2011 is history look out 2012!!!

I lie in bed at 10:47 on the last day of 2011 reflecting on all I did this year.  What a ride  I would like to first wish everyone a happy 2012.  Challenge yourself to say yes more times than you say no.  YOU will be amazed where it takes you!!! 

Horse training using Carolyn Resnicks method has begun in ernest at my home.  This for me is a BIG leap of faith HOWEVER after 2 days I see a HUGE difference in how Macho is approaching things.  I have decided Macho is a VERY dominate horse.  I look forward to changing that using the Waterhole Rituals. 

Friday evening I got off work at 5 RAN home & changed clothes & worked till almost 7 in the DARK.  I learned that separating my boys is not the best approach at this time, best to work them together.  I left the horses Friday evening feeling that I had accomplished nothing I wanted to. 

Saturday morning I went out to feed, I found Macho asking nicely if he could eat his breakfast after gently reminding him of what we worked on Friday night.  I had to work at 7 AM so I did not have the time I wanted or needed to practice much this morning. 

I got off work at 4 on Saturday called Susan Smith on my way home to discuss what my plans were & if I was approaching correctly.  As I was talking to her I got home changed clothes & headed out to the horse yard to have a sesssion with Macho and Kodi.  Tonight's lesson for Macho, taking territory for Kodi, eye contact.  I placed one bowl of their evening mush on the ground & allowed Kodi to approach & eat at his pleasure.  Every time Macho approached I would drive him away.  Kodi would also run away but he would be allowed to return.  Kodi quickly figured out that he was being allowed to stay & eat as long as Macho was not there.  Soon Kodi was driving Macho away, biting him on the ass & KICKING him!!!  All I did was stand there in amazement.  I put Macho's feed into his bowl & intended to approach Macho & greeet him & walk away allowing him to eat his own feed,  while still not allowing him near Kodi's mush.  After about 30 minutes Macho's atitude changed he greeted me politely & got to peacefully eat HIS mush.  WOW!!  I can hardly wait till Monday when Susan Smith wil come over to show us new things to work on!!!!

Days off work

Snowy cliffs between Cuba NM & Bernallilo Dec 29, 2011

Today was a day off work.  If I never had days off work I would be RICH!!!!  Today I drove to Farmington to see my Podiatrist & get my new inserts for my shoes!!  $300!!!  Pluss gas to FArm Town, Lunch with friends while there & shopping at a favorite store up there.  On the good side I took the Lowly lizard refugee to his new home with Mark.  Lowly Lizard was a stowaway in plants from Florida to Lowes in Santa Fe a couple weeks ago.  Luckily we captured him & he has been residing at my home for the last 2 weeks.  He is a Brown Anole They like 80 degree tempratures & 80% humidity!!  That makes for a pretty miserable lizard in Santa Fe in December with THREE winter storem & single digit lows.  LOL  I also traded my Soulcatta Tortise for a 40 gallon tank to make a Fire Bellied Frog paradise.  Roseanne sent curly rush, a bromiliad & another plant to add to the froggy paradise.  Now all I have to do is decide where I wil be settting up the paradise at!!!  The nice thing about going to Farmington it the drive time.  Was VERY pretty today as there was lots of snow on the rock cliffs.  Ok so the picture is not al that clear but it WAS taken while going 65 MPH down the highway with the window open & one handed!!  LOL

Tomorrow sees me back at work 8 - 5, I hope to come home a bit early & work with Macho & Kodi using Carolyn Resnicks methods. 

Guilt

Let's say Tuesday was just a bad day.  Stuff at work with a co-worker who is not fully doing his job coming to a head as I am tired of doing extra work.  When I got off early I come home to find my sister-in-law & her mom having pedicure time in the living room.  Not wanting to intrude on their mother/daughter time I retreat to the horse pen outside as I am safe there.  Well Macho & Kodi must have sensed my stress as they really did not want to do anything either.  Once I finally caught them I chose to ride Kodi & tie Macho to the trailer.  That was a bad choice.  Macho was pawing rearing, slamming his body into the trailer, & kicking the trailer.  This really stressed me out.  I tried to ignore him & just work with Kodi but Macho just kept gettting worse & worse.  My frustration hit a high.  I untacked Kodi & tied him out to the telephone pole where he stood & rested quietly after our ride.  I went to the trailer & got the long lunge whip  out & proceeded to convince Macho he needed to STAND quietly while tied.  I am not proud of what I did  goes to show you have to have the right mindset when training ANY animals.  I untied Macho & had him do some lunging excercises over the ramp of the trailer at a walk.  He stripped the lead rope out of my hand & ran off to try be with Kodi.  I brought him back to where we were lunging & added a chain to his halter & this time when he tried to strip the lead out of my hand I was ready.  I held on & the chain bit into his nose & he right away realized that waas a BAD idea & stopped pulling.  I continued to lunge till he relaxed & responded at a walk.  I stil had to find a stopping place with him & it was now getting dark, my boots were not waterproof & my feet were wet & geting VERY cold.  I took his halter & lead off but had closed the gate between the two horse yards so he could not get to Kodi until he was respectful to me.  Macho was wanting to run the fence & frantic to get to Kodi so I used the long lunge whip to get him away from the fence.  I did not hit him just the air & ground till he moved away.  He would run around the horse trailer & try to get back to the fence.  I asked him to stop & he did.  I would allow him to advance toward the gate 1 step at a time.  Remember this is all at LIBERTY.  When I would ask him to come close he did quietly, then he could not stand it & would go back to runing the fence.  I again drove him away completely.  Making a long story short, in about 30 more minutes Macho figured out I wanted him to walk quietly through the gate & our work for the day ended.  I spent the whole night feeling guilty about how I had handled the entire day.  I contacted a good friend Susan Smith & enlisted her expert help with Macho. 

I am finding that Macho is ever pushing his boundries & I am becoming more & more harsh in my training methods.  With this approach neither me nor horse is going to win.  With Susan Smith's help I am exploring Carolyn Resnick waterhole rituals training.  Susan came to the house on Wednesday to help me start approaching my horses as other horses would.  This training is done at liberty so it is the horse's choice wether they want to engage or not.  The responses I saw with my horses in 2 hours of working was awesome.  I am not typically a "warm fuzzy" trainer.  I prefer the whack em with a stick method.  HOWEVER, I am seeing I need a larger & larger stick to whack with.  This is not good for anyone involved. I will give this warm fuzzy approach a chance. 

I now need to sleep as Thursday I am heading to Farmington to see my foot Dr & get new inserts for my shoes.  Hopefully my feet & legs wil hurt less & I can eliminate one more stress in my life.