The Art of Natural Dressage

Congratulations! this is a big change forever.

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"Never just follow the crowd." Margaret Thatcher

With both Cisco and Tamarack, if I try to punish them in any way for leaving, they do not come to me then of their own free will. I do not view them as children, although I do see that Tamarack is not as mature, mentally, as Cisco is. This makes Tam more fun and I actually dread the day he may mature past the point of wanting to play foolishly with me!

It is a nice feeling to reach within ourselves and teach and play with horses on their terms...when we figure out what those terms are, we come a little closer to truely understanding a horse, and finding ways to be more interesting than their buddies or the green grass. Without the pressure of telling them they must come to me when I say so, both of them have begun to offer to come to me when I call...away from the hay or grass and away from their herd mates.

Of course I do not require them to perform in novel situations, so I do not have to pressure them to override that aspect of their thought processes, and I have no schedule to keep other than the clock they themselves live by.

When I was a child, my Dad had one horse who would come running when he called. But that result was achieved by force. He worked with her in a corral, and if she dared to turn away from him, she was hit with a whip. So she learned that the safest place to be was right in front of him, facing him. He so overrode her natural aversion to new situations and environments, that she would run to him in any and all situations. I know you can do the same without as much pressure, and without hitting...but it's still making the horse do something, and not giving it the choice. The Parelli, "hide your hiney" game is this same premise.

I prefer that as much as humanly possible, that I change to delight them, because then everything they give me back feels like a gift given from the heart.

I have done much of Tam's training at liberty, or with a cordeo on but not holding it. It has made me think long and hard about what is viewed by him as too much pressure. I can still be silly enough that he will turn away from me on occasion, but if I stop what I'm doing, he immediately comes back. This kind of mirror is a wonderful way to examine myself to see what is acceptable and interesting, and what should be left out of our sessions.

That sounds great Sandra...
Letting go...really hard but I found out that was the only key I got to get my horse to like comming to me and in the end staying with me....

Now I only work Quasi in the cordeo he leaves me more often...I let go whenever he tells me he needs to.
Then he is really willing to come back to me..and every time he does he gets rewarded for comming to me.

And every time he comes back quicker...so some day we will end up in the middle where he doesn't need to run away anymore because being with me keeps him calm...

But there is no way to force it!!!

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Make love not war!

That is sooo good!! You seem to have sorted it out perfect! As you say, don´t worry when she leaves, she has her reasons, just welcome her back and keep on with the fun. She sounds like a wonderful horse....

(And I to agree about the child-stuff; don´t force them to sit down, the learning wil not be that good with force...)

that is fanastic to read!

I always get this huge kick when people come here with a 'problem' and get results at once after trying some AND style...

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