Monday, November 21, 2011

Apples and Carrots




Chief is a willing horse, he is willing to stand while I groom him without the aid of being tied, he is willing to lift his feet for me and balance while I clean and inspect his feet. He is willing to walk with me—as long as I stay on his left.

For the past two weeks I had brushed off the fact that every time I attempted to switch sides Chief would become disorientated, I was suddenly an unfamiliar person.   He would try spinning, backing and even physically lifting his head over mine so I could once again become familiar to him.

I tried to warn the right by telling the left that I was coming—perhaps I thought the left would give the right the heads up?  The only time I could get Chief to move forward when standing on his right was when he spotted his friend Jack.  He would become distracted and want to go the safety of his friend as quickly as possible so if that meant he would have to let me walk on his right, so be it.

Scratching my head I was at a loss at how such an elder horse couldn’t comprehend that I was the same person on the right as the left.  I tried standing in front of him and let him see me on each side without physically moving to that side of his body.  I used my voice “hey there right side, here I am”.   After stops and starts I would go back to his comfort zone and continue walking and trotting my uneven horse from the left.

After climbing in the saddle my mind wandered a bit—no one had done any real groundwork with Chief.  Working with a human to him meant they were on his back and only walked next to him to be lead from place to place.  He didn’t have to think.
Chief was in a mood to trot, a gait that had improved in short amount of time.  I no long felt the uneven bump when changing directions.  Next week we will work on making the corners and trotting or diagonals.

When I dismounted, Chris tried to walk with Chief and had an immediate idea.  We would both lead Chief, me on the left, while she stood on the right.  At first Chief inclined his head to Chris, as if she was safer to look at then me. Gradually and with some gentle pressure on the lead rope he started to look where he was going.  Chris faded back so she would be so prominent in his vision then unhooked while I continue to walk him.

While I don’t expect to Chief to fully accept me on his right the next time we work together, I am sure that he had something to think about when we were done.

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