Ground work
Howdy,
We have had a warm front in the Pacific North West temperature fifty degrees during the day and lows around 40′s at night with lots of rain and some sunshine. I was able to get back to training with Lily and Rio in our out door arena during the sunshine breaks. Equine (donkeys, mules & horses) require love, patience, and clear leadership (outstanding leadership) and in my opinion lot’s of creativity to keep them wanting to enjoy being with us humans and treats (carrots, apples) help in training. I choose Parelli as a training tool to get my ideas and creativity across, why re-invent the wheel when so much information is available. Parelli natural horsemanship is about thinking about the equines feelings not just the humans goals and time frame. We purchased four mountain dew barrels about two years ago, one is in their paddock to play with and three are in the arena for training, standing up the barrels emulates a tree when trail riding and all three laid out as a log to jump. Jumping the barrels just a couple of times is an excellent way of using the same muscles the equine uses to buck before swinging the human leg over their back. Test procedures before riding are very important when working with equine to ensure they are listening and wanting to be our partner. Rio did an outstanding job for his first time of being ponied up next to Lily and we did a little freestyle work too. Nothing was on him and I rode Lily behind him in the arena giving him the voice command “walk” and”whoaa” he did an outstanding job of listening and following the direction.
Fitting the bittless bridal for Rio age 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-6gqZ7E7Ss
I have spent time working with my equine on the Parelli 7 games, seems humans can not find the time to do it right until things go bad. I recommend planning ahead before trying to ride the equine, just walking and eating a bite here and there, long trail walks, trailer loading to just eat and not go anywhere and trailer riding just for the experience with no pressure on him except to stand in the trailer. Invaluable training tool for equine and the human is to have a plan and practice, practice, practice. Moving Lily to pure Orchard grass has been a success she no longer has the hives, bloody nose or colic. So now I plan on testing the orchard hay for sugar content http://www.safegrass.com is a great resource to learn about laminitis and diet of equine. I will be comparing Orchard hay (eastern way) to the Sequim hay I purchased that has fescue in it. I have read that fescue can harbor microscopic mold and I believe Lily is allergic to it additionally some mares can abort the fetus when being fed fescue hay. The donkeys are being fed the Sequim, WA hay (fescue/orchard) separate and this takes more time, keeping them separated and sweeping up what they do not eat but well worth the time and effort for Ms. Lily.
Rio 3 his first time being ponied up
Our donkeys are very happy and we have no other donkeys at a distance to call to so they never ever bray unless they are very upset. Equine need to be in the same paddock, pasture to groom and help one another from predators. Standing over the fence is not the same for equine. We took them all for a 45 minute drive all did outstanding, Rio got sweaty but he did very well, this just means we need to do some more next week as he will learn that nothing bad is going to happen to him when riding in the trailer, just takes love, patience and clear leadership. Keep it natural and fair for your equine, clear leadership firm as necessary to stay safe.
GOD bless you and your family, two legged and four leggs!
Melody Johnson
