horsegirlonajourney

Responsibility #3: Think like a horse

Posted on July 28, 2010 by horsegirlonajourney

I went for a moonlight walk around the neighborhood and had a real sense of what it is like to be a prey animal.

Our neighborhood loop is one mile, and my friend and I walked it twice, as both of us were still up at 2:00 a.m. and figured it was healthier to walk and talk than to eat or open a bottle of wine. The moon is full tonight, and so clear and bright that you need moonglasses.

We talked quietly the whole way, sharing fears and encouragement about various life changes we are both facing. We walked through a stippled landscape of silver and onyx, where every shrub and mailbox and tree and truck took on an entirely different aspect. Metal glinted, shadows shifted and flowed like spilled ink, tree branches looked like so many dark claws reaching toward us.

We heard the sounds of an animal running toward us and whipped our heads around to stare at a house set back from the road. Its tall fence was lost in a tangle of vegetation, and we could not see if it had an opening or a gate, but we could hear something with paws getting closer. The sound stopped before our imaginations got too wild and it was most likely a Labrador-sized dog crossing its yard. But we both shut up and succumbed to the instinct to freeze, stare, and decide whether to run or fight. I spread my feet and gathered my energy in toward myself, preparing for a firm “No! Go home!” in case a canine did shoot out into the road at us.

My dog was completely unconcerned, no hackles, no growling, not even looking in the direction of the noise, and even with that confidence, it still took us a moment to get our heart rates back to normal.

Further along the road was a lumpy shape of darkness that my mind could not resolve. It looked something like a tarp, wrinkled and mounded up, or maybe like a wheelbarrow’s worth of manure dumped in the road, or a zombie digging itself patiently out of its grave. I kept an eye on it and we walked on the far side of the street to get past it and I still don’t know what it was.

A small winged thing darted overhead. I was too slow to see it; I caught just its moving shadow out of the corner of my eye. Something larger rustled quietly nearby when we started our second loop, possibly one of the deer that have been hanging out in the big garden next door to the goat house. Or maybe one of the goats.

We saw no sign of the usual dogs, and none barked at us. No cars passed us and no feral cats hissed at us from the ditch. We made it home without stepping in anything disgusting, without injury, without incident, but with a stark reminder of what it is like to have one’s sixth sense tuned into clues that our brains simply cannot process.

How courageous our partners are to trust us to bring them safely through to the other side.

Categories: Feel | 1 Comment

I must be doing something right

Posted on July 21, 2010 by horsegirlonajourney

We’ve had several breakthroughs in the past month as I have attempted but failed to get back onto some sort of progressive plan — doing the Liberty patterns and watching the rest of the new Level 1/2. We have the Parelli Across America event in California in just two weeks and I am skipping a rather important (but more expensive) trade show to go to it, so I need to get back with the program, literally.

Health Updates

The Clean Trax soak helped Rocky’s thrush issue and he’s been feeling a lot better lately overall. When I turn him out in the arena with Salsa, he will trot across its width when he sees me, and he will stick to me even when I’d rather he wander off. I’ve been at a loss for ideas and need to watch the liberty patterns again. I’m still hesitant to ask him to do much trotting but my instincts are telling me that at this point, I need to move forward with a gradual conditioning program or he will never re-balance.

The daily half cup of corn oil has improved Salsa’s skin and coat so that he is no longer crazy with itching. He even looks shinier in the sun.

Development Updates

We took Salsa on the family walk around the neighborhood, a one-mile loop on a wide street, and he didn’t show any signs of worry about wearing his saddle the whole time. Jan has taught him to lift his feet when we snap our fingers twice, and we have been cleaning his hooves regularly and grooming him too, like a real cared-for horse. I have stopped teaching him anything new, as Jan is able to visit enough this summer to keep his education going. I just reinforce during those weeks that she is not here.

Tonight I rode Rocky in our Western saddle for the first time in ages. My plan was to ride around the ranch in the used Easy Boots Gloves we just got, but by the time he was brushed and booted and saddled, it was too dark. Eventually we will be able to ride here at night but since he is moon-blind, I have to wait until our relationship progresses and my riding skills improve so much that he completely trusts my directions. And then I have to make sure not to run us into anything!

I did mount at a spot just outside the arena with the plan of riding him one circuit around outside the rail before going in. That way we could take advantage of the arena lights but still be “on the trail.” He went along fine for about 10 strides and then panicked at the covered pony cart parked near the barn. His head went up, his haunches went down, and he started backing up fast. I didn’t even think about bailing off! I kept him backing and when he tried to swing his head around and turn, I kept zone 1 firmly pointed at the spooky object. That took some strength on my part but he did follow the feel and we kept backing, and then I allowed him to rest. At that point I thought “I wonder if I should get off? What if he doesn’t plan to rest must longer but instead wheel around and bolt and NOT follow my feel?” It took me a few seconds to decide that having had the thought, I should dismount, even though I had answered myself with “Nyah it’ll be okay.”

When I thought back on the incident I realized that I did everything right. Possibly for the first time. I pushed myself deeper into the saddle with one hand on the pommel. I did not hold my breath or tighten my legs. I kept him facing the scary object and channeled his need to move into moving backward, rather than trying to stop him or push him forward. I remembered the Parelli instruction to dismount the moment the idea pops into your head, and then I was totally confident on the ground, which gave Rocky more confidence. We then practiced facing the object, walking toward it, waiting at thresholds so he didn’t feel shoved over the cliff, me petting the object all over and then petting him, and finally him putting his nose on it.

Then we walked off and did something else.

Through the entire incident I felt more “I’m the Mommy, let me help him through this” instead of “Eek I’m scared what do I do?” like I have in the past.

I got back on in the arena and practiced some point to point, choosing just two points to walk between, and trying very hard to let my focus and my body do all the guiding and not pick up the reins unless absolutely necessary. Both Rocky and I managed to be straighter this time in both our walking and our resting, so then we rewarded ourselves (heh) with a nice easy follow-the-rail for a few circuits.

When I felt like we’d both learned something and were still having fun, I hopped off and unsaddled him, then took off his halter, and we did some cool-down laps at liberty. He stuck to me and occasionally tried to drive but I caught it and didn’t let him, just changed direction or gait or speed and gave him something else to think about. None of the obstacles were out so I just made up shapes as we went, triangles and circles and squares, and we ended at the cookie station. I then took him back to his pen at liberty with not even one attempt to get away on his part.

I must be doing something right. My horse wants to be with me, is confident and even pushy about doing stuff together, and is much more responsive to my leadership when he’s afraid than he used to be.