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!
Showing posts with label on-line. Show all posts
Showing posts with label on-line. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
To be, or not to be RBE. . .
I guess that's the question. Do I or do I not want a RBE? Hmmm. Tough choice. Their pros and cons are numerous, that's for sure. Hmmph. . .
Once upon a time at Ot's Sunrise Farms *drool* there was but a slight chill in the air as two women stepped out of their car. The younger lady had thin blonde hair, twirling at every breeze. Her ordinary blue eyes assessed the grand stable before her. As recognition settled in, she spoke loudly "Yep, we're here alright!" The other woman, her mother, nodded.
Yep, so my mom and I were at Ot's. Looking at a horse. Tada! So . . . details: The horse is named Vittorion.
[caption id="attachment_163" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Looks mostly Morgan to me. What a great confirmation shot, though!"]
[/caption]
He's an Akhal-Teke/ Morgan cross. And he was pretty RBE. So, now we'll get into the story.
Alrighty, so the lady gets Vittorion and asks where I want him: in the arena or roundpen. I decide roundpen. All the better for groundwork, right? So, the lady opens the door and leads Vittorion in. And takes his halter off. And he starts running. Obviously, she thought I wanted to lunge him.
So, I get my 22' rope and halter and go stand in the middle of the pen. Boy, was I in an interesting situation: I mean, how do I catch a galloping RBE horse with no halter? I asked his owner what she usually did to catch him. She's like "Oh, he'll usually come to me sometimes, but I haven't lunged him in a while," which got me thinking "Oh, boy!" I thought for a couple minutes and then just decided that I'd try and act as non-threatening as possible. So, I just kind of walked around and tried to give him as much space as possible. After a couple of minutes, he decided to come to me. I petted him with the halter all over, but he wasn't paying me any attention now, because he could see his buddies. I tried to get the halter on, but he wanted to run again, so I said "let me help you!" Then, I went back to being non-threatening and after walking around a little bit, I went over to the other side of the pen and turned my back to him. He came up to me again. This time he let me put the halter on. :)
Now, I'm going to allow myself a little room to ramble. The reason being that this horse was AMAZING!! Granted, I haven't seen many RBEs, but this one was incredible!!! SOOOOO sensitive! I played with him for only an hour, and it was like he already knew Parelli (and I know for a fact he didn't)!! I wish I could've gotten a video, he was SOOO incredible. Okay, achievements: Friendly went good, but in the beginning he was distracted so that didn't really count; Porcupine HQ phase 1, FQ phase 2ish; Driving he totally aced, HQ phase .5 (lol), FQ phase 2ish; Yo-yo was incredible, I got him backing off Phase 1 simply because of my body language; Circling I didn't have time for; Sideways I skipped; Squeeze game wasn't the best. Also, another big thing (in my mind at least) is that Vittorion didn't need the carrot stick. His phase 4 was (usually) barely touching him. It was incredible. I mean, when I got home, I was giggling, I was so happy!
But I was trying to think if I could see myself riding that horse (after we'd prepared properly, of course), and the answer I've come to is I really don't know. I think I'll go see him again
See, what I'm really unhappy about is that Vittorion's temperament is a 6.
I don't think I want a horse that spirited, (though it's certainly something I'll eventually need to be able to handle) yet I have no interest in buying a peanut-pusher either. Oohhh, but Vittorion was so amazing! Ahh, I hate decisions. Lol.
Lastly, I have to mention that the barn Vittorion was stalled
in (omg) was ALL studs. So, as I'm walking back to the barn all the studs nicker to Vittorion and about half of them get aggressive. Interesting. Anyways, we got a GORGEOUS picture of a Friesian stud.
Once upon a time at Ot's Sunrise Farms *drool* there was but a slight chill in the air as two women stepped out of their car. The younger lady had thin blonde hair, twirling at every breeze. Her ordinary blue eyes assessed the grand stable before her. As recognition settled in, she spoke loudly "Yep, we're here alright!" The other woman, her mother, nodded.
Yep, so my mom and I were at Ot's. Looking at a horse. Tada! So . . . details: The horse is named Vittorion.
[caption id="attachment_163" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Looks mostly Morgan to me. What a great confirmation shot, though!"]
[/caption]He's an Akhal-Teke/ Morgan cross. And he was pretty RBE. So, now we'll get into the story.
Alrighty, so the lady gets Vittorion and asks where I want him: in the arena or roundpen. I decide roundpen. All the better for groundwork, right? So, the lady opens the door and leads Vittorion in. And takes his halter off. And he starts running. Obviously, she thought I wanted to lunge him.
So, I get my 22' rope and halter and go stand in the middle of the pen. Boy, was I in an interesting situation: I mean, how do I catch a galloping RBE horse with no halter? I asked his owner what she usually did to catch him. She's like "Oh, he'll usually come to me sometimes, but I haven't lunged him in a while," which got me thinking "Oh, boy!" I thought for a couple minutes and then just decided that I'd try and act as non-threatening as possible. So, I just kind of walked around and tried to give him as much space as possible. After a couple of minutes, he decided to come to me. I petted him with the halter all over, but he wasn't paying me any attention now, because he could see his buddies. I tried to get the halter on, but he wanted to run again, so I said "let me help you!" Then, I went back to being non-threatening and after walking around a little bit, I went over to the other side of the pen and turned my back to him. He came up to me again. This time he let me put the halter on. :)
Now, I'm going to allow myself a little room to ramble. The reason being that this horse was AMAZING!! Granted, I haven't seen many RBEs, but this one was incredible!!! SOOOOO sensitive! I played with him for only an hour, and it was like he already knew Parelli (and I know for a fact he didn't)!! I wish I could've gotten a video, he was SOOO incredible. Okay, achievements: Friendly went good, but in the beginning he was distracted so that didn't really count; Porcupine HQ phase 1, FQ phase 2ish; Driving he totally aced, HQ phase .5 (lol), FQ phase 2ish; Yo-yo was incredible, I got him backing off Phase 1 simply because of my body language; Circling I didn't have time for; Sideways I skipped; Squeeze game wasn't the best. Also, another big thing (in my mind at least) is that Vittorion didn't need the carrot stick. His phase 4 was (usually) barely touching him. It was incredible. I mean, when I got home, I was giggling, I was so happy!
But I was trying to think if I could see myself riding that horse (after we'd prepared properly, of course), and the answer I've come to is I really don't know. I think I'll go see him again
See, what I'm really unhappy about is that Vittorion's temperament is a 6.
I don't think I want a horse that spirited, (though it's certainly something I'll eventually need to be able to handle) yet I have no interest in buying a peanut-pusher either. Oohhh, but Vittorion was so amazing! Ahh, I hate decisions. Lol.
Lastly, I have to mention that the barn Vittorion was stalled
in (omg) was ALL studs. So, as I'm walking back to the barn all the studs nicker to Vittorion and about half of them get aggressive. Interesting. Anyways, we got a GORGEOUS picture of a Friesian stud.
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