Okay, So Before I Forget . . .

I JUST HAD AN AMAZING DAY! There I said it. Okay, so I just had a super horse-filled day today. We'll go in chronological order, since that's going to make it easier for you to follow my musings and theories.

Firstly, (I wonder if that's a word. . . hmm) I had a lesson with Shirley today. She had me play with a RBI named Ollie. He was a chestnut Morgan, a bit large, although that seems to match his heart. He seems like such a sweetheart. He tries so hard to please. He's a pretty cool guy, and I like him.

Well, I didn't care if this was a riding or ground lesson, so Shirley picked riding, because she said Ollie could use it. We got him all tacked up, then I want to cinch him up 3x, like normal. Did some circles, and squeezes and various things. Shirley has me go through the car wash with him. He had some trouble with it. It took him a while to go through it, but he did eventually. I learned I have to pump up the leadership skills a little bit.

Here's what I wrote to Shirley about my riding part of the lesson:

And I thought I should mention, too, that riding Ollie was very cool. I believe that is the first time in about a year that I've been able to ride a horse without feeling nervous. I think it was just because I wasn't over-thinking it, but still it's a very cool feeling. When I used to take lessons from another trainer, I'd always get nervous getting on the horse, so it was never any fun. I tried sitting on Moose bareback tonight, to see if I felt safe up on him, and I didn't, but our play on the ground more than made up for that. I'm sure once I start riding him in a saddle I'll feel much better, since I think bareback is just intimidating to me right now.

Kind of getting ahead of myself, but yes that's how it felt. I was not scared of being up on him. I didn't feel nervous. Just happy, and wishing I felt confident on lots of horses, so I could ride more often. :) But as I said "our play on the ground more than made up for that."

So, fast forward to later tonight. I went outside by Moosey, went and said hello. Quite ironically, he didn't want to be caught. He does this a lot, where whenever I put the halter over his neck, he throws his head up. So, it wasn't like he left or anything, just being a silly. But once I got the halter on, I took him outside for a while. Well, SUPERB my dear, is how it went. The kind of session where you don't care if that's the closest you ever get to excellence, because that was just incredible. A brief overview:

I played with Moose once I got home, and he did FANTASTIC. Sometimes when I ask Moose to back up or stop, he thinks I want him to turn and face. Well, tonight he didn't, so we were able to play with Zone 3 Driving Game, and when I stopped, he stopped. When I backed, he backed. We even did it from Zone 4! Huge improvement from what he used to do. And it's incredible how little things make such a big difference. Changing my focus from him to where I want him to go made such a big difference. Our yo-yo game is incredible now. He backed to the end of the 22' without me changing my rhythm in Phase 1. And he drew to me from the end of the 22' without me lifting the rope off the ground. Just priceless

He had me jumping up and down a couple of times, and I probably could've given him a bucket full of treats for his performance. Just fantastic. And I didn't mention it in there, but our communication was absolutely incredible, too. I had him doing things from 22' away and he was responding like I was right next to him asking. It was SUCH a cool feeling. And he had slack in the line the entire time he circled me. God, I love him. He's so cool. So, I think we're moving on up, ladies and gents. Passing Level 2, here we come!

But, wait, that's not all, in this incredible offer you also receive the NEC Celebration DVD. I know, to top off a perfect day, the DVD came today, and it is really cool. I'm not far enough into it to talk about what it's about and give a mini-review, but there's a quick 5 minute clip with Linda showing video footage of all 4 horsenalities that is really revealing, and I think should've been put into the Horsenality DVD in the Success Series (SS).

Well, if tomorrow is an extension of today's awesomeness (or not), I'll try to let you know. But until then, g'nite!

Reality Check

Couple of things to talk about. First, I thought everyone should know that Horse.com is currently holding a contest for pictures of your horse and/or you to go on the cover of their magazine. The prize is a $2500 gift card, and pictures are due on May 31, 09. For more information, click here.

Okay, so secondly I wanted to talk about the past few days. Well, I think it was on Friday that I watched the newest Parelli DVD called Solving the Extrovert/Introvert Mismatch (or something similar). Well, I have to say I am VERY impressed. Personally, I think these are the kinds of DVDs that Parelli should have in the Success Series, because this is the kind of stuff I'm looking for/need help with. This really helped answer my questions about how to act around our horses, and how to manage my energy better. I had no idea how different your energy had to be for each horsenality. Slow reactions for Introverts, fast reactions for Extroverts. . . who knew? I was never told that energy changed that much. Also, I learned some more huge pieces of information.

For one thing, RBE's and LBE's have totally different strategies. I have been using some RBE strategies with Dancer, which is actually a very BAD idea. I'm just lucky Dancer isn't as agressive with me as she could have been. See, most Parelli people know that with RBE's you need to use "thanks, I needed that" type things once and while. But I was doing that to Dancer. I would say "Don't do this, don't do that." But with LBE's you dominate them through "You want to ____. Let me help you!" until they run out of ideas. So, it shouldn't be a fight at all! I wish I would've known this months ago!

Thirdly, the DVD showed a very interesting tip for aggressive horses. Linda said when you have an aggressive horse, give them a treat (while they're being dominant), because it'll blow their mind! I have to admit, though, that when I heard her say that it blew my mind too. I was thinking "But, wouldn't that teach them to be aggressive?" I actually had to pause the segment for a moment and think about it. I couldn't reach a conclusion. Well, on it went again. Linda answered my question about a minute later :). She said that horses don't think like that - they can't think that far into the future to plan out that 'being aggressive = treats'. Personally, I'm still a little confused as to how that could be, because horses are very quick to notice that when they ______(insert action), they receive a treat. Oh, well that's another topic.

Fourthly (if that is a word), I had a BFO about our relationship. Unfortunately, I had been being direct-line for the past couple of MONTHS (which is what was causing me to be frustrated and Moosey to be RBI, as I mentioned in previous posts). Poor Moose!! I didn't care about the relationship (albeit I thought I did), and had instead been focusing on making him do the task. Hey, I REALLY REALLY want to reach level 4, you know. :) Well, at least the good news is that I noticed what I was doing and I fixed it. See, I had broken my expectations and attitude. Now, my expectations are nada and my attitude is positively great. Moosey likes it a lot better, too. I took him out yesterday and he was really interested in me and left brain. He even walked to me!

It is still going to take a little while to fully change my timing and be positive, but I'm ready for the change. It's a LOT better than being frustrated. I still am tempted to make him pay attention to me and get after him for things I consider 'disrespectful', but I am determined not to be like that anymore. I should be his sanctuary, his safehouse! Plus, I just have to remember that the people in Level 3 + didn't get there by forcing their horse. They got their by putting the relationship first, and then everything else fell into place.

Progression? I wish. . .

Well, the first 2 days I got Moose I was ecstatic! And boy, do I mean ecstatic!! Oh, man, you should've heard me talking, my mom listened to me blab for about 2 hours on Saturday just saying how brilliant he was and how excited I was to finally have him here. I mean, he followed me back to the stall (without any prompting) after I took his halter off: translation, HE LIKED ME!!!! Oh, I was psyched! After all, Dancer hates me. So, it's nice to feel loved, you know? *

Sunday wasn't as great. Nothing horrible happened or anything, it's just it didn't go as I wanted it to. I got really confused! I mean, I can't tell what his horsenality is and it's driving me nuts! He's a fast learner, smart, mildly mouthy, mildly friendly, and curious (when I saw him in Prairie Du Chien he was non-spooky, and confident, too): LBE traits. But he's also extremely quiet/obedient, a little hesitant, and a little distrustful: RBI traits! So, which one do I treat him as?!?!?! *exasperated sigh* Plus, I was always told that/saw that horses start testing their owners in new environments to see what their limits are. Is it okay if Moose isn't doing that? I know I might be rushing this one, but he seems kind of RBI and not at all dominant! So, that notion is getting me confused, too. But again, I can be patient here: it's only been 4 days, lol!

WELL. . . Monday. . . one word: ugh. Apart from having to go to school, I also managed to ignore my gut feeling. Again. This time it said Moose was unconfident. So, I followed that feeling for a little while and just brushed Moose. Though, that (in my eyes) didn't seem to get anything done. Afterwards, I decided to try some of the games. He won't let me do Friendly (tossing the rope over his back)!!! He was backing up and trying to walk away from me, with a couple of little rears thrown in for emphasis. Of course, as soon as he stopped I stopped. Later, I looked up rearing on the Parelli problems area, and it says horses rear because A) they're being held back or B) they feel trapped or cornered. So, I can conclude that Moose must have felt trapped, RBI, since I wasn't holding him back at all. But if I can't convince him I'm not a threat, then how can I possibly do the rest of the games? And I know his needs are safety, comfort, play, and food. Another little thing I've noticed: when I'm near him on line he won't eat. So does that mean that he's not comfortable, or he's not safe?

And the thing that really got me is that when we went outside later to put some Neosporin on a cut on his back foot, he wouldn't let me :( He started walking away from me!! And it was RB kind of walking away, not like LB dominance. So, "oh boy!"

* Furthermore, I guess I'm just frustrated/sad, because Moose actually liked me for 2 days, and I'm scared of him not liking me! I didn't even realize how much I missed being liked (by horses) until I got him! I mean, Dancer won't let me catch her, and while I won't give up on her it's still extremely disheartening! RBIs seek comfort, remember? So, sorry if I'm rambling. . . Just kind of upset with myself that I don't know how to get the horses to want to be with me. . .