Feeding time had been interesting in the past. We did have some behaviors that were obviously dominant. Although those behaviors have not stopped all together we have realized with Parelli's help, that ears pinned was NOT to be tolerated, and we've started sending O'Rion off with zone 1 any time he looks at us with ugly thoughts. This has brought about a rather interesting change of attitude and also the way he looks at us is much nicer. Here is a pic of him running to dinner with his Dad, Albert. Albert is my husband and while he's not in the Parelli program, per se, he's learning by default how to defend his space, how to turn away a horse at feeding time with pinned ears, how to do jumping jacks to keep LBI boy O'Rion out of his space with no conflict (dang, that man's crazy...I'm going over here, you can almost hear him thinking!) I'm very proud of Albert. He actually got ON Fiona when I'd played with her for an hour and she was so quiet and LB. This is the first time in 19 yeras he's been willing to get on a horse, and he did it with halter and 12' line! (I led him around, but still it's huge). The hand means "NO PICTURES!" Duh. He's an introvert..can you tell?
Lately I've had some interesting times with Boss (older QH). He's becoming more and more introverted whether or not I do ANYTHING. So I'm just hanging out with him trying to do Friendly. No pressure, no looking at him...just sitting nearby and letting him know I'm waiting for him to offer. Occasional treats and scratches help.
Last night he went starey and head down at the water trough. Hardly any breathing (hope no one sees me at this water trough). I had done nothing to him but squirt the others off to cool them. Apparently this was too much for him. So I just sat with him, not looking at him, and then did concentrate on the dirt on the ground in case I was sending sideways energy to him (looking with peripherals, ya know?) 10 mins. later he came over to me and yawned all over me, almost putting my knee in his mouth while yawning. I had a hard time not laughing at him. he licked my knee and sniffed me all over (this is big for this independant boy). Rubbing his head on my leg, he then quietly walked away. I called it good for a nice friendly session. HARD to do nothing ! but I'm making myself DO NOTHING. This is savvy that I totally attribute to Pat and Linda! In the past I'd be all over him like WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU????? SNAP OUT OF IT! chuckles. I'm smug in the knowledge that I, FOR ONCE IN MY LONG CAREER WITH HORSES, did it JUST RIGHT!
This QH is a rescue and when I got him oh, say, 18 years ago, he refused adamantly to put a bridle on unless you wanted to chase him with it for an hour....and he would pull back something horrible. I got the bridle issue sorted by myself, pre-Parelli, but I now realize I did it their way, approach and retreat, and gently. Never did I force him. So I always knew I wanted to do things a different way. Now I have the program to guide me. If there were any BIG problems I was stumped. But now I'm really quite confident I can handle almost (I say again ALMOST) anything. Fear is still an issue but that is slowly, quietly, dissipating. I have walked on Fiona (that's big for me, folks). I can do anything (this is my mantra when I get unconfident...go slow and you can do anything). It's helping!
Thanks Pat and Linda! I love Parelli!
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