I had a nice trip to Larnaca. Arrived there on Thursday afternoon and spent considerable time in the gym and learning to use my new skipping rope. Physio suggested it's use in order to increase the fast twitch muscle in my damaged hip. Then nearly the whole crew went out for a very pleasant meal at the local restaurant after which I retired to my room. Quick text to Ritchie (my wife) with my room number so that she could ring me for a chat.
Around 9:30pm UK time the phone rings and we chat about the days events with the horses. She has had a nice ride on Bonitao. Amy (the head girl) has tried riding him in our western saddle and loved it.
Then the bombshell.
She had been told by Rick that Filly had had her first ride earlier that day with Amy riding. It had all gone very well but to avoid confusing her with Parelli methods I was no longer able to train her at all. I could pet her and groom her in her box, but that was it. Amy and Sue (Ricks wife) had not mentioned this earlier to Ritchie. Ritchie was on the yard for the first ride but no one had let her know it was going to happen so I won't even get to see a video of this "coming of age" event for Filly.
Of course I knew this would happen one day, but it was the nature of the way it was done after all the time I have been playing with Filly that has left me deeply shocked.
I feel particularly upset that they could not let me know this was going to happen and at least give me time to knowingly have a last play with Filly. I had recently had a lesson with Becka (an instructor at James Roberts yard) and she had seen me play at liberty with Filly. She thought I would easily get my Level 3 Liberty audition with her and with only a little refinement Level 4. That would have meant so much to me, not for just getting a certificate but for being able to say "between us we achieved this level of trust and understanding". Liberty was easily our best and most fun activity. Now this has been taken away. I am also sorry for Filly that she will probably never play at Liberty again, able to express her joyful horsenality.
I was also upset that after waiting 2 years for her to be ridden there was suddenly such an all fired hurry to back her that they could not a couple of days for me to be at home and witness the event.
A subsequent comment from Amy was that she was difficult to lunge as she kept turning in on the circle. Well I can guess why. If she feels more than 4 ounces of pressure on the rope she will yield to it and turn to follow the feel. Of course lunging must never be done with the rope trailing on the ground I am told so pressure must have been applied to keep the rope tight, hence she turned in.
The only compensation I have is the knowledge that I have given her a decent start in life. When I started playing with her she could not even go in a field with other horses as she got severely beaten up by them. She had been rejected by her mum and so had not had a good grounding in horse etiquette and would annoy any horses around her. As a result I had to learn Natural horsemanship so that I could teach her how to be a natural horse. That really is starting from a negative level. Slowly we taught her enough so that she could safely stay in a field with other horses, who could then give her the life instruction she had been missing.
She also matured into a horse that could accept human contact and not feel threatened. To start with she used to try and put preemptive strikes in as she was sure the human was going to hurt her. It got to the stage where she totally trusts me, so far as I can tell, and will unflinchingly put herself in a vulnerable position by rolling at my feet.
I am going to miss that happy questioning face looking at me as I approach her stable with halter in hand and the way she would canter to me in the field with sheer exuberance (see video link on right) and then stick to me as we played at liberty. Also the way that she would change from playing exuberantly with me then immediately stop and put her head in my arms for a cuddle.
All in all she was one of my best friends and a teacher without whom I would not have made nearly as much progress as I have. Her difficulties really gave me the motivation to study the subject in depth out of a desire to help her as much as I could.
As for the future ?
I have been told that I can continue playing with Billy, but I won't. It is now clear that Sue and Rick have absolutely no interest in trying natural methods to work with horses, preferring the traditional methods that have produced serviceable horses for them in the past. A shame that they are not open enough to at least have come into the school occasionally in the last two years to see what I was doing, but I was told in no uncertain terms that they were not interested and I was not to even discuss our techniques with the yard girls. As a result playing with Billy would purely be for my benefit and would not help him at all.
I will probably not spend much time petting and grooming Filly either, much as would love to. Parelli is not something one just "does" in the school, it involves all interactions with the horse. The blanket ban on me doing any training with her thus precludes such activities as well. In addition there is a part of me that wants to keep alive the memory of Filly as she is now, not as she will become after traditional methods of training have been applied to her.
Lastly I would just like to say "THANK YOU FILLY FOR ALL YOU TAUGHT ME AND THE FUN WE HAD TOGETHER"
Around 9:30pm UK time the phone rings and we chat about the days events with the horses. She has had a nice ride on Bonitao. Amy (the head girl) has tried riding him in our western saddle and loved it.
Then the bombshell.
She had been told by Rick that Filly had had her first ride earlier that day with Amy riding. It had all gone very well but to avoid confusing her with Parelli methods I was no longer able to train her at all. I could pet her and groom her in her box, but that was it. Amy and Sue (Ricks wife) had not mentioned this earlier to Ritchie. Ritchie was on the yard for the first ride but no one had let her know it was going to happen so I won't even get to see a video of this "coming of age" event for Filly.
Of course I knew this would happen one day, but it was the nature of the way it was done after all the time I have been playing with Filly that has left me deeply shocked.
I feel particularly upset that they could not let me know this was going to happen and at least give me time to knowingly have a last play with Filly. I had recently had a lesson with Becka (an instructor at James Roberts yard) and she had seen me play at liberty with Filly. She thought I would easily get my Level 3 Liberty audition with her and with only a little refinement Level 4. That would have meant so much to me, not for just getting a certificate but for being able to say "between us we achieved this level of trust and understanding". Liberty was easily our best and most fun activity. Now this has been taken away. I am also sorry for Filly that she will probably never play at Liberty again, able to express her joyful horsenality.
I was also upset that after waiting 2 years for her to be ridden there was suddenly such an all fired hurry to back her that they could not a couple of days for me to be at home and witness the event.
A subsequent comment from Amy was that she was difficult to lunge as she kept turning in on the circle. Well I can guess why. If she feels more than 4 ounces of pressure on the rope she will yield to it and turn to follow the feel. Of course lunging must never be done with the rope trailing on the ground I am told so pressure must have been applied to keep the rope tight, hence she turned in.
The only compensation I have is the knowledge that I have given her a decent start in life. When I started playing with her she could not even go in a field with other horses as she got severely beaten up by them. She had been rejected by her mum and so had not had a good grounding in horse etiquette and would annoy any horses around her. As a result I had to learn Natural horsemanship so that I could teach her how to be a natural horse. That really is starting from a negative level. Slowly we taught her enough so that she could safely stay in a field with other horses, who could then give her the life instruction she had been missing.
She also matured into a horse that could accept human contact and not feel threatened. To start with she used to try and put preemptive strikes in as she was sure the human was going to hurt her. It got to the stage where she totally trusts me, so far as I can tell, and will unflinchingly put herself in a vulnerable position by rolling at my feet.
I am going to miss that happy questioning face looking at me as I approach her stable with halter in hand and the way she would canter to me in the field with sheer exuberance (see video link on right) and then stick to me as we played at liberty. Also the way that she would change from playing exuberantly with me then immediately stop and put her head in my arms for a cuddle.
All in all she was one of my best friends and a teacher without whom I would not have made nearly as much progress as I have. Her difficulties really gave me the motivation to study the subject in depth out of a desire to help her as much as I could.
As for the future ?
I have been told that I can continue playing with Billy, but I won't. It is now clear that Sue and Rick have absolutely no interest in trying natural methods to work with horses, preferring the traditional methods that have produced serviceable horses for them in the past. A shame that they are not open enough to at least have come into the school occasionally in the last two years to see what I was doing, but I was told in no uncertain terms that they were not interested and I was not to even discuss our techniques with the yard girls. As a result playing with Billy would purely be for my benefit and would not help him at all.
I will probably not spend much time petting and grooming Filly either, much as would love to. Parelli is not something one just "does" in the school, it involves all interactions with the horse. The blanket ban on me doing any training with her thus precludes such activities as well. In addition there is a part of me that wants to keep alive the memory of Filly as she is now, not as she will become after traditional methods of training have been applied to her.
Lastly I would just like to say "THANK YOU FILLY FOR ALL YOU TAUGHT ME AND THE FUN WE HAD TOGETHER"
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