We are suddenly making faster progress in “taming” the foster mini/pony mares. Yesterday I was again able to groom Spice in the barn then put a halter on her and lead her around the barnyard. I also did some of the Parelli games with her — “friendly game” and “porcupine” went very well.
Today she came back into the barn and Sugar followed her into the stall where we keep some hay. I thought if I could close them in together and groom Spice in front of her then Sugar might be more accepting of some grooming. That was working until suddenly Spice decided Sugar was taking attention or hay away from her and started kicking out at Sugar with me in the stall. Note to self: do not close self in stall with 2 insecure horses in future. Fortunately I did not get hurt and Sugar wasn’t really injured either except for a little loss of hair and one small bump.
After that I just kept Sugar in the stall and brushed Spice out in the aisle. When I was done with her I returned to the stall with Sugar and actually was able to brush her a bit then started working on her tail as she seemed more accepting of that since it kept me far from her head. I got her tail totally cleared of burrs and most of her mane combed out, too. She wouldn’t let me touch her mane up closer to her ears but she would let me spray the detangler on her so hopefully I can work on it again soon. She isn’t ready to try a halter on yet since she is so head shy. See how pretty she is all cleaned up? Now I know why I liked playing with the “My Little Pony” dolls with my little sister — I was preparing for these guys!!!

Yesterday and today I have been attending the Parelli Celebration which is an educational event about natural horsemanship, a great way to train horses in a positive manner. This year they have a new format where some students are “spot lighted” showing what they can do with their horses then Pat (Parelli) gives them a score and his comments which include a lot of constructive “this is what I would like to see you do with your horse”. Pat then shows the students how to accomplish whatever his suggestions are. I thought it might be a little boring watching others work their horses but actually it has not been and I’ve seen some awesome partnerships between horse and human this weekend as well as heard suggestions that will help me with my own horses. I did end up buying the new “Parelli Patterns” DVDs and hope to actually find some time (probably late at night) to watch them and learn more.

I am hoping some of what I have learned will help with the mini/pony foster mares as well. I was disappointed to see that the rescue horse Pat Parelli chose to work with was from a rescue in another state rather than from a local rescue such as Spirit Horse Equine Rescue (where our foster girls are from). I hope that next time they will use a local rescue. Spirit Horse is doing some wonderful work using the Parelli program with their foster horses and it would be nice if the Parellis recognized that and worked with one of their horses instead of one from 4 hours away.

Tonight I was invited by a friend to attend a demo by a horse trainer who instructs using the
Parelli method, which is also known as “Natural Horsemanship”. The instructor, Farrah Green of Sioux Falls, SD, was able to control her horse on the ground via subtle body language cues and get him to do amazing things such as trot in sync with her, lay down on his side, sit up (which requires a huge amount of muscle control from the horse) all while playing with him. It was like watching them do a dance together they were so in sync with each other. She also rode him with only a hackamore (no bit in the mouth) and he was wonderfully responsive. A very cold night but worthwhile to see someone who can train a horse to this level with no force of any kind.