I really enjoyed the clinic, you were right. But I won't be taking Mag.
Her barn is really cool - one of those places where the house and barn are the same building (I want!).
I thought I might see people I knew from the Wuppertal barn and I was right! To my delight, the first person I saw was Angela, a new-to-horses friend from this Winter. It was so nice to have someone to talk to, and get an update on where she is with her riding on her lease horse, the Paint named Blue. Since she fell off this Winter she never rides alone, but with Katja's help is coming along. I know Blue, he's not easy, so I was curious what he'd do when it was her turn.
Chinook was also there, you remember the buckskin pinto whose owner Maren helped me a lot on trail. Also if you recall Angela and Maren came to visit me all the way out here in Carpathia shortly after I brought Mag home. Who would be working with Chinook?
Jana! She showed up and I was so happy, she's the girl who leases Chinook. She's also a student at my husband's high school, and will be in his math class next year. J always tells me when he runs into her and they chat. It's somehow no longer a secret at this school that J is a horse owner. You've seen her also in my blog. She's very, very advanced in groundwork and circus and liberty stuff. I said, "Happy Summer break!" cuz it's the first day of vacation for Jana and J. Then, "Hey, glad you're here, I can't wait to see what you and Chinook can do, you're so advanced."
Well, I was wrong about everything.
After watching the mares' session, I was excited to see the geldings.
I should add that as soon as Katja noticed me standing there in my non-horsey clothes, she said, "Hi 'word that is not quite my name cuz Germans cannot say my name'!" Every single person there turned to stare at me for a moment, wondering who I was (though I was to learn later, they should know cuz they all have WhatsApp.)
Leichtsinnig: They put all 7 geldings together in the arena and turned them loose to get to know each other before the work began. Seriously, these horses had never met! I cringed in my seat, and said to the girl next to me, "I would never be able to turn my horse loose with 6 other strange horses!" (In a 20X40 arena!) Some of them had shoes all around. The girl replied to me, "If you are calm, nothing bad will happen." Well, I was not calm, and Mag was safe at home! I was worried about everyone in there, horses and ladies.
And I was right. Katja's elderly QH attacked Chinook, double-barreling him! Poor Chinook ran to Blue for comfort. Then Blue attacked a Haflinger, also double-barreling him! This was bad because the horses scattered and almost ran over the ladies standing in the arena and they all had to wave their arms/whips to protect themselves!
Then Katja's German Shepherd tried to bite one of the horses in the nose, and then another horse. The owner of one of them ran after the dog, chasing it away angrily. I would have done the same. Keep your teeth off my horse! I quickly learned the GSD's name, "Friedrich" because so many people yelled FRIEDRICH! to scold him throughout the day. As much as I love GSDs, I was disgusted by his behavior. Everytime hikers would cross over the field road, he'd go harass them.
As you know, liberty is about getting a horse to stay with you even though they can wander off and eat or play with other horses. So it was fun to watch as people continually lost their horses. Not just the other horses were interesting, the other people in the ring were also worth investigating, probably cuz every one of them had a little bag of treats. So much temptation!
But Blue stayed with Angela nearly consistently, and I realized Blue was insecure, and felt best when with a familiar person. Chinook, the advanced circus horse, was running around the place like a goofball, saying hi to everyone, eating the trees, and poor Jana was so embarrassed as she walked after him to try to get him back. Chinook is only 6, and it was all just too exciting for him to stay focused.
It was wonderful to see the horses who were focused. Their people would simply raise their energy while walking, and the horses would trot beside them. One even cantered as the person just walked, it was gorgeous. I've started this lesson with Mag but I've only gone a few steps before rewarding him, these people were making laps. SO pretty.
Then they'd do it from the other side, and then they'd whirl around and peer at the hindquarters to get the horse to yield and either stop or continue. And inevitably, the horses would say, "Enough" and leave. I found it interesting that such "easy" work was challenging enough that the horses needed mental breaks.
Leichtsinnig: Every person was asked to sit on the ground, cross-legged, in front of their horses. WTH. Just as I always ride with a helmet, I make a habit of never sitting on the ground by/in front of a horse. Is this a Parelli thing? You know how he said, "If your horse is trained, you don't need a helmet?" I don't care how trained my horse is, I'm not sitting on the ground in front of him. Not even Baasha (though I did sleep in his stall with him when I was 20 and leichtsinning...but sleeping in a stall with a horse is safer than sitting on the ground in front of a horse, IMO). In one photo from her website, a lady is sitting underneath her horse.
I liked the music, she had really great background music. Katja's a hippy. I liked the people, they were definitely showing the silly side of Germans. 3 of them had wild-colored dyed hair, some had tattoos (rare in Germany). 2 of them smoked e-cigs, including Katja herself. 2 people tried to share their snacks with me. All of them wore black tshirts that said, "Camp Liberty 2017."
Best of all no one got upset with their horses, even when they'd run off and do their own thing. Or maybe they're just really practiced at hiding their annoyance. Most of them would just laugh. Katja has developed a very peaceful learning environment for her students.
She expressed how she does not approve of people who lead their horses with the horse following, because the horse is not truly "with" the person, and that might have been aimed at me, cuz that's how I lead. I want my horse behind me cuz I'm the leader, and I feel safer there. She wants more of a relationship of equals with her horses. Guess I'm a control freak that I want my horse under my control, and never vice-versa, *lol* When a horse proves itself reliable, the horse can make choices that I'll go along with.
At one point Katja said to me, "If you like, 'name-that-is-not-quite-mine', you can come into the ring and stand with me so you can hear better." That was nice. Later she asked me if I had any questions. No, I am shy in groups, Katja's never seen me so silent!
I liked that the first step of the lesson is to have your horse stand still, and then cuddle it and scratch it for several minutes. Then you walk around your horse and it should stay, and then you dance/prance/jump around it and it should stay. All the horses excelled at this standing there thing, none of the horses were hotbloods: )
So blogland, would you have turned your horse free with 7 unfamiliar horses and then proceeded to do at-liberty work with the group? Can you tell me what the value is of sitting on the ground in front of your horse?
And one thing I've wondered a long time about Parelli stuff (and saw today on one horse) - why do some horses doing liberty work pin their ears continually? The lady next to me said, "Concentration" but that's just ugly.
I enjoyed myself enough that I think I'll go back tomorrow, and try not to forget my camera!
Oh, speaking of photos, Angela said, "Hey, I saw you rode bareback a couple weeks ago."
Huh?
"Katja posted photos of your lesson in the woods on our WhatsApp group."
Aha.
Tonight they will have stick bread on the camp fire (Germans have a tradition of putting bread dough on a stick and cooking it over a fire. I've never tried it and have always wanted to). They will camp either outside or in the barn, where Angela slept last night. Sounds fun, but buggy.
The 3-day clinic cost only 100Euros to students or boarders at Katja'as place, 250E for outsiders. Food is not provided, but I saw a mountain of food and snacks in the barn's kitchen, cuz everyone brought food for everyone. I just wanted a coffee, cuz I was freezing. It was about 65F out, in the shade on the hilltop, there was a steady wind. On any other day I would have been completely comfortable, but since I'm just now recovering from a cold, my fingers were tingling and not-so-useful. Everyone else had a jacket on or a blanket, or stood in the sun. I hope I didn't stall my recovery by sitting in the wind for hours today.
At 2:30 I said Tschuess to Angela, and told her I'd be back tomorrow. With a coat, if it's gonna be that cool. The best part was, no horseflies! Otherwise this clinic would not have worked at all.
I came home to Mag and hugged him and scratched his itchy neck and said, "You would have been the most beautiful horse there. But you would have also have been the very worst!" No way would he have stayed with me with things to do, people to see all around him! But I know his attention span would have lasted longer than average, due to his need to please. So in some ways he would have excelled. I am so curious to see if I'm right, when I finally try it with him.
Update: I just found this from her website and (well, and I'm there too!) but this lady and her gorgeous PRE horse were there today, and very, very good. But I still don't advocate this kind of .....
Leichtsinnigkeit:
10 comments:
I do all kinds of stupid things with my horse (as you know), including sitting on the ground near her. Fee and I are both comfortable with it because the very first thing I had to teach her was "YOU ARE BIG AND I AM SMALL SO YOU MUST WATCH OUT FOR ME!" because I became the human equivalent of a rabid biting horsefly if she invaded my space in those early days. It's her job to be careful of me, and she totally understands that. I don't think the ground sitting teaches anything; rather, it shows off something that has been taught.
And yes, I've crawled under her many times (usually with the cold laser) and it's her job to make sure she doesn't squash me. This may be easier with mares? I can't help thinking that mares are designed by god to keep track of little things, like foals.
And no: no way would I turn my mare loose with a big group with no introduction. Not a chance. I don't know if she would kick or be kicked, but kicking would definitely happen.
Ears back: Fee holds her ears back when she's thinking. It's not the same as pinning her ears, when she does that, her ears are slammed back against her head and she looks like a snake, very evil. Looks totally different.
Hey Aarene, thank you for your ideas. Does Fiddle pin her ears in trot outs? I've seen horses do that too. Not sure why, except that they are resentful for the unnecessary expenditure of energy. I remember hearing the same about Blue Hors Matine, the dressage mare who charmed the world with her movements, but thrashed her tail the entire time, and people said, "It's concentration" but sadly, in dressage, they don't count it as concentration. Although....I can almost see it, she was brilliant. It makes sense why QH people nerve the tails to keep them quiet. No concentration, not that way!
I know your rabid horsefly attack scheme. I've seen it. But you also taught my sister's kids to protect themselves around Fiddle. That was cool - do you know, they will meet Mag for the first time in 6 weeks?: )
Mares are, as I told Kati lately, way more interested in the protection of life, their own, and..yah...my example was when Princess Buttercup was in a group down the endurance/cmo trail (I forget) and suddenly she left the group, left the trail, on a mission of her own. At the end of her mission was a creek, and she drank. She wanted a drink that was not on the map. I was floored, what a great horse, to take care of herself. Mares can be awesome while geldings will kip themselves over cliffs to keep up with whatever is in the lead.
It sounds dangerous to me.
No way would I allow a horse loose like that. In fact when I had Camryn still, we were at neighbors arena, I believe I blogged about it. 5 geldings and Camryn, two geldings knew each other well. The others not, one was known to be aggressive to others (though I was the only one not aware of this) One of the women suggested letting them all loose together. I told her "let me know before you do this, I'll be leaving!" They were all "why?" I said "SERIOUSLY, ! I have the only mare,. I don't need a reason!" Neighbor had been outside, came in, heard what had been planned and vetoed it. They did allow one horse loose at a time, of course every damn gelding headed my way! Johny felt my whip too. I didn't allow Camryn loose. As far as sitting near a loose horse, I did so with Camryn, she'd snorkel me a bit then go on eating.
It does sound like an interesting class to watch.
hahaha, at Renegade somebody commented on Fiddle's ears back for the trot out, and the vet said "if that mare doesn't put her ears back, there's something wrong." She thinks trot outs are a competition, and she means to WIN. Which, apparently, means she needs to put her ears back. Sigh.
My gelding would've been mortified if I had let him run around with strange horses!
As for sitting in front of him, I didn't have an issue with that. He came from an abusive background, so seeing me in a vulnerable spot helped him relax and trust me. Not once did he try to push his limits. But that was him. Not every horse is going to respect your space.
One of the reasons I appreciate your blog so much is that you do not have Majikal thinking about horses. You are not afraid to sit in front of your horse. You are afraid of the "what if" reality of putting yourself in a vulnerable position close to the hooves of a creature that no matter how "good" they might seem, is ultimately unpredictable. I never expected to be an equal with my horse. Nor am I an equal with my dogs. My relationship is based on who they are as creatures, and that is how I love them and relate to them and know what to expect from them. No Majikal thinking. Just reality, please. No, I wouldn't turn my horse loose with a bunch of strange horses because that us Majikal thinking.
Hi Lytha, as to leading your horse behind you, I follow the advice of the late, great Sheila Varian of Varian Arabians (Cowgirl Hall of Famer). She once explained at one of her ranch clinics that she always had her horse follow behind as she was often out working cattle in heavy brush and would at times have to dismount and lead her horse through the brush in very tight situations and she did not want him right beside her but at a respectful distance. If it was good enough for her, it’s definitely good enough for me. She, of course, always kept an eye on her horse and monitored what he was doing. Also, if your horse looks to you for security, she didn't want him to be walking right beside her if he were to spook and jump in her direction.
Ninergirl, really, Sheila did it too? Cool. Of course on single track a horse has to follow. Of course there is very little single track in Germany, but I don't care. It's a respect thing, and I feel the horse is less likely to run into me if he's behind me by 1 meter rather than zero meters at my shoulder, as the FN/Pony Club requests. People always say, "Doesn't he jump right into you?" No, not nearly as much as when I used to lead horses directly at my shoulder. I've had Mag jump into me one time since I've known him. It was a single track, he was behind me, and a mountain bike came up behind us. He bounced off me without knocking me down. Honestly at that moment if he had been beside me on a wide road, he might not have bounced into me, but whatever, I still feel safer in front of him, with distance, so he has a choice where to go. My idea is that statistically they spook more often side to side, rather than front to back.
I was cringing reading some of this, a friend's horse was permanently lamed in a liberty clinic by another participants horse, I've always been nervous of these events since that happened.
I rarely sit on the floor at my horse's feet, but when I have it's not just for fun. I've done it when really hot and removing glue-on boots, doctoring things, etc. But not in a group setting, and on a horse that rarely spooks.
And I mostly lead my horse behind me. For us it is necessary on narrow trail, and also he does not get to feel like an equal leader by being even with me, I am lead mare for sure! And I often from the "wrong" side. So join the club.
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