Today, I... * Charted my horse's horsenality in me as a leader
Interesting things I noticed about the differences / similarities in the 5 charts I filled out for my horse: *In themselves: confident *In his environment: little bit unconfident *In a herd: dominant *As a learner: little bit unconfident, reactive *In me as a leader: confident
How playing with an obstacle helped me: *More focus, more play! *See the gaps in the communication
How playing with my obstacle helped my horse: *More focus, more play! *fysical challenge
3 Things I want to think about tomorrow: *More energy! *Play with focus! *Learn, play, focus, relax, motivate,.. seek for the invisible lead rope..
That morning, I joined Julia's remuda, which was the RBI group. We did communication games with eachother and a catching game with some horses.
Then we had a classroom session with Avery about the hierarchy of needs for each horse:
Think like a horse! What's their motivation? *RBE: Safety => rhytm, relaxation, retreat *RBI: Comfort => pressure motivates, but it's the release that teaches... Comfort vs safety = finger hurts vs a coming bear *LBE: Play => variety, go somewhere: look for respect and obedience *LBI: Incentive => reward the slidest try, but ask 1% more every day... He has to figure out something new for the cookie. Use reversed psychology. Look for respect and motivation.
What's difficult for each horsenality? *RBE: bring back circling game, disengaging HQ, standing still, backing up, friendly game *RBI: moving feet, disengaging HQ, friendly game, allow circling game, driving game *LBE: backing up, standing still, moving FQ, porcupine game (biting), circling send *LBI: moving front end, porcupine game, backing up, draw, circling game, liberty
How can you help? RB: moving HQ EXT: drive LB: moving FQ INT: draw
What are you looking for? *RBE: calm *RBI: trusting *LBE: obedience *LBI: motivated
The emotional bank account rapport = 1000 $ respekt = 500 $ emotions = 100 $ feet = 1 $ => If you're only targetting the feet, it will take you 1000 times longer to build up a relationship...
Ask questions instead of questioning yourself...
Demo with Julia about RB motivation *Good leaders don't tell the answer, but set you up so you can find the answer. *Repeat the pattern for safety & encourage thinking.
Demo with Avery about LB motivation *Don't push! Wait for a try or questions. *Don't make him feel wrong, but reward only the right thing.
Classroom session about Laurens journey.... (WOW... you should have been there! but you weren't! HAHA!)
Cause your idea to become their idea, but understand their idea first.
Today, I... * Charted my horse's horsenality in himself. * Charted my horse's horsenality as a learner.
How my horse learns: - Food motivated, play motivated, safety motivated. - Needs to be engaged: quick tasks.
What I taught my horse today: -Back up when I bring him food. -Figure 8 at the trot (he probably knows this already)
List any interesting behaviors (eg. breathing, reacting/responding, licking & chewing,...) -knows a lot -bit reactive -not so easy to catch his mind -extraverted learner -has opinions
2 Things I want to think about tomorrow: 1. Pick my level up, ask more. 2. Have more of a plan.
There are a couple of things I learnt about horsenalities: * Altough I can be all 4 of them, I am most of the time a highly spirited right brain extrovert. * Addressing a horsenality helps you to observe better, wait longer, close your hands slower and open them more quickly, and also recognize your own obstacles in this process. * Left brain extraverts can be fun fun fun!
(For more info visit www.parelli.com) There are 4 horsenalities: "Crazy" RBE "Naughty" LBE "Stubborn" LBI "Unpredictable" RBI
There are 4 things that influence horsenalities: *Born with: - innate characteristics (humans can change 20% of this) - spirit: low/medium/high energy (easy going vs. Ferrari) *Day 1: - learned behavior: equines: mares, foals and also humans - environment: herd, nutrition
Our goal should be to get more centered and balanced horses.
Observe what it is to disturb a herd, what it is that makes them unsettle... When are they in their comfort zone, when are they out their comfort zone?
There are 5 areas of confidence: *Learner: new things, obstacles, games,... *Themselves: on their own *Herd: pecking order, interacting with other horses *Environment: place, weather,.. *Leader: how your horse acts when you take leadership
Humans forget, but they never forgive. Horses forgive, but they never forget.
Innately, where are they? John with Leo: RBI: difficult to get 2 eyes Cathy with Macciato: LBI Julia with Monkey: LBI: slow but dominant, it takes 2 to fight... Carmen with Leena: RBE: uhuh muscles
Exercise: *get eachother out of introversy *match RBE behavior (first: approach and retreat)
You have a 50/50 chance: experiment!
Don't overanalyse your horse... Workshops: variety vs consistency, How much pressure?, How far away from the pens?
Body language is universal, I have it. You have it. Horses have it.
Today, I... *Charter my horse's horsenality when he is in a herd *Charted my horse's horsenality when he is in a new environment. *played with a green ball & even did a game of football.
Interesting things I noticed in my horse at the: Ball: confident, curious, bites in it,... Tarp: very confident,... Pedestal: confident, put 2 feet up & over,.. Jumps: no hesitations
While reading my horse, I understood his body language when:... he's calm. I want to better understand his body language when: he has a lot of energy and goes fast: RB or LB?
3 Thing I want to think about tomorrow: * * * (Left open, couldn't think much after this day)
Remuda *Close pen, buckets inside so other horses don't eat all the food. *When your horse finds a bucket, it's okay for him to eat it. *49/51 leadership.. swap. *Start in the pen, don't make decisions for your horse. *Allow your horse to be more self confident. *Put yourself into your horses shoes. *Satisfying their needs first.
That afternoon, Kathy gave a demo with Macciato. She showed us how to play Me & My shadow.
Halter with savvy! Mirror your horse = passenger lesson from the ground Walk a mile in your horses shoes. Get inside his skin. If you arrive at a gate, open it. Too fast: disengage HQ, pick other side. Lead with suggestion: we could go there... Confidence: don't push, solve RB issues Protect your herd of 2.
If you want to become a good leader, you need to be a good follower.
Welcome to our center, make yourself uncomfortable!
For centuries, water turned counterclockwise.. Now it's starting to turn the other way... Now there are so many people starting to develop relationships with horses the natural way, that it's almost becoming the normal way
Savvy = safe, functional, clean, green and handsome.
Monkey was standing quietly in the round pen. We were asked to observe her behavior when Julia started to explain the challenge for the afternoon.
Your session begins when your horse sees you...
When you enter your horse's bedroom, can you observe & attract your horse? Can you peak his curiosity? If he's worried: retreat...
How can you gain her attention? Read him first, then wait... How long does it take to shake hands?
What can I do for you today? Are there any itchy spots? Can I approach and retreat until you are confident, untill you want to touch me?
Haltering: there's a savvy way to do everything... Make it his decision to put his nose in it! Partners help in the process... Don't teach assumptions by stopping everything when the halter is on.
There are different approaches: creepy <-> friendly <-> agressive...
Ask permission!
When you undo the halter, lower their head... more friendly!
Vorige week heb ik enkele namiddagen als vrijwilliger meegespeeld tijdens de Wereldmeerdaagse in Brasschaat. Het was echt een heel toffe ervaring, en vooral ook erg nuttig. Hier is de link naar het filmpje... en ze zoeken nog steeds vrijwilligers voor de rest van deze week én voor de volgende editie ;-)
At this very moment, I am uploading more pictures of my 6 weeks in paradise.. So soon you'll find the new link here.
I didn't yet receive the results of the test, but I'm still very confident about the results.. so no worries!
Last thursday I went to a job interview.. I thought it was okay, but apparently not enough. They are interested in me, but they just don't have a project that would suit me...
Do your thinking at night, and your feeling during the day
This day, I... *Charted my horse's horsenality *Learned/reviewed the 8 principles of Parelli Natural Horsemanship *Played me & my shadow *demanded respect during feeding time
What thresholds did my horse have? The entrance of the playground, didn't feel like going to investigate that area
What surprised me about my horse? He's really curious, high energy
3 Things I want to think about tomorrow: 1. Haltering: build & maintain quality 2. Try more different catching games 3. Slow & right beats fast & wrong!
Domestication The horse was domesticated 4000 years ago. At first for their meat and milk, later to work in agriculture. Later on they were used for wars. Since then people started with genetically engeneering, so their horses would be better than those of the enemy. Breeds started to develop, for their endurance and strength. This was also the period were saddles and stirrups were invented, tools to brace. The Greek general Xenofon has written the first work about the horse as a tool for the military, and nowadays there are still dressage schools like the Spanish Riding school, which is a remaining product of that idea. A third reason for domestication was transportation, to deliver mail or food for exemple. Some of these animals escaped, like the mustangs. They're hated by farmers, because their desire to make a herd is so big that they still steel domesticated horses out of their pastures. If we overlook the history of the horse, it's only been domesticated for a very short period of time.... It doesn't take long to turn a domestic horse back into a wild horse, because they're still very close to their roots.
Survival of the fittest We all know this law of nature: the one who addapts himself the best to a new situation, survives... There's an everlasting natural selection going on, and only the fastest, cleverest and healthiest creatures survive.
The two teams In this competition, there are 2 teams: predators and prey animals. Predators, like a lion or a wolf, are born to kill prey animals: their eyes are close to eachother so they can focus on a prey. They often hunt in groups for convenience, but they'll always try to get the best bite. They want to survive as anindividual. Prey animals are born to not be killed by predators: their eyes are to the side of their head, so they are very well equiped to register every suspicious movement. They move in herds, often with the youngest animals in the middle and the old and weak on the outside. They all want to survive if possible, but their natural mechanism works that the old and weak ones will die first. Survival of thespecies is more important.
The game of nature The game plays itself: the one who's the fastest, strongest, cleverest, and the most explosive wins. If you ever saw a documentary on African wildlife, you surely noticed how close predators can come to a herd, without immediately chasing them away... That's because the herd animals feel their focus. In nature, energy is money! It's no use for them to run away and waste valuable energy when they run into another pack of predators who's waiting for them at the next stop. No, they just continue like their noze is bleeding, but in the meanwhile they're thinking their way out. The best way for them to survive is slowly sneak away, without a predator even notices it. After all, they know predators aren't going to throw themselves in the herd and take a lucky shot. Their energy is way to valuable too, they're observing the herd first and pick an easy victim. So the first stage is the game is: who's the cleverest?
Predators plan their attack, but once they're in attack modus, the adrenaline rushes through their veins to maximise their body strength. This takes a lot of energy. A smart predator will wait until he can do a surprise attack, his changes are bigger when the prey is just scratching his ear. If the prey animal is attentive enough and notices the attacking predator, it has some seconds in its advance. Its energy goes up as well, and runs for it's life. The time between the moment the predator starts to attack and the moment the prey animal runs away is crucial for the game. This stage is defined by who's the most explosive?
After that stage all activity from both teams is going to their feet: they run for their lifes... both of them! A predator only has about 5 attempts to win a game before he starts getting too weak to ever catch a prey again, and is bound to die a slow and painfull death. The one who has the most endurance wins this part. This stage is called who's the fastest?
The finals start when there's an open fight... everything is allowed from both teams and usually the one with the most athleticism wins. Sometimes a prey animal can escape, by kicking and biting... and then pulling back as quick as possible. Who's the strongest?
Men are predators, we're in the opposit team of nature.
So what's the deal?
A week after the course I came back home and saw a documentary on National Geographic. I was really amazed by how long, and how close the lions could hang around the herd of zebras... Just like they were almost part of the herd. I was thinking about where this fits in the whole prey animal - predator relationship thing? How can they get so close to a lion and not freak out? I was thinking about how deep this law of nature is... Horses and humans are not so civilised or domesticated as we think... So can it be that horses just hang around us because they feel like they're in stage 1 of the nature game? Can it be that the so called partnership we'd like is just an illusion? I've been struggling with this for a couple of days, but then I remembered John saying: If you can't read the behavior, you can always ask yourself: Is he acting like a partner? Horses who are acting like a prey animal are not partners, but then again... I guess a good mare teaches her foal to be an excellent prey animal. We are the natural enemies of horses, but can we convince them that we are not acting like predators but like partners? Can we act like partners and not like predators? After all, we are raised to be good predators. Can we overcome a game that's as old as life itself? Isn't this the most difficult thing in the world?
Maybe it's just a dream, but it would be beautiful if we can build towards it by using love, language and leadership. I think the most important part of the journey to reach horsemanship is to release everything that's predator behavior, so they can release everything that's prey animal behavior. I have a long way to go.
PS: This all fits in principle 1: horsemanship is natural & principle 4: horses & humans have mutual responsibilities: don't act like a predator/prey animal, act like a partner.
PS: Did you notice how each horsenality comes forward in each stage of the game?