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Who Me? Crazy? Maybe so. Sandy, the Viking Lady, from the Danada Equine Center near Chicago, and a perfect student, thinks I might be.
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| This was another fine LRTC workshop. My Danada crew showed up and really helped! As usual, I can't take pictures because I am working. Thanks to anyone that sends them to me. See WHW99 for a small discussion. |
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Solomon is watching me. He's beginning to lose his fear of humans. I am moving in and out, this way and that, very casually. It may appear comical at times, however this light-hearted approach, often peering at him, helps to make me seem as curious about him as he is of me. It certainly doesn't look as if I have a "Mission" to catch him.
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Solomon, I believe, is around 5 years old. He had an unusually rough start and reacted severly to being put in a squeeze by another handler. Solomon tried escaping and caught his left rear leg in the panels. He sustained some scraping and bleeding. As a result, he was rather hard to be around. Jack, his adopter, requested a slower method be tried and thus I met Solomon and his family. Eventually, Solomon learned Clicker Training andf took Hay bunches as his "Treat" for guessing the right answer. Genevieve, Jack's daughter, is quiet gifted in dealing with the mustangs now. She wound up being able to groom Solomon's face and neck here at the clinic. The use of Alexandra Kurland's "Clicker Training For Horses", in conjunction with these gentle ways I teach, really speeds up the gentling process.
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Early on, Solomon would "Get Stuck" up against a panel. I am demonstrating here that you can move the mustang with very slight pressure. No need to swing ropes and whips nor make him run all about. I am exaggerating my movements fso the students will understand. Solomon moved in the correct direction and only the step or two I requested. If one of the criteria to exhibit Alpha Status is that we "Make his feet move", then Solomon gets the idea I am Alpha and that I am not unreasonable in that I did not make him move an unnecessary amount!
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Sometimes I just turn around and count pebbles on the ground. Solomon takes the opportunity to move in closer and explore me. When I've finished "Counting", I will turn in, towards him, and casually walk away. That means that I got much closer to him than before. Yet I was out of his space before he realized it. Therefore Solomon didn't have time to get scared by my proximity.
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