05/24/16 Mia - In the Round Pen #2

What a difference a day makes!

Quick update: Mia Morning Glory seems to have some potential for quick learning! But, I think she wants to keep that aspect hidden. She tests a bit. 'O look, I'm not sure what you want, let me just stop and eat.' 'uh, did you mean you wanted me to MOVE?' 'OMG!!! ACK!!!!! It's GOING TO KILL ME!!! I've LOST MY HEAD!!!!!'

Haha.

Again - there is this feeling that somewhere someone tried to do all of this stuff with her and she convinced them it just wouldn't work in her case. ("I'm too scared! I'm too thick! See, this is just a dumb idea!!! give up on it now!")

But today I wasn't so worried about how fast she *might* go. As a consequence, she couldn't use the bat-out-of-hell response against me. Want to run like a bat out of hell? OK. I didn't ask for that, it's kind of overkill... but if you insist... (In behavioral terms, this is known as 'extinction.' When there's a behavior you don't want, you simple ignore it.)

Yes, there were a few laps at a pretend out-of-control canter. All the while with her eye on me evaluating my level of panic. "Hmmm.... not working, ok, let's stop and eat."

"Nope, Go."

"ACK! I've LOST MY HEAD!!!!" RUN RUN RUN "Hmmm.... not working, ok, let's stop and eat."

"Nope, Go."

wash, rinse, repeat.

Maybe that happened five times with less drama each time.

sidebar: The behavioral modification techniques used here are a little bit of motivation - do what I like and I coo 'goooood girl,' play dumb and I move in and 'get big.' As Jim McCall points out, this is body language 101. The dominant horse is the one that moves the other horse. When you want the horse to move forward, you drive it from behind. When you want it to slow down or stop, you get in its way. (After you've established you're the dominant one!)

Jim's entire system of riding is based on this and is probably the best kept secret in the horse world. His book doesn't actually outline what that is, there's a series of articles if you can find them, but his book is pretty wonderful in its own right. (Or, you could just hire me!)

An excellent little book outlining eight different methods for modifying behavior.

For the serious horseman, lots of insight into having productive relationships with horses.

This then evolved into go/go more/go less, which allows for the development of more sophistication. With this, we're looking for gears rather than "mash the gas!, mash the brakes!" By moving into her field, stepping out of it, adding in the hand movements and body movements, we begin the dance of communication. Is this enough? too much? What if I ask this way? What do you do? I'm looking for her to come back with: Is this what you want? What if I do this, what happens? I become a puzzle for her with obvious consistent answers that make sense in the horse scheme of life.

What is interesting is it only really took a few laps to get a prompt response. (?!)

Which, as I mentioned to a friend, I think I need to dig out my book and re-read the section on 'friendly' horses. I have noticed with the ones I have that there is a sort of delayed response. There's kind of this, 'yeah, yeah.... I'll get around to it. (never) (just make me)' It's a little bit like the scamp who gets out of things through charm. "Yeah, I didn't do what you asked, but I'm just so blasted cute, what are you going to do about it?" Kind of strange to think of this human thing in a horse, but one time someone randomly said 'o, so there are sociopath horses...' and after she explained her thinking, I was like, 'uh ... yeah, so apparently there are sociopath horses.' So maybe there's this other corollary.

And what's interesting about it is that there's kind of this subterfuge thing that can go with it when it's coupled with the fearful. I have another friendly horse that's friendly-aloof. These horses are nice but then they kind of just blow you off. Quietly. They become brick walls. They get labeled resistant, hard to motivate, etc. The friendly-fearful horses kind of lose their minds -- which is very dramatic and can be off-putting to say the least. Does anyone need to be on top of a crazed horse? no. But I think it's just to see if it's enough to put you off your game and leave them alone. Yes, there's some real fear in there, but it's not as much as they'd like you to believe. The friendly has them testing you to see if you'll forget the work and play, and the secondary lets you know what kid of scam they're going to run.

After go/go more/go less, we moved on to figure 8's which worked pretty well, too. The beauty of these is that they really solidify your position with the horse. And they're also really good for the horse's brain and body. The horse has to keep things moving, and moving allows things to sort themselves out.

Mia has a habit of turning to one side only - so in one direction that's to me, and in the other direction, that's away. In the beginning she was moving a little quicker than she was thinking. Then she started to pause ever so slightly and consider what she was doing. Then we got to a calm enough place she was waiting and responding.

So there's for sure a brain in there.

And then, for grins, when it was quitting time, she still hung out with me and followed me around.

A good day.