Yesterday was a lovely day and so after riding Bonitao I went to Filly's field and let her catch me. We then wandered down to the big field at the end of the farm. This is currently unoccupied and makes for a good extended play area. Recently it was spread with muck for fertiliser and as Filly is a very fussy eater she does not even try and eat the grass, except in a few special places where the muck missed.
To say that the walk yesterday was fractious would be an understatement. She was very dominant and repeatedly pushed into my space, walked around in front of me etc. Not good, but how to correct the behaviour ?
I had plenty of time on my hands so could afford to play a dominance game for as long as it took. The game I chose was falling leaf whilst walking forwards into her space. To play this game I send her on a circle whilst I walk in a straight line forwards. As she passes my left side I ask for a change of direction so that she passes in front of me at trot (or canter, I don't mind) and circles around to my right side. Again I ask for a direction change whilst still walking forwards. The upshot of this is that she is doing repeated half circles in front of me. This takes some dexterity with the stick and rope with lots of changing hands on each turn, worth practising with a partner at slow speed before playing with a 300kg horse with attitude !
As I am always a) directing her feet and b) pushing into her space it is a very dominant game to play. Filly realised this and she was very upset that I was asserting my position as the leader of the herd. To start with she tried to crowd me on each pass, particularly just after the turn where she would almost charge me. The solution is to remember that "The attitude of justice is effective". If she come at me with a phase 3 charge and expression I am "justified" in using phase 3 1/2 back. Thus as she tried to crowd me I tagged her with the stick with the zone of her body that was causing the most offence, normally the shoulder. An underhand flick was most effective. After several passes, not believing that I could play the game so well, she started to make and effort on the turn to move her shoulder out of my personal space. Now we had some sort of order in the pattern.
I was still not satisfied. Although she was now physically moving out of my space, she was still testing her limits and her expression of ears back and extended neck was a phase 3 driving game look. Thus the game continued. If she gave me the look on the turn I attempted to tag her with the string on the shoulder, if not she was left in peace.
After around 35 or 40 minutes of this a change suddenly happened. The first sign was an extended lip licking session and two or three long adrenaline releasing snorts. Then suddenly on a turn she hesitated, but with an enquiring look. I passively asked for the turn and she gave it with a pretty expression, so I turned all my energy off and let her continue her circle. On the next turn she was on my right side and the old dominance returned as her left eye came on me, answered with a tag of the string. The next turn on my left was sweetness again, followed by dominance on my right. Thus I had achieved my aim but only on one side. Let the games continue. Another 10 minutes or so were required before she relented out of the left eye. When the change finally occurred it was very sudden. I had to stop my swing in mid "tag" and turn it into a friendly swish with low body energy. (I only actually tagged her physically twice in the whole session, the rest of the time she was out of range).
Lots more licking and chewing ensued. I then took her to one of the nice grazing spots she had previously taught me about and let her relax and dry off. By now she was very very sweaty. Interestingly the sweat was not in the normal physical exertion places, this was primarily an emotional sweat.
A quick roll in the indoor sand school followed by a groom finished the day off nicely.
Today I went expecting a repeat performance, so left plenty of time. The difference however could not have been greater. She walked quietly by my side to the field, except for a few unconfident moments. We then walked around the field with her responding to the slightest pressure. She did have a moment where she wondered if it was worth a quick challenge, but this was quashed with just two or three falling leafs. A couple of times she tried to "graze" into my space, but a slight nudge with my elbow and she thought better of it. We went to some enormous puddles and she accepted my leadership and after a moment or two of uncertainty walked through them.
As for the rapport aspect, I felt she was closer to me than she has been for a while. She was looking for a leader in the big field and I was mentally and emotionally strong enough to provide. When she did come into my space, at my invitation, it was with a gentleness that had been missing for a while.
Have I permanently fixed her dominant streak. Of course not and nor should I wish to. It is partly what makes Filly, Filly. I would never want to deprive her of her right to express herself and turn her into an automaton who performs pretty manoeuvres for the judges but has no character. I am asking for 51% of the partnership and when you are sailing that close to the edge it is inevitable that occasionally it will slip the wrong way, the trick is spotting it and knowing what to do when it happens. Not getting mean or mad but just accepting the situation for what it is and dealing with it firmly but fairly. "The attitude of justice" really "is effective"
To say that the walk yesterday was fractious would be an understatement. She was very dominant and repeatedly pushed into my space, walked around in front of me etc. Not good, but how to correct the behaviour ?
I had plenty of time on my hands so could afford to play a dominance game for as long as it took. The game I chose was falling leaf whilst walking forwards into her space. To play this game I send her on a circle whilst I walk in a straight line forwards. As she passes my left side I ask for a change of direction so that she passes in front of me at trot (or canter, I don't mind) and circles around to my right side. Again I ask for a direction change whilst still walking forwards. The upshot of this is that she is doing repeated half circles in front of me. This takes some dexterity with the stick and rope with lots of changing hands on each turn, worth practising with a partner at slow speed before playing with a 300kg horse with attitude !
As I am always a) directing her feet and b) pushing into her space it is a very dominant game to play. Filly realised this and she was very upset that I was asserting my position as the leader of the herd. To start with she tried to crowd me on each pass, particularly just after the turn where she would almost charge me. The solution is to remember that "The attitude of justice is effective". If she come at me with a phase 3 charge and expression I am "justified" in using phase 3 1/2 back. Thus as she tried to crowd me I tagged her with the stick with the zone of her body that was causing the most offence, normally the shoulder. An underhand flick was most effective. After several passes, not believing that I could play the game so well, she started to make and effort on the turn to move her shoulder out of my personal space. Now we had some sort of order in the pattern.
I was still not satisfied. Although she was now physically moving out of my space, she was still testing her limits and her expression of ears back and extended neck was a phase 3 driving game look. Thus the game continued. If she gave me the look on the turn I attempted to tag her with the string on the shoulder, if not she was left in peace.
After around 35 or 40 minutes of this a change suddenly happened. The first sign was an extended lip licking session and two or three long adrenaline releasing snorts. Then suddenly on a turn she hesitated, but with an enquiring look. I passively asked for the turn and she gave it with a pretty expression, so I turned all my energy off and let her continue her circle. On the next turn she was on my right side and the old dominance returned as her left eye came on me, answered with a tag of the string. The next turn on my left was sweetness again, followed by dominance on my right. Thus I had achieved my aim but only on one side. Let the games continue. Another 10 minutes or so were required before she relented out of the left eye. When the change finally occurred it was very sudden. I had to stop my swing in mid "tag" and turn it into a friendly swish with low body energy. (I only actually tagged her physically twice in the whole session, the rest of the time she was out of range).
Lots more licking and chewing ensued. I then took her to one of the nice grazing spots she had previously taught me about and let her relax and dry off. By now she was very very sweaty. Interestingly the sweat was not in the normal physical exertion places, this was primarily an emotional sweat.
A quick roll in the indoor sand school followed by a groom finished the day off nicely.
Today I went expecting a repeat performance, so left plenty of time. The difference however could not have been greater. She walked quietly by my side to the field, except for a few unconfident moments. We then walked around the field with her responding to the slightest pressure. She did have a moment where she wondered if it was worth a quick challenge, but this was quashed with just two or three falling leafs. A couple of times she tried to "graze" into my space, but a slight nudge with my elbow and she thought better of it. We went to some enormous puddles and she accepted my leadership and after a moment or two of uncertainty walked through them.
As for the rapport aspect, I felt she was closer to me than she has been for a while. She was looking for a leader in the big field and I was mentally and emotionally strong enough to provide. When she did come into my space, at my invitation, it was with a gentleness that had been missing for a while.
Have I permanently fixed her dominant streak. Of course not and nor should I wish to. It is partly what makes Filly, Filly. I would never want to deprive her of her right to express herself and turn her into an automaton who performs pretty manoeuvres for the judges but has no character. I am asking for 51% of the partnership and when you are sailing that close to the edge it is inevitable that occasionally it will slip the wrong way, the trick is spotting it and knowing what to do when it happens. Not getting mean or mad but just accepting the situation for what it is and dealing with it firmly but fairly. "The attitude of justice" really "is effective"
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