I saw on Shirley's website it says that she had ridden with Lee Smith in clinics before. Hmm, I don't know that person. Being curious, I searched for he/she on Google. For all wondering, Lee is a girl. :) And it turns out she uses Ray Hunt's methods. Hmm, "How interesting!" I checked her schedule and was excited to see that she is coming to Wisconsin a few times. So, I might have something else to add to my schedule.
I got off track a little bit. My point was the quote on the homepage of her website. "Don't simply focus on doing what I do, learn to see what I see. If you could see what I see, then you would know what to do." Now, isn't that a wise thing to say? And it makes so much sense, too. If you could read the horse, you would know where to be, why to be, and what do do when you get there. That's a very savvy thing to say!
And I went to a clinic by Smokie Brannaman. If that name sounds familiar to you, it's because you're thinking of his brother Buck. As a sidenote, I wonder how Smokie feels about his brother being so well-known and him not? Anyways, the clinic was about trailer-loading. It was 4 hours long, but we were only there for about the last 2. I have to say I am a bit disappointed in him. He basically told the auditors what they wanted to hear.
But still, I don't condemn him for life just because I don't like his trailer-loading methods. He has another clinic in August (I think 8th and 9th, but I'll check) about round pen work. Maybe he'll do better there.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Fighting Words
Based on my realizations I had with Dancer which I mentioned last post, I tried playing with her today. I have to say that I did do better than previous times playing with her, but she still doesn't like being around me.
But yeah, the positive part of our playtime yesterday was that I had more awareness of what I was doing than before. This time, if I fought with her, it was because I chose to, not because I thought that was the only option. But her behavior still has me confused! Whenever I put her online, she goes into this mode which could best be described as Nervous Dominance. That's the best way I can put it, because I'm not exactly sure. It's like she's half RB and half LB. She gets nervous, so she doesn't think. For instance, I'll ask her to put her nose on a cone and she will, but she then proceeds to paw the cone apart, and then tries to step on it and walk over it (it's a big cone, by the way). But she's not thinking: the whole time she doesn't think about it, she just does it. But after she destroys the cone, let's say I let her come in. She always pokes her nose at me 2+ times coming in, and then comes in VERY close with ears back a little. (I've tried having her stay away from me a little bit, but it just ends up in another fight, so I decided no to go there today.)
But another thing that is bad is leading. I would say that I hardly feel safe leading her at anything more than a slow walk. Reason being that she leads very close to me. Maybe she was taught this way, I'm not sure, but it makes me feel pretty unsafe. Say Dancer is on my right and I'm leading her. Well, her head would be by my right shoulder, but her body is behind me. Basically, she's in the position where if anything happens, I'm going to get ran over by her shoulder. Make sense? I remember Pat talking about it at the Madison Tour Stop last year with the demo horse.
Honestly, I feel more like a lion-tamer or snake handler than a Parelli student when I'm with her. Plus, she hates me and I don't feel safe around her. Not a good match.
Oh, and I noticed something about her attitude yesterday, too. She says "NO!" to everything! But at least this one doesn't apply for only me. She does this with the other horses, too. For example, Moose will pin his ears at her to move out of the way, and she swishes her tail and kind of saunters away. Then, he'll charge at her, and she moves out at a trot with an angry "Fine" attitude. She reminds me of a crabby old lady. :)
Lastly, I tried giving her treats when she got aggressive. Don't think I did it right. She stopped being aggressive, but then crowded me. So, I asked her to get out of my space, and she got mad again. Am I supposed to give her treats every time she gets mad? Because if so, I don't think I'm going to have enough treats. She gets mad at everything, like I said in last paragraph.
P.S. I'm not trying to criticize Dancer here. That is not my intention. I just want to document my issues with/feelings about her, because then I can see how things have changed when I gain more savvy and she likes me. Which is definitely something to look forward to!
But yeah, the positive part of our playtime yesterday was that I had more awareness of what I was doing than before. This time, if I fought with her, it was because I chose to, not because I thought that was the only option. But her behavior still has me confused! Whenever I put her online, she goes into this mode which could best be described as Nervous Dominance. That's the best way I can put it, because I'm not exactly sure. It's like she's half RB and half LB. She gets nervous, so she doesn't think. For instance, I'll ask her to put her nose on a cone and she will, but she then proceeds to paw the cone apart, and then tries to step on it and walk over it (it's a big cone, by the way). But she's not thinking: the whole time she doesn't think about it, she just does it. But after she destroys the cone, let's say I let her come in. She always pokes her nose at me 2+ times coming in, and then comes in VERY close with ears back a little. (I've tried having her stay away from me a little bit, but it just ends up in another fight, so I decided no to go there today.)
But another thing that is bad is leading. I would say that I hardly feel safe leading her at anything more than a slow walk. Reason being that she leads very close to me. Maybe she was taught this way, I'm not sure, but it makes me feel pretty unsafe. Say Dancer is on my right and I'm leading her. Well, her head would be by my right shoulder, but her body is behind me. Basically, she's in the position where if anything happens, I'm going to get ran over by her shoulder. Make sense? I remember Pat talking about it at the Madison Tour Stop last year with the demo horse.
Honestly, I feel more like a lion-tamer or snake handler than a Parelli student when I'm with her. Plus, she hates me and I don't feel safe around her. Not a good match.
Oh, and I noticed something about her attitude yesterday, too. She says "NO!" to everything! But at least this one doesn't apply for only me. She does this with the other horses, too. For example, Moose will pin his ears at her to move out of the way, and she swishes her tail and kind of saunters away. Then, he'll charge at her, and she moves out at a trot with an angry "Fine" attitude. She reminds me of a crabby old lady. :)
Lastly, I tried giving her treats when she got aggressive. Don't think I did it right. She stopped being aggressive, but then crowded me. So, I asked her to get out of my space, and she got mad again. Am I supposed to give her treats every time she gets mad? Because if so, I don't think I'm going to have enough treats. She gets mad at everything, like I said in last paragraph.
P.S. I'm not trying to criticize Dancer here. That is not my intention. I just want to document my issues with/feelings about her, because then I can see how things have changed when I gain more savvy and she likes me. Which is definitely something to look forward to!
Thursday, May 7, 2009
And I Almost Forgot . . .
Moosey turned 14 on April 18th. A little late, yes, I know. But hey, better late than never. Happy Belated B-day, Moosey!
Reality Check
Couple of things to talk about. First, I thought everyone should know that Horse.com is currently holding a contest for pictures of your horse and/or you to go on the cover of their magazine. The prize is a $2500 gift card, and pictures are due on May 31, 09. For more information, click here.
Okay, so secondly I wanted to talk about the past few days. Well, I think it was on Friday that I watched the newest Parelli DVD called Solving the Extrovert/Introvert Mismatch (or something similar). Well, I have to say I am VERY impressed. Personally, I think these are the kinds of DVDs that Parelli should have in the Success Series, because this is the kind of stuff I'm looking for/need help with. This really helped answer my questions about how to act around our horses, and how to manage my energy better. I had no idea how different your energy had to be for each horsenality. Slow reactions for Introverts, fast reactions for Extroverts. . . who knew? I was never told that energy changed that much. Also, I learned some more huge pieces of information.
For one thing, RBE's and LBE's have totally different strategies. I have been using some RBE strategies with Dancer, which is actually a very BAD idea. I'm just lucky Dancer isn't as agressive with me as she could have been. See, most Parelli people know that with RBE's you need to use "thanks, I needed that" type things once and while. But I was doing that to Dancer. I would say "Don't do this, don't do that." But with LBE's you dominate them through "You want to ____. Let me help you!" until they run out of ideas. So, it shouldn't be a fight at all! I wish I would've known this months ago!
Thirdly, the DVD showed a very interesting tip for aggressive horses. Linda said when you have an aggressive horse, give them a treat (while they're being dominant), because it'll blow their mind! I have to admit, though, that when I heard her say that it blew my mind too. I was thinking "But, wouldn't that teach them to be aggressive?" I actually had to pause the segment for a moment and think about it. I couldn't reach a conclusion. Well, on it went again. Linda answered my question about a minute later :). She said that horses don't think like that - they can't think that far into the future to plan out that 'being aggressive = treats'. Personally, I'm still a little confused as to how that could be, because horses are very quick to notice that when they ______(insert action), they receive a treat. Oh, well that's another topic.
Fourthly (if that is a word), I had a BFO about our relationship. Unfortunately, I had been being direct-line for the past couple of MONTHS (which is what was causing me to be frustrated and Moosey to be RBI, as I mentioned in previous posts). Poor Moose!! I didn't care about the relationship (albeit I thought I did), and had instead been focusing on making him do the task. Hey, I REALLY REALLY want to reach level 4, you know. :) Well, at least the good news is that I noticed what I was doing and I fixed it. See, I had broken my expectations and attitude. Now, my expectations are nada and my attitude is positively great. Moosey likes it a lot better, too. I took him out yesterday and he was really interested in me and left brain. He even walked to me!
It is still going to take a little while to fully change my timing and be positive, but I'm ready for the change. It's a LOT better than being frustrated. I still am tempted to make him pay attention to me and get after him for things I consider 'disrespectful', but I am determined not to be like that anymore. I should be his sanctuary, his safehouse! Plus, I just have to remember that the people in Level 3 + didn't get there by forcing their horse. They got their by putting the relationship first, and then everything else fell into place.
Okay, so secondly I wanted to talk about the past few days. Well, I think it was on Friday that I watched the newest Parelli DVD called Solving the Extrovert/Introvert Mismatch (or something similar). Well, I have to say I am VERY impressed. Personally, I think these are the kinds of DVDs that Parelli should have in the Success Series, because this is the kind of stuff I'm looking for/need help with. This really helped answer my questions about how to act around our horses, and how to manage my energy better. I had no idea how different your energy had to be for each horsenality. Slow reactions for Introverts, fast reactions for Extroverts. . . who knew? I was never told that energy changed that much. Also, I learned some more huge pieces of information.
For one thing, RBE's and LBE's have totally different strategies. I have been using some RBE strategies with Dancer, which is actually a very BAD idea. I'm just lucky Dancer isn't as agressive with me as she could have been. See, most Parelli people know that with RBE's you need to use "thanks, I needed that" type things once and while. But I was doing that to Dancer. I would say "Don't do this, don't do that." But with LBE's you dominate them through "You want to ____. Let me help you!" until they run out of ideas. So, it shouldn't be a fight at all! I wish I would've known this months ago!
Thirdly, the DVD showed a very interesting tip for aggressive horses. Linda said when you have an aggressive horse, give them a treat (while they're being dominant), because it'll blow their mind! I have to admit, though, that when I heard her say that it blew my mind too. I was thinking "But, wouldn't that teach them to be aggressive?" I actually had to pause the segment for a moment and think about it. I couldn't reach a conclusion. Well, on it went again. Linda answered my question about a minute later :). She said that horses don't think like that - they can't think that far into the future to plan out that 'being aggressive = treats'. Personally, I'm still a little confused as to how that could be, because horses are very quick to notice that when they ______(insert action), they receive a treat. Oh, well that's another topic.
Fourthly (if that is a word), I had a BFO about our relationship. Unfortunately, I had been being direct-line for the past couple of MONTHS (which is what was causing me to be frustrated and Moosey to be RBI, as I mentioned in previous posts). Poor Moose!! I didn't care about the relationship (albeit I thought I did), and had instead been focusing on making him do the task. Hey, I REALLY REALLY want to reach level 4, you know. :) Well, at least the good news is that I noticed what I was doing and I fixed it. See, I had broken my expectations and attitude. Now, my expectations are nada and my attitude is positively great. Moosey likes it a lot better, too. I took him out yesterday and he was really interested in me and left brain. He even walked to me!
It is still going to take a little while to fully change my timing and be positive, but I'm ready for the change. It's a LOT better than being frustrated. I still am tempted to make him pay attention to me and get after him for things I consider 'disrespectful', but I am determined not to be like that anymore. I should be his sanctuary, his safehouse! Plus, I just have to remember that the people in Level 3 + didn't get there by forcing their horse. They got their by putting the relationship first, and then everything else fell into place.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Sometimes No Plan is a Good Plan
First off, the Midwest Horse Fair!! Well, had a good time. I went on Saturday with a few friends. I caught the end of the Mustang Challenge. I hope to see more of that next year! It was very interesting to see all the different methods used, and how the horses reacted. But for bigger news, I got a saddle! :) It fit the cut-out of Moose's withers that I brought and was within our price range, so it's here. The only thing is that I'm not sure if it's going to fit him. We put it on with no pad underneath, and it really fell forward and pinched his shoulders. But I tried it with a Theraflex I'm borrowing, and it fit a lot nicer once shimmed. So, I think it might work. . . we'll see.
Anyways, I also attended a few clinics. I saw one about trick riding, and that was interesting to see. I also saw Ray Ainsworth, and he was working with a filly that my neighbor's cousin brought up. I was a little disappointed that Parelli wasn't there, because I saw them last year and their demonstration completely blew me away! But it was still a good time.
I played with the horses today at liberty and had a really nice time. I had no plan when I went out there, which is the basis for the title, but ended up doing lots of friendly. I had a noodle, flag, and whip. I was trying to get Bella more desensitized, and to get Moose to allow me to touch him. Having my focus on both horses proved helpful, because then if Moose started going introverted, I just walked away and started desensitizing Bella! But I found out 2 interesting things today. 1) I think Moose's problem with being touched actually is a RB problem, at least with new objects. Because when I touched him with the noodle beyond his face, he jumped forward like the RBI Pat played with in Horsenality segment of the January DVD. Also, I noticed that whenever I actually touched him with the noodle, his eyes got wide. But the moment I took it away, they would relax. 2) Moose taught me a nice lesson today about timing, too. I realized that I was putting more pressure on Moose when he was already unconfident. For example, say I have the flag. I'd let Moose sniff it, and then I slowly move it up -not touching him- by his cheek. He'd lift his head and flick his ears when I reached the threshold, then I'd immediately remove the flag. So, that's not the problem. The thing is once and while, he moves his head to the side to look at something else. For whatever reason, I always thought that then I should make him look at the scary object, so I'd bring it back up by his cheek until he acknowledged it, then remove it again. But in his mind, I was just putting more pressure on him when he got unconfident! So, that was as very nice thing to find out today!
And due to our good day, Moosey actually had draw!! :) I couldn't believe it, because we were at liberty, too. So, there might be hope for our audition after all! Yep, if we can pull it off, I think Moosey and I can pass Level 1. I'm very excited! But hey, I guess the key is just to not have a plan, right?
Anyways, I also attended a few clinics. I saw one about trick riding, and that was interesting to see. I also saw Ray Ainsworth, and he was working with a filly that my neighbor's cousin brought up. I was a little disappointed that Parelli wasn't there, because I saw them last year and their demonstration completely blew me away! But it was still a good time.
I played with the horses today at liberty and had a really nice time. I had no plan when I went out there, which is the basis for the title, but ended up doing lots of friendly. I had a noodle, flag, and whip. I was trying to get Bella more desensitized, and to get Moose to allow me to touch him. Having my focus on both horses proved helpful, because then if Moose started going introverted, I just walked away and started desensitizing Bella! But I found out 2 interesting things today. 1) I think Moose's problem with being touched actually is a RB problem, at least with new objects. Because when I touched him with the noodle beyond his face, he jumped forward like the RBI Pat played with in Horsenality segment of the January DVD. Also, I noticed that whenever I actually touched him with the noodle, his eyes got wide. But the moment I took it away, they would relax. 2) Moose taught me a nice lesson today about timing, too. I realized that I was putting more pressure on Moose when he was already unconfident. For example, say I have the flag. I'd let Moose sniff it, and then I slowly move it up -not touching him- by his cheek. He'd lift his head and flick his ears when I reached the threshold, then I'd immediately remove the flag. So, that's not the problem. The thing is once and while, he moves his head to the side to look at something else. For whatever reason, I always thought that then I should make him look at the scary object, so I'd bring it back up by his cheek until he acknowledged it, then remove it again. But in his mind, I was just putting more pressure on him when he got unconfident! So, that was as very nice thing to find out today!
And due to our good day, Moosey actually had draw!! :) I couldn't believe it, because we were at liberty, too. So, there might be hope for our audition after all! Yep, if we can pull it off, I think Moosey and I can pass Level 1. I'm very excited! But hey, I guess the key is just to not have a plan, right?
Friday, April 17, 2009
Saturday, March 21, 2009
What Happened to the Horses?
Oh man, it was an AMAZING day today. For me. :)
Moosey was in a SUPER good mood, so I even tried playing games while having the 22' around his neck and no halter. I decided that we weren't quite ready for that yet, but he gave a nice effort!
And to put things in perspective for you, I even sat on Moosey today for the first time since we bought him. That's how good he was! And I don't even know what made him so good. . . unless changing the obstacles in our pasture really had that much of an impact on him, lol. It just seemed that he was happy being with me today! And LB, too!
But yeah, I guess that sums up what he thought of yesterday. I would grade myself a big A+, which is quite a relief.
On the contrary (and quite to my amazement), Bella was being a little (big) BRAT today! I mean, calm, loving, friendly, "pet me pet me" Bella tried to bite Mom! We were astonished!
Personally, I still like my theory that someone switched Bella and Moose's brains for a day. Because seriously, that was what happened: Moose was EXTREMELY friendly, loving, cuddly, LB, just a lovely character to be around. I mean, he even had TOO MUCH draw!!! I thought I'd never see the day. . . today, I could barely get him to do a circle, because he kept coming in -normally, me and 3 elephants can't make him come in.
Now, Bella was being the opposite! She had NO draw (for her, that's like saying the sun doesn't shine in Hawaii), was throwing tantrums, and was over-reactive! Well, Mom is usually passive and today she acted like a leader, so "how interesting" that today is the day Bella is sassy! I guess she isn't such an angel after all, silly girl.
Overall, I had a very nice day, I hung out/played with Moose for a long time today. We'll just have to see if today was a freak of nature or if I'm actually more savvy than I thought. And it'll be interesting to know how Bella acts tomorrow.
Moosey was in a SUPER good mood, so I even tried playing games while having the 22' around his neck and no halter. I decided that we weren't quite ready for that yet, but he gave a nice effort!
And to put things in perspective for you, I even sat on Moosey today for the first time since we bought him. That's how good he was! And I don't even know what made him so good. . . unless changing the obstacles in our pasture really had that much of an impact on him, lol. It just seemed that he was happy being with me today! And LB, too!
But yeah, I guess that sums up what he thought of yesterday. I would grade myself a big A+, which is quite a relief.
On the contrary (and quite to my amazement), Bella was being a little (big) BRAT today! I mean, calm, loving, friendly, "pet me pet me" Bella tried to bite Mom! We were astonished!
Personally, I still like my theory that someone switched Bella and Moose's brains for a day. Because seriously, that was what happened: Moose was EXTREMELY friendly, loving, cuddly, LB, just a lovely character to be around. I mean, he even had TOO MUCH draw!!! I thought I'd never see the day. . . today, I could barely get him to do a circle, because he kept coming in -normally, me and 3 elephants can't make him come in.
Now, Bella was being the opposite! She had NO draw (for her, that's like saying the sun doesn't shine in Hawaii), was throwing tantrums, and was over-reactive! Well, Mom is usually passive and today she acted like a leader, so "how interesting" that today is the day Bella is sassy! I guess she isn't such an angel after all, silly girl.
Overall, I had a very nice day, I hung out/played with Moose for a long time today. We'll just have to see if today was a freak of nature or if I'm actually more savvy than I thought. And it'll be interesting to know how Bella acts tomorrow.
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