Saturday, July 17, 2010

Off to Canada!

We are leaving tomorrow morning veeeery early to begin our three day journey to Manitoba. Wish us luck. We are setting off with so many things unsettled. Bodhi's leave date, our housing situation etc etc. We just can't wait any longer. Everything in Florida here is closed up, boxed, and stored. Ready or not Canada here we come!

On a completely unrelated note. I wanted to share some links with you on my last post in the US!
This has been going around so you have probably seen it, but if you have not I would say it is worth your thoughts.
Disclaimer: I am not an anti, or a pro of any one training method. I feel like everyone has something to learn from everyone. You should be an open minded skeptic and not rule out any person from sharing their knowledge but you should also take everything people say with a grain of salt. It is a balance. I have learned so much from so many different trainers I am constantly gleaning useful tidbits off of everyone. That being said I am not going to financially support a trainer that uses an abusive technique. Period. He may have some good things to say, and I am still willing to learn but I am not willing to pay. I hope others feel the same. My feelings are that these methods are not appropriate. Not in any context. You should never gum line a horse as a training method.
Catwalk and Pat
Now let's focus on the positive side of horse training I have this to recommend as well!
How to Halter train a head shy horse
This is a great explanation of how to work with a head shy horse correctly with a video. Dealing with horse issues takes time and patience. When you turn them into commodities like in the show world, or the fix-a-horse in an hour clinic world, you sacrifice the horse.

12 comments:

  1. Good luck with the move!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Have a great trip. You aren't by any chance heading through Ontario across the Ambassador bridge are you? Thats not far from me at all. Please do leave me a message if you are going that way maybe we could meet up if you have the time.

    ReplyDelete
  3. No unfortunately we will be going from North Dakota and then to Winnipeg. Maybe we can come visit once we get established though! How far are you from Winnipeg?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Drive safely!
    I wish you the best of luck in your travels.

    And thanks for linking to my post. I wish more people would "take the time it takes" rather than pushing the horse too far, like the fiasco with Parelli in the UK.

    Mary

    ReplyDelete
  5. Fingers crossed for a very smooth, uneventful trip! :-) And, boy, you are in for some BIG changes moving from Florida to Canada!!

    As for the Parelli thing -- yep, I've seen it and I think it's sickening. This is the second time in six months that I've seen an abusive Parelli viedo (the other one was Linda). I can not belive that people are still supporting them.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Good luck on your trip! May the gods of travel smile upon you.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Golden, have a safe journey. I hope your experience in Manitoba is a positive one. Winnipeg is definitely going to be a change from Florida, but I hope you enjoy the change. Feel free to send me a blog/note if you have any questions. Don't be shy!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Have a great trip to Canada! Florida to Manitoba will be quite a stretch....you are moving to a whole different world!
    And very interesting article about Pat Parelli and Whittaker's stallion...I checked out the video of him & the stallion over the next few days and the horse had definitely made improvements with his head-shy issue....but I was surprised that Pat & Linda chose to use the methods they did while at a show in the UK in front of so many people....I'm not saying they are the right methods to use ever....but they certainly don't make them look good in front of a crowd. I was also alarmed by the comments made by the Parelli-enthusiasts that witnessed the event...they sound like they are followers of a cult and Pat & Linda are their gurus....the "opinions" came out as if they were being recited. It was rather funny.
    I watched a Parelli tour-stop years ago in Yakima, WA where he had a lot of trouble getting a young Kiger Mustang gelding into a trailer...and ended up having Linda in the trailer pulling the horse with a rope, while Pat was behind the horse encouraging it forwards by smacking it on the rump. It took over an hour just to get the horse into the trailer. But he was sweating from head to toe at that point. I felt the process was rushed in the name of putting on a good show. And yeah, he got the horse going in and out of a trailer within a couple of a hours...but what's the point really? Anyone with a little bit of horse sense could do the same thing in a bit more time and have it be a more positive experience for the horse.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Could not have said it better myself! The horse did get better but I would say despite the leg tying and such not because of it. Horses are so amazingly forgiving.

    ReplyDelete