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Horse Behavior: Books consulted
The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightnment,
Eckhardt Tolle
The Ultimate Horse Behavior and Training Book, Linda Tellington Jones
with Bobbie Leiberman
Connected Groundwork: Exercises for Developing and Maintaining Self-Carriage,
Peggy Cummings
Dancing with Horses, Klaus Ferdinand Hempeling
There are others, but these five books have helped me to better understand why my horses are behaving the way they are, and as well, have better enabled me to do some things about the more objectionable behaviors.
My example: Raudi, now nearly five, has, for most of her life, been a very bargey gal. When I got her, it was a war of wills, getting her to go where I wanted her to go. She’s a fire horse, and has always been very willful. Quite often, that first summer, she got away. Since, we’ve made considerable progress. She’s fine in her pen, and we can, outside the pen, get from point A to point B. Here’s what I have done, and continued to do.
The Power of Now has been most useful. I have taken to mediating, and have been attempting to learn to live in the present. When I get anxious, so does my horse. Focusing on my breathing is always the first thing I do. This relaxes me, this relaxes my horse.
The Ultimate Horse Behavior and Training Book is my number one training resource. I have worked with Robyn Hood, Linda Tellington Jones’s sister – and have found that her ideas about behavior and training complement my own. I use body wraps – this does have a calming effect. I also use a wand, and when Raudi gets nervous, stroke her firmly. TTouches on the legs – the python and octopus, are good because they ground her. I also use a zephyr lead, which is a nylon lead with a rope attachment – I thread it through the halter the way one would a chain lead. This enables me to have better control over Raudi. There is a specific way of holding the lead – If Raudi is on my left, I hold the line in my left hand, and also in my left. The line in my right hand is looped through my pointer and my index finger. I use the wand as a guide and consider it to be an extension of my hand.
I have done (as Robyn suggests) built a playground
of higher learning. I’ve been told that obstacle work, and in particular
the labyrinth, both focuses horses and helps with their balance. Another
good thing about this (which is something that I’ve recently discovered)
is that it can be used in doing groundwork and under saddle.
Peggy Cummings Connected Groundwork book complements
Tellington Jones’ work.
Cummings maintains that horses are often bargey because they are off balance.
Going with this premise, which was confirmed by Mandy Pretty, Robyn Hood’s
daughter, I have been doing Cummings’ exercises, some of which include
the cheek press, the cheek delineation, the shoulder press, the wither
rock, the spine roll, the sacral rock, and the tail rock. (I actually
need to do more of this stuff.)
The focus has always been on the positive. I did use a clicker for a while, but now use my tongue. This sound is a bridge signal, and lets Raudi know immediately that she’s done the right thing. She has often tested this, by (for example) walking away. The consequence is that there is no reward. I am very much aware of my status as a human vending machine/home entertainment center. What I have that my horse does not is the ability to use this to my advantage.
Lastly, lately, I’ve been focusing on body language – mine and Raudi’s, as described by Hempfling in Dancing with Horses. This is the most fun I’ve had in a long time. I began by reviewing lunging with Raudi – she’d been taught this when I had her at Moose Creek. Seeing as she was getting bored, I removed the line, and began experimenting, noting how my movements affected hers, and vice versa. What we’ve been doing the last few weeks really is akin to dancing – probably the most important thing of all is that this has been a nice break from the other stuff, which is more work than play.
The next step, believe it or not, is to go for more formal training with Dottie. I feel like I have taken my little mare as far as I can go – and now is the time for us both to work with someone who knows more than I do about horse training.
Writing this, I realize that acquiring Raudi has
been life-changing in many ways. The above progression is just one small
indication of this. The question that remains is, would I have purchased
Raudi knowing that training her was going to be this much work? The answer
is of course, yes.
Horse Behavior: Books consulted