A few weeks after I arrived Linda started asking me to play with him on a regular basis. Zen and I really connected and I began to enjoy my sessions with him SO much; plus he was starting to make some changes as well. After that Linda asked if I wanted to take him on pretty much as my second horse... wow, what an opportunity!
Zen is great for me because innately he is a Left Brain Extravert; however, he has quite a few Right Brain Extravert behaviors... especially as a learner, in new environments and to do with anxiety with the herd. Those of you that have been reading my blogs know that LBE's are my toughest horsenality, and RBE's are my easiest... so its perfect because Zen takes me into and out of my comfort zone on a regular basis!
As I began to develop Zen, the first thing I noticed is that he really didn't have any knowledge about how to be a puzzle solver. Backing into his pen for his grain in the morning was SUCH a mission the first time. He had HUGE draw to his grain, and most horses will sort of figure it out once you help them line up, but as soon as I prevented Zen from going forward through the door you could see his whole face go vacant, and he just shut down. So from there I knew that was going to be my biggest focus. How could I get this horse to find the answer to the puzzle EVERY TIME, and start to learn the power in that. Kalley always says its about making it "1 + 1 = 2 ... EVERY TIME so your horse feels like a super learner." Zen had had most of the learning knocked out of him, and it was my job to bring it back!
One of the best and simplest puzzle that I started with with Zen was in friendly game. I started real soft and tried to appraoch and retreat his thresholds, but if I messed up and went over a threshold and he went Right Brain, then I went MORE right brain until his feet stopped moving, as soon as they stopped I'd stop. The puzzle is "what do I have to do to stop this person from going crazy with that stick?!?" Pretty soon he got super engaged in how to keep me low energy and relaxed.
The other puzzle I played with him was to help him physically start to carry himself better on the ground. He has a tendency to be really tight through his neck and back and not stretch. So rather then bugging him about yielding his ribs, or micromanaging him, I sent him out on the circle in the round pen, and whenever he offered to put his head down, I sat down in the middle. Now for Zen, the person in the middle of the round pen still felt like pressure (even if I was in neutral), so this was a bit of a release for him, and he started thinking... "how did I get her to do that?" After about 4 sessions he was traveling up to half of a circle stretching his neck towards the ground ;). Pretty neat!
The last big puzzle solving game that I've helped him lots with is Touch It. This was a totally foriegn concept to him as you can imagine how many dressage horses are ever asked to put their nose on anything! So again I really tried to set it up so it was a puzzle. I played the warmer/colder game like how Pat often does with Touch it at a tour stop. Every time he got farther away I increased the pressure and commotion and when he got closer I stopped, or slowed way down. After his first day of figuring this out, I sat in the round pen with him for about 15 minutes while he yawned and yawned and yawned!
Ok- as per usual, this got a little longer than I planned.... So I will leave you with that. Still lots more to share on how Zen has helped teach me about flying changes and the other fancy stuff he knows when someone's on his back!
Thanks for reading!
Lillan Roquet
Linda's Protege
Parelli Level 4 Student
Licensed 2* Parelli Professional
