MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
Kai has been with a trainer (Kelby Farnsworth) for nine days as of our visit yesterday. Kai is coming along really well (as kind of expected!), but I see so much that I would not have thought of, or known how to navigate through, that Kelby does with her. Most importantly, I am pleased with the methodology. There is no force, no muscling through, or hardness of any sort. The horse has opportunity to think and process in her own time. And sometimes it is quite a long time.
Much of the time observing Kelby and Kai I cannot help but notice the ease (generally a not-forced smile on her face, with soft movements) that Kelby carries in training. It is reminiscent of when I first watched Bruno Gonzales (baroquegames.com) work with Zante. With him I sensed a true and very honest love for the horse. In either case it seems a desire to help the horse, and connect with the horse (i.e., communicate), as opposed to control (after this basic foundational work with Kelby I plan to return to training with Bruno bi-weekly). Also I have returned to reading Mark Rashid (various books on softness with horses, with much influence from his study of Aikido); and continue to read Horse Brain Human Brain by Janet Jones, Ph.D. It has given me additional info on how our brains differ, why they learn the way they do, and why they often react the way they do (especially to things that seem completely insignificant to us!). Kai's training has been good in this aspect... Kelby reinforces everything on both sides, both physically and mentally, especially making sure each eye is not only seeing, but connecting to her, at all times.
Just for fun I looked also at my book Is Your Horse a Rock Star? I LOVE this book and recommend it. I know enough about Kai now to place her personality/character type, and she is what author Dessa Hockley calls a "Steady Eddie". Out of 16 "personality types" as defined by her, Steady Eddie would be my second dream pick! So I am pretty happy that Kai seems indeed to be the horse I wanted (well, as close to that as one could ever hope for based on 4-5 photos and a 30-second video! If I had managed to adopt a so-called "Princess" [can be mare or gelding], well, I would have hit the lottery). This book appears similar to the Parelli "horsenality" thing, but is better and more sensical or realistic in my opinion: there are basically eight dominant types and eight submissive types... and you go from there as she describes them. With Zante (as a hard nut to crack for me), it helped immensely once I determined her type; I could then use the author's tips for the most ease and success in working with her.
In order to assess a horse accurately for this it is best to observe them in a herd situation. I really only had that opportunity at the Agricultural Pavilion in Ocala (the pick-up spot) where she was corralled with six other mares, within a huge arena with multiple corrals. But that short period gave me some useful info. The rest I based on her interactions with me, and by herself.
So I visited yesterday and watched Kelby work with her. Every day is a different day for horses, and for some reason Kai had trouble with her feet this day. The previous session, only two days prior, she allowed her hooves to be picked out with no problems, and Kelby said that she was great the day just before as well.... But, well, yesterday she worked with feet at the end of the session rather than the beginning. We all agreed Kai was tired at that point (mentally)... no doubt a contributing factor. She just could not give that right hind leg without skirting away and/or kicking.
She was also sensitive and grumpy about the rope work Kelby was doing. What a great exercise though. Kai revealed some sensitivity to things that at my place I never saw. And that is why I brought her there - to reveal any hidden stuff. As I have said before it can be very tempting with a horse this "easy" to think you are all set with things and move forward (..too quickly)... the common result of this can be someone getting hurt.
A video of some of the rope work. It was meant to be around the girth area but slipped back to the flank and butt, and Kai wasn't happy about it. I had done some of this at home and Kai was incredibly compliant, so I am glad to have Kelby go much more thoroughly into it as it revealed some stickiness and/or disagreement.
I admit I am not entirely clear on the particular goals of this other than obvious reasons of eventual saddling... and as said, I think it was a great exercise. I think that no matter which tool or aid you use, the end goals are the same: giving agreeably to pressure, keeping focus on the human and staying with them mentally, staying out of the human's space, staying relaxed and soft, and ultimately, maintaining balance throughout.
Balance can be seen as both physical and mental, and goes hand in hand with relaxation. Most (dressage) people look at collection as the ultimate goal, but it is deeply entwined with or reliant upon balance. Collection overall can be quite misunderstood or interpreted in different ways. I really enjoy Karen Rohlf's various discussions of collection and self-carriage (listen here, episodes 42, 152), among her many topics. As she says "everything comes from, and ends with, relaxation". For Bruno, it is balance that results in relaxation.
They are clearly all entwined and interdependent.
No comments:
Post a Comment