I hope you brought a 2nd pair of socks .... ;)

Well, Since I last wrote, Flo has had sessions 4 and 5 ;). And she is making SUCH great progress! Here is a little bit about each Session.

Session 4: Well... Just so you all know, my LIFE gets in the way of my horse time too, and this day was a perfect example. I had the opportunity to have an indoor arena all to myself this day ... BUUUUUTTT I also had a doctor's appt. SO, I loaded Damo, Flo, Uno, and a Clients Horse (Wyatt), into the trailer and we headed to the Doctor. Then ... Of course, the doctor took WAAAAAY longer then planned and by the time I was done it was getting dark ;(. So Flo got to stand in the trailer and eat for about 4 hours. She does really well, but you can tell that she struggles with anything behind her, so closing the divider is a little emotional.

One of the things I LOVE about Flo is that she is REALLY clearly Nervous/Right Brain. Her first tendencies are often to Escape or Flee ... rather then fight, THEN to yield. WE just have to keep playing so that soon her FIRST response will be to Yield, Give and Turn Loose, not flee or panic. Sam Caporn, a fellow Parelli Instructor always used to say, "The horses FIRST response is what they understand, their LAST response is what they will learn." I always loved this as a guide to never release on a brace ... and/or to notice what it is that your horse actually thinks is the right answer ;). Although she can be challenging, its nice that she isn't complicated!

Once we got home from our loooooooong trailering adventure, Flo and I played for just a few minutes. This was the FIRST time that I was able to throw the rope over her back 3 times on each side without her moving at all ;)! We also did lateral flexion, and rope around turns to check her understanding of yielding to steady pressure, as well as being put in a vulnerable position and being able to turn loose to the pressure. NEVER underestimate the power of lateral flexion!

Session 5: SO ... Here is where Flo blew my socks off ;). I decided to bring her with me to a free evening event at Courage Rein's Therapeutic Riding Center in Highland, UT. I was bringing Damo as well, so I knew that worst came to worst Flo could just stand and hang out with Damo.

Flo, however, had different plans! She came to act like a star ;). There were about 50 people at the demo in an indoor arena she had never been to!

I first used Flo to demonstrate the three different kinds of pressure we use with horses ... Rhythmic Motion, Steady Pressure, and Rhythmic Pressure.

Then I thought I would turn her loose and demonstrate catching game ... BUT, Flo wouldn't leave my side! This was the first time I've released her and she didn't walk away, and she chose to do it in an arena with a bunch of people watching! I don't think anybody believed me that she has been hard to catch ;).

I couldn't have been more proud of this sweet little horse! I hope she finds a human to help her through her life soon!

Thanks for following our Journey!

Lillan

Jumping into Circling & Porcupine: Creating Relaxation

Great play with Flo yesterday! We had the indoor all to ourselves :). This was basically session 3, and she was SUPERB to catch in the round pen; I can tell she would still be tricky if she was in a big pasture, but in the round pen she is now doing really well! She still puts her head UP when I go to lift the halter over her nose, (eventually our hope would be that she would drop her head DOWN into the nose hole) ... but 1% better each day!

We then headed up to the indoor. I thought I'd begin with circle game since she felt that she needed to move her feet. SO I started with a circle to the left (her easier way) ... and tried to figure out what the parameters of the game were. (This is something I OFTEN think of when playing with a horse ... WHAT do they have to do to get a release? That's what makes it a game, that's what makes it fair.) As she cruised around, I noticed a few things; first, she would speed up headed back towards the gate every time ... often breaking gate upwards. She was also pulling on me, near the gate as well. Being particular is one of the most important things with horses, and I often find that if we have MORE than one goal at a time it can confuse them. So I started with selecting "maintain gait" ... i.e., I didn't want her to speed up towards the gate and slow down going away from it. So I hung in there until she made a shift, and was able to maintain the trot all the way around me (she was still speeding up and slowing down, but she wasn't breaking gait). Then we went the other direction which is much harder ... she doesn't like humans being in her right eye. She also made a huge shift this direction!

After I sat down (something I like to do to give them a BIG release of pressure), and just managed the rope while she wandered. And then, the COOLEST thing happened ... she got confident enough to lie down! However, as you can see in the video... She had SO much adrenaline she had to get up, lie down, get up, lie down. However, it was AMAZING that she was confident enough to lie down ;).

Next she had some tie time while I played with Damo ... She was super, stood relaxed like an old hand! I then decided it was a good time to help her find more relaxation at the trot, and improve her porcupine game... SO, it was on to Ponying! Damo and I began at the walk on her good side (left), and she did super. We then made the transition up to the trot, which was SUPER hard. I used my horn to reinforce the porcupine game, and spiraled so that I was asking her to come forward at an angle. Damo was an angel... keeping her hip out to the outside so that Flo was coming towards my knee, not towards Damo's tail. It took her quite a while, but eventually she chose to come forward into the trot, and we were able to spiral back out and trot a few laps around the arena until Flo found relaxation at the trot.

Then we switched gears to improving rhythmic motion again. Now Flo had me in a new "strata" (I was now above her, on Damo), and she struggled with understanding rhythmic motion and finding relaxation, but we got there and I was able to throw the rope over her withers. I was also able to flip it down over her hindquarters a few time and ask her to follow the feel in a circle. She was soft, and had really made a choice (in our ponying discussion!) to follow a feel ... (See Video below!) ;)

We were also able to do a little bit of ponying at the canter! She got a bit impulsive, but still did super. She is a super nice horse ... it will take time to build her trust and confidence, but as with most introverts, once we put the time in the rewards are SO worth it!

Thanks for following our journey!

Flo's Journey on Improving Catching

So... There are multiple steps, phases, and strategies to a good catching game, to creating a horse that WANTS to be with us, and can't wait to get caught! As I mentioned in a previous blog, to me Flo seems to like humans and want to be with you; however, she is scared of ropes, fast movements, and motion of most kinds. Obviously, this makes her challenging to catch.

One of the ways you can tell which parts of the friendly game your horse struggles with is how easily they re-approach you. For example with Flo, if she leaves, she only goes about ten steps away, stops and then re-approaches. This tells me that she is more concerned about my movements and my tools, not so much about ME! And this is a good thing! It means we just have to continue to improve her friendly game and understanding of motion and tools.

So today,  we played with improving this understanding in Flo. I brought her her breakfast, (two flakes of hay) and then I stood right next to her hay bag. As she ate, I proceeded to touch and rub her face. The first few times, she needed to retreat; during this exercise I didn't apply any pressure on her when she left, I just allowed her to retreat and re-approach in her own time. This works especially well since I have the natural draw of breakfast on my side!

I gradually increased my motion, and today was able to use my hands, and the rope a little bit on her neck and face! My goal is to use this time and this gentle technique to expose her to many many different tools and motions!

This is a great technique for more nervous horses! With my Arabian mare I used this to get her used to plastic bags, tarps, and the stock whip, so keep thinking about how you can be a REAL natural horseman, and use your horses tendencies and environments to your advantage!

Thanks for following Flo's journey ;)!

Lillan Roquet

Introducing.... Flo!

For the next month, I'm excited to announce that I will be playing with a beautiful Mustang mare named Flo. She was rescued by the lovely team in Cedar City at Dust Devil Ranch Sanctuary for horses...and is looking for her forever home!

My hope is to try to blog about each of our sessions so that Flo can get some publicity and hopefully find a special human!

So today was our first session. We began with Catching, something that she has struggled with in the past. Flo wanted to come and see me and walked right up, but when I moved my hands or the rope she moved away. This tells me that I don't so much have a catching challenge, I think I have more of a challenge with Friendly Game, or Rhythmic Motion. I allowed her to approach and retreat and after not too long she was happy to be haltered. She has some pretty big "uh-uh" muscles under her neck though from lifting her head in tension.

We wandered up to the indoor arena where Flo stood tied while I played with another horse. She pawed a little, but for for he most part she stood really nicely.

I began our session by playing with improving her understanding that when MY energy is in neutral she doesn't have to worry about any stimulus that's going on... She should focus on relaxing! One of the techniques I used was to throw the rope over her back a few times, and then ask her to yield her hindquarters. Because so far she strikes me as a more nervous horse (Right Brain) and she tends to freeze (introvert)... Adding in this motion, and asking her to cross her hind legs helps her to turn loose and be more vulnerable with me, as well as building her confidence.

At the end of her session we had some awesome yawns, big neck shakes and adrenaline releases! I look forward to continuing our sessions.

Lastly when I turned her loose... I made sure to wander with her until I found where SHE wanted to be. Then I let her go, so that I could be the one to leave her, because of her former troubles with Catching.

Please share this around so we can find Flo an awesome home, and thanks for listening!!