Black Velvet

Trimming Velvet’s Claws

Velvet’s life as a show dog was about adhering to rules, including a rule dictating the length of her claws. Between shows her claws would grow out, only to be cut back once again to regulation length. Necessary perhaps, but also painful and frightening for a little dog; 18* bleeding claws will do that.

By the time we adopted Velvet at the age of 2½, her fear of claw trimming was deeply engrained, and overrode any developing trust she had in me. Monthly trims became snarling, squirming sessions, that left everyone exhausted, and usually me scratched or bitten. One day, I decided we needed a timeout. So I switched to trimming only one claw per day. Our sessions were suddenly much shorter, Velvet was rewarded more frequently (a cookie every day) and I had fewer scratches. Years later she’s still nervous, but at least now she can tolerate all 18 claws being trimmed in one session.

Preserving Fancy’s Confidence

Timeouts improved Velvet’s ability to cope with a challenging situation. It seemed logical that the concept would work just as well with a horse. And now in hindsight, I think timeouts played a significant role in building Fancy’s overall confidence.

As a recent example, timeouts became an important component when training Fancy to become confident with mounting. In the beginning, I gave her a timeout every time I dismounted, simply by going for a walk around the arena. Of course, this meant that our timeouts were actually longer than the actual mounting exercise. But as Fancy’s confidence grew the timeouts became shorter, until they were phased out completely for that task.

I look at it as managing my expectations, in order to preserve Fancy’s confidence for tomorrow.

* 16 toes and 2 dew claws

Xena's Left-Brain Extrovert Chart - click to enlarge Horsenality™ is a combination of the words ‘horse’ and ‘personality’. The Horsenality™ Report was created by Parelli Natural Horsemanship™ to help horse owners better understand equine psychology, by analyzing their horse’s innate personality traits. By knowing a horse’s psychological strengths, challenges and attributes, it’s possible to create a more customized training plan. Visit Parelli.com for more details on the Horsenality™ system.

Right-Brian Extrovert

I’ve filled out the free Horsenality™ chart on Xena a few times. Two years ago, she exhibited many of the right-brain extrovert personality traits — impulsive, panicky, over reactive, hyper alert, spooky, high headed and bracy. At that time I thought of her as an extreme RBE, and it kept me from being hurt during one of her many spooks and panics.

Right-Brian Introvert

Last summer, I thought she’d become quite confident, so I changed my training tactics a bit. But, after a few weeks I realized I’d misread her, as she became very introverted when stressed or overwhelmed; she was now an RBI / RBE. The right-brain introvert traits are: tense, unpredictable, explosive, timid, hesitant, and shut down. This was right in-line with how previous riders had described her, and it became the focus of my study for the next 6 months. Read about one of our introverted episodes

Extreme Left-Brian Extrovert

Lately, I’ve been seeing a more confident mare, so this time I ordered the comprehensive online version of the Horsenality™ report. I was surprised when it concluded that Xena had transitioned into being an extreme left-brain extrovert! An LBE is: energetic, mischievous, playful, willful and mouthy — and Xena is all these, but to a lessor degree because she’s not yet as confident as most LBEs. She’s considered ‘extreme’ because she still has several strong right-brain qualities, although these seem to be gradually diminishing.

Since receiving the Horsenalty™ report, Xena and I have played together three times, and I’ve concentrated on treating her more like an energetic LBE, than a fragile RBI. What a difference that’s made! She seemed to enjoy the challenge, and we both had a great time. I think we’ll be making rapid progress in the next few months, now that I know she’s confident enough to handle more challenging training sessions.

The long and short of it is, she’s constantly changing. And, I’m constantly studying horsemanship, just to keep up with her! But, I wouldn’t want it any other way.

P.S. – A few hours after I wrote this article, Xena allowed me to stand in the stirrups for the first time, and hold her tongue for the Vet!

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Worried Eyes
Her frequent expression during our early months together. Even today, her eyes are a reliable way to gauge her emotions.

As usual, I begin by asking Xena for neutral lateral flexion, while I’m still on the mounting block. She seems hesitant, but not actually nervous. I’m reluctant to use too much pressure on the hackamore, because it’s not about force – she should offer flexion when asked. In a few minutes, I’ll have the hindsight to realize I skirted around this preparatory step, in my enthusiasm to mount her.

I swing my leg over, and again ask for neutral lateral flexion; Xena doesn’t respond. Her head and neck now seem frozen. I run my hand along her crest, asking her to lower her head; her neck feels almost wooden. It’s then that I really see her, and realize she looks more like a statue, than a live horse.

Xena’s body language is displaying the typical warning signs of a right-brain introvert under stress … I should dismount … My thoughts begin to race. She bucked off her last rider … I should dismount … Sue said Xena was explosive 10 years ago … I should dismount … Is she catatonic? … I should dismount!

I dismount onto the mounting block and speak softly, wanting to reassure her, but Xena is only just now becoming aware of me. She glances at me with worried eyes, so I praise her, kiss her cheek, and quietly walk her back to her stall. Within minutes she’s her old self, excited about carrots and cookies.

I loved our first walk. And, the idea of walking, jogging, and even trail riding with Xena is very exciting. Two years of groundwork is a long time, and I’m anxious to see us achieve that elusive, ordinary dream of becoming horse and rider.

I shouldn’t have mounted her tonight (and should have dismounted sooner!), but we got through it without a mishap. I think tomorrow we’ll work on neutral lateral flexion for a while, and then I’ll sit on the mounting block and surprise her with a few sugar-free peppermints. She’ll like that.