Pictures

I went out and took a few pictures of the horses today, so I thought I'd post a few of them here.

[caption id="attachment_433" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="I <3 this photo!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_434" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Just a pic of Dancer"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_435" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Nothing to do with horses, but my mom took a cute picture of a flower we're growing."][/caption]

I would have a picture of Bella, too, but she wasn't being very photogenic today.

The Day After Yesterday

After rewriting this like 3 times, I finally figured it'd be easier on anyone who reads this if I just started out with some background things going on in the past few days.

For starters,  I've had a horrible time with Moose's draw recently - he'll just stand there and lean on the pressure. Sometimes he'll be great, but other days he'll be awful. It doesn't seem like unconfidence, so I wasn't really sure what to do about it. Then, I thought about make vs. want, and realized he should LOVE to come to me. Well, it's not exactly fixed yet, because it's a new invention of his, so to speak, but in the past 3 days he's came to me 3 times at liberty, so a GREAT start!!

Also, I've been thinking about Bella and Moose's confidence levels a LOT lately. Bella is an attention hound and is very curious about things, so I think she loves to learn and has no issues with people. And I had a sort of light bulb moment when I thought about Moose. I don't think he likes to learn. I am still developing this theory, but I think to him learning is stressful (kind of like how Allure used to be a very unconfident learner, just that Moose is not nearly as extreme). For example, the other day I had plans to play with a saddle we've got laying around here. I brought it up to Moose and let him sniff it. He sniffed it, but immediately after walked away quickly. On the other hand, Bella comes up and just says "OMG!! You have an English saddle! What's that taste like?" So then, I put it on the ground near Moose and walked away. He was really curious about it then. Situations like this one lead me to conclude (Ha, I sound like I'm writing a science paper) that Moose has confidence issues with humans. I will definitely have to lick and chew on that for a while!

Now onto my ACTUAL post. Starting off with yesterday: the day didn't go so well. I was trying to stop Moose  from throwing his head away from me every time I go to halter him. Basically, he had other ideas. And I started getting frustrated and emotional, and eventually just quit. I knew if I kept going things were just going to go even further downhill. Although, Dancer did roll near me, so I can't call the day a complete failure.

Now on to TODAY!!  Objective of the day was to help Moose gain confidence with the tarp. So, I grabbed one and went to work. We ended up playing at liberty, because I never haltered him. It seemed unnecessary, because he was responding alright without it. So, I started out with him sniffing the tarp. Once he sniffed it, I'd walk away. Eventually, he'd lick his lips, so I'd let him think for a little while once he did that. Once he was alright sniffing it, I tried to pet him with it, but there was a threshold about touching him anywhere else but his nose. A saying popped into mind here: "If he's scared of blackbirds, get him used to eagles." So, I wagged the tarp around and retreated until he looked at me. The first time he looked at me was about 20 feet away, at a guess. Well, I continued approaching and retreating, until I was about 6 feet away. Then, he came to me and sniffed the tarp, and blew a few times! Now THAT is a sign for session over!

In comparison of the 2 days, it's interesting how things work out: I can play with the horses for a whole 3 hours some days and have everything go wrong that will. But other days, like today,  I can have 30 minutes, have a GREAT time, and get more done than in that 3 hours. "How interesting!"

And I almost forgot. . . (as if I could forget). . . I got my braces off today!! YAY!! So, after 2.5 years of scrubbing and yanking and grinding and pushing and pulling and all those other things us teens go through to have nice teeth, I finally have them. Can't say they're perfect as of yet, though, because they hurt like the devil at the moment. But in a day or two, I should be pain-free and acting in Orbit gum commercials.

Greetings and Answers

Sorry for not blogging a lot. I'm still outside with the horses about 45 minutes + daily, but there's not much to blog about. So, until things start moving again, updates will still be far and few between. Of course, it would be nice if we actually had decent weather, lol.

Also, I'd like to say Happy Holidays! I am late, yes, but better late than never! Hope everyone had a great end to 2008, and is looking foward to the future.

And I received these answers a while ago, but I kept neglecting to post them.

So, the questions I have for you are: can itching be a form of releasing adrenaline,

Yes. . .and it can be a form of displaced behavior (an expression of emotion).

or is he just suddenly realizing he's itchy because he's now calm? What do you think is going on with the halter: should I buy a new one, or is he just testing my leadership?

Yes. :)  Buy a Parelli halter b/c it is softer and therefore more comfortable when he's with you (not putting tension on it) than the stiff one you have--and it gives more of a release (back to being comfortable) when he quits putting pressure on it.  And, yes, he's testing your leadership. Put another way, he's just being an excellent horse! It's up to you to help him learn to be a partner. And you're going a good job so far. :)

Don't be afraid to go ahead and play with him more once he's on-line. Do as you did here, releasing right when he responds and give that first try. But as you progress the "first try" will be farther down the line, so to speak, so that you're not just boring him with asking for the same thing over and over. Go ahead and play all 7 games.

And lastly, what happened on line: why does he suddenly release adrenaline and what is causing it?  Also, what horsenality do you think he's being on line (and how should I react)?

He sounds RBI/LBI on-line--both, back and forth. The release of adrenaline shows he's been RBI and has changed to left-brained (meaning, he can relax). He releases adrenaline when he feels safe and feels right rather than wrong (comfort). It's a sign you're on the right track. Just wait for him to lick and chew, or at least sigh, blink, etc. Then, go on and do more.

He's "storing" adrenaline (holding tension) b/c being in the hands of a human makes him uncomfortable. Why? because he's a prey animal and you're not, and probably b/c of past experiences. Some horses are made to be introverted. From your description, he may have been. . .and will blossom as you progress with him, giving him fun, challenging things to do as well as opportunities to express his curiosity. You want him to be more extroverted, so do things which help him engage with the world: think, play, explore.

Good luck and let me know how it goes, Erica.

Nita Jo

I am very happy with her response. I didn't know itching was a form of displaced behavior, and that explains a lot, because Dancer itched a lot when she was emotional. BFO!! And I didn't know that horses release adrenaline specifically when they feel safe and comfortable.

Though, I'm getting better at recognizing when Moose goes RBI. He doesn't do it so much on line anymore, which is great! He still has his moments, especially when moving the FH, but with passive persistence all is well.

On other topics, I'm looking forward to the auditions coming out. Only a few more days and the wait is over!! It's very exciting!

Parelli World and Questions

I was searching around for natural horsemanship articles on line, and I happened to notice a link to a site called Parelli World. "Oh. . . What's that?!?" Naturally, I had to click on it. And it turns out that a Parelli Professional called Jerry Williams has a blog! I read one of his articles and I thought it was very interesting. It's called Degrees. So, check it out!

About Moose, I had an interesting session the other day. He has now started head tossing and shaking whenever I try to put his halter on. I've realized that he's either over-confident, or the halter I have is irritating him (it's not a Parelli halter after all, so maybe he feels a difference?). Also, we had another moment where once the halter was on, his horsenality flipped. Actually, I wrote a post a few months ago about one time when Moose had a MAJOR lick and chew moment. My session was quite similar to that, except that this time I was singing the whole time, so I KNOW he wasn't mirroring me. So, I sent a PP an e-mail about a few questions that it brought up.  The real e-mail is a bit long, and here's most of it.

My name is Erica. I own a LBE named Moose and we're working on Level 1.  For the past month (or 2), I have been spending undemanding time with him for at least 45 minutes daily, because whenever I went to halter him, he'd walk away and seemed to be unconfident.


But I have 2 questions regarding Moose's behavior. I put the halter on him yesterday -the first time in maybe a month - and he kept tossing his head and trying to avoid it. Well, the head tossing was left brain, because he was chewing on the halter and blinking and such. It looked to me like he didn't want the halter on. Though, I'll mention that I do not own a Parelli halter, but I have one that is very similar. The only difference is that the material used is not as flexible as Parelli's.

Once the halter is on, Moose becomes very obedient, and just not himself. For one thing, he never itches. And I'm not sure if it's past baggage, or anything, but he just shuts up on line. I'm sure he's not being RBI, because he still looks at things, blinks, his tail is fine, etc. It just seems that he gets in this mode where he's very compliant, but not because he wants to be (and I'm not making him, I tend to be passive).

Well, I was getting a feeling that Moose had the Druthers already (even though we hadn't moved anywhere yet). So, I moved him closer to the others horses (Moose, I, and all his buddies were all in the same pasture at the time). We didn't move very far, maybe 5 or 10 feet (and the horses were close to begin with). Then, I decided to try moving his HQ to see what kind of response I get. He walked off, so I tightened up the rope to get him to move his HQ over. Once he took a step, I immediately released the pressure. And he started releasing TONS of adrenaline! I noticed when he was releasing the adrenaline that he mostly blew and itched his head on his legs. Total, I'd guess it took him 7ish minutes to be completely off adrenaline. Afterwards, he cocked his leg (the first time he's ever done that on line)!!

Then, I went to take the halter off, to reward him for being calm. And as soon as I started taking the halter off, he started throwing his head again. I waited until he stopped throwing his head for a second, and then took it off.

So, the questions I have for you are: can itching be a form of releasing adrenaline, or is he just suddenly realizing he's itchy because he's now calm? What do you think is going on with the halter: should I buy a new one, or is he just testing my leadership? And lastly, what happened on line: why does he suddenly release adrenaline and what is causing it? Also, what horsenality do you think he's being on line (and how should I react)?

Oh, and I was singing this whole time, so anything that happened did not happen because I wasn't breathing.

Thanks for your help,

Erica

Throu gh

Ever heard of Rebus puzzles before? Anyone . . . anyone? Well, if not, then here's a few examples.









I won't give away the answers until the bottom of this post, but basically that's what they are. Just word plays. Though, some are obviously going to be harder than others, as you can see. Anyways, the reason that all this is mentioned is because the title is a Rebus puzzle. So, see if you can figure it out. It should be easy-schmeezy if you read the rest of this post. But again, the answers are posted at the bottom if you have trouble.

But onto the reason for this post: a Throu  gh!!!! 2 of them, actually! So, it was an exciting day today. Now, seeing as it is Sunday, I have more time than normal with the horses. So, I went outside today with the intention of just spending undemanding time. Undemanding time with: an apple core, a halter,  12' rope, tarp, carrot stick, AND a brush! Not to mention that I'm all bundled up in snow pants and boots and gloves. Needless to say, I felt and looked quite silly! At least the ponies certainly thought so. . . lol.

I was very pleased with Dancer, to begin with. She was the first to greet me today, and thus earned an apple core for her effort. She also let me brush her which was incredible. Considering that the other horses get jealous whenever I LOOK at her, it was nice to be able to show her I care for once.

Back to the apple core scenario: Moose decides to come over, being hungry/jealous, and he let me brush him! That may sound like, "oh. . . whoopee," but for him that's amazing! If I hadn't brought all that stuff out, I probably would've left right then! So, I think our relationship is getting better in baby steps.

Afterwards, I messed around with the tarp. Sidenote: I made a decision that I'm not going to ride Moose until he trusts me enough to accept the tarp on his back. Key phrase there: until he trust me. If I feel that he trusts me enough without the tarp, then it'd be unnecessary. It's just that if he won't accept a tarp, how's he going to accept a saddle or blanket, or even a HUMAN on his back? As Pat says, "If he's afraid of blackbirds, get him used to eagles." So there was my original motivation for taking out the tarp, until Bella side-tracked me with her uber-curiousity.

Which leads me to the other 'throu gh' that happened today: Bella accepted the tarp on her! At liberty, too. While we still have more progress that can be made with it, it's a great start! I can put it over her back when it's bundled up, and I can rub her with it. I'm not keeping it there for very long yet, but she's still doing pretty good! And to make a long story short, the horses were really hungry today, because Bella started eating the tarp. I think it is only going to have a few more weeks longer to live, lol. She tore quite a hole in it. But that's okay, we have an extra.

Answers (from right to left):

1. Up for grabs


2. A friend in need


3. Painless operation (if you got this one, you must be a frickin genius!! Or you've seen it before, lol)


4. Wake up

Drumroll please . . . and the answer to the title is . . .

5.   Breakthrough

Thanks for playing! If you thought these were interesting, you can find more Rebus puzzles here.

There Is Hope For Us Yet

I haven't updated on the ponies for a while, so I thought I'd let everyone know about their progress recently. Today in particular went pretty well.

As background knowledge, Moose can't/won't (I'm not sure which one) stand near me at liberty while I pet him. And Dancer has become hard to catch again. But of course, I'm sure that's not anything new.

Sooo. . . .

Moose let himself be petted with no line on!! And while someone could totally ruin this moment by saying that I had treats, he still did it!! So, that made me really happy. And with that, he would've let me put the halter on him, too, had I decided to progress further.

Okay, but now this one is a shocker. Dancer actually greeted me at the gate today. I know, amazing right!? But here, let me just describe the magnitude of this for you. We have 3ish acres of pasture at our house. And she came all the way over from the other side of the pasture!!

[caption id="attachment_368" align="aligncenter" width="499" caption="Click on picture for a larger view"][/caption]

Needless to say, that made my day. But wait, it gets better. She even walked inside the stall! (background knowledge: Dancer has not been inside the stalls ever since Bella came here, because she she got trapped inside a few times). And when I went into the pasture, she didn't leave! She actually stood there and let me pet her!

"How interesting!"

Now for a little lecture, oh the horror. Okay, so I just saw the 6th DVD of L&HB yesterday. The 6th DVD wasn't real long, but I learned an interesting tidbit of information. Linda phrased it better, but basically there are 2 kinds of fear in horses: fear of death, and fear of a loss of dignity or spirit. Horses who have a fear of death are usually the RB kind, and are looking to be safe. Horses who are afraid of a loss of dignity/spirit are usually LB and are dominant.

Reflecting on that, Dancer is not afraid of dying. She is definitely a a more LB type. So, that means Dancer would most likely have the fear of a loss of dignity or spirit. So, maybe that's why Dancer doesn't (I'd say didn't, but I'm being realistic here) like me. Somehow, I am bringing up this fear in her. Hmm. . .

This made me decide to really try to get her rapport. Before, I had an oookay rapport and focused on respect to such a degree that I lost all of the rapport. So, this time I'm trying to do things different. But it's still interesting that even when I'm being nice, she's still dominant. For instance, I'll give her a treat and then she will perk up and barge right into my personal space. So, I wave my arms, like "Sorry, honey you're too close!" Then, her ears go back immediately and she just gets angry. I'm realizing that I have to be a better leader, but how can I do that without losing her rapport or causing her to be fearful?

Ah, well. "Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid only of standing still." There's my motto for today, lol!

Deb Bennett's Horse Training Commandments

THOU SHALT NOT SCARE THY HORSE TO DEATH

Neither because you're mad, nor by the force of your aids, nor by the force of your personal energy. When your horse makes a mistake, it is not your business to punish, but to teach - and re-teach.

THOU SHALT NOT GET THY HORSE IN TROUBLE

So that he loses his perfect inner comfort; nay, not even because you yourself are brave. Your main aim is to help your horse stay 100% OK 100% of the time. For your bravery does not help him; what he needs is help finding courage within himself. Nor does he understand your "performance requirements." For truly, no amount of performance nor degree of obedience is justified when it is not the horse's idea as much as yours.

THOU SHALT NOT REST AT THE BARN

Neither should you always get off your horse there. Instead, either tie your horse up at the barn, or find some busy work to do there. Don't ride him away from the barn in order to work him - ride him away from the barn in order to rest him!

THOU SHALT NOT WORK THY HORSE HARD

Without thorough warm-up, nor ask of him more work far away from the barn than at the barn, nor overmuch at any time. Remember that your horse learns only upon release and reflection. Blessed is the time of quiet unity which often comes at the end of a ride; blessed is him who would rather play with his horse's tail. And blessed are the little children, for they know not the meaning of hardness and contest.

THOU SHALT NOT RENDER THY HORSE'S BODY HARD

Nay, not even in quest of "fitness." Remember that the horse's heart is already created bigger and his muscles stronger than those of any other creature. Hardness of muscle deprives your horse's joints of range of motion. O vain human! Your plans for fitness are no more than legs upon a snake, and your failures in competition are the result of your own errors.

THOU SHALT NOT PUT THY PETTY AMBITIONS AHEAD OF THY HORSE'S WELFARE

For truly, no horse knows the cut of your saddle, the style of your hat, the color of your ribbon, the time on your watch, nor the smell of your money.

THOU SHALT NOT HANG UPON THE REINS

Neither through thoughtlessness nor because some "authority" has taught you that this is necessary. Never pick up the rein unless you intend to wait at the same pressure until there is a change in the neck and a change in the feet. And when there is a change - then you shall release!

THOU SHALT NOT PULL

You shall not turn your horse's head and neck away from the direction of his attention. For truly where his eyeballs point, there also shall his feet be pointing -- no matter how hard you drag on his head. Horses do not steer from the head; they steer from the brain. Therefore shalt thou call the birdie.

THOU SHALT LEARN TO USE THE OUTSIDE REIN WELL

You shall not steer; but instead, you shall prevent the horse from turning away. You shall call the birdie into the turn, knowing this will turn the feet as well as shaping up the body. You shall guide the inside forefoot by connecting that rein to it, and you shall anchor the outside hind foot by feeling of it. And to stop you shall stop the feet, not the face. And when thus for a time you shall have turned and stopped, so that the horse's body and postural habits shall have developed, truly will you call that collection.

THOU SHALT LEARN TO WAIT FOR THE HORSE TO RELEASE

And if he does not release, you shall continue to wait at the same pressure. And while waiting you shall not move your hand forward, neither shall you move it back, nor yet shall you repeat your first request, but you shall simply wait!

THOU SHALT NOT TRY TO OBTAIN COLLECTION BY "CAPTURING THE FACE" OR MERELY BENDING THE NECK

Nor through a "head set," nor by means of a "frame," neither by "pushing the horse forward from the seat and leg into a fixed hand," nor yet by leaning back to "weight the hindquarters." For these are the dictates of ignorance. Thou shalt remember that a horse is "on the bit" when every change in the rein creates an equivalent change in the hindquarters. This saying is correct, and implies humane and intelligent technique; but even technique shall pass away. Yet unto those that live all these commandments, collection shall be given: for the truth is, the horse collects from his innermost self, out of the joy of his being; he teaches people what collection is, and for this he needs no help from you.

THOU SHALT MAKE THE WRONG THING DIFFICULT AND THE RIGHT THING EASY - BUT THOU SHALT EMPHASIZE MAKING THE RIGHT THING EASY

How easy it is for us to make it tough on the horse when he makes a mistake! How difficult to create ways to make doing the right thing easy and obvious!

THOU SHALT STRIVE TO GET YOUR HORSE TO WHERE HE WANTS TO BE WITH YOU MORE THAN HE WANTS TO BE ANYWHERE ELSE

For truly, your ability to create ways to do this is the measure of your intelligence, and this shall be the measure by which results are measured out to you.

©1999 by Deb Bennett, resposted on internet with permission