Pooka's Brain

The analogies to "Spock's Brain" are strictly intentional.

So this morning I realize that yesterday's frenzy of cleaning was not the best idea I've had.  I overdid, in short, and I had to face lessons followed by a mess of errands.

However, we survived.

The arena is still a quagmire, but the neighbors' new one was dry, so we decided to ride over there.  This was a major challenge in that if you take a horse to a totally strange place, he's better off than in a halfway strange place with his herd in sight but inaccessible.  Even keed, who has been all over the countryside and has gone by this place numerous times, was all worried and tense.  Joni worked on calming him down and then focusing him on work.  Eventually he decided to go along with it.  This, she explained, was compatible with his psychology: stay calm, insist he be calm, and eventually he cooperates.

Pooka, however, does not think like this at all.

Stallion instincts have something to do with it.  A stallion's primary function is to guard the herd.  This means he has to stay within reach of them in case of predators--hunting animals or stallions looking to steal mares--and if he can't get to them, this is A Problem.  Add in that Pooka has issues with changes in routine, any changes, and you get a bit of an interesting session.

First of all, the mounting block was not his mounting block.  It was different.  It was a whole inch higher!!!!!!  And the fence was different.  And the arena was a different size.  And his Herd was up on the hill, all lined up, a row of alert ears on top of a new horizon.  (Never mind that he's been ridden or walked past here for years.) 

I couldn't mount up after the first groundwork--I had to turn him loose and let him sort it out for himself.  We had a full half-hour of galloping, boingiting, and wild bucking, culminating in him coming to Joni and me in the corner, in such a swivet he was shaking.  So I took over and we did groundwork, slowly, until he stopped shaking and started lowering his head.  Then we reintroduced the block.  (I know.  He's short.  I could almost throw a leg over his back.  But he's so round that when I'm alone, the saddle rolls when I try to mount.  So, we use a block.)  It took five tries.  First time I got up on it--freakout! I was too tall!  Then down, reassure him, walk around, more groundwork.  Try again.  Smaller freakout.  By try number four, he snuggled up to me.  Try number five, I could get on.

It was brief.  Small circles, asking for bend, asking for relaxation.  There was much crackling from Engineering. "Keptin, he canna take much more!  He's gonna blow!"  So we stopped and I dismounted and we went home, politely, without rushing, pushing, or bolting forward.

Next time he'll be better.  Three or four times, he'll settle in.

The lesson for the day was, with this horse, pushing the envelope is not the best idea.  You can ask for progressively more, and we really challenged his instincts and his quirks, but where with another horse we might keep insisting until he calmed down, with this one we had to let him determine the direction of the work.  Most horses (including keed) would regard this as a license to blow us off, but with a lot of Lipps and especially this Lipp, a significant degree of autonomy is a requirement.  They need a Lot of mental space.  It goes with the hardwiring.  If you push at the wrong time, they fry. 

Camilla, be it noted, is the exact same way--but she's a stopper instead of a bolter.  Makes her dangerous, because when she blows, she literally explodes.  Pook will have been so flippy throughout that you're on your guard--whereas she may let you think she's OK with it...until she goes totally splooie.

At any rate, it was an interesting lesson.  He's going through some things mentally of late, and we're asking him to work even when hedoesn't wanna.  This is a new concept for him, and is taking some adjustment.  But he's maintaining his great attitude.  He was very full of himself after his lesson today, quite smug and pleased with how he'd done--so, no trauma, a positive experience, and next time he'll cope with it better.

Meanwhile the scenery can't be beat.  Watching a porcelain cupcake go boingity on a fine winter's day, with mountain views, it not a bad way to spend a morning.

Addendum on Horse Brains

Joni had an interesting story to tell today.  Apparently there was a study in which famous horse-training master Linda Tellington-Jones (she of the TTEAM method of patterning behavior) was EKG'ed while working on a horse, also hooked up to electrodes.  The horse was a basket case to start, but as the session went on, his brain waves began to match hers exactly.

The lesson was that we have to impose our mental calm on the horse no matter how frazzled he may be.  If we aren't calm, we have to maintain two levels of awareness: the scared primate gibbering away beneath the surface, and the totally calm alpha horse on top.  The horse should only be able to sense the latter.

Them as knows martial arts can get this concept--it's about centering and focus.

The thing about Pook and Camilla is...they're projecting empaths.  They can force their brain waves on whoever is within about a twenty-foot radius, which means that if they're panicking, so is everybody else within reach.  They are very powerful and very focused and correspondingly difficult because while the average horse just gets freaky, these two make you freaky.

I can never get off my guard with them.  Whatever I'm feeling when I'm working with them might not be what I'm really feeling--it's coming from them.

Then again, this means that if I can sort out who's thinking what, I can plug in really solidly, get them calmed down, and get a level of focus that's like nothing else. 

But oy, sometimes they give me a headache.