Comments on: Morning Star and Leading from Behind – First Meeting.

By: Candle Hill

Candle Hill — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 13:02:54 +0000

Just now found my way to this entry from the link on the newest (Beyond the Whisper Feb 16, 2010) post. Do not know if you are still answering questions here, but if so, I have a fundamental one. My herd of 14 lives in a 40 acre pasture most of the time. When I walk into the field when they are resting or grazing, several of the more dominent horses come to greet me and hang out in my space. The less dominent horses keep away or are driven away by the more dominent ones. If I want to play with a less dominent horse, I need to drive the others away, halter that horse and remove him or her from the field. If we stay with the herd, sooner or later a more dominent horse will push the chosen one away from me unless I am perpetually vigilant. Vigilance is hard (impossible, really) for me to maintain among the herd when I am focusing on the horse I am playing with. Does this mean I should only play with (let them approach me, get comfortable with me, practice driving them from behind) the more dominent horses when I go into the pasture? What about the others? Most of the horses I play with are used to ground driving and some let me do it at liberty. That exercise, however, sounds more controlled and precise than what you are describing, because if the horse leaves me mentally (i.e., if I lose control of pace or direction), I go back on line right away to re-establish it. Your “driving from behind” sounds very different in that (from the informal videos I’ve seen) the horse gets to select direction and pace. Am I making a correct deduction? Please provide some guidance, Carolyn or anyone knowledgable about the Waterhole Ritual program. I am getting so into all this that as soon as I can find the cash, I will buy the videos. But it is getting tougher all the time.

By: Moyna Smeaton

Moyna Smeaton — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 22:45:39 +0000

Hi Carolyn & all,
I have been reading the blogs for a while & am moved to respond to this one.
The story of young Morning Star rang so true for me… he sounds so much like my boy Hero, a Gypsy Cob x Welsh D gelding. He is my first horse ever!
Hero came to me in August 2008, on his actual 1st birthday. He is kind, curious, brave, funny, smart & rather “full of himself”.
We had quite a good bond right from the start, but like Morning Star, we had some ‘respect’ issues. He would push/bump into me & sometimes even give me a nip! He particularly disliked circle work.
My riding teacher showed me to ‘chase’ him around the arena, to the point of submission, make him stop, face me & drop his head. I had misgivings about this, as it seemed to me he was ‘giving up’ only because he was tired.
I came to the Waterhole Rituals via the AND site & have been practising them for a few months now. I have not brought Hero to the arena during this time & have stopped any ‘work’ involving tack of any kind.
I go into the ‘big paddock’ where we are with the rest of the herd (2 other geldings & a lead mare).
Our interactions have been a wonder & a joy!
Hero comes flying when he realises I am there & will follow me to see what interesting thing I will do next. He sometimes helps me pull weeds, or will fetch a bucket for me if I ask him.
When we first started Companion Walking, then trotting & jumping over logs etc, he would get a bit too excited & I got a few nips!!!!!
If this happened I would ‘flatten my ears’ shake my stick at him & leave him alone… Game Over! The nipping has stopped now, he has learned that he can touch me softly with his lips only & I will allow this.
He will now Trot Away… we are still working on the Come Up, LOL!!!!!
I can lead from behind, then ask him to turn & face me by ‘dropping’ myself. He can also yield his behind for me from a distance if I ask him clearly.
I use affection & voice rewards mostly, as he is very responsive to this… he just loves to hear ‘you are the BEST pony, what a CLEVER horse!’
Some people question what I’m doing with Hero, saying ‘Oh, you’re only playing, you need to do some real work.’
I know better! This IS the ‘real work’. And the other horses are starting to join in!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you Carolyn, for teaching a method where a human & horse, who are both ‘beginners’ can learn together.
Cheers & horsey blessings,
Moyna & Hero

By: Brenda

Brenda — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 17:34:26 +0000

Sorry, this is just the way we, the students at my university, are expected to participate. I meant it as a question.

By: Carolyn Resnick

Carolyn Resnick — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 02:25:54 +0000

Dear jo and every one in the Inner Circle Club,
Please put your questions in the Inner Circle question page. It is less confusing to me and to the regular bloggers.
Thank

By: Jo

Jo — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 21:25:31 +0000

Hi Carolyn, although we seemed to have a bit of a glitch last week we are back on track. Del is back to his old self and more so it seems I am noticing some subtle but positive changes and yesterday we had a fantastic session with leading from behind turning naturally into companion walking with an amazing connection I have not experienced before. However, this evening I wanted to lead him from behind to exercise him as usual. It started ok and he was much livelier than he has been, no longer lame. He ran off playfully a couple of times which was fine but then whatever I tried to do he just kept turning towards me even using the reed and trying to send him from further back. It felt like one of those paintings whose eyes follow you around the room. i just couldn’t get him to do anything but either turn towards me or back up and then face me whenever I tried to move further back. Ears were forward and nothing aggressive. I would add that in spite of our success yesterday I was very relaxed and chilled about it so wasn’t competing with myself to do as well as last night. I have learnt not to be too predictable with him and have to admit that it sometimes seems he does this to me too. He has been loving the praise and I am pretty sure his running off was joi de vivre I think he wanted to play. Having watched the videos I also think the day I thought he was snaking was play, the start of the dance. This play drive is also something new with him as he has never had a high play drive since I had him eight months ago even with other horses so it is great to see.