My horse is a teacher/ Tough Love

I don't know how many of you actually like these posts, but I know Alyssa does so they are not in vain. ;)

We have a foal. He was born a few weeks ago right after Youth Group. Then we leased a gelding. He does not like the baby and will charge him. So our herd of five decided since he doesn't like their baby, they don't like him.
It's actually pretty cute, sometimes Leo (the new horse) would charge Jesse (the baby) but Dusty is like Jesse's body-guard and will keep Leo away. Seeing as Dusty is all buff and handsome I think it's funny.
I don't really think the other horses dislike Leo, but they are trying to get a point across, they will not tolerate him being mean to their baby. And why should they? He has absolutely no right. Jesse never did anything to him.
I love how the others stick up to him though. They let him come close-ish, but if he gets too close to the baby they drive him away. They don't hurt him, they don't nag. They just tell him, they're not taking any funny business.
And Leo is getting better. He's not as mean to the baby anymore, although he still nice, and he still charges, he doesn't do it as often.

So what's the lesson here for humans? We nag too much. Or we take too much bullying. Oh it's normal. They'll get over it. They're just doing what they were made to do.
It's should not be normal. That person, animal or whatever won't ever completely get over it. And nobody was made to be mean. We where made to give God glory and enjoy him forever. Does bullying sound like glorying God?
With the nagging. Have you ever heard the moms and dads who go, 'if you don't stop now I'll' or 'that hurts my feelings' or 'don't make me count to three'. Everyone knows they don't mean it.

And the last thing is, stick up for those who are being treated unkindly. :)

Brookie

P.S. I'll share some pictures soon.

My horse is a teacher/ guest post with Alyssa

 Hello all! I am back, guest blogging for my second time!  

Okay, so I happen to love horses. I own two miniature horses named Rosie and Half Pint, and am going to “upgrade” to a bigger horse this year. 

Alyssa and Rosie

 

When I got the two miniature horses last year, I noticed that one (Rosie) would spook and shy frequently. She is/was at the age of ten, and only knew some basic ground work. The other mini, Half Pint aka “Haffy” was/is 20 years old but drove a cart and had shown very frequently  when she was younger.  Because Half Pint knew so much, I bonded to her quickly, and Rosie was usually by herself. Rosie got to looking very sad, and so I started to teach her ground driving. I had some help from her former owner. But she would get very insecure and bolt at any noise while in the harness, and was also very worried about a human controlling her from behind her. When she would shy, I would get frustrated, and because I didn’t want her to reflect my attitude, I would put her away into her stall and try to teach her the thing I wanted her to know the next day. But I knew that something had to be done so that we could have a bond.                                                                                                                               So, Mrs. June (My trainer who owns a stunning Haflinger and has bred and trained horses for over 50 years), called Mrs. Tia Jones, a 3^rd (working on 4^th) level Pat Parelli trainer. She came out to my house and told me (after watching me and Rosie work together for a while) that Rosie wanted for me to be her leader, but she was scared of me because I was/am very extroverted and Rosie was/is introverted, therefore she didn’t know whether to trust me or not, because my movements were “loud” and “scary.” (Taking longer steps, quickly rubbing her, talking loudly etc).                                                                                                                                                               She didn’t have her human leader because she didn’t know if I was or wasn’t going to hurt her, and that was why she was always spooky. To help fix this issue, Mrs. Tia told me to stroke her softly, walking slowly, and when Rosie looked at me, to back away.                                                                                                                                       When Rosie realized that she could “control” me, her confidence got back up. I was so happy to have Rosie actually “accepting” me!

But I was a long way away from that actual bond. So I decided to do trick training. Trick training (with treat rewards) makes introverted horses more extroverted.  So I started with something very basic: stepping up on a wooden platform. Rosie learned quickly, and soon she was bowing, rearing, stepping on picnic tables, and smiling. She also became much more comfortable with ground driving, and is now ready for the cart to be placed on her. During this, we have formed an incredible bond and I hope that it will last forever.

Bowing

Working with Rosie has taught me patience, diligence, and most of all, I no longer get upset when a horse doesn’t learn the first time I ask them to do something.

Two weeks ago Rosie chomped on my fingers. Hard. I was trick training her then, and she thought I had treats in my hand so she bit down. I was in a lot of pain, but I walked around the round pen so that I wouldn’t get upset. Rosie followed me and then when I stopped she came up and nudged me on my leg. I was so happy!! 

Rearing

 

Another good thing is that before the bond I couldn’t get Rosie to do the Monty Roberts “Join up.”  Well last month I decided to try again. It worked! She came over to me and sniffed the back of my neck (I was sitting down). Then she stayed right next to me! I was so happy!

 

I love Rosie, and I hope that we both have a bond that will last forever. J

 
~Alyssa

Thanks Alyssa! I'm glad you and Rosie are finally getting along. :)

 

 

My horse is a teacher #2/Trust

My horse has taught me something new this week, just in time for Alyssa's request. :)

The first time someone tried to hop on Dusty bareback he bucked them off and broke a few ribs. Yeah, ouch and oops. That person was my horse lover aunt. Yeah, double oops. Luckily she's horse knowledgeable, so she didn't get angry with him. That was last June. (She is better now)



Just took this! Isn't my boy adorable?

So this past week I've been working with him on that. Needless to say the first time I started to get up I about had a heart-attack. I slowly and painfully inched my foot over his back, then even more slowly sat up. Every time I moved slightly his head would come up, which for those of you who don't know horses, that means he was freaking out. So I would bend his head. Which lessens the tension in his poll. Which is right behind his ears. It would be the point you rub on the back of your neck when you have a head-ache. (Like mine at the moment)

Okay to make clear what I've just told you:

If you are freaking out, you will tense up. Which means you are ready to either make a break for it or fight. If you want your horse to calm down when he is scared, you make it so he is not tense. With a horse to do this you either 1) bend his neck or 2) disengage. It makes them stretch, and we all know that stretching is a tension reliever. 

So I was finally able to sit straight up on him, in the right position. After two days of work. 

Let me tell you it was like sitting at the top of Pike's Peak after only taking a few short hours of climbing. Pike's Peak is 14,115 ft. above sea level. I live within sight of it and can tell you it is no small mountain.

After coming inside thrilled, I thought some about what I had just witnessed. I realized that we had just shown each other complete trust. He trusted me not to eat him while I was on his back. And I trusted him not to take off on me like he already has five other times.
That was a lot of trust. Humans are predators and horses are prey. Their eyes are on the sides of their heads, ours in the front. They know it, we know it.

Then I thought, what if we trusted God like that? Let him sit up on top, in the control zone, and let him lead us? What if we trusted him not to take advantage of his powerful position? What if we didn't try to take flight or fight? We would have such a greater relationship with him if we would. Dusty trusts me more than he does any other human on this planet.

God doesn't want to hurt us anymore than I want to hurt Dusty. He just wants to teach how to be the best that we can be. We just need to let him take control without bucking him off first.

Writing this out has really helped me understand this even more fully. And I hope that you guys got something out of it. :)

Brookie

My horse is a teacher #1

Three more followers people, till we can do the contests!! Thanks everyone who's joined so far. :)

So I've decided that I'm not only going to do writing posts anymore, but also some others. Don't worry, I will still send out my feeble attempts at the writing posts.

So I'm starting a series, I don't know how long it will go on for, called My Horse is a Teacher.

My horse is a teacher: keeping on keeping on, take one. And action!

First I'll tell you a bit about my horsie. His name is Duals Desperado, his granddaddy is Shinning Spark, and daddy is Dual Spark, if anyone cares to know, they are famous Quarter Horses. I just call my gelding (a fixed (gelded) boy horse) Dusty. This is him below in the picture. He is going to be five. He is a chicken, who has dumped me four times, and almost dumped me 1-million times.



Yes he is a bit fat. We've been working on that. ;)



One of the biggest things he has taught me is to not give up. If I didn't keep him after falling off the second time, I would have gotten an easier horse. One that knew the tricks and all I would have to do is hold on and press the buttons. And that's not a bad thing. But when you want to become good at something you don't take the easy way. You push yourself. You fall off that horse two more times till you can stay on. I know if I had sold Dusty like we we're thinking about doing after I got a concussion after my second fall I would still be an beginner. But instead, Dusty and I are now a great team, Dusty isn't nearly as scared as he used to be, I also have more confidence, and I have a lot more experience in one year than I would have if I had gotten an easy horse. Heck, our trainer even says I have a gift with timing. (Not to brag)

I'm giving lessons, and I am training Dusty and our filly Allie. I give all the credit to God first then Dusty. :) 

Have you learned the perseverance lesson yet? How did you learn it?

Brookie