The power of waiting

One to remember to think about: the power of waiting! Give the horse time to think, let him work it out. Or if the horse overreacts, just stop & wait a minute, smile, say "how interesting".

Often if I ask Lucie to do something she goes in all directions, little feet moving fast; I just wait quietly until she gets over the blonde moment, sees nothing is happening, quietens down and I then ask again.

Sometimes of course you need to match their energy.


There are times when you need to mirror your horse, when he needs you to understand his  fears, until he comes off the adrenalin; just stay with him calmly until the signs are he's relaxing and looking for leadership, and is ready and thinking about following your ideas. Then you need to step up and make some suggestions, act like a leader. This might be when introducing him to a new environment for example, when he needs to explore and wants your support not your interference, which will only annoy him or make him more anxious, as will holding him back and telling he should calm down.

There are other times when you need to take control fast and shut down that energy, in a situation of danger for example, when the horse must slow down, pay attention and respect your leadership. Or if he is trying to dominate you. You will know by the horse's reaction when a "slap in the face" from you is appropriate or not. (Have you ever made a totally accidental contact with your stick or rope that brought instant attention from the horse, followed by him giving you two eyes and two ears, maybe a lick and a chew? Did his expression just tell you that he respected you for that? If only we could get it right and have perfect timing every time...)

Then there are times when you just need to go into neutral and wait; wait until the horse stops moving it's feet; wait until he gives you his attention. Sometimes it's going to need a mixture of these responses from you, and it depends on the horse in front of you.  Lucie is essentially a right-brain reactive horse and when you ask her to do something she will move her feet, and try to find the answer to what you asked, or to stop you asking it, by moving backwards, forwards, sideways, anyways; then when she has rushed around a bit, and finds she's going nowhere and nobody is chasing her, she starts to think. What I want to do is short-cut that instinct to move and go straight to thinking (left-brain). What I must not do is hassle her or up the phases when she over-reacts. I need to just wait. Smile and wait...

Example of this is where we leave the field and I have to open a gate, the other side of which is some tasty grass; so Miss is in a big hurry, and thinking about the grass and not me and the gate. Sometimes we've got into an argument here. Now we make it a pattern, a repetition. If she anticipates, she is quietly put back in the wait position from which I can leave her to open the gate. I don't keep telling her to wait with my voice, and I don't stand next to her, or hold her there with contact or raised hand signal, I want her to take responsibility for her actions. She is on a long rope and I need to walk around and manipulate the gate. When the gate is open, we stand quietly looking at it and just wait. For as long as it takes for her to stop twitching, looking at the grass, looking cross, shaking her head. I stand quietly in neutral, away from her at the end of the 12' line, and I smile. If she moves forward I raise my body slightly and ask her for a step back. We wait until she relaxes - and thinks. Then we go through the gate and repeat the process the other side. Then I may or may not offer her some grass. Usually I find she's forgotten about the grass and is focused on me, and we walk off happily. Because it's not about the grass...

Some things to think about

So how has it been going with Lucie since I've done the clinics, what have I learned that I can bring into our relationship? Doing these clinics, and interacting with other people and horses, after so long working on my own, gives me confidence, and a leader needs to be confident; my body language has improved and is becoming almost instinct to ask with body and focus first

I can now be assertive without over-reacting; I am more relaxed because I know that what I am asking is reasonable, and that I am asking for it in a way that the horse can respond too. If they don't, then I know I'm not asking the right question, or I'm asking it wrong.

I can be more relaxed because I'm not questioning myself. I have learned to wait and watch; to stay cool and say "how interesting" if it doesn't go as expected. If I show that I'm not going to over-react but stay calm; for instance, when Lucie has a right-brained moment; I can just wait until she stops moving, then wait a bit longer... Not go straight to a higher phase or put more pressure. Then ask again. Slowly.

Some insights and strategies:

Focus on the task. Accept the horse's distractions and attempts to digress; say "yes, that's fine; but I stll want you to do this".

If they get that we are there for them, they will understand and forgive even if we mess up badly.

Remember that horses live in the moment.

Reading when she is unconfident or dominant. Look for the less  obvious signs; is she tense, or relaxed? Eyes, neck, stance. Some of the signs, such as ears pinned, can be either lack of confidence or trying to dominate to avoid doing the task. Some horses can swing back and forth between these. You have a 50% chance of being right and doing the right thing. If what you try doesn't work, try something else.

Parelli Clinic SW France 27/28 October 2012

On the 27 & 28 October I participated in a second Parelli clinic with Licensed 2* Parelli Professional Jo Bates from the UK, a lively, amusing and thoroughly professional instructor. This was a follow-up to our first clinic together & here in SW France held in June, when it had been very hot; this week-end it was the opposite - the wind on Saturday was bitter! This time there were only 4 of us participating with horses, so we worked as two groups of two. There were several auditors and many occasions for discussion & theory for everyone.

Once again, I borrowed Polly, a big TB x ID; about as opposite to my little Lucie as you could imagine! I'm going to try to recap some of the things we did over a very full and inspiring week-end. There's a lot to remember so I thought I'd start with a photo & explain the task.

 

Putting effort into backing up; are they still responding in the same way when you are further from them, at the end of a 22' rope, or 45', or at liberty? By being convincing at 12' you can then increase the distance & still be effective even at liberty. Can you slow it down or speed it up, go around corners, obstacles, change direction, bring your horse to you a step at a time?

Asking the horse to move sideways off your fingertips; the horses tended to rush this one because knowing how to go sideways (yeah yeah I know this one blah blah) they were reacting to implied pressure instead of direct pressure (an example of the horse anticipating & reading pressure where it wasn't asked for). So if the horse moved away from the hand in anticipation of being asked to go sideways, you rub gently & follow until the horse stops moving; pause, then start again. Once the horse stops anticipating, you can ask for a step sideways by touching the flank and the shoulder alternately. This is one way of building up sideways movement, but also a way of slowing it down & making it more precise with the horse thinking about every step & where it puts its feet.

Moving on from that, putting more power & effort into sideways using rhythmic implied pressure so again you can progressively get further away from the horse, sending the horse sideways at distance.

Driving from behind (zone 4/5): last clinic I was reluctant to put myself behind Polly but we were getting to know each other better. We again used the rail to follow to help us; I found Polly would rush and cut the corners so spent time stopping her & manouvering her deep into the corners, asking her again to put more effort into it and use herself better. Once this was going well following the rail we could come off the rail and weave through the tyres.

From driving in all zones, at various distances, to driving with two lines; and starting some shaping exercises. We weren't equipped with feather lines for driving so we just used our two lengths of rope, 12' and 22' lines, to practise some driving from behind, asking the horse to move away from the rail then move back to it, using the line against their sides. We then set up a shaping exercise. All the horses are so used to rope work that none of them were bothered by ropes going under & over & round their legs, & flapping in the wind! This exercise required crossing the ropes over the horse's back so that you could take a feel on the side away from you, asking for the bend; then ask the horse to step across in the direction of the bend. Both horse & human took a while to work it out & think their way into the exercise, which was really very simple, it just took us a while to set ourselves up, & I had a problem seeing what was happening the other side of Polly's enormous body.

Another exercise building connection towards liberty is "stick to me" where the horse mirrors the handler, positioned alongside you, nose to the elbow or shoulder (the mare & foal position). The line is loose and the horse should respond to body signals; the training stick can be used to aid - if the horse lags behind, you can reach behind you to ask the horse to move up (a flick of the tail); if you halt & ask for back-up, the stick tapped or waved in front will signal back-up (as another horse might use its neck or nose); these additional signals are usually only needed once or twice until the horse gets the idea.

Some horses will get bored with a task once they've "got it", others need more time or repetition, or reassurance, or need you to go slower, until they are confident.  Watching the two horses in the morning session, Carole's pony Flikflak who is cheeky & assured would soon get bored & start eating or inventing his own variation on the game, if nothing new was added. So once he understood the pattern, weaving through the tyres, make it more challenging by changing pace or direction, or adding another element, like a circle at the end, but not always... Christine's mare Juniper, more introvert by nature, needed more time to build her confidence in the exercise; she was stuck to Christine nicely & doing the movement but cautiously, without exuberence. It would not be the moment to throw in another idea.

Using obstacles creatively, and patterns, are a great way of making things interesting for the horse and giving purpose; and for those like me that struggle to be creative, having a plan!

Very similar to stick to me is driving in zone 3, alongside the horse; although the horse's head is in front he is still listening and responding to body signals, aided if necessary by a little energy provided by the training stick. Liz and I were supposed to be doing this with refinement but as the field we'd moved into at the bottom of the hill out of the wind was full of thistles and potholes, the refinement went out of the window as we stumbled around trying to keep up with the horses who were spooking at the tape moving in the wind, or at the bushes. This one didn't go too well!

From the other group:

Getting the horse to follow a feel: leading by the leg. Little Flikflak found this one so interesting he forgot about the grass and his eyes and ears were glued on Carole as he tried to work it out. Now a lot has been said about pressure and force and how much; in these exercises, we set the horse a puzzle and give them clues and the time to work it out; as a result all the horses got involved, got interested... These horses all know to yield to pressure; so if you put a rope round the horse's fetlock and apply firm but gentle steady pressure, and just wait, see what happens... watch the horse thinking... and the moment he takes the weight off that leg, release... It's the release that teaches; and he knows he's solved the puzzle; and it's not long before he takes a step, then another, and by now the feel on the rope is very light... and so he follows the feel. How light and good is that, and if that lightness can be carried over into riding... :)

Our next clinic is planned for April 2013.

Indifference is not respect

So said Christian Cazor, an inspiring local natural horseman who I did some day clinics with a few years ago, and who inspired me & motivated me to follow the path of alternative horsemanship, to relearn everything I thought I knew about horses.
Recently I have fully realised just how right this is.
Since the improvement in our relationship, since we sorted out the leadership issues, since I realised just how important it is TO MY HORSE that I behave like the leader she needs me to be, I have seen lots of little things fall into place like a jigsaw magically coming together.
Now, at last, I have the relationship that I despaired of ever having with Lucie; now she is happy to be with me.
I have noticed little things, like these: she used to be indifferent or turn away when  approached in the field. Now she comes to me easily. She used to try to leave and if I tried to prevent her, would pull away. Now, if I ask her to stay with me, she accepts it without question. She used to push past me or go through gaps first, in the field; now, she always follows and lets me pass first. She used to knock into me very slightly with her shoulder; now, this just doesn't happen any more. She is much happier in herself. She is always pleased to see me. She wants to do things with me and for me. The grazing issue is sorted (the grass used to be more interesting); if I walk on, she follows without question, and with enthusiasm.
So again I say: leadership (and the respect it creates) is everything!
Once I understood how she perceived me, how to behave so as to be the leader my horse needs me to be, and how important my behaviour (and consistency in my behaviour towards her) is to her, it all fell into place.
Consistency meaning that anytime and every time that she challenges me, however small & imperceptible it may seem, I need to 1) to be aware of it and 2) to correct it firmly and gently, without emotion. One day she might come out of the field slightly ahead of me: if I don't stop, step her quietly back, lead off again, that small weakness on my part (as she perceives it to be) will lead to her questioning my leadership in other ways. Now I know the signs, I can see it happening, unfolding. One small correction with the right timing saves so many questions, challenges and misunderstandings later.
Leadership, respect - and timing!
(Quote Cazor again: "Il faut avoir le bon timing!")

Here is his demo in May 2006, with 2 horses at liberty, at the Fête de Fleurs et du Cheval at Cazals, that so inspired me.

P.S. We haven't been doing much lately; too busy, too hot, but hopefully back in action again soon!

Parelli week-end June 23/24 SW France with Jo Bates

This week-end has been a turning point for me; having taken the road of natural horsemanship a few years ago, discovered Parelli, but been working on my own, or done a few clinics and days with French "équitation éthologique" which is basically the same thing without the P words, I never really knew where I was until now. I am sure now that this is the right thing for me and I know where I am with it and that I want to continue. If I could sum up what the week-end has given me in one word it would be "empowerment"; also inspiration, conviction, greater understanding (of the importance of leadership and respect) and self-confidence. For me, Parelli training method has all the elements and all the answers; they can be hard to find because of myself, lack of time, or because it is such a huge never-ending program. I also learned the value of patterns in training, and how to use them.

We were 6 on the course, making 2 groups of three people, broken into 2x3 hour sessions during which we watched the other group. The morning group were playing in level 1/2, nobody was a total starter so we moved straight into doing tasks using the seven games, set by Jo, who had come over from the UK. Jo Bates is a 2* Parelli Junior Instructor, junior in terms of time teaching and experience; but we got 5* instruction, and more, delivered with enthusiasm, imagination and good humour.

I'm not going to go into details of technique because it's all on the Parelli website; the tasks were therefore to develop our skills & language & relationship, using the tools & knowledge, refining and developing.

The morning group (Christine, Laurence and Carole) started with tasks like energetic friendly game, facing the horse and turning the training stick back & forth across the line, with energy; were they confident with that? Was the horse reading the human, was the human making it clear to the horse when they need to react or when not? Using approach & retreat & desensitization. Then they did some circling game; then sideways along the fence, both close using the stick like a fan to move zone 1 and Z4, sideways/porcupine; then with more distance between you & the horse, facing their Z3, using body energy reinforced with motion from the stick & string, sideways/driving game. Squeeze game. Using this, with a pattern. Then a task which confused most of them: across the field driving game with the human changing the horse to the other side of them while maintaining direction; I've tried this at home and it isn't easy to work out how & where to move the horse! The idea is to move the horse not yourself.

Each task Jo would come round, see how we were doing, answer questions (usually by asking more, so we found the answers ourselves, as we want the horse to do), and after the task she would review it with us all then ask each of us to share something we'd learned and a highlight.

My horse was Polly, a big TB, & a different horsenality to my little mare at home; I'd met Polly before & I'd watched her in the morning group with Carole, so was ready for the big challenge. Polly was being very mareish, concerning herself with all the other horses around, her own herd of 3 as well as the visiting horses, for whom she had a fatal attraction. She showed a big bubble, squealing and turning her rear end when they were near, or whinnying to them in turn. So I knew I had to take control fast or she would just run me over. I had to raise my energy and look convincing, face her down and get her attention and respect; and keep it by reminding her to stay behind me or out of my space. The result was rewarding; at first it took a lot but by the end of the 3 hour session, a look would do - and that is what it's all about, how little it takes once you have that communication & have proved you deserve their respect; and are going to be consistent. When we started she was distracted, so as well as some fairly energetic back-ups I put her over the pole star so she had to think about her feet, then some halts and turns; I had to be fast with changing hands with rope & stick or she would be on top of me. When she started forward towards the other horses I either backed her up a few steps with driving game or porcupine; I never let her be in front of me, even when grazing, if she crept forward then I would gently but firmly correct her; when we gathered round for discussion I put myself between her and the next horse & discouraged her approaching them, by gentle or energetic means depending on her own responses; I also put her behind a pole on the ground as she grazed and if she crossed it or moved forward, gently correct her back. So that by the end I could just turn & look at her or move fractionally towards her and she responded by moving away; and I had her attention. Of course, all with enough friendly game to balance all this. The flies were terrible and it was hot; the horses would sometimes leap towards us if a particularly tenacious fly was on them & they sought relief; we could help them with friendly with the stick & string but unless we had instant respect in place they would take advantage. The difference between being a useful fly swatter and respect was on a fine line so being able to move the horse with very little was a basic requirement for those conditions. Polly came out of the stable looking cross and with a ton of attitude on Sunday afternoon in 28°C heat; even her eating of grass was emotional, but later her whole body language and expression had changed which just shows that if we are interesting enough they can forget grass and flies and be a partner, which is what we are looking to achieve. I like to think of partnership as when horse & human are mentally and physically in unison as if connected by an invisible string.

My group (me, Liz and Christophe) was playing in level 2/3 and we went straight on to the 22' line; sideways without a fence, driving with fan and then Z3; improving impulsion on the circling game and in the send, using our body in the send to try to get the horse to depart with more impulsion and purpose; driving from Z5/4 or 3 (in my case as although I do a lot of Z4 & 5 driving with my Lucie, being behind Polly was not attractive so I stayed where I was comfortable! Combining games and patterns; weave pattern then driving game with energy up the hill; impulsion on driving in Z3, really using our own body to communicate, bringing up our energy; focus; & change of pace. I had never really understood how to use patterns effectively before; now I got it!

Recurring themes were the power of focus; refinement; the power of neutral, and of course, relationships...

We did some conga horse simulations which are very revealing; driving with two lines; circling game; the feedback was very instructive & hopefully helpful for our horses once we knew how they saw our efforts!

During meals Jo didn't let us go to sleep! What are the 7 principles? Responsibilities of the horse? Of the human? We did knots; we talked about horsenality. As the first pure Parelli course I've attended, it was great to be able to share and ask questions and be among other Parellites without having to explain oneself or defend the method. The food was brought along and shared by all, we had a wonderful BBQ, still talking into the night... I left them to it quite early as we had an 08.30 start to beat the heat the next day.

Thanks to Liz, Carole & Richard for having us at their lovely place! It was great to meet Christine, Christophe, Laurence, and your beautiful horses. Thanks to Jo for coming over from the UK & being ceaselessly inspiring. Looking forward to the next one in the autumn! Lots to practise now....

More photos here:

Figure of 8 went well

These two videos show us doing a figure of 8 on the long line, something we have done before but not for a while. At first, she rushed off at a trot but I really wanted her thinking all the way down to her feet, also it was slippery and I don't want her to hurt herself; so I kept stopping her and restarting her until she engaged her brain....

You can see she's not really into it at first, she got a bit grumpy, going through the motions but trying some evasions, like eating, and at one point she went a bit wide, lost the plot, so I restarted her; at which point she was asking, do I really have to do this? If I had been impatient at that moment I would have set up a conflict; but by being calmly persistent she continued, only to ask the question again next time round; and got the same firm unemotional response from me; you see me getting intense rather than upping the phases; but at one point I just dropped a bit of energy behind with the communication stick, slapping the ground not the horse, so it isn't offensive; then I let her go large, and was rewarded by a good outcome, her attitude softened and a nice happy finish, which I held for a moment, without letting her come in.

In the second video, she has started to relax, her head has come down and she is walking and thinking; I like it! I have to be careful with my energy here, so great practise for me! Now, I can just point and send her; the object being to use as small an ask as possible. You see me just pushing her a little further out with the stick to make sure she goes around the tyre. She keeps asking me if I really want her to continue, but she is not asking nicely so I have to insist, be firm; she tries to come in on me, trying to dominate and get me to yield to her; but I stand firm. Now, it is no longer about the figure 8 but about her attitude. The last turn, she is really thinking about it and her attitude is good, and so we stopped it there.

Later, she offered me a few steps of sideways towards me which I wanted to show, but the camera had run out of memory and stopped filming!!

My direction hand is a bit high, because she kept falling in and I didn't take up the slack, I would like her further out on the rope, but it was not the moment to be critical.

You have no idea how delicate it is with this horse and how she will react to the smallest sign of weakness (as in anger or too much pressure) from me, which can turn her against me and set us back for days.

But I do feel we have reached a turning point; thanks to re-assessing her last November with Susan's help (see post), we have been rebuilding our relationship. I had been misreading dominance issues as unconfidence, because that was how she was at first and I didn't spot it changing. Never assume; continually question and observe. By re-asserting my leadership in our herd of two, I evoked some extreme reactions from Lucie; I now believe it was a transitional period where she was testing my consistency as leader. There were a few challenging situations, but I must have responded appropriately because it is becoming easier although still necessary for me to get her respect. We still have to have a small conversation every time I take her out of the field, but now it is just a reminder not an argument (as in: no rushing ahead, walk behind me, ask me politely for permission to graze; I decide how long for; then as soon as I move on she follows readily....). I am working through her attitude of must I do it, are you going to make me? My response must always be that I am asking her politely but firmly to do something, and if she throws a tantrum I will not react but I will continue to ask until she gives me a try, and we will continue until she thinks about it and I see her relax her attitude. I must not be afraid of working through her range of reactions; I must remain calm and firm, and smile! If she gives me something, I reward by either stopping, or doing something else like go for a walk, or do something she likes, like let her graze.

I know that I can turn this into her getting interested and involved and if I keep it varied and  interesting she will forget the grass altogether and be asking me whatwe are going to do next.

April update

The weather has been very warm but now very wet, so after losing her winter coat rapidly, Lucie is now covered in mud and trying to keep warm again when the temperatures drop. The flies are pesky too, especially around the ears and when it is warm and wet; I put the fly spray on Lucie and end up with a cloud of little flies around my head! Lucie has been very lively and has lost weight which is good, so as she sheds her winter coat she is looking good. She is keeping fit trotting round the three small fields she's in; the other day she was galloping around and looked very supple, she was changing legs at canter and the lameness seems to be bothering her less. She is in good humour and our relationship is improved, I feel I can ask her to do things and even if she makes a face I know that we can work through it if I remain calm and persistant until she works it out and gives me a try. We are working on patience and not over reacting, that's for both of us.

Going well

It's been going well recently. I think she was just conserving energy in the extreme cold weather and apparently it can make them feel very tired, so a friend told me, and it makes sense because she brightened up as soon as the cold snap was over. Then I was away for about 10 days, leaving the neighbours to keep an eye on her. Apparently she wasn't over enthusiastic about their attentions, and she was very pleased to see me back. It has gone well from there; happy walks out and the dominance and extreme behaviour has disappeared.

Here's a little challenge for  the Horsetales forum: Immobility

Happy horse is back...

Today, after a week of overnight temperatures around -12°C, it was a wee bit milder, more like a normal winter's day; and Lucie was waiting for me at the gate this morning, ears pricked. So was it the cold that was making her grouchy? It seems that horses get very tired keeping warm in very cold weather and this was the reason she hadn't wanted to leave the field the last few days. She was completly different this morning. She greeted me with interest, was playful, and when I stood by the gate, she came over and gave her head for the halter. Quite the opposite of her behaviour earlier in the week.

Once out of the gate, she was full of beans, head up, ears pricked and as we went for a walk, she was prancing and playful. At one point, in a patch of clean soft snow, it was obvious she wanted to roll so I stood back and let her; she was really enjoying herself. Sometimes a bit too much and I had to shut her down and remind her I was there, but she took it as it was meant, without offence. I found her some patches of green grass as recompense, being sure to move her on at my pace, which she did willingly.

It was lovely to have her so enthusiastic and playful; I hope it lasts! I am much more comfortable in dealing with the horse that showed up today.

January update

The weather has been alternately very wet, very cold and now snow. Our outings have been rare. I had a go at the interdressage practical horsemanship 2 for January; it might have been presentable had I not got the test wrong a couple of times. Lucie does the turn on the haunches but on the first I didn't ask her enough so she finished crooked. Also left the gate open so she stops on the first pass. We tried the test agian but she was fed up with the repetition, and the camera battery ran out... This is it: http://youtu.be/ZvYyUajvZdc
Her attitude overall wasn't bad, but I'm not really taking her with me, and I'd like her responding to my body more.

Last Sunday I attended a one day course with a French man who practises l'équitation éthologique. It was at a friend's place, so I couldn't take Lucie. But I was able to play with one of my friend's horses in the morning, and ride another in the afternoon. There were 5 participants/horses and the rest of us watched and learned. There was only time for a brief turn each but we learned some valuable things. Once again, I could see the power of getting the body language and the timing right. Interesting to watch the different horseanalities.

The more I improve my body language the better respect I get from Lucie.

I now believe that her earlier over reactions were due to my inconsistencies. She needs me to show that I'm consistent and to be that leader she's looking for. As long as I am very consistent I can be firm, and she accepts it.

By being firm and fair I can get her respect and attention. I now have to find a way to persuade her to enjoy doing things again.

I am also looking at the evidence that her horsenality is changing - and that I've been slow to spot this!!! I've been treating her as right brain introvert but the dominance I'm bring up is more left brain, which is good! My over reactions and bad timing with phases were not giving her time to think, and are sending her back where she came from - right brain reactions, which we don't want! Again, work on myself... because when I get it right, I can see in her that I have!

A new year, a new start.... again

January and the holidays are over for another year, thank goodness, and life gets back to normal. I did nothing with Lucie over the break so really lost the connection with her. I couldn't wait to get started again last week, but of course she sulked because she had been ignored for 10 days. Can't blame her; but once more, we start over. Last week was just some walks out, and the weather was foul.
This week we have sunshine, and she's waiting at the gate in the morning, keen to come out, which is great.
She is very stiff at first, I am not sure if the bone spavin is still causing pain, or if it's just discomfort and joint stiffness. It wears off once she's walking, and she is happy to trot. As we go for our walks, I'm including some gymnastizing exercises, like shoulder in and sideways.
I am improving in my body language and energy control; taking things really slowly is paying off too.
The grazing is still an issue but one I feel we have to work around.

Today we went in the arena and she was ready to argue and be defensive, but I didn't give her anything to take offence at. I was quiet, firm and gentle. There was a bit of tail-swishing and biting and other avoidance behaviour, but not extreme, just testing how I would react. I didn't, so it went away.
I took some video which shows these avoidance tactics. I am pleased with how I dealt with them. If I can master my own tendancy to over-react, we may finally get back on track.
After the arena, I took her into the roundpen. Unfortunately it is full of grass. I just do not want to get into a fight. I let her off the lead rope, and I walked around her. As before, when I sat on my box while she was grazing, I could see that she was aware of me. At first, wary and jumpy. I did some approach & retreat until I could touch her (friendly game). Then still walking around, approach & retreat but intense & slow to her hindquarters; as soon as she showed any sign of yielding and/or turning towards me, I straightened up and turned away and walked off. There was definitely a tendancy towards me but I didn't push it, just took what she offered as the main purpose at present is to convince her I am not going to aggress her or make her; I am seeking that it comes from her.
Consequently, when I asked her to leave the roundpen with me, there was no resistance. So I consider it a constructive morning.

One thing I notice is how she rushes through a movement; if I ask for a yield, whether to actual pressure or implied pressure, first she resists, looks for ways to evade by blocking, backing, looking at invisible somethings in the distance or not moving at all. By maintaining the pressure and a long slow ask, she'll then rush through the movement crossly. So I'll get a full turn when I asked for a step! Without being critical, I am working on breaking this down (into one step at a time) in order to rebuild, hopefully with better understanding and confidence. I am rewarded in seeing a better look on her face and less ears back.

A good morning. I hope I can keep it up.

The importance of using retreat

Just been watching a video and one thing that came up was the importance of retreating when your horse is unconfident in a situation. Another point was that if something good (or bad) happens with your horse you need to know why it happened.

So I am thinking about the different reactions I had from Lucie recently in different situations and it starts to make sense. Why was she emotional in the arena? Because I made her go there. What was her reaction? Right brain, unconfident, stressed, emotional. What did I do? Continued in there. What did she do? Stayed stressed. What should I have done? Retreated - come out of there, and reapproached. Just go in there for a minute then out, repeat, reapproach until she shows confidence, in me, in the surroundings. Move to somewhere she is confident. (That is what I did yesterday.) Because she is showing that she is thinking about safety issues. She isn't confident in my ideas so she's not seeing me as a leader. Next day, what did I do? Let her have her idea, graze. What happened? She relaxed, and started to follow my suggestions. Because I retreated, or didn't make her do something she didn't want to do. Result was, that she did more, and it seemed like her idea.

I need to take care of her emotions, and by showing that I am doing so, she will have more trust in me. She has just shown me that I can do this by retreating, and not making her do something when she's not ready. This may sound like "giving in" to the horse but by using retreat I can build confidence. Reverse psychology.

Why was she happy and interested before, when we did some nice liberty stuff in the round pen? Why does it seem she is no longer interested and switches off around obstacles? Because she feels as if I'm making her when she isn't ready. Because right now she isn't confident so she can't learn and doesn't want to play. I'm pushing her when she isn't ready. The more I push, the more we go backwards. I've just learned how slowing things right down has helped our relationship.

What is important to horses? Safety, comfort and play. In that order. If you don't have one, you can't move on to the next. (And food - very important to my miss; part of comfort.)

Interesting that I'm also seeing some extrovert behaviour and reactions, which I quite like. Important now not to squash that but to use it. Let's see what happens today and if I can use this.

More extreme behaviour today

A very interesting morning; so Lucie welcomed me at the field and came towards me, that's quite something for her! Very promising so far. She stands while I open the fence, then I return to her side and lead her out. Once out of the gate however, she starts to get ahead of me, already thinking of eating grass. So I lead her on, throwing in some stops and back steps, until she's listening and respecting. We go towards the area I've fenced off at the top of the field. There are some log piles up there and today these were scary places. I led her quietly through them but she needed to get out of there, so much so that she rushed, threw in a few bucks and body shakes; but she didn't try to pull away. I let her have some room so as not to make her panic but stopped her with some energy in the rope so she turned to me. I remained calm and got her walking through the log piles, then took her for a walk so she could move her feet and de-stress. Halfway along the field another explosion; good to see she can be so athletic with a bad leg, but this is new behaviour and I'm not quite sure where it's come from. I didn't feel it was directed against me though. Somehow I quite like this in the sense that the more extreme her behavior the more calm I feel; this is something I am confident to deal with; where I have trouble is when she looks sweet and then bumps into me, where she is being too subtle for me.

So now I can see the build up to these tantrums and not let her go there; intervene calmly before the explosion. Act like a leader! The behaviour disappeared as we continued our walk. Once I felt her energy come down I made some turns to give her something to think about and got her to touch a few objects on the way and we came back quietly enough, with her by now nicely relaxed and in tune with me and responding to body signals.

We also spent some time in the fenced off area where she was so extreme last week. This time although calmer there was still some tension about certain areas up there. After walking round once, I sat down on a tyre and showed her she could graze. I wanted her to be comfortable in here and around the obstacles, because I seem to have created a resistance to doing things with obstacles, quite the opposite of what I intended. I think I have been too quick with my asking phases, not giving her enough time before insisting, making rather than allowing. I thought it would be fun to do some agility with obstacles, but I haven't been approaching it right for her. Been too direct line. Now I have to backtread and make these obstacles a comfort area before I can expect her to want to play with them. Make it her idea. Remove the pressure she feels and wait until the curiousity reurns. Lack of patience and not reading the horse. So I moved from object to object, not asking for anything except that she maintain a circle at the end of the rope, and not pull on it. I only moved if this happened and was very careful to bring my energy up gradually, so she could stop me by softening herself. Working very well. She appears not to be watching but she responds (subtly!) to the smallest ask, provided I bring my energy up gradually and don't "shout" at her.

Undemanding time pays off

We've had a difficult couple of days where our relationship seems to have suffered. Yesterday did nothing, just hung out. This morning she was waiting at the gate - good sign. As soon as I got her out she put her head down to graze, it felt like a test; how is my human going to respond to this; so not wanting a fight and thinking it's sometimes good to let them do something that's their idea, I decided to see what happened.

I sat down on a box and let her graze around me. I relaxed and watched the way she was eating. Fast at first. Not relaxed. If she tried to pull and move away I closed my hand on the rope, then looked at her, then raised my energy a bit, then started to get up, at which point she'd pay attention and turn back towards me, still grazing in a circle. After a couple of times, I only had to close my hand on the rope, then I only had to look up; how interesting! This tells me how much she is aware of me, and how little it takes if I keep quiet and don't get too assertive too quickly.

The second thing I noticed was how she was relaxing, the speed and tempo of eating slowed down, as she realised I wasn't going to ask anything else.

The other interesting thing is that she learned not to step on the rope; that is, she took responsibility for her feet (she was thinking: left brain).

After a few minutes I got up and brought her towards me; bit resistant and ears back but not too bad. A bit pushy but gently corrected and ask that she step back out of my space. Then I moved my box to a new grazing area and started over. I didn't let her eat until I said so, and I used some energy to push her away so she would graze a circle around me. Did this again after another few minutes. Each time bring her in, send her out of my space; move and make her wait then send her away to graze around me. Each time she was softer as she realised what the plan was; then started looking at me, started to get involved; yes!!

As she grazed on the circle I started to direct her gently, aiming at another patch of grass as target; look that way, point, raise my energy, get off my box. While appearing to carry on grazing, she responded, each time with less energy in the ask and less resistance from her: how interesting.

I discovered it's difficult to be aggressive if you're sitting on a small box, so I was able to really control my ask phases and she understood the game - she trained me to stay relaxed and not to get off my box!

So in the end, accepting her idea payed off, as it became my ideas in the end, and we achieved harmony and understanding without a fight. I achieved much more than if I'd ploughed on with what I'd intended to do. Most important it improved our relationship and I caused her to do something by using what she offered.

Terrible session, going backwards

Just when I thought we were really moving on.... I had a terrible session with Lucie yesterday morning; it ended okay because afterwards we went out for a walk & she was relatively relaxed; but first I went in the field & turned the camera on. I wasn't expecting what happened but you can see the other side of my sweet pretty horse: tense, resisting, arguing, the complete opposite of how she had been recently. It felt worse even than it looks; she was actually biting me; the head shaking she does when she is unhappy. It got worse before getting slightly better, but the memory ran out on the camera. I tried to keep energy medium & stay calm but firm; no way was I going to give her a chance to explode but I felt the tension & the challenge.
There's some video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rmz-J4QFg3k
Sorry about rubbish quality and a dirty horse.

She was compliant but defiant; as if she is unconfident but dominant at the same time.

I feel slightly shaken, I thought we were doing so well. I want to say that this comes out of nowhere but I have had this from her before. This time I think it comes from several days ago when I stopped her from eating grass, I had the camera out & I wanted to film us. Maybe I was a bit strong in my correction. We then just did some walks & turns & I thought I had slowed it right down, was firm but fair, but obviously she didn't see it that way. She just doesn't accept criticism or correction if she wants to do something else, like eat grass; and like many horses, that's a reflex if they feel you are going to ask them to do something they are not sure they want to do. If you don't ask her for anything she is sweet & nice - but then she gets bored.

Lucie photos

A mixed day

Next day however, she took her carrot then bit me, not hard but the message was there; then she turned away, so I turned & walked to the gate & waited; she followed, halfway first, then stopped, then came & stood behind me. I haltered her & took her out the field.
Once out, she became very emotional, I could feel how tense she was, short fast breathing, neck inverted, head up. I took her back to the area where we had trouble yesterday & gave her lots of reassurance, stops & a step back, which she did but not softly. We walked figure 8, I remained calm & firm. She complied but not relaxed; when I turned into her, taking care today to be very calm & clear about my intentions, she turned without contact but her ears would go back. So she was reading my body but not softly, on turns she would trot & shake her head, a sign of (well this is the question: anxiety or anger, unconfidence or dominance?).
She relaxed a bit. We went for a walk, maybe she needed to do something, move her feet.
It is as if she is testing me like a rebellious child to see what my reaction will be. “I will eat grass & see what you do about it & I’m going to get upset if you stop me”.
I think that today she wanted to be with me but was testing my reactions to see if she could trust me today, to see which human had turned up today. I have to try harder to be the right one, but it is so difficult when she pushes me. It does tell me that I over-reacted yesterday.
I feel I’m walking a tightrope all the time. We never move on because as soon as I ask for something she takes it personally & (can’t or won’t?) do it; always challenging me to raise the pressure then not liking it. She will do things but her attitude says it’s under duress & I hate you again.
I do friendly games with obstacles but that’s not interesting; she will sniff, chew then try to stand on the object then eat grass. If I start other games the resistance appears; either grass or ears back I hate you & I’m doing it because you’re making me. Patterns too are boring, so I don’t understand how to make repetition work for us.
Tomorrow I’ll try something completely different like lead by the tail or leg. Maybe round an obstacle once she’s confident with it.

A bad day

Today was interesting, and the first time for a while that anything negative happened. Lucie was happy to come out but immediately showed me she was anxious, she needed to move her feet; so I abandoned the ideas of some videoing & we went out into the lane, her idea; but this had suddenly today become a scary place. The wind was from the south unusually, bringing strange noises from the valley, so maybe this was the problem. I tried to be calm & confident & reassuring; matching her energy & sympathising with her mood while watching for signs she was coming off the adrenalin; not trying to hold her or stop her. We had to go up & down a few times where she got particularly anxious. But with reassurance, and asking for her to follow me & tune into my body language (calm, confident leader) her head came down, she blew, relaxed her jaw & all looked well again. So I thought I’d just turn on the video. Maybe because my attention wandered, or she just saw grass & made a dive for it, but suddenly all the good manners were forgotten & I was just in her way. Hmmm… I backed her up a couple of steps & walked around, but the respect was gone. So we did some more turns & walking until I felt I had her back. I didn’t lose my cool but once or twice I had to defend my space, or counter her barging me by turning across her; she didn’t like it much but I made sure we ended well by doing a couple of things I know she is confident with, and we made our way back to the field. What happened next was interesting: I removed the halter and she stayed with me, usually she walks away. I sat down & she grazed around me. Then she came over & nuzzled me. Wow. So she accepted that I had corrected her in those dominance issues, and it had improved her attitude & our relationship rather than the opposite.

Confident/unconfident

Interesting session which put this to the test today. I was doing cloverleaf pattern leading her loosely on line. I did it a few times both reins, until she got it & she was following body cues, nice & relaxed; so before she got bored I thought I’d change it up a bit & instead of leading her around the markers, I’d stand still by a marker & send her around it in a circle. Immediately her head went up, she froze, staring into the distance – aha! So when I asked for anything away from me, she became unconfident, couldn’t do it.
I can’t believe I’m only just seeing this, but better late than never. Now I need to change my strategies. I’ve been trying the same things over, and both of us getting disheartened by poor results, never moving on because I felt I hadn’t fixed issues. I’ve worked on confidence with her before; she loves to play “touch it”, we do leading from other zones including behind, successfully, including at liberty – but I am never very far away. I think I need to develop these things & build distance gradually; make sure she understands she will always come back to me.
I need to be more subtle with her. I know she is very sharp, a quick learner, but she is also very sensitive, and I think I have been shouting at her. I need to be firm, but I must be fair. I need to control my emotions. Slow things down. Give her time to think. If it’s not working, change my strategy.
I’ve noticed an improvement in her attitude generally since I’ve redefined the leadership boundaries. I’ve also noticed that she needs a long phase 1 when I ask for something; & I need to ask more quietly and give her a lot of time to react. By intervening or upping the pressure too quickly I was crushing her confidence and being too ready to be critical. Now by going more slowly, I am getting a result much faster! Hallelujah!

Using herd dynamics

Although the natural horsemanship methods I attempt to follow relate to herd hierarchy and relationships, somehow I've lost my way a bit so a timely visit from my friend Susan (who has been studying and working with herd dynamics for many years) is a huge help and learning her approach is taking me right back to basics and making sense of a what is going wrong. Already since her visit there is a difference in Lucie's attitude and she seems much happier to have our relationship and position more clearly defined.

There is some old video footage of me with her before she went lame, where she is really connected & engaged in playing around some obstacles at liberty. So I needed to find out what had gone wrong. I felt that although my horse looks for leadership, at the same time she questions it & imposes herself for example, by blocking me with her body or head. I have been confused about this, but the answer is that I have been confusing my horse!

Susan noticed that when I was handling Lucie I was making a lot of movements which were giving imprecise signals with my body and the rope and being very confusing for my horse. I hadn't realised quite how bad my rope work & body language had got! When you are on your own you don't see these things, except through your horse, and I did know my ability to interest her had gone right off recently, and she is uncomfortable around the obstacles. As Susan observed, she goes through the motions, knows what is expected such as going around the tires, but her body language says she's not enjoying it. Some video here of me:
http://youtu.be/ZvYyUajvZdc

When we changed places, I immediately noticed that Susan's body language is very calm, assured & clear. Her shoulders invite the horse to follow her and when she stops, she is firm & still; when she moves off, it is a clean movement and she takes the horse with her. My body is all over the place in comparison - so that's something I need to work on. I know these things but I haven't been applying myself... must do better! http://youtu.be/13g1WxS42wM

It may look very simple stuff but here are the building blocks of a good foundation for the relationship with your horse in which the horse accepts your leadership and from that, your ideas.

I must emphasise that the problems I have been having are of my making, because I am following certain training methods but applying them badly - the fault is mine, not the horse or the training methods! I will be working on myself very hard now, my body language and energy control particularly, and no more flapping about vaguely with the rope and hands. My aim is to have a happy horse who wants to do things for me; if I don't it's my fault. You can make a horse do something, but can you get them to want to do it... I am better at saying it than doing it, but hopefully thanks to Susan's help, we are going to get back on track.

Some of Susan's comments:
"Lucie uses very readable body language and some of it is clear and some very subtle!!

I started by walking the area, owning the space and dictating our path, all the time watching her reactions and reading the signals she was displaying, the main things she did were to block with her head into my space, it was quite subtle but clearly showed her to be trying to take a dominant role in our new relationship, I moved her back and pushed her head away then led her off. Her flat back ears were another signal of her not totally accepting the situation as were the focusing of her attention outside of the area when she decided her blocking wasn't having an effect. As I said she is quite subtle with her language and it could be overlooked if you were not reading her, at some points she turned in when halted and again blocked me I responded by doing what another Alpha horse would and cut across her brushing her head out of the way with my body and walking positively in a different direction this forced her to follow my lead which she actually did willingly. Once she started to understand her position in our pairing her ears became much softer and responsive to my language, she halted with soft interested ears flicking towards me, she was still blocking with her head at first but was told each time to move it out of my space she accepted this with soft ears and body language and she stopped blocking very quickly, each time she respected what was being asked of her she was rewarded with a lowering of energy and a stroke on the neck or head. It is very important to build up the asks in a session in small steps, reading the horse each time and responding clearly in the correct way that they understand.

She is a lovely mare and once she has clear signals and bounderies presented to her she definately starts to respond well, the only problem at the moment is she tires quickly and it is important to keep the sessions short with the opportunity to follow the same method outside the area on walks to keep her interested and alert, this is something Sheila has been doing since the visit.

I would say that Sheila is too hard on herself and working alone is not easy especially if you start to go stale and have no-one there with a second pair of eyes to pick up on things that maybe need a different approach, Sheila is very capable and experienced and will definately get her relationship with Lucie back on track."


"The pressure and release in Herd Dynamics are used as a mare would with her foal to start with, just placing the horse in the foal position each time and correcting them when they overstep or start to take the lead, all the time building up the very close mirroring that the mare needs to establish to keep the foal safe, when she moves the foal moves when she stops the foal stops etc etc, once this has been established the distance between the two will be increased but always retaining the connection. Once they understand this then the relationship of other herd members and the language they use to move each other around is introduced, it always starts with small gestures and asks and only increases in energy if the horse does not respond. I say it is like teaching a child to read, small sounds and words to begin with, praising each time and not moving up to the longer words until they understand the small ones and how they connect together. With horses the language is the body and its energies.

Pressure should be subtle and release immediate upon compliance, exactly how horses use it."

If you like what you read, and would like to know more about herd dynamics and how to use it in your training, or would like some similar help from Susan, this is her website: http://herddynamics.wordpress.com/