I was watching a video done by Pat Parelli in 1987 the other day. For Savvy Club Members, you can find it on line. It's called California Expo 1987 Mar 06. It's a little hard to hear what Pat's saying, as a forewarning, but it's an incredible show of just how talented Pat is, and this is even 23 years ago!
But, the bad hearing turned out to be a blessing. It really made me pay attention to what Pat was doing more than what he was saying. So, I was absolutely astounded when the end result of what looked to be a few needless things turned out to be him riding the horse around bridleless. And what happens when things go bad (no spoilers here, watch it yourself). And the video's only about a half hour long, too. I was astounded.
So, while walking my dog I really thought with how in the world Pat was able to bring that change in that horse around so quickly. It looked like he was barely doing anything except yielding the horse's HQ. And I came across an interesting scenario.
While I was walking my dog Morrie there are some cows who just got brought in at a neighbor's house. I didn't know at the time, but my dog seems to just love them. I think he thinks they're just huge dogs or something, because he gets really excited whenever he sees them. And so I follow some of Cesar Millan's dog psychology, and like what he does, so I got to act as him for a little bit to keep Morrie under control. It didn't work. Well, I had an epiphany. The reason things didn't work with Morrie was because I was relying on my eyes. I couldn't feel his energy. So, I'd only discipline him whenever he looked excited, but I couldn't actually feel his energy. I still can't.
And I realized that I think that's a part of what I'm lacking with the horses. Now, I'm sure it takes a long time to develop this, and I also believe that this a part of what Tom Dorrance calls feel. I likened it to being on a soul to soul level, instead of just eye to eye. Because with horses, and with Morrie, I look at what they're doing, but I can't really feel it like Pat or Cesar can. Not that I expect to, but it was a very interesting realization. Partially, because it really gave me a deeper respect for people who are good with horses (and Cesar, too), but also because I can really see how this would transmit to horses.
If you could just feel their energy, and what state they're in at that time, you would do the right thing. It's exactly like one of my favorite quotes from Linda Parelli: "If you can read the horse, you'd know what to do." And so I realized one of the reasons I can't read horses very well yet is because I can't feel of them yet, and if I can't do that there's no way we can feel together, and eventually get them to feel for me.
Showing posts with label savvy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label savvy. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Learning Lots
Well, you can kind of ignore that last post, because today I had a few epiphanies that totally kicked my feelings yesterday to the curb.
I learned that having a focus is incredible. Like I said yesterday, I felt lost. Things just weren't working so well. Well, I learned today that part of the reason I felt we don't go anywhere is because I have forgotten to make programs. If Moose has a problem with something, I stop and attempt to fix it, but I have the attitude of fixing it today, instead of just rewarding the slightest try and making a program out of it.
Also, today I learned that in order to to lead by the leg, it really helps if he knows that when you put pressure on his leg, that means lift it. I taught Moose that today on accident, and then leading by the leg was almost flawless. Also, I learned to make the right thing easy and wrong things uncomfortable, but then KEEP THE CONFIDENCE. I made the wrong things too uncomfortable, it seemed, and then Moose couldn't come to me. So, I sat down and waited for him instead of making him come to me.
And I learned to be fascinated with lightness. Moose was distracted by something off in the distance and along with bumping his head back to me, I asked him to lower his head. Normally, I am way too rough with this, and I can never time it right. It's just resistance on resistance. Well, today I decided to do something else about that. (I was sitting on a barrel at the time, btw.) I put the rope between my pointer and thumb, then started adding fingers one by one. When I got my whole hand on the rope, instead of making a fist and pulling down -this inhibiting my ability to open my hand fast- I just held my fingers like they were, and added some downward pressure. If he didn't respond, I started moving my hand back and forth, because even if I can't get his head to go down, I bet I can move it. So, then my release was a lot faster, and it was very interesting. Eventually I went to touch the rope, and his head came down, and went all the way to the ground. Talk about cool! So, I'm learning that it is a game of how little can you do and get the response. Pretty neat stuff.
On the personal development side, I was reading an article yesterday out of the Savvy Times (think it was from '05?) that said that one of the things people do at the centers is play volleyball, and the only rule is that the ball has to keep moving. You can use whatever limbs you'd like to accomplish that. When I read it, my first thought was when I played that at the neighbor's house. I was in volleyball the year before, and so knew all the rules and such, and everyone else was 'cheating' by not hitting the ball right. I got annoyed with them. And so I went "how interesting!" I learned that I like playing by the rules! It's like I need some kind of a focus, it doesn't necessarily need to be step by step, but at least so that I have a few "oh, well if this happens, do ___" type things. Like I remember playing badminton in gym class, and that worked well for me, because you have an in and an out. The line was in. If there's a dispute as to if it's in or out, then re-do it. It was fairly black and white: not that there wasn't a gray area, but if you found one, just re-do it. That was really something to lick and chew on. I don't consider myself a very black and white person, or else I'd be doing Clinton Anderson's stuff instead of Parelli, but I guess I was getting a little sick of having so much gray area and not knowing what to do. Then, I start over-analyzing, and getting stuck again, and the whole big charade. So, how interesting!
And, I found out that the bareback pad I have for Moose slips backwards on him. The pad did that to him before whenever I would saddle him, and now the pad does the same thing. But the interesting thing is that today we only did walk and back-up as our gaits. No Circling Game at all. So, I guess we're going to have to find some other pad to keep the bareback pad in place, because the only reason it slips is because it wants to lay behind Moose's withers, not over them a little bit like I want it (Moose's got big, longish withers). I want to have it placed so I'm sitting in the middle of the pad, and not the very front of it.
So, for the past week or so, I have been putting the bareback pad on every day. I haven't ridden him since Monday, but that's alright. It's good for him to wear it, is my philosophy. And now, I just had another epiphany. The thing that caused all this lead by the leg stuff today was that Moose kept backing up when I wiggled the rope around his leg. I was just trying to do Friendly, and he kept backing. Talk about connect the dots. I just realized that THAT is why he won't back up for me at Liberty. He thinks backing up is wiggling a rope, not my energy moving him back/finger wiggling (even though that's what I do on line, is just wiggle my finger and he moves back. . . have to look into that one more. . .). So, now I think I'm going to try to play with this some more and see if we can get it to where I can wiggle all kinds of ropes and he doesn't back up unless my energy is up. This will be good for me, too, because I need to start distinguishing that within myself, because my energy is usually down, and I'm starting to think I don't raise it often enough.
But yeah, I'm sure you can tell by reading my blog posts that I tend to be a kind of sporadic thinker. I get most of my epiphanies from talking to my mom and recounting to her how the play with Moose went that day. It's like I need to talk to think, sometimes. I've thought about getting a tape recorder and just recording myself talk, but I'm not sure if that will feel the same. Yeah, just got side-tracked. Well, my point is that if this is how I think, imagine how Moose feels when this sporadic person walks outside to try to teach him. I was explaining to my mom yesterday how I feel like I'm trying to teach him Science, Reading, Writing, Math, Social Studies, Spanish, and Music (the 7 games) all at once, instead of isolating, separating and recombining like I should be. I should be dedicating time to one task, then to another, then to another, instead of just trying to fit every single game into one 2 hour play session. This came about by me hearing that some girl was just filming her Level 3 on line, and she only plays with her horse like 10-20 minutes per week. She's had him for somewhere between 3-5 years, can't exactly remember. But if you do that math, that adds up to around 9 hours of play time per year. PER YEAR. Moose and I have a grand total of around 500 hours. And we're in Level 2. And I owned him for 1 year. So, my question was how in the world did this girl do it? Quality of time spent, not quantity. I've got plenty of time, I just don't use it well. I do whatever random thing pops into my head at that moment. I usually don't play off of what we did yesterday, so there is never a continuation of learning. It's like everything is its own entity, nothing is connected to anything else. Then, in essence, I am not creating a foundation, since there is no purpose, and without purpose I'm sure Moose lacks understanding.
Jeez, how much horses have to teach us! I look forward to more lessons from Moose tomorrow.
Savvy up!
I learned that having a focus is incredible. Like I said yesterday, I felt lost. Things just weren't working so well. Well, I learned today that part of the reason I felt we don't go anywhere is because I have forgotten to make programs. If Moose has a problem with something, I stop and attempt to fix it, but I have the attitude of fixing it today, instead of just rewarding the slightest try and making a program out of it.
Also, today I learned that in order to to lead by the leg, it really helps if he knows that when you put pressure on his leg, that means lift it. I taught Moose that today on accident, and then leading by the leg was almost flawless. Also, I learned to make the right thing easy and wrong things uncomfortable, but then KEEP THE CONFIDENCE. I made the wrong things too uncomfortable, it seemed, and then Moose couldn't come to me. So, I sat down and waited for him instead of making him come to me.
And I learned to be fascinated with lightness. Moose was distracted by something off in the distance and along with bumping his head back to me, I asked him to lower his head. Normally, I am way too rough with this, and I can never time it right. It's just resistance on resistance. Well, today I decided to do something else about that. (I was sitting on a barrel at the time, btw.) I put the rope between my pointer and thumb, then started adding fingers one by one. When I got my whole hand on the rope, instead of making a fist and pulling down -this inhibiting my ability to open my hand fast- I just held my fingers like they were, and added some downward pressure. If he didn't respond, I started moving my hand back and forth, because even if I can't get his head to go down, I bet I can move it. So, then my release was a lot faster, and it was very interesting. Eventually I went to touch the rope, and his head came down, and went all the way to the ground. Talk about cool! So, I'm learning that it is a game of how little can you do and get the response. Pretty neat stuff.
On the personal development side, I was reading an article yesterday out of the Savvy Times (think it was from '05?) that said that one of the things people do at the centers is play volleyball, and the only rule is that the ball has to keep moving. You can use whatever limbs you'd like to accomplish that. When I read it, my first thought was when I played that at the neighbor's house. I was in volleyball the year before, and so knew all the rules and such, and everyone else was 'cheating' by not hitting the ball right. I got annoyed with them. And so I went "how interesting!" I learned that I like playing by the rules! It's like I need some kind of a focus, it doesn't necessarily need to be step by step, but at least so that I have a few "oh, well if this happens, do ___" type things. Like I remember playing badminton in gym class, and that worked well for me, because you have an in and an out. The line was in. If there's a dispute as to if it's in or out, then re-do it. It was fairly black and white: not that there wasn't a gray area, but if you found one, just re-do it. That was really something to lick and chew on. I don't consider myself a very black and white person, or else I'd be doing Clinton Anderson's stuff instead of Parelli, but I guess I was getting a little sick of having so much gray area and not knowing what to do. Then, I start over-analyzing, and getting stuck again, and the whole big charade. So, how interesting!
And, I found out that the bareback pad I have for Moose slips backwards on him. The pad did that to him before whenever I would saddle him, and now the pad does the same thing. But the interesting thing is that today we only did walk and back-up as our gaits. No Circling Game at all. So, I guess we're going to have to find some other pad to keep the bareback pad in place, because the only reason it slips is because it wants to lay behind Moose's withers, not over them a little bit like I want it (Moose's got big, longish withers). I want to have it placed so I'm sitting in the middle of the pad, and not the very front of it.
So, for the past week or so, I have been putting the bareback pad on every day. I haven't ridden him since Monday, but that's alright. It's good for him to wear it, is my philosophy. And now, I just had another epiphany. The thing that caused all this lead by the leg stuff today was that Moose kept backing up when I wiggled the rope around his leg. I was just trying to do Friendly, and he kept backing. Talk about connect the dots. I just realized that THAT is why he won't back up for me at Liberty. He thinks backing up is wiggling a rope, not my energy moving him back/finger wiggling (even though that's what I do on line, is just wiggle my finger and he moves back. . . have to look into that one more. . .). So, now I think I'm going to try to play with this some more and see if we can get it to where I can wiggle all kinds of ropes and he doesn't back up unless my energy is up. This will be good for me, too, because I need to start distinguishing that within myself, because my energy is usually down, and I'm starting to think I don't raise it often enough.
But yeah, I'm sure you can tell by reading my blog posts that I tend to be a kind of sporadic thinker. I get most of my epiphanies from talking to my mom and recounting to her how the play with Moose went that day. It's like I need to talk to think, sometimes. I've thought about getting a tape recorder and just recording myself talk, but I'm not sure if that will feel the same. Yeah, just got side-tracked. Well, my point is that if this is how I think, imagine how Moose feels when this sporadic person walks outside to try to teach him. I was explaining to my mom yesterday how I feel like I'm trying to teach him Science, Reading, Writing, Math, Social Studies, Spanish, and Music (the 7 games) all at once, instead of isolating, separating and recombining like I should be. I should be dedicating time to one task, then to another, then to another, instead of just trying to fit every single game into one 2 hour play session. This came about by me hearing that some girl was just filming her Level 3 on line, and she only plays with her horse like 10-20 minutes per week. She's had him for somewhere between 3-5 years, can't exactly remember. But if you do that math, that adds up to around 9 hours of play time per year. PER YEAR. Moose and I have a grand total of around 500 hours. And we're in Level 2. And I owned him for 1 year. So, my question was how in the world did this girl do it? Quality of time spent, not quantity. I've got plenty of time, I just don't use it well. I do whatever random thing pops into my head at that moment. I usually don't play off of what we did yesterday, so there is never a continuation of learning. It's like everything is its own entity, nothing is connected to anything else. Then, in essence, I am not creating a foundation, since there is no purpose, and without purpose I'm sure Moose lacks understanding.
Jeez, how much horses have to teach us! I look forward to more lessons from Moose tomorrow.
Savvy up!
Saturday, August 22, 2009
The Definition of Leadership
I just audited a level 2/3 clinic by Dave Ellis today - details about the clinic in another post - but I had to talk about my play session with Moose when I got home. He did INCREDIBLE!!!!!!! :-) Like I seriously think that was the best I've ever (so consequently, the best HE's) played.
I was a leader. I didn't think my way through it. I made it simple just like Dave kept repeating: "Make the right thing easy and the wrong thing difficult. That's all it is." And I did just that. I said Moose, let's do this. Moose, let's do that. And I tried doing lots of stuff with the same attitude. "Hey, I didn't ask you to do that." "Honey, I need you to try it." "Thanks for offering, but I want you to do ______ instead." And he woke up like I had slapped him in the face.
I didn't worry about things like I normally do. For instance, whenever I got particular in the past, Moose would start running off in the Circling Game. So, I would say "Well, I must've been too particular with him, and I just need to go slower." This time, I didn't conclude that I'd been too particular. I just said "Don't run off! Don't walk! Don't canter! Just trot." And after 2 laps of gallopping off, then stopping and looking at me, then cantering, then looking at me, then cantering, he got it and gave me a lap of trotting, so I stopped and rewarded him. I just made the wrong thing difficult. "You want to canter? That's great, but right now we're trotting." His Circling got a lot better, too, with the go - woah exercise Dave played with the mule. I just sent Moose off, then immediately looked at his HQ to disengage. Of course, he had going on the brain, so I said "Don't run off, just stop." And so he stopped, and then I sent him and he took off again, and we repeated the same thing over again. Took him like 3 sends before he figured out that just-getting-the-heck-outta-there when I send made it really hard to yield his hindquarters.
But the biggest breakthrough is yet to come. Moose has trouble putting his foot on/in things. If I ask him to put it inside a tire, he won't do it. He always puts it around, and I've gotten him to put it in/on, but he's never offered anything and it took a while. Well, I mentioned this in an older post that we have 2 tractor tires full of dirt right next to each other which can serve as a pedestal/jump/mounting block. Well, he's had issues jumping it, so I wanted to give it a try today. He jumped it fine one way after a few re-sends. Then, I tried the other way, and after a few re-sends, he started pawing the dirt in the tire. So, I let him, since that's progress. Then, I sent him again, and he actually stood on the dirt!!!! That's HUGE!!!!!!!!! Like I was crying tears of joy good, and doing cartwheels good and running-out-of-treats-to-feed-him good. I was so impressed. . . I even unhaltered him standing up there (after I knew that he wasn't going to jump down on me, though). A very ecstatic moment . . . I just had to share! Savvy on! :P
I was a leader. I didn't think my way through it. I made it simple just like Dave kept repeating: "Make the right thing easy and the wrong thing difficult. That's all it is." And I did just that. I said Moose, let's do this. Moose, let's do that. And I tried doing lots of stuff with the same attitude. "Hey, I didn't ask you to do that." "Honey, I need you to try it." "Thanks for offering, but I want you to do ______ instead." And he woke up like I had slapped him in the face.
I didn't worry about things like I normally do. For instance, whenever I got particular in the past, Moose would start running off in the Circling Game. So, I would say "Well, I must've been too particular with him, and I just need to go slower." This time, I didn't conclude that I'd been too particular. I just said "Don't run off! Don't walk! Don't canter! Just trot." And after 2 laps of gallopping off, then stopping and looking at me, then cantering, then looking at me, then cantering, he got it and gave me a lap of trotting, so I stopped and rewarded him. I just made the wrong thing difficult. "You want to canter? That's great, but right now we're trotting." His Circling got a lot better, too, with the go - woah exercise Dave played with the mule. I just sent Moose off, then immediately looked at his HQ to disengage. Of course, he had going on the brain, so I said "Don't run off, just stop." And so he stopped, and then I sent him and he took off again, and we repeated the same thing over again. Took him like 3 sends before he figured out that just-getting-the-heck-outta-there when I send made it really hard to yield his hindquarters.
But the biggest breakthrough is yet to come. Moose has trouble putting his foot on/in things. If I ask him to put it inside a tire, he won't do it. He always puts it around, and I've gotten him to put it in/on, but he's never offered anything and it took a while. Well, I mentioned this in an older post that we have 2 tractor tires full of dirt right next to each other which can serve as a pedestal/jump/mounting block. Well, he's had issues jumping it, so I wanted to give it a try today. He jumped it fine one way after a few re-sends. Then, I tried the other way, and after a few re-sends, he started pawing the dirt in the tire. So, I let him, since that's progress. Then, I sent him again, and he actually stood on the dirt!!!! That's HUGE!!!!!!!!! Like I was crying tears of joy good, and doing cartwheels good and running-out-of-treats-to-feed-him good. I was so impressed. . . I even unhaltered him standing up there (after I knew that he wasn't going to jump down on me, though). A very ecstatic moment . . . I just had to share! Savvy on! :P
Thursday, July 24, 2008
SMART smart smart . . .
I had another session with Arruba yesterday. I'm very excited. Things went really well this time!! At the beginning she was a tad RB, but I backed her up a bit and she got loads better! She never got away from me either!!! Actually, I just prevented it in the first place. I never did circling game, I only worked on games 1-4. Also, I realized that in order for her to run away, she had to take her head way over to the other side and then start going. So, I never allowed her to turn her head where she needed it to be!!!
And I never realized just how smart that horse is!!! Holy cow!! Friendly game she aced, it's kind of funny actually, because I can slap the ground with the rope while she just stands harder than I can with Dancer! I also worked on porcupine game a lot. She usually gets around phase 2/3 still, but she's getting better!! Driving game was nice on the hindquarters, I actually had to up the pressure on phase 4, because I realized that my pressure was more like phase 3. Once I did that, she learned very quickly what I wanted. Her yo-yo game is fantastic (in my opinion) from just 2 sessions. Like the title says, she learns amazingly quick! It'll be interesting to keep her entertained.
And I never realized just how smart that horse is!!! Holy cow!! Friendly game she aced, it's kind of funny actually, because I can slap the ground with the rope while she just stands harder than I can with Dancer! I also worked on porcupine game a lot. She usually gets around phase 2/3 still, but she's getting better!! Driving game was nice on the hindquarters, I actually had to up the pressure on phase 4, because I realized that my pressure was more like phase 3. Once I did that, she learned very quickly what I wanted. Her yo-yo game is fantastic (in my opinion) from just 2 sessions. Like the title says, she learns amazingly quick! It'll be interesting to keep her entertained.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Undermined by a YEARLING!!!
I decided to play with Ruby for a little while yesterday. "Oh boy," was that interesting!! Ruby was in the pasture with the other horses at the same time I played with her (for lack of a round pen, man I need one of those!!!). She aces Level 1 friendly game, so that's not a big deal. Porcupine with the hindquarters was pretty good for the first session, but the forehand was kind of difficult. I didn't do the driving game, because the porcupine game needs work first. Mainly I focused on the yo-yo game, because Ruby likes to run people over. I had to go to phase 4 a couple of times and she just stood there (tells you something, huh?!? lol) even as I created a ton of commotion. I considered switching to a different strategy for phase 4, but she started to get it. So, she backs up pretty nice now.
But now, here's my dilemma. Ruby kept wanting to walk away, so I decided I'd send her out on a circle. It took phase 4, and she started trotting around. She didn't circle around me, though. Either she would take a couple steps and stop, which is alright (just resend!) or she'll decide to start trotting away (the normal one). So eventually, she reaches the end of the rope (22'), and I start walking after her. I can't yo-yo, because the rope is taut; I didn't work on driving game (oops); and I can't bend her neck towards me, because the rope will either be between her 2 front legs or on the other side of her neck. So, she got away from me twice (and got the other horses all worked up, it took me at least 5 minutes to catch her once), because those things happened.
I realize now that I set us up for disaster by not preparing properly (WAY smaller pen, better games 1-4), so I think I'll chalk up this session to a learning experience. Though, I still anticipate trouble with the circling game, because she gets the rope caught between her legs a lot which really reduces how much I can control her. I also don't really know how to get her to actually circle and not run away. All in all, I suppose Ruby has a lot to teach me.
But now, here's my dilemma. Ruby kept wanting to walk away, so I decided I'd send her out on a circle. It took phase 4, and she started trotting around. She didn't circle around me, though. Either she would take a couple steps and stop, which is alright (just resend!) or she'll decide to start trotting away (the normal one). So eventually, she reaches the end of the rope (22'), and I start walking after her. I can't yo-yo, because the rope is taut; I didn't work on driving game (oops); and I can't bend her neck towards me, because the rope will either be between her 2 front legs or on the other side of her neck. So, she got away from me twice (and got the other horses all worked up, it took me at least 5 minutes to catch her once), because those things happened.
I realize now that I set us up for disaster by not preparing properly (WAY smaller pen, better games 1-4), so I think I'll chalk up this session to a learning experience. Though, I still anticipate trouble with the circling game, because she gets the rope caught between her legs a lot which really reduces how much I can control her. I also don't really know how to get her to actually circle and not run away. All in all, I suppose Ruby has a lot to teach me.
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