The Art of Natural Dressage

a nice test for your horse
i was surfing today on the net and found this site with a nice test with a lot of things to do outside and watch your horse and his behavior.
It is origninal made for dogs ,but translated for horses.

http://nicholnl.wcp.muohio.edu/DingosBreakfastClub/IQ/EquineSmarts.html

You know, I did this with Caspian a long time ago and it didn't go that well (a lot of things, including weather, wreaked havoc, but also he didn't do nearly as well as I'd thought). I'd be very interested to re-try it after doing AND for a while!

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"Do you give the horse his strength?"
~Job 39:19a

www.cambriahorsemanship.com

How wonderful!

I just read the entire text on the website and am really itching to go and try it out with the ponies. Although I can see some things that are not going to work, like the towel on the head: first you have to teach your horse that having his head covered with a towel doesn't mean sudden death. But when I tell Blacky that having a towel on his head (or something else) is great fun, he immediately switches to a duration-training mode: he thinks this is another trick in which the goal is to sustain it as long as possible. And that's not really the object of this test...

But maybe it would work when I wouldn't reward with food for accepting the towel on his head?

It will be so interesting to try this with the ponies, and also to see the difference between the two of them!

i understand you that is always a little problem with horses. I have did try it to, no food reward. To let know my horse (he was at that time still green) that if there is someting on his body that there is no problem. so i used my jacket to put it over his head. He Never tryed to get rid of it by shacking his head.
The first time was running and go bakcwards. So the jacket fall off. And now he will stand still and quiet. But i'll prefer that more than shacking his head to get rid of it. Because when there is a problem or what else, he still be quiet and not panic, so de damage will hopefully then less.
but i will never know untill....??...

But it is a nice test over all special the search the carrots unter the bucket

In my not yet that mobile state I couldn't really do anything with the ponies today, but I did have two pieces of old bread and a bucket, so I thought why not and did one of the tests: place food under the bucket in front of the horse and see how quick he has removed the bucket and eaten the food.

As Sjors was only halfway the paddock and Blacky stood right in front of me at the other side of the gate, he was first. I put the food under the bucket and after about, lets say, three milliseconds Blacky had tossed the bucket out of his way and had devoured the bread. It was to be expected.

Sjors however was really interesting: I placed the food under the bucket in his sight after letting him see/sniff it, just as with Blacky, Sjors immediately moved his nose down to the bucket but then stopped, looked up at me, went down the the bucket, looked up to me again and when I still didn't react, he also pushed the bucket away and grabbed the food. It was really interesting to see him do that. It was as if he was waiting for a cue from me for what to do specifically with the bucket in order to have the treat - and that could gone from touch it with your nose, grab it, place a leg on it, to kick it etc. I just held still and didn't say anything, but I wonder if it would be okay if I had said 'Go on' (toe maar) which is our cue for 'follow your instinct/do what you want/think is best?

Next weekend Lydia is over and then I'll make her do the entire list with us. Because we would really need a helper to do them - especially to keep the ponies away from the food while I try to hide it, as Blacky already demonstrated.

That is what your stillness said, loudly.

Can horses 'love?'

I know my love for another often displaces my needs.

I can't say horses love, but what could say to us they do not?



Please continue. This excites and fascinates me.

Because of my years and years of doing standard horse handling and training I am, I believe, partially desensitized to the horse's expressions of feelings and psychological intent. They are hard for me to see, to feel.

Thus, work such as this, yours, if you can call it work, continues to open up my mind and feelings toward the horse.

It's painful in some ways, but it is enriching as well.

Thank you,

Donald R.

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Love is Trust, trust is All
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So say Don, Altea, and Bonnie the Wonder Filly.

no worry Donald there are more like you...don't blame on you you have found now an other way to take care and do things with your horses.
Is is always try and see whats happens.
That is in mine opition the best way to learn from your horses and your own.
i will try to play the games tomorow...today i had to move the ponys to a new field and repair the fencens and it was raining. So did not have done any work with them.

So many years ago I have lost count, in my first year psychology text book there was the claim, and I believe it still, that 80% of our learning comes through example.

That is, that we learn by observing others.

It didn't even say "other humans," so I think that we can learn by observing not only humans, but the horse as well.

But right now my best teachers are here. AND.

Donald R.

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Love is Trust, trust is All
~~~~~~~~~
So say Don, Altea, and Bonnie the Wonder Filly.

i know what you mean...so little but see everything.

And Donald
i am agree with you, here are very good people and the best teachters.
we mean the same thing, but my writing was not very good...sorry about that
writing english is hard work for me, and forget how you can read it afterwards.
Even in your own language is it sometimes hard, but in a differtend language even more

And I appreciate you going to the trouble of coming here and working with another language. I wish I could write in other languages at all, let alone clearly.

Donald R.

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Love is Trust, trust is All
~~~~~~~~~
So say Don, Altea, and Bonnie the Wonder Filly.

i can give it a try over here because people don't overrule you here or put you in "hel" with their answers, they try to follow you and if they do not understand you they write it in a friendly way so you can explain again what you realy mean.
So i learn more and better english and new things about horses.

we are dutch so we have to speak and write in several languages will we communicate with the rest of the world
We have to learn english, german, and france and so on. But my english and german are the best. France i can read, but do not speak it anymore. To lang ago

Donald wrote:




Hear, hear!

Inge, I don't know if you have any idea how much those of us who don't speak any other language (in my case, remnants of fractured high school and college French that are basically worthless) appreciate your willingness to play here in English.

I would NEVER say someone's English was bad or give them a hard time about their writing -- I am SO thankful that you are willing to do it!

Best,
Leigh

thank you

waw this looks great. I can't wait to try it out myself.

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I wish I knew your world