Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Breakthrough
Well after reading some articles that were interviewing Harry I decided to experiment with the round pen technique. So back to the round pen we went. I left Seven's halter on and turned him loose and as usual he just stood at the gate. I decided to use my stick and tied a plastic bag on the end. Every time Seven would lose his interest and his attention was drawn elsewhere I made noise with the bag and stick. At first it took a bit to get his attention back to me. He just stood there looking at me and I left him alone. Then he decided to move and when he decided to leave I helped him. When he stopped he turned and faced me I was quiet. You could see his attention being drawn away with the flick of an ear and then his eye. He mostly just stood there but when he chose to leave I would help him leave quicker. Steve was watching and said by the end I shook the bag 45 times. This was about a 20 minute session. As it drew to a close you could see Seven wondering what the answer was. I could keep his attention longer and longer. Finally he walked up and stood by me. Yay!!! Good boy Seven!!!
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sounds good!! just a thought for fodder: make sure that when you are working in the round pen, or at all with your horse, you do not want to set up a relationship of making him pick you as the lesser of two evils. Basically, by you saying that you helped him leave, I kind of got the idea that you drove him away. you don't want to force anything on him but you want him to choose to be with you because you are his security and safety; not because if he does, he doesn't have to be chased around. Neverless, I am so psyched that you are exploring other methods, because that is SO hard to do. When I was in your place last year (after auditing one day of a harry/bible camp), I thought, "eh, Parelli works, I'm fine." But once I opened myself up to the possibility of something else, man did I make progress on my journey!! Sorry for the length, and if I misunderstood you. But I thought you might want some feedback! Haha, keep me posted with the good work!
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