Twenty minutes had passed with no change in the pattern between Henry and the colt, and just as Henry was beginning to get frustrated and think about leaving the pen, the colt suddenly stopped, turned and looked at him. The colt, also a bit frustrated, decided to stop to see if he could bring in an image, the kind he seemed to get from Jessie when she worked with him, to see if he could learn what the man wanted from him. As he stood looking at Henry, who had also stopped, no picture at all came. He waited, but all he got was a picture of darkness, and a feeling of heaviness. Then, just as the colt was getting ready to move, a blurry picture slowly started flashing in his mind’s eye.

When the colt stopped, Henry stopped, just as he had seen Jessie do. He watched the colt for several seconds, alertly standing in one spot. Henry subconsciously took the picture of the motionless colt in, and, just happy the colt wasn’t moving anymore, took a deep breath and said quietly, “That’s it…that’s what I’m looking for.”

The picture the colt started getting was the picture Henry was actually seeing—the colt standing in one spot, facing Henry. The colt lowered his head slightly, and the picture changed slightly. He moved a foot, the picture changed again. In real time, the colt was seeing everything he was doing through Henry’s eyes. This was completely different than what the colt got from Jessie. Jessie always showed him what she wanted. Henry was apparently just telling him what he was already doing. This was difficult for the colt because he already knew what he was doing. What he needed help with was what he should do next.

The colt shook his head and snorted, asking Henry to give him a different picture, but he simply got his own reflection back. The colt pawed at the ground, so did the picture in his head. Finally, the colt stopped. He began to think about what he had learned from Jessie, and what she expected from him in a similar situation. When she stood with a halter and lead rope in her hand, the picture he got from her was always for him to come to her so she could put the halter on him. So, guessing that might be what Henry wanted, the colt repeated the behavior by walking over to him. He put his head down, and sure enough, Henry petted him on his neck, then slipped the halter over his nose, and buckled it in place.

Henry had planned on taking the colt to the round pen and putting him in with the saddle and pad, which was the last thing Jessie had done with him before she got hurt. However, because of the hard time the colt apparently had with remembering how to be caught, Henry decided instead to lead him around the inside of the paddock, pet him from time to time, then just turn him loose so the colt could get the idea that was all Henry wanted from him. Henry would come back later in the day and try again to catch him, and then repeat it as many times as necessary until the colt understood how to be caught. The colt, on the other hand, didn’t really need the extra reinforcing. He already understood.