Love

Love

A rocky relationship?

Posted on February 18, 2009 by horsegirlonajourney

Somewhere in all my Parelli media, Linda says “at this point if your horse isn’t coming up to meet you at the gate, you have a problem.”

Rocky has only three or four times met me at the gate. I think it depends a little teensy weensy bit on where Wesley and Paco are, whether it’s raining, and how deep the mud is. But I’m sure it depends mostly on ME. Am I boring him? Am I in a Pattern of Seven Tortures?

I’m trying to get more provocative. Certainly he’s shown enthusiasm for our Freestyle patterns. I’ve also taken to appearing in the pasture, handing out carrots, and leaving. Or hanging out undemandingly for 10 minutes or so, in the freezing rain, without taking carrots with me. And sometimes I take the halter in with me and sometimes I don’t. Sometimes I get Rocky right away and sometimes I don’t. Just trying to be unpredictable and interesting in an environment where he feels safe.

He does always put his nose in his halter when I hold it out when I’m near him. I can hold it a foot above the ground and he will bend his head and try to thread his nose in. He never resists following me anywhere on the lead.

So. I’m thinking about what I can do about becoming more fun and interesting for him so that he comes to me most of the time. I’ve seen references to “catch me” in the Parelli materials but have never seen instructions (though I have seen Pat do it on the DVDs numerous times). I’m sure I’m not the first one to enter Level 2 with this puzzlement.

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Could it be true, that Rocky wants to play with me?

Posted on February 9, 2009 by horsegirlonajourney

Today is the third or fourth time that Rocky has seen me coming and met me by the gate. Not the third or fourth time in a row, but the third or fourth time since I started noticing.

Rocky’s the bottom horse of the three that live in the Back 40, and most of the time he’s the furthest from the gate. He’ll look up when he sees me, he’ll perk ears, give me two eyes, take a few steps sometimes, but usually his catching game is “please come close to me and I’ll take a few steps toward you when you’re between me and Them.” Then he shoves his nose in his halter.

But today, the other two were higher up the hill — in the Back 60 — and Rocky was near the fence at the bottom. Same thing on Saturday. Both days he walked energetically and perked up toward the gate and waited for me there.

Could it be that he wants to be with me, but usually he can’t “run up to me” like all the other Parelli horses in the world (heh heh), because until I’m inside the gate, he obeys Wesley and Paco. I should start driving them away from the gate before I even get there and see how big the bubble is before he’ll start waiting for that and then come to me when I’ve done so.

Today, my only Purpose was to deliver him a carrot for the tiniest, teeniest try of anything, just right there in the pasture, with good manners. We had moderate success as it is so deep and slippery I kept getting distracted trying not to lose a boot like a baby mastadon in a tar pit at which point the horses almost but not quite mobbed me.

Here’s a long-distance shot from my cell phone in which I attempted to capture the slickness of the mud but failed completely. Wesley is in the red blanket. Paco walked out of the frame before it captured. And Rocky is there, if you look hard enough.