Recent Going-ons

Sorry about the non-updates. I just haven't got around to blogging lately.

Currently, Moose is the alpha in our pasture. So, interestingly enough, Dancer is at the bottom!! And if you know Dancer, that's extremely unusual: shes a very dominant horse. Yet, I can't say I blame her, for she probably feels like a midget around the other two. Hehe. Oops.

But now Ms. Bella!! She's definitely a hungry girl, holy cow!! The other day I caught her standing on some planks of wood next to the barn eating weeds. I guess drafts really do eat more. . . anyways, some observations:

1. Bella goes on adrenaline quickly, especially when taken away from her buddies.


2. She is pretty herd-bound, though that might change in the coming weeks. As of now, if her buddies are out of sight, then that's cause for concern.


3. She doesn't like the carrot stick. I'm guessing that's because she was trained by an Amish man to drive. (no offense intended if anyone's Amish. On second thought, if you were Amish you probably wouldn't be reading this right now. Never mind)


4. She's comfort-oriented, though when she is comfortable, food becomes a priority.

Okay, enough about Bella! Moosey's doing well, too. I'm still a little lost about what to do with him, exactly. But at least I've realized that if I get confused, or don't know what to do in a situation 'Stick to Me' really helps. I'm not good at it, per say, but the rules are simple and easy to grasp! So, Moose is going to get quite good at that! Anyways, I've still been spending a lot of undemanding time with him. I wanted to take him out and let him graze the other day, but it's hard with more horses here. They all want to get out, since 'the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.'

And I just had a real 'yahoo!!' moment. Our library has Parelli Level 3!! (Not that I need it anytime soon, it's just nice to know!!)

A Horseman's Secret

I found a nice story on the Parelli forum:

Once there was a young cowboy working with horses and running into problems.
An old horseman came by and saw him struggling.
He asked the young man:
"Would you like to know the secrets of being a good horseman?"
"I would love to" the young man said.
The horseman held out a closed hand and said:
"If you can open this fist you will know the secret."
So...the young man pulled and pushed...and poked and struggled, then finally he gave up.
"I give up, I cant open it. What is the secret to open your fist?"
"You could have just asked me to" the horseman responded!

So, a nice message there. For another story, I played with Dancer yesterday and she was really RBE in the beginning. So, we flew sideways and backwards and I matched her energy the whole time! I also set up a little course for her to keep her interested in me.

And I found out that I don't know how to be the alpha with Dancer very well. Whenever I play with her, it always feels like we're both fighting for that #1 spot. So, Dancer never really has a ton of respect for me, because I don't know how to earn it yet!

But at least I'm not doing that badly! Dancer decided to roll while on line! There was a bunch of mud in her pasture, and since she was sweaty she took a couple of rolls. So, I can't be that bad or else she wouldn't feel safe enough to roll! Well, it was quite cute!