Programs

Well, the past few days I've actually made a program out of getting Moose confident with Zone 3. It's been going pretty smooth. I can see we have an issue. Still don't know exactly if his problem is the girth, Zone 3 in general, or the saddle slapping, but it doesn't really matter. I'm just going to fix all of them. :)

So, he's been doing really well. Today we had a little glitch, because my neighbor was flying his RC airplane and so Moose was pretty freaked out, so I didn't continue with what we've been working on, since he wans't in a learning frame of mind.

Bella, on the other hand, has got me all confused. I just can't seem to play with her, and get anything good accomplished. I seriously am starting to think she's at least bi-polar. She's playful, bolts when scared, super-sensitive, mouthy, curious, absolutely LOVES people, somewhat over-reactive, forgiving (to a point), food-motivated, dominant, tense, either walks or runs, all these at different times and here's the breakdown of her confidence areas:

1. Environment - SUPER confident in her environment, SUPER unconfident outside her environment
2. In the herd - Pretty confident
3. By herself- Pretty unconfident
4. As a learner - pretty confident
5. With me as a leader - Don't know, but not a whole lot.

So, yeah she's got me all confuzzled. Again. But it's alright. Moose's doing really good. Next post, I'll provide some links to some good articles I found.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

And I had to share a quote by Ray Hunt: “The definition of confidence is knowing that you are prepared for the unthinkable." Hmmm . . .

Zone 3 Confidence

I'm so proud of myself. I temporarily re-invented the Carrot Stick! I have a knock-off CS that I haven't used in a while, so I decided to maybe play with Moose with it and a plastic bag attached to it. Well, I couldn't find a plastic bag, so while doing a quick survey of our tack area, I saw an old lead rope. Hmmm. I threaded it through the CS, and so now had a REALLY long reach. It was pretty cool. I had no idea what I was going to do with it, just that I wanted to do something.

Well, I did a lot today. It was sweet. I used the CS to help Moose gain confidence in Zone 3. I asked him to circle around me, somewhat close, but far enough away that he knew it was a circle and could go somewhere. Well, I had the lead rope part of the CS on his back and he was a little unsure about it. So, when he relaxed a little, I asked him to trot, and he kicked out! "Oh boy!"

Then, I continued playing with our Circling Game with the lead rope over Zone 3. I experimented to see what scared him. I moved it when he was Circling, and that spooked him a little. When he stepped on it, he got scared, too. So, we just played around. Once he was pretty relaxed with it there, I stopped and brought him in. Then, I had the bright idea of using it as a girth. I was in Zone 3 and so we played Stick To Me from there on his right side. He did excellent! He never had an issue with it being on his belly, even when I pulled a little. So, overall it was a really neat day! I'm really pleased with both him and me.

Oh, yeah, and if you haven't seen the new Parelli.com website, check it out! They released the new levels today!!!!!! And Linda has a blog that she updates daily/every other day. It's really cool! Here's the link to the new levels: http://shop.parellinaturalhorsetraining.com/product.jsf?productId=1021.

Poem and 2 Quotes

Endure by Bobi

If I can endure for this moment,
whatever is happening to me.
No matter how heavy my heart,
or how dark the moment may be.
If I can but keep on believing,
what I know in my heart to be true.
Then darkness will fade into morning,
and with this dawn a new day, too.

"True Horsemanship is invisible until one learns to see it." -David Genadeck.

"If you know that all is well, you know all you need to know. And if you know life is supposed to be fun, you know more than almost anybody else knows. And if you know that the way you feel is your indicator of how connected you are to Source, then you know that which only a handful of Deliberate Creators, respective to the total population, really know. The beasts all know it. Your animals know that all is well. Your animals live in the moment. They understand the power of their now. They expect the Universe to yield to them. They don't worry or fret or conjure or make laws or rules or try to regulate. They are Pure Positive Energy. Your beasts vibrate more on the Energy scale of contentment than of passion. Their desire was set forth from Nonphysical, and continues to be set forth by those, like you, who want Energy balance, who want sustenance. The difference between the beast and the human is that the beast is more general in its intent. The human is usually less blended, usually less allowing of the Energy to flow, but is more specific. And that is why the human is seen to be the Creator while the beast is more the balancer of Energy." - Abraham.

Excerpted from the workshop in Philadelphia, PA on Thursday, October 15th, 1998

Off to the Rodeos. . . Again?

Since I made it a goal to buy a Western Theraflex, I decided to actually discuss buying one. And the good news is, I might have found one. That's still a might, but it's definitely a step in the right direction.

So, I was thinking about the Theraflex and riding: I've had a lot of good opportunities lately as far as riding goes due to that clinic last weekend, so I've had it on the brain recently. And Moose has done really good recently: we even accidentally did some more liberty stuff 2 days ago. So, our relationship is definitely improving!

Well, I decided to bite the bullet and maybe try to ride today. But the important thing here was I wasn't direct-line about it. I said I want to ride, yes, but I'm not going to be stupid and get myself hurt. So, I went and haltered him, and brought him inside the barn. I tried tacking him up with Bella's saddle this time to see if that one would fit him a little better. It seems like they're both pretty equal to me. But tacking up went smoothly, except for 3 times when I had to take him outside to show Bella that indeed he has not left, and is actually where he was 2 seconds ago when you were looking at him. Silly girl. And he was in a pretty LB mood today, so all was good. There didn't seem to be any cinch issues.

So, I got my helmet and put a 22' on him and back into the pasture we went. We did some Circles. I tightened the cinch. I had him trot, and walk. No cantering today, because he's still got the Scratches on his back leg, but I thought he seemed fit to trot. We changed directions a few times, and he wasn't doing it very well, so I put some pressure on him to change a little better. When I back up for the change, he likes to just pretend I haven't moved at all, so I have to stop him, and then send him the opposite way. He does this a lot. So, this time when I asked for the change, I backed up, and he still was trotting off, of course, so I stopped him and then immediately said "you should be gone!" because we've been doing this for long enough that he should understand there is a pattern. So, he jumped a little when I smacked the ground for him to leave, but I just took a mental note. If I remember quickly, he licked his lips farther on the circle. Next time I asked for the change, I had to stop him again, but when I started to increase my intensity like "you should be. . . GONE!!" he kind of jumped and trotted off, before I got to the "gone" part. It was a little wierd, but I let it go. So, then he was trotting around the circle doing just fine, I brought him in. Tightened up the girth a little more. Backed him up, sent him to the right. He did fine. Then, "all of a sudden for no reason at all" he threw a bucking fit. I interrupted the pattern hard throughout the whole thing. The saddle flew upwards, so the back of it was up in the air, and the pad flew out the back. I'm guessing that scared him even more. He was still bucking, but now he tried to run and buck. I was able to hold on, since he didn't pull hard like Bella does, and still keep Phase 4ing him with the rope. Then, the saddle flipped over and now was under his belly. :-0 Now, his brain kicked in, and he backed up, but there was obviously still a boatload of tension there. I had an extreme RBI at that point. So, I moseyed up to him, and tried to undo the saddle without scaring him more. Well, I couldn't do it alone, so with my mom's help we got the saddle off, and Moose didn't freak out. Needless to say, he was pretty listless after that.

We spent the whole rest of the session just chilling, since I wasn't sure if he was introverted, but I could definitely see that he wasn't the same Moose I had had before. Like I said, he was pretty listless. So, I wanted to see where he was at mentally, so I tried doing some stuff with spins. He looked fine. So, I got down on my knees to see if we could do a figure-8 with me down low and not moving. He did it fine. Seemed alright, but just kind of shocked, maybe. So, we just hung out some more. Bella was giving my mom some issues, being a sassy pants, and trying to swing her butt at mom, so she got a lesson in leadership today. Turns out little miss teddy bear actually does have a 'tude every now and then! But this was great for Moose, so he could just relax without my focus on him. It took him at least 15 minutes to come off adrenaline from the bucking incident.

I'm trying to think what in the world caused it this time. I mean, when he bucked from the bareback pad, that was entirely my fault for being direct-line, but I don't think I really was today. Yes, I wanted to ride, but I wasn't saying I have to ride right now. I wasn't pressuring him. And I know he has an issue with Zone 3 confidence/ the girth but I did approach and retreat with it during saddling and he was fine. After I circled him a little, I even took it off, because I had to move the saddle up further, so that was a big retreat for him. The only thing I can think of is maybe when he wears the saddle, he feels threatened by the pressure I put on him? Like when I got assertive about him doing the changes, he was being a little silly. Maybe he attributes Phase 4's when he's wearing the saddle to being the saddle's fault. So, maybe I'm firmer with him when he's wearing the saddle, because I'm actually thinking of this as preparation for riding instead of just playing. . . . that's a possibility. The other thing is maybe just the saddle noise scares him. This one did bounce a little when he was trotting, so it made some noise.

But I learned from this, there's a reason I'm not riding him (just confirms it, since I doubt myself even now and then). We might need a back-cinch for that saddle. Moose has a somewhat-extreme form of claustrophobia/fear with Zone 3. And I need some help :)

Thoughts about Thinking

I've concluded that I think too much . . . at least recently, anyways. I've been thinking, and I think that thinking is my best friend and worst enemy. It's one of those love-hate things. It helps me in some situations, since it helps me be observant and logical, but it also sometimes makes my progress go out the window, because I over-analyze.

Like you know that little program I did with Moose a while back because he kept putting his head up when I haltered him? It didn't do anything. He still does it. It's just that now I've accepted that I'm not going to fix that right now. It was a complete moment of "can't see the forest for the trees." I'm glad it did it, since I usually don't stick to programs because every day I want to try out something new, and this one actually lasted for a few days, but I still see now that it was pointless.

So, my inability to stick to programs and my tendency to over-analyze has caused me to think some more. (God help me, more thinking!) I need to make a program and just stick to it, so I don't bore my horse, or get stuck on one little task. So, my solution to this is to come up with a program for each session, so I have a focus on what I want to do. Normally, I wouldn't decide to do this, because I get direct-line, but I had a thought a minute ago. If you have 15 minute to play with your horse, that doesn't mean that you have "get 'er done" in that time. It just means you have 15 minutes. Good to know. I'll update again when I decide how exactly I want to proceed with this. . . we're able to do Liberty somewhat consistently now (YIPPEE!!!!!!!), so I might try for my Level 2 Audition and then start making programs, but we'll see. It's a balancing act: Relationship vs. Progress. Take too long in the relationship department, and you'll wind up not making any progress and dealing with a bored horse. Go too far down Progress lane, and your relationship goes out the window.

A tad off topic, but I don't know if any of you have read the book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell (it's on Parelli's recommended reading list, and is a very interesting book), but one of the things the author mentions is that in order to become an expert at anything, it takes approximately 10,000 hours. I copied the following excerpt from Catherine Nugent's "How to become an Outlier??"

This got me thinking- how many hours have I spend with my horses? No much when you consider that it takes 10,000 to master a skill, according to the book. I spend about three hours on average a week with my horse. Not nearly enough! I've spend about 470 hours since I started Parelli with my horses- give or take a bit. I've spent about 35 with Archie- not much when you look at it like that, hey? That's one weeks worth of working hours to me. One week! That's nothing! If I want to be really good with horses, then I need to get 10,000 hours. That's 3 hours a day, seven days a week for ten years; Or 8 hours a day for 3.5 years. Interesting hey? How good would I be if I spent THAT much time with my horses? How good would my horses think I am?

Very interesting. Especially since I have professional goals, I found that incredible how to become a master horsewoman, I'd need to spend 3 hours a day for 10 years. Lately, I'm getting around 3-5 hours a week, which makes my grand total hours with Moose somewhere near 370 hours. If you're curious how many hours you've played with your horse, there's 2 options for ya:

1. If you play daily, multiply your average hours playing with your horse by 365 days in a year to equal your grand total.
2. If you play a certain amount weekly - let's say 5 hours a week, then multiply that number by 52 weeks in a year to equal your hours per year. In this case, it would be 260 hours per year.

Just something to think about. And Happy Belated Halloween, everyone!

My Reaction to a Dressage Lesson Gone Bad

I attended a dressage clinic this past weekend with a friend of mine, and really learned a lot. It was interesting to see how subtle things are, and how at high levels, the riders are actually quite aware of their horses! I say 'actually' because I'm used to people who don't practice natural horsemanship methods not understanding their horses. So, this was quite a pleasant surprise.

But I wanted to mention what happened with one of the horses/people. We'll call the girl Kayla and the horse Skip. See, Kayla is afraid of Skip. She made that clear from the beginning of this 2 day long clinic. That, and the fact that it took her 2 hours to get him loaded into the trailer made me want to watch her lesson. I wasn't watching the time, so unfortunately I only caught the last 15 minutes of it. But he did superb! The crowd knew Kayla was afraid of him, so everyone was cheering to offer encouragement to her. Kayla is actually a pretty good rider for being afraid, since normally fear literally makes riders "scared stiff." She flowed with Skip pretty well. They did the normal walk, trot, canter. She got off and was all smiles for the next few hours. The lesson was fantastic. The clinician and myself (and probably some of the crowd) were wondering what made her so scared of him. He was a pretty mover, and didn't look too bad. I wondered what dark side of Skip we weren't seeing. I wasn't sure if I was over-analyzing or not at the time, but the only thing I found odd was his head set. It seemed unnaturally forced. He held his head where it was supposed to be, even if she let the reins out. I admit I found that strange.

But we found out the next day. I was cleaning my friend's horse's stall when she came and got me to tell me I should watch this, since I do natural horsemanship. A horse was rearing. I walked into the arena to see the clinician ground-driving Skip in what I thought were side-reins. Something was obviously going on since everyone was huddled together in the observation area. Kayla left, crying. (I later found out that Skip had reared 3 times with her on.) The clinician tried to coax Skip into trotting and he reared up and fell over. I admit my heart was racing, and adrenaline was pumping. I was scared, because I thought I was going to have to take over. It would've been obvious to any natural horsemanship person there that this horse was an extreme RBI (okay, so maybe only Parelli people would classify horsenality, but you get what I mean), and I didn't think the clinician understood that. She did dressage after all, and I mean what the heck? She was driving a rearing horse in SIDE REINS. I actually spoke up and said that that she should take them off. Someone proceeded to explain to me that they weren't actually side-reins, they were sliders. The horse could move his head around if he wanted. Personally, I still don't think that was the best choice, because that enforced his wierd head-set. And then I had an epiphany: the reason Skip's head-set was so wierd was because he was gone mentally. Yeah, his head was tucked and he was going around her on a circle, but he felt like he was going to explode to me. That's part of the reason I got so nervous.

But anyways, that was the last time he reared in that lesson. And I do really like what the clinician recommended to Kayla afterwards. She told her to learn to ground-drive him. She said she had a horse she had raised since a baby that whenever she put any leg on her, the horse would rear. So, she started ground-driving her, and stopped riding her for 6 months. By the end of those 6 months, she could do 3rd level dressage on the ground! And so when she finally started riding her again, she took her to a dressage show and won grand champion! I thought that was great advice, since without a doubt Skip doesn't seem fit to ride right now.

And I really wanted to analyze my reaction to Skip. I got nervous, had adrenaline-pumping. Well, makes sense. I was mentally preparing to take over, like I said. But why? Well, this truth bites: I thought I knew better than the clinician. Dang, that sucks. But my conflict with non-natural horsemanship folks is another topic. I just thought my reaction was pathetic. I mean, I have no where NEAR the skills to play with an extreme RBI in the first place, and to take over from the clinician would be a no-no (since the horse stopped rearing, after all. . . ), and if I did get to play with that horse, how would I help him when I'm nervous to begin with? That was my big thing. How can I help a horse when I get so nervous beforehand? This has happened to me before, so I want to find something to get that non-chalance that Pat Parelli and Dave Ellis have. Obviously, that comes from experience and savvy and skill, so I don't expect to be nearly that good. That'd be nice for the long-term, but I'm thinking short-term right now. I remember hearing that Pat learned it from Tai-Chi. I borrowed a DVD from the library about it, and I really don't think it's for me. It was okay, but just not my kind of thing. Neither is yoga, although yoga is better than Tai Chi. Basically, I'm looking for something to help center my RBI side a little bit.