The First Few Weeks of Empowerment
Published by Cari Zancanelli under Bella, empowered horses, horse training, horsemanship, Snickers on 6:26 PM
I wanted to fill you in on how things are going with the empowered horses experiment. Thanksgiving was last week and the relatives just left, so last week I only had limited time to be with the horses. I did have a few sessions with them, though and wanted to pass on how it went and what I did.
First of all, it's difficult to head out to the horses without a plan or a training goal. It seemed difficult for the horses to figure out what was going on, what they should do, and what I wanted from them. Since our relationship up to now has all been one-sided, they were looking to me for some kind of guidance. I assume that it will take some time for us all to come up with a new way of interacting. To most horse people this line of reasoning may seem weird or pointless, but I see a change in the horses already.
I have noticed, for example, that there are definitely things that particular horses of mine don't like doing. Snickers doesn't like being ridden with a bit. Tequila gets sore from the saddle and until I find a saddle that fits her, she will object to being saddled and ridden. There are other things, too, that I can't remember at the moment. So, our interaction is now one-on-one in my little arena (a bit too small for the purpose), sometimes with a lead. I have tried taking the lead off because that's the purpose - to allow the horse to be as free as possible while we are together. I try to play, but this is difficult because I have never played with them before. There is lots of scratching and moving. They seem to feel uncomfortable just walking next to me, so that's something I'm looking for to show how well things are changing. Snickers seemed to want to do his clicker training and even offered some of the things I had taught him, so we did some of those things. He is very smart and I feel that he really wants a connection with someone. He is not afraid to express himself and to say what he would like.
Bella, too, was eager to do the clicker exercise of going in the garage. I backed off even further, though, and did the entire thing without a halter or lead rope. That way she could do the entire thing without any pressure at all and at her choosing. She chose when to come in, how far and when to stop. This is completely opposite of any training method I have ever tried, and it may seem counter-productive. But here's the thing - both Snickers and Bella chose to do the exercises we had already been doing. It makes me feel good to know that that work was fun and enjoyable to them, and they found a purpose in it, too. That's the best feeling!
The goal is to allow them a voice, a chance to interact with me in a way they choose, to play, to relax and perhaps in the end to work together. We'll see what happens.
First of all, it's difficult to head out to the horses without a plan or a training goal. It seemed difficult for the horses to figure out what was going on, what they should do, and what I wanted from them. Since our relationship up to now has all been one-sided, they were looking to me for some kind of guidance. I assume that it will take some time for us all to come up with a new way of interacting. To most horse people this line of reasoning may seem weird or pointless, but I see a change in the horses already.
I have noticed, for example, that there are definitely things that particular horses of mine don't like doing. Snickers doesn't like being ridden with a bit. Tequila gets sore from the saddle and until I find a saddle that fits her, she will object to being saddled and ridden. There are other things, too, that I can't remember at the moment. So, our interaction is now one-on-one in my little arena (a bit too small for the purpose), sometimes with a lead. I have tried taking the lead off because that's the purpose - to allow the horse to be as free as possible while we are together. I try to play, but this is difficult because I have never played with them before. There is lots of scratching and moving. They seem to feel uncomfortable just walking next to me, so that's something I'm looking for to show how well things are changing. Snickers seemed to want to do his clicker training and even offered some of the things I had taught him, so we did some of those things. He is very smart and I feel that he really wants a connection with someone. He is not afraid to express himself and to say what he would like.
Bella, too, was eager to do the clicker exercise of going in the garage. I backed off even further, though, and did the entire thing without a halter or lead rope. That way she could do the entire thing without any pressure at all and at her choosing. She chose when to come in, how far and when to stop. This is completely opposite of any training method I have ever tried, and it may seem counter-productive. But here's the thing - both Snickers and Bella chose to do the exercises we had already been doing. It makes me feel good to know that that work was fun and enjoyable to them, and they found a purpose in it, too. That's the best feeling!
The goal is to allow them a voice, a chance to interact with me in a way they choose, to play, to relax and perhaps in the end to work together. We'll see what happens.
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