short Video

Belladonna

Fear

fear is a ugly emotion that rears it ugly head at any moment. But if Fear has been your partner for the last few years? The signs are there yet you pray and hope you are wrong!

What if the horse you see will never be the horse you want? The horse who is your soul mate yet on another level they are the devil's spawn?

The more I think of it, the more I want to weep. Because the signs are there for Belladonna. There in Black & White with no shades of gray. Yet I don't want to loose hope, but when I see and remember the chaos she has brought, I worry deeply.

Do I feel she is safe? For me, for others no! Is she dangerous, as dangerous as a animal who feels she must shut herself down and fight with whom ever.

I have for years been thinking to send her out to people but I won't. I am afraid she'll kill herself or kill some one else.

I have never had issues with her or felt like I was in danger. She always been my friend and partner. soft and at times she can be stubborn but I have never been injured by her. Never a kick or a step on my toe, she is respectful of where I am at.

But let some one else handle her and she becomes the spitting fury of hate, she shuts her self off and will actually injure herself to get away from people. She now tolerates my husband to lead her from one pen to the next and to trim her hooves with some show of  fits.

Picture Wednesday

Shameless Plugging for good friends

My good friends and mentors Ginny & Dave Freeman have finally got there 501 going!

Above is their web site, and I ask people who have other blogs please spread the word about them. WE just had a clinic here at home home this past Sunday with the Freeman's showing us how to deal with some foot handling issues. here is the you tube video!

Thank you to Lacy & her friend Shasta who video our little clinic!

What is happening around my neighborhood

7-16-09
If you click the above link, you will visit Nor-cal rescues blog. These horses are only a mile from me. I have at one time worked for the former owner of this place (where the horses are at). I am thinking of contacting NER and seeing if I could offer any help for these local horses. Maybe a brushing or seeing if i can work with the untrainned ones.
One thing is for sure most of the horses that have ever lived there have always been happy go lucky. As a kid i rode by this place more times then I can count, there has always been horses on those land and it will be different once they are gone.

Celtic Proverbs

"An làmb a bheir, 's i a gheibh."

The hand that gives is the hand that gets.

Celtic Proverb

I have had a few people ask me why I have Celtic sayings on my site and pages. The Celtic's were gifted horseman who had a bond with their mounts, ancient world of people who saw meaning in everything. Our hobby farm is in a Celtic name which means wild horse acres, because of my Belladonna. We started focusing more on donkey care and abuse and not so much on horses, even though I owned my mare. That is when I first realized how much I truly enjoyed being around a bunch of wild asses (pun intended) and how a person can gentle and build a bond with them using their own methods and styles. There is no book on ways to gentle and train donkeys because of how different and smart they are. This started to make me think about my mare, how traditional methods had cause us more issues then resolved issues. Why is it okay to be a free spirit in donkey gentling and training but not in wild horses? Why do we have to go by a set of rules? Why must we run them, force and drown them in methods that keep causing more issues then solving?

"Cha chòir an t-each glan a chur uige."

(The willing horse should not be spurred.)

-Old Gaelic proverb-

This saying is on the front page of my site, it is a saying that I look at every day. What does it mean? Have we as horseman ever thought what some proverbs or old sayings really mean? Do we as people expect too much for all things? I believe one of our faults is we expect way too much over things, we rush through life and when our journey in life is over we wonder what our lives were about? Was it a good life or did we just auto pilot ourselves for the last 20 plus years? WE as people set ourselves with rules and by the book plays and I have played by the book for years with my mare.

I have called different trainers and explained her issues and I have had the same repeat response, she a useless cause. Once they do this and that, you can't help them.

WHAT?

All these trainers have methods that run by methods set by today's way of training. WE FORCE AND MAKE animals to do our bidding and when they don't do what we ask we punish them by breaking them down even more.

THERE LIES THE ISSUE WITH BELLADONNA!

I can force her all I want and guess what, we FIGHT. She isn't a horse that takes abuse, heavy handed ways or forcing.

She will try things if you play with her and ask, turn it into her thought and idea. Yet I have tried all the normal methods that have been recommended to me and we have fought for 3 years, to overcome her baggage which she welds damn good.

Can I force her? Yes, but I will not have the results or the effect I want. I will have a pissed off mare who is not retaining any of our training but if I do it how I have trained my donkeys people tell me what I am doing is dangerous and not truly training her, I am just painting over the issue.

So what is correct and not correct? Why do I need to go by rules and be judged when it been clear fact over thousands of years that different methods were used to gentle horses? Why do I as a person need to follow the horse book of training?

Why can't I have a willing horse that is my partner and we have a bond? Is that a silly fantasy?

What fills the eye fills the heart.
Gaelic: An rud a líonas an tsúil líonann sé an croí.

Another Celtic saying that I dearly love. What we put before ourselves in plain view we love and want. We have dreams because of what we have seen and witness in our lives. My dream is to be able to help horses and donkeys, take away their pain and fears and replace it with peace and happiness. To have a partnership that equals out to both man and animal, a willingness to do and live. I don't want to live as a robot in this life and neither do I want my animals to be robotic either. All animals have personalities, why should we take and break that? It is not okay to verbally and physically break a human this way but it is okay to that to a horse? Many people take horses and break them down and we get to see these beautiful empty shells walking around in circles, on auto pilot. They stumble through life as is because what they have had has now been broken and taken.

If you put a horse out he'll always find grass.
Gaelic: Mar capall agus gheogaigh tú féar.

As horseman's what do we dream to Achieve?

The heat and a moment

Yes, It has been a bit since I posted. But do to the fact that life has been busy a bit. The heat has been pretty bad up here in the foothills which makes me check and provide water a few times a day to many animals.

Also hosing down Belladonna, who enjoys water time in the heat.

Our time has been filled with nothing, we just been hanging out and enjoying our time. Yesterday I changed pasture areas for the 3 wild ones. I didn't want to fool around with the halter so I garbed my lead rope and just snapped it around her neck. And prayed that she behave, since we have NEVER walked this way. well I was proud she took to it like we done this way a million times. was actually a lot better this way then a halter, hmmm.

I am still reading, it taken me forever BUT I like it. I am usually a book page burner I speed through. But with the books Brandy loan me, I am making it a fact to really take time and read them. To absorb the book into my head, I am enjoying every moment of it.

ON Sunday July 26th 2009 I will be hosting a hoof trimming clinic for people. so much to prep for and do, but I will try to post again soon. (Note to self every other day would be okay)

Goats will be arriving here on Sunday afternoon, 2 big boys that a person was giving away free. So let's see how the critter crew takes to the spotted monsters. Any one want to make a bet that the burro boys will try and kill them? Or the mare may snort and run from them?

Never a dull moment here, something is always happening.

 

 

Doing Nothing

What is doing nothing?

Does it make any sense?

For me doing nothing is just spending time with my animals. I sit around with them, talk, pet and laugh. That might include them being goofy and dragging whatever they can find back to me.

For my mare, our time is important.

we spend time through out the day just being. She grazing and walking and myself going along with her. Yesterday was my first official day of doing nothing, I threw out the ideas of haltering her up.

I did bring a rope, that way I could swish it for flies when we stop under the trees.

Maybe a hour or less we hung out, I follow her and she followed me. The donkeys tried with their might to butt in but soon she was stomping at them and moving them off.

The donkeys were offended that this mare got tired of them, man Colby was heart broken.

For those who are new to me and my herd. I own 2 BLM donkeys and 1 BLM mustang mare. I privately rescue at times and try my best to help unwanted mustangs, burros and domestic donkeys. Belladonna; my mare has issues with other horses. She fights with them all the time until she jumps out of the pen and does her "ha ha ha" dance at them and will not go back in that pen. When I adopted my first burro, she first was afraid. But by the next morning she was mothering the burro, Colby.

From that day on when ever a donkey shows up she goes into fits screaming for them and mothers them. Colby has grown up here kinda ruthless, he thinks he 10 feet tall and bullet proof and will boss any 4 leg around, because Belladonna allows him to act this way.

So when she refuse him yesterday he was shocked, how could this mare of 4 years he known just now cut him off? Belladonna realize that the burros will take me away from her and she fighting it. which is GOOD, because before they could do anything and she just give up.

What does it mean? I am not sure but maybe with her taking some control things will equal out better and right?

I like to also play treasure hunt around the herd, we live on a historical piece of land that at times spits out things like old square nails, pieces of broken pottery, bottles, horseshoes...whatever. So I look every other day for things and if I start to dig, the other 3 will come over and paw.

If I sit and kick my legs around in the dirt (wear pants) they look at me and come on in, I get up and soon they roll.

So on some level I am part of their herd (a small level) which is nice BUT I want to learn and do more.

My mare plays but it usually when she needs to blow steam, she holds it in. I know when she needs a good run and just all out crazy 20 mins of being a horse. But naturally she will play a bit with the donkeys but holds her self back. When I know she ready for me to say "Play time" she strung up tight, she jerky, looking around at things but NOT DOING ANYTHING!

when I gentled her, I taught her that If I was in the pen, calm behavior is a must and only if I ask for other behavior is it okay. So when I play "Chase the mustang" I bend forward and carry my lunge whip behind me. I slowly stalk her and that's when she lowers her head at me and you see the change.

It like dealing with a dog that has issues being alone. she wants to hang out with me and not waste that pen up energy. so it takes me 10 minutes to get her to open up.

By then, she in a full flying gallop, screaming, bucking, rearing. which causes a lot of other animals thinking something's wrong. (I have 2 other neighbors with horses around) and she does a fine job getting the neighborhood thinking that a dragon is around, LOL

But she could be all out running and all I have to do is step into the pen and yell for her and say "easy" and she'll run at me and slow down in 15 feet and by 10 a walk and still respect my space.

Out of everything she respects my space a lot, a point of the finger or a look has her moving away If I think she too close or trying something new.

I have noticed I gotten off track but oh well.

So what is your "doing nothing" with your own horse?

Belladonna April 2008