Rosie

Sweet Rosie is getting some exercise out on the trails with our wonderful volunteers. Here is a quick video of her out on the trail with her buddy Prince and the minis Sunny & Shasta. Rosie did great on the trails and even “ponied” off Prince when the volunteers needed to concentrate on getting themselves and the minis through the deeper water. Rosie is such a great horse! While she plays the stoic older mare when you first meet, you need to spend just a little time with her and discover she has a very soft side and actually loves attention. This pretty girl is more than ready to go on to her forever home!

A report from Rosie’s volunteer trainer:

Rosie continues to make big strides each week. She now will come to the fence when she sees me coming instead of walking the other way, which is a huge change. We have built a trust relationship and she is more relaxed when we return to pasture because she knows that I won’t let the other horses pick on her while I am there. I’ve gotten comments from other volunteers that they see positive changes in her confidence and behavior. Today she even got after Prince which I have never seen her do!

At SAFE, we realize that our horses have many different gifts to share. As we learn about who they are and what they are capable of, we find that their future may not be as a “riding” horse. Dear Rosie has had a lot of miles on her in the past and from what we can tell they were not always very pleasant. There is a lot of fear around saddling and riding and we have decided to take it easy with her. From what we can tell, she is over 25 years old and it really isn’t worth a ton of stress on her to make her a “riding” horse again.

When Sarah approached me with the idea of doing some liberty training at SAFE with her trainer Nancy, I was very excited. Nancy’s style of liberty training is very positive and sounded like something that could make a big difference in Rosie’s life. Sometimes when horses have been abused or mistreated it is very hard to get them to trust and connect with humans. Abuse can come in many forms, and for a sensitive horse like Rosie, it may have just been people not listening to her or speaking her language. When a horse is confused and feels threatened, it can leave scars on their relationship with humans. Introducing Rosie to something she has never experienced, like liberty training, may be a door that can be opened to show her a different way of being with humans. This might just be the start of a whole new life for Rosie. At the very least, she is finding peace in a space with humans and learning to trust. Here is a what Sarah had to say about Rosie’s first liberty lesson with Nancy:

1st week: As I watched Rosie weave her head back and forth in her stall, I couldn’t help thinking it was a confirmation of what I had already assumed. Rosie was anxious, herd bound and it was going to take forever to get her to trust us. Nancy, my instructor, calmly advised me to wait it out. Thirty seconds later, and to my surprise, Rosie stood still and waited for us. 

Nancy is an at liberty instructor. That means the horse has no halter, rope, or tack of any kind. It is a method focused on a partnership between horse and person. A partnership where the horse can say “no”. With the option to freely choose “no” the horse can also freely choose and act upon “yes”. As a person, my role is to act as a fair leader of our little (or big) herd. It is a connection built on trust and respect. Rosie continued to surprise me. I had assumed that she was so attached to her herd mates, that it would be forever before we would make any progress. Well, you know what they say about assumptions… 

We started her in the round pen on a lead rope as she called and strained for her mates. With each round she walked and each reward, she calmed a little more. The treats were nice and we soon found that she favored carrots. By the fourth pass around, she was walking calmly and in step with us. Feeling that she had settled down enough, we slipped the halter off. Rosie turned straight back to the gate, took a moment to roll, and then began pacing and calling out again. In my mind, we had lost all of her attention, but Nancy cautioned that Rosie had to work this out for herself. She needed to figure out that being with us and the yummy treats was a better deal than pacing at the gate. Then we started a sort of dance. Rosie would come back, get a treat, and then get right back to pacing at the gate. But as the minutes went by and we backed farther away, she began coming farther to get a treat before going back. Nancy then stood in front of the gate and I took up my post in front of the treats. You could see the wheels in Rosie’s head turning. She couldn’t pace the gate without having to interact with Nancy, and I wasn’t handing out treats as easily. This is where we introduced a payment concept. If Rosie would do something that was asked of her, she would get paid with a treat. Nancy would ask her to walk beside her and I would ask her to stand quietly. We needed to create a space where Rosie could let go of her fear and start seeking the reward. She was free to say “no”, but those carrots were sure tempting.

By the end of our time together, she had walked beside Nancy of her own choosing for small increments and relaxed with the two of us. The horse we put back in her stall was more aware and more relaxed with the people next to her. What a change! Rosie taught me that for us to work together, I need to let go of my assumptions about what she is capable of and give her the chance to let go of her fear.

In the weeks and months ahead, I have a feeling Rosie and I will learn much from each other. We will need to earn each other’s trust and respect in this open dialog at liberty.

2nd week: Wow! Rosie has made so much progress this week! She went from anxiously pacing the gate on Tuesday, to a relaxed mare who calmly checked on the gate by Thursday. She will now walk beside me and stop and turn with me. I was even able to put the “cookie dish” in the middle of the round pen and she learned to leave it alone until I gave her a treat for good “work”. She is also learning very quickly to wait for a treat to be given instead of taking it. Rosie really is a sweet mare who is very responsive and intelligent. I am so glad to be working with her.

I have been working Rosie over the last week to prepare her for riding. It is my belief that Rosie must have been used in some sort of sport where she was asked to be very hot with not a lot of relaxation. This showed in a few ways beginning with her work the ground. She has a very difficult time relaxing at the walk along the unified circle. She was continually pacing into a jig or trot and not connecting to my energy. I did a lot of lightly asking her hind end to yield, making it a little more work for her to continue to trot. Once she came back to the walk, I released and let her move onto the unified circle. I also used the change of direction to help get her into the walk all the while keeping my energy even and low for her to feel my quiet walking presence. We had to do this for quite some time to find a quiet walk but eventually we got there.

We’re also working on not crowding me with her shoulder as we work. This is probably one of her biggest issues right now. She is learning to keep herself upright in the front and beginning to rock some of her weight onto her hind quarters. This is a very difficult thing change but she will gradually getting better. I can see some changes in our sessions and she is retaining a lot of the work we are doing. She is also getting into the routine and is trusting that I don’t ask too much of her and there is always a lot of praise and love for the work she is willing to give me. We will need to take things slow to successfully restart this mare. There are quite a lot of trouble and confusion from her past. That is what is great about this type of horsemanship. We truly have something to offer the horses and they are better because of the patience and peace that is at the core of the work.

Rosie was very easy to saddle and accepted the back cinch without any problems. We worked in the saddle the last two days and today put the bridle on without issue. Another issue we’re working on will be coming along side the fence for mounting. She was very nervous about this and pushes her shoulder into me while I sat on the fence to have her come “pick me up”. I was very sad to see how the act of preparing to mount gave her so much anxiety and she even shook when I gathered the reins and made the motion to mount. It’s going to take time and calm, easy repetition to make this something she can feel relaxed about.

Monday of this week brought a really nice surprise…The changes that we got last week really set in and she was MUCH more calm and relaxed into a nice walk right off the bat. She had a lot of releases and tons of licking and chewing. She was so relaxed with the preparation to mount, I felt comfortable sliding my leg over and sit in the saddle. I let Lori just lead me around for a few easy circles and that was enough for the day. Such an improvement! It also shows that taking things at her pace, not asking for too much too quickly, and tons of groundwork can make riding a uneventful non-stressful experience for our horses. I am hopeful that this gentle approach is the right path for this sweet senior mare.