Hooves and 7 silly games

My hoofcare provider came out Tuesday. It had been 6 months and I was pretty worried about several aspects of Mara's hooves.

I needn't have worried, she said they look great, even better than last time. She said there's more concavity, no event lines, and no thrush. She said whatever I'm doing, I should keep doing. (Like I could control an event line? That's the pasture's thing.)









I was so happy to hear that I'd been doing fine. She said there's no such thing as perfection with hooves, and I shouldn't worry about a little flaring or high/low syndrome, I should just keep up with my conservative trimming.

She asked if I wanted her to do anything to the hooves, or just talk. I said, "Do something?" so for the next 15 minutes she made them beautiful, but didn't have to do much else (no nippers).

Mara was not perfect for her - she resisted a bit, trying to get her legs back, but this trimmer is so patient, so sweet, she just talks to the animal and comforts it until she relaxed again. She does the same with my donkey, saying, "Dear sweet daisy flower (Bellis Perennis, my donkey's full name, means daisy), be so kind and let me hold your hoof."

After she was done, she sat down and Mara refused to leave, even though I opened the gate to the pasture. Mara wanted to hang out with the lady and put her nose all over her clothing, which smelled like many other horses. The trimmer spent 45 minutes just hanging out with me, to my surprise, talking about horses, and talking to Mara.

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On to the games.

Since the Western trainer wants me to do the 7 Parelli games with Mara, I thought we could brush up on them. Mara already knows most of them, they're pretty simple. So I filled my pockets with treats, and found some sort of a carrot stick thing in the barn across the street.

Mara thinks it's really annoying that I hit the ground with a whip. She stood there, but she would flip her nose in the air a few times to say, "That's freaking annoying!" In fact, she's starting to reach out and take the whip in her mouth to stop that nonsense. Yes you get a treat for that.

She lets me flip the thing all over her body, coiling the lash around her belly and legs. No problem.

I can rub her all over with a plastic sack tied to the end of a lungewhip.

The circling game is just lunging with a NH rope, but you don't turn with the horse, the horse must circle you somewhat independently. That is the easiest game of all for Mara, because she prefers to trot rather than walk. We even did it at the canter a bit, just to see if we could.

The yo-yo game is silly, but I thought, heck, why not teach her another way to back up, even though she's very responsive to my slightest touch to back up on her nose or chest. You stand there and wiggle the rope back and forth, until you don't have to wiggle the rope anymore, you just wiggle your finger and the horse backs up as far as you'd like. The thing is, Parelli wants you to stand still while you do this, but my rope is too short and I want more steps. So eventually I'd start following her, walking toward her as she backed up, just to get more of the exercise. Then you reel the horse back in to you. Surprisingly, yesterday, before I even wiggled my finger she was backing up.

The hindquarter yielding Mara already knows from that American girl who helped me with Mara in 2013. But we did a refresher and by the end of the hour all I had to do was peer at her hip and she'd move it a step away from me.

I like the "air tapping" for the turn on the haunches. It is really effective, easier than the hindquarter yield. I mean, it was easier for Mara to keep her hind end planted and move the other around.

There is this fancy little trick we practiced today, where a horse walks or trots a figure 8 around two cones, with the handler standing to the side of the 8, holding still. (I think minus the cones it's called the sending game.) It took me a while to remember how to maneuver the horse through that, but as soon as I figured it out, Mara did it well. That one takes some finesse.

I also tried the sidepassing down the fenceline but that is the most difficult one of all. I'll have to have the trainers work with Mara on that.

Throughout the day she kept offering the Spanish walk. I'd ask her to back up, for example, and she'd throw a leg up and stomp the ground. I cracked up every time.

She's still getting the hang of adding forward movement to the Spanish walk - I only ask for 3 consecutive steps, but it's pretty difficult. She still sees the walk as a "stand and stomp" movement. No, it's a walk and lift movement Mara. She's getting it.

Finally I wanted to see if we could do that thing where you run with the horse and then slam to a stop and the horse stops with you. Well, that was easy. We do that (at a walk) everytime I take her for a walk. Also, she knows Ho.

All the treats were gone, so we had to quit. I have to admit, it was fun.

When I was done I was leaning down in front of her for some reason and she put her nose in my hair and kept it there. Nice.


Once a horse respects space, responds to subtle body language and subtle gestures, I don't see a need for contining the games as an end to themselves.

But it was kind of fun, and Mara was never stressed....except when I hit the ground with the whip.

"How strange for you to expect the ground to move for you!" she seemed to say.


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Random photos:






I can't put up Christmas lights this month, but I can put out candles.



My favorite manmade food. The cheese ones, not the American flavored ones. Hm, tastes like American!