Yesterday — Jim and Sue arrived save and sound. I went off Island for a hair cut. A neighbor stopped by to borrow a cowboy hat to play a joke on a friend of theirs who was arriving on the same boat Jim and Sue came on. Helped muck out the barn and fill the hay feeders for the horses — Of course while doing that work, my friend and I talked of horse training methods. Rathe, since he is the expert – I pumped him for advise.
From my horse training experience, I think there is a lot that applies to life in general and human to human relationships in specific. Body language is very important in all relationships for sure. I want to give you two examples of body language – no words required!
We trainers often want to give out a carrot to get the horse to do what we want — Do horses in the wild have treats they hand out to other horses to get them to do what they want? — like move out of my way — or move over ’cause I get to eat first? Does the stallion or alpha mare hand out carrots when they want a horse to do something? Of course not — The use body language!!
Did you ever watch a herd of horses decide to move from one pasture to another? Every horse follows the direction of alpha mare — Being a herd animal — they do a lot of communicating all the time — at least one horse is always watching for the bear in the woods that is going to jump out and eat them so that he/she can tell the rest of the herd — “Look out” — All by body language.
I spend much time doing what is called ground work. That is where, me a human, tries to learn the horses language – horse body language – I know if I am successful I will the be able to talk to Perla – I can ask her to do what I want her to do — That does not mean she will do it — Gaining her confidence and creating a good working team is another subject — but for now, think about body language you use – you & your friends, you & your dog, you & your parents —
Just for fun– do a count for your old Grandpa.
Count the number of times you knew what your Mom wanted you to do/not do today — maybe you could count the times you could tell tell if she was happy, sad, frustrated, over worked — relaxed, entertained — mad — pleased, proud of you — not by her words — but just by the look on her face — the way she held or placed her body
If you found even one time — that is what I call communication! I am going to go watch Perla – and see if I can communicate with out saying a word — maybe I will try it on Grandma – or worse yet — I bet she will communicate to me some time today – with out a word being said — and she knows I will respond!
Forget all this serious stuff, Grandpa has been playing with clouds again:
Angel looking at us over the trees — kept me save all day
Twristed storm cloud art showing eye, nose, teeth of the storm
Painted airplanes cloud art
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