Follow the leader
Got to see my "old" horse on Saturday, so cool! I forgot how HUGE he is! He's about 17 hands now. He looks awesome and seems very happy. I watched him do a clear round in the stadium jumping phase. As he left the arena, his new owner pointed to me and yelled "He did that for you." I got a little teary. It's great to see him doing so well. I can't believe he just turned 11. I don't know where the time goes!
Not seeing Lola all the time is a bit frustrating. I’m constantly reminding myself that there is no reason to feel guilty. She’s perfectly happy, well fed, and enjoys her horse friends. I’ve always been the kind of owner that is at the barn every day, so it is really hard for me to be doing this 2-3 visit a week thing, but as long as Lola is happy and healthy, I’m thankful to have her, and I’ve got to get over my guilt.
So any way, went to the barn tonight. I think the single most important thing I’ve learned from all my Parelli studies is to be willing to change my plan. In fact, I’ve gotten to the point where I never really have a plan, other than to have some fun with my horse.
It was pouring rain when I got to the barn. Lola came right over to me as soon as I got there. I couldn’t do any grooming tonight since she was so wet, so I hung out in her stall for a bit and ignored her. I really enjoy a few minutes of quiet time when I first get to the barn, just to kind of watch and see how the horses are interacting. Eventually, I played Friendly game with the halter and lead rope, and haltered her for the walk down to the indoor. She got very nervous as soon as we got near the indoor. It’s a huge metal building, and the rain and wind made it very loud. I opened the door and she pranced her way in. I fought with her for a few minutes trying to calm her down and get her to relax a bit, but I quickly realized there was a better way.
I closed the doors tight and let her loose. She trotted around a few times, snorting and sniffing everything, and then she came over and stood right in front of me. I walked away, over a little cross rail in the middle of the ring, and she followed me! Using the driving game, I asked her to back up, and she did!
There were a bunch of old fence posts leaning up on the wall, so I knocked them all down and walked over them. Lola followed me very carefully stepping over all the posts.
Lola started sniffing at a metal garbage can cover and spooked when she knocked it over. I knew what my next game was going to be! Garbage can cover in one hand, and carrot stick in the other, I paraded around the ring and randomly threw the top. After a couple of spooks and trots around, she ignored me. Excellent! I grabbed the garbage top and started using it as a drum, bang, bang, bang, and I marched around again. She thought I was nuts, but she ignored me and eventually started following me around. I walked all around banging my new drum, what fun! She followed me everywhere, over the little jump, over the ground poles, around in circles. I stopped and let her sniff the top, and then I rubbed it all over her. So much for being scared of garbage can tops!
I found an empty plastic jug, a lunge whip, a plastic bottle, and my crinkly raincoat and played the same game I played with the garbage top with all of those things. Anyone watching me would have thought I was crazy, but I was making my horse calmer, smarter, and braver!
More driving game, I was able to move her hind end in both directions and to back her up. I didn’t even try moving her front end at liberty, knowing it still needs some work when she is on the lead. A couple of times I asked her to come to me from half way across the arena, and she did! The only thing I tried and couldn’t get her to do was to trot after me. If I ran, she just kept following me at the walk.
I never expected to be doing any games with her at liberty yet, but it was so much fun! I didn’t ask anything of her that I didn’t think she could handle, except asking her to come to me, which I didn’t expect her to do, but that was a nice surprise!
Time to graze a little on the way back to her stall, and then time to worm her before I headed home. Last time I wormed her, which was also the first time, I had no trouble at all, pulled out the tube, put it in her mouth and that was that. I expected the same this time, but Lola had other ideas.
She threw her head up, I was unprepared, and I managed to scrape up my thumb on the side of her stall. Needless to say, my initial reaction was anger!
Thinking of what Parelli would do, I left the stall and went outside in the rain for a couple of minutes. The cool mist, and the sound of the rain on the roof were so soothing. I took a couple of deep breaths and went back in. Cap back on the wormer, and lots of rubs all over for Lola. Forgot about the wormer for about five minutes and just patted her. Rubbed her face, her ears, lips, her favorite itchy spot on her butt. Went back and rubbed her mouth some more, put my fingers in and rubbed her gums. Out with the wormer tube again, this time with the cap still on, rubbed it all over her face, mouth, ears, mouth, neck, mouth. Took off the cap and did the same thing. I put the tube in her mouth a couple of times without squirting the paste in. She didn’t like it, but she tolerated it. Finally, I squirted the paste in, and called it a night. She wanted to leave quickly, so I let her. After a couple of minutes, I went back and fed her some treats and just scratched and rubbed her while she ate her treats.
The worming experience tonight really made me thankful I discovered Parelli. Who knows what kind of battle I would have been in for with her if I had tried to just fight the paste into her. I’m looking forward to lots of time with her on Thursday. I’ll actually be at the barn twice on Thursday, first thing in the morning to be there when the vet comes to do her teeth, and again in the afternoon to play. I hope we get some sunshine.
Not seeing Lola all the time is a bit frustrating. I’m constantly reminding myself that there is no reason to feel guilty. She’s perfectly happy, well fed, and enjoys her horse friends. I’ve always been the kind of owner that is at the barn every day, so it is really hard for me to be doing this 2-3 visit a week thing, but as long as Lola is happy and healthy, I’m thankful to have her, and I’ve got to get over my guilt.
So any way, went to the barn tonight. I think the single most important thing I’ve learned from all my Parelli studies is to be willing to change my plan. In fact, I’ve gotten to the point where I never really have a plan, other than to have some fun with my horse.
It was pouring rain when I got to the barn. Lola came right over to me as soon as I got there. I couldn’t do any grooming tonight since she was so wet, so I hung out in her stall for a bit and ignored her. I really enjoy a few minutes of quiet time when I first get to the barn, just to kind of watch and see how the horses are interacting. Eventually, I played Friendly game with the halter and lead rope, and haltered her for the walk down to the indoor. She got very nervous as soon as we got near the indoor. It’s a huge metal building, and the rain and wind made it very loud. I opened the door and she pranced her way in. I fought with her for a few minutes trying to calm her down and get her to relax a bit, but I quickly realized there was a better way.
I closed the doors tight and let her loose. She trotted around a few times, snorting and sniffing everything, and then she came over and stood right in front of me. I walked away, over a little cross rail in the middle of the ring, and she followed me! Using the driving game, I asked her to back up, and she did!
There were a bunch of old fence posts leaning up on the wall, so I knocked them all down and walked over them. Lola followed me very carefully stepping over all the posts.
Lola started sniffing at a metal garbage can cover and spooked when she knocked it over. I knew what my next game was going to be! Garbage can cover in one hand, and carrot stick in the other, I paraded around the ring and randomly threw the top. After a couple of spooks and trots around, she ignored me. Excellent! I grabbed the garbage top and started using it as a drum, bang, bang, bang, and I marched around again. She thought I was nuts, but she ignored me and eventually started following me around. I walked all around banging my new drum, what fun! She followed me everywhere, over the little jump, over the ground poles, around in circles. I stopped and let her sniff the top, and then I rubbed it all over her. So much for being scared of garbage can tops!
I found an empty plastic jug, a lunge whip, a plastic bottle, and my crinkly raincoat and played the same game I played with the garbage top with all of those things. Anyone watching me would have thought I was crazy, but I was making my horse calmer, smarter, and braver!
More driving game, I was able to move her hind end in both directions and to back her up. I didn’t even try moving her front end at liberty, knowing it still needs some work when she is on the lead. A couple of times I asked her to come to me from half way across the arena, and she did! The only thing I tried and couldn’t get her to do was to trot after me. If I ran, she just kept following me at the walk.
I never expected to be doing any games with her at liberty yet, but it was so much fun! I didn’t ask anything of her that I didn’t think she could handle, except asking her to come to me, which I didn’t expect her to do, but that was a nice surprise!
Time to graze a little on the way back to her stall, and then time to worm her before I headed home. Last time I wormed her, which was also the first time, I had no trouble at all, pulled out the tube, put it in her mouth and that was that. I expected the same this time, but Lola had other ideas.
She threw her head up, I was unprepared, and I managed to scrape up my thumb on the side of her stall. Needless to say, my initial reaction was anger!
Thinking of what Parelli would do, I left the stall and went outside in the rain for a couple of minutes. The cool mist, and the sound of the rain on the roof were so soothing. I took a couple of deep breaths and went back in. Cap back on the wormer, and lots of rubs all over for Lola. Forgot about the wormer for about five minutes and just patted her. Rubbed her face, her ears, lips, her favorite itchy spot on her butt. Went back and rubbed her mouth some more, put my fingers in and rubbed her gums. Out with the wormer tube again, this time with the cap still on, rubbed it all over her face, mouth, ears, mouth, neck, mouth. Took off the cap and did the same thing. I put the tube in her mouth a couple of times without squirting the paste in. She didn’t like it, but she tolerated it. Finally, I squirted the paste in, and called it a night. She wanted to leave quickly, so I let her. After a couple of minutes, I went back and fed her some treats and just scratched and rubbed her while she ate her treats.
The worming experience tonight really made me thankful I discovered Parelli. Who knows what kind of battle I would have been in for with her if I had tried to just fight the paste into her. I’m looking forward to lots of time with her on Thursday. I’ll actually be at the barn twice on Thursday, first thing in the morning to be there when the vet comes to do her teeth, and again in the afternoon to play. I hope we get some sunshine.
posted by Lisa @ 8:49 PM
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