I forgot to add in my last post about how I'm going to fix Moose's bucking reaction. The things I learned will definitely come into play, but I found out I am not the sole responsible party for his reaction. Moose does have a legitimate issue with the girth, not so much the bareback pad, though.
I did approach and retreat with the bareback pad to make sure he didn't have any issues with it. After a little bit, he was pretty relaxed with the pad on, so I didn't think the pad was a problem. So, I had a 22' connected to his halter, and I just wrapped part of the rope around his belly. So, I had control of his head in one hand, and his Z3 in another. I rubbed the rope all around him, to see if that irritated him. I tried getting him to yield towards me with the rope, to give him an out if he felt stuck. Then, I simulated the girth by pulling it taught, then loose, then taught, etc. None of this bugged him like it did the other day. So, with my hands on the same position on the ropes, I decided to see if I could get him to yield forward from the rope on his Z3. As soon as the rope pulled taught, Moose's eyes got huge and he got worried. Actually, he scared me, because I thought he was going to jump forward and run through me or something. I was standing in front of him at the time, because I wanted to lead him forward from Z3, so that put me in a bad position. But at least I found out what the issue is!
Now the only problem is that I can't solve it without buying another 22'. :( My idea is to have him on a 22' line in case he gets scared. And then I want a 22' around his girth area to act like a normal girth. So, first I want to see how much pressure he can take from the 'girth', and if he's out on a circle while I do this, that puts me in a safe position. I'm hoping that doing that will get rid of most of his issue. So, then I can leave leading by Z3 to a time when he's more left-brain and more prepared to follow the feel.
So, that's my genius idea, but seeing as I don't have 2 22' lines, I'm just going to have to experiment with having him on a 22' and then a 12' around his Z3. I'll let you know how it goes.
Showing posts with label Moose. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Moose. Show all posts
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Friday, September 11, 2009
Finding Time for Time
Due to a change in my schedule, I'm not going to be updating as often as I'd like. Things just got a whole lot busier, so free time on computer will be sketchy on most days. I'm not real excited about it, but oh well. :)
Anyways, what have Moose and I been doing lately!? We've just been refreshing from vacation! That's right. Tuesday night was the last night in our longest time without playing ever: 5 days. Oh, I know. . . the horror! I wasn't very happy about it, since I thought that the 5 days off were going to make him forget everything, or something silly like that. :) But surprisingly (to me), when I played with him on Tuesday he was actually the most in tune with me that he's ever been. I wouldn't call it our best day ever, but our communication was definitely subtler than normal. For instance, sometimes when I send him out on a circle, he goes the wrong direction. So, I yo-yo him back to say 'wrong answer.' Then, I kept pointing in the direction I want him to go, and yo-yoing if he went the wrong way. After a few times of going the wrong direction, he would back up from a brisk phase 1. Normally, it's a phase 2 when he makes a mistake, because he obviously thinks that the direction he wants to go is right or he wouldn't be going there, and my suggestion of backing usually takes him by surprise. This time he was paying more attention to me. So, that was kind of cool.
Also, I played yesterday and today, and Moose has actually woken up a little bit. Yesterday, he pinned his ears back a few times when I told him that "no, he cannot come in and needs to circle." And the day before, I sent him and he took off like a lunatic and pulled me off balance. Today, he got a little revved up when I told him that I needed his HQ to yield when I ask, so he was sending with a lot of energy again. There was one other thing he did the other day, but I can't remember what it was. Anyways, I wasn't really sure what to think about all this, because I think my horse has actually found his play drive now! So, now I just have to figure out the line between play and dominance. :0
And right before our little vacation, I got my bareback pad!!! Hip hip horray! It's green and it's Parelli. I sat on it on a barrel and can already feel how the pad gives your seat almost a velcro-like feeling. Since I was so excited to go try it out right when I got it, I went out and got Moose and played some quick Friendly with it and then put it on him. Sent him out for some circles, then brought him in. Tightened up the girth a little. Then, I wanted to play Touch It on some tires we have set up as a pedestal. From there, I wanted him to jump the tires as a pre-flight check. Ready, set, go and we're off to the tires. And only 1 of us ended up getting there, and it wasn't me. Moose blew a gasket, and gallopped off bucking at the same time. He ran around the whole pasture freaking out when he finally stopped near Bella (who, by the way, when she saw Moose freaking out promptly decided the sky was falling and ran around with Moose for all of 8 strides before reaching the decision that running is too much work and stopped on a dime and ate grass like nothing happened) and let me take the bareback pad off. 2 things of note: 1) the bareback pad was in exactly the same position it was in when I did up the cinch the 2nd time. Hmm, how interesting! 2) When I took off the bareback pad the first thing Moose did was yawn about 5 times. To be expected, but I guess that just told me that I need to read my horse better. And so afterwards, I did approach and retreat with the bareback pad and he went back to being my LBI Moose. So, what did I learn from this experience? 1) Don't be direct-line. I was direct-line by going straight to the bareback pad. 2) Don't make assumptions. I assumed Moose would be LBI Moose eand not have an issue with the pad or girth. 3) There is a reason I haven't made a lot of progress with him, so I'm not just being an incompetent human. I was on to something when I pinned him as a LBI with an RBI side, and this means I'm still somewhat right by going slow with him. This proved to me that his RBI side is still in there. I had suspected so, but never proven it until this day. 4) When a RBI's eyes get even a little hard, you just found a threshold. Time for retreat.
And I'm excited now, too, because I might have finally found a saddle! A friend of mine had an old Western saddle in her tack room that was just collecting dust, and said if it fit Moose I could have it. Well, lo and behold, it's black and it's dusty, but it's a Big Horn. :0 So, I tried it on him tonight and it looks a lot better than the other saddle we bought for him. This one is going to need 1 or 2 shims to keep it off his shoulders, because the saddle is tight there, and possibly one in back to keep the weight off the back of the saddle, but it is still a lot nicer. The other saddle I had was an Abetta and it was in better condition, but it just sunk right down on his shoulders, so the saddle would have needed quite a few shims to even be level in the first place. It wouldn't have worked very well. And if this works out, then I even have enough money to buy the Theraflex pad! I love it when a plan come together.
Anyways, what have Moose and I been doing lately!? We've just been refreshing from vacation! That's right. Tuesday night was the last night in our longest time without playing ever: 5 days. Oh, I know. . . the horror! I wasn't very happy about it, since I thought that the 5 days off were going to make him forget everything, or something silly like that. :) But surprisingly (to me), when I played with him on Tuesday he was actually the most in tune with me that he's ever been. I wouldn't call it our best day ever, but our communication was definitely subtler than normal. For instance, sometimes when I send him out on a circle, he goes the wrong direction. So, I yo-yo him back to say 'wrong answer.' Then, I kept pointing in the direction I want him to go, and yo-yoing if he went the wrong way. After a few times of going the wrong direction, he would back up from a brisk phase 1. Normally, it's a phase 2 when he makes a mistake, because he obviously thinks that the direction he wants to go is right or he wouldn't be going there, and my suggestion of backing usually takes him by surprise. This time he was paying more attention to me. So, that was kind of cool.
Also, I played yesterday and today, and Moose has actually woken up a little bit. Yesterday, he pinned his ears back a few times when I told him that "no, he cannot come in and needs to circle." And the day before, I sent him and he took off like a lunatic and pulled me off balance. Today, he got a little revved up when I told him that I needed his HQ to yield when I ask, so he was sending with a lot of energy again. There was one other thing he did the other day, but I can't remember what it was. Anyways, I wasn't really sure what to think about all this, because I think my horse has actually found his play drive now! So, now I just have to figure out the line between play and dominance. :0
And right before our little vacation, I got my bareback pad!!! Hip hip horray! It's green and it's Parelli. I sat on it on a barrel and can already feel how the pad gives your seat almost a velcro-like feeling. Since I was so excited to go try it out right when I got it, I went out and got Moose and played some quick Friendly with it and then put it on him. Sent him out for some circles, then brought him in. Tightened up the girth a little. Then, I wanted to play Touch It on some tires we have set up as a pedestal. From there, I wanted him to jump the tires as a pre-flight check. Ready, set, go and we're off to the tires. And only 1 of us ended up getting there, and it wasn't me. Moose blew a gasket, and gallopped off bucking at the same time. He ran around the whole pasture freaking out when he finally stopped near Bella (who, by the way, when she saw Moose freaking out promptly decided the sky was falling and ran around with Moose for all of 8 strides before reaching the decision that running is too much work and stopped on a dime and ate grass like nothing happened) and let me take the bareback pad off. 2 things of note: 1) the bareback pad was in exactly the same position it was in when I did up the cinch the 2nd time. Hmm, how interesting! 2) When I took off the bareback pad the first thing Moose did was yawn about 5 times. To be expected, but I guess that just told me that I need to read my horse better. And so afterwards, I did approach and retreat with the bareback pad and he went back to being my LBI Moose. So, what did I learn from this experience? 1) Don't be direct-line. I was direct-line by going straight to the bareback pad. 2) Don't make assumptions. I assumed Moose would be LBI Moose eand not have an issue with the pad or girth. 3) There is a reason I haven't made a lot of progress with him, so I'm not just being an incompetent human. I was on to something when I pinned him as a LBI with an RBI side, and this means I'm still somewhat right by going slow with him. This proved to me that his RBI side is still in there. I had suspected so, but never proven it until this day. 4) When a RBI's eyes get even a little hard, you just found a threshold. Time for retreat.
And I'm excited now, too, because I might have finally found a saddle! A friend of mine had an old Western saddle in her tack room that was just collecting dust, and said if it fit Moose I could have it. Well, lo and behold, it's black and it's dusty, but it's a Big Horn. :0 So, I tried it on him tonight and it looks a lot better than the other saddle we bought for him. This one is going to need 1 or 2 shims to keep it off his shoulders, because the saddle is tight there, and possibly one in back to keep the weight off the back of the saddle, but it is still a lot nicer. The other saddle I had was an Abetta and it was in better condition, but it just sunk right down on his shoulders, so the saddle would have needed quite a few shims to even be level in the first place. It wouldn't have worked very well. And if this works out, then I even have enough money to buy the Theraflex pad! I love it when a plan come together.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
The Definition of Leadership
I just audited a level 2/3 clinic by Dave Ellis today - details about the clinic in another post - but I had to talk about my play session with Moose when I got home. He did INCREDIBLE!!!!!!! :-) Like I seriously think that was the best I've ever (so consequently, the best HE's) played.
I was a leader. I didn't think my way through it. I made it simple just like Dave kept repeating: "Make the right thing easy and the wrong thing difficult. That's all it is." And I did just that. I said Moose, let's do this. Moose, let's do that. And I tried doing lots of stuff with the same attitude. "Hey, I didn't ask you to do that." "Honey, I need you to try it." "Thanks for offering, but I want you to do ______ instead." And he woke up like I had slapped him in the face.
I didn't worry about things like I normally do. For instance, whenever I got particular in the past, Moose would start running off in the Circling Game. So, I would say "Well, I must've been too particular with him, and I just need to go slower." This time, I didn't conclude that I'd been too particular. I just said "Don't run off! Don't walk! Don't canter! Just trot." And after 2 laps of gallopping off, then stopping and looking at me, then cantering, then looking at me, then cantering, he got it and gave me a lap of trotting, so I stopped and rewarded him. I just made the wrong thing difficult. "You want to canter? That's great, but right now we're trotting." His Circling got a lot better, too, with the go - woah exercise Dave played with the mule. I just sent Moose off, then immediately looked at his HQ to disengage. Of course, he had going on the brain, so I said "Don't run off, just stop." And so he stopped, and then I sent him and he took off again, and we repeated the same thing over again. Took him like 3 sends before he figured out that just-getting-the-heck-outta-there when I send made it really hard to yield his hindquarters.
But the biggest breakthrough is yet to come. Moose has trouble putting his foot on/in things. If I ask him to put it inside a tire, he won't do it. He always puts it around, and I've gotten him to put it in/on, but he's never offered anything and it took a while. Well, I mentioned this in an older post that we have 2 tractor tires full of dirt right next to each other which can serve as a pedestal/jump/mounting block. Well, he's had issues jumping it, so I wanted to give it a try today. He jumped it fine one way after a few re-sends. Then, I tried the other way, and after a few re-sends, he started pawing the dirt in the tire. So, I let him, since that's progress. Then, I sent him again, and he actually stood on the dirt!!!! That's HUGE!!!!!!!!! Like I was crying tears of joy good, and doing cartwheels good and running-out-of-treats-to-feed-him good. I was so impressed. . . I even unhaltered him standing up there (after I knew that he wasn't going to jump down on me, though). A very ecstatic moment . . . I just had to share! Savvy on! :P
I was a leader. I didn't think my way through it. I made it simple just like Dave kept repeating: "Make the right thing easy and the wrong thing difficult. That's all it is." And I did just that. I said Moose, let's do this. Moose, let's do that. And I tried doing lots of stuff with the same attitude. "Hey, I didn't ask you to do that." "Honey, I need you to try it." "Thanks for offering, but I want you to do ______ instead." And he woke up like I had slapped him in the face.
I didn't worry about things like I normally do. For instance, whenever I got particular in the past, Moose would start running off in the Circling Game. So, I would say "Well, I must've been too particular with him, and I just need to go slower." This time, I didn't conclude that I'd been too particular. I just said "Don't run off! Don't walk! Don't canter! Just trot." And after 2 laps of gallopping off, then stopping and looking at me, then cantering, then looking at me, then cantering, he got it and gave me a lap of trotting, so I stopped and rewarded him. I just made the wrong thing difficult. "You want to canter? That's great, but right now we're trotting." His Circling got a lot better, too, with the go - woah exercise Dave played with the mule. I just sent Moose off, then immediately looked at his HQ to disengage. Of course, he had going on the brain, so I said "Don't run off, just stop." And so he stopped, and then I sent him and he took off again, and we repeated the same thing over again. Took him like 3 sends before he figured out that just-getting-the-heck-outta-there when I send made it really hard to yield his hindquarters.
But the biggest breakthrough is yet to come. Moose has trouble putting his foot on/in things. If I ask him to put it inside a tire, he won't do it. He always puts it around, and I've gotten him to put it in/on, but he's never offered anything and it took a while. Well, I mentioned this in an older post that we have 2 tractor tires full of dirt right next to each other which can serve as a pedestal/jump/mounting block. Well, he's had issues jumping it, so I wanted to give it a try today. He jumped it fine one way after a few re-sends. Then, I tried the other way, and after a few re-sends, he started pawing the dirt in the tire. So, I let him, since that's progress. Then, I sent him again, and he actually stood on the dirt!!!! That's HUGE!!!!!!!!! Like I was crying tears of joy good, and doing cartwheels good and running-out-of-treats-to-feed-him good. I was so impressed. . . I even unhaltered him standing up there (after I knew that he wasn't going to jump down on me, though). A very ecstatic moment . . . I just had to share! Savvy on! :P
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Zap In The Face
I went out today to go apologize to Moose yesterday, and so wanted to have a little fun day today. I hid treats around the pasture on various items so we could play with our Touch It becoming a little better, and get him interested at the same time.
So, we started out, and he wouldn't put his nose on anything. Being in a better mood today than in our session yesterday (and stopping my leadership experiment, BTW), I just noticed this and kept on trucking instead of getting emotional. Well, after he discovered a treat inside a tractor tire I had him touch, he started investigating the objects a little more. Score! So, I took him to another tractor tire where the treat was balanced precariously - in retrospect, this was stupidity on my part - on the tire (it's at a funny angle). He noticed it was there after a second, and knocked it on the grass. Upon trying to retrieve it, he got stung by a bee on his nose!!! Then, he gets into a mad rush to itch his nose on anything within walking distance. And by pure chance, Bella is close by. So, he rubs himself all over her and Bella of course retaliates with a kick, but she missed him.
So, first time I've ever had a horse get stung and hopefully the last. I've got to say that I wasn't really sure what to do in that situation: I just let him go itch, because I'm sure it didn't feel good, but should I have become more of a leader and said "I'm more important than your itch?" Just something to ponder.
After that, things went alright, but the bee ruined his good mood. He no longer investigated anything, so I felt bad that just when he started to become brave it got knocked out of him. And he got extremely bugged-out after that, too. Every time I asked him to go touch the next obstacle, he'd start tossing his head. And if any bug came on him, he stopped thinking for a second, and then had to itch.
And to top things off, Bella was feeling a little RBE because of how windy it was today, so after Moose got stung he tuned right into her mood. So, a very strange day, but not necessarily bad in my opinion. We'll see what he thinks about me tomorrow.
So, we started out, and he wouldn't put his nose on anything. Being in a better mood today than in our session yesterday (and stopping my leadership experiment, BTW), I just noticed this and kept on trucking instead of getting emotional. Well, after he discovered a treat inside a tractor tire I had him touch, he started investigating the objects a little more. Score! So, I took him to another tractor tire where the treat was balanced precariously - in retrospect, this was stupidity on my part - on the tire (it's at a funny angle). He noticed it was there after a second, and knocked it on the grass. Upon trying to retrieve it, he got stung by a bee on his nose!!! Then, he gets into a mad rush to itch his nose on anything within walking distance. And by pure chance, Bella is close by. So, he rubs himself all over her and Bella of course retaliates with a kick, but she missed him.
So, first time I've ever had a horse get stung and hopefully the last. I've got to say that I wasn't really sure what to do in that situation: I just let him go itch, because I'm sure it didn't feel good, but should I have become more of a leader and said "I'm more important than your itch?" Just something to ponder.
After that, things went alright, but the bee ruined his good mood. He no longer investigated anything, so I felt bad that just when he started to become brave it got knocked out of him. And he got extremely bugged-out after that, too. Every time I asked him to go touch the next obstacle, he'd start tossing his head. And if any bug came on him, he stopped thinking for a second, and then had to itch.
And to top things off, Bella was feeling a little RBE because of how windy it was today, so after Moose got stung he tuned right into her mood. So, a very strange day, but not necessarily bad in my opinion. We'll see what he thinks about me tomorrow.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Life Goes On
First of all, I thought I'd re-do our ponies' horsenalities, so you can see where they're at.
[caption id="attachment_636" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="Although it may not look like it from this chart, I've been thinking lately that Bella is innately LBI."]
[/caption]
And on that note, we are now one pony short. After around 10 years of boarding at our house, Dancer is no longer with us. Don't worry, she's alive! Her owner always wanted to have Dancer at her house, and her dream finally became a reality this year. I'm sad to see her go, but I'm happy for her owner! :)
[caption id="attachment_636" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="Although it may not look like it from this chart, I've been thinking lately that Bella is innately LBI."]
[/caption]And on that note, we are now one pony short. After around 10 years of boarding at our house, Dancer is no longer with us. Don't worry, she's alive! Her owner always wanted to have Dancer at her house, and her dream finally became a reality this year. I'm sad to see her go, but I'm happy for her owner! :)
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
The After-Affects and a Well-Deserved Lesson
So, I've been playing with Moose and things have gone pretty well since Shirley was here! Jumping things is pretty much a non-issue now as long as I prepare him. We had the best circling game I've ever gotten yesterday: his transitions were almost all from a phase 1. He even reared up once, so maybe he's having some fun, too. :)
And yesterday, I got 2 steps of backing by the tail with no help from the lead rope at all! I was so impressed with him that we ended our session on that.
Our figure-8 was really good, too. Moose has done a lot better with that since I started thinking in terms of making a really BIG figure-8, and then making it smaller as we refine it. So, yesterday we did our figure-8 and it was pretty good, but he went around one time and I asked him to yield his HQ, and he didn't. So, I popped him with a phase 4. You should have seen the look on his face! His attitude became "Yes, ma'am!" after that, and he couldn't stop staring at me. It's nice to blow their minds once and while, you know?
And we've figured something out about Bella. In the new Level 1 kit, there's a scene in the Squeeze Game segment showing a girl and her black horse doing a squeeze, and Linda goes and helps the girl out because she's being too passive. Well, that girl and horse is like my mom and Bella.
So, I went outside today intending to play with Bella based on that realization, and she cooperated for a while . . . until she took off like a shot in Circling Game and ran around like a loony for a minute. Once I got her back, my brain was thinking like crazy. What just happened? Why did she do that? I only asked her to trot. . . okay, so maybe me asking her to trot is too much pressure for her, because she starts to pull on the rope when I ask her to trot. But would that cause her to take off like that? Obviously it did, so . . . WAIT. . . was she feeling unsafe? She was calm, so she must be lacking trust then. . . hmm. . .
With this episode firmly in mind (and believe me, this isn't the first time she has fled from me), I decided that I wasn't going to repeat history again. I've gotta change what I'm doing. So, might as well start with an open mind and as I recently learned, just do something. So, I decided that in that instance she lacked trust, and that throwing a phase 4 at her just blew her up.
So, I completely changed my approach by starting with the Circling Game again, and this time treating her like an RBI. "You want to come in? Oh, that's fine, come here. Good girl. Now, back out you go, so I can send you again."She started asking me questions, so that was a good sign. Her Circling Game got completely broken, though, but I just laughed at her. I mean, seriously, what horse can't WALK even 1/4 of a circle without stopping?!? Lol, she's so funny.
Afterwards, I started massaging her mouth, because she keeps her lips so tight, and today was supposed to be worming day, but I've created a program that will work her up to it instead of just being direct-line. 4-7 sessions of massaging her lips and stopping when she really relaxes. It'd be cool if she'd let me hold her tongue, too. Moose let me do that before.
Overall, I've gotta say that Bella really reminded me about the true meaning of "It's about the relationship." I could've forced her to do circles and take the wormer, but after she took off I was conscious of putting the relationship first. So, I thank her for the lesson. It was well-deserved, because horses don't lie.
I wanted to add this in here, too, quick. Other evidence that I might be on the right track: she likes my mom more than me, even though my mom is (no offense) on the passive side; on most days, she rarely licks her lips; she's spooky; she's the type of horse that trusts people easily at a base level, but is hard to get her full trust (versus a horse that won't trust you at all, but then trusts you completely when they do); and she rarely tries to be dominant.
Well, I don't know if my efforts will be successful or not, but I'll keep you posted on my progress with Moose and Bella over the next week.
And yesterday, I got 2 steps of backing by the tail with no help from the lead rope at all! I was so impressed with him that we ended our session on that.
Our figure-8 was really good, too. Moose has done a lot better with that since I started thinking in terms of making a really BIG figure-8, and then making it smaller as we refine it. So, yesterday we did our figure-8 and it was pretty good, but he went around one time and I asked him to yield his HQ, and he didn't. So, I popped him with a phase 4. You should have seen the look on his face! His attitude became "Yes, ma'am!" after that, and he couldn't stop staring at me. It's nice to blow their minds once and while, you know?
And we've figured something out about Bella. In the new Level 1 kit, there's a scene in the Squeeze Game segment showing a girl and her black horse doing a squeeze, and Linda goes and helps the girl out because she's being too passive. Well, that girl and horse is like my mom and Bella.
So, I went outside today intending to play with Bella based on that realization, and she cooperated for a while . . . until she took off like a shot in Circling Game and ran around like a loony for a minute. Once I got her back, my brain was thinking like crazy. What just happened? Why did she do that? I only asked her to trot. . . okay, so maybe me asking her to trot is too much pressure for her, because she starts to pull on the rope when I ask her to trot. But would that cause her to take off like that? Obviously it did, so . . . WAIT. . . was she feeling unsafe? She was calm, so she must be lacking trust then. . . hmm. . .
With this episode firmly in mind (and believe me, this isn't the first time she has fled from me), I decided that I wasn't going to repeat history again. I've gotta change what I'm doing. So, might as well start with an open mind and as I recently learned, just do something. So, I decided that in that instance she lacked trust, and that throwing a phase 4 at her just blew her up.
So, I completely changed my approach by starting with the Circling Game again, and this time treating her like an RBI. "You want to come in? Oh, that's fine, come here. Good girl. Now, back out you go, so I can send you again."She started asking me questions, so that was a good sign. Her Circling Game got completely broken, though, but I just laughed at her. I mean, seriously, what horse can't WALK even 1/4 of a circle without stopping?!? Lol, she's so funny.
Afterwards, I started massaging her mouth, because she keeps her lips so tight, and today was supposed to be worming day, but I've created a program that will work her up to it instead of just being direct-line. 4-7 sessions of massaging her lips and stopping when she really relaxes. It'd be cool if she'd let me hold her tongue, too. Moose let me do that before.
Overall, I've gotta say that Bella really reminded me about the true meaning of "It's about the relationship." I could've forced her to do circles and take the wormer, but after she took off I was conscious of putting the relationship first. So, I thank her for the lesson. It was well-deserved, because horses don't lie.
I wanted to add this in here, too, quick. Other evidence that I might be on the right track: she likes my mom more than me, even though my mom is (no offense) on the passive side; on most days, she rarely licks her lips; she's spooky; she's the type of horse that trusts people easily at a base level, but is hard to get her full trust (versus a horse that won't trust you at all, but then trusts you completely when they do); and she rarely tries to be dominant.
Well, I don't know if my efforts will be successful or not, but I'll keep you posted on my progress with Moose and Bella over the next week.
Friday, July 17, 2009
Honey, I need you to do this
My lesson with Shirley on Wednesday went great! I learned SOO much, it was completely worth it.
Anyways, my lesson was the first one (of 3 total). I decided that I wanted to work on our Circling Game, because Moose can't even make it around half a lap at the WALK before calling it quits. So, Shirley had me show her our HQ driving game first off. I moved his HQ around, and it moved fine, but she pointed out that his feet don't cross over like they should. So, our goal was to get him to cross over 3x in a row. He would do 2x just fine, but he'd cheat on the 3rd, so we ended up going round and round and round for whoever knows how many circles. We did it from both sides, so I'm sure Moose was dizzy by the time we were done.
Afterwards, I showed her our circles. And interestingly enough, Moose took off like a shot when I sent him the first time (he isn't used to having so particular of a leader, so I think it was too much pressure for him), and ran around like a nut for a little while. (I don't remember the exact order of things after this, just an fyi). I also wanted to play with having Moose jump some barrels, because I could never get him to jump anything. So, while he's running around and not really thinking, he eventually encounters the barrels. At first, he'd swerve around them, then he'd jump them unconfidently, then he'd stop in front of them and ask me a question, so it was a process.
Shirley played with him for a little bit when he was in this mode (it's not RBE like "I'm gonna die!!", it's more like "can't think, gotta move!"), but I ran in to get some fly spray at that time. When I saw him again, she was playing with yielding his hindquarters.
Then, we did sideways. I'm just starting sideways, so he did pretty well. Then, I showed her my squeeze and we combined the two. I did sideways, and then backed up and did squeeze. Once I got the feel down, Moose did really well. Shirley commented that this exercise is great for horses to learn where their feet are, and to be a little more nimble. I could see his progress, too, because when we started with the HQ driving game, he kept tripping on himself.
Now, I think we did our circling game again along with jumping the barrels. He was circling at the trot without breaking gait, and even jumping the barrels without hesitation! It was wonderful. And he was pulling on me less than the first time, too.
Then, we did Stick to Me, and once Shirley had him go between me and our round pen fence, it got WAY better. He understood to go when I go, and stop when I stop. It was so cool to see him mirror me like that!
And I was pretty surprised by this, but Shirley told me that Moose is not an RBI. She thinks he's actually an LBI, just a pretty mild one. She said half-way through my lesson that she hadn't seen him go Right Brain once during this whole thing! So, I guess I do have to more forward more. I was always going slow for him, because I wante to keep his confidence.
Here's what I learned:
Afterwards, 2 other friends had their lessons. Dancer's owner Lisa went first and it was nice to see what Shirley had them do. They started out with Circling Game, too, and then spent the remainder of their time working on Sideways game. Dancer is very dominant, and Shirley had Lisa assert her leadership, but it was a gradual thing versus just fight through it. So, from that session I learned that passive persistence pays off and the importance of defending your space.
Then, another friend named Lisa had a lesson. But in this one, Shirley played with the horse the whole time, but that's because the horse was an untrained 2 year old. The theme of this lesson was that you can't keep babying these horses (see link). Yes, they're untrained. Yes, some of them are untouched. But you have to move past that and treat them like normal horses. Of course, you have to be cautious, but you still have to act like the calm, confident, competent leader that they need.
And a friend took some pictures of Moose and I, so they will be added to this post as soon as I get them!
Anyways, my lesson was the first one (of 3 total). I decided that I wanted to work on our Circling Game, because Moose can't even make it around half a lap at the WALK before calling it quits. So, Shirley had me show her our HQ driving game first off. I moved his HQ around, and it moved fine, but she pointed out that his feet don't cross over like they should. So, our goal was to get him to cross over 3x in a row. He would do 2x just fine, but he'd cheat on the 3rd, so we ended up going round and round and round for whoever knows how many circles. We did it from both sides, so I'm sure Moose was dizzy by the time we were done.
Afterwards, I showed her our circles. And interestingly enough, Moose took off like a shot when I sent him the first time (he isn't used to having so particular of a leader, so I think it was too much pressure for him), and ran around like a nut for a little while. (I don't remember the exact order of things after this, just an fyi). I also wanted to play with having Moose jump some barrels, because I could never get him to jump anything. So, while he's running around and not really thinking, he eventually encounters the barrels. At first, he'd swerve around them, then he'd jump them unconfidently, then he'd stop in front of them and ask me a question, so it was a process.
Shirley played with him for a little bit when he was in this mode (it's not RBE like "I'm gonna die!!", it's more like "can't think, gotta move!"), but I ran in to get some fly spray at that time. When I saw him again, she was playing with yielding his hindquarters.
Then, we did sideways. I'm just starting sideways, so he did pretty well. Then, I showed her my squeeze and we combined the two. I did sideways, and then backed up and did squeeze. Once I got the feel down, Moose did really well. Shirley commented that this exercise is great for horses to learn where their feet are, and to be a little more nimble. I could see his progress, too, because when we started with the HQ driving game, he kept tripping on himself.
Now, I think we did our circling game again along with jumping the barrels. He was circling at the trot without breaking gait, and even jumping the barrels without hesitation! It was wonderful. And he was pulling on me less than the first time, too.
Then, we did Stick to Me, and once Shirley had him go between me and our round pen fence, it got WAY better. He understood to go when I go, and stop when I stop. It was so cool to see him mirror me like that!
And I was pretty surprised by this, but Shirley told me that Moose is not an RBI. She thinks he's actually an LBI, just a pretty mild one. She said half-way through my lesson that she hadn't seen him go Right Brain once during this whole thing! So, I guess I do have to more forward more. I was always going slow for him, because I wante to keep his confidence.
Here's what I learned:
- The title was the theme of all the lessons today
- It's okay to have expectations for Moose
- I need to be a better leader and get Moose through his can't think phase, instead of avoiding it
- Every horse needs a leader, even the self-confident/dominant ones
- It's not rocket science!
- Your horse will show the same amount of enthusiasm that you put in.
Afterwards, 2 other friends had their lessons. Dancer's owner Lisa went first and it was nice to see what Shirley had them do. They started out with Circling Game, too, and then spent the remainder of their time working on Sideways game. Dancer is very dominant, and Shirley had Lisa assert her leadership, but it was a gradual thing versus just fight through it. So, from that session I learned that passive persistence pays off and the importance of defending your space.
Then, another friend named Lisa had a lesson. But in this one, Shirley played with the horse the whole time, but that's because the horse was an untrained 2 year old. The theme of this lesson was that you can't keep babying these horses (see link). Yes, they're untrained. Yes, some of them are untouched. But you have to move past that and treat them like normal horses. Of course, you have to be cautious, but you still have to act like the calm, confident, competent leader that they need.
And a friend took some pictures of Moose and I, so they will be added to this post as soon as I get them!
Thursday, July 9, 2009
7 years ago . . . And now
7 years ago. . . I never knew Moose existed. I've now owned him for 10 months. And guess what happened a few days ago!?! Moose's old owner called us! It turns out 7 years ago Moose was owned by a lady named Stephanie in Dubuque, Iowa:
[googlemaps http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=dubuque+iowa&sll=42.187883,-91.881592&sspn=175.05107,360&ie=UTF8&ll=42.795401,-90.43396&spn=1.410774,2.334595&z=8&output=embed&w=425&h=350]
She was kind enough to tell us a little about how she got him. As I said above, she owned him since he was 7 (he's 14 now). Technically, she co-owned him. It was her and her friend, and they both did different things with him. She did mostly dressage and eventing, and her friend was into hunter/jumper. So, he did a variety of things. She had him for 5 years . . . Eventually, her friend -and co-owner- decided to move to Florida. So, they decided to just donate Moose to a children's farm in Prairie Du Chien instead of going through all the hassle of selling him (they didn't want their friendship ruined over a horse).
And if all you blog readers think back far enough (or cheat and read the older posts), you'd know that I picked up Moose from Prairie Du Chien. So, I've got the past 7 years of Moose's life figured out. He was at Stephanie's, then at a children's farm, then at his previous owner's, and now here. And since I'm not planning on selling him anytime soon, it's my hope that he has a forever home with me. :)
Now, onto other news! The round pen is completely finished. I promise I'll put up pictures. Just got to bring a camera outside for once. Dancer and Bella have changed their attitude towards me a little bit, in a good way! They like me better now, which is always good.
Moosey and I are doing well. I'm suffering through a case of Mental Block, though. I'm running out of things to do on-line in L1, and now I don't know how to teach him (and myself) Level 2 On-line. So, I think I'm going to be watching the new L2 kit from the library again. Hopefully, that should help!
And I actually got to teach Moose to play sideways game for the first sucessful time ever today! (Tried in the past, and it didn't work. He was scared of the electric fence). He's still an unconfident learner, but if I just take it slow, he does a LOT better. And I realized another key to success with him, is to WAIT after I do anything that should make him think. I noticed a long time ago that he doesn't lick his lips much, but I came to the realization recently that that is because I'm not providing him with enough time to think. And I got one full lap of Circling Game at the trot today! Gotta love the little successes.
Oh, and I sat on Moose today again, too. And he was relaxed about it. That's a pretty sweet achievement for us both, because then maybe I can start getting over my unconfidence of riding him!
And something else even: I am now going to be playing with another lady's horses, because she doesn't have enough time to play with them herself. She does Parelli, so almost all the horses know it. And there is horsenalities abound! I went by her place yesterday to meet her, so I haven't played with anyone yet, but it's going to be very cool. She has Rocky Mountains, Quarters, 2 Perlinos, a yearling, one horse that is blind in its left eye, a Standardbred that trots faster than some horses gallop, a Quarter that's smoother than her gaited hroses, a dwarf cat, and even a cat named Smokin' 22!! If I remember correctly, she has 13 horses. It's going to be very fun! I'm pretty excited.
[googlemaps http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=dubuque+iowa&sll=42.187883,-91.881592&sspn=175.05107,360&ie=UTF8&ll=42.795401,-90.43396&spn=1.410774,2.334595&z=8&output=embed&w=425&h=350]
She was kind enough to tell us a little about how she got him. As I said above, she owned him since he was 7 (he's 14 now). Technically, she co-owned him. It was her and her friend, and they both did different things with him. She did mostly dressage and eventing, and her friend was into hunter/jumper. So, he did a variety of things. She had him for 5 years . . . Eventually, her friend -and co-owner- decided to move to Florida. So, they decided to just donate Moose to a children's farm in Prairie Du Chien instead of going through all the hassle of selling him (they didn't want their friendship ruined over a horse).
And if all you blog readers think back far enough (or cheat and read the older posts), you'd know that I picked up Moose from Prairie Du Chien. So, I've got the past 7 years of Moose's life figured out. He was at Stephanie's, then at a children's farm, then at his previous owner's, and now here. And since I'm not planning on selling him anytime soon, it's my hope that he has a forever home with me. :)
Now, onto other news! The round pen is completely finished. I promise I'll put up pictures. Just got to bring a camera outside for once. Dancer and Bella have changed their attitude towards me a little bit, in a good way! They like me better now, which is always good.
Moosey and I are doing well. I'm suffering through a case of Mental Block, though. I'm running out of things to do on-line in L1, and now I don't know how to teach him (and myself) Level 2 On-line. So, I think I'm going to be watching the new L2 kit from the library again. Hopefully, that should help!
And I actually got to teach Moose to play sideways game for the first sucessful time ever today! (Tried in the past, and it didn't work. He was scared of the electric fence). He's still an unconfident learner, but if I just take it slow, he does a LOT better. And I realized another key to success with him, is to WAIT after I do anything that should make him think. I noticed a long time ago that he doesn't lick his lips much, but I came to the realization recently that that is because I'm not providing him with enough time to think. And I got one full lap of Circling Game at the trot today! Gotta love the little successes.
Oh, and I sat on Moose today again, too. And he was relaxed about it. That's a pretty sweet achievement for us both, because then maybe I can start getting over my unconfidence of riding him!
And something else even: I am now going to be playing with another lady's horses, because she doesn't have enough time to play with them herself. She does Parelli, so almost all the horses know it. And there is horsenalities abound! I went by her place yesterday to meet her, so I haven't played with anyone yet, but it's going to be very cool. She has Rocky Mountains, Quarters, 2 Perlinos, a yearling, one horse that is blind in its left eye, a Standardbred that trots faster than some horses gallop, a Quarter that's smoother than her gaited hroses, a dwarf cat, and even a cat named Smokin' 22!! If I remember correctly, she has 13 horses. It's going to be very fun! I'm pretty excited.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Slow Progression
Since most of you are probably wondering about Bella, I figured I'd start with her first. She's doing alright. We have some painkiller paste to give her and she tried to resist it today, which is actually a good sign! And she's standing up more often. So, she's making progress, slowly but surely. And by the way, I found more information about tying-up, so click here if you want to know more.
About Moosey, I had a GREAT play session on Tuesday. Sorry haven't written about it yet, but Bella took priority. Anyways, on one of my older posts, I talked about the April DVD. Well, on Tuesday I tried using my new found knowledge with Moose! And it was spectacular!
I tried playing the Catching Game, and it worked okay. He was not as interested in me as the LBI on the April DVD, but I wasn't expecting him to. Anyways, he followed me after a little while of moving the HQ, so then I haltered up. I decided to play the Circling Game. My focus the whole times was on keeping my energy/reactions really low/slow. Within a couple minutes, Moose licked his lips! He followed my directions flawlessly, too, and that's been something we've struggled with. Plus, he blew behind me, too. I was thrilled! So, he did half a circle, and then I quit.
About a week ago, we put in 2 tractor tires full of dirt to be pedestals. I wanted Moosey to take a look at them. So, I started walking towards the tires, still with low energy but an intention to go there. Moose passed me up, so I turned around 180 degrees and walked the other way. He passed me again, so I turned around again. And this kept up for a little while. But then, interestingly enough, Moose started following me perfectly when we went away from the tires. I couldn't get him to pass me, so I had to cheat and start throwing in stops. I was actually excited when he went in front of me, because then I can go back to my tires! But after a little while, the stops didn't catch him up, so I started jogging making him trot. Again, he passed me a few times, but he learned the game plan pretty quick. He was preventing me from going to the tires, how interesting!
So, I trotted him a little further away from the tires, and then he started coming off adrenaline. I immediately stopped and took the halter off. This was the fastest EVER he's came off adrenaline, because I'd guess I was only with him for about 20 minutes.
Then, I went to play with Bella, but Moose followed me. So, I haltered him again and took him outside to graze for a while. Outside the pasture, Moose was actually more confident and sensitive. He was being picky about where he ate, for instance, so he was thinking. And he cocked his hind leg, which is the 1st time he's ever done that outside.
But the next day was fabulous, I went outside and Moose started walking to me. He followed me around the whole pasture! I just ignored him, and went by the other horses, and just walked around and looked at stuff. He followed me all over with ears forward! I was elated! This is the first time he's been so attached to me. Even when he decided he'd had enough (because I just wanted to spend UD time that day) and went to go graze, I walked over by the water buckets and he changed his mind and came back to me.
It was so cool, and I really learned that energy has a huge impact on horses. I hope our relationship continues like this, and I hope Bella gets better.
Ta-ta for now!
About Moosey, I had a GREAT play session on Tuesday. Sorry haven't written about it yet, but Bella took priority. Anyways, on one of my older posts, I talked about the April DVD. Well, on Tuesday I tried using my new found knowledge with Moose! And it was spectacular!
I tried playing the Catching Game, and it worked okay. He was not as interested in me as the LBI on the April DVD, but I wasn't expecting him to. Anyways, he followed me after a little while of moving the HQ, so then I haltered up. I decided to play the Circling Game. My focus the whole times was on keeping my energy/reactions really low/slow. Within a couple minutes, Moose licked his lips! He followed my directions flawlessly, too, and that's been something we've struggled with. Plus, he blew behind me, too. I was thrilled! So, he did half a circle, and then I quit.
About a week ago, we put in 2 tractor tires full of dirt to be pedestals. I wanted Moosey to take a look at them. So, I started walking towards the tires, still with low energy but an intention to go there. Moose passed me up, so I turned around 180 degrees and walked the other way. He passed me again, so I turned around again. And this kept up for a little while. But then, interestingly enough, Moose started following me perfectly when we went away from the tires. I couldn't get him to pass me, so I had to cheat and start throwing in stops. I was actually excited when he went in front of me, because then I can go back to my tires! But after a little while, the stops didn't catch him up, so I started jogging making him trot. Again, he passed me a few times, but he learned the game plan pretty quick. He was preventing me from going to the tires, how interesting!
So, I trotted him a little further away from the tires, and then he started coming off adrenaline. I immediately stopped and took the halter off. This was the fastest EVER he's came off adrenaline, because I'd guess I was only with him for about 20 minutes.
Then, I went to play with Bella, but Moose followed me. So, I haltered him again and took him outside to graze for a while. Outside the pasture, Moose was actually more confident and sensitive. He was being picky about where he ate, for instance, so he was thinking. And he cocked his hind leg, which is the 1st time he's ever done that outside.
But the next day was fabulous, I went outside and Moose started walking to me. He followed me around the whole pasture! I just ignored him, and went by the other horses, and just walked around and looked at stuff. He followed me all over with ears forward! I was elated! This is the first time he's been so attached to me. Even when he decided he'd had enough (because I just wanted to spend UD time that day) and went to go graze, I walked over by the water buckets and he changed his mind and came back to me.
It was so cool, and I really learned that energy has a huge impact on horses. I hope our relationship continues like this, and I hope Bella gets better.
Ta-ta for now!
Thursday, May 7, 2009
And I Almost Forgot . . .
Moosey turned 14 on April 18th. A little late, yes, I know. But hey, better late than never. Happy Belated B-day, Moosey!
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.
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.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Confuzzling Day
Horses are so ridiculous! I played with Moosey today, it was good overall. It didn't start out very well, though. I decided to use the 22' line today, since I haven't used it for a month or two. Apparently, having that extra rope says to my predator side "Make that horse move," because Moose started having lots of opposition, and then just ran off. Since he seemed to be on adrenaline, I decided to really make him use it this time. We did Falling Leaf all over the pasture, and he even worked up a sweat (silly, out-of-shape pony)!
I wasn't sure if he had calmed down completely yet, so I let him in to check. He seemed fine, since he came off adrenaline a little bit. I let him get a drink then, too. I thought about ending the session right there - I was starting to feel frustrated again, because of this darn adrenaline thing - but changed my mind. I figured we should do one more thing first. Just then, my mom walked up. I talked to her for a few minutes, and observed that Moose looked LB! And that means that I was actually doing things right, which halted the frustration in its tracks.
Next, I tried Stick to Me. We haven't done it in a while, and I needed something to do, so what the heck? It went AMAZING! I was so impressed, because as soon as he understood he was supposed to stay near me, he did superb!! We walked and trotted around together like we were joined at the hip. So proud of my man! :)
But I'm not going to get too hyped up yet. I need to see Moose's reaction to me tomorrow, since it's his opinion that counts, after all. My fingers are crossed. . .
I wasn't sure if he had calmed down completely yet, so I let him in to check. He seemed fine, since he came off adrenaline a little bit. I let him get a drink then, too. I thought about ending the session right there - I was starting to feel frustrated again, because of this darn adrenaline thing - but changed my mind. I figured we should do one more thing first. Just then, my mom walked up. I talked to her for a few minutes, and observed that Moose looked LB! And that means that I was actually doing things right, which halted the frustration in its tracks.
Next, I tried Stick to Me. We haven't done it in a while, and I needed something to do, so what the heck? It went AMAZING! I was so impressed, because as soon as he understood he was supposed to stay near me, he did superb!! We walked and trotted around together like we were joined at the hip. So proud of my man! :)
But I'm not going to get too hyped up yet. I need to see Moose's reaction to me tomorrow, since it's his opinion that counts, after all. My fingers are crossed. . .
Friday, March 6, 2009
The Missing Puzzle Piece
You've done it before. Almost everyone has in one form or another. Say you're putting a a puzzle together, and you have it all finished except for 2 spots left. After looking at the remaining pieces, you realize that you only have 1 piece left. Oh boy!
Or let's say you're shopping at your favorite store. You just checked out all your merchandise, and head out of the store. Upon reaching your care, you find that you lost your keys! Time for emotional fitness.
Well, of course not having something that you need stinks, but at least in these scenarios you find out exactly what you're missing pretty quickly! Because I can't say this is exactly 'quick' on my part, and poor Moose will be receiving lots of hugs/carrots because of it. The 'it' I'm referring to is that I realized 2 days ago that I had forgotten that slow and right beats fast and wrong, REWARDING the slightest try, and just simply NOT BEING DIRECT-LINED!!!
And god, this whole thing completely BLIND-SIDED me! It's almost embarrassing. . . I mean, it couldn't have been LESS subtle than someone slapping me in the face and saying "NO, you're wrong!" Because I didn't even realize all this until I was watching my trainer Vicky and her daughter play with their horses.
Experience 1: Vicky was playing with 2 jugs tied together on a 3 foot long(ish) string. She was playing with a horse named Casey who is fairly advanced. Well, Casey was a little concerned about the jugs being over her back, so Vicky just waited until she licked her lips. It didn't take too long, 5 minutes or so. But once she did, she took the toy off of her. And put it away!! She even said that since her horse was concerned, she stopped once she thought about it, because she wants Kasey to have a good experience with the toy.
Eek, here I am sheepishly reminded of a time about a month ago when I got a sudden notion to play with the carrot stick and flag. I tried unsuccessfully to play Friendly with it, and Moose was okay, but barely. For one thing, he hated it around his ears, and had lots of opposition reflex (though that's kind of the norm for him). But yeah, I kept working with it for 2 WHOLE HOURS. *Hits hand against head* Silly, silly me. Way to convince my horse I'm not direct-lined, lol.
Yet another thing that blew my mind was that Vicky's daughter Alyssa rewarded her horse so often. She was playing with a green as grass 2 year old named Goliath. Well, I think I've been so focused lately, because I haven't verbally rewarded Moose in ages!! I have rewarded him, don't get me wrong, but it makes me wonder if I shouldn't be making it more obvious when I reward him. See, I haven't thrown a party, per se, for him doing the right thing in ages.
Also, it dawned on me that I'm trying to run before I can walk, in more ways than one. For starters, we've been having an issue trotting on line calmly. I discussed it with Vicky, and she said to just start out asking for as little as 2 steps of trot and then praise him. DUH Erica!! Lol.
Ah, well. *Steps down from soapbox* All in all, I think 'working' at Vicky's is going to do wonders for me. Heck, I already had like a 5 BFO's from just this night, and that's only one day!! I think I'm going to be immune to BFO's by the end of summer, lol.
And just a random tip I heard today. Take your horse with you places. Got to clean the barn? Take your horse with! Need to sweep some spiderwebs? Bring your horse along! I couldn't give you the scientific rationale on why that helps, but Vicky said it's something that the old cowboys used to do to help bring up their youngsters. Sounds like an interesting idea!
Or let's say you're shopping at your favorite store. You just checked out all your merchandise, and head out of the store. Upon reaching your care, you find that you lost your keys! Time for emotional fitness.
Well, of course not having something that you need stinks, but at least in these scenarios you find out exactly what you're missing pretty quickly! Because I can't say this is exactly 'quick' on my part, and poor Moose will be receiving lots of hugs/carrots because of it. The 'it' I'm referring to is that I realized 2 days ago that I had forgotten that slow and right beats fast and wrong, REWARDING the slightest try, and just simply NOT BEING DIRECT-LINED!!!
And god, this whole thing completely BLIND-SIDED me! It's almost embarrassing. . . I mean, it couldn't have been LESS subtle than someone slapping me in the face and saying "NO, you're wrong!" Because I didn't even realize all this until I was watching my trainer Vicky and her daughter play with their horses.
Experience 1: Vicky was playing with 2 jugs tied together on a 3 foot long(ish) string. She was playing with a horse named Casey who is fairly advanced. Well, Casey was a little concerned about the jugs being over her back, so Vicky just waited until she licked her lips. It didn't take too long, 5 minutes or so. But once she did, she took the toy off of her. And put it away!! She even said that since her horse was concerned, she stopped once she thought about it, because she wants Kasey to have a good experience with the toy.
Eek, here I am sheepishly reminded of a time about a month ago when I got a sudden notion to play with the carrot stick and flag. I tried unsuccessfully to play Friendly with it, and Moose was okay, but barely. For one thing, he hated it around his ears, and had lots of opposition reflex (though that's kind of the norm for him). But yeah, I kept working with it for 2 WHOLE HOURS. *Hits hand against head* Silly, silly me. Way to convince my horse I'm not direct-lined, lol.
Yet another thing that blew my mind was that Vicky's daughter Alyssa rewarded her horse so often. She was playing with a green as grass 2 year old named Goliath. Well, I think I've been so focused lately, because I haven't verbally rewarded Moose in ages!! I have rewarded him, don't get me wrong, but it makes me wonder if I shouldn't be making it more obvious when I reward him. See, I haven't thrown a party, per se, for him doing the right thing in ages.
Also, it dawned on me that I'm trying to run before I can walk, in more ways than one. For starters, we've been having an issue trotting on line calmly. I discussed it with Vicky, and she said to just start out asking for as little as 2 steps of trot and then praise him. DUH Erica!! Lol.
Ah, well. *Steps down from soapbox* All in all, I think 'working' at Vicky's is going to do wonders for me. Heck, I already had like a 5 BFO's from just this night, and that's only one day!! I think I'm going to be immune to BFO's by the end of summer, lol.
And just a random tip I heard today. Take your horse with you places. Got to clean the barn? Take your horse with! Need to sweep some spiderwebs? Bring your horse along! I couldn't give you the scientific rationale on why that helps, but Vicky said it's something that the old cowboys used to do to help bring up their youngsters. Sounds like an interesting idea!
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
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.
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.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
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
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
Sunday, November 30, 2008
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]
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!
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
If my horse is my mirror . . .
What the HECK do I look like?!?!?
Oh, how I wish I could have someone videotape me during sessions! That would be SOOO beneficial! Especially today . . .
I had lessons today, so I couldn't play with the ponies for very long. I decided to just take one of them out and just let him/her graze. Well, Moose volunteered to be haltered (yippee!), so I attempted to take him out. We didn't make it past the gate. I hadn't noticed beforehand, but Moose has a threshold practically ON the gate to go outside (which basically shows how herd-bound he is). Therefore, I suspended all plans for outside activity and just went back inside the pasture. I can't deal with thresholds under pressure when I only had a limited time.
So, we went back in and just messed around for a little while. I checked out our Friendly, did a little Porcupine. Mostly, I just was trying to read him correctly, so we didn't get a whole lot done. But we really had a "HOW INTERESTING!!!!!!!!!!" moment. Moose tried to rub on me, and I immediately took it as dominance. So, I reacted with a strong Forehand driving game. I automatically regretted that: what if it ruined his confidence? But, then I tried a Friendly toss of the string over his back and he didn't care! And I mean really didn't care! He was too busy licking and chewing! He seriously was licking and chewing for at least 3 minutes straight! His head was down, and he kept licking over and over again. If he wasn't licking, his head was down and he was blowing. He blew for a long time, about every 45 seconds. He even moaned, hehe! Then, he started itching! *Lightbulb clicks on* I realized that Moose never itches on line. And so, that made me wonder if he was actually trying to be dominant in the first place!
So, I thought about the whole thing, and came up with the phrase "My horse is my mirror." Then, was Moose trying to tell me that I was hyped up, too? Because I know there have been times that I've been on more adrenaline that that! So, maybe he finally finished settling in or something, because he was really digesting a thought there! Or . . . he could've just been plain itchy!
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Step in the right direction
Well, I had an interesting experience a couple days ago. I played with Moose, and for once actually felt like I was doing Parelli!! I mean, it's a little hard to describe, but I mentioned previously that when I played with Moose I felt lost. . . that feeling dissapeared! So, a step in the right direction, I'm sure!
And I got to experience something very interesting, too. . . Moose was defensive! He wouldn't let me rub his belly! I have to admit, it was exciting and scary at the same time (though excitement won), for I've never dealt with a horse that didn't like the Friendly game before. That event made me thankful that I've watched the L2 pack before, because there's a session in there about a gelding that didn't like his sheath being touched. Linda said that in the last L2 class she taught a horse was being RB defensive. So, whenever you started rubbing the carrot stick by its sheath, it would start kicking. And Linda just kept rubbing and rubbing until the horse stopped kicking. After they had that discussion, the horse started wringing his tail. So, this time she would rub, until the horse stopped wringing its tail. Basically, I did this same thing with Moose. But he's such a fast learner, it barely counted, lol.
I'm hoping that getting through his defensiveness has progressed our relationship, for whenever I try to pet him with the carrot stick his head jerks up. I got about 5 times or so that his head didn't come up when I pet him which was great progress!
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Drumroll please . . .
I have some exciting news!! Yesterday, I went out to take Morrie for a walk. Well, our driveway basically lines the horse's pasture. So, I was walking Morrie down the driveway and Moose picks his head up. And then he whinnies to me, and actually starts trotting to me!!!! :-0 So, he walked with me around the perimeter of the pasture a little bit. I started grinning like a fool (hehe). Heck, I was really excited!! We've finally made a leap of progress!!
Monday, October 6, 2008
One step at a time
Well, Moose and I have made some more progress. He'll now let me itch him which is exciting!! Plus, he's getting a little more LB. He actually turned into the alpha horse and now bosses Dancer around, which is a little suprising. Dancer's been the alpha around here for quite some time. It's quite interesting to see her finally resign her position. Though, smart of her: Moose could squash her with a hoof (lol, jk).
More about the itching thing: his favorite itchy spot is right on the middle of his neck. And he loves treats, too. Moose kicked Dancer out of her stall the other day, because I was trying to give her a treat and not him. Silly guys! So, he's obviously settling in better. Also, Moose is getting a little more accepting. He'll now remain LB when I put the halter on him, which is great news! Before he would kind of freeze and wouldn't move his feet very easily when I walked off.
So, slowly but surely we're getting there. I remember someone saying "If you get their confidence, they'll give you everything else." Currently, that's going to be my main focus. I'm just excited for the guy buried inside: a Dancer in disguise. Oh. . . yippee . . . lol. (hopefully, I won't have the same problems with Moose as I do with Dancer).
And we checked out that other Parelli 'trainer'. I think me and her would get along well, but she's a little too expensive for my liking. So, I'm just going to stick with Shirley (and Vicki, my current lessons instructor) which is fine by me!! :) This lady still wasn't 100% Parelli (she can't be, because she has competition-based clients) and Shirley is, so more power to her!
More about the itching thing: his favorite itchy spot is right on the middle of his neck. And he loves treats, too. Moose kicked Dancer out of her stall the other day, because I was trying to give her a treat and not him. Silly guys! So, he's obviously settling in better. Also, Moose is getting a little more accepting. He'll now remain LB when I put the halter on him, which is great news! Before he would kind of freeze and wouldn't move his feet very easily when I walked off.
So, slowly but surely we're getting there. I remember someone saying "If you get their confidence, they'll give you everything else." Currently, that's going to be my main focus. I'm just excited for the guy buried inside: a Dancer in disguise. Oh. . . yippee . . . lol. (hopefully, I won't have the same problems with Moose as I do with Dancer).
And we checked out that other Parelli 'trainer'. I think me and her would get along well, but she's a little too expensive for my liking. So, I'm just going to stick with Shirley (and Vicki, my current lessons instructor) which is fine by me!! :) This lady still wasn't 100% Parelli (she can't be, because she has competition-based clients) and Shirley is, so more power to her!
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