Pablo the unflappable

Esther.D

Esther.D

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Jan 3, 2003
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:D

Well we did some more Parelli today and decided to get him desensitised to all those things that make him nervous. Saddles numnahs and the like so after a bit of desensitisation with the rope namely flipping it all over his body we started on the numnah. After the initial this is scary shivers we got him more and more relaxed. so relaxed in fact that he couldnt stop yawning.
 

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In fact we got it all over and all around him. Hewas great with the saddle too, after 5 minutes of on and off we fastened up the girth without him holding his breath and being really tense.
All in all an excellent couple of hours.:D

He moved back when asked moved sideways when asked and is beginning to drop his head when asked.

As you can imagine we are both really chuffed with him.
Cheers
Stephen (who cant stop grinning)
:D :D :D :D :D :D
 
Nice one, you must be really pleased:) Isn't it great when the patient approach pays off every time?
 
As you can tell from Stephen's posts (masquerading as me:rolleyes: ) we were very excited about our progress yesterday. I don't know whether it is the method, a change in the way we are handling him (subconcious I mean...perhaps because we are following a set method), just the right time for him or a combination of the above but he was brilliant.

We began to wonder what we had been worrying about.......the nervy beast had suddenly turned into a bombproof cob ;) He didn't move a muscle the whole time (except once when Stephen accidently caught him on the end of the nose with the rope:rolleyes: then he jumped in surprise but was fine immediately). As you can see from the pics he even accepted the numnah on his ears...this is a horse who was apparently headshy a fortnight ago :confused: He stood like a lamb..with just a faintly uncertain look on his face. He also accepted Stephen bouncing around him, he thought that was quite interesting and followed him around with his head :D He was completely happy with the saddle, Stephen even flung it on and off, slapped it, hit it with the rope, pulled it about etc and he didn't twitch....a fortnight ago we couldn't get it on him without wincing and shivering and he used to hold his breath. I'll post some of the other pics when I get chance (tonight/tomorrow) to show you how completely unpreturbed he was about the saddle, even when Stephen was messing about with it - swinging the stirrups, wiggling the girth, slapping the saddle flaps down etc. It got to the point where we actually ran out of ideas of scary things to do as he was totally unmoved by it all!

We have either suddenly accelerated out of our plateau or someone swapped him in the night :D

Last week we were discussing options for training and beginning to despair of ever getting him safe and happy to ride. This week we are planning introducing leaning over at the weekend (in the same manner, lots of very slow repetition and in amongst all the other games) and then using the xmas holidays to bring him on towards riding again....................watch this space;)
 
WOOH-HOOOH!!! Lots of applause for Pablo & Stephen & you. Sounds like its all started to click together. (Either that or Pablo was starting to get worried I really was going to steal him away when I was there;) :D & decided he better behave!

(BTW - he's looking as gorgeous as ever! The TBs I ride aren't nearly as impressive as your boy:D )
 
Hey Esther & Stephen,

Congrats first off! Thanks for capturing that in pictures for all of us!!! (sometimes when I take pics of Bon, I take them with NR in mind;))

Is the farmer still helping you? Just wondering for my own benefit and curiosity where the different mindset really came from and whose was more profound, horse or human. Im a bit intrigued by the concept, as its what fixed my problems.

oooh, so happy for you! The rewards are so sweet arent they!
 
No the farmer is too busy dipping sheep etc at the moment.

It is hard to put my finger on exactly what caused the change. I think part of it may be that we totally despaired of him ever being ridden without being sent away for training...after that he has been perfect...no idea whether this decision that we needed something drastic had led to an unconcious attitude change in us which has caused the change in him?

Another thing we have been doing recently is working him last - leaving him hanging over the gate watching while we work Rupert or the others. This may help. We are also doing the various games and all the friendly game etc before we lead up to putting the saddle on. Still we have tried all these things in the past and they haven't worked...so I can't say exactly what has changed but it certainly has:)

He was an absolute star again this weekend, he positively seems to enjoy these sessions. He has a special look when he is enjoying himself - he peers at Stephen from under his forelock with what I call his 'puppydog' look, his eyes look very big and round and they light up just like a dogs do when you pick up its lead to take it for a walk. After his sessions now he hangs over the gate and waits for his moustache to be scratched - a very different horse!

We have a fortnight off over Xmas so watch this space
;)
 
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