Setting Boundaries

[Anastasie Chevalier]

Anastasie led Paris into her classroom... alright, it was a field, but to her it was a classroom. She laughed as the tobiano buckskin danced snorted and looked around at everything. The filly was an interesting creature, as every time she went somewhere, it was as though it was the first time she had ever been there and was treated with as much excitement. Even more so today since there were carrot sticks and ropes on the ground just inside the gate for the students who weren't in her summer clinics to use during the class, those that had been in the clinics were asked to bring theirs with them.

Letting go of the filly's lead, the woman walked around the perimeter of the field, turning on each of the speakers that were spaced around the area, one in each corner and then another one in the middle of the three fences that excluded the one with the gate. She never had the sound too loud, but it helped carry her voice without her having to shout, and it also helped when the wind was blowing in the wrong direction. Once they were on, she turned on the portable unit on her waistband and put her headset on. "Don't eat the mic." She told Paris as the filly came forward to inspect it, and she swapped the short lead for the 12 foot lead.

As her students arrived, she welcomed them in and asked them to find a space in the field. When it seemed that everyone had arrived she began the lesson. "Welcome everyone. I can see that we have a couple of new faces, so before we really get going, I would like everyone to introduce themselves, their horse and either why you have chosen this class or what you wish to get out of it. I'll start. I'm Anastasie Chevalier and this is Paris. I have always been interested in working with horses without needing artificial aids, but it wasn't until I arrived here in America, ten years ago, and found Cedar at a barn I was working at that I actually studied natural horsemanship. He was a horse that had reached the end of his tether and it seemed that no one could get through to him, so I needed to find other ways to piqué his interest in the world and it seemed that this was what he needed. Now, I want to share that knowledge with you. Don't get me wrong, I'm not here to teach you how to whisper to your horse, I'm here to teach you how to listen when your horse speaks to you." She knew that her words sounded mysterious, but it would also, hopefully, get them thinking.

Once the introductions were over she asked Paris to step up to her. "We're going to start today the way I like to start each of my classes. Today we are going to going to remind our friends about personal bubbles and the fact that they aren't allowed in said bubbles without our permission, and give them enough respect to show them it works both ways." She unclipped the filly's lead rope and the Pinto, Arabian happily bounced away from the woman before she lowered her head to graze on the short green grass. "If you stretch your arms out to the side, hold the stick out as well, and turn in a circle, that is your bubble (the stick included). And no one, animal or human, should enter that space without your permission. Horse's bubbles are slightly bigger." She drew herself up, bringing her energy up, so that she wouldn't be as warm and welcoming to the filly, looked the young horse directly in the eye, and took a purposeful step toward the filly. Paris' head shot up and she skittered backwards, keeping the space between herself and the human. "As you can see, Paris wasn't happy about me entering her bubble. I had my energy up, I was aggressive and dominating, to the point that she wanted to keep the distance between us because she felt threatened."

Ana then released a sigh, letting her shoulders drop and relaxing her entire body. She fixed her eyes on the filly's shoulder and once again took a step forward. Paris once again looked up from her grazing, but this time didn't move away from the woman's approach and happily pushed her nose into the offered hand as Ana reached her side. "This time she had no problem with me entering her bubble because she didn't see me as a threat." She clipped the rope back onto the filly's turquoise rope halter. "It works the same the other way around. If a horse approaches you in an aggressive way, you would also step back. The power goes to the person, or animal who can make the other move their feet. So, the idea is never to move your feet." She knew that this is where having Cedar would have been better as the gelding was good at showing aggression.

"Basically, the idea, is that you want your horse to be standing outside your bubble. A horse that invades your space on his own might knock you down, step on you, or try to bite. If he approaches you only when you invite him to, you're in control of the situation and therefore safer. Second, and equally important, is the related matter of respect. If you allow a horse to push into you, even in a friendly way, he's learning that he needn't respect you." She smiled. "I'll stop talking now and we'll see if you can work out your bubble and getting your horse to stay out of it."

[Elizabeth Toman]

Elizabeth groomed her assigned pony, but her mind was already on that evening's gymnastics training session. Once she'd groomed the pony to make her look tidy, and added a little spray-on glitter to the pony's mane, to match the pink glitter in her own hair, she pulled the lead rope loose and led her out of the barn and down the path she was told would take her to where she wanted to go.

They reached the field that so far only contained one other girl, a woman and two equine. Walking through the gate, she looked at the coiled rope and sticks on the ground and she picked up a pink pair and then headed into the field where she found a space for herself and the mare. She knew that she should have spent a little more time with the mare over the last couple of days, but she had been so busy trying to settle in.

When they were asked to introduce themselves, Libby jumped right in after the first girl, Rory, had introduced herself. "Hi, I'm Elizabeth, though I prefer Libby, not so much of a mouthful. And this is Wisp, she belongs to the Academy." She cast a glance at the pony who was looking back at her. "I've read a lot about Natural Horsemanship, and figured that it would be interesting to study first-hand." Her answer was blunt and to the point.

She watched the instructor as the woman went through the importance of reminding horses about personal space. Libby looked over as Wisp bumped her in the arm, seeking attention. She pushed the pony's nose away from her arm as she watched and listened. She hadn't been enjoying her day, until now. She had been home-school her whole life that sitting in classrooms today had had her bored out of her mind, having to actually listen to the teachers and work at their pace, doing one subject at a time. This, however, was more her style of learning.


When it was their chance to try and establish personal boundaries, she looked at the  pony, who had once again stepped up against the girl. "Um, no! The teacher said you need to maintain your distance." She told Wisp as she once again pushed her away. She changed the lead rope to the one she had picked up upon entering the field. And using the stick, she touched the mare on the chest and asked her to back off until her arm was stretched out to full length. "That's better. Now, stay."

[Deleted]

Luka grinned as he walked into the barn, glad that the academic classes were over for the day, leaving only his scheduled equine classes. He made his way to Nebuchadnezzor's stall and haltered the gentle gelding easily, although he left the lead rope outside. It only took him a few minutes to brush the gelding before he was ready for class. Grabbing the carrot stick and lead rope that they had been asked to bring along again, he didn't even bother with a shorter lead for Neb, knowing the gelding would follow either way.

Once they reached the field, Luka saw the teacher and her horse, as well as two girls with their equines. He nodded at the teacher before finding a section of the field to work in. As the class started, he felt that they would be listening for a while more and gave the gelding more slack on the lead rope, allowing the buckskin to graze as his owner payed attention to the teacher, "My name is Luka, and this is Neb. I enjoyed this class last year, since it allowed me to understand my horses better, and look forward to another year."

After everyone had introduced themselves, and Ms. Chevalier had told them what they would be doing, along with modelling it, Luka turned to his gelding, "Na, mein Guter?" He extended his arms, holding the carrot stick, and watched the gelding step back, ears flicking at the object. As Luka relaxed, the gelding lowered his head, relaxing. Keeping the carrot stick at his side, he stepped towards the gelding, trying to mirror Ms. Chevalier's relaxed stance. While the warmblood watched him, he did nothing to warn Luka out of his space either, and the boy was soon rubbing the buckskin's forehead.

[Deleted]

John tied Lilja's rope halter on, leaving enough space that the halter wasn't cutting into the mare's face, although it wasn't loose enough to slip off easily either. Clipping his lead rope to the halter and putting his cowboy hat onto his head to keep the sun off, he made his way out into the sunlight towards the field where Natural Horsemanship was held.

As he entered the 'classroom', he glanced around, recognizing a few of the students and the teacher by sight, although he made his way to an open space without greeting anyone, stopping only to pick up a long lead rope and a carrot stick, in the green closest to Lilja's inchworm colour that he could find. As the class started, he listened, nodding as each person finished, then spoke when it was his turn, "I'm John, this is Lilja. I want to improve our relationship and build more trust between us, hopefully to help us with competitions in the future."

After they had been given their instructions, John turned to Lilja, who was watching him from a bit away, but closer than the arm-and-a-stick length that she was supposed to be at. He stretched out his arms, stick in hand, and started turning in a circle, not stopping as he felt the stick tap against Lilja's shoulder. The mare turned her head and eyed the stick, as if asking what it was, and as she stepped back to be able to sniff it better, she moved outside of the circle. Grinning, John rotated twice, neither time hitting the mare, before he stopped to pat her.

[Rose Hoff]

Rose brushed Eleanor once over before their Natural Horsemanship class, and then clipped a light blue lead rope onto the mare's halter. She and Eleanor benefited greatly from the classes, and Rose looked forward to going to them now. Eleanor was a very nervous mare, and it worried her to be around the other horses and people in the field, but she was calmer when around Rose. Rose led the mare out to the field where their class was held and found a spot far from where there were any other horses after taking a blue carrot stick and line.

Once the class started, Rose listened carefully and kept a hand on Eleanor's neck. The warmblood mare's eyes were wide and she was stiff, glancing around at the other students and their horses. Slowly, she began to calm down as Rose rubbed her neck. When it came their turn, Rose introduced herself and Eleanor. "Hello, my name is Rose Hoff and my mare's name is Eleanor. I am here so that Eleanor can learn to trust, and so that I can learn how to help her feel comfortable and improve our partnership." 

Rose listened to Ms. Chevalier speak about the personal bubble, and knew that this may become difficult. Eleanor had learned to cope with her nervousness by becoming very close to Rose, and the mare didn't like to leave the girl's side. Rose didn't mind it, and loved knowing that the mare trusted her, but it would cause a problem in this activity. In the past, Rose had always welcomed Eleanor's company with open arms, and Rose didn't want the mare to feel as if she were rejecting him.

Clipping on the longer line, Rose put down the carrot stick for now, knowing that she should probably just start by getting Eleanor out of her arm's reach. Reaching out to the mare, Rose gently, and then more firmly pushed the mare away from her. At first Eleanor just looked at her, as if confused, and then reluctantly stepped out of Rose's area. She quickly tried to come back in, and Rose did the same thing, hating the feeling of pushing her mare away. "Come on lovely. I'm still here. You can still stay with me, just not so close." After a few tries, Eleanor finally stood away from Rose, but was looking rather dejected, and it was all Rose could do not to call Eleanor back to her. She should probably pick up the stick and ask for Eleanor to move all the way out of her bubble, but this was already a big step and she didn't want to push it right away. Petting Eleanor encouragingly in reward, Rose began with the mare again, and this time Eleanor stepped back right away, though she was still looking reluctant.

[Ben Hall]

    Ben clipped his green and white lead rope onto Ram's halter and led the gelding out to the Natural Horsemanship field. He thought that the class would be a good way for him to get to know his new horse better. He had spent a good amount of time with Ram, but he still felt as if he was getting to know the horse. It was odd not riding Lady all the time and having to think about being more careful since he didn't know Ram nearly as well.

    Having arrived, Ben picked up a green carrot stick and line and found a space in the field fairly close to the instructor, but far enough away so that they had a good amount of space. After listening to her introduction, he waited his turn to introduce himself and then spoke up. "Hi, I'm Ben, and this is Ram. I'm a part of this class to learn to communicate with horses effectively and get to know this guy better."

    He listened carefully as Ms. Chevalier explained about the personal bubble, paying attention to Ram while he listened. The gelding was nosy and often in his space, and he frequently mouthed at Ben. Ben continued to push Ram gently but firmly away from him so that the gelding wasn't always touching him. When it came time, Ben clipped the longer line onto Ram's halter and held out the carrot stick, establishing where his bubble was. He drew himself up strongly and asked Ram to move away from him, pushing on his shoulder firmly until the gelding moved away. He continued to do this until he was out of Ben's bubble. Once out, Ben dropped his arms to his sides, and Ram moved in again. Raising his arms again, Ben insisted that Ram stay out of his bubble once more.