I got home after a very long flight from Dar Es Salaam, so having had little sleep for 36 hours thought a gentle liberty session with Filly was in order. I took her to the indoor school noticing that she was even more mouthy than usual. Taking off her rug she immediately started to groom herself and had a long roll. I scratched where she had started and mounds of hair came off.
It then occurred to me that she had started moulting before I left 4 days ago, because she does not go in a field at the moment she never has her rug removed and so had not been able to groom herself to get rid of the winter coat. She must have been itching like hell. Her mouthing was a desperate plea to get me to groom her. I dashed to get a stiff brush and made a start. Enough hair to "stuff a pillow" came off while she kept moving to indicate the next bit to be done. This must have been heaven for her, but made me sneeze a lot.
Again this has reinforced for me that if your horse is acting "badly" then rather than just blame them look for an underlying cause. It may be them desperately trying to communicate to you, and probably getting frustrated when you don't understand what in their eyes is such a simple request.
After a long session of grooming it was back to the serious business of playing. To start we just did some circling game, but with 4 days of pent up energy to use it was fast and exciting with loads of exuberant bucks, broncs, kicks. I just stood in the middle laughing and showing that I was enjoying it as well. Her body language gave off pure fun. In particular her ears where mobile, with one on me, and her eyes soft, not stary. Thus I knew this was just exuberance, not dominance or fear. With some difficulty I could even get changes of direction which meant she was still paying some attention to me. But what changes !! Great leaps into the new circle.
As she settled down the circles became controlled and very, well, circular. I have seen this pattern before, as the adrenalin falls she circles very tight on me at canter or trot. I like this as it shows her strong connection to me, although some of the circles can get a bit adjacent causing me to remind her of my personal space bubble. Eventually with the slightest bow of my head she hind quarter disengages and stands facing me or by my side. This is a dangerous period from my point of view. After a minute or two she nearly always gives a great adrenalin releasing snotty snort. You don't want to be in the way or it is home to wash the hair again !!
We then played loads of stick to me at walk and trot. I can't run fast enough for canter. Her stops where almost slide stops. From trot I give a notice of stopping by inhaling deeply and then relaxing to a stop as I exhale. If I stop suddenly having given her this notice she snaps to a stop alongside. Looks at me with the obvious request "more, this is fun".
I also worked on her draw at liberty. I have been concerned that she is getting a little head shy. If I put my hand up to stroke her head she snaps at me. I needed to gain her trust with the head again as well. Facing her I backed away and asked her to follow me keeping both eyes on me. If her head turned such that I could not see both eyes I used my carrot stick with a bag on the end to gently drive her head around so that I had both eyes again. Backing away of course reinforces the fact that I am not acting in a predatory way, whilst the driving shows that I am still being particular about what we are doing. On stopping I gently raised my hand to stroke her forehead. If she tried to nip I just evaded, if necessary using the carrot stick to drive her head to give me both eyes and tried to stoke again. The transformation after 5 minutes was incredible. She was following my every turn with a brilliant draw (at liberty remember), on stopping I could gently stroke her forehead whilst she lightly nibbled my coat at worst. I very gently discouraged even this of course.
All in all a fun session. Not making the progress I would like to make with her towards riding, but then her size and my weight don't lend themselves to that anyway. Building a strong relationship is the best I can really do for now, but this should help in the long term in any case. Trying to keep her sane whist she is confined is actually quite an achievement in itself at present.
It then occurred to me that she had started moulting before I left 4 days ago, because she does not go in a field at the moment she never has her rug removed and so had not been able to groom herself to get rid of the winter coat. She must have been itching like hell. Her mouthing was a desperate plea to get me to groom her. I dashed to get a stiff brush and made a start. Enough hair to "stuff a pillow" came off while she kept moving to indicate the next bit to be done. This must have been heaven for her, but made me sneeze a lot.
Again this has reinforced for me that if your horse is acting "badly" then rather than just blame them look for an underlying cause. It may be them desperately trying to communicate to you, and probably getting frustrated when you don't understand what in their eyes is such a simple request.
After a long session of grooming it was back to the serious business of playing. To start we just did some circling game, but with 4 days of pent up energy to use it was fast and exciting with loads of exuberant bucks, broncs, kicks. I just stood in the middle laughing and showing that I was enjoying it as well. Her body language gave off pure fun. In particular her ears where mobile, with one on me, and her eyes soft, not stary. Thus I knew this was just exuberance, not dominance or fear. With some difficulty I could even get changes of direction which meant she was still paying some attention to me. But what changes !! Great leaps into the new circle.
As she settled down the circles became controlled and very, well, circular. I have seen this pattern before, as the adrenalin falls she circles very tight on me at canter or trot. I like this as it shows her strong connection to me, although some of the circles can get a bit adjacent causing me to remind her of my personal space bubble. Eventually with the slightest bow of my head she hind quarter disengages and stands facing me or by my side. This is a dangerous period from my point of view. After a minute or two she nearly always gives a great adrenalin releasing snotty snort. You don't want to be in the way or it is home to wash the hair again !!
We then played loads of stick to me at walk and trot. I can't run fast enough for canter. Her stops where almost slide stops. From trot I give a notice of stopping by inhaling deeply and then relaxing to a stop as I exhale. If I stop suddenly having given her this notice she snaps to a stop alongside. Looks at me with the obvious request "more, this is fun".
I also worked on her draw at liberty. I have been concerned that she is getting a little head shy. If I put my hand up to stroke her head she snaps at me. I needed to gain her trust with the head again as well. Facing her I backed away and asked her to follow me keeping both eyes on me. If her head turned such that I could not see both eyes I used my carrot stick with a bag on the end to gently drive her head around so that I had both eyes again. Backing away of course reinforces the fact that I am not acting in a predatory way, whilst the driving shows that I am still being particular about what we are doing. On stopping I gently raised my hand to stroke her forehead. If she tried to nip I just evaded, if necessary using the carrot stick to drive her head to give me both eyes and tried to stoke again. The transformation after 5 minutes was incredible. She was following my every turn with a brilliant draw (at liberty remember), on stopping I could gently stroke her forehead whilst she lightly nibbled my coat at worst. I very gently discouraged even this of course.
All in all a fun session. Not making the progress I would like to make with her towards riding, but then her size and my weight don't lend themselves to that anyway. Building a strong relationship is the best I can really do for now, but this should help in the long term in any case. Trying to keep her sane whist she is confined is actually quite an achievement in itself at present.
1 comment:
Wow, this sounds like a fabulous session!
Fun for both... what could be better....
Petra Christensen
Parelli 2Star Junior Instructor
Parelli Central
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