-
- The
following are pictures of a Sylvia Scott
- first and
second
training
session with Cassie,
- a 10-year-old rescue
horse at the
- Roanoke
Valley Horse Rescue
-
- Session
One
-
- Cassie, at
10, is an untrained Arabian mare who
was afraid of all humans, and clearly she
had also been abused sometime in her past;
she had found her way to the Roanoke
Valley Horse Rescue. Cassie had never learned to
trust anyone and would bolt whenever a human
would approach her. Time for some natural
horsemanship training therapy!
-
-
- Because Cassie
did not want to be caught or touched, Sylvia begins
her first Cassie session with "join-up,"
which is designed to help the horse to make
the choice herself to join up with
the human and begin her trek to trusting
a human for the first time in her life.
Here Sylvia is sending Cassie around the
pen, posturing the "lead mare"
position in this "herd of two."
This is a language all horses, as herd animals,
are born understanding. Sylvia is speaking
her language!
Sylvia pushes Cassie forward with constant pressure from
the rear, and Cassie is also instructed to
change directions often with sudden pressure
in front of her shoulders. When Cassie shows
overt signs of considering joining with
Sylvia, the pressure is immediately removed,
thus showing Cassie the "alleyway"
to removing her pressure. All horses
learn from the release of pressure what
it is you want, not from the pressure itself.
-
- Cassie begins to keep both ears on Sylvia,
work her mouth, drop her head, and then
make smaller and smaller circles around
Sylvia, which is horse body language for:
considering the join-up. When Cassie stops
and turns to face Sylvia, Sylvia turns her
back to Cassie and lowers her stature to
show Cassie 1) pressure is off, you
just made the right decision there! And
2) Sylvia is not a threat to you (lowering
your stature shows a horse you are less
threatening).
-
-
- Cassie immediately steps forward, closer
to Sylvia. Sylvia keeps her body language
soft and non-threatening, back or shoulder
to horse, no eye-to-eye contact. Cassie
responds positively to this invitation and
approaches tentatively. If she exits at
this point, however, Sylvia will simultaneously
"send" her, by tossing the rope
at her hind end as she exits, thus still
posturing the "lead mare" position,
making the horse feel instantly that it
was Sylvia's idea for the horse to leave,
not Cassie's
-
-
- Cassie approaches and takes her first
sniff of Sylvia's inviting hand. Success!
Cassie is voluntarily reaching for the human
to find the "get along" spot for
her first time.
-
-
-
- Sylvia turns to "pick up"
Cassie, walking in a circle around her;
Cassie follows willingly. Join-up has begun!
-
-
-
- Cassie turns and follows Sylvia
on an invisible lead rope.
-
-
-
- As Sylvia turns, she holds the rope
up to encourage Cassie to move her hindquarters
over and face up to/follow Sylvia. Cassie
has two choices posed before her at that
point: 1) pivot her hindquarters, turn to
continue following Sylvia, or 2) bolt and
exit. #2 choice/bolting gets her "sent"
instantly, with the rope tossed at her hind
feet, as Sylvia continues to be the director,
showing Cassie that #2 was the wrong answer
and therefore receives additional pressure
on her. #1 answer removes all pressure from
her and life is easy. "Make the
right thing easy, the wrong thing hard."
Cassie chooses to pivot and stick with Sylvia
and join-up continues.
-
-
-
- Now that join-up is going well and Cassie
is choosing to be with Sylvia, it's time
to start desensitizing Cassie to human touch.
-
Click here for more Training Cassie
pictures: 
|
|
|
Training Cassie - Roanoke Valley Horse Rescue Horse
