Personality or Displaced Behavior??

So today I feel like I had a breakthrough but... I'm not 100% sure yet. I guess I'll just start from the top. The last time I played with Aspire we did the Sideways game at the end of the session. She did awesome, but when driving her sideways going right (her left side was toward me) she exhibited some uneasiness and anticipation about my stick and string. So I backed off and played lots of friendly. Because our session ended somewhat on her being suspicious of my stick last time I made sure to play lots, and lots, and lots of Friendly this time - especially on her left.

Today, despite our progress in the Friendly game she kept anticipating and assuming my stick always meant move and rarely meant relax. At one point she spooked at something, not sure what, and flipped her tail over her back, the head went up, she began breathing fire, and off she went. I quickly interrupted the pattern with a sharp yo-yo away from me then we did half cirlces with my back to the fence. I encouraged her to move her feet and then disengaged and resent the other way - so lots of changes of direction and trot to stop transitions. We even did some of this through the barrels I had set up for a Squeeze Game earlier. I kept her at it until she relaxed and wanted to come and stand with me. We stood together and I played Friendly with her for a while and then decided to continue on with playing as we were before the spook.

When we began playing again she had more life in her feet and what I thought was a little unconfidence and fire left over from being spooked. She was flipping her head and certainly moving her feet a lot more and a lot faster than she had before. I noted it, thought it was interesting, but didn't really read fear in her. Just more life and more attitude. About 10 minutes later she started blowing and shaking her head, appearing to be showing signs of coming off adrenaline. Cool, I thought, I guess it just took her that long to really come all the way down from her spook. I let her hang out for a bit while I rearranged toys in the pen and picked up some junk that had been sitting in a bin and put it back. I could have sworn I'd picked it all up yesterday when who is right behind me but Aspire, in the bin, and playing with the junk! :) No wonder I keep having to clean up in there! It's nothing that she can injure herself on, just bits and pieces to a broken automatic water trough, so I figured what's the problem with letting her play in it for a bit. I began rubbing her with my stick (good time to Friendly, right?) and let her sniff around and remove the contents of the bin. After she was done she came over and checked in with me, she's really coming around to liking to stand with me, follow me, and just hang out. I decided I wanted to send her through the barrels I had set up. I sent her and off she went! Going out to the end of the 12' line and then some, tossing her head, and boinging to a stop and facing me. She then walked over to the barrels and began pushing them around with her nose, rubbing on them, pushing on them with her front legs, and playing with them. I've been really aware of allowing her to be curious and playful. I want to encourage her to explore things and become confident with them so I never stop her from investigating - besides it just means we get to practice our send again, or whatever it was we were trying to do in the first place. Oh boy!

Anyway, she stopped playing with the barrels, I rubbed her with my stick and string and then she began walking around, just walking, assuming I meant for her to move her feet. I rubbed her until she stopped and just kind of observed her. Her whole energy had been different since she'd spooked and come down from it. She began sniffing the ground and looking like she wanted to roll. Now I've heard horses will roll when they're coming off adrenaline, and I've never heard of a horse rolling when they're RBE or RBI - if you think you're going to die you certainly don't lay down. So needless to say I let her roll. She got down, rolled around, got up, then went down and rolled again. I didn't really know what to make of this. I've never seen her lay down before, let alone roll, or half the other behaviors she'd shown today. After she'd finished she calmly came over to me so I just took the halter off and brushed her down while she ate for a bit.

I really feel like I've witnessed something profound today - I'm just not sure what it was.

My first thought is that she spooked, I showed myself as a leader by not allowing her to lose her wits entirely and helping her calm down again. I helped make her feel safe again (I hope) and she then finally felt confident enough to come out of her shell and play around me. Not just mouth things a little, but really dig in and have fun. Her rolling showed her confidence around me to lay down and possibly also her still coming off some adrenaline/emotion. The added life in her feet and attitude were more in exuberance (LBE characteristics??) and play rather than fear.

OR....

She spooked and I tried to help calm her down but didn't sufficiently make her feel safe and confident again. She did blow out her nose and shake her head as if to suggest some relaxation but obviously not all the way. She couldn't come down all the way and be LB again because my leadership skills weren't up to snuff for the occasion. She had life in her feet because she was drawing on her RBE nature when she's unsure about things and the attitude was really fear based as she tried to flee and escape the confines of the 12' line. For sure she became LB when she wanted to play with the junk in the bin and it can be safe to assume her pushing the barrels around was LB behavior as well. When she finally did roll it was her trying to get rid of the adrenaline she'd had all morning and only really calmed down when she was free of the halter and eating.

My gut is going more with the first option, but because I've never seen any of this in her before I really can't tell. It certainly could be a combination of both. I think I really need to continue making sure she doesn't anticipate me asking her to do something every time my stick moves or my hands come up like I'm going to drive her. Note to self - watch body language. The difference between Friendly and Driving is all about intent. I really think I am good about turning my belly button away, moving all my attention to other thoughts entirely, not starting at her, cocking my own leg, etc when I'm being Friendly and when I'm driving I become more focused. Still though, I'll be more aware of how I am being perceived by her.

Thoughts are definitely welcome on this post. :)

Sideways

Today we played again and she was as awesome as she was yesterday and...we tried the Sideways Game for the first time and, can I just say, WOW?! She was great. I've never had a horse go sideways like she did - either I did a great job with our foundation Driving Game or she's a mind reader - both perhaps? Cool, cool, cool.

This pic is after she'd taken a handful of sideways steps - look how perfect her body is in relationship to me and the fence! Love this little horse. :)

Finally She Asked Me A Question!

Oh today was a wonderful day! It was the first day Aspire really started asking questions and checking in, lots of obvious lip licking, and none of that sleepy-eyed/introverted behavior. I brought in two barrels to use for various games and she was instantly curious and wanted to lick, bite, chew, and push on them. I was really pleased to see this curiosity from her. We also did driving from Zone 3 and played the 'sniff this, sniff that' game. She picked right up on it and was even in tune enough for me that I could send her just by pointing a finger out in the direction I wanted her to go and off she went. She does get her responsibility is to keep going on a circle, but it was great that she wanted to check in with me often, disengaged, looked at me with ears up, and would politely go back out after I resent her. I am just so pleased with how quickly she's learning everything and how sensitive she is.

I was standing on the fence talking to someone and when I was done jumped backward off the fence instead of just stepping down. Spy was right behind me, which I didn't know, and I bounced right onto her back/ribs and got tangled in her lead which had been draped over her back. I know, savvy of me right? Well, I instantly thought she'd go RBE like she has been when those types of things take her by surprise, but she didn't. She just stepped away and looked at me with an "excuse me!" look on her face. I was very pleased by this.

What else - oh we got all four feet on the tarp today - not at the same time - but who cares. She was more interested in chewing the tarp up than she was avoiding it today. :)

I don't have too much more to say except I am just so pleased! I had to force myself to stop while we were on a good note and not get greedy... but I can't wait to play with her tomorrow and see what else we can do. She's also letting me pick up, hold, and tap her front feet now. Hinds she'll pick up quick and put them down again. Zone 4/5 are her most un-confident areas so we're working on them.

Aspire's Horseanality Chart 2/19/10

Introversion Or....? Comments Please!

I played with Spy again yesterday and she was hot to trot! I blew some hair off a horse brush and off she went to the other end of the pen with a snort. She flung her head back as she was leaving, looking at me, as if to say - "C'mon Mom! There are monsters in the wind! Run!" Silly girl. Later that day after having played with her a bit, and with a halter on this time, I blew in the brush until I thought I was going to pass out from a lack of oxygen while trying to desensitize her to it. It worked though! I'm not sure at what expense to my brain cells, but now I can blow in the brush and she just looks at me but doesn't freak out. I guess I took all those things for granted in my LBEs and LBIs. This RBE thing is keeping me on my toes.

She's still exhibiting a lot of curiosity when I introduce new toys but not a lot of confidence. I find it very interesting she can be afraid of something, blowing, cocking her head, and still wanting to bite it and follow it. I think it's cool and I'm hoping to expand on her wanna-be-left-brain behaviors.

What I am finding really interesting is this introverted thing she does. I mentioned it in an earlier post along with the gray RBI in a SC DVD from last year. That closed eyes / sticky feet thing. She doesn't seem to do it when under a lot of pressure, when she is spooked or feels too much intensity she goes RBE, and when she does this introverted thing she's not looking she she'll snap out of it or that she's worried or she's being evasive. I am not sure yet how to describe it. The few times I have seen it in a pattern is when I yo-yo her out. She'll back out on a light, light, light phase 1 and then she'll just get those sleepy eyes and get kind of sticky to her spot. When she does this, because I'm not sure what it is, I've just been hanging out with her until she wants to come back over. Sometimes I'll rub her, and she responds to me approaching, turns her head into me, wants to be pet, but still with sleepy eyes. Again, I'm not sure if she's just coming down off some kind of tension/adrenaline and really relaxing, digesting thoughts, processing or if for some reason she's struggling with what's going on and then goes introverted... She seems to do it after we've completed an exercise, I've disengaged her, and it's time to relax. I am hoping to get a video camera soon so I can record some of our play time together and our progress and hopefully this introverted thing as well for some more feedback. Which by the way, if you have any comments (especially you Parelli people!) please leave them for me! I love feedback, even if your opinion is way different than mine. I really appreciate being able to think, compare, and evaluate all the information out there - and who knows - you might have the breakthrough I'm looking for! Anyone have any links to info/pix/video on horses going introverted/catatonic? I really don't feel a tension in this behavior, but I've never experienced it before, so I can't say for sure.

Also, yesterday, she got spooked by my friend's dogs who were playing and carrying around my grain bucket. She took off in her pen and wow - she looked so pretty! Even in the mud and slop of the feedlot she really can move. I have yet to see this girl on good footing, when I bought her the round pen and her pasture were a combination of ice and mud and when I brought her home she went into the crappy footing of the feedlot so I can't wait to put her on some good footing and watch her go.... Trying to be patient for summer and hopefully a new place to live with pasture. I don't like when she spooks/runs because it's unhealthy behavior for her in general and I do worry about her hurting herself but she is pretty to look at. :)

Making Sure The Job Gets Done Right

Oliver, my farm Pom, making sure I practice good horsemanship from under the fence.

Less is More

Of course I know this. I know less is more. And today totally proved it! When I played with Spy a couple days ago I got a little greedy, a little goal oriented, and before I knew it we'd been playing for over 2 hours...Which was certainly a bit much for her and soon I realized she was looking more and more fried and fluctuating between going introverted and wanting to leave me emotionally/mentally and feeling too much pressure and wanting to get extroverted and leave physically. I felt like a huge failure! She's a young horse, our relationship is slowly blossoming, report is everything, and here I am pushing her because I got too excited. Argh. So, I gave her a couple days "off" where we just hung out together, undemanding time, and I made my apology to her.

Today, she was excited to see me, met me at the gate, and wanted to be with me. I haltered her (she offered to put her head in!) and played a little friendly, a little porcupine, played with picking up her feet, a yo-yo or two, and then decided to do some driving game. That seemed to be our troubled area last time, and like I already knew, she's a horse I can scream at with phase one. So today, I decided to redefine phase one - and wow! Such a tiny suggestion and she was picking up driving her forequarters and hindquarters. Awesome! I think we only played for about 20 minutes and before I got greedy I made myself take off her halter and call it quits for the day. She's even lowering her head so I can kneel and take off her halter - very nice.

She does seem to get that sleepy look on her face that the gray RBI horse in one of the SC DVDs from last spring did - the DVD with the 4 horseanality types. She doesn't seem to be going catatonic, and she doesn't get the sleepy eyes under pressure, it seems to be when she's processing information and getting ready to 'digest' what she's learned... Will have to watch this and see if there's a pattern to it.

Anyway - super pleased with myself for not getting direct-line and delighted with her for being forgiving and trying to be a partner!

A Sunny Morning in February

Aspire finally decided to stop following me around with the camera to take a few moments to enjoy the sunshine.

As you can see through the fence, her fan club of steers is never far away. That morning they were trying to bum autographs like usual. Poor girl, never gets a moment of privacy.

Horseanalities Exercise my Emotional Fitness!

Things are going well with Aspire so far. I haven't 'clicked' with her yet, we get along well, but it seems to still be too early to develop a connection with her. After spending some time with her I've been able to decipher her Horseanality a little better and have put her as a mild-moderate RBE with LB tendencies...haven't really been able to determine where on the LB chart she is. It's easy to cause her to be un-confident and in that scenario she turns RBE, runs around, and definitely needs a pattern interrupt otherwise she'll escalate into a circling, running ball of nerves. However, she greets me at the gate every day, she follows me around, she likes to sniff and mouth, she will snort and look at new things with those cock-eyed sideways ears, but has an urge to follow and investigate regardless. She seems to have a lot of thresholds but a lot of underlying curiosity as well. I'm still trying to learn how to decide a horse's innate characteristics vs. learned ones and how their Horseanalities change as a learner, in their environment, with people, etc. I've never really had an RBE type horse before, Mocha (my TB gelding/levels horse pre-injury) was definitely LBE and "the Pony" (my pinto gelding) tended to be LBI-mild, but in a new environment turned RBI...soooo to say the least Aspire has really been exercising me emotionally, and making me conscientious of not being direct-line and so busy. Have to work on consistency - not variety...

The Horseanalities seem so easy when you read about them on paper or watch the DVDs but then going home and reading it, understanding it, and feeling it is such a different story. I've been watching the SC DVD about the 4 Horseanality types with Pat that came out last Spring sometime I think and am really trying to study the RB horses and see the subtleties that make them who they are...the tense muscles, the quick breathing, the in and out process of introversion. Wow - it's so much to process. I just hope I can figure it out and apply it so as not to ruin my relationship with Spy...

Permission To Halter

2/6/10: My observations of Spy have shown me that she would rather be with me than away from me, but if I do something that bothers her she doesn’t panic, but retreats to the far corner of her pen and knickers to her fan club of steers over the fence and/or looks at me. It would be something simple, like me trying to rub her with the halter that would cause her to leave. I can catch/halter her and I can also brush her all over and rub her legs and what not whether she’s caught or not. But rub her with the halter? That sends her walking away from me to the corner…. How interesting…. So today I got to thinking that maybe nobody had ever asked permission to halter her and just because I could catch her didn’t mean she was really confident and/or pleased with the experience.

I walked over to the corner where she was looking at me without my halter, approaching zone 5. Hmm, she said, what are you doing back there? She turned, faced me, and followed me back to where we started by her hay bin. I let her eat some hay, sitting with her, contemplating my next step. I got the halter and laid it and the rope over my left elbow and rubbed her with my right hand. When she looked at me, I let her sniff the halter, then retreated a bit, then rubbed some more. She went back to eating. I rubbed her for a while then offered her the halter to smell again, she did, and I rubber her face with my free hand, then put my arm over her neck as I would if I was going to prepare to halter her. I rubbed her off side encouraging her to bend her head into me. She did, smelling me, the halter, and enjoying her scratch. Before the moment passed I stopped doing what I was doing and went to rubbing her legs. Picked up a hoof, scratched her tail, walked around her, rubbed her other legs, walked back and repeated putting the arm over her neck, turning her head in, and offering the halter. I did this twice more before holding the halter in a position that I could put it on if I wanted, with the headstall piece in my right hand and nose/cheek piece in my left. This also took a time or two before she didn’t give the halter a skeptical look, and finally I was able to put it over her nose, rubbed it around and took it off. Needless to say, I kept approaching and retreating in this fashion until the halter was on, took it off, put it back on, then sat with her while she ate.

This really taught me a lesson in asking permission, especially to such a sensitive horse, and breaking it down into way smaller steps than I ever thought. Her confidence while being haltered seemed to sky rocket, I could even rub her with the lead rope a bit, and when I asked for some lateral flexion I was amazed!! I had been working on it a bit over the week and she’d move, move, move around me and finally flex in and stop her feet after some time of moving. Today she just flexed around sooooo softly. She also allowed me to porcupine her hind quarters around and to porcupine her backwards and lower her head. Magnificent! I took her back to her hay and sat with her, flicking my stick and string, pondering the morning so far. At one point the string slapped the fence, sending her fan club scattering on the other side, and she began the infamous retreat to the corner. I gently put drag on the rope while still moving my stick and string. She came to the end of the rope and stopped. I began to think at this point that this was going to be a really good learning opportunity for her. She didn’t panic or try to blast through the pressure, she just sat there, trying to drift away and not look at me. I kept a light feel on the rope, rhythmically flicking my string while sitting on her hay trough. Finally she looked at me and walked straight over. Of course I ceased moving my string and she just let out a breath, and put her head down to where I was sitting, letting me scratch her head, thoroughly enjoying it. After the moment had passed and she had processed it, I began flicking my string again, she looked at it, sniffed at it, looked at me, and stepped over for another scratch.

I really enjoy her sensitivity and her ability to not blow up. I think she’ll be a horse that will certainly test my skill and leadership as we do bigger and better things as she gets older. She won’t be a bombproof horse that will just walk down the trail without a care, but I think she will be a horse that takes great comfort in having a leader, and someone to look to for guidance when she becomes unsure. Now, the question is, can I be that leader? My goals for her are to be level three on the ground before attempting to start her next Spring when she turns three. I think once we get past this initial hurtle of being so green to everything and everyday tasks like leading and trimming, we’ll make rapid progress.

Hmm, I just reread this post and don't feel it does the moment justice. I feel like this is such a big breakthrough and really felt the moment pass between her and I and am not sure I'm doing a good job of describing it here... May do an edit on this one.

The Feedlot Decision & The Trimmer

2/6/10: Aspire has been with me for a week now. I decided to keep her in a pen in the feedlot for a couple reasons. Though it’s not ideal she will gain a lot of exposure to people, dogs, traffic, cows, heavy equipment, and commotion being front and center. In addition to that the herd she would go out with are somewhat afraid of people and are hard to catch. Because I don’t have a solid relationship with Spy yet I am hesitant to turn her loose with a herd that is unpredictable, tense, skeptical of people, and again hard to catch. The boss mare will run the whole herd away from you if properly motivated by a glimpse of a halter. So, in the feedlot she stays. It has been a really good opportunity for me to bond with her by bringing her water to her twice a day, her hay, and be a source of engagement and socializing. Day by day she has begun to look for me when I arrive and is happy to follow me around some and leave to visit with me even when she’s eating her hay and grain.

On Feb 2nd she had her first visit with the trimmer… I did as much prep as I could in the three days I had her before the trimmer arrived but apparently it wasn’t enough. She’d let me pick up and hold all four feet quietly but it must have been the new person or the funny feeling of the nippers that made her uncomfortable. Aspire has never been trimmed in her year and a half of life and needed it badly, so I told the trimmer let’s give it a try but not force it. Well, she got a little direct line and Aspire was going to have none of it. I instructed her to just rub her legs until she stood quietly and once again, if we can’t trim her now, we’ll just do it later. It went ok, got the fronts nipped a little, but it really showed me her lack of trust in a human taking her leg away from her and how much she needed to move her feet before she could stand still. She never balked or tried to run away, just would circle and circle and circle us while we rubbed her. The trimmer did once try to hang onto a hoof for dear life which resulted in her hat being knocked off and Aspire of course regaining her hoof. Wonderful. Pat always says he thinks vets and farriers would all love it if we did the proper preparation with our horses – but I as an owner would love it if our vets and farriers had a touch of savvy themselves. Anyway, I have a rasp, so I might stick to trying it myself a bit once I gain her confidence with her feet. No rush.

It's Not About The Trailer

1/30/10:

Bringing home Aspire proved to be more challenging than I originally had planned for. I know that when dealing with horses it is unwise to rush things or put a time frame on when a task needs to be accomplished. It creates direct line thinking, that is, too much focus on the end result and not enough focus on the moment-by-moment world the horse is living in… We arrived at our destination after having carefully determined the drive time from Dillon to Darby, loading time with a cushion for unexpected issues, drive time home, and unloading - all before dark. My goal for the afternoon was to remember that trailer loading isn’t about the trailer – it’s about her trusting in me as a leader, and to put the relationship first. This would be her first experience with me in our partnership and a true opportunity for me to prove to her that I care about her confidence and emotions…and not about the trailer.

When we pulled into the driveway with Rosie, our trailer companion for Aspire, the horses on the property began calling and racing around in their pastures. Twenty minutes later, after having signed all the paperwork and handing over a check, we came outside to see the horses still hot and running around. Spy was in a round pen, not as bothered as the other horses, but spirits up none the less. The man who sold her to me grabbed my halter and caught her for me, no big favor there, and was getting ready to load her himself. I stepped in and commented that I wanted to play a bit with her first and see what side of the corral she woke up on that morning. I also wanted to see what kinds of things she already knew and what tools we may or may not have for trailer loading. It turned out we barely had leading, porcupine game* was out of the question because she was so busy moving her feet and focusing elsewhere, driving game sent her backward or flying around in circles (the man was proud to see me “longing” her), but we did have a decent yo-yo…. Leaving me where I could rub her all over and yo-yo her to and from me. Not the best quiver of arrows but that’s what we had to work with. I brought her out of her pen, only to go three feet before hitting her first threshold. We waited there, I rubbed her, yo-yoed her, and walked her back toward the pen than up toward the threshold. She offered a step farther – awesome! We repeated the rubbing, waiting, retreating, advancing, at each limit of her comfort zone until we were finally across the drive at the trailer. Despite of the commotion going on around us with the other horses running and calling she was very good and receptive to the approach and retreat methods in respects of the trailer. Without much delay we had her nose in! Then the neck as she began to sniff around. After that, lots of retreat, some leading exercises, yo-yo, then back to the trailer. Nose in, neck in, and she went to lift a foot in but banged her shin against the step. A large step up, especially for a yearling. She had trouble navigating the step, so my friend lifted her foot and placed it in the trailer for her. She sat with her foot in, sniffed around, looked at Rosie in the front half of the trailer, then took a breath. I backed her away from the trailer and went for a little walk. The next go around we had nose, neck, and then she sat down and gently lifted both front legs into the trailer, effectively in a kneeling position, with her front legs bent and her weight on her knees and shins. She sat there, looking at us, as if to say – how to I get my back end in now? I felt this to be awesome progress and let her stay there as long as she wanted and when she back herself out we went for a long walk back toward her pen, around the drive, rubbing her shoulder the entire way. It was at this point the previous owner marched up, wondering what I was still doing here, she’d been in the trailer a handful of times before, the colt they sold last week just loaded right in, with these young horses you can’t give them time to think you just have to do it, and tried to grab her lead rope from me. For the third time that day I told him I could do it by myself, tried to explain what I was doing, gave up, and said I didn’t mind taking the time to load her. He impatiently began elbowing her in the flank as she was considering how to step in causing her to lurch forward, cow kick at him, then fly backward. I promptly reminded him that she was my horse now and I would appreciate if he left us alone but the damage was already done. He must have got her right when she was on the brink of a change because now she wanted nothing to do with the trailer. She couldn’t hold still, began frantically pawing the ground, and balked and pulled back anytime I tried to lead her toward the door. At this point we’re an hour into our cushion time and coming to a point that if we don’t load her soon we’re either going home without a horse or we’re unloading in the dark. Neither a good option as it was a long, expensive drive to get there and our destination had no exterior lights and she’d be trying to get out of the trailer in the pitch black.

We needed a new plan. I didn’t want to teach her to pull back, nor did I want to destroy all the work we’d done so far. Creating a fight, which was bound to happen, was not what I wanted to do. We decided to back the trailer up to her round pen, put up some panels to make a chute, then allowed her to roam around the pen. We put pressure on her when she looked away from or ran by the opening of the trailer and released at any hint of a thought toward the chute. After ten minutes she was pawing at the trailer and then…jumped in! Wow! I brought her a bucket of water (she sucked down two!) and dropped a little hay for her. We let her think on it for a while, then went in, haltered her, lead her out, and turned her loose in her pen again. She walked half a lap away from the trailer, and we put a touch of pressure in front of her, she turned around, looked at the trailer, and calmly walked inside. Standing there, waiting, looking at us as if to say – is this all you wanted? Can I have some more water now? We left the door open to the trailer while we warmed up the truck, loaded up the dogs, and packed up our stuff. She didn’t offer to come out and looked calm, albeit sweaty, so we closed the door and began our drive back to Dillon.

We got back to Dillon with a half hour of day light left, not bad considering the unexpected delay in loading (totally worth it though because it became her idea!). I went in the trailer, haltered her, and went to lead her out. She stopped to take in her new surroundings, then went to step out… Of course, it wasn’t that easy! She stepped half way out, realized the size of the step, and firmly decided she’d rather just stay in the trailer. After much approach and retreat of the step we decided to put a little pressure behind her to help motivate her exit. As much as I would have loved to wait for her to figure it out on her own, we were dangerously close to zero day light and navigating the feedlot gates and pens in the dark was not on my list of safe things to do with a barely halter started yearling. With a touch of assistance from a butt rope creating a little discomfort behind her in the trailer, she jumped out. Well, somewhat clattered out, but was out, and wasn’t panicking. Rosie unloaded like a champ and we dropped them together into their pens right as it began to go dark. Phew!

So….what did I learn from all this?? It was the most intense test yet of my patience and resourcefulness. It challenged my leadership and made me count all the arrows in my quiver at least twice. It also made me feel somewhat sorry for poor Aspire, that though she’d been loaded at least three times before, she was still that uncomfortable with the idea that she didn't want to load. Obviously the trailer wasn’t a good experience in her past but she was a trooper. It really allowed me to assess her personality and confidence level under stress, and for a horse that doesn’t know how to lead she did wonderful in spite of all the odds stacked against us.

Some notes on Spy; she’s curious but not confident enough to show that very often. She paws when under pressure and balks when her limits have been pushed too far. She’s perceptive, skeptical, and aware. She retreats often (and away from people) when unconfident but doesn’t go fully right brain and/or lose her mind. She needs to move her feet a lot when her emotions are raised, but only needs to move her feet at a steady walk. I believe she has the ability to put up a good fight if she feels she’s being treated unfairly or she’s scared/unconfident. Her energy level goes up easily but comes down with relative ease.


*see www.Parelli.com for details on terms & concepts

Aspire Does a Meet & Greet

Aspire doing a meet and greet over the fence with her fan club of steers.

Welcome to our Journey

Thanks for stopping by to learn about my journey with my new partner, Aspire.

My name is Samantha and I've been a horse lover my entire life. It is a passion that struck me early on and has never left. A couple years ago I discovered Parelli Natural Horsemanship and am now happily playing in level three/four. Parelli has helped me understand many things about my own mental, emotional, and physical fitness. It's also inspired me to never stop learning, dreaming, and trying. I attribute much of my success with horses to Parelli and the rewards I receive when I am with horses are now immeasurable.

On January 30th I purchased my new partner, and future super star, Aspire. She's a coming 2 year old AQHA filly...the icing on the cake? She's palomino! Fat kids drool over the shelves in a candy store the way I drool over palominos. Not only is she athletic and pretty but she has a sweet personality. She's got so much to offer and I can't wait to be the leader she needs to expand on her confidence, curiosity, and playfulness.

This blog will be my way of verbalizing and reflecting on our time together and help me track our progress. I hope you will enjoy reading in it and sharing in the journey.