Today went well. We got a huge storm the other day, so our ground is sadly covered with snow again. I've been struggling with interpreting some horsemanship advice I got from a friend regarding picking up Moose's feet, so I haven't played with that since early last week.
Here is a snippet of the e-mail I received:
When I look at your situation, there are a few Parelli-isms that come to mind that I think would be useful for you to ponder.
#1) "If your horse says 'no', you either asked the wrong question, or you asked the question wrong."
#2) "Do your thinking at night, and your feeling during the day."
#3) "It's not about the_______"
#4) Pat's definition of Respect: The Appropriate response to the appropriate application of pressure.
#5) Isolate, Separate, and Recombine
What I'd be looking to is what am I doing to cause this? What is it in ME that is causing my horse to react the way he is? Remember that the horse is perfect, it's up to us to help him understand what we want.
That being said, I think you're right on, in that it's a respect thing. But looking through that filter, what is it that you're doing to cause the disrespectful response?
Another filter to look through is that of the 8 Principles. Have you ever actually sat down and read them and taken into account what they mean? Massively deep stuff. And usually, if there's something amiss in the partnership, it's rooted in one of the 8 Principles. That's why this program is so genius. It's categorically put into a system (Pat's an LBI, can ya tell? Ha!) that you can use to filter your results (or lack thereof).
Yet another way to look at it is through the 7 games. Which game is broken? How can I help that game become better while remaining in a leadership position and putting the relationship first?
So I've had this congregating in the back of my mind for about a week now, with not a lot of luck.
I wasn't really sure what I was going to do with Moose today.We ended up playing a lot of touch it. It went really well. I revved up my leadership skills a little bit, and got some nice ears forward from Moose and a very lovely responsive horse as well. But then it got wierd, because as things were really nice, ALL OF A SUDDEN FOR NO REASON AT ALL he decided to canter around like a mad man. Now I had had a thought in my head to have him circle at a trot, and see if he would canter right before he started doing this. So, I am not sure if he s reading my mind or this was a form of freak out. Because my options are either A) RB panic attack or B) LB temper tantrum. He didn't look RB, so that's not it. So, either he was reading my mind, or it was a temper tantrum. But, it's funny, because I broke down for a minute there. "My poor horse, what have I done to you? Now you probably hate me!" So I started to get all sad and was thinking I would probably have to stop playing with him, because I was becoming helpless. But, Parelli came to my rescue. I remembered a quote I had been reminded to think about in the e-mail above: "Do you feeling during the day, your thinking at night." Oops. I was thinking. (Haha bad Erica bad). I then just chalked his behavior up to "how interesting!" and moved on.
Anyways, it was the reminder I needed. I perked right back up and realized I was making a big fuss out of nothing. I backed him up, and he was the lightest he's EVER been with his ears forward. I have got to be doing something right. So we did sideways along the fence and I had a realization. One of the things that might help our freestyle is getting our sideways better. If he can maintain the bend in his body where I ask, it's much more likely I'll be able to direct him where I want him to go. So I figure I should start being more particular about that and see where that takes us.
And then the farrier came and did Moose's feet. I found out it wouldn't be a good idea to get Moose shod, instead it'd be best just to buy him boots. And I asked her about a crack in his foot that had made him lame before (it was a cut growing out) and she said not to worry about it. So I'm happy to hear that. Also, I asked her about a lump he has on his throat that's concerned me for some time, and she said not to worry about it as well. Probably just ask the vet. And I looked up some information about it and it doesn't seem very serious. Which is definitely good news.
Showing posts with label farrier. Show all posts
Showing posts with label farrier. Show all posts
Friday, March 25, 2011
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
The Feet
Oh, yeah, I forgot to post about Bella's feet picking-up issue. Turns out it was all dominance-related. The farrier came last week Tuesday, and so Bella said "No, I don't want to hold my foot up" like she normally does and my mom just backed her up hard and fast (the farrier was out of the way of course), and Bella did pretty well after that. It wasn't that she quit being sassy: She took her foot away from the farrier around 7 times total, but she licked her lips every time my mom backed her up, and then quit being sassy for a little bit. That's a LOT better than normal, because normally it's always a constant fight to get her feet done. So, two thumbs up for savvy and prior and proper preparation!
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Moment In History
What happened to Bella while I've been gone? She's got confidence! Woah, who knew!?!? I'd been having issues with her on line for the past few months, because I feel like she's living inside a little bubble, and the bubble is her comfort zone. And if you push her too close to the bubble, she'd bolt and leave you in the dust, although of course she warns you first. :) But I didn't see how we could get anything done with her if she'd always get so worried about things, because when she bolts, she's gone. She's a Percheron, after all.
But, no issues like that whatsoever today! I finally took the initiative to go play with her, because I usually play with her like once a month, maybe that. Moose is really my focus, sorry Bella (or rather, lucky Bella, depending on your perspective :). Anyways, Bella has been a handful for the farrier and last time she was particularly bad about her feet. So, my mom and I've done some research and gained a bunch more savvy arrows, so this time we're prepared!
For starters, the farrier is coming in 2 weeks. So, one of us is going to play with her at least every other day until the farrier arrives. Our issue specifically is that once we get her foot up, she doesn't want to keep it up. So, we're setting up ourselves for success big time. We're getting her prepared for as long as that takes until she's a nice, respectful horse. Also, we're changing the environment around. Normally, we bring the horses out of the pasture to trim their feet into a small area without a whole lot of maneuverability. We've changed our game plan. This time, the horses are going to get trimmed inside the pasture.
And thanks to Dave Ellis, we're going to have a different set of rules with our farrier, too. It's basically going to run so that if the horse is being naughty, our farrier will tell us "take it away" and drop the foot and the moment that foot hits the ground, we're off circling and backing 'for miles' (I use the quotes, because we're not going for miles, but we will go for as long as it takes. I've heard a story about horses who got backed up all the way down a mile driveway for not standing still to mount and I'll tell you he didn't try that again anytime soon.) and going sideways with as much effort as the horse put into being sassy. If Bella gets really bad, even with our preparation, then we're going to have the farrier trim Moose until she settles down, so that still keeps things efficient time-wise for her. Basically, we're going to let Bella choose if she'd rather back up for 'a mile' or hold her foot up for a minute. And we're going to play with her for a little while before the farrier gets here, too.
So, today is the 2nd session since we've started this plan. With her front feet, things went very well. I could hold her foot up for 7 seconds, and it was still my idea to put it down. Marvelous! She wasn't so cooperative with her back feet, though, but she does normally have more trouble with those than the front. So, instead of breaking my back trying to get her to understand, I switched to the carrot stick and tapping her foot to lift it. Her first thought was that I wanted her to yield her HQ. So then every time she'd yield her HQ I'd yield them fast in 2 complete circles. So, then when she started thinking a little, she tried backing, and I had her back 4 steps for her every 1 step back. So, then she started alternating between the 2, because she didn't know what I wanted. After about 10 minutes of this, she stepped back but with the foot I wanted her to pick up, so I released on that. She licked and chewed on that one for a while. Then, I tried tapping once more and it took 3 times, but then she picked up the foot again. I quit on that note, because I wanted to do some other things and then bring her out to graze for a while in case I lost any rapport today.
Today was really a "Moment In History" kind of day, so it was pretty sweet. I was very happy that Bella was left brain, because now we can make some real progress!!! And I am very happy with myself, too. I was an alpha today, that's for sure, and Bella picked up on that right away. On a comical note, Bella's yielding her HQ today was better than Moose's, (but Bella was pretty stiff/tight). And we actually got 1 lap of circing on a 12' at a walk. *Half-hearted "yippee!"* That's still pretty pathetic :), but it's progress all right. My horses are so funny. ;)
But, no issues like that whatsoever today! I finally took the initiative to go play with her, because I usually play with her like once a month, maybe that. Moose is really my focus, sorry Bella (or rather, lucky Bella, depending on your perspective :). Anyways, Bella has been a handful for the farrier and last time she was particularly bad about her feet. So, my mom and I've done some research and gained a bunch more savvy arrows, so this time we're prepared!
For starters, the farrier is coming in 2 weeks. So, one of us is going to play with her at least every other day until the farrier arrives. Our issue specifically is that once we get her foot up, she doesn't want to keep it up. So, we're setting up ourselves for success big time. We're getting her prepared for as long as that takes until she's a nice, respectful horse. Also, we're changing the environment around. Normally, we bring the horses out of the pasture to trim their feet into a small area without a whole lot of maneuverability. We've changed our game plan. This time, the horses are going to get trimmed inside the pasture.
And thanks to Dave Ellis, we're going to have a different set of rules with our farrier, too. It's basically going to run so that if the horse is being naughty, our farrier will tell us "take it away" and drop the foot and the moment that foot hits the ground, we're off circling and backing 'for miles' (I use the quotes, because we're not going for miles, but we will go for as long as it takes. I've heard a story about horses who got backed up all the way down a mile driveway for not standing still to mount and I'll tell you he didn't try that again anytime soon.) and going sideways with as much effort as the horse put into being sassy. If Bella gets really bad, even with our preparation, then we're going to have the farrier trim Moose until she settles down, so that still keeps things efficient time-wise for her. Basically, we're going to let Bella choose if she'd rather back up for 'a mile' or hold her foot up for a minute. And we're going to play with her for a little while before the farrier gets here, too.
So, today is the 2nd session since we've started this plan. With her front feet, things went very well. I could hold her foot up for 7 seconds, and it was still my idea to put it down. Marvelous! She wasn't so cooperative with her back feet, though, but she does normally have more trouble with those than the front. So, instead of breaking my back trying to get her to understand, I switched to the carrot stick and tapping her foot to lift it. Her first thought was that I wanted her to yield her HQ. So then every time she'd yield her HQ I'd yield them fast in 2 complete circles. So, then when she started thinking a little, she tried backing, and I had her back 4 steps for her every 1 step back. So, then she started alternating between the 2, because she didn't know what I wanted. After about 10 minutes of this, she stepped back but with the foot I wanted her to pick up, so I released on that. She licked and chewed on that one for a while. Then, I tried tapping once more and it took 3 times, but then she picked up the foot again. I quit on that note, because I wanted to do some other things and then bring her out to graze for a while in case I lost any rapport today.
Today was really a "Moment In History" kind of day, so it was pretty sweet. I was very happy that Bella was left brain, because now we can make some real progress!!! And I am very happy with myself, too. I was an alpha today, that's for sure, and Bella picked up on that right away. On a comical note, Bella's yielding her HQ today was better than Moose's, (but Bella was pretty stiff/tight). And we actually got 1 lap of circing on a 12' at a walk. *Half-hearted "yippee!"* That's still pretty pathetic :), but it's progress all right. My horses are so funny. ;)
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Busy Busy Busy
August has been a very busy month. Last weekend I went up to a dressage horse show to see my friend show her horse. They did really well, and I got to use her camera to take pictures of her. Oh, now THAT was a CAMERA! If I had the money, swear to god I would've gone out and bought that same exact one after the show. My mom estimates that that camera probably cost around $900, so you can see why I couldn't buy it. :( But at least now I know what it feels like to take really good pictures, almost effortlessly.
On another note, in an older post I mentioned that I was going to play with another lady's horses, because she didn't have time to herself. Well, I got to play with an RBE named Star, and she told me that I have a lot to learn about RB horses. I mean, I just realized how nicely I've got it with a bunch of LB guys to play with on a daily basis. No exaggeration: Star wouldn't even let me move the carrot stick. So, forget about throwing it over her back! My starting point was to try to move it without her taking off. And in retrospect, I realized that I got my strategy wrong. I started out with doing as little as I could with the carrot stick and working up to moving it a little more, but she would still move no matter how little I moved it. So, I abandoned the idea of retreating even more (like starting out with picking it up), and upped the anty instead. I threw it over her back. She ran out of there, of course, and then I kept throwing it over until she calmed down even a little, or I stopped her with yo-yo and stopped the CS. I was treating her issue with the CS as a RBE thing, because she was being RBE, but her problem was that she didn't trust the Carrot Stick (Trust me, trust my tools). So, if I could've done it over again, I would've gone a lot slower. But otherwise, she still did alright. After I gave up playing a broken Friendly game, I had her circle for a while, because of the consistency. This taught me that I don't know the strategies for RBE's very well at all. Circling was the only thing I could think of doing! But she responded well: she tried walking on their teeter-totter (I'll take a picture, it's SOO industrial) with little prompting from me, and even walked right over the tarp 2 or 3x. That's a big deal, because she was forced over it the other day by a normal at their facility. Next time I go out, I'll take some pictures. It's a pretty cool place!
And on Saturday, my mom and I went to a speed show they were holding. It was a very good demonstration of what NOT to do. Many people were being direct-line. And there was 1 quite ironic incident. There was a litle boy doing poles on this 21 year old pony that looked a lot older than 21. My mom asked the owner: "So, how old's the pony?" "21" the guys said. "He looks really gentle." "Yeah, he is. He's not our horse, he's my friends and all of their horses are real laid-back." Just as he said that, the pony took off and the kid ended up flying off of him. Luckily the kid wasn't hurt (he was wearing a helmet and chest protector), just a little shocked. But that just made me think of a phrase I heard recently: "Most people get hurt on gentle horses." And it makes a lot of sense, too. People think that their lack of savvy can be made up for by buying an old, experienced horse, but that horse can still go Right Brain as easily as the next.
And Moosey and I are doing alright. Had a discussion with him yesterday about walking over two tires right next to each other filled with dirt. I sent him to squeeze over it, and he said "I can't do that." So, I had to say "try, at least try," because his mind was totally closed to the idea. So, he's still not real confident with it, because he'll only jump it from one side, but I had to end early because the mosquitos were eating me alive last night.
And the horse's hooves need to be done really bad. Moose's are starting to chip off. We accidentally waited until 8 weeks to call the farrier, and then we couldn't get a hold of her, so she's coming tomorrow. Unfortunately, that'll be 10 weeks since their last trim (there goes Moose's halfway-nice-looking hooves), but oh well.
On another note, in an older post I mentioned that I was going to play with another lady's horses, because she didn't have time to herself. Well, I got to play with an RBE named Star, and she told me that I have a lot to learn about RB horses. I mean, I just realized how nicely I've got it with a bunch of LB guys to play with on a daily basis. No exaggeration: Star wouldn't even let me move the carrot stick. So, forget about throwing it over her back! My starting point was to try to move it without her taking off. And in retrospect, I realized that I got my strategy wrong. I started out with doing as little as I could with the carrot stick and working up to moving it a little more, but she would still move no matter how little I moved it. So, I abandoned the idea of retreating even more (like starting out with picking it up), and upped the anty instead. I threw it over her back. She ran out of there, of course, and then I kept throwing it over until she calmed down even a little, or I stopped her with yo-yo and stopped the CS. I was treating her issue with the CS as a RBE thing, because she was being RBE, but her problem was that she didn't trust the Carrot Stick (Trust me, trust my tools). So, if I could've done it over again, I would've gone a lot slower. But otherwise, she still did alright. After I gave up playing a broken Friendly game, I had her circle for a while, because of the consistency. This taught me that I don't know the strategies for RBE's very well at all. Circling was the only thing I could think of doing! But she responded well: she tried walking on their teeter-totter (I'll take a picture, it's SOO industrial) with little prompting from me, and even walked right over the tarp 2 or 3x. That's a big deal, because she was forced over it the other day by a normal at their facility. Next time I go out, I'll take some pictures. It's a pretty cool place!
And on Saturday, my mom and I went to a speed show they were holding. It was a very good demonstration of what NOT to do. Many people were being direct-line. And there was 1 quite ironic incident. There was a litle boy doing poles on this 21 year old pony that looked a lot older than 21. My mom asked the owner: "So, how old's the pony?" "21" the guys said. "He looks really gentle." "Yeah, he is. He's not our horse, he's my friends and all of their horses are real laid-back." Just as he said that, the pony took off and the kid ended up flying off of him. Luckily the kid wasn't hurt (he was wearing a helmet and chest protector), just a little shocked. But that just made me think of a phrase I heard recently: "Most people get hurt on gentle horses." And it makes a lot of sense, too. People think that their lack of savvy can be made up for by buying an old, experienced horse, but that horse can still go Right Brain as easily as the next.
And Moosey and I are doing alright. Had a discussion with him yesterday about walking over two tires right next to each other filled with dirt. I sent him to squeeze over it, and he said "I can't do that." So, I had to say "try, at least try," because his mind was totally closed to the idea. So, he's still not real confident with it, because he'll only jump it from one side, but I had to end early because the mosquitos were eating me alive last night.
And the horse's hooves need to be done really bad. Moose's are starting to chip off. We accidentally waited until 8 weeks to call the farrier, and then we couldn't get a hold of her, so she's coming tomorrow. Unfortunately, that'll be 10 weeks since their last trim (there goes Moose's halfway-nice-looking hooves), but oh well.
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