Lessons in horsepersonship
Oct. 12th, 2010 11:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stephbgI am very pleased to report that I managed to get to the stables today, by way of work for a couple of hours. It felt a bit cosplayish to dress horsey for the office, although being an engineering firm it's not especially corporate.
I'm glad I thought to do it this way around, because I had a bunch of shopping errands to do today and might not have made it to the stables had the schedule been reversed.
I managed to have a brief chat with one of the coaches who told me that I was welcome to continue and to come back next year. I didn't *really* think the RDA would revoke my horse-visiting priviliges because of insufficient sweat-equity as a volunteer, but it feels so good to go that I can still hardly believe that I'm welcome. They know that I'm trying to do some good (and are unlikely to deliberately do something bad) and that's what matters.
I had hoped for just a scritch but I was pleased to be asked to bring in Pablo for a lesson. An actual task! Yay! I haven't caught a horse for ages. The fact that Pablo didn't wish to be caught and was grumpy and twitchy from flies just made me happier as I stalked him in his paddock. I was even happy when Pablo (as is his wont) came to an abrupt halt in the middle of the arena. Much to the amusement of a half-dozen volunteers taking a break for lunch, I got to practice quite a few techniques for (attempting to) move a stationary horse. Over and over. I had theorised that turning (or more precisely shouldering/herding) him in a circle would get him moving through inertia, and this did indeed work for a few strides at least. I'm afraid my 'firm voice' was a bit wobbly from suppressed giggles.
In another life I might have become embarrassed, frustrated, and angry, and then extremely tense from knowing that I must suppres the anger. I would have been focussed on me and not the horse, which I'm sure wouldn't have impressed Pablo one little bit. I must find a way to keep doing this for the rest of my life, and wish I'd learned these lessons sooner rather than spending my youthful horse contact hours just trying to keep my balance on the unfortunate creatures' backs.
In Pablo's defence the irritating human still hasn't quite got the knack of negotiating with gates, of which there were two to get through. There must be a way to get through gates that doesn't involve turning the horse in a complete circle. It seems messy.
Eventually Pablo decided to follow the annoying human to where she wanted to go, and I tied him up and brushed him down, then delivered some scritches. This was more about anti-fly scratchy scritches on the withers and shoulders than sleepy ear and 'special spot' massage, although there was some of that too, and some chin-wobbling to destress. As per my horse body language reading I tried scratching in the places where he was nipping at himself and shuddering his skin, and that was a medium success I think. I need to research more about how horses ask other horses to scratch their itches. I also need to learn more about reading irritation levels and knowing when to back off and give him space, and when it's OK to move in and try to make him more comfortable. He was definitely stamping, swishing, and head-tossing to deal with the flies, and while he did become more still under my hands for a while, I'm not entirely sure that the resumption of restless behaviours was an attempt to get rid of *me*. I felt in no immediate danger of being nipped or kicked, but decided that discretion was the better part of valour.
It's so refreshing to thoroughly rely on non-verbal communication. I think![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kstar would understand the parallels with the tango.
One of the others came out and fed him a bit of apple just before I released him into the yard, and so Pablo decided that humans were edible. I'm pretty sure that's why he followed me when I walked away; I know he was just looking for more treats, but it was quite a thrill to have a horse follow me completely voluntarily. Particularly one that had so recently expressed the desire to *not* follow me when I was holding the rope :-)
I'm glad I thought to do it this way around, because I had a bunch of shopping errands to do today and might not have made it to the stables had the schedule been reversed.
I managed to have a brief chat with one of the coaches who told me that I was welcome to continue and to come back next year. I didn't *really* think the RDA would revoke my horse-visiting priviliges because of insufficient sweat-equity as a volunteer, but it feels so good to go that I can still hardly believe that I'm welcome. They know that I'm trying to do some good (and are unlikely to deliberately do something bad) and that's what matters.
I had hoped for just a scritch but I was pleased to be asked to bring in Pablo for a lesson. An actual task! Yay! I haven't caught a horse for ages. The fact that Pablo didn't wish to be caught and was grumpy and twitchy from flies just made me happier as I stalked him in his paddock. I was even happy when Pablo (as is his wont) came to an abrupt halt in the middle of the arena. Much to the amusement of a half-dozen volunteers taking a break for lunch, I got to practice quite a few techniques for (attempting to) move a stationary horse. Over and over. I had theorised that turning (or more precisely shouldering/herding) him in a circle would get him moving through inertia, and this did indeed work for a few strides at least. I'm afraid my 'firm voice' was a bit wobbly from suppressed giggles.
In another life I might have become embarrassed, frustrated, and angry, and then extremely tense from knowing that I must suppres the anger. I would have been focussed on me and not the horse, which I'm sure wouldn't have impressed Pablo one little bit. I must find a way to keep doing this for the rest of my life, and wish I'd learned these lessons sooner rather than spending my youthful horse contact hours just trying to keep my balance on the unfortunate creatures' backs.
In Pablo's defence the irritating human still hasn't quite got the knack of negotiating with gates, of which there were two to get through. There must be a way to get through gates that doesn't involve turning the horse in a complete circle. It seems messy.
Eventually Pablo decided to follow the annoying human to where she wanted to go, and I tied him up and brushed him down, then delivered some scritches. This was more about anti-fly scratchy scritches on the withers and shoulders than sleepy ear and 'special spot' massage, although there was some of that too, and some chin-wobbling to destress. As per my horse body language reading I tried scratching in the places where he was nipping at himself and shuddering his skin, and that was a medium success I think. I need to research more about how horses ask other horses to scratch their itches. I also need to learn more about reading irritation levels and knowing when to back off and give him space, and when it's OK to move in and try to make him more comfortable. He was definitely stamping, swishing, and head-tossing to deal with the flies, and while he did become more still under my hands for a while, I'm not entirely sure that the resumption of restless behaviours was an attempt to get rid of *me*. I felt in no immediate danger of being nipped or kicked, but decided that discretion was the better part of valour.
It's so refreshing to thoroughly rely on non-verbal communication. I think
kstar would understand the parallels with the tango.One of the others came out and fed him a bit of apple just before I released him into the yard, and so Pablo decided that humans were edible. I'm pretty sure that's why he followed me when I walked away; I know he was just looking for more treats, but it was quite a thrill to have a horse follow me completely voluntarily. Particularly one that had so recently expressed the desire to *not* follow me when I was holding the rope :-)
