Horsie Conversations
Yesterday I had some interesting exchanges with Gunny. I went out in the afternoon to take his blanket off so he could soak up some sun. Before I went out, I made sure to re-read about Carolyn Resnick's Ritual Two--Hello. I realized that I had been making a mistake and when Gunny would look away or put his ears back while looking at me, I was turning and walking away. Really I should have been just stopping my feet and making a noise to draw his attention back.
So I went out with the intention that I was going to do it the "correct" way. Of course, because I had that in my mind as a clear plan, Gunny threw something new at me. As I walked towards him, he kept his ears forward and looked at me during the whole approach. As I reached him I stopped my feet and put my hand out. As he reached towards my hand he put his ears back and then sniffed my hand. I wasn't sure what to do, so I ignored it and proceeded to start taking his blanket off. He was standing parallel to a fence with his left side nearest the fence so after I got the leg straps off I needed to ask him to move over. I stepped into position and asked him to move over. Rather then moving over, he raised his head and pinned his ears at me. My reaction was to escalate and get him to move over. I followed him until he stopped and asked him to move a couple of more times before resuming taking the blanket off.
During all of this I was thinking about how Carolyn says that a lead horse is above the conflict and doesn't quarrel with other horses, but rather waits for a chance to catch the other horse off guard so he can drive him off his spot. I decided that maybe I should have handled it a little differently when Gunny wouldn't move, but I didn't know what else I should have done.
But I was pretty sure that Gunny would forget about my presence and give me an opportunity to chase him off his spot. I watered the horses and then went back into the pen to wait for my chance. It didn't take long before he was back to dozing and had forgotten that I was there. I ran at his spot clapping my gloved hands and chased him off his spot. I ended up chasing another horse off his spot too. Gunny kept a pretty close eye on me after that, but still wanted to play a game of ignoring me when I walked up to him to say hello. So I chased him off his spot a couple of more times and then he decided to walk with me to the gate to go back to his paddock for the evening.
When we got to the paddock I continued with my plan to help him see that things like grain that I bring to him are a gift and that he is not stealing them from me, but rather that I am giving them to him. I am using a halter and lead rope and any time he puts his ears back or gets pushy with his nose, I remove his opportunity to eat. But then when he looks at me with ears forward and a cheerful and relaxed expression I allow him to eat again. There was no ears back with this session and only a little bit of pushiness. A good improvement over the prior two days.
When I got in the house I did some digging on Carolyn's blog and found a spot where she was talking about a horse that would bite if you approached while he was eating. Carolyn suggested stepping away out of respect and then re-approaching to the point where the horse tried to bite. Then on the second approach, if he tried to bite again the person was to send the horse away from his feed and not let him return until he was standing with his ears forward and calm.
So I think I will try that idea the next time I get an ears back from a request to move like I did yesterday, I will try stepping back out of his space for a moment to give him the respect that I understand he doesn't want to move. Then I will step back and ask him to move and if he puts his ears back I will make him move off that spot. Just like with Hello, I think that initially this might mean that he will try to take advantage of the opportunity to say no. But then he will see that I am not directly meeting his invitation to quarrel but that I will ultimately cause him to move. I will continue to read the blog to see if I can find more reference to how the Lead horse behaves when a horse wants to quarrel rather than follow their direction.
Also when I was reflecting on the new variation of Hello that Gunny threw at me yesterday, I thought about the code that Carolyn talks about. She says that if we are approaching our horse, then we are to respect his space. But if the horse is approaching us, then he is to respect our space. I think that when I approached Gunny initially I was respecting his space, but then when I finished my approach and at the moment he was reaching out to sniff my hand he was approaching my space and not being respectful, so that appropriate response would have been to drive him away at that moment and then try again.
This relates to the blanket thing above, Gunny was standing there and minding his own business and I approached him and came into his space. So when he put his ears back at my request to move, stepping back for a moment would be respecting his space but then asserting myself as a leader as I made the second request and then followed through.
So I went out with the intention that I was going to do it the "correct" way. Of course, because I had that in my mind as a clear plan, Gunny threw something new at me. As I walked towards him, he kept his ears forward and looked at me during the whole approach. As I reached him I stopped my feet and put my hand out. As he reached towards my hand he put his ears back and then sniffed my hand. I wasn't sure what to do, so I ignored it and proceeded to start taking his blanket off. He was standing parallel to a fence with his left side nearest the fence so after I got the leg straps off I needed to ask him to move over. I stepped into position and asked him to move over. Rather then moving over, he raised his head and pinned his ears at me. My reaction was to escalate and get him to move over. I followed him until he stopped and asked him to move a couple of more times before resuming taking the blanket off.
During all of this I was thinking about how Carolyn says that a lead horse is above the conflict and doesn't quarrel with other horses, but rather waits for a chance to catch the other horse off guard so he can drive him off his spot. I decided that maybe I should have handled it a little differently when Gunny wouldn't move, but I didn't know what else I should have done.
But I was pretty sure that Gunny would forget about my presence and give me an opportunity to chase him off his spot. I watered the horses and then went back into the pen to wait for my chance. It didn't take long before he was back to dozing and had forgotten that I was there. I ran at his spot clapping my gloved hands and chased him off his spot. I ended up chasing another horse off his spot too. Gunny kept a pretty close eye on me after that, but still wanted to play a game of ignoring me when I walked up to him to say hello. So I chased him off his spot a couple of more times and then he decided to walk with me to the gate to go back to his paddock for the evening.
When we got to the paddock I continued with my plan to help him see that things like grain that I bring to him are a gift and that he is not stealing them from me, but rather that I am giving them to him. I am using a halter and lead rope and any time he puts his ears back or gets pushy with his nose, I remove his opportunity to eat. But then when he looks at me with ears forward and a cheerful and relaxed expression I allow him to eat again. There was no ears back with this session and only a little bit of pushiness. A good improvement over the prior two days.
When I got in the house I did some digging on Carolyn's blog and found a spot where she was talking about a horse that would bite if you approached while he was eating. Carolyn suggested stepping away out of respect and then re-approaching to the point where the horse tried to bite. Then on the second approach, if he tried to bite again the person was to send the horse away from his feed and not let him return until he was standing with his ears forward and calm.
So I think I will try that idea the next time I get an ears back from a request to move like I did yesterday, I will try stepping back out of his space for a moment to give him the respect that I understand he doesn't want to move. Then I will step back and ask him to move and if he puts his ears back I will make him move off that spot. Just like with Hello, I think that initially this might mean that he will try to take advantage of the opportunity to say no. But then he will see that I am not directly meeting his invitation to quarrel but that I will ultimately cause him to move. I will continue to read the blog to see if I can find more reference to how the Lead horse behaves when a horse wants to quarrel rather than follow their direction.
Also when I was reflecting on the new variation of Hello that Gunny threw at me yesterday, I thought about the code that Carolyn talks about. She says that if we are approaching our horse, then we are to respect his space. But if the horse is approaching us, then he is to respect our space. I think that when I approached Gunny initially I was respecting his space, but then when I finished my approach and at the moment he was reaching out to sniff my hand he was approaching my space and not being respectful, so that appropriate response would have been to drive him away at that moment and then try again.
This relates to the blanket thing above, Gunny was standing there and minding his own business and I approached him and came into his space. So when he put his ears back at my request to move, stepping back for a moment would be respecting his space but then asserting myself as a leader as I made the second request and then followed through.
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