Tiara and Katie venture out – September 2012

Tiara-Katie-pastureWe restarted saddle work with Tiara last week. She is continuing to build her confidence and trust in herself and in us.

Slow and soft is the key to this mare.  Ask softly, wait and wait some more.  Eventually, her head will drop, she will blink and lick and chew and she will give you her best try.  I can see a path toward her becoming a brave mare, a safe mare, sensitive to a thought and with a world of trust.  Katie is helping me stay on that path, bringing a big heart that truly loves this little mare and wants to see her succeed.

Tiara still comes into the arena on the ground with apprehension.  We ask her to play with us at liberty and she relaxes.   We ask her to park please so we can mount and she generally can within one or two tries.  When uncertain, she will freeze.  That happens less often in the arena now, but still happens when we ride her out of the arena.  That is OK.  Where there is no force, there is no resistance and we are convincing her day by day, experience by experience, that we can be trusted.

Seeing Katie and Tiara out in the field looking relaxed makes my day.

Crescent City Ride with Tori & Maia Sept 2012

Anne-Tori-beachAnne and I took Tori and Maia to Crescent City, California with Robin Keeton and her Rocky Mountain mare, Reba.  We had an amazing weekend, riding the beach on Saturday, the dunes on Sunday and ending up riding in the redwoods on Monday.  Tori, Maia and Reba were great trail partners and Robin, Anne and I soaked up the beauty of the coast, our amazing horses and a wonderful weekend together.

Here is a short video of our adventures set to the music of Mary Ann Kennedy.  Her songs – Heart in Your Hands, Trail Less Traveled and Horses and Life are perfect background to the spirit of our weekend.  Hope you enjoy it.

 

Meet Anne Frankowski – our German Exchange Student – August 2012

AnneMaia

Anne-KamiOn August 25, 2012 Ron and I welcomed Anne Frankowski, a German exchange student from a village near Hamburg, Germany to Oregon and Mystic Ranch.  Anne is part of the AYUSA (Academic Year USA) program and is enrolled as a Junior at Crater Renaissance High School in Central Point. She will be living with us during this academic year.

Anne has a passion for horses and natural horsemanship.  What a great fit for Jackie and Ron and Mystic Ranch. You’ll be sure to meet her when you come out to the ranch.

From the day of her arrival, Anne has been connecting with the horses and trying to choose which one will be her special companion during this year with us.

Maia and Kami are her top two contenders. I wonder who will win Anne’s heart?  I know she has already won Ron’s and mine.

Replacing Fear with Curiosity; Building Courage – July 2012

TiaratreasurehuntTiara is a beautiful, sensitive pinto Arab mare with smooth lovely gaits, stamina and agility.  She was also deeply afraid of things that flapped or touched her when she wasn’t expecting it. She would go from sweet and compliant to losing her brain and leaving when something startled her. Ropes touching her were the worst. To get her used to ropes touching her sides and legs, I had her wear a surcingle with a couple of short dangling ropes clipped to it for about a week – until she seemed to become completely comfortable with it. OK, what is step two?

I took every cone, ball, tarp, extra rope, garden hose, rain slickers, inner tubes, barrels, hula hoops, swimming pool noodles, Frisbees, garbage cans, empty feed bags, a big plastic bag filled with empty cans, PVC pipes and any other toy I could think of and spread them out in our round pen and seeded them with carrot slices or cookies on top and underneath them. I then brought up Tiara and her sensible boyfriend Sandor and left them in the round pen.

Tiara and Sandor stood crammed near the round pen gate looking like “what is all this crap doing in here?” as I walked away to pick up manure. A couple of minutes later, the two horses were glancing at all the objects and within minutes Sandor was going from object to object discovering the joys of the treasure hunt. An hour later, all the top treats were gone, but a number of those underneath the objects were still there. I rolled the ball away and showed Sandor the hidden cookie and he proceeded to shove the balls over and picked up the hat and Frisbee, cone and tarp to get to the treats. Tiara watches. How many days of doing this before she learns to follow his example? Before curiosity, exploration and puzzle solving trumps doubt, fear and flight?

After a few days of treasure hunts on their own, I put Tiara on line, walked into the round pen with her, picked up various objects and rubbed her with them, dropping them and going on to the next one. Toleration, not acceptance. We’re not there yet.

More treasure hunts with Sandor for the next couple of days. Fewer cookies being missed. Apparently moving the inner tube and barrel is not on their list of acceptable or likely things to do. Getting to a treat inside an empty feed bag is also too difficult. Still, she is knocking over the bucket and pushing the swimming pool noodles to find where I’ve stuffed a cookie into it.

OK, let’s try adding a human to the equation again. This time I line up the obstacles around the edge of the round pen, every 6 feet or so and have Tiara on line. I ask her to “touch” something easy and name it. She does and gets a treat. We walk over that object and on to the next. Some things take as long as 5 minutes before she is willing to touch it with her nose and some objects she skirts around rather than walking over it to get to the next one. Stepping on the inner tube, the tarp and the empty feed bag are beyond her. Still, her head is low as she approaches the majority of objects, her eyes are mostly soft and once she works up the courage to touch something she is going back to touch it again and again, saying “don’t I get another cookie for touching this?” And, she is beginning to recognize the names of a number of the objects without any fear at all.

Back to more treasure hunts with Tiara on her own – Sandor in the trail course watching his lady.  It clearly takes longer for her to get in the spirit of the treasure hunt – hours longer, but she gets to everything except the cookies under the tarp, feed bag, barrel and inner tube.  Good enough for now.

Just as I knew my earlier approach wasn’t effective with this mare I know this approach is finally making headway at how she perceives startling things in her world.

Living in Paradise – July 2012

Gorgeous-Sunset Storm-coming-inJust got in from doing evening chores.  A storm was coming in as I ran the horses in from the pasture, creating the most amazing lighting.  I had to take the picture.

A little later, as I weeded the garden, I noticed that the sky seemed to be on fire – bright reds and purples.  Chores forgotten I went back out to the pasture to admire the evening sky and take another photo.

I feel so blessed to be living in this beautiful ranch with Ron, pursuing my dream with the horses I love.

Why don’t you come out and share this paradise with us?

Keeping Cool During Hot Play Date – July 2012

CirclinggameToriinpondOur July play date landed right in the middle of a heat wave – mid 90’s.  We got an early start playing on the ground in the cool wooded trail course, starting with the horses on line.  I played with Maia, with Lindsey playing with Mystic and Katie playing with Tori, perfecting their communication with the obstacles, backing the L, stepping up on or over or jumping over logs, going up stairs, bridges and teeter-totter, squeezing through the car wash and through narrow trees.

As the horses synced in with us, we turned them loose at liberty.  Maia was the star there.  She was eager to play with obstacles and would race away at a canter when I asked her to go and then fly back toward me when I called her with the same enthusiasm.  Our horses were in a partnership frame of mind

We started out riding with a new team sport – herding geese.  Tori, Maia and Mystic proved that the same skills needed for herding horses work for herding geese.  Once we had evicted the geese from our section of the pasture, we started playing in the pond.  The day was hot, but the well fed, fresh water pond was so refreshing, we enjoyed the heat.  We started out just riding through the pond and letting the horses splash us and themselves and drink their fill.  We then dismounted and I walked into the pond and took first Maia and then Tori down to the deep end of the pond where Maia and Tori had to swim.  I think this was Katie’s first time riding a swimming horse!  Jenny did some playing with Sandor in the pond too.

We turned the horses loose to roll and enjoy their pasture and we adjourned for our potluck lunch.  As usual, the food was excellent, the companionship the best and the talk all about horses.

Life is very good.

Tori at Willow Prairie – June 2012

Tori-Willow-PrairieTori and I joined Robin Keeton and her mare Reba for a Jackson County Horseman’s Association sponsored camping weekend up at Willow Prairie.  It was a gorgeous weekend and the two mares were perfect companions on the trail.  I love how Tori enjoys exploring the wilderness, carefully placing her feet as she navigates rocks, mud, creeks and logs.  To top it off, the JCHA raised $2,725 for St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital.  Life doesn’t get much better.

Maia in Waterhole Rituals Clinic – May 2012

I have long been intrigued by Carolyn Resnick’s Water Hole Rituals – a set of rituals she developed by observing the social behavior of a herd of wild horses.  She works entirely at liberty in a large space, earning the horse’s trust and respect using body language.

Carolyn Resnick wants you to establish a bond with your horse first by Sharing Territory; much like undemanding time. You are sitting in
the horse’s space reading a book, ignoring the horse until the horse chooses to approach you.

Next is Saying Hello; much like a horseman’s handshake except
when the horse greets you, you walk away. The horse gets to choose
whether to follow you. Essentially, you do not approach or touch your
horse until your horse gives you permission.

Respect comes next by Claiming Territory (in the clinic setting – a
bucket of food.) You own the food and won’t allow the horse to approach it, but if the horse asks politely, you’ll bestow a gift of a handful of food.

Companion Walking may look like stick to me, but it isn’t because
you don’t drive either the hind end to keep them up with you or
the space in front of the horse to slow, stop or turn them. If they
leave you, you leave them, not drawing the eye, just mirroring them.
The disconnect from the harmony of Companion Walking is jolting to the horse and it tends to return to you on its own.  If the horse tried to herd me, rather than drive the nose away, I’d stop and look skeptical, a kind of “what on earth is that chest and neck doing there?” and the horse thinks about it and backs up to my side.

Eye Contact expects the horse to keep an eye on you. If they don’t
you Claim Territory. If they do, you walk away. Mission accomplished.
The horse is keeping an eye on you. The CHOICE to be with you is
THEIRS. So basic and so important to having a strong bond and true respect.

Go Trot / Come Back is classic drive and draw. Will your horse go
away from you with energy when you ask, then come back with enthusiasm at liberty? Sounds like yo-yo, but it isn’t or at least it seems like more to me. When you ask the horse to go, it could be just a couple of steps, or it could be go gallop away in a 100 acre field. The horse leaves and we fly after them, praising their flight until the head turns and glances at you. Then you go backward with energy and praise their flight right back to you. At first my horses got concerned by that much energy coming from me, but as they realized it was a game, they started to float and have eyes that really sparkled. This is a game that they understood.

OK, a few specifics on the Robin Gates clinic. I took my 5 year
old Maia and she started out as distracted as is her habit when being in
a strange arena by herself. Mind you, even distracted, Maia synced in
with me as I walked, trotted, stopped, backed up and turned at liberty.

Robin observed for a bit and asked what I wanted to learn from her
during our session. I told her that I had two objectives. One, I wanted
to see joy in Maia’s eyes when we played. Second, I wanted to be a
stronger leader for Maia when she lost confidence. I wanted her to
automatically sync in with me, not just when she knew the answer, but
also when things fell apart. Robin said “How interesting. Those are
exactly the things that the Waterhole Rituals give you that you don’t
get from pressure and release training.”

Robin came in to play with Maia. The first thing she did was establish that Robin “owned” a bucket of senior feed next to the fence and that Maia could not go near that bucket without an invitation from Robin – BUT that Robin would share that bucket if Maia did as Robin asked her. Maia tested that theory a number of times as Robin moved farther and farther away from that bucket before deciding that Robin was serious. OK, this woman is one tough lead mare. The only way Maia could get to that grain was to ask the lady politely, so…. she did.

Next, Robin asked Maia to come to her. Maia was uncertain about
whether she wanted to have a relationship with someone who would bite her for going near that bucket without an invitation. She thought about that for quite a long time and Robin left her alone, patiently “present in the moment” while Maia worked out the pros and cons. As Robin pointed out, for there to be true choice, the horse has to be able to leave you without having an adverse consequence – has to be given the time to think and truly choose to be with you rather than away from you.

Maia’s first approach toward Robin was small, just a couple of
steps, but it was away from the grain. With each iteration, Maia became more confident that Robin was a generous leader as long as Maia was polite and respectful and the bond between the two strengthened and Maia became more focused, centered and relaxed in following Robin’s feel.

I am truly honored to have watched this amazing lady work with my
very special horse. If you have the opportunity to take a clinic with
Robin Gates, don’t hesitate. Do it. Your horse will thank you.

Here is a short video clip of my friend Grace at the clinic with her mare Namaste doing Companion Walking and Go Trot, Come Back.

Tori in the Pear Blossom Parade April 2012

The Jackson County Horseman’s Association did its annual ride in the Rogue Valley Pear Blossom Parade.  They needed someone to carry the American flag.  I volunteered Tori for the honor, though she had never been in a parade, nor had she ever carried a flag.  She led the club with our friend Robin Keeton on her mare Reba and did a great job.  While it was pouring the week of the parade, we had fine weather and a huge crowd in down town Medford.  What a terrific day!