Assertion and accession

We had friends staying for a few days and they were interested in seeing the horses and riding.  I usually tack up Dee at such times because she is the more cooperative horse with unfamiliar riders.  She came to call as always but was clearly expecting to only be fed and groomed.  She was not too pleased that she was going to be asked to work.  To be fair, I have ridden her very little this winter so it is reasonable that she would assume that today was no different, but she is usually happy to be ridden.

I put her saddle on first and she kept almost nipping me as I did up her girth.  This is more characteristic of Red rather than Dee.  I had not intended to ride but decided that I better ride her first in case she was going to be really difficult.  Then I asked her to take her bridle.  Now I always ask her rather than just put it on her, and she responds by putting her nose into the noseband.  But not this day.  She kept dipping her head and then putting it up in the air looking away from me.  She did this again and again.

Hmmm...  What to do next...?  I decided when I bought Dee that I would not force her in the way I had seen her forced to have a bridle on at Pontcanna riding stables – not cruelly, but against her wish and through dominating her rather than engaging with her to receive her cooperation.   But I also did not want her to get away with calling all the shots.  I have to be the head mare of her herd because she is a dominant mare with a strong personality.  I cannot let her walk over me – or she may in fact walk over me.   I led her into the arena and we walked around for a while and she was fine with this.  Then I unclipped her and sent her away by waving my arms about, shooing her and slapping my leg with the lead rein.  She trotted around me and I looked her in the eye.  When she stopped I turned away from her and she joined up with me.  We walked around the arena together for a few minutes and then I asked her to put her bridle on – still no go.  So I sent her away again and pushed her on for a few minutes by swinging the lead rope and slapping it against my leg again.  Then I let her stop, turned away and waited for her to join up with me.  This time she joined up with her head down and licking her lips.  I offered her her bridle and she immediately put her head in the noseband and accepted it.  I stroked her and told her she was a good girl and led her around with the bridle on for a few minutes.

I felt this was quite an important success for her to accede in this way and I was happy to leave it at that for that session.  So I led her out and gave her her feed.   We can build on this.  She will remember it and hopefully the spring energy she is feeling will be something we can share rather than a source of conflict.

Roadside preparation

We had a bit of a messy start to our ride on Saturday.  First of all we walked across the bottom fields to catch Dee, having seen that Red was already in, only to discover that the horses had been moved to the top fields.  Then we were told that the girls were getting Dee in for us, but we couldn't see her anywhere.  At last we discovered that the girls had kindly tried to bring Dee in for us, but she had refused to cooperate and they'd had to give it up.

Dee has quite strong opinions about who should and should not be asking anything of her and can refuse to be led in.  She occasionally does this even with 'ö-Dzin and I—if she is on new grass for example—but we have not had this happen for a long time.  As two attempts had already been made to bring her down to the yard however, we decided not to risk her running away from us, but to take our tack up and get her ready up at the top field.  So we tacked up Red and 'ö-Dzin rode him up to the top fields while I drove up there.

I don't really like dealing with the horses by the roadside.  It always feels a little bit risky – horses can be quite unpredictable.  Fortunately there is a bit of verge by the gate so they are quite well off the road itself, and there is very little traffic.

Dee came to call immediately – in fact she cantered down the field to me and was happy to have her head collar put on.  'ö-Dzin and Red arrived at about the same time.  We set up haynets for them and got Dee tacked up.  They both behaved well and we were soon ready to go.

Catching or being given permission?

I have been wondering whether perhaps my blog is the cause of frustration for Welsh language browsers. I have called it 'Ceffylau' but it contains no Welsh. Perhaps there are lots of Welsh people searching for 'ceffylau' (horses) in the hope of finding something interesting in their own language, yet if they come across my blog it is in English. So I have decided to address this by posting some pages (or parts of pages) in both languages. I apologise in advance for my poor Welsh! Please feel free to correct me. I'm only a learner.

I do not catch Dee every day at the moment - while she is in the field all the time with our yard in quarantine - just several times a week in order to groom her. Whenever I halter her now, I approach her and then simply stand holding the halter open for her and she puts her nose in. This simple connection is so heart-warming and I am amazed that I have owned her for over three years and only just discovered we could do this.

It occurred to me . . . do we ever really 'catch' a horse? Isn't it that whenever we put a halter on a horse to bring them in from the field it is because they have decided to allow this? Could we ever get near enough to do this if they didn't want us to? Surely a horse being 'caught' is their decision to want to be with us and has very little to do with our actually ability to 'catch' them. This slight shift in view is somewhat revolutionary for me and is starting to seep through the habitual patterning of my interaction with horses. I am looking forward to when I am able to start riding again to discover whether Dee continues with this behaviour when having a halter put on her may be the precursor to work.

Dw i wedi meddwl bod fallai mae fy mlog i yn creu teimlad o rwystredigaeth dros porwr gwe iaith Gymraeg. Dw i wedi ei enwi 'Ceffylau' ond dydy e ddim yn cynnwys Cymraeg. Fallai mae llawer o bobl Cymru pwy sy'n chwilio am 'ceffylau' i ffeindio pethau diddorol am eu iaith. Os maen nhw'n ffeindio fy mlog i ydy e'n ysgrifennu yn Saesneg. Felly dw i wedi penderfynu i postio tudalennau (neu rhannau o dudalennau) yn Cymraeg a Saesneg. Dw i'n ymddiheuro ymlaen llaw am Gymraeg anghywir! Cywirwch i fi os gwelwch i'n dda. Dw i'n dim ond dysgwr.

Dw i ddim yn dal Dee pob dydd ar y foment - ers mae hi'n yn y maes yn wastad tra ein stablau sy'n cwaranten - dim ond sawl gwaith yn yr wythnos i'w brwsio. Pan dw i'n dodi i hi ei halter nawr, dw i'n ei gadael ac hi'n dodi ei trwyn i mewn. Maen hyfryd. Dw i wedi meddu Dee am tair blynedd, ac dim ond gynnau fod i wedi sylwddoli bod ni'n gallu gwneud hwn.

Dw i wedi bod yn meddwl . . . dyn ni'n gallu dal ceffly dweud y gwir? Ydw i'n gallu dodi halter ar ceffyl i'w dod o'r maes achos yr ceffyl yn penderfynu i gydweithio? Faswn ni ddim yn gallu dod agos ceffyl os dydy e ddim yn happus? Mae e'n syniad chwyldroadol i fi. Mae e'n syniad bod yn dechrau i newid fy arferion am gweithio gyda ceffylau. Dwi'n edrych ymlaen i marchogaeth eto. Fyddi hi'n ymarweddu fel hwn o hyd pan dw i eisau ei ddal i waith?

Trust

I recently visited Carolyn Resnick's blog and did her 'Quick Quiz'. One of the questions that interested me was "Does your horse help you by lowering his head and sticking his nose in the halter?" I realised that I did not know the answer to this question, because I had never approached haltering Dee from this point of view.

As a teenager, the first horse I worked with a great deal - outside of a riding stables environment - was difficult to catch. I discovered the way to succeed was to gently creep up towards him and when he showed signs of avoiding me, to turn away from him. Whiskey would then start to follow me and I could quickly get the halter rope round his neck. Looking back I now realise that he was actually joining up with me and deciding to allow me to catch him. He - and Sam, his elderly gelding companion - belonged to a lady who was the step mother of two girls who visited on alternate weekends. They often could not catch Whiskey and would phone for me to go down and catch him for them. I used to do this, but always felt I was betraying his trust a little.

Dee occasionally enjoys making Nor'dzin chase her round the field, but usually is quite happy to come to me. Yet I think I have always approached her with my habit of expecting her to be difficult to catch. I have not actually been dwelling in the as it is of catching Dee, but in the as I expect it to be. So since taking the quiz I have been holding out her halter - and her bridle - and have discovered that she does indeed lower her head and put her nose through the band. I ride her bitless, so putting a riding bridle on her is quite similar to putting on a leading halter. What a joyful discovery. I felt quite choked with emotion the first time I realised that she would do this for me. Such a simple act of openness on my part - requesting rather than taking charge - evoked such a trusting response from Dee. I now always do this and I am sure it is deepening our sense of communication.

I think Red is enjoying going out more often now that Jayne is looking after him. The only unfortunate aspect of the arrangement is that I usually arrive to look after Dee before Jayne is able to. Red does not understand why Dee is getting fed and taken out to her field, while he is left unfed in the stable. I always make a fuss of him, and give him a few carrots and some hay to ease his confusion, but of course I cannot give him his full feed in case Jayne wishes to ride him later. I hope he will gradually get used to the new arrangement.

I'm ending today's post with news of Wiimbledon. No not Wimbledon - Wiimbledon - a tennis tournament played on the Nintendo Wii console that is taking place in Cardiff on Sunday (29th June). Originally just our younger son was entering, but the organiser asked us if anyone else in the family would like to enter. It is the first tournament of its kind in the UK, as far as we know, so he is keen to have enough people taking part to launch it with a flourish. Consequently 'ö-Dzin had entered us all! So on Sunday some poor kid is going to be playing this old fogey at Wii tennis, and this old fogey will probably do hopelessly and embarrass herself! It is all for a good cause however. The prize is a trophy and a cheque for a charity. We are supporting our Buddhist charity and the Drala Jong Appeal. Please wish me luck!