Hi all..
Well I have been very tardy in introducing myself properly here.
I've been lurking around like an internet stalker since the beginning!
Most of you probably know me a little already..
But here's the (edited) official version.
I (NZer)live with my husband (Taiwanese) and kids in Taiwan, where there are a grand total of around nine hundred horses. We have eight of them.. and one cow who thinks she's a horse.. so that's nearly one percent.
I've had horses since I was ten.. always the giveaways and discards that no-one else wanted or could handle. My horses have always lived naturally, and I have had complete care of them on my own. So I've learnt a lot from horses about what a fairly natural horse life entails. I never had a lesson, just worked intuitively, and rode for pleasure (that dreaded word
). I was really good at two things, which made me pretty successful in my limited way: I could stick on anything, and I never argued with a horse.
But my way really was pretty limited; I had very little idea of what else you could do with horses. My sheltered life has been both a blessing and a curse. Abusive practices within the established horseworld are a shocking unknown to me. But a lot of the good stuff is a complete unknown too.
I discovered groundwork when I got a shetland mini cross for my daughter.. she was an awesome fiery mare in a tiny horse body (100cm). My daughter was three.. I really needed to be able to get on and ride the kinks out.. but that wasn't possible. So my eyes were opened to the fact that there was stuff you could do with a horse that didn't involve being on it's back.
I started travelling with my daughter in 2000, and was horse less for a few years. Then we settled down to a new life in Taiwan, and my (new) husband decided to fulfill his lifetime wish of having a horse. We ended up bringing in six from NZ to begin our little herd. Three years and many ups and downs, and a huge learning curve later, our herd has been added to by one unexpected baby, our two year old colt Harlequin, subtracted from by the tragic death of his mum, then added to again with the rescue of a shetland pony mare and her foal.
I had the challenge when the horses arrived off the ship of learning to keep horses intensively. This learning has become my life's work now, as I am on a mission to educate other horse owners in Taiwan to better more natural care methods. I do barefoot trimming, and "testify" for the horses.
And the second challenge of teaching my family how to ride and handle their own horses.
Not having had any formal training myself, I was at a bit of a loss about how to go about teaching others the things that I have just arrived at by intuition and the seat of my pants learning.
So... I turned to Parelli. I'm still kicking myself for some of the habits that my family still haunts me with now from those days. Suffice to say that my horses did not find the games to be very much fun, and I quickly realised that this was not the kind of pain in the butt leader I wanted to become. BUT.. it did start me on a new path of exploring the possibilities, both of training horses, and what to actually DO with horses, other than get on them and roar around the countryside.
I also began giving lessons to beginners...
Through all this, I have been evolving my own style, and forging a new direction.
I came to NHE for two reasons. One is the HE part for Sunrise and possibly Rosie if her body stands up to it. This is something I DO want to DO!
And secondly, to improve myself in the way I work with horses.. specifically, to train myself away from the shortcuts of negative reinforcement training, and towards better use of positive reinforcement. THis has neccessitated close attention to my attitudes, moods, and the underlying aggression that has built up in my adult life. The NHE forum has been wonderful for this.
However... I also need to learn SO MUCH more about the actual excercises that I want to teach my horses. After all these years with horses, I don't even know how to teach them canter leads.
The relationship side of things is going really well now.. but my horses are all getting fat as I flounder around trying to figure out what to DO with them if they don't want to run around playing wild games. I'm beginning to experiment more and more with Bridge and Target training, and integrate this into the free choice relationships we're building. I feel like I"ve pretty much got the HOW to train thing figured. But NHE forum is not much use to me in the WHAT! (And I"m not to be a school member, because I can't agree with the philosophy that only exercises of NHE can be ridden on a horse, and all riding without extreme collection is abusive and damaging - I still teach children to ride as a part of their general horsemanship that they learn.)
So, I've come here to find some support and encouragement for the things I need to learn next. And to be able to discuss the training methods that I'm exploring. (And sometimes to be able to say "hey, we had a really lovely ride today!)
And that's why I'm here. There are a number of people here on the AND forum who I"ve come to greatly respect for their methods, utilizing postitive reinforcement, and for their knowledge of riding and groundwork skills, and for their intelligent, respectful, generous sharing!
So.. please.. HELP!
Can I can I play with you guys.. huh huh huh?
Sue
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