Yesterday the farrier came to see Filly. He pared out the area of the hoof split a little to allow the infection to drain better. He reckoned that the split was not close to any of the bone structures in the hoof. The only worry was that the infection might have damaged the hoofs ability to regrow properly and the split may remain a weak area. That was the worst case scenario. So all in all a much more positive outlook. The hoof was poulticed again and will be until early next week. The intention then is to use a strong iodine sugar solution to harden the area ready for a bar shoe to be fitted. She is walking without much sign of lameness and seems happy in her stable. Still not touching her to make sure that the ringworm is fully dead, but once the shoe is fitted she should be OK for gentle play again.
The weather today was very very wet, but warm. So wrapped up well in waterproofs I went to the field to play with Billy. He was a little difficult to catch today, but then as horses are perceptive to people, places, changes and things he had a lot to think about. I was wearing rustley waterproof trousers, it was raining hard, it was windy, and it was very slippery underfoot. I stuck to my principles and did not "catch" him as soon as he came close, but waited until he was very calm and standing next to me. This took sometime of playing with him, and he chose the muddiest part of the field to do it in.
Once he was haltered we started playing all the usual games. The only one I had a little trouble with was the circling game. He was a bit right brained about it all, especially the hind quarter yield to stop. We therefore spent some time fixing this at the halt, after which it went much better. Originally he was turning to face, but continuing on the circle sideways, or pulling back with head high. We worked on making the hind quarter yield a movement where the front feet stayed still, and ONLY the back moved round. This worked well.
I also started a more extreme friendly game. This comprises standing in front of him and throwing coils of the rope around his neck, and then uncoiling them again. Not being a cowboy throwing a rope to achieve this was tricky, not helped by his right brain head lifting. Slowly we both got the hang of it and he would let me through a couple of loops round and then uncoil them again. The purpose of this is to get him used to ropes flashing past his face so that when he is eventually ridden in a halter the rope can be thrown from one side of his head to the other. We will work towards advanced stuff like two lead ropes on his halter as reins after his has been ridden for a while. Bridles and bits come much much later !!
I also felt that I knew him well enough to fill out a horesenality chart for him. He came out as a left/right brain extrovert. No surprises there then. We now have a family of L/RBE, LBE, and L/RBI.
I have just finished reading a book called "Natural Horsemanship Explained" by Robert M Miller. It is not a book on HOW to do natural horsemanship NH, but on WHY it works. Unless you already know a little of the mechanics of NH I suspect it would be a bit confusing. For me however it has clarified so much I have learned from the Parelli program. I hate doing things without understanding what they are trying to achieve. Combining this book with the Parelli material will increase my rate of learning enormously... I hope.
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