Happy Horse Tip #2-The Lateral Walk

If your horse’s walk tends to be lateral, try one of these two things:
1. Slow the tempo down. Just be sure your horse stays reactive to light driving aids in the slower walk. He shouldn’t get lazy or fall behind your leg.
2. Step slightly sideways. That will break up the legs on the same side so he can step more deliberately with each leg. With a young horse, do a bit of leg yielding. If your horse has more education, do shoulder-fore or shoulder-in.

This tip is excerpted from The Happy Horse Course. For more info on how to train a happy horse, go to: www.janesavoie.com/happyhorse/

From Moshi

Who are you? Who are you, REALLY?

Being who you really is not an easy task. I’m a Friesian, born in Holland, and imported to the USA. I’m different from most horses in that I have feathered legs. Some of the horses at the barn tease me about it, calling me an old work horse. It used to bother me, but then I heard Jane say something really important…

Those who matter don’t mind, and those who mind don’t matter.

When I was a youngster, I hoped that Jane would shave off my feathers so I would fit in with all the warmbloods at my barn. I’d hide my legs behind the low bushes or stand behind the water trough when new horses came in. I didn’t want them to see that I was “different.”

As I matured, I realized that being different was actually the norm. Everyone has something that’s a little out of the ordinary. It was silly for me to be shy about other horses seeing my feathers. So, I made a conscious decision to accept myself for who and what I am. I decided to show off my hairy legs instead of hide them. And you know what? It didn’t change how my friends thought of me one bit. And they’re the ones that matter to me.

Is there something about you that’s a little different from most people? Does it bother you? I know it can be really hard, but if you have it in you change how you think, spend a little time examining and embracing the very thing that you don’t like about yourself. You may find that it’s the resistance to what IS that makes you unhappy. If you can let go of the resistance, you let go of the struggle. And then you’re free.

Once I decided to enjoy my feathers and really show them off, I found that many of the horses in the barn really didn’t care one way or another that I was a little bit different. Some even liked my flashy legs. I learned that regardless of what I look like, my friends love me for what’s in my heart, not on my legs.

So, if you’d like to be happier, just remember to be good in your heart. Let go of any judgement of how you look or how you might be different. Embracing who you ARE, right NOW, is the fastest way to a satisfying and happy life.

Love, Moshi

From Indy

Wow! I got lots of email about Lobby! Thanks to your suggestions, I did find him! So many of you were close and a few of you were right on! Thanks for your help!

Jane and I found him in the truck! He could see the sky through the windshield but never felt the rain. He was in something metal, and I couldn’t open it without Jane’s help. But once she opened the door, there he was! The cat was watching us from a tree with a silly grin on her face. I do think she’s pleased that we followed her clues and found Lobby.

So, all is well. I worried and worried for nothing. How often does that happen to you? How much energy do we all waste worrying when all we have to do is trust that things will work out. Hmmmmm. I think I’ll go take a nap and ponder that. Lobby’s going with me though…I won’t let that goofy cat get him again!

Thanks for the help!

Love, Indy

How To Freshen Your Horse’s Walk

Happy Horse Tip #1: Here’s a great exercise called “breathing the legs” that you can use to freshen your horse’s walk.

Try this exercise at home first. You might be surprised by the reaction you get. So you don’t want to do it for the first time at a horse show.

• Take your legs off your horse’s sides.
• Move them back an inch or two.
• Place them back on his sides lightly.

This tip is excerpted from The Happy Horse Course. For more info on how to train a happy horse, go to: www.janesavoie.com/happyhorse/

From Moshi

I’m a people whisperer. A Moshi Level Five People Whisperer, to be exact. Fellow horses come to me when they are confused by their people and ask what their person really meant by their crazy people language. These poor confused horses say things like, “my person says she’s the boss when on my back by directing where we go, but then moves her feet and backs away from me on the ground, which says I’m the boss instead of her. I’m confused!”

I remind them that people have a different language than we do, and we horses need to learn to be “people whisperers.” That means we have to do our best to learn to listen to human commands with our ears, and to ignore the loud body language people scream at us. It’s very hard for us to do, as we naturally listen to body language much more readily than noise. People are very confusing and incongruent to equines, and sometimes the mixed signals make us a bit crazy.

To help, I am posting this message to all my horse friends:

Dear fellow equine: When your human freely gives you lots of treats or lets you push her around with your nose, that means she loves you, not that you’re her boss. I know it is uncomfortable and confusing because to you this behavior means you’re in charge, but you need to learn to tolerate this and not take over. Try not to get confused when she then turns around and asks you to yield your feet to her direction and control.

Most humans do not know how to speak horse and don’t realize they are giving you conflicting signals. So even though you find it very difficult to have respect for, or feel safe with, someone who lets you push her around, you’re going to have to learn to tolerate it. Then, when your person gets on your back and asks you to go where she tells you to go, you need to find it in yourself to instantly change your opinion of this person and let her be the leader. Yes, I know it sounds impossible to do, but you must learn to do this if you want to be considered a really good horse.

This is lesson one of the People Whisperer. More to come.

To my human friends, thanks for sharing this lesson with your horse! It will be very helpful for him or her to understand that people don’t often mean what they say, or say what they mean, in our horse language. I know it’s not intentional, but it happens anyway.

I gotta go! Here comes Jane! I think she has a bag of carrots. She makes me earn them, but I don’t mind. Does your horse have to earn his carrots or has he learned to demand them from you?

Love, Moshi

From Indy

I ate the cat. Okay.. that’s not true, but there are times when I wish I could. She makes me so mad! We’ve called a truce, but I’m still upset. She said she would tell me where Lobby, my stuffed lobster, is hiding, if I promise to catch a rabbit for her. The problem is, I don’t actually catch the rabbits. I just chase them. I declined. Getting Lobby back is not worth having to hurt one of my bunny friends.

So… the cat said she would give me one last clue if I promise to bring her another dog biscuit. I agreed. I took a biscuit out to the barn and set it in front of her She purred the following clue:

“Roses are red, pine trees are green
Lobby is somewhere he can be seen…

Open a door and look down below
Careful a lobster might grab your toe…”

Where could this be? What do YOU think?

My new friends, Agents KK3 and KK4, Xena and Zoey, are going to come over and help search. They are “sight hounds,” of the Cirneco dell’Etna breed, from Sicily. I’d never met anyone like them before! They have really sharp eyes, so maybe they will see what I can’t.

I’ll let you know if we find Lobby!

Love,

Agent KK9, Indy

From Moshi

Two brains. That’s right, I have two brains. So do you. The difference is, you have a bundle of nerves called the corpus collasum between the two halves of your brain that lets the sides chat. My brain doesn’t have that. It’s true that my brain, or brains, have a very difficult time talking to each other.

For a horse, this means I have to be trained to do things from both sides. What might be easy for me to understand through my left eye, may be difficult to understand through my right eye. It’s a pain, but it’s the price I pay for having eyes on the sides of my head like a prey animal.

Humans can have binocular vision, so you can see things with both sides of your brain. That means your left brain hemisphere, the logical, linear, thinking side, can analyze things and explain that to the right, more artistic, big picture, emotional side. That corpus collasum is very handy, as long as it’s working.

When humans are under extreme stress, the corpus collasum shuts down. Communication stops. That means you could get stuck in responding to the situation from only one side of your brain. If it’s the logical side, you’ll probably analyze the situation and handle it without emotion. If it’s the emotional side that takes over, you may find yourself hysterical or locked up and frozen. Speech is located in the left, logical side, and if the emotional side takes over, that’s why you get tongue-tied if you get upset. Have you noticed that when you’re stressed and can’t think of what to say, but then calm down and the corpus collasum starts working again, suddenly the perfect words for that snappy comeback show up in your mind? Frustrating, Isn’t it!

If you have a plan to handle a situation, you’ll strongly trend toward the logical side of your brain, where plans and analyzing resides. That’s why it is so helpful to have a PLAN before you get in that stressful position.

Do you have a plan? What situations might show up in your life where a plan would be of value? I suggest you make that plan NOW, while you’re relaxed and both sides of your brain are functioning together!

I have a plan to move to higher ground behind the barn the next time we have a flood. I’m not worried because I know how to get there. I’ve looked at the route with both eyes, so both halves of my brain know the way.

How about you? Do you know the way?

Love, Your Friend, Moshi

From Indy

Thank you, to all of you who sent your ideas about where the cat hid my stuffed toy friend, Lobby the Lobster. I’ve not found him yet, but I think we’re getting closer.

Some of you said you thought he was on the roof. Rhett got a ladder and climbed up to check but Lobby wasn’t there. We also checked on top of the refrigerator, under the furniture, in the hay loft of the barn, and by the pond. I can see the cat laughing behind her paw, so I know she has him well hidden. I’m practicing staying calm, and not letting her get under my fur. But it’s tough.

She purred another poem today…

“Cotton lobsters don’t taste so good
but that’s not why you miss him
Sun and stars make up his hood
but rain will never kiss him.
Finding Lobby is so hard
because you’re not a bipedal
Ask friend Jane or maybe Ruth
to open something metal.”

What do you think? Do you have an idea?? I’m going to gather up all my friends and see if we can find Lobby! Moshi said to have a plan, so we’re going to plan our search. It’s great to have friends to help!

Would you like to help? Send your dog over, and we’ll add him or her to the pack!

Love

Agent KK9, Indy

From Moshi

A terrible thing happened today, and I’m really struggling to get over it. There was a loud hissing sound that hit my nervous system with a scream that said, “RATTLE SNAKE!” I was so startled, I jumped sideways really hard and fast, and unseated Jane! Her off balance body clinging to my side triggered, “MOUNTAIN LION!” in my brain. So, I bucked. Not just a little, I bucked from one end of the arena to the other until I shook off the “Killer Lion!”

But that lion was actually my best friend, Jane. I dumped her! In the dirt! I bucked her off! I’m so upset! Jane and I have been best friends for ten years! I’ve never bucked her or anyone else off. NEVER! Not even once.

Fortunately, Jane was not seriously hurt. She’s a bit banged up, but no broken bones. Of course she was wearing her helmet. She ALWAYS wears her helmet. Thank goodness! I would never have intentionally hurt her, but I could have anyway just reacting like a normal horse!

No one has ever come off me before, and it freaked me out. I was wide-eyed for twenty minutes. But I’m not going to let this ruin my time with Jane. I’m going to look at this with clear thought, do some EFT meridian tapping to release the energy pathway that my neurons created during this fear episode, and move on.

Jane understands that I was acting out of instinct, not maliciousness. Still we both feel really bad about it. We have to just have to make sure that we FEEL our feelings, do the techniques we know to release the energy of the past, and move on.

Have you ever been bucked off? No fun.. is it?… I hope you always wear your helmet! Even your quietest, most trusted friend is still a big powerful horse. And he could do a normal horse thing and accidentally hurt you. Even if you only get bucked off once every ten years, like Jane just did, you never know if today’s ride is going to be the one. Put on your helmet! EVERY ride!

Love, Moshi

From Indy

I’m posting signs all over the neighborhood. “Lost, one stuffed red lobster. Contact Indy.”

The cat won’t tell me where he is. She implies that she knows, but she won’t tell. I’m so frustrated! I tried being nice to her, even gave her one of my dog biscuits, but she just purrs and struts away. I think she enjoys teasing me.

SO… I’m going to have to find him on my own, or let him go. I keep hearing that it doesn’t matter what happens, it only matters how you react to it.

I am not going to let that darn cat ruin even one more day! I’m going to continue my search, and know I’ll be fine whether I find Lobby or not. I’ll do what I can, and then let it go.

The cat made a strange comment this evening. It was like a poem. It may have been a clue. What do you think?

She said,
“Lobby is a friend of red,
who used to live under the bed.
He’s stuffed with white with beads for eyes

And where he is he sees the skies.”

Do you have a guess where Lobby is? Send your guess to ContactJaneSavoie@gmail.com. Perhaps the cat will continue to give me clues each week, and we’ll find it together!

This is Double K Nine, KK9, super agent dog, until next time.

Love, Indy

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