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What a fun book this is! The personality profiles
are a delight -- and useful, too. I got turned onto
this from a client - Thank You, Louise! - and have enjoyed
the upbeat and very useful information.
In Is
Your Horse a Rock Star? Understanding Your Horse's
Personality by Dessa Hockley, you'll find sixteen
personality profiles to help you understand your horse
better. She has four traits which help you figure out
which profile goes with your guy or gal:
- Dominant vs. Submissive
- Energetic vs. Lazy
- Confident vs. Afraid
- Aloof vs. Friendly
Many of you who've met me have also met IRS -
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Is
Your Horse a Rock Star? Understanding Your Horse's
Personality
by Dessa Hockley
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And you may have heard me go on at length about how if
this horse was any quieter I'd scream! Also that
she's incredibly talented but not motivated a
lick. As a lesson horse, folks love how easy she
is to sit and the paint half of her allows for her a
certain indifference so that folks can learn without
dealing with a moody horse. Also, she makes
learned riders cry. If you want her to do
something, you have got to be super correct in your
request. Her ability to ignore mistakes in
beginners is her ability to blow you off later
on. I tell folks it's not good enough to hit the
dart board. It's not even good enough to hit the
bull's eye. No, you have to hit the crosshairs -
where they cross. So where does she go in this
milieu?
- Dominant vs. Submissive
- Energetic vs. Lazy
- Confident vs. Afraid
- Aloof vs. Friendly
The first may come as a surprise, but living with
IRS, and watching her with students, I can tell you
she's dominant. :)
So DLCF - what does that give us? The
Reluctant Rock Star. Well! That kind of
sums it up right there. She could be all that,
but she's just not interested in it.
| Reluctant Rock Stars
are Lazy and need to be
motivated. They have the
strength and the confident persona,
but the rider or trainer will have to
be very goal-oriented in order to make
it happen. The rider has to
create motion and give it some
direction. The response will
probably be: "Don't push me --
I'm going." But this horse
will never be extremely willful or
rebellious because he cares too
much. They want the
friendship. The DECF's are dying
to show off, whereas the DLCR's have
to be made to do the job. But
then they love the praise and
attention just as much.
They perform more for the relationship
than for the glory. |
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There's also info about training and 'career'
choices - all of which confirms the accuracy of this
profile for IRS.
OK - so how 'bout Ms. Tammy - my nemesis. (er
- I mean, my blessing in disguise...) Her Mom
came to me with warning signs stuck all over
her. She was rescued from the knackers because
no one could get her trained. The lady who
rescued her was just that stubborn and wouldn't give
up. That is, until the day she called me
up and shouted through the phone, "I'M FED UP
WITH THAT HORSE! IF YOU LOVE HER SO D*** MUCH THEN YOU
GET OUT HERE AND BUY HER AND TAKE HER HOME" and I
did. To be fair, the lady who rescued her went
the distance and then some! but it eventually
got to be too much. I put down cash
to take home Ms. Tammy's mom and I loved that
horse. And for some reason, because I could ride
her, and she was FABulous, I thought it had all been a
misunderstanding, that somehow the folks who'd tried
to train her had just been on the wrong page.
Then I tried starting Ms. Tammy and I decided maybe it
wasn't entirely the fault of those folks. Maybe
that genetics thing needs to be paid attention to -
BIG time. Maybe I should have heeded all those
warning signals about the mom...
With Tammy, I have:
- Dominant vs. Submissive
- Energetic vs. Lazy
- Confident vs. Afraid
- Aloof vs. Friendly
Her mom was:
- Dominant vs. Submissive
- Energetic vs. Lazy
- Confident vs. Afraid
- Aloof vs. Friendly
So Tammy is DEAF. Which is funny, because it
does kind of sum up what happens when she gets into
trouble. She's not listening to anyone - and
this is mentioned in the profile, btw. DEAF goes
with the profile labeled 'The Wild Card.'
(ha!) Yes. It's a match. It talks
about how you think you have one thing, but then you
have another, and how, if you want to lead the dance,
you better be pretty diplomatic, because this is a
horse that gets scared and also doesn't believe a word
of what you're saying about how it's not scary!
Do not be telling this horse what to do. do
not. And all that 'I love you' stuff -- that
only lasts until it doesn't. The tips in here
about training are spot on. Don't be switching
it up on this horse. They don't do well with
that. And, O, btw, don't go get this kind of
horse unless you're really experienced.
Tammy's Mom is DECA - 'The Macho
Man.'
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These cocky horses handle any new
job with ease. They'll tell you
how it should be done and do it efficiently
and quickly. And when they are
done, don't make a big fuss over
them. Save your accolades for
someone else. Hugs and praise
are just going to annoy them.
... You will find these horses
in the competition arena, usually
still fighting with their owners about
how it should have been done and then
grumbling all the way to the winner's
circle.
<They> can be described as
"tough" in both the positive
and negative sense of the word.
In the positive, it might mean being a
'tough' competitor, never giving up, determined
to cross the finish line. In the
negative, it might mean fighting with
you all day about an issue. This
horse is pure determination, usually
determined to do it his own way.
The Macho Man is the strong, silent
type.
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Her name? Ripley -- of Alien fame, bequeathed
by the lady when she was rescued, because she survived
everything she went through before she was
rescued. And a totally excellent horse.
Now to get her daughter out of that AFRAID category
and into the confident block! let's see, that
would make her a DECF - The Rock Star.
YES! Let's do THAT!
8/13/14
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