--- In [email protected], "Judy Ryder" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I think it's so hard to describe this thing called "feel", and not- so-easy > to tell someone how to be a partner to the horse, how to *consider* the > horse. >
I went out and tried this with my horses today, all of them. I know what happened now. Leslie redefined pressure and release for me. I had to keep asking about release because I did not even recognize as what I have seen before, what I thought it was, and that is because I could not even see the pressure, in visible terms, it is almost invisible. I have to say when I tried it, it worked, it amazed me. This is going to revolutionize my relationship with my horses. I couldn't find my long rope (20ft), so I had to use my normal lead rope and rope halter. Leslie recommended a long rope, she had a 24ft. tree rope. This is because if you ask for the life to come up in your horse, you cannot let him get to the end of the lead rope, it's easier with the long rope. If he gets to the end of the lead rope it shuts him down. Since I had a short rope, and because it was the firt time I was really trying this, now having seen it, I just asked them to walk with me, we turned all directions as we were going, the rope hanging in a U shape. I would then start circling around toward their hindquarter, if they didn't turn right away, I would just massage the rope, they can feel it. They wonder why you are doing this and then I could get them to turn back towards me. Never pulling, not when they ate grass, nothing, it would only take a second and they would come with me again, happily. A couple of them were stiff at first, Zoe really, and we would keep circling until she engaged her hindquarter, when her back legs crossed over each other, instead of her using her front legs to move around. As I did it, it just clicked. I see that if I were riding these horses and they are responsive to the rein like this, this is how I am going to get them to move around in a flowing way, instead of trying to drag their heads and front quarter around, not so nice. Snorri caught on to all of this very quickly, he stood at the fence watching me when I next took a turn with Rose, I don't think he would mind doing more. > The video made by someone *In Honour of the Icelandic Horse* is hard to take > when we can see such obvious ignoring of the horse, not because the people > are trying to be mean, but because they just don't know yet. At least I > hope that's the reason. > > I wonder if this was the video I saw playing at the USIHC booth. The moment I walked up to their booth there was an image of an Icelandic Horse rearing at the end of a line with a man, well fighting him really. I couldn't believe they were playing something like that. I really cannot imagine how this kind of thing is supposed to promote the breed, I really have no idea. It's so strange because it seems to me it takes minimal patience with these Icelandics to have them be cooperative, they are extremely cooperative. I must say, I don't really feel that the USIHC is terribly interested in exploring the great training we have available in the US, not at this time anyway, and it's too bad, there were a lot of young people participating in one of Gudmar's demonstrations, there were very hard hands and horses throwing their heads all over the place, it was not a pretty sight. Kim
