she left I'd swing the carrot stick and when she stopped and looked at me or turned in to me, I lowered the stick and backed off. She came in, and I'd start to scratch her again and we continued this pattern until she stopped leaving. Then I dropped the string at the end of the carrot stick and we started the pattern again: she'd leave, I'd swing the string back and forth in rhythmic motion and keep it moving while she was moving, until she looked at me or turned toward me. As soon as she did, I stopped swinging the string. I kept this up until she could stand still and let me swing the string around her and over her back, neck and around her legs. I then did some more leading with the rope around her feet. She did great with this again, although I'm hoping eventually she'll give with less and less pressure (still a phase 4 at the moment before she'll lift her foot). This took about 30 minutes (so about half the time of yesterday, and the added bonus was this was at liberty!).

Next we did some friendly game with my jacket. It was pretty windy today, so it was blowing back and forth in my hand without any help from me. So we started the pattern again.... lots of approach and retreat, approach and retreat and eventually she let me swing it up over her back from both sides, on her neck and around her legs. This took about another 30 minutes (the wind kept making the jacket move and startle her enough to leave). Once she was relatively relaxed with the jacket swung multiple times on and around her, I dropped it and let her sniff, mouth and nose it around and I went back to the carrot stick and savvy string - just to make sure she didn't perceive it as a new threat. She didn't react and was consistently licking and chewing, so we called it a day. She's getting closer to the more confident filly she had become after her 2 weeks with the trainer last winter. I think (hope) the remaining sessions will get easier and easier as I try new things.