Cisco is officially a genius! Here, he is doing flying change while being ridden bridle less by is loving but totally ignorant partner (me) : http://www.youtube.com/user/izagreenfield?feature=mhee#p/a/u/0/ulG7rR5q8Qs
OMG! Last night at 5am I could sleep because it was very stormy and I was playing the video we had filmed at the week end, in my mind and I had BFO: Cisco has been doing flying changes and I hadn't even realised! What on Earth is wrong with me! You'll see in the video at one stage he is disunited in his canter and I was aware of that but he is so well balance that I hadn't even realised that we were doing counter canter and I had missed the flying changes! And there I was wondering how I was going to start teaching him flying changes! LOL. I just would like to crawl in hole right now!
Now why is he doing counter canter is another question that I can't answer. I am pretty sure that we ride in hackamore he canters in the right foot. I really need to get a lot better very quickly with this little horse of mine. He is so talented and amazing and I feel like a complete moron!
Monday, June 13, 2011
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Another BFO!
My brain must be hyper active at the moment, all those BFOs happening!
When I meet people, before I get to know them, I usually have a pretty fair assessment of them and my instinct is often right, but then as I get to know them and develop relationships, emotions often cloud my judgment. I am a LBE cusp RBE so it must be the RBE side of me!
What I have just realised is that I do the same with horses! How funny is that!
When I first got Cisco I immediately assessed him as a LBE but as we got to know each other and I fell in love with him, he became my little LBI so I spoiled him with treats and incentive! He had me running around at the end of the 22 feet line while he was standing at the middle! LOL
The reality is somewhere in between of course, just as it is with human. He is indeed a LBE as I had thought but cusp LBI!
When I meet people, before I get to know them, I usually have a pretty fair assessment of them and my instinct is often right, but then as I get to know them and develop relationships, emotions often cloud my judgment. I am a LBE cusp RBE so it must be the RBE side of me!
What I have just realised is that I do the same with horses! How funny is that!
When I first got Cisco I immediately assessed him as a LBE but as we got to know each other and I fell in love with him, he became my little LBI so I spoiled him with treats and incentive! He had me running around at the end of the 22 feet line while he was standing at the middle! LOL
The reality is somewhere in between of course, just as it is with human. He is indeed a LBE as I had thought but cusp LBI!
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Is my horse a LBE cusp LBI or a LBI cusp LBE and what does it matter?
I got Cisco nearly a year ago and I feel I know him pretty well. He loves food, doesn't like running very far and when he licks his lips his tongue stays in his mouth. So he must be a LBI. But wait a minute, he also loves putting everything in his mouth and can be quite wilful. Okay, so he is cusp LBE.
Well anyway, that was my diagnostic and I stuck with it and decided that I would treat Cisco like a Left Brain Introvert. Lots of incentive, go as slow or slower than your horse wants, don't push him...This worked more or less well while Cisco was in his 3rd year but then things started being not as good. Nothing dreadful, but I felt that he was loosing respect for me. He didn't come and meet me at the gate as willingly. He was doing less and less and I was doing more and more. Very much like having a teenager in the house, sleeping in till midday and spending every day light hour eating not cleaning up after himself. Horses are such good human trainers! and Cisco had trained me perfectly!
Rather than waiting for things to get worse, I ordered my horsenality report. The computer said:
"Cisco is a LBE cusp LBI" Surely, I know my horse better than a computer program and I must be right! This was my initial reaction. Well, I am a LBE cusp RBE so I know better!
Fast forward a couple of weeks. After reading and re-reading the report, I started seeing a pattern emerging. Actually, yes Cisco was perhaps more LBE than LBI! Maybe I was wrong!
So I started treating him like a LBE. I paid a lot more attention to what he was doing and realised that he had been challenging my leadership in very subtle ways time and time again and I had done nothing about it because I didn't want to upset my 500 Kg baby! In horse world, everything means something but I had been too blind with love for my horse to see it! And the results? We have so much more fun! and Cisco is now offering to do things that we have struggled with for months such as figure of 8 or canter circles.
As for my humanility match report? I am not going to reveal all my secrets right now, but let's say that it was amazing and a little spooky to read about myself in such details!
Well anyway, that was my diagnostic and I stuck with it and decided that I would treat Cisco like a Left Brain Introvert. Lots of incentive, go as slow or slower than your horse wants, don't push him...This worked more or less well while Cisco was in his 3rd year but then things started being not as good. Nothing dreadful, but I felt that he was loosing respect for me. He didn't come and meet me at the gate as willingly. He was doing less and less and I was doing more and more. Very much like having a teenager in the house, sleeping in till midday and spending every day light hour eating not cleaning up after himself. Horses are such good human trainers! and Cisco had trained me perfectly!
Rather than waiting for things to get worse, I ordered my horsenality report. The computer said:
"Cisco is a LBE cusp LBI" Surely, I know my horse better than a computer program and I must be right! This was my initial reaction. Well, I am a LBE cusp RBE so I know better!
Fast forward a couple of weeks. After reading and re-reading the report, I started seeing a pattern emerging. Actually, yes Cisco was perhaps more LBE than LBI! Maybe I was wrong!
So I started treating him like a LBE. I paid a lot more attention to what he was doing and realised that he had been challenging my leadership in very subtle ways time and time again and I had done nothing about it because I didn't want to upset my 500 Kg baby! In horse world, everything means something but I had been too blind with love for my horse to see it! And the results? We have so much more fun! and Cisco is now offering to do things that we have struggled with for months such as figure of 8 or canter circles.
As for my humanility match report? I am not going to reveal all my secrets right now, but let's say that it was amazing and a little spooky to read about myself in such details!
From Natural Horsemanship to Natural Bee Keeping!
I have a couple of hives at the bottom of the garden. I've kind of inherited them but the thing is: I'm dead scared of bees!
Today I had to rob my hives and had a few "Oh Boys!" moments. First of all, the Queen had decided to move in "upstairs"in the boxes where normally there is only honey. This meant that the whole hive had to be taken apart and reassembled. So, rather than the fairly straight forward process, which although still a bit scary, I have learn to deal with, I ended up with a whole hive of bees flying around and wondering what on Earth was happening to them. I started feeling more and more anxious and bees like most wild animals react to fear and not in a positive way! I normally sing gently to soothe them as much as me but this afternoon, my throat was dry with fear.
My first thought was: "What would I do if it was a horse?" Approach and Retreat, of course. So I moved back and retreated to the safety of the bushes till I felt calm enough. Each time my fear crept back, I walked backward. It was very much like playing the yoyo game except that I was the horse! By the time I had finished with both hives I was calm and composed and actually in the moment enjoying the peaceful hum of my little workers who had settled down by then. This is the first time in 3 years of bee keeping that I got to that level of peace and serenity working the hive!
My point is that I have reached the place where; whenever something unsettling comes my way, my instant reaction is to turn back to my horsemanship. The question is simple: "What if it was a horse?" and the answer always comes straight to my mind.
My first thought was: "What would I do if it was a horse?" Approach and Retreat, of course. So I moved back and retreated to the safety of the bushes till I felt calm enough. Each time my fear crept back, I walked backward. It was very much like playing the yoyo game except that I was the horse! By the time I had finished with both hives I was calm and composed and actually in the moment enjoying the peaceful hum of my little workers who had settled down by then. This is the first time in 3 years of bee keeping that I got to that level of peace and serenity working the hive!
My point is that I have reached the place where; whenever something unsettling comes my way, my instant reaction is to turn back to my horsemanship. The question is simple: "What if it was a horse?" and the answer always comes straight to my mind.
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