Deeper Understanding
Recently there have been some things that have clarified my understanding of my relationship with Gunny. And maybe the more accurate way to say it would be that these things are clarifying my understanding, because I am not really done processing it yet.
At feeding time the first night, several hours after the horse and donkey arrived, I went to feed in our normal routine and all of the old aggressiveness and defensiveness appeared to be back. I wish I could say that I was able to apply all of the above concepts on the fly and in the moment, but that was not the case. Gunny was noticeably paying attention to what the new horse was doing and going between glares at me and looking over at him. And the new horse was clearly paying attention to what Gunny was doing too. I did the things I have been doing for the past eight months and nothing was improving the situation. I concluded that he was trying to show the new horse that he was biggest, baddest, most dominant horse on the place and he was using his interactions with me and the feed to do so.
Because of this conclusion, I decided to halter Gunny and have him do some moving around to have Gunny realize that he was being moved by me and wasn't succeeding in his plan to use me to illustrate his dominance. I did some backing and yielding his hindquarters and sending him around at a trot in a circle. Most of this was done with Gunny's ears pinned flat to his head. When I would pause to wait for a chew, I noticed that he would only chew if he was facing directly away from the new horses. I concluded that this meant that he didn't want to have the new horse see him chewing because that can be seen as a submissive behavior. Also during this point, he was pretty much looking over at the new horse any chance he could get. And this was noticeable because prior to feeding time, life was proceeding normally for Gunny's group.
So after a little while I decided to go and get his feed but leave the halter and lead rope on and try again. We walked to the gate and I picked up the feeder and asked him to back up and go to his feeding time spot. This time I was able to feed him and it went well.
I did a few more things with Gunny before I left and things were left on a good note. But I was not happy with how things went. I was wondering why this dominance has to keep coming up and not feeling good that we had the interactions that we did, even though I was able to work through it and reach a point of understanding with him.
Later on that night I wrote down everything that had happened from beginning to end, including as many details as possible and started to get some clarity. At the end of my journal entry, I wrote "I am getting really tired but I do want to continue on this topic and cover how it seemed so clear that this was an act regarding the new horse, how else I could respond, and why did this happen?
Stay tuned for part 2...
- Because the horse must communicate in silence, look at everything as a potential communication.
- A change in perspective can bring new possibilities and solutions to mind.
- Find the thing that feels the best.
- Changing one little thing can make a big difference.
At feeding time the first night, several hours after the horse and donkey arrived, I went to feed in our normal routine and all of the old aggressiveness and defensiveness appeared to be back. I wish I could say that I was able to apply all of the above concepts on the fly and in the moment, but that was not the case. Gunny was noticeably paying attention to what the new horse was doing and going between glares at me and looking over at him. And the new horse was clearly paying attention to what Gunny was doing too. I did the things I have been doing for the past eight months and nothing was improving the situation. I concluded that he was trying to show the new horse that he was biggest, baddest, most dominant horse on the place and he was using his interactions with me and the feed to do so.
Because of this conclusion, I decided to halter Gunny and have him do some moving around to have Gunny realize that he was being moved by me and wasn't succeeding in his plan to use me to illustrate his dominance. I did some backing and yielding his hindquarters and sending him around at a trot in a circle. Most of this was done with Gunny's ears pinned flat to his head. When I would pause to wait for a chew, I noticed that he would only chew if he was facing directly away from the new horses. I concluded that this meant that he didn't want to have the new horse see him chewing because that can be seen as a submissive behavior. Also during this point, he was pretty much looking over at the new horse any chance he could get. And this was noticeable because prior to feeding time, life was proceeding normally for Gunny's group.
So after a little while I decided to go and get his feed but leave the halter and lead rope on and try again. We walked to the gate and I picked up the feeder and asked him to back up and go to his feeding time spot. This time I was able to feed him and it went well.
I did a few more things with Gunny before I left and things were left on a good note. But I was not happy with how things went. I was wondering why this dominance has to keep coming up and not feeling good that we had the interactions that we did, even though I was able to work through it and reach a point of understanding with him.
Later on that night I wrote down everything that had happened from beginning to end, including as many details as possible and started to get some clarity. At the end of my journal entry, I wrote "I am getting really tired but I do want to continue on this topic and cover how it seemed so clear that this was an act regarding the new horse, how else I could respond, and why did this happen?
Stay tuned for part 2...
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