Footwork pattern for the Respect Dance: Two steps forward – into my personal space. Four steps backward – get the hell out of my personal space, done in double-time. Rodney never needs this. It would be good if he did. He might be happier if he had the confidence to test his boundaries occasionally. OnContinue reading “The Respect Dance”
Category Archives: Horse Behavior
Gold Stars All Around
Milton Trailered over to Stepping Stone Farm. Longed in covered arena. Came home. Easy-peasy. Rodney Has grasped the concept of couch. For those of you who don’t ride, couch is a complex maneuver wherein the rider and groundcrew converse while the horse impersonates a piece of living room furniture. For those of you who doContinue reading “Gold Stars All Around”
Variables
Why are we certain that feed [Comparison] was the reason Milton was NQR [Cups!]? The improvement could have come from many avenues: different hay, warmer weather, a change in routine of which we aren’t even aware. So why are we so sure? Because we screwed up. I mean, beyond the baseline error of misfeeding theContinue reading “Variables”
Meanwhile Back at the Ranch: Current Work
Every wary of the jinx monster, I hesitate to say too much. Rodney Rodney is enjoying his easy lessons and coping with his hard ones. Hard being a relative term here. He is relaxing into the warm weather faster than we had hoped. Milton After a winter of Mr. Hyde, we are having a wonderfulContinue reading “Meanwhile Back at the Ranch: Current Work”
In Defense of Caesar
Silhouette by Judith Housel I blog a lot of smack about Previous Horse, aka Caesar, show name Seize The Day: He was a cranky, opinionated PIA. Caesar only ever loved Caesar. He cared not a whit if I fell off. [Dreary Monday] or Previous Horse was the most stubborn being I have ever met. WhenContinue reading “In Defense of Caesar”
Take-Away Message
Milton continues to transform back into the lovely horse I met in Lexington [Logistics: Shipping]. His ears are up. His coat is glossy. His topline is less hunched. He lets us pick out his back feet without attempting to kick. It’s amazing how good life is when you don’t ache all over [Clean Cups!]. Oddly,Continue reading “Take-Away Message”
The Power of Narrative
“We are Pan narrans, the storytelling ape.” The Science of Discworld II: The Globe by Terry Pratchett, Ian Stewart, Jack Cohen [Elbury 2002] Wiki.lspace.org: Narrativium Milton is impatient. After one or two trips through a new exercise, his response is ‘Yeah, Yeah, I got this.’ Sometimes we change the exercise to keep him challenged. SometimesContinue reading “The Power of Narrative”
Virtual Brush Box 