Pushing It

O.R.I.
Blu 30 minutes 8-28-10 evening

Blu was really fun, tonight. I played with him on the 23' line, hoping to ride him in an invisible arena I built. I put the bridle on a barrel and was doing change of direction every time he did not stop at it until he finally stopped at it, and really thought hard. Then he said "That is what you wanted!?" Then I put the bridle on and let him follow me to his stall where I took the bridle off and fed him dinner. How nice for Blu to get to do something like that with the bridle. I bet tomorrow when I go to play with him and ride, he will be very willing to put the bridle on.

I read the book about Paddock Paradise tonight. I honestly sat down for 3 hours and read the whole thing, cover to cover. I took notes. I like it and my family is going to try it. Right now, I am going to google it and see if I can find other horse owners' Paddock Paradise blogs, journals, and results. I like the idea of sending in my findings to Jaime (the author) for use to gather further data on the subject, as this idea is very new.

I learned something REALLY important, tonight, and it is something that I feel is relative enough that I should share it on here. I was talking to Maggie about Parelli and Paddock Paradise and other things and telling her how I noticed that quite frequently, I am observing that when something is my idea, she tries to come up with arguments against it, but then she has her own ideas that are similar and they are ok. I asked her, after I told her that "Have I been pushing you to do Parelli?" It is a very important principle with horses: do not use force, rather, make your idea their idea, and make their idea your idea, but understand their idea first. Indeed, she had been feeling like I was pushing her to do it, just by asking if she was going to do it, there was a pressure and intention there that she could feel, and recall that feeling I was sending out, then unaware for the most part. But it was a mental push on her, and she felt it, so I apologized for having treated her in such a fashion. I told her that she could choose her path with horses and that I hoped that all my pushing had not pushed her away permanently. I also promised her not to push anymore. In fact, I told her I would not even ask her about it under the most innocent of pretenses. She appreciated that. It made me wish that I could speak to Misty.

As complex as humans are, in the end, you can speak English and maybe communicate the heart quicker. With horses, you have to be very patient and wait for them to truly understand through body language that I am no longer going to push her to do things she does not want to do. I did not ride her in the speed show on Friday night because I made a promise to her that I would not. That hardly means she could understand that until she was back at home save after an evening being ridden by my younger sister, Ellie. If only I could put her mind at ease. I don't really feel the need to rush the results so I can do cool things with her, but I worry about the toll it takes on her to feel upset, confused, forced, etc. for so long. I hope that our play sessions are helpful to her soul and as successful for her as they are for me.

Natural Horsewoman Out.