intimidation

“She’s not like other people’s grandmothers….” Reuben Starkadder, Cold Comfort Farm

Over the course of my ownership of Z, it’s been hard to convince people about her personality. Memorably, was the time I was in the Carolyn Resnick online clinic and I was told that I couldn’t influence her because I didn’t know how to use my energy…. ROFLMAO!

What is really hilarious about that was later Carolyns’ video of her young colt who is pestering her, is suddenly cut and then re-started in a completely different pose with the horse suddenly not bugging her anymore. I guess energy has to happen off the video… ROFLMAO!

Well, you can try to convince people or just shrug and go on with your day. Nowadays because I don’t have the energy to be angry or the time, I do the second.

However, I have to take some satisfaction in being proved correct. Molly has integrated Z into her herd and the resulting behavior has shown her the entire dimesion of my Strong Minded Filly. Molly tried plenty of energy to get Z to move off and no matter that she used the lead rope on her butt or a flung bucket, Z’s ‘tude was only a resulting eyebrow raise (figuratively speaking). She ended up using the whip and even that had to be quite firm to get her to amble off with a “hmm I guess I’ll come back to you later” look.

What it boils down to is that Z tests. You are new to her – she’ll test you. If you are new to her – she will attempt to intimidate and dominate you. While you work with her – she will continue to see if she can edge past your boundaries and take the upper hand. She is a relentess machine.

This IS THIS HORSE and it is not about my lack of energy (I have plenty of well defined energy) but to the type of personality this horse is. To deny it, or to state that I don’t know how to bring up appropriate amounts of Chi, is to talk nonsense.

But hey, if you think you can use your mental powers, feel free to contact me and you can work her in the roundpen after you sign a liability waiver.

BigTrainer Conundrum

There is a strange conundrum presented when famous (or want to be famous) horse people put their ideas into print or media: people may actually use those ideas! That may sound great to you and me, the layperson, but to those trying to protect copyright, it’s not.

I have not (yet) received a cease and desist order but it’s always within the realm of possibility.

For example, I had done some Tellington-Jones (TTEAM) exercises on Youtube and after someone from the Carolyn Resnick camp gave me a gentle warning about something I posted referencing the Waterhole Rituals on Youtube, I contacted the Tellington-Jones camp and asked if that was okay to have posted about TEAM materials. For the Tellington-Jones camp it was, as they actually encourage people to use their methods and share it. It’s one reason that Linda Tellington-Jones is one of the few Big Name Trainers I highly respect (though probably is why she isn’t as well known – she actually has morals).

When it came to the Carolyn Resnick camp, those few emails got me extremely gunshy so I took down any reference to her. Many of the things she prescribes to be her exclusive “learned from the wild mustangs” camp has been used by other trainers for just as long, if not longer, and I have my own time-date-stamped blog that shows I did some of those things naturally before ever learning her name.

However, because of a personal hibby-jibby feeling I have had ever since about those communications and the vibe I got during her online conference, it is why you no longer see anything on this blog referencing her or her methods.

Now with Klaus Hempfling, who I much admire yet have no money to fly to Europe or time/money to spend the summer training under, I have also played with some of his concepts, trying to find that elusive magic.

After all he now has at least three published books and several videos, as well as his Youtube channel… but… a few months back I had received some very nasty emails via Youtube (not from him or any of his representatives that I am aware of) about how I was puffing myself up and I was nothing like Hempfling and how dare I!!?? I even got bitched out in a foreign language – a German. With the internet capability of translation that comment was identified and trashed.

However, the person who really amused me, was the Youtube stalker who just knew how to train horses so much better then I but who had an account COMPLETELY EMPTY of any videos! When I told her that if she knew how to do it, why isn’t she taping herself, I was told that it was going to happen “soon.” Guess what? Months later – still no videos.

Which got me to scratching my head because I have never ever pretended to be trained or endorsed by him (I’m not – go read the About section of this blog)… and if I was that damn good, I would be making a living at it and not be inching may way through school to become a Vet Tech.

Anyway, let’s return back to the trainer who wants to retain a copyright or property rights to ideas (well first of all in the U.S. that isn’t even possible). It’s understandable that someone should earn money and a living off of their own ideas. And it’s understandable that they would want some sort of control over the dissimiation of those ideas. Quite understandable that they wouldn’t want every screwed up Horse person running about saying they are the Real Deal when they are just a Nut Job or Con Man.

However, to make money people need to know about them… and that is where books, videos, Youtube and word of mouth makes this possible. You cannot make a reputation or money in a vacum.

So where falls the honest horse person who reads a published work – views a published video – and thinks “wow! I would like to try that and then share what I did with others to find out what they think”?

So when I get a little bitter about all of this, I hope gentle reader understands that I can’t just do what I want – say what I want, or even critique anything because there always lurks the person (and their lawyer) who wants to snatch back what they put out there for public consumption.

I try to be respectful of those I admire, and for those I don’t admire I keep my thoughts mostly private.

Round pen: Building Connections

As I’ve written before, Dee is a high-tension horse who is sensitive to requests. OTOH she has also tuned out people which is not uncommon with horses who are well-trained to the point of redundancy. Yet, I feel she is a horse who wants a connection; that want means she is looking for opportunities to get along with me.

In the week or so that she has been here I’ve spent a lot of time with her just hanging out, grooming, and walking her around the property to graze. I’m sure putting in the time has helped, however it was in the round pen where I saw the most change today.

Out last round pen session was full of over-reactive behavior that was more running away then forming trust or a relationship. This is one of the dangers of working in the round pen  – the area can degenerate into a coliseum where gladiators do battle to the death rather then a place of learning and education.

Warning: Round pens make it easy to get into a battle with a horse because of the added seductive, power trip of pushing around a much larger animal. It’s something beginners to this training method seem oblivious too. Self-regulation is highly needed before proceeding with this style of training.

Generally, my work in the Round pen is much slower then the Big Name Trainers. It’s not very flashy but even so, I believe it is even more effective, especially over the long term. And definitely, with a smart, sensitive and talented horse who has started to become bored with redundant training.

I put Dee in the RP and let her look about while I went up to the barn to take care of setting up her bath water (a sudsy Iodine/Aloe Vera mix in a bucket). When I got back, as I opened the gate, she approached, recognized and greeted me (this was a good sign as before she ignored my presence).

I sat down on the blue mounting block that I had placed in the center of the RP and waited. She went along the edge, eating some of the grass at the rim, walking peacefully, without exhibiting the high tension I had seen last time. Sometimes, I would call her name or talk with her. Mostly I kept my body posture calm and quiet, hands down. I kept the whip I held pointed down to the ground.

Tip: If you ignore the horse, especially those tuned out from people, bored, distrustful or wary of people, you will eventually find that the horse will approach you. They are very curious animals and when you behave in a way different then their other human-horse interactions (i.e. forceful, pushing, aggressive) and allow them to choose (Horse-Led Activity), you may be surprised at how the relationship improves from this simple technique.

Within about 10 minutes she had come back to me and stood in front of my seated position. She put her head over mine looking about with an overall, calm body posture. We were together like this for at least 20 minutes. Sometimes she would put her nose on my shoulder or the top of my head.

Several times she gently sighed, fluttering her nostrils (another good sign as her tension is apparent with tight mouth, closed nostrils, high head, holding breaths, or shallow breathing). The atmosphere was one of unhurried companionship.

A horse friend once told me that a horse standing over you in this manner is one of a mother over a foal and is a protective and loving stance by the horse. Don’t know if that is true but it is a companionable when the horse is respectful of the human’s vulnerability to physical confrontation (and as such would need extra caution when done with Z).

At one point she moved past me, standing with her butt to my back. I wasn’t quite trusting of this position; if she kicked for a fly, she could hit me by accident. I moved the mounting block to the side of her hip, got up and scratched her butt.

If the horse is dominant they can use this position as one of disrespect and further aggression. However, Dee stood quietly, ears turned back to listen, and slightly leaning into the scratch but not pushing or shoving against me. After a few scratches, I got down and we started some slow movements in the RP.

I start by doing a Leading from Behind (Carolyn Resnicks’ Waterhole Rituals) position. I want the horse to move off but I don’t want the sensitive types (like Dee) to go off abruptly. With a horse like Dee, you want to do things slowly and deliberately, looking to use as little force as possible as she has shown to be over-reactive and sensitive to whip cues (though not afraid of the whip).

However, if, like Z, she moved off quickly, throwing a kick, then she would get driven away with me as much intensity as she had shown me.

Then I might stop or start to draw away from this position and see if the horse is paying attention to me enough that she either slows to a stop also or turns to come after me (calmly) in a tackless lead.

Imagine it like a rubber band held between two hands. You may want to stretch it but you never want to pull it so far apart that the band breaks. At some moments the distance makes the band pull tight and other times it is slack, but it is always one rubber band, still one piece and connected. That is how you want to work the horse with the movements.

Move the horse away, drive from behind, move away and see if the horse follows, tackless lead, then circle back and see if you can follow the horse’s movement, move parallel and then ask the horse to stop or to give an inside turn. All this is done at the walk. There is no need for mad gallops about the RP or rears. Nothing is hurried or pushed past the point of being bearable.

The key to this work with Dee is for her to connect with me – be aware of where I am – and curious enough that she keeps an eye on what I’m up too – but not defensive or worried about what I’m doing.

learning about Dee

Even though it’s been “hotter then the hinges of hell” out there (my mom’s expression), I’ve had some more time to connect a bit with the new horse, who I’m calling in this blog “Dee.”

Her owner had told me she had a fly allergy, this is more commonly known in my parts as Sweet Itch (Queensland Itch in Australia). Technically, there is no “cure” only management. With that in mind, I’ll be ordering Buggzo from Horse Tech, as her owner said that Apple Cider Vinegar did give her some relief.

I’ll continue the other fly management that I’ve been doing (baited traps, removing manure etc…). Next year, since I have the run-in stalls and a compost heap, I’ll order the fly predators. And be working on my barrel fly trap system.

I also will be getting her a flysheet - the type with a belly band and which is designed for smaller flies. The problem with flysheets around here is that the temps are SO HIGH that the horse sweats something terrible under them; it’s damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

I think her chestnut skin is far too sensitive for the Equi-Stop I’ve used on the other horses. I will be bathing her in an anti-fungal shampoo at least twice a week or more – finding one gentle enough that won’t cause more irritation (such as those with tea tree oil) but yet provide relief will take some investigation. I will probably start with a Betadine bath as I have a mixture that is iodine and aloe vera.

Nutritionally, I’ve already added stabilized flaxseed (natural anti-inflammatory, improve hooves and haircoat, omegas, fat) to her Triple Crown Low Starch feed. Right now she is getting twice the amount (TCLS) T-man gets and he is a TB and an inch taller, and a senior (18 years old). And 2 cups of whole oats (mild nervine, fiber) per day.

BTW see the Myth: Rolled Oats are better then Whole Oats… since my horses have their teeth, they get whole. JMO but the less processed feed is, the better… the more the diet is forage and grass (if you are NOT dealing with Insulin Resitant or Cushings) the better.

In the time she’s been with me, I see that she is a sensitive horse – she has been pacing the fence, and calling to the others (we have several new horses this weekend and it’s been chaotic to say the least). When I hand walk her, she is more interested in moving and seeing everything then in eating the grass, even though she is underweight . This shows to me she is most likely a hard keeper- maybe a horse who frets and burns off energy while slow to consume what she needs to stay healthy (she is also a slow eater).

Horse Herbalist Robert McDowell (Australia) has a very interesting view of the different types of nervous horses. I’ve found it helpful in the past, especially when I had Beautiful Boy (he was a Valerian type). Due to Dee’s skin condition and her Thoroughbred ancestory (2/3rds) I suspect she is a Vervain type of horse, which T-man is also – but to a much lesser extent.

McDowell recommends the herb Vervain for the horses who process their nerves through their skin. I think I’ll also be getting her some Rose Hips (Vitamin C, boosts immune system, improves skin and hooves).

I sized her for my Wintec and OF COURSE.. her size happens to be the one size I do not have! Why is this always the case??

While she has manners, they are not as highly tuned up as my own horses and this comes from what I call “people are not on her radar.” T-man has a bit of this – he’s a big horse, like she is, and when excited he fidgets and dances about, (like I wrote -another Valerian horse) and would never on purpose run you over, but has been known to do so.

So first order of business is putting me on her radar…

Approaching this task, would be different if she was like Z. For example, I did not find Carolyn Resnicks’ method (Waterhole Rituals) very helpful with Z, a dominant, gregarious filly who would LOVE to sit in your lap while you read her a nighty-night story! Nope, roundpen methods are going to be more effective with her at this stage.

However, the Waterhole Rituals would be excellent for Dee – who has high alert tension (but not in a crazy way), perhaps some wariness about people’s intentions, and who is looking to connect but doesn’t believe you can connect with people.

long discourse on liberty work

One reason that I raise my eyebrows and roll my eyes with Big Name Trainers is their adherence to rules. It seems to be “do only this” when in reality, horses are individualistic animals which dictate a flexible and adaptable approach to working with them.

When working with students, either riding or with ground training, it is the inflexible ones who seem to end up having the most trouble. It’s hard for them to switch gears and gauge their response by what the horse presents; this seems to be because the student – who has learned never to think for themselves and that there is only “one right way” is trying to apply linear thinking to a situation that needs lateral, problem solving.

This was no more apparent to me then today with the Liberty work with Z in the large dirt arena. I could tell she was excited because she was really stepping out when I lead her out of her pasture. When I took her through the gate, she wasn’t listening to me at all and instead had her eyes on the two Black Beauties (the owners’ Freisian mares were grazing the commons which wraps around this arena). I let her go, and sat down in a chair.

She made her way down to the opposite end of the arena so she could get closer to the mares (who thankfully ignored her). About 15 minutes of grazing the arena (unfortunately, grass has gotten back in with all this rain), she finally started to walk back down to me.

I fed her some carrots, groomed her and then she left again when I squirted some medicine on her back leg wound. At this point, most people would have gotten impatient and just haltered her, however, I had time, so I sat back down for another 10 minutes. When it was clear she wasn’t going to engage again with me, I walked down to her, fed her some carrots, turned and left slowly.

At this point she decided to follow me. What really makes me snicker about a certain Trainer is the idea of that the horse is freely following because of a connection, when in reality she uses carrots. Not hard to get a horse to connect when you have a carrot – yet are they connected to the carrot or to you? In the beginning, trust me, it’s the carrot and not your phenomenal Chi-Power.

Here is where the concept of feel starts to play a huge part in how you work with the liberty horse. Remember, the liberty horse can leave at any time, and this is a huge arena. You have to be aware of the horses’ mood and anticipate their movement before it happens.

Case in point: She followed me on a tackless lead. When I stopped she stopped. Click, treat. We walked on and started a huge circle. At times she thought about disengaging, so before that could happen, I would change my own position to that of driving from behind, walking backwards in front or sending her away…

At one point, I dropped behind her and start leading from behind. This is not a new concept – irregardless of Carolyn Resnick citing it as if she has some sort of exclusivity rights to it. Leading from Behind started long ago with driving concepts, and is also detailed in works by Klaus Hempfling (Zone 3 p. 67 Dancing with Horses) and Linda Tellington-Jones. Resnick just puts the old “Monty-Roberts-Learned-from-the-Wild-Horses” spin on it which seems to appeal to the romantically minded, horse person.

Hempfling's Zone 3 - from behind

Being behind the horse you have two choices: to follow the lead horse as if you are a partner letting the horse be in charge; or to direct the horse in front as if you are “driving”, selecting pace and direction. I find it useful to switch in-between these roles.

The horse partnership is not always with us as leaders and definitely should not always have the horse slavishly following us at all times, esp. not during liberty work which should allow more free will to encourage the horses’ beautiful movement.

Zone 3, Hempfling writes has medium dominance, optimal development of independence, self-responsiblity and confidence. This is why, horses who “don’t wanna” will often react strongly and leave when you are in Zone 3. You are putting a lot of mental pressure upon them and they have the maximum potential to make the decision to leave (as opposed to say, Zone 1).

Zone 3 directing from behind

What is interesting with Behind driving is that horses which are tuned out, abused or have been over-used by humans, will wander off from you and you lose their interest – in their mind you are just being a bully.

While, the strong-willed horse (like Z) will eventually get fed up with you in this position, and will also leave – generally at a higher rate of speed and like today with a good kick from behind (“fuck you!”) as an exclamation point.

Before the horse can disengage, you must time it where you leave the Behind position and go back from leading from Front, sideways companion walking, or sending away.

Leading from Front is Hempflings’ Zone 1 which has greatest dominance, minimal independence on the horses’ part, and where developing the horses’ self-responsibility is not really possible. However, Zone 1 is the position to start in when you have a horse who is really not listening – if you started in Zone 3, the horse would disengage before you could connect.

Hempfling's Zone 1 - in front, facing, walking backwards

The point being is this is a fluid conversation and very much based upon how the horse is feeling that particular day, the horses’ level of training, the horses’ personality or amount of self-will, and your relationship with that horse.

To sum up today’s session with LadyZ: When she did not want to engage, I walked up to her, Said Hello (Carolyn Resnick’s term), fed a carrot and left. When she followed, I went into Zone 1 and she did a Tackless Lead down the arena showing me she was interested in working together and getting more carrots.

At one point when I felt her attention drifting, I went back to Behind (Zone 3) for about 6 horse lengths. Then I would move away, slowing my pace, often stopping or backwards walking to widen the distance between us. She would naturally follow (horses follow what moves away from them – whether that is from curiousity or just “hey! don’t leave me!” I don’t know but it seems universally true with them).

From Zone 1, I would drift to her shoulder (Zone 2) and using the whip behind me with slow taps on the ground keep her momentum (not allowing her to stop). If she was getting too close (her pushy horse behavior), I would fan the whip faster and raise my knees, signaling her to trot off – usually sending her away from me about 4 horse lengths.

What is interesting to note here is that when you send a dominant horse off, they often will react strongly – rearing, bucking, striking out or running off is not uncommon. Be prepared for it.

However, what is very interesting is no matter how strongly they object to being sent away, they come back, wanting to re-connect, almost as strongly as they left! Personally, I like it when there are strong objections to leaving – it generally means they will quickly re-engage.

The further she pulled away the less movement I would use – often just stopping. Then she would turn and walk back to me. Click and Treat.