What a day.
Fancy is a strong minded filly. She has no hesitation at all to invading your space, stepping on you or walking away to investigate something much more interesting than me. We have been working on eliminating these concepts beginning the our first day together, nearly a year ago. At this time, she is to stay with me and not move a foot unless I give it permission. We walk in unison. We stop at the same time. Her head does not get in front of my body. We stop in unison. I sit or stand in front of her, facing her. She must stay a distance away where she cannot bite or nibble any of my own personal body parts. Her feet are not to move forward without permission. She is to back up where she can’t nibble on me and be “ground tied”.
Fancy will back up but it’s been difficult for her to give up her power. I flick my eyes to something in the arena and her foot moves forward. Or her neck swings to the side and she steps forward and to the side. I return her feet back to where she was “fastened to the ground”. This could take a few seconds or minutes of arguing. This partnership concept must always be adhered to or she will be able to nibble/bite my body or walk away from me. She made it out of the arena today while she was standing at liberty close to the door to the stalls. Fancy went into the first empty stall expecting food to be in the bucket. We argued about her coming to me in the stall. She gave up and came to me. We went back in the arena.
My goal is to make Fancy a partner. Fancy’s goal might be the same. Horses want a leader. Fancy needs a very powerful leader at the present time. She has to give up much of her power and authority. She has to give up being my boss.
Fancy is a strong-minded left-brained extrovert. She is a filly. She was not raised in a herd situation. She had no boss mare or gelding to boss her around. She got to make her own decisions. She has heat cycles that can warm up the arctic and water the arena. The combination makes a formidable equine.
I need your pity. Just kidding, Fancy is a glorious horse with athletic talent, beauty and smart brain! I am so lucky to have her.
Humans should not keep treats in a pocket with a horse like Fancy. She will smell the treats and eat your body trying to get at the treats. However, for a willful horse, treats are a great motivator. I have a stash of hidden treats in the arena. (She knows where the treats are. It’s tough to keep it a secret.) Today, I took my eyes off her for exactly one millionth second. Her mouth made it to the hidden hanging treasure and grabbed the plastic bag. She pulled. The plastic bag containing the treat bag exploded. Many treats are awaiting finders in the arena right now. I took the treat bag away from her. It still had treats in it! I hid it on a ledge on the arena rail. heh heh heh
This week is the start of free style which means little or nothing on her head. Two days ago, I rode on the rail without anything on her head. She was head-naked. That is was the prior story two days ago. Yesterday was a ground game day as it was 26 degrees again. I start thinking it’s just too cold to ride.
Today we started the Question Box Pattern. It is a small marked rectangle between two marked (by cone or barrels) figure eight circles. The Question Box is where the rider decides which direction, which gait, stop or transition. Fancy and I started this today with her wearing a halter with the 12′ lead rope. I had the neck string on. She is not aware of the meaning of the word neck rein. The string should be a signal to turn, stop or back. Sadly, my string kept getting untied while Fancy and I were arguing about going around the circle. I switched to the horsemanship stick to help guide her. What the finished Fancy horse product will do is go anywhere my shoulders and belly button point at what ever speed or stop my body language asks. Fancy has a faint glimmer of understanding about this. However, her understanding doesn’t mean that she will follow my directions. Heck No!
Yes, there was much arguing, resistance to my cues. The temperature had gone up to a giddy 36 degrees and I was only wearing three layers on top and two mild winter layers on the bottom. I was so excited about the Question Box Pattern plan for the day, I forgot to put on my 4th layer, the coat. Our ground play warms every part of my body, but when I mounted Fancy and rode a few steps, the cold seeped into my body fat. After five minutes of arguing about which direction to go, all my body parts warmed up. I never felt the cold until I got off.
Whenever Fancy made it around one circle in a somewhat decent manner, we stopped in the Question Box with a verbal, “Good Girl Fancy”. We then walked to the hidden treat bag where she got the reward. Of course then she had a reason to ignore my circle request because she wanted to go find the hidden treat bag.
What fun we had today. I asked for a speed faster than a walk on our Question Box Pattern. She argued about that request briefly and went at a fox trot. My ability to slow her down to a flat foot walk is non existent at this point. We have a few seconds of relaxed speed before the next argument about direction occurs. I can get her to stop when I want. Stopping is a wonderful act of safety for me. My riding skills became much better as I became a more confident rider. When Fancy followed my non verbal directions, my body relaxed and had much fun.
We stopped and dismounted. I rubbed on her for a while. We went to disrobe. We have just started to disrobe without Fancy being tied up. A partner would stand still while her saddle was being made ready to exit from her back. A partner would not try to stick her head in the tack room to root in a feed sack while the human is encumbered with a nearly 40 lb saddle and saddle pad. There are many lessons during the time Fancy and I spend together!
I had a lot of fun today. This is a journey! I’ve been thinking of a suitable nickname for Fancy. I have come up with FANCY FIERCE!