Went to a....seminar?

So! On Wednesday, I went to that seminar that Mrs. B invited me to. Turns out, it wasn't a seminar....

We go there, and there was like, nobody there. So we asked this man if there was supposed to be seminar still on pushy/dominant mares. He was like "Yeah, but how'd you hear about that?" Mrs B said "My neighbor is a good freind of the trainer and told us about it." Apparently, the guy was the owner of the horse that the trainer was coming to help with. We got the impression that this was actually supposed to be a private thing...which it was. But the guy was unbeleivably nice, and said that it wsa perfectly fine if we stayed and watched. But then, the boss lady of the place came out. She was like....really rude. She interupted a conversation, and basically told us that we weren't supposed to be there but she didn't care what we did as long as we signed liability forms and such...which I understand. But still, she kind of cranked off at the poor guy who's horse was going to be looked at, and he was having to explain, and she was just being really rude and short about things. I don't know if she was having a bad day or what...but how inconsiderate of others can you be??

Anyway! Mrs. M and Casey got there, and we explained the situation to them. Poor Mrs. B...she was saying she was glad she didn't invite the whole 4-H group!

The trainer, Elise Vandover of Stable Manners, arrived, and I immediatlye liked her. She was one of those people who, you talk to her for two minutes and you feel like you've known her forever. She was great! And her presentation was great too! She was very good at explaining things.

Basically all of what she said was pretty much right on the money with Parelli. But I think she had more of a Clinton Anderson approach....she was really fast and much more...assertive. And she said a few little things that either I misunderstood or I didn't agree with. Other than that though, she was great! We told her a little about Pistol's problem, and she thinks that it's becasue Pistol is reaching sexual maturity, which makes perfect sense. She said that she had a mare that broke a man's back, and her own hip and jaw in one day, because she was throwing fits like that. Once the mare turned 8 though, she was perfect.

Anyway, it was pretty neat. I have a few pictures, I just haven't had time yet to look at them.

I worked Pistol yesterday, aaaannnnddddddd:

I think she made a connection!!

I spent a lot of time just doing really calm, really simple friendly on zone 3 and 4. Rubbed underneath her belly, and her rump. Anytime I got near to her udder area or her hind legs, she would give me the nasty ears. So that made me start thinking it really is more of a trust issue.

Anyway, she did try to throw one set of kicks at me, and I am pretty darn proud of my reaction. Lightning fast! Heheh...not to toot my horn too loud or anything, though. :P I had the carrotstick in my left hand- the hand closest to zone 4, and my right hand on her barrel. When she shifted over and lifted those feet, I just flicked in zone 4 with my stick.

And then! Later, after I had gone through some other stuff, including moving the front end around, since she was being extra crowdy, I went back to friendly on the hind end. I was actually on the left side of her this time, which is usually her better side. I was just getting into zone 5 with my hand when Pistol suddenly shifted her weight off of the left hind- the leg she would kick me with. I was going to get ready to flick her and get the heck out of the way, but just like that, she shifted back onto her left, off of her right, and moved away from me instead!!!! She disengaged the hind end instead of kicking!!!!

I was so stoked! I gave her a treat and some friendly in zone 2, where she's comfortable. Then, I did just a few more small things like not rushing for a treat, keeping your nose out of my bubble, and I let her walk with her rope on the ground for a few minutes as another friendly game.

I really hope that was a turning point for her! I know that by Friday she might be nasty again, but I really think something clicked in her brain! Also, I changed my opinion on her issues. I think it's definitely a disrespect issue for the front end. She's constantly running over you and crowding and such. In the hind end...I'm starting to thing there is some mistrust back there. She was handled very thoroughly from a baby though, so Mrs. B said she's not sure what turned her on. We'll never know, but either way, I think it's mistrust/disrespect int he back end- a pretty even ratio.

We're going to a training seminar today with Mrs. B about 'Dominant/pushy Mares'. Kate and I are going to compare what we know to what this lady has to say. Excited!

Forgot to mention that Mrs. B seems extremely pleased with what we're doing with Pistol. I'm loving getting to know her! She's so open to all of this, and she's just a really nice woman in general!

Update on Pistol!

Young Miss Pistol is doing very well! Sometimes, I start to think that she's even smarter than Sterling...but then again, that would be tough. She's definetly right up there with him though!

We worked her last Monday,. and then yesterday. Pistol has already got the first 5 games down. She knows how to get out of them, and she also knows how to play tricks on us (sound like a certain pony?).

I was able to find her bad spot a little more specifically yesterday. I was doing some calm friendly on zone 4. Her left side was pretty good- only got nasty ears a few times and that was it. I went to her right side and started rubbing her at the neck, then worked my way down. She wasn't too fond of a belly scratch, but she didn't get upset about it. As soon as I came to her hip though, she threw some of her trademark kicks at me- both feet in the air, striking out to get you. I backed her off...way off, and let her sit and think about it for a minute. She came back to me readily, and I tired again. I started at the neck and went down. I worked on her for quite a while. She never threw anymore kicks, but she had nasty ears, tight muzzle, twitching tail, and she would side step onto me. But when I asked her too, she would disengage the right side.

We tried brainstorming on why she doesn't want her right hip touched. I was starting to wonder if maybe she was hurting there...but I don't think so. Her face and other actions say that it's a disrespect/trust issue. We couldn't figure out why it was the right hip, but we may never know. At least we know where she's having these issues now.

I really think it's a mixture of disrespect and trust. Both of which can be fixed with lots of friendly game, and lots of disengaging of the hind end. It'll just take some time, and she should be a great ground-horse!

I got on her and rode for a few minutes after she had calmed down and was being pleasant and willing again. Did some flat walking- easy peasy lemon squeezy bareback! :)

Death.

Moonie died.

On Monday. When I went over to work at the Wilson's, Mrs. Wilson was out hosing him down and working with him. Tina had been out, but she was getting groceries at the time. Over the course of a few minutes, Moonie started belly breathing big time. He looked like he was having stomach cramps, except he would relax everytime immediately. He started leaning on his back legs and stumbling. He was breathing really hard. Tina came back. She started pumping herbs and oils into him, and Mrs. Wilson gave him some homeopathics. He ended up falling down. His eyes got huge.

Mrs. Wilson said that if I needed to, I could go do what I had to do. I went off to work. I couldn't do anything standing there anyway, and I don't exactly believe in standing there watching someone die. Seems rude to me. Anyway, Mrs. Wilson came over to me about 45 minutes later and apologized for sending me off. She said she wasn't meaning to be rude or seem like she didn't want me there. It was totally okay, I didn't feel like she had said it that way. She asked if I had daddy's number. That's when I knew that Moon didn't make it.

Daddy couldn't come to bury Moon. I think they had to call in a company to do it.

Old Moonie. By far the toughest, sweetest animal I have ever met.

House-sitting is done! They came back on Monday. We had the the house all cleaned up for them, and they brought us back cool Moari necklaces made out of bone!

Momma and June both went to the airport together to pick them up. And out of that, something good popped up!

Momma and June had a long talk, and June told Momma that she would like Kate and I to start working Aragon and Sterling again regularly and such and such. Apparently that's what it took to make momma and daddy realize that if we're going to do this, they have to help us. They talked with us, and we all decided that Kate adn I would go over and work on Wednesday and Friday mornings.

The words they were using to try and 'persuade' us to do this were like, exactly the same words I was using to persuade them a few months ago. I'm just glad they're finally seeing this and helping us with it!

So, we've been working with Gonster and the pony on Wed. and Fri. mornings. And June said that if we both can get those two back in to shape, then she'll bring one of the Wilson's horses over. She looked at me when she said it, and I almost screamed with happiness "Tulsa!". So I might just get him this fall! I'm excited about it. He's the only horse I've met since Buster left that I've really kind of melted over.

Aaaand...what else? Oh! We went and worked with Pistol last Friday night! She really is a challenge! She was rearing and striking out and being just plain old disrespectful! But the really awesome thing: we got her to come down. We were standing right by her hind end, rubbing on her, and we were disengaging her back end with no problems. I really think Mrs. B was really impressed and happy!!! Here's why I think that:
While Kate was working with Pistol, Mrs. B's phone rang. She picked it up, and said hi to her daughter, Blaise (Blaise owns Pistol, and is a TWH trainer in TN). She started to walk away, but I heard Mrs. B say: "Oh, Blaise, I wish you could see your horse. These girls are working with her and Pistol is so different..."

So yeah. We had a lot of success, and we'll be going back! :D I have pictures of Pistol rearing that are pretty cool, but I have to find my camera cord. In the great migration back home, it got lost. O.O