"Horsenality"

Oh no... A Parelli term! Per the Parelli model, Lic is very much a Left Brain Introvert. She has more whoa than go, and if you pick a fight with her, she has more fight than flight. She does much better when convinced to do something, rather than being forced into it. Oh, and food. She loves food.

She can, however, go "right brain" in 0.2 seconds. Dogs? OMG, must run. Garbage bags? Trembling like a leaf. Cold and windy? Have fun!

Our trainer has taught me that sometimes, you have to fight the fight. Mare turns and snarls at you instead of moving off the leg? Not cool, and she HAS to learn to move off the leg. So she gets MORE leg pressure and gets to circle until she listens.

Other times, it's best to avoid the fight. The trainer has me lunging before trail riding to take the edge off... I forgot the other day, and that was... Interesting. We had several turn on bolt moments due to scary doggies. The next day I lunged the crap out of her (pony not listening means pony can work her ass off, LOL) and amazingly enough, she was good and listened to me.

It all boils down to having the patience to work with a young and willful horse. I have decided to embrace her sometimes witchy mare attitude, and laugh at her grump faces as long as she complies. She also has her sweet and endearing moments.. she's very respectful of space, but can be quite entertaining when she comes up to explore... the other day, I was late going out to feed, so Lic needed to see if my Blackberry was, in fact, a treat. She is also extremely tolerant of me playing with her ears and lips, and making her make kissy faces... I know, it's so not ladylike! If I stroke her ears slowly, she goes almost into a trance, and I've been playing "friendly game" and massaging sensitive spots, like her cinch area and udders, so that she won't be so pissy about grooming there. And her back seems much better, but I've continued doing some massage. I'm hoping my fancy orthopedic pad comes today or tomorrow, can't wait to see if it helps!

Some pics of lazybones:

Midmorning snooze

With Dutch

Whatcha doin?

Leave me alone! I'm sleepy.

Dutch is a total Right Brain horse. He's so active, full of energy... wish I would have known him when he was young. :) He's also the lead horse in his herd of 2, he has some very "studly" behaviors and is always nipping Lic and bossing her around... however, they do get separated to eat because Dutch will wander away from his food and let Lic have it. To ride, Dutch is still a little spitfire. Holding him back when he wants to trot or run home (he's a bit barn sour, and buddy sour for Lic) can be a total chore, and he's been known to practically canter in place because he's to antsy to hold still. He is a little lazier at home, but has always been a great arena horse. If he acts a fool, you just kick him up a bit and he's like "Oh.. Okay! Sorry! I'll quit jigging now!"

Working on pics of my old sweety as well, he is in much better shape than he was when I got him.

Cookies?

Hmm, what's going on over there?

In his blanky.

What little quirks do you love about your horses?