Trekking Solo with a Left Brain Introvert

'I made it... I am alive! I went where no horse has gone before... in the last month...'

Saturday DH and I started our official move out. We spent three hours moving the majority our life into a storage locker all just to be locked away and not seen for months. Sounds a bit depressing doesn't it?
It is funny now when I walk into 'our' house now it doesn't feel like home anymore.... How can home be made to feel 'homier' by possessions?

After coming back home to have a delicious bbq lunch of hot dogs, <3 Red Hots. (Mmm), I threw on my runners and jogged to the barn.
Mid way through my run to the barn I got thinking... The Selena O'Hanlon clinic is next Saturday, the 2nd. Eap! I was either really shocked or just plainly in my own world, either way amid my daydreaming I nearly ran into a mailbox. Of which I nimbly avoided and gave a quick glance around, 'Who puts a mailbox there! No one saw that right?...'
While I am overly stoked about the clinic, I am, mildly, having a heart attack at the same time. I am not concerned with the flat or stadium portions but the cross portion, has me a bit... well skeptical.

I have done a lot of work with Paloma over natural cross like fences, both inside and outside but as of last year, Pal was still slightly mentally immature in the way she translates what she knows to where she is, and rather tends to get stuck on the, 'I don't know where I am, therefore I don't know what THAT is'.

My resolution for today, likely more for me than Pal, was to head out on our first solo trail ride. Butt be brave and hold on! Oh and bring the whip for safe measure.

I chatted with Pal while tacking, telling her how she had to act and that she must keep both herself and me safe. She kept turning her head and glancing at me with the appy white in her eyes showing.
I wasn't sure how to take this.... 'I am chilaxing today mom'.... OR  'I am pretending to show my chillaxtion so to catch her off guard, mwahaha'.

We set out up the driveway, Pal was a little tense but well behaved. We reached the road and I parked on the grass to listen for traffic since we are on a blind corner. Nothing. But I did hear something... Bees? A whole lot of bees?
Nope. Not bees, but a heard of children riding their bikes with those wizzy things on the wheel spokes. Pal didn't like that much but she held her ground and gawked as they passed.
I prompted her to cross the road now that the 'bees' were gone. She bawked, 'Nope, not leaving, nope!', I said go, again she said no, so she got a tap at my leg. After two minutes of calmly discussing, she said fine! (insert marish tude).

Normally, I would get after her for even thinking about saying 'no' but I read this article on horse personality's and discovered Pal's personality matched one of the examples to a 'T'. See below.

So with my newly learned Do's and Dont's in mind, I gave her time to think. It worked wonders and we didn't fight!


After getting across the road, we had to weave a little trail of discarded fencing and who knows what else. Pal has seen this all before but now it was a little scary. I kept my leg on and she crept forward.
Arriving at the mouth of the field, everything opened up for miles and trees lined the whole thing.
Straight ahead in the center of the field is this lonesome tree, something about it is very enticing and magical. Too cool.
We tracked left, parallel to the road to do some more work on road hacking but in a safe setting with no blind corners or 100foot, cascading drops mere feet from the road. Ok I am exaggerating. 20-30ft drops but it's terrifying all the same! Not to mention the fencing that has dropped sideways into the cliff with erosion, screaming horse/rider grater! Some may say I have a phobia, I say I have good self preservation sense.
Which is why I ride a 1000lb pound prey animal.... hmm. Something seems amiss. :S.

Moving on. One car went flying by, Pal took a step but trudged on with a new sight seeing mission in mind or doing a recon of the area, I wasn't quite sure which but she was being a good girl, it was all I could ask.
On our way we met a few blowing plastic bags that used to cover the round bales in the winter. No problems. Then after crossing the first field we maneuvered around the sucky mud holes from all the recent rain and set out in the next field.
Unfortunately, this field was recently harrowed and was really rough with dried mud, so we cut it short and headed back to the soy bean field for better footing.

I thought about letting Pal go for a gallop when we reached a nice dry, flat patch but going back to the information learned I opted for total relaxation prior to upping the anty. Good experiences!

Pal was pretty forward on our way home but she kept her cool.

Just before the 'exit' of the field, she picked up the pace. I knew she just saw home but I wanted our return to be on my terms so we did a few circles at the mouth until she slowed her roll and snorted.

Walking through the path of 'destruction' (as per Pal), was nothing this time, nor was crossing the road, Paloma had a mission to complete. Good pony.


Overall the ride was only 30 minutes but my view in training, and yes, I considered this training just the same as anything else, is short and positive, then building upon that next time.



Paloma's personality Diagnosis
Find your horse's here!

Left-Brain Introvert
Welcome to the land of “Why should I? What’s in it for me?” This horse reads people like abook. He knows what you want and he’s not going to give it to you, unless you treat him right. Even though he appears stubborn or lazy, he’s not at all lazy in the mind! Reverse psychology is where it’s at, oh… and treats!

DO:

• Use incentive – treats, grazing, rest, scratches, etc. Incentive
  is not bribing because you’ll ask your horse to do something before rewarding him. A bribe is when you use the treat to lure him into doing it. There’s a big difference.
• Ask him to do less than he’s offering. It will blow his mind! He’ll then start offering more.
• Give him time to think. He’s not a slow thinker; he’s just got to stop thinking resistant thoughts before he can be more in tune with you.
• Variety is important, it makes life interesting.
• Use more drive than draw.
• Teach him some tricks. This is fun for both of you and is a good way to make him feel clever.
• Move his mind and he’ll move his feet.
• Parelli Patterns! They encourage him to think and show how smart he is.

DON’T:

• Make him work. He uses energy only for the things he thinks are fun.
• Punish him. You’ll have a big fight on your hands. This horse is a master intimidator of people when he dislikes them!
• Don’t push him. He’ll have you working harder than him! He’s also great at objecting when asked to go faster and usually responds by kicking up, swishing his tail or laying back his ears. Just don’t go there. Do the opposite of what he expects.
• Don’t micromanage – ask him to do something and then wait for him to do it. If he doesn’t, resend.
• Don’t get tougher, get more ‘interesting’ – do less to get more. Surprise him with a flick under the flank and a treat (cookie, rub or rest) when he tries.
• Use much repetition. He cannot see the point in doing the same thing over and over and will lose motivation and respect for you. He’s smart. Treat him like he is.
• Let your horse come to you with his ears back. Send/chase him away until he asks for permission to come to you.
• Get fooled into thinking that he’s lazy. He’s just unmotivated by you, so figure out how to make things more interesting?