I had another realization, contrary to the title, this is actually a good thing. I was just putzing around yesterday, petting Bella, and just trying to have fun with the horses. Moose wanted nothing to do with me. He was just standing a ways away, sleeping, not even interested. And IDK why, but it just came to me the reason for some of our troubles. When Moose is in that mood, I usually go halter him up and then go. Noooooo. Not the right thing to do.
See, I had been using the halter as how I got his mind, when in reality I have to get his mind so I can halter. That's why things don't work at liberty, is because he knows he's not wearing the halter, so he doesn't feel he needs to connect to me. Hmm, very interesting.
Definitely something to ponder. Just can't believe I didn't think of it earlier. Hope everyone's relishing the warm weather. I'm just soaking up the sun, it makes me really energized. 3 days until SD!!!! I'll probably post another send-off before I leave. Kudos!
Showing posts with label halter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label halter. Show all posts
Thursday, April 1, 2010
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
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Problem solved!!
I don't think I mentioned it on the posts (it's in Dancer's information, though), but I was having problems catching Dancer recently. Well, I'm excited to say that after spending some undemanding time with her - lots of scratches and brushing her - she's letting herself be caught!! I went outside to pet her today, and I took the halter. She walked away, I threw it at her once, but she barely went anywhere. Then, I went up to her and petted her and walked inside her stall. She followed, and I kept petting her. I decided try a game I found online called Matching and Mirroring where you position yourself in Zone 3
and basically do what your horse does. Dancer assumed I was going to try and catch her since I had the halter, so I decided to try this game for fun! She walked around in circles a bit, but it was still really interesting. Anyways, when I decided I was done I opened up the gate, Dancer acted like she wanted to go out. So, I'm like hmm, "how interesting!!" I got the halter and offered it to her and she let me put it on easy as pie!!! So, I let her go outside the pasture and wander around a bit. I tried to be really provocative without making her work. I let her go over tarps, rubbed her with swings, sniff things, eat a little grass. Jeez, she is difficult to entertain!! It's like practically nothing bothers her! Even the tarp I was expecting something from her, but she just sniffed it and walked over it like, 'that's it??' But after I entertained her a bit, I took her back to the pasture (yada, yada) and so I'm hoping that she'll let me catch her next time, too. I mean, what other excuses can she come up with? Lol.
and basically do what your horse does. Dancer assumed I was going to try and catch her since I had the halter, so I decided to try this game for fun! She walked around in circles a bit, but it was still really interesting. Anyways, when I decided I was done I opened up the gate, Dancer acted like she wanted to go out. So, I'm like hmm, "how interesting!!" I got the halter and offered it to her and she let me put it on easy as pie!!! So, I let her go outside the pasture and wander around a bit. I tried to be really provocative without making her work. I let her go over tarps, rubbed her with swings, sniff things, eat a little grass. Jeez, she is difficult to entertain!! It's like practically nothing bothers her! Even the tarp I was expecting something from her, but she just sniffed it and walked over it like, 'that's it??' But after I entertained her a bit, I took her back to the pasture (yada, yada) and so I'm hoping that she'll let me catch her next time, too. I mean, what other excuses can she come up with? Lol.
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