Of course I would love to be dancing on the beach in the light of the moon with my horses, but we aren't quite there yet.
I've been watching the Liberty and Horse Behavior course and it's helping me fine tune my already natural knack of horse behavior observation. I'm only on the second DVD (out of 8, I think) and it's emphasizing the importance of knowing what mind-set your horse is in at every moment.
The challenge for me with Satin is that I assume that I know her so well that I don't take the time to watch her behavior. Now that I am honing my skills and am conscious of the sheer importance of this savvy, I have been watching both Satin and Dancer (and all other horses, for that matter) much, much more closely -- and I think I discovered something I would have never known if it was not for Parelli.
What was my discovery?
Satin has many moments of unconfidence.
You're probably saying, "I don't even know the horse, but even I know that every horse has moments of unconfidence!"
I would have said the same thing! But when it comes to Satin, I think of her as in constant left-brain mode. I have twisted together confident cockiness and unconfident nervousness when these two behaviors are so very different! I was not giving my girl my full attention because I just pinned her as the "bratty" one.
Well, it turns out that Satin has many moments of unconfidence, particularly when she's at a distance from me. She wants to be close to me, touching me. I used to think that was her just pushing me around, and many times it is! But now I am more aware of the difference between when she's trying to be bossy and crowd me and when she's asking me to hold her hand.
So as we journey through our ever-developing relationship I need to remember that there will be times that I will need to hold her hand and times when I need to encourage her to become more confident.
As for Dancer, I am spending a lot of time just watching her in the pasture, watching her at feeding time, etc, etc. I originally, two years ago when I met her, tagged her as a loving, sweet, unconfident horse. And guess what?
That's still the case! She responds very well to being pushed around by the alpha horse. She basically gets out the way without fear - so she's not afraid of submission, she's not afraid of following the leader's orders. What she fears the most is being leaderless. I think if it came down to her having to lead a herd, she might just self combust. She is very eager to please her alpha and takes care of her - she watches her back, follows her everywhere, swishes the flies from her alpha. I expect that once I really start developing her confidence she will be an amazing partner.
Well, back to watching more L&HB - I highly recommend this course to anyone at any level. Understanding horse behavior is crucial even before approaching your horse in the pasture for the first time, let alone starting the "7 games".
3 comments:
Sounds interesting I will have to check it out. Bodhi has many moments when he gets nervous or unconfident but he internalizes it mostly. You can see it in his worried little baby eyes though it is usually matched with equal shares of curiosity. I hope he never loses his curious nature.
Here is what I was thinking of... they have four instead of 2 like the Myers Briggs in people and they are Dominate/submissive, Energetic/lazy, Curious/afraid, Friendly/aloof.
Bodhi is SLCF. They have quiz. It is cute :) http://www.horsepersonality.com/slcf-steadyeddy.html
What are your horses?
L&HB is the best resource and it just keeps giving. I am slowly picking up little signs and the one thing that really hit home lately is how quickly Duke can go from confident to unconfident; this is especially true now that we're on the 22' line. I too, read Duke the same way you read Satin; because he's so dominant I thought he just wanted to invade my space. And like you, one day I just had the revelation that it was both...and getting a feel for which one it was at any given moment has taken time.
Then I remember, keep it natural!
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