I did not have much time with Brandy yesterday, because the arena was wet with rain. By the time I finished grooming her the arena dried up in the warm sunshine. We practiced stick to me in zone two. It is going pretty well but we need to improve on her walking with confidence while I am in zone two.
The other thing we worked on was the yoyo game. Now this was really interesting. It was amazing to watch Brandy learn and figure it out.
First, like usual, I started by asking her to take a step or two back using the porcupine game and then proceeded to yoyo her back. After about halfway out she tried to go out to the circle, I continued to ask her with phase one. She swung her HQ around and faced me. Then she got stuck, so I created more energy by swinging the tail of the rope at her chest and quit when she got unstuck. Normally I would have asked her for a circle or invite her in. Instead I asked her to take one step towards me and then stop. It took her a second to realize what was I asking of her. Brandy has a really good draw and loves to stand close to me and get her forehead or "delicate zone" rubbed.
She looked at me with pricked ears and asked a question. I asked her to yoyo back three steps and she even offered a forth one. I brought her in half way, stopped, then invited her in my space to get her delicate zone rubbed. Then I yoyoed her back all the way and then played the circling game.
I find the circling game challenging because Brandy always stops behind me the first few times then she passes behind my back just fine and I quit. It has become a pattern and I am not exactly sure how to break out of it.
I think that either Brandy is not sure what to do yet and I just need to resend her with phase one until she gets the idea or, she perfectly understands me and is just being disrespectful in witch case I need to turn around and tag the ground on the spot where she was. On the other hand she might run when I tag the ground and even trotting can be painful for her at times. Next time I have a video lesson with Kari I will ask her about that.
Here is a little back story: I've been interested in equine massage for some time now. I thought it might be fun to try it out and see if it is for me.
Sadly, I am very squeamish about blood, guts, etc. I decided to overcome the squeamishness, find some books, and try it out. Donna recommended a book called: "Beyond Horse Massage" by Jim Masterson and even let me borrow her copy.
The Masterson Method is a very gentle, kind method that pays attention to the horse and adjusts accordingly to his/her response. Also the book has clear, easy to understand diagrams and I find it is a great start for slowly overcoming squeamishness.
So I started reading the book, slowly soaking up all information. In the second chapter I learned about the bladder meridian on the horse. You are supposed to very slowly and very lightly run your fingertips down the meridian. The next time I got to see Brandy, I thought, why not just lightly run my hands over the bladder meridian just to see it on a real horse. I had no intention on getting any release.
As I run my hands down the meridian Brandy started licking and chewing and by the time I got to the ting point she was asleep with her head lowered and her leg cocked. I feel very encouraged with her response and will continue to learn more about equine massage.
If you are interested in learning more I suggest searching Masterson method on YouTube as it has some great videos.
The other thing we worked on was the yoyo game. Now this was really interesting. It was amazing to watch Brandy learn and figure it out.
First, like usual, I started by asking her to take a step or two back using the porcupine game and then proceeded to yoyo her back. After about halfway out she tried to go out to the circle, I continued to ask her with phase one. She swung her HQ around and faced me. Then she got stuck, so I created more energy by swinging the tail of the rope at her chest and quit when she got unstuck. Normally I would have asked her for a circle or invite her in. Instead I asked her to take one step towards me and then stop. It took her a second to realize what was I asking of her. Brandy has a really good draw and loves to stand close to me and get her forehead or "delicate zone" rubbed.
She looked at me with pricked ears and asked a question. I asked her to yoyo back three steps and she even offered a forth one. I brought her in half way, stopped, then invited her in my space to get her delicate zone rubbed. Then I yoyoed her back all the way and then played the circling game.
I find the circling game challenging because Brandy always stops behind me the first few times then she passes behind my back just fine and I quit. It has become a pattern and I am not exactly sure how to break out of it.
I think that either Brandy is not sure what to do yet and I just need to resend her with phase one until she gets the idea or, she perfectly understands me and is just being disrespectful in witch case I need to turn around and tag the ground on the spot where she was. On the other hand she might run when I tag the ground and even trotting can be painful for her at times. Next time I have a video lesson with Kari I will ask her about that.
Here is a little back story: I've been interested in equine massage for some time now. I thought it might be fun to try it out and see if it is for me.
Sadly, I am very squeamish about blood, guts, etc. I decided to overcome the squeamishness, find some books, and try it out. Donna recommended a book called: "Beyond Horse Massage" by Jim Masterson and even let me borrow her copy.
The Masterson Method is a very gentle, kind method that pays attention to the horse and adjusts accordingly to his/her response. Also the book has clear, easy to understand diagrams and I find it is a great start for slowly overcoming squeamishness.
So I started reading the book, slowly soaking up all information. In the second chapter I learned about the bladder meridian on the horse. You are supposed to very slowly and very lightly run your fingertips down the meridian. The next time I got to see Brandy, I thought, why not just lightly run my hands over the bladder meridian just to see it on a real horse. I had no intention on getting any release.
As I run my hands down the meridian Brandy started licking and chewing and by the time I got to the ting point she was asleep with her head lowered and her leg cocked. I feel very encouraged with her response and will continue to learn more about equine massage.
If you are interested in learning more I suggest searching Masterson method on YouTube as it has some great videos.