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!