Communication doesn't need Words

[Deleted]

After listening to Ms. Chevalier talk about the first game, she knew that she would have a lot of work to do. Although the girl and her horse were close, Lucy had spots where she refused to let anyone touch. Some of these spots included her udder, belly, her ears, and her hooves on some occasions. Caroline knew that this game would make their relationship stronger, and Lucy and more friendly horse in a sense.

Getting to work, the redhead went over the areas where she knew she would be safe when she touched them. Running her hands over the Thoroughbred’s back and down her legs, just as she thought Lucy did nothing, she was perfectly fine. Lucy’s spot was really a specific spot, but anywhere behind her shoulder did just fine in keeping her happy. Caroline scratched directly behind the mare’s shoulder and she began to lean into the scratching and rubbing. Giggling to herself she started on the areas where she knew for sure she would have to watch the mare.

Caroline scaled the four spots she was about to work on, on a scale of one to five. Lucy’s belly and udder were probably a strong four, her ears a two, and hooves were a one and a half, depending on how the chestnut was feeling or acting that day. So with that, the sixteen year old started with the Thoroughbred’s hooves. Praying that it was a better day, Caroline bent down and slowly picked up her each one of her four hooves. Shaking her head with a smile on her face, ”Doesn’t bother you today?” She continued onto the next three areas.

[Anastasie Chevalier]

OOC: So sorry it's really long, but I'm briefing through the next to games (I'll post up the entire notes in the Equine Courses board for anyone who wants them), please attempt to post your character(s) doing both games in your reply, then we'll get to the mounted stuff Ana's next post.

Ana watched her class. "Amber, by skipping over spots like that, all you are doing is doing harm, not good. You are your horse's everything. You need to be able to handle them everywhere to keep them healthy. I horse can't clean their own genitals, so they rely on us to do it for them. If they are injured, they depend on us to make sure they are alright" She went back to watching, not able to hold back the laugh at Tyler's words. "Their ears are the first place that people go to hurt our equine friends." She said as she stepped forward and closed her hand around Cedar's ear, rubbing the inside with her thumb. "It took me six months to be able to do this. I tricked him into allowing me to touch his ears by using putting on the bridle and halter as an excuse to play with them, until he clicked to the fact that me touching his ears was actually enjoyable."

When it seemed that everyone had a hang of the game, she decided that it was time to move them on, as time was pressing on toward lunch. "You have all worked really hard with listening to your friends, and rewarded for standing still by returning to the places they love having rubbed. Now we are going to up the stakes and you are going to learn how to impress your horse with your press, as I teach you the benefits of The Porcupine Game.

"Have you ever seen a person who just got stepped on, try to push a horse off his foot… and the horse leans even more?

"Horses naturally push into steady pressure, moving against it or barging through it. It’s part of their programming for survival. Mother Nature tells them to break loose of a predator’s hold or crash through an obstacle that’s in the way of escape.

"In order to develop a partnership with your horse, you need to help him overcome his fearful, defensive reactions to pressure and learn how to yield and move away from it.

"The most important thing to remember is that all pressure is not the same

"There are two types of pressure: Steady, physical pressure and Rhythmic, non-physical pressure

"A horse will move away from rhythmic pressure more easily than from steady pressure. His flighty nature makes him more inclined to move away from things like a swinging rope or waving hands. But he will tend to lean into your leg, your hands or the halter.

Phases mean increments, and there are four phases to applying pressure. The first is the lightest possible and the fourth is whatever it takes to be effective. Phases two and three are in between.

"This may help you understand what they feel like: Phase 1 – Press the hair (almost like a fly), Phase 2 – Press the skin, Phase 3 – Press the muscle and Phase 4 – Press the bone" She fell silent as she allowed them to give the new game a go.

"I'm sorry to interrupt you all, but my I draw your attention again." When they were all looking at her she smiled warmly. "I'm going to talk you through the next game and then that will be it until after lunch. Those of you who are struggling to get your horses to go in a direction you want, I beg that you continue with the Porcupine Game until you can get your horse to move in every direction."

She tilted her head subtly and Cedar approached her. "Good boy." She whispered as she rubbed his forehead. "The Driving Game is the third of the Seven Games. It teaches your horse to yield from a “suggestion” with no physical touching involved.

In the beginning, the driving is done at a reasonably close range, but as you progress, you can actually drive (or suggest) from quite a distance away. This is the game that develops into such subtle communication, people will think your horse is reading your mind. This is very similar to using hand signals with dogs.

The ability to communicate this way becomes especially useful when you need to direct your horse away from you, as in manoeuvring him around obstacles or moving him out of your space.

As with the Porcupine Game, you need to be able to get the horse to yield backwards, yield the front end, the hind end… and last of all, develop the forward “draw.”

A lot of people find the Driving Game comes easily because horses spook at movement—This game is learning how to use rhythmic pressure and becomes a kind of “constructive” spooking.

When you first begin the Driving Game, you might find your horse a little reactive to rhythmic pressure (driving). He may scoot out, trying to escape, rather than just moving calmly away from you. Stay with him until he is calm and thinking. Be careful not to be too critical or ask for too much too soon and incorporate plenty of friendly game by rubbing your horse when he stops. He will quickly learn not to be scared and start to confidently understand that you are asking him to move away from you, not run off.

Horses play the Driving Game with each other all the time. The Alpha horse only has to give a meaningful ‘look’ or a swish of the tail to drive another horse away. With enough understanding and practice, you will be able to move your horse just as easily.

There are three things you need in order to play this game well: firstly; the Schwiegermutter look (this means ‘mother-in-law’ in German!), then Rhythm and lastly Release

The Schwiegermutter look: Watch horses interacting with each other. When the more dominant horse drives another horse out of his space, he brings up his energy, puts his ears back and “tells” that other horse to move away.

Phase 1: Softly beat the air with your hands (not touching the horse, stay about 12 to 24 inches away from him). Pretend there are a couple of little bongo drums in the air between you and your horse’s nose. Softly beat them in unison.

Phase 2: Increase the intensity of the rhythm but do not move closer to your horse.

Phase 3: Start moving closer to your horse, slowly and meaningfully. Give him a hard look.

Phase 4: Tap your horse’s nose (on either side of the bridge of the nose) using the same rhythm until he backs up just a step. Your feet should get planted in place once you start making contact with your horse."

[Deleted]

Jason looked up at Ms. Chevalier's voice. When it was clear that she was giving the next set of instructions, he went back to standing beside Tickle's head in standard leading position. He nodded thoughtfully as the instructor explained the reasoning behind this next game. He cocked his head to the side and repeated to himself the four phases. It had been a while since he had done this, and he didn't want to confuse his horse, so he practiced in the air once. Then he turned towards his gelding and moved his hands towards Tickle's chest, asking him to back up.

As Ms. Chevalier had said, Tickle leaned against Jason's hand at first, until he got to Phase 4. Then the Oldenburg dragged his feet backwards. For whatever reason, Tickle had come to become very relaxed in this field. "Almost too relaxed. Wake up a little, boy." Jason muttered. The pinto responded by dropped his head and chewing. Jason rolled his eyes and listened to the next set of directions.

He eyed his horse resignedly and stood in front of him once more. Despite his year of Natural Horsemanship, he had yet to master this game as well as Ms. Chevalier and Cedar. Tickle stared back with what Jason swore was a smirk in his eye. The boy began beating his imaginary drums, but had to take one purposeful step towards his horse before he got any movement. Jason kept working on backing up at the first phase, and brought his horse forward again when Tickle had gone right up to the fence.

[Amelia DeFoe]

Amy smiled slightly and patted Amur's shoulder as she heard the woman's voice, looking over to listen to the next set of instructions while the gelding put his head down to nudge at the grass. The woman's information on the logic behind the games was actually interesting, and it made it easier to understand the 'games' that they were playing.

After repeating the four phases to herself, she nodded slightly. It wasn't all too hard, at least the order. Turning to Amur, she began barely touching him, although she felt that maybe it was already too much pressure. As the gelding leaned towards her, she shook her head and pressed slightly more, attempting to get to phase two without going over, and as that showed no effect, she moved to phase three. Then, the gelding appeared to understand what she wanted from him and stepped back, at which Amy immediately released the pressure, smiling, “Bon.”

After a few times of playing the game, with Amur eventually beginning to move away at phase two, Amy heard Ms. Chevalier's voice again. Looking over, she watched the woman. As she spoke about using hand signals with a dog, Amy grinned, glancing over at Wolf. This should be easy, then. She'd have to try with Tommy, the gelding knew what she wanted from him at half of Wolf's vocal commands, why not gestures?

Loosening her grip on the lead once more, Amy began with the rhythmic 'bongo drums', although she felt slightly foolish doing so. After increasing the intensity, she began walking towards Amur, trying to look hard, but failing relatively badly. However, as she tapped his nose, Amur stepped back, almost too quickly, and Amy stopped, relaxing once more, until the gelding had relaxed, and she could begin the game anew.

[Deleted]

Amber cringed at Ms. Chevalier's comment.  She couldn't help but compare herself to a horse in that situation.  She briefly considered burying her face in Rapunzel's mane and sobbing, but she managed to refrain from that.  She wouldn't let herself shed a tear, not in front of everyone.  She tried as hard as she could to stop thinking about it. 

She focused as Ms. Chevalier described the next game.  The game sounded familiar and Amber quickly realized that she had not only read about it, but done it with Rapunzel multiple times before.  Rapunzel seemed to recognize it as soon as Amber started pressing.  Fortunately, Rapunzel was behaving very good today.  She was better at it then usual.  Amber wondered if her horse had noticed that she was upset and was behaving extra good, hoping that it would cheer her up.  If so, it was working.  

Amber had never played the driving game before, but parts of it seemed familiar.  She had played games with similar things in them, and Rapunzel was sometimes really good and obedient at them but not always.  She got started and Rapunzel was really good at first, and then she got a little stubborn.  When Amber increased the intensity and stepped closer to her, she soon obeyed.  When they were done Amber pet her and told her what a good girl she was.

[Danielle Green]

Danny nodded as Ms. Chevalier introduced the next game. She knew what the woman meant all too well. Remi hadn’t done it, but the two horses she had worked with before had done it many times. She took note to what the game was called and after Ms. Chevalier was done explaining it Danny went right ahead and started.

Going through the four phases, it wasn’t until phase four that Remi actual moved her hooves away from her handler. Phase one only lead to the mare leaning against her which was what she didn’t want to happen. The same with phase two, but the third phase had shown Danny that the Curly understood it. Taking a note that Ms. Chevalier was begging the students to continue the game, Danielle knew why and would definitely so do.

Stopping the Porcupine Game the sixteen year old listened to the next game. The mare looked at Danny as if she was crazy when she began the beating rhythm. The second phase didn't seem to do much; it wasn’t until the third phase when Remi stepped back as Danielle stepped closer. She was glad that the mare understood what the girl was trying to do. She kept working to the first step, seeing if Remi would move with less movement from Danny.

[Deleted]

Jackson listened to Ms. Chevalier explain the next two games and he repeated important notes to himself, like to four phases of each game. Although he had never been stepped on he had seen a horse lean into someone pushing them, which he knew wasn’t the ideal situation.

The boy repeated the four steps to the first explained game to himself before acting them out on Fore. The first phase was a little difficult as Jackson didn’t know if he was putting too much pressure because Fore leaned back on his finger. The third phase showed to be the one to show change, as Fore stepped back.

Jackson thought the next game would have been harder for him as he was never good at being serious or meaningful, in a sense. He didn’t know how it would go but he repeated the steps again in his head and did the movements above the mare’s head. Her ears only flickered around as to ask “what the heck are you doing?”

He continued until he got to the fourth step, he began tapping on the Paint’s nose and she backed up. She let out a soft snort and then Jackson restarted, working from the first step once again.

[Tyler Reynolds]

The second and third game was being explained and Tyler for once listened intently. He hated when Roman got to close to him and usually resulted in the boy getting stepped on. This would be wonderful for the seventeen year old to work on with the Standardbred. As Ty started the game of course Roman thought it was like any other time and leaned into his handler. ”Not this time horse.” Applying the next two steps the gelding still didn’t react like Tyler wanted him to, so next was the bone phase, a little morbid if taken out of context but nonetheless affective in Roman’s case.

Thinking about the third game, Tyler took on a meaningful look and began his rhythmic beating of the air. Roman’s nostrils got larger, but it wasn’t until the third phase that he actually moved back, when the boy took a step towards the gelding. Taking his step back Tyler began from the beginning once again and worked to third step, until Roman took another step back. He understood that it would take time but it would be worth it as there would be little to no Roman stepping on his feet, which was definitely a positive outcome.

[Deleted]

The next two games seemed almost the same thing, but slight differences set them apart. Caroline listened in keenly to understand what she was to do to Lucy next. Yes getting stepped on was something that never turned out well, so eliminate Lucy from doing so would be the best thing.

After Ms. Chevalier concluded the explanation about the next game Caroline gave it a try. She knew that the Thoroughbred was a flighty mare and was sensitive, so she was ready for the horse to move away at a quick rate. Although it took longer than she thought, phase three proved to work and Lucy took two steps away from her handler.

The third game was explained and Caroline nodded, even though she knew she would feel silly “beating drums” in the air it was for the best. She started out two feet away from the horse and began beating the drums, Lucy snorted as she was concerned with all the movement.

The intensity of the beating was raised and Lucy still stood still but in her eyes Caroline could see the mare was getting ready to step back. With one look from Caroline and slight leaning forward Lucy backed away a few steps. Reworking from phase one, she could tell the Thoroughbred was going to get the hang of this game quickly.