Worthy of Your Time

Lots to talk about today! I had a great session with Moose 2 days ago I didn't get to talk about yet, and have been reading a great book! So, here goes!

The Book: I've been re-reading Ray Hunt's book Think Harmony with Horses and I don't know why, but I've gotten sooooooo much out of that book by reading it this time. I bought it maybe a year ago, read it, thought it was good, but now I just seem to really grasp what he's talking about. I understand it and can apply it. That's why Moose did so well!

So, my session with Moose: Well, there's quite a few topics that fit under this, but I'll try to sum it up for ya. Since Moose's got Scratches, I decided to take it easy today. Just walking and trotting. No cantering for now, since that's hard for him to do relaxed even on a good day.

Well, I decided to try out some principles from Ray's book. Mostly going back to the foundation. And I was really thinking about one quote from his book: "Horses get to where they'll do anything they can for you, but they know that you will for them too." It really got me thinking. Well, then I wonder how sure Moose is about what I'm asking him to do! I was also thinking about the Phase 1 before Phase 1. How I don't have a "get ready" cue. It's just a "go" and then "you should've gone." By not having a "get ready" cue I wasn't setting him up for success. This was further emphasized by another of Ray's points which was that in general people ask for the horse's attention way too much. I can relate to this, just by watching how some people are with their horses. And I realized that not having a "get ready" cue meant I expected his attention all the time, and that isn't fair.

With these things in mind, I went out to play with Moose. I took everything back to foundation level. I focused a lot on FH yields today, since his HQ moves noticably easier than his FH. And I was astonished! My horse is way smarter than I give him credit for. After 3 repetitions of bringing my energy up (get ready), focusing, phase 1 with stick, followed by 2, 3, 4, he moved off my focus. I was really proud of him. And now I'm making my own program of saying "get ready" before I ask anything, until it becomes an ingrained habit.

I also experimented with non-chalance. I really tried not to move my feet, and having an attitude like that of Dave Ellis. I talked about attitude a lot when I audited a clinic of his, so if you want to know about that check out August's posts. It worked out really well. If I did phase 4, I did it with justice and without raising my energy.

And I fixed one of our super-long-time issues! On accident! One of the things I see Linda do during Circling Game is to stop Remmer and have him back up. Now, logically, this would be smart to develop in a round pen. Well, before this summer, I didn't have a round pen. So, whenever I tried to get him to stop at the Circling Game, he'd face me. And if I tried to get him to back, he'd always back facing me. At first I encouraged it, because he's trying after all. But I didn't know how to get him to realize that when I ask him to back up, I want him to back from where he is, not turn and face me, then back. Well, using our newfound FH moving abilities, I asked him to move his FH without me moving my feet. He did, but then he turned and faced me. I had to move my feet, but then I asked him to move his FH again, since the last thing he did was move his HQ, and that wasn't what I asked for. We kept this up for a little while until he finally stopped perpendicular to me. I about jumped for joy when I realized what I had just done! My horse stopped perpendicular to me!

I realized that I have inadvertently taught him to turn and face me, and then act. So, it was my problem not his. But I'm so excited that I figured it out. This book really is doing wonders to my awareness.

And based on impulse I went to Barnes & Noble the other day and bought a book by Buck Brannaman and one by Bill Dorrance. I'm reading the one by Buck right now, and it's interesting. It's more about his life story than horses, so far, but I'm finding a lot of parallels between his life and Monty Roberts'. It's still interesting to hear, but I think the one by Bill Dorrance is more designed to teach you about the horse. After all, it's like 370 pages! Now, there's a natural horsemanship textbook if I ever saw one! I'll let you know what I think about it once I start reading it.

Round Pen

I finally got a picture for you. Sorry it took so long!

[caption id="attachment_619" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="It's a 50', and the top line is 3'2", in case you were wondering."][/caption]

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

and have the lady ride him first. Then, we'll see how I feel about it.

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.