All week long..

I havent really posted, but not for lack of information on Cassie or my other horses. I've just been busy, and to be honest, no motivation to type.

So I'm going to keep this short- just a quick update.

Last Sunday: Cassie had some visitors and she was NOT pleased about it. 2 new humans in one day!!! It was good for her to learn that other humans aren't going to hurt her, but she was pretty scared, and then got pretty annoyed that they actually wanted to interact with her.

She made it through, and oh my, she lived! Can you believe it?

Then Tuesday night came. i started playing the friendly, porcupine, and driving game. after a few hissy fits (out of fear, yes, but she still had to offer me a try), she was doing amazingly well.

i can't wait to go out to see her next, to see how much of it she retained. i'd like to see if her fear has dissipated a bit, if she has a slight boost in confidence...if some of her kick-i- ness has gone away (she's still not allowing too much interaction w/ her hind- still off limits at times).

Will keep everyone updated on the progress.

She gets a vet check and a float on Dec 1, and we're all anxiously awaiting her new hoof growth to see what it looks like...right now her feet are a mess- they've been messed with. but her new growth looks so different, time will tell what we're really dealing with.

Happy Friday everyone!

-Ally

Is that YOU wearing my COAT?!

2 new milestones for Cassie yesterday:

1. Pick up all four feet and CLEAN them out with a hoofpick!!
2. Mock saddle pad: accepting and wearing my jacket!!

I didn't think the day was going to go all that well. She wasn't terribly interested in playing with me, so I couldn't start at just the friendly game, i had to bring it back to the catching game.

The friendly game too awhile yesterday- she really needed to drift from me. And i found out that "rub to a stop" is very threatening to Cassie. if she needs to move away, she needs to move, and i need to follow her with caution. i tried to "rub to a stop" with her and she let out a little warning hop...so i quickly made a variation of the game- basically I got slower and added more distance. So, if I started to friendly her on zone 4 and she wants to drift from me, i let her but i take my pressure off her by stepping back, belly button away. at that point i slowly, with as little energy as possible, follow her, touch her, and then release the touch. She does not run from this, is not defensive with this method, and she doesn't drift nearly as far. I can speculate that it is the release of my pressure when the initial drift starts. To cassie, rubbing to a stop is a predator move still, and it scares her.

Finally, once she accepted the friendly game, SHE caught ME and asked for a bum rub...i obliged and also worked on touching her back legs. she got so relaxed and i was able not only to lift her feet, but cradle them and clean them out with the hoofpick, she didn't try to take them away, she didn't try to kill me- she was very accepting of my touch.

Had i gone into her space, given her a few pets, and then charged ahead towards her feet- she would've been scared. so my success was determined by:

-putting in as many steps as necessary between myself and the goal of cleaning out the feet. this means as much friendly game as possible.

- knowing when to release the pressure, knowing when she feels threatened, and when she's relaxed. in all cases, it IS the release that teaches.

- liberty with Cassie is key. have her catch me, and be curious about what i am doing. it gives her the ability to drift from me, and her session depends entirely on how close she wants to be. once she knows the general idea, i'll put her back in a halter and lead, which is more threatening for her, and then re-teach what i taught at liberty.

The next milestone for Cassie was the friendly game with my jacket. My end goal was for her to wear it like a saddle pad. it is loud, light...but long enough to touch both sides of her barrel. Friendly game and shaping the behavior with treats did the trick. Within 2 minutes Cassie was completely comfortable wearing my coat.

I, however, was freezing, LOL.

Take care,

Ally

Supplements

Kept a low profile this weekend... didn't really do much other than visit the horses and try to get as much sleep as possible.

On Friday I purchased supplements for Cassie, bagged everything up on Sunday. 38 days worth (would've had 40 but the stupid bags busted...cheap Safeway junk).

Didn't really do much other than the friendly game- no time really to do much else. Also worked on lifting the back feet for the trimmer next week- Cassie should be just fine! She's doing so well, i'm very proud of her.

It was still raining- so much rain and it is just so gross. I'm sick of the rain, and I want my daylight back.

That's it, really...when i have something else to update I will. :)

-Ally

NH Lesson

Ahh, just wanted to post a picture of my horses' barn in the nice summer daylight.

Last night I gave a ground lesson, it was a lot of fun! I encorporated natural horsemanship principles, and was very successful.

My student is an 8 yr old, and this is her pony. He's been hard to catch, quick under saddle. I've been working w/ him on these issues, which really were not the issues at all. He's just scared, and humans had taught him he SHOULD be scared of them, and what they do with him. So lots of patience and friendly, and now he does a great w/t/c and amazingly, can be caught.

So yesterday's goal was to get this little guy to cross through a huge puddle. of course the little girl just wanted to tug on him to get him through. Dobie just planted his feet and waited. So after I watched this, I asked the girl if she could touch her horse all over with her hands, both sides. HUGE sigh of relief from the pony. Then i asked her if she could touch him with my CS. More relaxation. then i asked her if she could move him away from her touch. taught her phases, rub/press/rub, and when to release.

She wanted to go back to the huge puddle. So I gave her a scenario. I said: "You are watching the news and you see this cool person who swam across an entire ocean. You now want to do it too, but you don't know how to swim just yet. I am your teacher...what should i do? Should i throw you in the ocean with a life jacket? or should i probably teach you how to swim in a pool, first?"

She got it, and picked the pool. So then i asked her if she thinks it would be smart to try and get Dobie to cross a small wet spot instead of the big scary puddle? She chose the small one.

So, approach and retreat, practice w/ the porcupine game, and 3 times more friendly game, Dobie crossed the small puddle, then the next biggest one, and then didn't even flinch when they crossed the huge, deep puddle. He even stood in it with his little girl. She was ecstatic.

More friendly game, and done for the night. Job well done!

-Ally

Making Friends with Sammi

I had mixed feelings about bringing Cassie to meet Sammi. Some of them were fear- I did not want either horse to get hurt. Some of them were selfish-by introducing Cassie to another horse, I was certain our relationship would fly out the window.

I really had nothing to worry about, and I really should give myself more credit for the relationship I've already established in the 2 short weeks I've known Cassie.
As you may have already guessed- the initial meeting went down pretty uneventful. A little bit a sniffing, 1 or 2 squeals, and then nothing.
Cassie seemed really excited to be in the arena, but kept her distance from Sammi, and Sammi did the same. I was able to capture some of it on film.
Now, about my selfish worries....forget about them. Cassie made sure she knew where I was at all times, and spent about 70% of the time by my side, or very near by. Maybe this was because she was scared of her new friend, or her surroundings. She's met Sammi before, and she's been in the arena before. But my heart warmed as she sought comfort by my side. It'll be interesting to see how close we still are after a few days of Cassie living with Sammi.
Sammi was very patient with us both. She was in an interesting situation. Both Cassie and myself are relatively strangers to her. I've never spent any remarkable amount of time with Sammi- and Cassie has sniffed Sammi over a fence a couple of times. So here we were, the white horse and I, barging into Sammi's living space. Her herd freshly removed from the scene- she's spent a few days alone, and seemed to be ready for some company. All the same, she kept her distance from the both of us.
Once Cassie's playtime was over, i went into the arena and sat on a barrel. It wasn't long before I had both horses exploring my person, my camera. Once Sammi saw that Cassie and I were friends, she too wanted in on it.
If you've never spent undemanding time with your horses, you are really missing out. Words nor pictures can describe the feelings that were being passed back and forth from all beings involved in this encounter.

For me, this was a HUGE learning session.

Ally learned:

-Cassie sees me as safety when she is unsure.

-Cassie wants to be with me.-2 weeks is not a lot of time, but I've made a positive impression on Cassie.

Cassie Learned:

-I can count on Ally for protection, and for bum scratches.

-Ally loves to be with me, and Sammi too.

-I feel safe enough to roll, play, and be a curious 5 yr old.

Pat is right when he says, "horses don't care what you know until they know you care."

Happy Thursday, everyone!

-Ally