Parelli

I did a little research on the Parelli Method that I mentioned Yesterday. Very interesting depiction about how leadership is very important in horsemanship. This method is a approach sometimes called 'natural horsemanship'. The Parelli Method also mentions that each horse has a distict personality and that the trainer or rider should take this into consideration. The horse personalities are called 'Horsenalities'. Trainers are taught to look at body cues from horses such as their facial expressions and body language to determine what kind of personality the horse has.

I think this is extremely interesting because teachers might consider this with their students. Students have different personalities and learn in different ways, just as the Parelli Method suggests that horses do. If a horse trainer can determine the personality of his horse and train him accordingly, then a teacher can definetly do the same for their students. I believe that if a person can interact with a horse and with communication determine its personality, then they could learn about their human partners as well. If you can communicate with a horse, which does not speak and determine its characteristics and personality then you should also be able to do so with a human. You can speak to another human and interact more closely than you can with a horse. If you learn the personality of another person then you can learn how to communicate with them better. My point is that if a human can characterize a horse and learn how to communicate with them better, then it should increase that person's communication skills with other people.

On another note, I rode Midnight again today. In my mind it was not as succesful as previous days but I think that is due to distraction on both of our parts. There were workers cutting down trees near us, making loud buzzing noises and such. Also I let my mother come and watch, mainly for safety reasons, because there was no one else at Zach's today. Riding alone even in a round pen could potentially be very dangerous. Midnight wanted to be in the pasture with his friends and wanted to leave the gate pretty bad. I know I anticipated his approach to the gate each time we went around the ring. I have a lot to learn and correct in my lifetime of riding. I also purposely tested whether he would actually go in the direction that you looked. It really does work. I know that my body is sending signals that I do not realize that I am sending to the horse, but Midnight is very sensitive. I am lucky that he is not extremely desensitized because he is somewhat older and has had many riders. Communication was not as I would have liked it to be, but everyday is going to be different and I can't get frustrated because things did not go like I wanted them to. I think the distraction aspect applied to humans as well. If something distracting is going on in your life, it is harder to communicate effectively with others. For instance my grandmother passed away last week and at the funeral there was a long line of people who came through. I was so distracted by the situation that I sometimes could not form words to respond to them. I was distracted by the the devistation that had just occured to my family. I believe that if a person works with horses long enough they can learn to over come distraction and still communicate with the horse. Once you are able to do this with a horse, then it seems that a person given a distraction can still communicate effectively with another person.

I also did some article searching with Mr.Brown. We found some articles that look promising but I will post the results as soon as I get to reading all the articles. Also worked on my outline for the final paper, I hope my expectations are not too high for this short amount of time to do research.

On another interesting note I read an article titiled "Equestrian Program Repair Boys' Spirit". This article talks about how boys who have been incacerated come to her farm and she shows them how to make the right choices again. She explains that an important aspect of her program is that the boys can learn, "simply how to trust others". This is exactly the kind of things that I have been looking for. This means that others have acknowledged that working with horses can build a person's trust. This person does not only build trust with the horses but they can learn how to trust people again be realizing that "this horse loves them unconditionally until they do somehting to compromise that trust". That teaches the boys that if a horse can trust them, then so can other human beings and that the boy can trust again too.

Therapy

Today I was a volunteer at Hope Remains. Hope Remains is a Ranch that helps 'problem kids' through therapy and activities with horses. Some kids may have been abused, may have anger problems and some kids may just have gotten in trouble at school. They spend about half the time with the kids with the horses, playing games and such, and then the second half of the time the kids learn scriptures and answer questions about how that can apply to their life.

Today I saw how much joy the horses brought to some of the kids. The kids were separated into two groups- and there were two horses. We were in an enclosed round ring at one end and at the other end stood a man holding a bucket full of golf balls. Each group had to help their riders into the saddle (each person in the group had to ride) and someone would lead the horse to the other end of the round pen to pick up a golf ball and then the horse would be lead back to the starting point after the golf ball had been dropped into a bucket balanced on a barrel. As a volunteer I managed one of the buckets on the barrel to make sure the smaller kids could get it in and to make sure the bucket didn't fall off the barrel.

I cannot follow the kids home to see how they apply the things they learn with the horses, but some of the workers did mention that they learn valuable lessons while working with the horses. For instance they once had an exercise where they had to make the horses move from one station to another, without touching the horses or using treats. If the horse would not move some children would get angry and yell, and of course the horse would then turn around and not come to that child. These things can be applied once they go home, for instance if a child yells at his mother because he isn't getting his way, the mother isn't going to give him what he wants, she will probably punish him or ignore him. (I was told this story at Hope Remains.) I was also told that the children sometimes have trouble trusting the horse. A big scary 1200 pound animal is hard to control and you need to trust it in order to climb on its back safely. Once the children can become confident around the horses and begin to trust them, then maybe they can learn to trust people in their life.

I believe today that the kids learned teamwork through use of a horse and team members as well as joy. I believe that sometimes when people or kids have a horrible home life they may forget that it is okay to find joy in things. If these kids get time every week to enjoy a horse and enjoy their time, maybe they will learn to enjoy the company of others and learn how to work together and leave their anger problems behind.

After the riding and time with the horses the kids had Bible Study time. They read and looked at a verse and applied it to their life. This part did not apply as much to my research but it was still insightful and I got to know some of the kids a bit more. I talked to a lady named Debra who was extremely friendly and knowledgeable about horses. She is not only a local musician but wants one day to become a cattle rancher. She talked about training horses and how she uses the Parelli Method, which I now will be googling all night to learn about.

If feel that this experience at Hope Remains will open my eyes to possibilities that and knowledge about horses that I would never have imagined.

Circles

My day started with watching a Film by Stacy Westfall on Body work. This DVD had two discs so it took me a while to watch the entire set but it was well work it. The first disc concentrated on being able to use your reins in order to make the horse go in a circle as well as bend and counter bend. Stacy used the phrase 'give and take' many times during the course of this film. In order to make the horse turn in the direction you wish ,you pull lightly on the reins, and the second the horse goes in the direction you wish you release the pressure. I also learned a new way to hold the reins which makes it easier since I am using reins that are not connected. ( sometimes you will see western riders whose reins are separated and are long leather straps, that is what I am riding with). This is hard to describe without a picture but I will do my best: you cross the rein from the right side to the left and vice-verse. The reins are crossed at this point, you then collect both reins in each your right and left hand, so it looks that you have doubled the reins. I feel that it keeps my hands steadier and I feel safer because I have twice the amount of reins under my control and in my grip. Using this method helped me to not only keep up with my reins but also to feel Midnight's mouth better. I felt that today my release was quicker and our communication in regard to direction was a little better.

This 'give and take' phrase can definitely be applied to humans relationships with one another. I couldn't count the number of times I have heard someone say that they are putting more into a relationship with a significant other than the significant other is. This applies to horses as well; if the horse responds when you give a command, but you do not reward them (by releasing pressure) they will become confused. People do this all the time with one another. If we learn to balance the give and take with our partners in life communication becomes easier. If one person feels they are putting more time and/or feelings into a relationship they can become defensive; just as a horse can become defensive if you are not clear with your signals.

Stacy also mentioned that many riders go saddle up their horse and start riding without any plan or or intention. I decided that my goal or plan for today would be just to communicate with Midnight and try to do circles. Getting a horse to go in a complete even circle is like drawing a perfect circle on paper, you have to do it slowly and really concentrate on what your hands are doing. Our circles were not perfect by far, but the mere fact that I could communicate with him and get really close to a round circle made me happy.

Another important statement Stacy made is ' to look where you want the horse to go next'. 'They can feel a fly land on their body and they can tell where you are looking'. I found this to be true while riding today as well. There were barrels set up in the outdoor pin I was in- I did not use them because I am NOT a barrel racer but they were there none the less. I was just walking Midnight around the enclosure, in an oval, to give him a break from circles, I lost my concentration on him and was looking toward the road, next thing I know he has turned out of the path we were on and headed around the barrel towards the direction in which I was looking. I do not believe this was a mere coincidence, I subtly changed my body and moved it in the direction I was looking, he felt this and acted accordingly. Stacy mentioned this in the DVD ;when you are anticipating the next move, you may change your body and this can send signals to the horse without you meaning to do so.

Stacy talked a lot about telling if your horse is soft in the face, in the neck in its body. With close attention I realized that Midnight is soft on his left side but not at all on his right side. This was evident with the small amount of ground work I attempted and with the circles that I tried with him. I started out by just trying to bend his head toward the saddle to the left and then to the right. I noticed on the ground that anything you did on his left side did not bother him at all, but when you walked to his right side and tried the same actions he was not as confident and trusting. For instance when bending his neck to the right he would also move his feet; this did not happen on the left side. Midnight had no oppositions to circles if I was bending his neck to the left, but did not like to do them if I made him go in the opposite direction- his head was bent to the right. Most people do not realize this but, a horse must see things with each eye. For instance if you pass a barn that is on his left side he sees it with his left eye and he must see it with his right eye also. If he does not see it with both eyes then it will look foreign to him and he will not recognize it with the other eye, and this could potentially spook him. I believe Midnight is not as soft on his right side, because everything is mostly done on the left side of a horse. The saddle is fastened and the horse is mounted from the left side.

I did not try spiraling in and spiraling out yet or the clover pattern, it is a little early for me to try that, I want to establish a decent set of communication skills with Midnight before I attempt something more complicated. (Spiraling in and spiraling out is making a circle smaller and bigger. Like drawing a spiral when you were a kid, only you are trying to communicate with a horse to get him to do that with his feet. The clover pattern is setting up four cones and weaving in and out of them until you can make a visible clover pattern with the horses hoof marks in the sand/dirt.)

On the second disc Stacy used other student's horses to show these moves. This was helpful because it showed that some horses will be resistant to bending and that the use of pressure on both sides of the mouth (pulling on both reins) can confuse them at first. You put pressure on both sides of the horses mouth when you do spiraling for instance. You pull on the reins in one direction to keep them in a circle, but you pull with the other rein every so often to make the circle bigger.

This is more or less a note to myself but I think it is important tomorrow for me to take a look at the bit. I think the bridle might be too tight and that is why Midnight is so quick to respond. I don't want riding to be painful for him at all. He would then associate pain with me riding him, not a good association to have if I will be riding him for a month.

Midnight

Today I visited Shenandoah Farms at Rolling Hill and found a horse to lease. The horse is black and appropriately named Midnight. He is very gentle and calm which is reassuring and comforting to me. I have also never ridden a horse that is so responsive as this one. He can turn on a dime, and to get him to change gates I barely have to move my feet. He also kept his ears back, which means he is paying attention to me the rider, the entire time I rode him. I rode him in the ring to get a feel for his personality and character. For example he does not spook easy as some horses do and he is somewhat stubborn, but easily gives when asked to do something repeatedly.
I feel very lucky to have the opportunity to ride almost everyday and to have a horse that is so responsive.

I also learned that I have a saddle, bridle, reins and blankets that are mine for the entire month. I will also be the only person riding Midnight which comforts me to know that no one else will possibly be using different or confusing techniques while riding him.

There was a moment today when both Midnight and I fell in sync with one another. It was 5 seconds of a perfect trot with horse and rider communicating perfectly. To those of you who do not ride horses, the trot while a slower pace is difficult to accomplish properly. It is the rockiest and bumpiest pace that a horse goes through. The hardest part of the trot is finding the rhythm of the horse. I have continued reading the book Centered Riding by Sally Swift. It describes in detail how to maintain rhythm and balance while in a trot and walk. You should keep your hips, knees and ankles loose and move with the horse. This is very hard to describe to someone who has never ridden a horse, because this is not as simple as it sounds.

Something that I did understand was a major part of communication with the horse is your hands. You must keep your hands soft but responsive. Too much tugging and pulling at a horses mouth will make them less responsive and confuse them, this is not the way to achieve good communication with a horse. If you ask a horse to move in a certain direction by pulling on the reins, the moment they give in to your request the pressure on their mouth should stop. A reward to a horse is releasing pressure. So if you tug on the reins and do not release as soon as the horse obeys your request, you confuse them.
Some of you might believe this is a stretch but I can apply this to communication with my fellow peers. An example of this would be asking the same person to cover for you at work repeatedly. You ask them to do a favor once and they do it. But when you repeatedly ask them to do the same favor and do nothing in return they may feel used and stop responding to your requests to cover for you at work. A horse may feel the same way. " you keep pulling on me and I turn in that direction but you still keep pulling, what am I doing wrong?".

This book has also taught me that transitions from one gait to another are very important. The transition should be smooth and the rider should stay with the forward motion of the horse. Again, this sounds easy but unless you are an experienced rider it can still be difficult. To get a horse to change gaits is simple yes, but to get a horse to change gaits smoothly with a human on its back, very difficult.

The book centered riding also emphasizes how important the canter is as well. Balance and rhythm are also very important with the third gait the canter. 'Forces of Energy' are also mentioned. This is a somewhat difficult concept for me to completely grasp. You are supposed to use the force of energy in the horse flow through you to allow you to find the rhythm of the gait in which the horse is in.

Tomorrow should be another exciting day with Midnight and for expanding my knowledge.

Centered Riding

I just finished reading 60 pages of a book titled Centered Riding written by Sally Swift. Centered Riding is a technique that is used to help someone have balance on a horse. Having correct balance not only makes the horse more comfortable but allows communication to flow freely, when both rider and horse are relaxed and balanced. So far this book has focused on four aspects of the body that should be considered if a rider wants to become balanced on the horse.

First you must have 'soft eyes'. This means that you must use your peripheral vision to see all of your surroundings. If you see and pay attention to all of your surroundings you are more likely to be safe and conscious of situations around you. Using 'soft eyes' could prevent and aid someone in handling a unexpected situation.

Next is breathing. An example of using correct breathing would be riding a horse past a vehicle that it is frightened of. If you know that the horse is scared of a particular vehicle you might hold your breath or breath quicker from anticipation. By just being calm and breathing normal you not only relax yourself but reassure the horse that everything is okay.

I believe this also applies to humans. For example when my sister was little if she fell and no one was around, or payed her any attention and she had no serious injury she would not cry, BUT if you jumped up and gasped when she fell she would immediately cry. She sensed something was wrong, even if she wasn't hurt, so she cried. The same thing applies to horses, if you act like something is wrong, they will sense this and react accordingly.

The third aspect of balance on the list is centering. You must center your body on the horse. An example given in the book is a doll that has sand in the bottom. You can push the top all the way to the ground, but it will always spring back to the upright position. This is how one should be when riding a horse, you will at times get off balance but you must spring back to your center and remain balance to insure the horse is comfortable.

Lastly the author mentions a concept called building blocks. The rider is to imagine that each section of your body is blocks and you must align them in order to be balanced.

While most of this reading pertains only to a rider and horse I find that correlation can be found to how people can communicate with one another. If you have experience with horses you may find that keeping your cool and balance in a situation helps to maintain a horses sense of confidence. I think that as this interim continues I will find that this situation can also be found between humans. For instance, I was in a car wreck this past Wednesday. I was headed home from the mountains in about 3 feet of snow and the car slide into a ditch. I of course panicked. My boyfriend was driving the car and remained calm the entire time. After the initial shock his calm demeanor made me relax and face the situation. While it may seem unlikely that communication with horses has a connection or relation to humans communicating with one another it is true. I believe my experiences this month will be extremely insightful and useful in everyday life and in unexpected situations.

The Beginning

Over the Holiday break I was flipping through the channels on TV trying to find something interesting to watch. Luckily there was nothing interesting on, so I went passed the channels I would normally watch and found something great. There is a channel RFD TV, that presents information and products about horses. As I started watching this channel I thought that the man was only trying to sell a product, but with patience I learned more. The product he was using was called a Blocker Tie Ring. This ring was designed to teach a horse not to pull back when tied up. It is extremely dangerous to a horse and person if a horse pulls when tied to a post or fence, it is possible to break the halter or the lead rope which can result in physical harm to the horse. The blocker tie ring allows the horse to move its feet when tied up. When the horse pulls or backs up the lead rope gives allowing the horse to back away from whatever may be frightening it. Since a horse is a flight animal ( when presented with a dangerous situation a horse would rather flight than fight), this allows them to get away from what scares them without harming themselves while still being tied up. With demonstration of this product, once the horse realizes that being tied up is not as frightening as it once was they will no longer pull on the rope.
This demonstrates an important aspect of horses and how we should approach a situation with them. You should always realize that horses are flight animals and use this to communicate with them. When they are frightened you have to show them gradually and gently that their fear is not as fearful as they thought.
I read in a book once that you must make an idea a horse's idea before it will be accomplished. Once the blocker tie ring was used and it was the horses idea to stay tied to the post it happened without complication. I believe this concept will be extremely important with communication with horses this month. I also believe that this could become important with communication with other people in the future.

Interim Project Description

My research will be conducted in the social sciences and be concerned primarily with human’s relationships with horses and how that influences a human’s relationship with another person. I will be observing horses and participating in riding horses to try and find the most effective way to communicate with them. I will also determine how communication with horses can affect a person’s communication with other people. I will shadow several horse experts to learn and observe their circumstances and relationships with horses. By riding and gaining personal experience I hope to obtain insight on learning better communication skills with horses and learn how this communication with horses may affect my relationship with other people. From observation I expect to find that communication with horses will allow people to communicate more effectively with other people. I also expect to find that communication with a horse will teach patience and allow communication with other people to grow.
For this project I have read books concerning horsemanship, safety, and riding techniques. Mr. Brown has also helped to broaden the Wofford College’s Library collection with books and documentaries on the subject of communication with horses. I intend to use all of these resources in the course of my interim project. I also have had horseback riding experience in the past and I have recently started riding horses again to have extra preparation for this project. I took horse riding lessons throughout my childhood and during my teenage years my parents owned a horse that I gained experience from. I plan to read more articles on how communication with horses can affect communication with other people before I begin this Interim project.
I plan to shadow horse experts to observe and interview them on their relationships with horses and other people. I will take my notes and observations from each expert and compare them to find how horses have affected their communication skills with others. I will also use my notes to compare the ways each expert believes is the most effective to communicate with horses. I will also take my personal reflections from riding and compose a response to my guiding research question. These comparisons and reflections along with additional research will be used to compose the final written report.