My journey so far with my complicated Right Brained Extrovert (a little bit nutty in English), with lots of other horsenality tendencies mixed in has been 'interesting' shall we say. Yet ever moving forward and thoroughly enjoyable, with a sprinkle or two of frustration added for full effect :0)
Jack is the name of my partner and we have been together for 6 years. He was a neglected sorry thing when I bought him. He had been rescued from a field standing knee deep in mud, quite literally starving to death.
I had a horse as a child but had my horse sold by my parents when I was 16 and I vowed never to ride again as I had my heart broken. However, the lure was too strong and after 15 years I started riding again thanks to my lovely husband Ian who booked me riding lessons (although I did tell him he would regret it!!)
After 3 years of lessons I started to look around for information about what horses were out there and the costs involved in keeping them. However my quest ended abruptly when I saw this bag of bones hiding in the back of a stable too scared to even look at me.
So on Xmas Eve, a very practical time of the year, Jack came into my life and changed it forever.
We didn't even have a headcollar to unload Jack from the lorry so I ran frantically around trying to get the minimal basic things for the Christmas period to see us through.
At this point in time I had never even heard of Parelli but had my own way with horses which had a close basis to being natural, putting them first and establishing a relationship. Jack had a lot of issues both psychologically and physically. I was not able to ride him due to his poor weight and muscle tone, so we went for walks to find the best piece of grass, and lots of time was spent just hanging out and working on getting to know each other.
In our first 5 months I thought I may lose Jack as he had several choke and colic episodes and my vet thought he may have the dreaded and often terminal grass sickness. Not to be though, it was just that his starved digestion couldn't cope with the new spring grass coming through and he had to have limited turn out. In time he got some weight on, and at last I could start riding.
Then the problems began! In walk he was fine and calm but as soon as trot commenced he would tense and bolt, not stopping until I came off. Through time and effort we managed to limit problems but he would still bolt. He was more relaxed on the trail but was very nappy and would rear and try to turn from home. I could never go out on my own and my confidence seeped away.
I knew I was in trouble. Jack got fitter and bigger. As a 5 yr old he grew from 14.3hh to just over 16hh, which was very unexpected (something to do with delayed growth due to lack of nutrition). He was never ever nasty and was still friendly on the ground but in the saddle he kept bolting and I kept falling. Every time I got on I was already scared and he knew it. I sought professional help and was told after once again he bolted with me that he was dangerous and I should sell him. We had been together 2 years and no way was I giving up now. He would meet me at the gate and was always pleased to see me and I would never sell him on to be treated badly again.
We made some progress forward but still had many problems. He was difficult with his feet, wouldn't tie up, had his own mind about lots of things and when he refused I couldn't change it, wouldn't lunge, and still bolted and reared when ridden. Then one day in my horse magazine I saw a Parelli advert. I decided to take a look at the website and requested a free dvd.
What I saw blew me away!!!!!! I knew I had to give it a try. So I contacted the Parelli office had a chat with a very helpful lady and bought a couple of DVD's from the Success Series (Horsenality and Seven Games), along with my trusty carrot stick and rope.
What must I have looked like waving my arms, wiggling my rope and stick all over the place. Jack thought I had gone mad, but something was happening. He was thinking. I could see something was working. I shelved the saddle for a few weeks and figured that I was going to get this right. His horsenality profile was quite extreme and all over the place at first, but started to show stronger in the LBE as time went by, or so I thought!
After our first 5 weeks we hit a problem. Jack started attacking me. My sweet little (or quite big) friend started lunging at me and attacking with front hooves when he hadn't shown a single bit of nastiness before. I was very concerned and after repeating this a few times I ran to my phone and called the Parelli office.
What was I told? He is asserting his herd position over you, you need to be a leader and be firm so he knows where he stands. So armed with some directions, with hat and gloves firmly in place I marched into the school. Lots of friendly, then tried the driving and porcupine and the ears went back and teeth came out. When I bopped Jack on the nose on Zone one you should have seen his face, it was an absolute picture. And I have never looked back.
You see, he thought he was the boss. He wasn't seeing me as his partner and he wanted to only go along with my decisions because he agreed with them. When he disagreed he did his own thing. He trusted that I wouldn't hurt him but that wasn't enough to break the circle and stop his difficult behaviours.
Jack is exceptionally clever. His lips go like mad processing information and I have to think, think, think to keep him interested. The good thing is I can match him. He is the star of the yard with all his tricks that he does and he loves playing with toys and moving his feet. So of course we do a lot of standing still just so he learns that too. He asks so many questions I just have to keep coming up with answers, and if I am not quick enough he will make up his own games to play which can be challenging.
I have now been doing Parelli for 3 years and Jack is now 11yrs, and we are level 4 on line and Level 2 Freestyle and Liberty. I laugh and smile every day and my 'dangerous' horse is like a little puppy! We hack out and he is steady, calm and often nannies young horses to give them confidence. He stands still (though he can be a fidget) for the farrier and ties up brilliantly. He will still challenge my leadership, but not fiercely, and I know how we work together to make a team. He canters to the gate and whinnies every time he sees me, even if we have been apart for 5 mins!!! If I sit with him in the field to read my book he will come and munch his grass by me and leave the herd. What a privilege!
I now wish to progress my liberty and riding. My confidence was severely knocked with his bolting but I can't remember the last time I felt nervous on his back now. We just love being together.
Thank you so much Parelli and I can't wait to see how my journey progresses. I have the full Success series, Levels,Liberty and Horse Behaviour and now the Patterns. I have aims to be even better and I would love to get to the dressage show I always dreamed of..........Jack is now ready, but I know I am not yet........so he is waiting for me, a true partner!
No comments:
Post a Comment