Making strides

"If your horse says no, you either asked the wrong question or asked the question wrong."         -Unknown After cleaning yesterday, I was able to hop on my girl for a few minutes before hosing her leg off. She was pretty iffy about the smoke in the distance, but we worked through the questionable parts of the round pen. After that,  I hopped off wondering if she would step away from the mounting block without standing tied first, but she stood still with no problems at all! After I was back on, we walked up to the gate of the round pen and I was able to open in it and walk through while still on her. We watched a friend finish up her lesson, the main goal on our end was to stand still. She is getting so much better at it. The things we are doing seem very minimal, but are important and the baseline for more complicated things nonetheless. I see her make improvement every day and it is not only encouraging, but rewarding. In exactly a month tomorrow, we have made steps together that I thought I wouldn't see for a long time to come.  This evening after feeding and cleaning, I took Hon out without any intention of riding. I wanted to let  her run in the arena and then take a walk around the property and work on her walking with me rather than behind. I took off her lead rope but found myself smiling when she wouldn't walk away. I sat on the mounting block and she followed closely, then gently came over and sniffed me, licked me, and watched my every move.  I love looking in those beautiful mahogany eyes.  They are looking more and more gentle.   This is a very brave-and unusual- encounter. Even when I got up and began walking around the arena, she was behind me the entire time. I had to pick up the whip for her to trot off. It was nice and relaxed and she came into the center much sooner than I expected. She wasn't interested in moving, she was interested in more lovin', and I was going to give it to her.  This is beyond huge for her.  We took a walk around after some more pets and treats. It is good for her to be comfortable outside of the arena, and it was good for her to get better at walking beside me.

She perked up a little bit once we walked around the trailers, and I took advantage of those perky ears and got some great shots. 

Miss Expressive.

Pink lips are my downfall.

I am having so much fun with this little mare and am overwhelmed at how comfortable and confident she makes me feel. I am plagued with different ideas on what I want to do next. I would love to do some groundwork that includes scary things in a controlled atmosphere, for example, a plastic bag under some ground poles. I am so thankful that I have a horse where we can learn together. I am blessed she is a forgiving partner. She is teaching me horsemanship. 

Becoming tame

Tonight I found myself reading a volume of horse story classics, particularly My Friend Flicka. The way the boy hopes to tame a sorrel mare with a "flying pink mane and tail" instantly reminded me of my little mare, her flaxen mane and tail a favorite feature of mine. I related with Kenny and his longing of taming a young filly, who was impervious to his affection at first.

Flicka wanted to run, to be wild and free. No one had taken the time to show her what it meant to be loved, or even more peculiar, the feeling of being wanted. 

But the boy was patient and gentle. He fell in love with her.

He brought her oats each morning and taught her what it felt like to be selflessly cared for. She gained interest... 

Soon, Flicka too was entranced with the boy. She began coming toward him as he walked to her. She nickered when he was at the gate, and whinnied when he was not. 

Walks at sunset.

I have felt a similar, whimsical feeling with Honey. I was reluctant to shifting to something that seemed foreign to me- a tiny quarter horse. Since a young age, I was used to Arab's, Saddlebreds, Thoroughbreds, and Warmbloods. The quarter horse's I met seemed unattached and distant with people. I was scared that especially with Honey's past of not understanding human attachment, I was not going to get the satisfaction I wanted emotionally. A good friend helped me understand how solid of horses they are, and I sure am glad she did. 

She stood still even when I walked away.

Not even a month into our partnership together, I am completely happy with the progress we have made together as a pair. I am 100% satisfied emotionally. I trust her, and I see the amount of work she has put into our relationship thus far. I am still amazed at seeing how willing this little horse is when I bring a concept to her and approach it in a respectful manner. She has gotten to the point where she doesn't mind being sprayed with the hose on the front of her body, but she shies at the back being sprayed. Tonight, I had to hose down her back hock because of swelling but wasn't sure how I would centralize the spray where it needed to be. We worked on it without anything too scary happening, but finally I saw we wouldn't get any further with spraying then taking a break. She wasn't being bad, but I could tell it was too overwhelming mentally. I remembered the mounting block project and thought of a way to change my approach to this. I found a sponge, let her smell it, then began spraying it down with warm water. I then went to the back of her and squeezed the sponge on her hock, petting her gently all around the area. We repeated this over and over and she continued to stand still. I then took the hose and re-soaked the sponge. Instead of setting the hose back down, I left it on as I sponged her hock. I repeated again, this time spraying her hoof as I sponged her hock. Gradually, step by step, we moved further up her leg until we reached a point where I was spraying her hock fully for long enough that it could hopefully have a chance at relieving some of the swelling. She stood there quiet as ever, again teaching me that it is on me to find an approach that works for her.

After bath time, we took selfies and ate treats. It might not seem significant, but a few of our shots together showed her approaching me from behind and slowly smelling me all over, showing more confidence. Another bonus from this evening was sneaking two kisses on her forehead- from a head-shy horse!

Week Three

Owning a horse is incredible in many different ways and on many different levels, but perhaps the most humbling aspect is how it begins to reveal what kind of a person you are.
Horses are animals (prey animals, at that) and their instincts overpower any decision they make. It doesn't always make them bad or scary, but good horse sense is necessary in order to avoid unnecessary incidents. Horses also have this skill of having certain tics- while you may fix one, another one unwittingly appears. How a person approaches these small challenges really shows their character, as the horse will respond or not respond to the technique. 

For example, my mare came to me broke but understood that she had one job. A male would come out, work her, and be done. There were no treats, no affection, no small steps or ground work. She wasn't good at being caught, being petted, having her face touched, being mounted on with a block, or eating treats. Each day, I discovered a little more about her. Some things we did have to push through, while other tasks were simply too overwhelming to throw at her without putting her two steps back. She was a dream to ride, but those small things were throwing a kink in immediately jumping on bareback. I had to take a step back and realize I was just as new to her as she was to me. 

It is three weeks later, and after a lot of patience on her end and perseverance on mine, Honey is inviting herself to be caught, approaches me when I come to her stall, loves her apple treats, takes her bridle, accepts her head being touched, and is shying less at bath time. After battling the mounting block, I went to the drawing board to evaluate what was going wrong. Why is it that certain things she was so willing to pick up on, and this one thing she seemed to feel so uncomfortable with? I knew she had never needed anyone to use a mounting block with her before because of how small she is, but she is low-key enough to not care about other things. 

For a few days straight, she would back up as soon as she saw the block. She would spin to the side. She would walk forward as soon as I tried to get on. I was beyond frustrated and smacked her assuming she was trying to walk all over me. Then a few mornings ago, I tried to adapt my technique to her. I took her in the round pen, left her halter lead tied to the panel, and put the mounting block to the side of her. There was still some movement but she couldn't go very far as she was tied. Gently and slowly, I stepped on and leaned over her as if I was about to get on. Instead, I petted her gently and praised her, then moved onto the side with the block and repeated. I did this for about twenty or thirty minutes, until she did not move backwards or to the side when I put the block down. I then put the reins over her head with the lead still attached to the panel and began again, teaching her that I would have control over the reins once that lead was unattached. When she understood what was being asked of her, I finally unhooked her lead and hopped on without any trouble at all. It was unbelievable. There was no fight, and no manipulation on her part, helping me to understand she was just nervous in the first place and my negative reinforcement was wrong. It has been a few rides since then and I continue the same routine, but it is getting quicker and quicker each day. She doesn't even perk up at the block anymore, and hasn't moved at all when I am stepping up on it. With all the self-realization and humbling, I'm sure this could teach me something even broader spectrum in real life.

Three weeks in...
Win for Honey: Bucking me off. I totally deserved it. 
Win for me: Somehow the rein snap was hooked on Honey's lip for a split second and I wouldn't have ever known except for the fact that I checked to see if the bridle was on well. What a good girl! So patient with me. 

Looking back, I see that it often always comes back on the rider. I believe there are very few ill-willed horses out there, and if you understand that you have to be responsible for breaking down concepts for you horse, the relationship will fare much better. While you don't want your horse to walk all over you, there has to be a mutual respect between horse and man. 

Her awesome tattoo.

Getting used to treats is fun.

Working on halting.

Bashful baby.

So tiny she is smaller than the fence.

Kicking major ass at bath time!