Fitzin

Fitzin is our other horse story. We didn't know anything about natural horsemanship when we got Fitzin. We just knew he had been neglected. Don't know about abused, but definitely neglected.

The guy we bought him from said he had found Fitzin at a quarter horse breeding farm. Fitzin's sire was unknown (mustang?) Fitzin was way in the back away from the area where all the other horses were kept. He was in a 12X12 enclosure. The guy who found him there is a farrier. He said he doubted Fitzin had ever had his feet trimmed. Fitzin was also about one hundred and fifty pounds under weight when he found him. Just skin and bones.

By the time we first saw Fitzin, the guy had trimmed his feet and had him haltered and leading. Fitzin was still very thin, showing a lot of shoulder and hip bones yet, but maybe only one hundred pounds underweight. He said he was two years old, but Fitzin looked more like a yearling.

Fitzin was to be Mica's replacement. Mica was my horse. He was getting older and had started to trip and stumble a bunch. He had been used as a jumper before we owned him, and was developing arthritis in his shoulders. It was time for him to slow down and get to just be a pet.

So, we bought Fitzin. We never should have bought him because we didn't have the experience to be starting a horse. But, he was so little and cute, and just needed love and attention.

Yah, right!

That was back in June of 1997. We still have Fitzin today. Nobody rides him. He is not a safe horse. I don't mean this as in my previous blog about there is no such thing as a safe horse. I mean, Fitzin, is not a safe horse. He is scared of everything, but he is the dominant horse in our herd. Even when we had seven horses, he was the dominant horse. Does that make sense?

One friend said he thought Fitzin might be that way because he was so insecure. He had to be a bully to make up for those insecurities.

Then, Fitzin is not afraid of some things the other horses are. For awhile we parked our horse trailer in our arena to get the horses used to it. We even fed a couple of them in it to get them to think being in a cave might not be so bad.

One day I was up at my house and just looking out at my horses. I didn't see Fitzin. He and Dakota had been in the arena earlier. Dakota was still there, but no Fitzin. Then I noticed movement in the horse trailer. Fitzin was just standing in the horse trailer all nice and calm. Just standing there with his head hanging out the back door. He just stood in there for a long time.

After that day I'd see him in there quite often. It was shady inside the trailer.

Also in our arena we had built a bridge out of railroad ties and plank. On occasion I'd look down and there'd be Fitzin, just standing on that bridge. He and Dakota would even play games based on that bridge. It was king of the mountain (bridge). Fitzin would be on the bridge and wouldn't let Dakota on it. They'd play the biting game horses play with one another with Fitzin standing on that bridge.

Fitzin knows the seven games and plays them well. We haven't tried the circling game at liberty, but he can do a forequarter and hindquarter disengage, the yoyo game, and will stay with me at a walk and trot going forward, and at the walk will back with me, all at liberty.

But, if I push just too much at the wrong time, pouff, he's gone. That's even if he's on a line. That's why he is not safe. Just all of sudden, he's gone. He can turn so fast on those hind leg's of his and be gone. He's taken more than one person on a ski trip. A couple on their faces.

This brings me to my previous blog about the horses brain.

Can he be retrained to not be so scared, so unconfident? Can I build a true trust between he and I? Can some more dendrites be grown on the left side of his brain to override the presence of those on the right side of his brain? Can he become more willing to learn?

Yes, Fitzin has been trained using some natural horsemanship methods. But there were things I still didn't know, that I believe created the Fitzin we have today. I didn't know proper approach and retreat methods, I didn't know how to read my horse, plus numerous other things.

I would leave a training session with Fitzin not calm and relaxed, just because I had no idea of where to go with the problem I was having.

Hubby Honey and I really starting putting natural horsemanship methods to use in about the year 2000 or maybe 2001. We watched some clinics put on by Clinton Anderson and then Pat and Linda Parelli. We bought the videos and watched and rewatched. But, it's only been in the past about three years that we learned how to refine these methods. Things finally started to click when we met a lady in our local area putting on natural horsemanship clinics. She put it all together for us.

Now I spend way more time watching my horse and trying to read what it is he might be thinking.

Hopefully, there is time for Fitzin to yet become a confident and trusting horse. He really does try. I just never saw that before, I wasn't looking before. I was too concerned with just perfecting the moves and making the machine do what I wanted it to. A horse is not a machine. Each is an individual. Just like each person. Each child. An individual.

More on the Horse Brain

Thanks for your comment JC, and thank your daughter. It made me continue in my search for where I might have ever heard or read a horse had two brains or the brain could physically grow larger.

Yesterday while I was writing I had books all over the place trying to find an answer. But, I wasn't able to find anything in the books I have here. I don't want to be giving out wrong information, that's why I made sure to say I didn't know if it were true. So, now we know.

I did do some more reading today on the subject. Found a very interesting article by Tamar Simon regarding research done by Dr. Evelyn Hanggi:

http://exn.ca/Templates/Story.asp?ID=1999090953

Quoted from the article, "For instance, Hanggi wanted to explode the myth that horses can't transfer information from one side of the brain to the other because the two sides aren't connected. The theory didn't make sense to Hanggi because anatomy shows that the two sides of the horse's brain are connected."

So, sounds like this may have been a myth from yesteryear. I'm from yesteryear, so maybe that is where the idea of a horse having two brains came from.

I also found an article which might explain my thinking that as one side of the brain is used compared to the other, the more used side gets larger:

http://iceryder.net/brainworks.html

To summarize (this has to do with humans as well as to horses): The more a person uses their brain, the more neurons and dendrites grow. This is especially important in the first three years of life (human). The more the neural circuits are activitated the stronger they get. "If a horse has some problematic behaviors, the brain itself can be changed with timely and appropriate re-training." "If a positive training paradigm is offered to the horse, new pathways will be established and the older ones will shrink." There was not an author's name given for this article, but it was in the "Icelandic Horse Connection" website under "Good Horsemanship", "How the Horse's Brain Works."

Okay, I am happy now. I have answers to where my thinking may have come from, and the real answers.

Thank you.

The Horse Brain

I don't know if this is true or not, but it sounds interesting, and I'm positive I read it. Just can't remember where right now.

The horse doesn't have two sides to it's brain. It has two brains. The right brain is the reactive, instinctual side. The left brain is the thinking, learning side.

The human has one brain with two sides. The left side is the side governing logic, thinking and problem solving. The right side is the creative and emotional side.

In the horse, the more one side is used, the larger that side becomes and the smaller the other side becomes. If a horse is on its own, the right side or instinctual side will become larger. The more a horse is handled, and kept using the left side, or thinking side, the larger that side becomes and the smaller the right becomes.

Any one else read this somewhere? I would really like to know where I heard this.

Guess I haven't been using my brain enough lately, so the whole think shrank.

Suppose that's why you can find all the brain teasers and logical thinking games out right now.

Use it or lose it?

Meet the Family

Guess you got to meet the family this weekend.

It was funny when Hubby Honey approached me about writing on the blog. He was almost apologetic because he wanted to be a part of it.

Hey, if it weren't for him, we wouldn't be here to have any of this to write about. His grandbabies, are my grandbabies, and vice versa. If he hadn't had an interest in horses also, none of this would be. He and I might still be, but we wouldn't have our ranch(ette). We wouldn't be spending the money we spend on our horses. Over time we wouldn't have had ten horses. He spoils me, but I don't think he would have spoiled me that much.

So, please welcome another contributor to the blog, gimpajon aka Hubby Honey.

We've been looking for some pictures to put here. Had quite a few we just couldn't seem to locate. Hubby Honey called his son to find out if they knew how to get into Yahoo where we used to have pictures. Found out from Kristen, his son's wife, there is no longer a place on Yahoo for photos. Well, there is, it's just now called Flickr. And, if we didn't respond to an email that was sent informing us of the change, we probably don't have any way to get those pictures. We don't remember getting an email, but....

That doesn't make me very happy. One of those learning things. Always back up your important stuff. Even if it's somewhere you think will be there forever. It's like your favorite restaurant, one evening you go there for your favorite dish, and the doors are closed and locked. The place is totally dark. Gone, all gone.

Kinda like Hubby Honey's kids, Nana. Their grandma. She was just recently diagnosed with a terminal illness. People you think will always be there, just cause. They might not always be there, so be sure to backup the important stuff, often.

Okay, maybe with your favorite restaurant there was no way to get the secret recipes, and if you had eaten there too often, you might now weight 600 pounds. Maybe the restaurant wasn't a good example to use.

How about with the horses? This does relate to horses. When working with one of them, they will remember the last thing done with them, good or bad. That's why in the training of Goldee (which can be read at: http://blog.no-upper-limit.com/) I must always leave her when she is calm and relaxed. When I am done with a training session, I must back up the thinking, learning side of her brain not the reactive side. Whatever I leave her with, is what she will remember.

I should have known to backup the pictures, even if it was Yahoo. You need to let people know often how important they are to you. Always back up the good, cause you just never know when it could be lost.

So I'm Cheating

Okay, we "Agreed" one day a week, well it seems I made a couple of errors, Laini is spelled Lani, don't you hate it when your own kids reprimand you? If only she would spell it the same from generation to generation... Given name Alaina. You can see her blog by checking out the links to the right. Lainers on the go! Trust me, she is all that and more.

I have also been informed that I'm Hubby Honey not Honey Hubby, How I hate nuances, ah the hell with it, I'm the guy who tells it like it is and will be here in the next week, or so,

Horse kisses to all AND MAY ALL YOUR GRAND BABIES BE AS CUTE AS OURS!

We Agreed:
One day a week I get to share whats on my mind, kind of like a dust devil, don't really know where it might go or what the results might be.

First I guess I should introduce myself, I'm gimpajon or if you like Honey Hubby, really I'll respond to most anything except late for dinner. I work way too many hours and have way too little time for the things I really want to do.

For starters, I really would like to be closer to my kids(disclaimer: I, We, Us, Our, Me, My, Mine are meant to include both families, this is a second marriage for both of us with kids from the previous, none of our own,snip, snip,cut,cut) okay I'm felling a bit nostalgic(don't bother with spell check when I type the club gets in the way from time to time, besides I went to Redmond High)

Laini my daughter went to Texas to visit her Nana with her mom along with Tori my chubby one;

family ties:

Laini my daughter by birth, God bless her, I delivered her before the Dr. got there, been in a hurry every since, Tori her daughter we've had the joy to meet one time, about 2 weeks old(I'll give you the blog site later so you can see "The Chubby One") then again if I could figure out how to put Jonathan's 6 month picture out there you could vote on the "Butter Ball" of the week, I'll work on that. Andrew her son is almost three(yes we are that old) and a bundle of ... well he reminds me of me.

Jonathan, my son by birth, he also is the artist I always dreamed of being, but, I can't draw a straight line even with a straight edge. William, aka Lil'l Bear is his son, pictures will be posted and yes he does have a name sake, my dad. Want to see a family resemblance?

Arlo, Rindy's baby, her son, he lives in Houston and has given us Layla, his daughter you can see her picture riding on Bear, the little one in pink, that's Layla. If we get the official ok from momma you could also see pictures of Aurora, Layla's mom.

Maggie, Rindy's daughter, she also lives in Houston. She works for Continental Airlines(no she can't get you free passes) Pictures of her are hard to come by, takes after her mom, rather take them than be in them. I'll work on that.

That's the family, well, not quite.

Mark, Laini's husband, Our Hero Of The Week, you would have to know about the flight thing from Texas to understand, but he has MY vote. Oh by the way he is a teacher in Oregon and a coach... Got to love those guys.

Kristen, Jonathan's wife, also a teacher in California, my hat is off to her and that's a complement, trust me.

Jonathan's and Laini's mom: my ex wife, yet a good friend, if you see the pictures on Laini's blog you can see for yourself.

Maggie and Arlo's dad: Rindy's ex, A confidant and Hero in my mind, shot down in Vietnam and stills flies choppers....

Layla and Aurora wish we knew more, but, we don't such is life

Now that you know us here we go:

When you follow along in this blog you will find the treasures that we have uncovered, God how we wish we knew what we know when we were young, our apologies to our kids.

Breath, breathing is good and we express that to each other all the time, to the point of,well, you get the idea.

Easter Sunday we will be trying to improve the life of another horse, his name is Miringo, we are putting our beliefs into action, the trailer won't kill him. Please pray for us. We believe in what we do and we will put a link to our mentor's site(political note; our mentor is a patriot and her son is a HERO) another story for later, and yes I can and will express MY opinion! anyway back to Miringo, what some people do to horses is unforgivable, and we have been working to bring back the dignity of this animal, the TRAILER is the biggest thing in his life at this time to over come, God Willing and The Creek Don't Rise, he will conquer his fears. Better than an egg hunt don't you think?

Okay, enough already, I'll be back in touch with you next time and we'll go on. Remember the names and relations as I'll refer to them often and may need your help, I'm that old.

Horse Kisses to all an may all your GRAND BABIES BE AS CUTE AS OURS.

Training or Abuse?

At the beginning of the week, while I was working at my friend’s, I heard of some training techniques that I would have thought would be way outdated in today’s world.

We were talking about teaching a horse to give to pressure. This is one of the basics in building a strong foundation in a horse, and key in natural horsemanship.

One of the things taught is give to the pressure of the bit. I learned of this many years ago in some of the books on training I had read.

In the training process, you use a complete headstall, including bit and reins. The reins are tied to the saddle stirrup, or to rings on the side of the saddle, or can just be tied to rings on a surcingle. In my learning, the horses face would be placed in a position just in front of being vertical.

The horse then learned to move with its face in a position of being vertical. That’s where the pressure was released. If it put its nose forward, it would be in a position to feel the pressure of the bit. If it once again tucked in it’s chin, the bit pressure was released.

You started with the reins a little long at first. You then shortened them over time as the horse learned. But, you never shortened the reins so the horses face was tucked behind the vertical. And, the sessions were short.

There was apparently a case where, in the training process, horses were being left for more than a day, with their heads tied, tucked way behind the vertical.

How would this teach a horse to move away from the pressure? After a while wouldn’t it just give up trying to hold it’s head all tucked in for release and just start leaning on the bit?

I have actually witnessed this very same type thing done to a horse, only with its head tied to the side. It was left in a round pen with its head tied like that for over four hours. Did it learn to give to the pressure?

Did that same horse learn to accept a saddle? In the beginning, when it wouldn’t hold still to have a saddle put on it’s back, the guy teaching a teenage girl about her horse and how to train it, would grab the horse’s ear and tweak it until the horse held still. Guess that took the horses mind off the saddle long enough to get saddled.

But wouldn’t that make a horse head shy? I would think then, every time someone went to put a bridle on you’d have a fight about that because the horse was afraid to let it’s ear be touched.

I won’t ever know because the horse was finally sold. The girl kept getting bucked off.

How can these methods still be used?

Being a grandma, I now think about some of this same kind of stuff regarding children. I wish I had known some of this when I was a parent. One of the main things in training a horse which I feel should also be applied in raising a child, you always leave the horse (child) with its dignity. I don't see that in the methods that were used above.

I’m just very, very glad, Hubby Honey and I, found natural horsemanship.

More Cougar Thoughts

I was just thinking of an incident which occurred here in my front yard a couple months ago. Thinking about the difference in the results if we had just found for real cougar tracks and markings in our own front yard. If we had proof a cougar had been within twenty-five feet of our front door.

A couple months ago, Hubby Honey went outside to check on things before closing down for the night. Yes, it was after dark. It was a winter night, but pretty calm. No wind, no snow flurries, no rain. Just chilly.

He had just walked past his truck, which is parked about twenty-five feet in front of our house. He said he saw two yellow eyes. Then was pounced on. Yes, he was scared, not having any idea what had just hit him. His reflex was to strike out with both arms and legs.

Once he had time to think, he realized it was a dog. Not one of our dogs, but just a dog. A very friendly, fairly young lab, somewhere between six and nine months old. Along with this young dog was a second dog. The first being a female, the second a male about a year old.

He brought them into the house, or maybe I should say, they came into the house. We had not seen either of them before. I called a neighbor to see if knew of anyone missing a couple young labs. No, but she would check around.
Before I could call another neighbor, we found a phone number on a tag on one of the dog’s collars. That was the first place we had looked for ID of the dogs, but the number hadn’t looked like a phone number. I’m glad Hubby Honey double checked the tag.

Hubby Honey called the number on the tag. The person who answered the phone could not believe it. His dogs had been found. He lived about ten miles from here and the dogs had been gone for a week.

The nights during the previous week had been in the negative digits. The dogs still looked fat and sleek. They drank a bunch of water, ate some dog food, and were fast asleep in the hallway when their two overjoyed owners arrived to get them.

This was a young couple. These dogs were their babies.

What a great reunion!

But can you imagine how there could have been a totally different end to this story if, just a few days earlier, there had been proof a cougar had actually been within twenty-five feet of our front door?

Other Than A Cougar

After reading the last blog, my daughter had to remind me of the night her boyfriend was mugged outside her apartment, at gun point. Any resemblance of a cougar just outside the front door is purely coincidental.

Cougar at Your Front Door?

Cougar at your front door?

That's not a pretty picture in my mind. I love wildlife. I love looking at pictures of animals in the wild. And I even watch some of the Discovery channel programs. I watch until some animal decides to kill another animal. Yes, I know it is the way it is. There are prey animals and then there are predators. One eats the other. It is for survival. It's the way it's supposed to be. But I prefer not to watch it.

I also eat meat. Yes, red meat. A nice, fat, juicy steak off the barbecue. And Hubby Honey makes the best barbecued chicken wings. But, once again, I don't watch it get killed.

So, a horse is a prey animal. We humans are predators. Predators eat prey animals. That's why horses can have a problem with us. We come across as predators.

Want to get an idea for how this feels?

I once heard a story of an event in Southern Oregon where there was a cougar wandering the area. There had been a number of sightings reported. One evening a friend of a friend of mine came home after dark. She needed to feed her horses yet. She went to her barn. The light switch was apparently not easily reached from the doorway. She had to go into the barn aways to reach the switch. She didn't think much about it. She'd done it many times. She flipped the switch. For some reason she looked up. There in the barn rafters was a cougar. A cougar staring down at her.

Can you imagine her feelings right at that point in time?

I thought of that story a few times, but it didn't hit me. I tried to feel the feeling, tried to emphasize with my horses. But, I really didn't get it.

The last two days I have been off helping a friend as she gets ready to publish a book on her natural horse training methods. I guess I was "photographer/production assistant/gopher." It was fun.

But, when I arrived on Tuesday, she came out of her RV and said, "Look!" (She just bought twenty acres east of Reno and is living in a RV while her house is under construction.) I looked (not knowing what I was looking at) and said, "Okay?"

Her back to me, "It's cougar pee."

"Oh."

This was within twenty-five feet of the front door of her RV. The night before when she had come home (since it was after dark), she had even pulled her truck in so it was about five feet from the front door of her RV so she could jump out of her truck and into her RV.

On previous nights her dog had acted very strange. The next morning she had spotted what she thought were cougar tracks. She had heard the cougar not far from her RV at night. And there had been strange noises under her RV. Just a couple days before her neighbor had taken a couple pictures of a cougar on his front deck.

Want to know what a horse feels? Think of having a cougar roaming your yard at night.

I used to take walks outside here after dark. I felt safer here than in any other place I've lived in a city or suburb. Last night I had to go out after dark to try to find my cat to get him in to eat. I always try to get my cat in at night. That's when my cats have disappeared in the past. They don't understand the coyotes and owls are out at night. That's another story.

There was a report last year here of a cougar sighting here in our valley. It was going down the road with a white dog in it's mouth. Neighbor's have reported finding tracks behind their houses. My farrier once asked me if I had ever heard the cougars here.

Cougars, here?

Things are starting to hit home.

My friend having them right outside her front door marking their territory, then thinking of what I've heard about them here in my own valley. I am now getting an understanding of what a prey animal might feel.

Last night, after dark, when I was looking for my kitty cat, I was also looking for another cat. Knowing it most likely wasn't there. Hoping it wasn't there, but being extra cautious, extra on alert for something out of the ordinary. Jumpy and protective. Feeling the feelings of a prey animal.

Not a good feeling. I only hope, by the methods I recently learned, that my horses never feel I am the cougar. I do have two here who have reacted that way. I've been working hard to change their viewpoint.

Just think about it. Can you feel what a prey animal might feel because of the ways we approach it? Not a fun feeling, huh?

Got a cougar right at your front door?