Nice Night and some Observation time
Thursday, April 6, 2006
Great night tonight! I’d been looking forward to heading to the barn all day. Had a great afternoon with the kids, hanging out in the yard, riding bikes, and just being silly. They were singing some crazy songs and we were all laughing. Snow yesterday, back to being out in the yard and riding bikes today, only in New England. Before I get too distracted, back to the horse stuff.
I started watching/following the Parelli Level 1 kit. Wow. I’m only a tiny way into it and I’m just loving it. I can totally buy into this guy and his methods. It all just makes so much sense to me. The very first little thing I was supposed to do was go to the barn and spend 30 minutes just watching my horse.
It was a fascinating 30 minutes! I started out in the stall where Lola usually is, but the big, Belgain mare, Holly, was in there. Found a corner, and just hung out and looked at the ground. Holly didn’t know what to do, she came over and started sniffing me and pushing me with her nose. Lola was peering at me from the next stall over, not sure what to do. Gracie, the little thoroughbred mare was also watching from the pasture. I let Holly sniff me and watch me for a bit, and then I moved out and into the next stall where Lola was. I leaned on the wall, and looked at the floor. She blew on me, nuzzled up against me, and even touched me with her lips. I squatted down on the floor, and she picked her hoof up to put it in my lap! I’m not exactly sure what that meant, but it didn’t seem like she was doing it in a threatening way. It seemed more of a playful gesture. Lola would ignore me for a bit, lick around the feed bucket, chew on her salt block, and then come back and nuzzle me a bit more. At one point she put her head on my shoulder and just stood there like that for a couple of minutes. Pretty amazing!
After a while, I moved to another corner of the stall to see what she would do. She licked her salt block a couple of times, and then came my way again.
I left her and went to get my grooming box and halter. When I came back, all of the horses were out in the pasture eating hay. Lola was probably a good 50ft away from me. I held my halter and lead rope in front of me where she could see it clearly, and I slowly made my way towards her. I made sure to look away and look at the ground as to not seem threatening. When I got close, I stood near her and waited for her to turn to me. She turned and sniffed the halter, so I held it out for her. She sniffed it and then turned away uninterested. I took the halter and rope and rubbed her all over with it, her neck, head, face, back, belly, tail, legs, etc. She kept munching on her hay. I made my way back to her face and asked her to put her head down by rubbing just behind her ears. She did it, and I held out the halter so she could slip her nose in.
I lead her back to her stall and gave her a good grooming. She’s still shedding like crazy. She was loose in her stall while I groomed her and for the most part she stayed put. After I groomed her, I played the friendly game with her using my hands, the lead rope, and a brush. She was pretty good about letting me pick up all her feet to clean them today. I did have to hold on to the lead rope to do her left hind. It was the last hoof I had to clean out and I think she was getting a bit restless. As soon as I took the lead rope off her back and put it over my arm she stood still and I was able to clean it.
I did a tiny bit of porcupine game with her. Just asked her to yield everywhere one time. She did really well. She even did pretty well yielding her forehand today which is always the tough part.
I’m expecting my Parelli Savvy Club welcome kit next week and I can’t wait. It has a DVD of the 7 games in it. Should be fun!
Great night tonight! I’d been looking forward to heading to the barn all day. Had a great afternoon with the kids, hanging out in the yard, riding bikes, and just being silly. They were singing some crazy songs and we were all laughing. Snow yesterday, back to being out in the yard and riding bikes today, only in New England. Before I get too distracted, back to the horse stuff.
I started watching/following the Parelli Level 1 kit. Wow. I’m only a tiny way into it and I’m just loving it. I can totally buy into this guy and his methods. It all just makes so much sense to me. The very first little thing I was supposed to do was go to the barn and spend 30 minutes just watching my horse.
It was a fascinating 30 minutes! I started out in the stall where Lola usually is, but the big, Belgain mare, Holly, was in there. Found a corner, and just hung out and looked at the ground. Holly didn’t know what to do, she came over and started sniffing me and pushing me with her nose. Lola was peering at me from the next stall over, not sure what to do. Gracie, the little thoroughbred mare was also watching from the pasture. I let Holly sniff me and watch me for a bit, and then I moved out and into the next stall where Lola was. I leaned on the wall, and looked at the floor. She blew on me, nuzzled up against me, and even touched me with her lips. I squatted down on the floor, and she picked her hoof up to put it in my lap! I’m not exactly sure what that meant, but it didn’t seem like she was doing it in a threatening way. It seemed more of a playful gesture. Lola would ignore me for a bit, lick around the feed bucket, chew on her salt block, and then come back and nuzzle me a bit more. At one point she put her head on my shoulder and just stood there like that for a couple of minutes. Pretty amazing!
After a while, I moved to another corner of the stall to see what she would do. She licked her salt block a couple of times, and then came my way again.
I left her and went to get my grooming box and halter. When I came back, all of the horses were out in the pasture eating hay. Lola was probably a good 50ft away from me. I held my halter and lead rope in front of me where she could see it clearly, and I slowly made my way towards her. I made sure to look away and look at the ground as to not seem threatening. When I got close, I stood near her and waited for her to turn to me. She turned and sniffed the halter, so I held it out for her. She sniffed it and then turned away uninterested. I took the halter and rope and rubbed her all over with it, her neck, head, face, back, belly, tail, legs, etc. She kept munching on her hay. I made my way back to her face and asked her to put her head down by rubbing just behind her ears. She did it, and I held out the halter so she could slip her nose in.
I lead her back to her stall and gave her a good grooming. She’s still shedding like crazy. She was loose in her stall while I groomed her and for the most part she stayed put. After I groomed her, I played the friendly game with her using my hands, the lead rope, and a brush. She was pretty good about letting me pick up all her feet to clean them today. I did have to hold on to the lead rope to do her left hind. It was the last hoof I had to clean out and I think she was getting a bit restless. As soon as I took the lead rope off her back and put it over my arm she stood still and I was able to clean it.
I did a tiny bit of porcupine game with her. Just asked her to yield everywhere one time. She did really well. She even did pretty well yielding her forehand today which is always the tough part.
I’m expecting my Parelli Savvy Club welcome kit next week and I can’t wait. It has a DVD of the 7 games in it. Should be fun!
posted by Lisa @ 10:20 PM
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