I've been continuing to walk Filly every day I have off. We usually do around 4km according to Endomondo on mixed terrain of road and a track made of road planings. The track is particularly good as it is abrasive.
Walking is not just about the walking. We are still working on our horsemanship as we do it. As horsemanship is defined as the "habits and skills a horse and human need to act as partners" it is not just me working on horsemanship, it is Filly as well.
So the walks have two purposes.
1) to help her rehab progress
2) to build our horsemanship in an environment that is off the yard and so less predictable.
As principle number 8 of Parelli is "principles, purpose and time are the tools of teaching" this fits in nicely with the parelli program.
So what have we been working on.
On the way out Filly would really rather be in a nice warm stable with some hay so she is reluctant to follow on. As a result she is not acting as a partner as she is pulling back just a little. Often this just means she is walking a pace or two behind me not on my shoulder. So how to overcome this ? I use two methods typically.
The first is that if she ever leans on the halter I just bring up my energy and start gently jogging. To get relief from the pressure on the halter she has to trot up alongside me. As soon as she is alongside we walk again. I make sure that I don't attach any emotion to this. The jogging is not a punishment for her being behind me just a consequence. So she slowly learns that for a quiet life it's easier to just walk alongside like a partner.
The second method is an add on to the first. As she comes alongside she gets a click and a treat. So she learns that there are some positive advantages to walking alongside me.
Playing with this we now go for extended periods as partners. Probably up to 10 minutes with a quiet calm Filly plodding alongside me.
The other purpose we have been working on is just getting her used to the unexpected. For example, yesterday was a lovely day. There were some kids out for a walk and they got very excited when they saw Filly with lots of jumping up and down and shouting. Filly was not that keen on this but I maintained my emotions as flat and friendly, a sort of "ho hum" feeling and we continued to walk towards the kids. After a very few minutes she was being petted and generally loved by the children and, being Filly, liked the attention.
Likewise for cars. When we started walking she would get upset by cars coming past. The road is pretty narrow. By studiously ignoring the cars myself (other than to thank them for slowing down) whatever she did she is now pretty confident with them. Even those who don't bother to slow down she hardly reacts to.
It would have been easy to forget my horsemanship during this period, but that would have been a huge mistake. As it is I've managed to turn our daily walks into a horsemanship session and we have both learned from the experience.
Walking is not just about the walking. We are still working on our horsemanship as we do it. As horsemanship is defined as the "habits and skills a horse and human need to act as partners" it is not just me working on horsemanship, it is Filly as well.
So the walks have two purposes.
1) to help her rehab progress
2) to build our horsemanship in an environment that is off the yard and so less predictable.
As principle number 8 of Parelli is "principles, purpose and time are the tools of teaching" this fits in nicely with the parelli program.
So what have we been working on.
On the way out Filly would really rather be in a nice warm stable with some hay so she is reluctant to follow on. As a result she is not acting as a partner as she is pulling back just a little. Often this just means she is walking a pace or two behind me not on my shoulder. So how to overcome this ? I use two methods typically.
The first is that if she ever leans on the halter I just bring up my energy and start gently jogging. To get relief from the pressure on the halter she has to trot up alongside me. As soon as she is alongside we walk again. I make sure that I don't attach any emotion to this. The jogging is not a punishment for her being behind me just a consequence. So she slowly learns that for a quiet life it's easier to just walk alongside like a partner.
The second method is an add on to the first. As she comes alongside she gets a click and a treat. So she learns that there are some positive advantages to walking alongside me.
Playing with this we now go for extended periods as partners. Probably up to 10 minutes with a quiet calm Filly plodding alongside me.
The other purpose we have been working on is just getting her used to the unexpected. For example, yesterday was a lovely day. There were some kids out for a walk and they got very excited when they saw Filly with lots of jumping up and down and shouting. Filly was not that keen on this but I maintained my emotions as flat and friendly, a sort of "ho hum" feeling and we continued to walk towards the kids. After a very few minutes she was being petted and generally loved by the children and, being Filly, liked the attention.
Likewise for cars. When we started walking she would get upset by cars coming past. The road is pretty narrow. By studiously ignoring the cars myself (other than to thank them for slowing down) whatever she did she is now pretty confident with them. Even those who don't bother to slow down she hardly reacts to.
It would have been easy to forget my horsemanship during this period, but that would have been a huge mistake. As it is I've managed to turn our daily walks into a horsemanship session and we have both learned from the experience.
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