Her name is Daphne. She is about 5′1″ and she has got balls. My new farrier/trimmer came out today to trim both my boys feet. Or so went the pretense. She really came out to raise a little horse hell and ruffle some fur. This little firecracker has it. And I want it.
Casper (my young one) is a good natured horse who just wants love (on his terms) and will try just enough to see what he can get away with. And he is persistent. Well, he never met persistent himself until he met Daphne today. She talks to the horse throughout the whole session. Some of her best phrases are “think about it” and “I’ll poke you!” And she poked him! I’ve never seen that before. Ah, it was quite effective. She warned him! This horse has never seen anyone with so much stick to. He kept dancing, she kept dancing. She would NOT let go of that leg until he gave it. And he did. Since Daphne is so low to the ground (and was a gymnast) she has an incredible ability to control her center of gravity and leverage it against a horse’s anatomy. I swear Casper never knew what hit (figuratively) him. He still shimmied and acted indignant but I think it was more pride than anything at that point. She had his number and he knew it. He began to stand still more for the back feet (game over).
One the the things that struck me about her as i watched was that no matter what the horse did she always went right back to square one after the correction. Always. Then she asks the horse to do it again even if it is not necessary and asks him to do it “nicely”. And she will wait for “nicely”. However long it takes. She has true calm assertiveness. She said that she can be tough to ruffle but if there ever comes a situation where she cannot maintain her calm assertiveness she immediately removes herself from the situation and comes back when she can.
Another thing I noticed was an expectation. I am stuck on rewarding which has backfired(be-careful Aimee remember horses are just big dangerous toddlers, don’t make the same mistake with Nina!) Daphne rewards but not after everything.By the sixth grade kids shouldn’t be getting stars next to their name for putting their name on their paper. Daphne expects the horse to do certain things. Consistently. If he doesn’t understand she’ll show him, then correct and after he learns it-that’s it! No more baby rewards for basic behavior!
If he is rewarded for every little thing then he thinks its ’special behavior’ and he only has to do it to produce the desired reward, not because I expect it. She showed me this in action.
After she trimmed both horses I asked her if she could give me some pointers about my fear and getting Casper back down the chute into his stall. Instead of too much philosophy, she gave me tools. She put him on a short lead and guided him with the other hand out front then told him what we were doing verbally. If he got scared or started to hurry she stopped the forward energy and asked him to take stock and “think about it”then asked for a few more steps etc. It worked! He listened to her beautifully.
I tried it after and was scared at first but then realized that this way is an interplay. I ask him to think /take stock, then he takes his moment, then I ASK for more. I never had to force him, but I did have to ask clearly and confidently.
Ah, tools for confidence – I love it.
Thank you Daphne I’m really looking forward to our training hour next week and a BIG thanks to Kit for telling me about Daphne.
PS Casper, watch out, Daphne is coming back and I’m at home right now working on my bulldog snarl. Its on.
PSS This is the best trim job my horses feet have seen.
