Relaxation Strikes Again!

How perfect that since writing my last blog I have another opportunity to coach a student on dealing with right brain (RB) issues. In this case, Emma’s horse is RBI (right brain introvert), but goes RBE (extrovert) in front of a crowd. She had the misfortune of experiencing this last year when she applied to do a Spotlight at our Reno event… and her horse took her in another direction!

I don’t select the lesson participants at our 2010 events, so it was fun to see that Emma had been selected and of course the subject was “helping my horse deal with crowds”. She was already better since Emma had been focusing on some things she learned since then, but of course once you get back in that situation, there are still things to deal with.

I had a lot of thoughts the night before about what to do because there are a number of savvy arrows in my quiver for dealing with that kind of problem, but once with Emma and Lil I took advantage of the situation as it presented itself and tried my first idea first. It’s the concept of “and then some”… “You want to run around, you should do that… and then some”.

Emma brought her horse into the arena and it didn’t take long before Lil was running around in circles, very RB. So I asked Emma to encourage that* – not so vigorously that it could be perceived as punishment through discomfort, but to encourage it in a positive way. That feels kind of weird because every instinct we have as predators in that situation is to shut it down which actually can make it worse because it makes the hors feel wrong and claustrophobic. With this horse being Level 3 competent yet upset in a strange and very challenging circumstance, this approach can really work very well. It’s as though your horse thinks “you see, I knew we should be scared!” and that asserts your leadership in a prey animal sort of way. By sending the horse forwards and then some, it takes the adrenaline out of the system and it keeps you in the leadership role.

*(It’s important to know that if your horse is below Parelli Level 1, and if you are below Level 2, you might find this hard to do. Some approaches are more suitable for certain situations but you also have to weigh up how competent the human is and how educated the horse is – from a basic trust/partnership perspective. If you are not as advanced as this, constant and frequent disengagement is the most appropriate approaches).

So Emma encouraged Lil to go a little faster with some stimulation in Zone 5 with her Carrot Stick and Flag (plastic bag attached – which Lil had long ago learned not to fear). And go she did. I asked Emma to speed her up for a lap, then relax and see how long it took for Lil to slow down. It took an average of 3 laps. Pretty soon, it took less than that and finally Lil started asking if she could slow down and trot. It was almost difficult to get her to speed up! So we encouraged the trot, and then the walk, and soon she wanted to come in. So we invited that but if she couldn’t stand still, we gently encouraged her to move again. Not much longer and she wanted to stand still.

But that’s when her introverted side showed up! As Emma sat on the barrel (as directed by me to lower her own extroverted energy!), Lil sidled up to her, zone 3 / 4 first. That’s a major behavioral tendency of RBI horses – feeling better but not enough confidence to come over with zone 1 first. What occurred after that is what you had to be there for – the Touch It and Figure 8 Patterns were very revealing! At this moment, we are working on getting the complete video-taped lesson up on to the Savvy Club Vault. It won’t happen right away, please be patient, it will be there and we’ll let you know. Same with the wonderful lesson Pat gave, which was the exact opposite of mine! Erin needed to learn how to get more assertive with her husband’s LBE/I!

Here’s the great news… first of all, go to Emma’s blog about what happened on Sunday and even better, the breakthrough she discovered after the fact. And secondly, here is a wonderful email I got from a Level 3-4 student who is also a nurse:

Linda,

First of all, it was a great weekend; it just went by too quickly….

So, today I went to work. I don’t know if you remember that I am a nurse and I currently work in the post anesthesia care unit (PACU). I was caring for an elderly gentleman today. He had some Parkinsons disease and had surgery for a bowel obstruction. No small feat for a man of 81.

Anyway, he was quite confused after the sedatives began to wear off and became very combative. It always amazes me that these little elderly people suddenly have superman strength when they are confused! There were literally 4 of us holding him down and trying to keep him from pulling out his IV etc…

I was thinking to myself, this poor guy is in fight or flight mode right now and his brain synapses are firing a million times per minute. He is so on adrenaline…I asked everyone to stop fighting him.

He had my hand in a death grip and was thrashing his arm back and forth, so I just started moving with him instead of against him.Then I started moving his arm a little faster than he wanted to go. Within about 15 seconds, he stopped fighting and became calm. He did this a few more times until he finally was able to cooperate a bit more and at that point we were able to reorient him a bit. His baseline was slightly confused but not out of control.

I thought Oh my gosh! All animals are wired similarly when that fight or flight kicks in. Then I thought, maybe I need to get to that extern program sooner. I am treating my patients like the horses! Hehe

So, now I have one more thing to add to my What Parelli has permeated in my life list!

Talk to you soon,
PD