Videos of my girls

I hope I put this in the right place..?

Here are links to the videos of my girls.. I'm no videographer so forgive my unsteady hand & camera-twisting.:)

Yes, I know they're a little pudgy (more so Donoma than Kai) and it just rained here, so forgive their scruffiness:) (Doesn't help that Donoma won't let me touch her to groom!)

Donoma is the red girl, Kai is the chocolate. Pictures and videos just can't do them justice.. They're beautiful! (I'm sure you all feel the same way about yours!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEdEM3-fNIk

They're just eating in these videos--This is the only time I can get close to Donoma a lot of the time. She will come up to me sometimes (without treats) but has only let me touch her twice (on her head only, and she looks frightened).

Kai is funny. She loves us being around but her ears stay back a lot. Jennifer's explanation of "interrested" seems right a lot of the time. Not sure why they're back in this though.. She is a SWEETHEART. When I come, she lowers her head and bobs it a little--she looks like she's saying "Oh boy oh boy oh boy.." Precious:) I just wanted to be fair and give her a little camera time. Haha:)Now Donoma.. This girl is an enigma to me, mostly because of the huge change in her personality. That aside, I'm trying to understand her as she is now, not before she changed..

What does the movement at (I think) :25 and :32 mean?

I read from Linda Tellington-Jones that a horse that has their ears lopped (to the sides) is a good, dependable horse. And I really, really believe she IS! I just have to let her know she can trust me with it.. Somehow.. Her ears are back and her expression seems like "leave me alone!". She keeps her head pointed in the opposite direction of me (a calming signal, I think..). I am 2-3 feet away from her shoulder, not positioned facing directly at her. She definitely pays attention to what I'm doing, but is reacting less, which is encouraging.. She JERKS her food away when taking some to chew..

At :48, she tries to nip at me, then her ears go back some more. I mentioned before that she doesn't end up biting--I think she's learned that I am on-guard and that I won't let her actually BITE me, but she tests that from time to time. I wasn't doing anything at the time she tried to nip.. Just hanging out. I responded with a noise--sounded like a firm, quick "aat aat", and then I acted like nothing happened after that. No reprimands or anything. She looks upset and agitated to me.. She paws the ground once before long. I pan around to Kai and she looks like she's thinking "what is she DOING?" Hears something my husband's doing (one ear perks up a bit) then whatever.. Pan back to D and she looks a little calmer than before since I was paying attention to Kai instead.. Does the head flick thing again..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JRhkAmCxwE

D looks a tad pissy after I reach down to get some hay but she has no problem eating ANYTHING out of my hands. Looks much more interested in and less afraid of me.. Turns head away again once she gets a mouthful.. Keeps an ear on me, an ear on whatever husband's doing at this point.. He made a loud noise and they bolted.

So what do you think of their actions in these??

Also, I was curious.. D used to be the leader (at their previous home) and Kai was the low girl on the totem pole. Now, Kai is the "dominant" one (D follows her almost everywhere, Kai eats first, D gets "corrected" all the time by Kai..) but I'd be surprised if D didn't end up the leader once she settles down some.. She's braver and more mellow most of the time when loud noises and stuff happened.. ..Except for the time she jumped the fence in to the dog run, of course..

But anyways, Kai will sometimes let Donoma come sniff us and check us out and just stay behind her, but still watches her.. It's like she's making sure D doesn't give us any attitude, and Kai will bite and chase her off, sometimes even walk her around for a while, if D pins her ears at us or anything--Not ALL the time, but sometimes.. Could Kai be putting D in place for giving us attitude? Or is it probably just something between the two of them that Kai didn't like?

I'm sorry for all the questions.. Thank you all SO, SO much for helping us new folks through this.. I don't know anyone here that has the same views that I do on how they should be "trained" and treated so ya'll are really a life and relationship saver... <3

PS--Just for comparison, I included photos of the girls before they came here.. See how much more relaxed D looks? And how much more rigid Kai looks?

The gray girl is a Thoroughbred cross.. She was BOSSY to Kai, but D always put her in her place--VERY respectfully and kindly though. She's an AMAZING girl, this Donoma:)

Attachments:

Red girl 5.JPG, 314 KB
Bay girl 2.JPG, 310 KB
Red girl 2.JPG, 358 KB

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Megan Hammock on September 24, 2010 at 1:08pm

PS--Sorry this is so long.. I feel like I need to include details to get a good, accurate take on this.. I tried to keep it minimal, but knowing me, I left out the most important parts!

Thanks girls (and boys).. :)

Permalink Reply by Ellen Ofstad on September 24, 2010 at 8:13pm

Seriously I want to warn against chasing the horse away from the food without further informarion of what is going on between them. From what I understand the red horse is already shy, the last thong ahe should do is to try out a dominance game like a food fight. That could really set their relationship way back. I don't agree with the chasing horse from their food approach in general, but in this case in particular...

Let the horses eat their food. Communicate with them afterwards. Set up for success, not conflict

Permalink Reply by Jennifer Lamm on September 24, 2010 at 8:25pm

K, sorry.... :( I totally agree... i only had to do some things with my horse because he had no mom...... I agree.. if you think it's a bad idea, of course, she should NOT do it... :)

Permalink Reply by Ellen Ofstad on September 25, 2010 at 3:13am

jennifer, did you remove your answer?
Or am I still confused?

Permalink Reply by Jennifer Lamm on September 25, 2010 at 11:09am

I removed it because I didn't want to give BAD advice that could get her or her horse hurt... :)

Permalink Reply by Ellen Ofstad on September 26, 2010 at 6:01pm

I understand, but removing a part of the conversation makes the thread hard to understand for people reading it. It would be better to comment under it and say that you have changed your mind about it if that is what you have.

Permalink Reply by Jennifer Lamm on October 5, 2010 at 12:19pm

Okay... :)

Permalink Reply by Megan Hammock on September 24, 2010 at 9:03pm

I haven't done any chasing with Donoma--I have felt like that would make her more fearful so I do all I can to be timid and passive around her, but still assert myself when she tries to do things like nip, ear pin, etc.. I used to have to make Kai back up before I fed them because she would crane her neck like crazy trying to get to the food, which I was holding.. She's great now! She backs up with a simple glance from me, and I could be wrong, but I think she uses calming signals once I get in the paddock with their food to let me know she's not going to try to get it 'till I'm ready.. She's very patient and polite now:) She only got nippy once when I didn't give her as many treats as she wanted, then I told her snack time was over 'till she learned manners. She hasn't nipped since:)
Ellen, I have chase (by chase, I mean very calmly ushered her away by "pushing" my hands very low, forward and telling her to scoot. I did that when she bullied Donoma away from her pile of food (there are two piles) for--what I perceived as--no reason. Do you think that's OK in those instances, or should I let her be bossy like that? She didn't seem to take any offense to me doing that, but I don't want to mess up the trust she and I already have..
Jennifer, thank you! They are my "little" beauties:) I will definitely send them some love for you and I'm sure Kai will soak it up! Cool, so handling the nipping like I did is OK? I mean, from what could be seen, at least.. Haha:) OH!! And I actually have done that with D's food while she's eating--I'll just crouch a little and bend over--Look as relaxed as I possibly can (I've almost fallen face-first in the hay bc I got a little TOO relaxed!) and I just fished around in her hay, or even just stood there like that.. She does get a little more relaxed, but she still jerks her hay away like she thinks I'm going to steal it, or try to pet her. Silly girl:)
Neither has ever tried to chase me off--Kai doesn't mind a good scratch while she's chowing down, and Donoma tolerates me--Doesn't mind me messing with her food, reallly. I wonder if she jerks it like that because Kai chases her away from it sometimes? Or maybe me being that near is unsettling, just not unsettling enough to keep her from eating.. Haha:) I'll try to check those videos out, too!

Ohhh, guess what?? Ellen, I was practicing putting pressure on Kai's back today (to prep her for being OK with saddle blankets, us getting up there, etc) and I started scratching her like crazy, like in the stool/mounting game--I never thought to scratch her like that but MAN did she LOVE IT!! She loves her butt cheeks being scratched.. *ahem* and she started swaying her tooshy as I scratched her, stuck her bum as far through the fence as she could (got kinda bummed when I stopped and tried to follow me for more.. Which she got:))
..But here's the awesome part.. D saw how much Kai was enjoying that, and she came up to me and let me scratch her head a little bit--I didn't have ANY treats all day and she knew I didn't!! She just wanted some love! She still looked reluctant, but less than normal, and she did try to nip, but I didn't let her.. Then Kai left so she walked away with Kai..
All that to say, your mounting game inadvertantly pushed us another step in the right direction:)

And yes, I'll try to get Chris to do some video taping this weekend.. Thank ya'll so much for watching and commenting:)

Permalink Reply by Ellen Ofstad on September 26, 2010 at 6:12pm

Glad to hear that you and your horse is having fun with the mounting game:)

I am curious about why you think it is important that you get her to you without treats?
If you think it is OK that she comes to you for scratches (something she likes), why would you think that it's different if she comes to you for treats (something she likes)?

(And VERY off topic; could you use a line shift a little more so that your text is split up a bit? Long bolks of text are hard to read...)

Permalink Reply by Megan Hammock on September 27, 2010 at 9:32am

Haha I will use breaks--Sorry.. I get carried away:)

I was hoping to get the girls to come to just ME, even if it is just for scratches.. I don't always have treats on-hand, and they will sometimes just walk away if I don't have any..
So I wanted them to not expect that every time they come.
Is that wrong?

It was rainy and nasty this weekend, so I was unable to get videos.. Hopefully, I can get some within the next couple of days:)

Permalink Reply by Ellen Ofstad on September 29, 2010 at 1:25pm

I really hope you will put up a new film where you show your interactions with your horses. If you want me to I can tell you what I see in it, but only if you don't take things personally :) When I analyze a clip I try to see what the horse is doing in response to the human, and often people aren't aware of what their body language is actually saying. That means I will point out some mistakes, but I don't want to do that without people really wanting that kind of feedback...

Permalink Reply by Megan Hammock on September 30, 2010 at 9:55am

Haha I definitely won't get offended.. I probably know what I'm doing less than anyone else on here:) I do want to know what I'm doing wrong, and if I'm doing anything at all right. I really do appreciate your willingness to take a look at us!!

It's still been a nasty, rainy mess here so I haven't been able to get good videos yet.. The rain has been great, but UGH! It's supposed to be a nice weekend--I'm crossing my fingers...