Video Day

Today was Video Day with Dublin, as I have a phone conference with my Parelli professional, Julia Bell, tomorrow morning to review progress. Some things we have been working on are my being able to move his forequarters away from me, using my energy as much as possible and the carrot stick as little as possible. That sounds easy but it hasn't been. It's surprising how a small change in position, speed, and assertiveness (vs aggressiveness) can make a big difference in the results you get. It's okay if the horse runs into the moving stick but NOT okay to actually hit the horse with the stick. And it can be pretty darned hard to figure out the subtle difference between the two. I found it was easier if I was moving the stick toward a point beyond his front end, rather than toward his front end. Then he has the option of moving away from the stick when he sees it coming, or letting the moving object run into him.

Our other assignment is a saddling exercise. Dublin has been saddled before but the objective is to get him really comfortable with it. Letting him touch it, rubbing him with the saddle pad and putting it on all parts of his topline, saddling with a "hug", then making sure he's comfortable and yielding to you once the saddle is on. Dublin is really quite a superstar about this. So the video was not much of a challenge. Except I did everything in exactly the wrong order once the saddle was on. The correct approach is to first make sure he has lateral flexion, then swing the rope over his head, around his body, slide it over his rump, and pull him around in a 360 toward you. Then send him out on a circle in different gaits and over a jump. So I started with the jump and ended with lateral flexion. Oh well.

We also did a little video using a carrot stick with a plastic bag tied to it, something he is surprisingly unhappy with considering how un-spooky he is. He doesn't exactly blow up over it, but he gets tense when the bag approaches him and strikes out if it touches his feet. I'll be asking for some advice on how to de-sensitize him to this and other potentially scary objects.

Links to the videos:
Dublin Saddling
Dublin Plastic Bag

In other news, I have sent off Dublin's adoption papers to Neighsavers! I'm not anticipating any problems getting approval and expect that Dublin will be a permanent member of the herd shortly.

Regarding my own fitness challenge, well, I have been doing some yoga and today I added Pilates. After watching the video, I think I need to add some exercise involving putting down my fork and pushing away from the dinner table. Way too much time spent in front of a computer the last few months!