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I will be making regular posts as I start to work with The Dawn of Equus herd using Carolyn Resnick's Method, "Liberty Training, Beyond the Whisper", which is based on the 7 Waterhole Rituals. Carolyn, author of "Naked Liberty", will be releasing a new book, "Beyond the Whisper", later this year that will go into detail about how to do the WHR's. She also has a DVD on her method available on her website: www.carolynresnickblog.com
January 30, 2010
I took my book and sat under a tree in the forest with the horses. Within a few minutes Bell came up and stood right beside me. She licked and chewed and slowly lowered her head. She rested there for several minutes before slowly walking away. Rudy then came up and stood facing me. He sniffed me quite gently. When he was about to grab my jacket I used my hand to shoo him off. He eventually turned around and started backing his butt up toward me. I think he learned this from watching Stryker. As Rudy is a little more dominant than Stryker, I chose to use the reed to move him away when he got too close, rather than getting up and moving to another tree. After a couple of times Rudy settled and rested a few feet in front of me.
I have noticed when one of the horses chooses to rest beside me he will approach, position himself and then lick and chew as he lowers his head. This is when I start feeling a noticeable connection with the horse.
January 25, 2010
Today I spent some time with Stryker. He started doing his little routine where he lines himself up and backs his hind end toward me, presumably for a good butt scratch. I decided that wasn't really how I wanted to spend my time with him, so I just walked away and stood a few feet away. I didn't have a book with me, so I studied the bark pattern on a tree in front of me. Stryker came over right away and stood beside me. As soon as he would start adjusting his position to back up toward me I would simply walk away. He understood very quickly that if he wanted to hang out with me he had to just stand beside me, but not back his butt up toward me. He then started rubbing his lip against my shoulder and arm. If he opened his mouth at all, which would ultimately lead to some exploration with his teeth, I would simply walk away. Throughout I made a point of focusing on something I saw in the forest rather than thinking about what Stryker was doing. This had the same effect as reading a book in a chair (WHR #1). By the end he was sharing space with me very politely. He had his head right next to mine and allowed me to lean my cheek against his for quite some time. When I walked away he started following me. I didn't quite have companion walking yet, so I let him follow me over to the barn and I closed the gate behind us so that it was just the two of us.
I then did Waterhole Ritual #4, maintaining eye contact. I put hay down and used the reed to chase him off of it until he maintained eye contact with me at which time I allowed him to eat the hay. I then stood in front of him and arced to his left whenever he didn't have his eye on me. When he did look at me I returned to the spot in front of him. If I was able to make it around to his hind end without his looking at me I would then chase him off the hay and not let him back until he maintained eye contact with me. Stryker picked up very quickly that as long as he maintained eye contact with me he could eat his hay uninterrupted. Once I felt he was consistent on the left I switched over to the right side. By waiting until his behaviour was locked in on one side, it took very little time to get a consistent response on the other. This debunks the common teaching that the horse is unable to apply something he has learned on one side to the other. The key is to ensure that the behaviour is reliable on the first side before moving to the other side.
I was very impressed with how quickly Stryker picked up this WHR. I then realized that it made sense, since he is the lead horse. As lead horse he knows the ins and outs of horse culture and the art of leadership better than any other horse in the herd. His ability to understand what I was looking for so quickly affirms that the approach I was using made sense to him as a horse. I will repeat this WHR again soon to reinforce the importance of his maintaining eye contact with me. This has many applications later in training.
January 23, 2010
Rudy was very playful today during an EFW session. He was very interactive with the big soccer ball for the first time. He seemed to enjoy pushing it toward Isis and seeing her run from it. He then picked up a short stick and started scratching it in the snow. It looked like he wanted to write something. Perhaps when it warms up he would like to try painting. He then picked up a two foot long stick and was swinging his head up and down with it.
I told Carolyn about Rudy having picked up and swung the reed around yesterday. She suggested that the next time he does that I should run away so that it becomes a game in which the one with the reed can chase the other off. Her method involves integrating into the herd and working your way up the hierarchy. The process involves a lot of give and take and flexibility. She gave the example of birds at a feeder. One bird will chase off another, who then returns to displace the same bird that chased him off. The switching of roles leads to bonding amongst the herd or flock. I found this suggestion very interesting and I'm quite excited to give it a try. Even though it goes against everything that mainstream horsemanship would recommend, I love the idea of combining different forms of leadership (flexible, supportive, directive and synchronistic), allowing one to ultimately lead in the same manner as a lead horse rather than a dominant horse. I will discuss the forms of leadership and the difference between a lead and a dominant horse in future posts.
January 22, 2010
I bundled up today and sat in the forest with the horses reading for 1 hour. Kiah approached first to check me out. It took very little effort to remind her to be polite. Isis positioned herself about 8 feet to my left. She started licking, chewing and yawning, then lowered her head and rested the entire time I was there. I felt a connection with her. I sense that she is apprehensive about the reed, likely relating to her time on the racetrack. Rudy came up behind me and stood very politely. In my peripheral vision I noticed him turn away. I had placed my reed on the ground and when I turned around there was Rudy with the end of it in his mouth swinging it around like he was conducting an orchestra! He left after I took his toy away and Bell came up. She rested about 10 feet to my right. I felt the energy of having a mare on either side of me. Even though they weren't really close physically we were definitely connected. Stryker then came over and used my coveralls as a napkin for his lips. He tried to do his back up until he makes contact with me maneuver. I asked him to move forward to give me some space. Ramsay then appeared and immediately started checking things out with his mouth. I found it very easy to get him to back off, suggesting that my body language/energy has changed since I have previously found him challenging to set boundaries with.
January 21, 2010
Luna was very polite today sharing territory. Buddy was having a blast with the 40" soccer ball. He maneuvers it with his nose and can really cover some ground with it. I'm hoping it will help trim his belly a little. I discovered that you have to pay attention to where you are waving the reed, rather than keep reading. I accidentally got Juno in the eye. He rubbed his eye on his leg and then squinted for a couple of minutes, but recovered quickly. I then groomed Bell. At one point she walked away because Isis approached from the other side of the fence. Instead of following her with the brush, which I would have done in the past I just stood there looking in a different direction. Once she realized Isis couldn't move her she came right up to me to continue her grooming session. Wilbur actually came up while I was grooming Isis, which was significant since he has been avoiding human contact for some time. He let me brush him until Isis took exception to the interruption to her grooming session and moved him off.
January 20, 2010
I spent almost 2 hours today Sharing Territory (WHR 1) with the herd. This ritual involves sitting in a chair in the pasture, reading a book. When shy horses approach and start to get pesky you pick up your chair, book and reed and move to another spot. For more dominant horses you use body language and the reed to move the horse off when they get too nosey. The horse eventually learns that he has to be polite if he wants to spend time with you.
I have shared territory with the herd every day since getting home from my workshop with Carolyn. Luna, who thinks she is a lap Percheron, is already noticeably more polite. Today, after having to move my chair a couple of times and with minimal use of the reed Luna settled down and stood in front of my chair resting for several minutes until Stryker came from across the forest to move her.
Stryker very politely stood in front of my chair and started falling asleep. He is funny because his knees start to buckle when he sleeps standing up. His head was right down and he had to catch himself from falling about three times. After several minutes he stepped right up beside my chair and fell asleep again. After spending about 20 minutes hanging out with me he walked over to a more sunny spot. This was the first time that he has come up to me while I've been reading with the herd.
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