I do Parelli Natural Horsemanship with my gelding Merlin and am having amazing results with the program. Here is a copy of what I posted to the parellinaturally yahoo group I belong to about a lesson I learned from a barn cat this afternoon!
OK, I just learned a good lesson from the resident barn predator(cat).
Some of you might remember me posting about me having problems
porciping Merlin's head down. Well I haven't tried in two days, and
this afternoon I was brushing Merlin when Slinky (the barn predator)
taught me how to do it right. I let Merlin's rope just dangle, I
don't tie him to anything. Slinky jumped up and caught hold of the
rope about 8 inches from where it attaches to merlin's halter and was
just hanging there. Merlin put his head down, Slinky got his claws
unhooked, Merlin sniffed him, then raised his head back up. Slinky
caught hold of the rope again with one paw, and with just one paw of
pressure from a small 5 lb. cat Merlin lowered his head all the way to
the ground. I was flabbergasted. Here this cat was porcupining
Merlin's head down with his tiny fuzzy self, and I can't do it and I
am a full-overgrown-human with opposable thumbs! I thought about it
and kneeled on the ground in front of and to the side of Merlin and
put some pressure on the rope. Voila! Merlin's head came down! So
hmm...
Perhaps when I was trying to porcupine his head down from the standing
position he knew there was no purpose really, since there was nothing
on the ground of interest to him.
Anyhow, I thanked Slinky for the lesson.
What's that quote ya'll use so much?
When the student is ready the teacher will appear? LOL Just goes to
show the teacher isn't always human or horse!
OK, I just learned a good lesson from the resident barn predator(cat).
Some of you might remember me posting about me having problems
porciping Merlin's head down. Well I haven't tried in two days, and
this afternoon I was brushing Merlin when Slinky (the barn predator)
taught me how to do it right. I let Merlin's rope just dangle, I
don't tie him to anything. Slinky jumped up and caught hold of the
rope about 8 inches from where it attaches to merlin's halter and was
just hanging there. Merlin put his head down, Slinky got his claws
unhooked, Merlin sniffed him, then raised his head back up. Slinky
caught hold of the rope again with one paw, and with just one paw of
pressure from a small 5 lb. cat Merlin lowered his head all the way to
the ground. I was flabbergasted. Here this cat was porcupining
Merlin's head down with his tiny fuzzy self, and I can't do it and I
am a full-overgrown-human with opposable thumbs! I thought about it
and kneeled on the ground in front of and to the side of Merlin and
put some pressure on the rope. Voila! Merlin's head came down! So
hmm...
Perhaps when I was trying to porcupine his head down from the standing
position he knew there was no purpose really, since there was nothing
on the ground of interest to him.
Anyhow, I thanked Slinky for the lesson.
What's that quote ya'll use so much?
When the student is ready the teacher will appear? LOL Just goes to
show the teacher isn't always human or horse!
