The 13th Rabbit

Sweat was dripping down my face and soaking my clothes.  I was convinced that I would never be cool or dry again.  As the month of August winds down, the days feel interminably hot and humid.  The bugs, particularly the horse flies, are vicious biters.  And everyone's tempers, including the horses', are short.

I fantasized for the 508th time about moving to Maine, or Canada, or maybe the Arctic Circle.  The summer hadn't actually been that bad when compared to the usual Virginia summer, but the older I get, the less tolerant of the heat I get.  And I was counting the days until October...or maybe January.  Bring on the freezing rain!  At least the sun wouldn't be beating on me like a magnifying glass and I wouldn't be fighting for my life against the exploding insect population.

But I digress...the reason I was once again struggling in the heat was because I'd become convinced that I was in danger of putting Freya in front of her 13th rabbit. 

For those who don't follow Warwick Schiller, the 13th rabbit refers to an anecdote he tells occasionally.  The way I remember it is that he had a client who came to him with a horse that inexplicably spooked at a rabbit, despite having seen rabbits before and not spooking at them.  So the horse is out on the trail and sees a rabbit and maybe gives it the side eye, but keeps on going.  And then the horse sees another rabbit and again keeps on going.  And the horse sees ten more rabbits without much reaction.  But when the horse sees the 13th rabbit, it explodes and has a big spook, which seems inexplicable to the rider.

Warwick points out that what was likely happening is that the horse was worried just a little about each rabbit.  And over time that worry accumulated until the horse simply couldn't contain the worry any more.  Kind of like the straw that broke the camel's back.

It is the kind of thing that can happen to any person or any animal, really.  Little things (or maybe even bigger things) pile up and then one more thing happens that is maybe not even that big of a deal, and we explode in anger or our horse seems to lose its mind.

I was reminded of the anecdote when Mr. Schiller posted on Facebook yesterday about Trigger Stacking.  He shared a little about a horse that one of his employees was working with and how they spent 10 days working on ground work before riding even though the horse already knew the groundwork.  The point of the work was less educational and more about helping get the horse to a mental state conducive to learning and working.

And I got to thinking about what we've done with Freya.  I've actually tried to be very aware of trigger stacking and give her time to settle.  I waited almost a week before I rode her and even then, the ride was just a simple 10-15 minutes walking around.  For our first lesson, no one rode her at all because she was clearly demonstrating that she was worried, even though her behavior was perfectly manageable.  She simply had trouble standing still and would fidget a little when cross tied.  

Over the past couple of months, we have gradually introduced her to riding.  We started with a few minutes of walking in the round pen, and have graduated to about 30 minutes of mostly walk and trot, with a very little canter and a few ground poles or very low jumps.  I really felt like I was taking it slow with her and that things were progressing well.

Until she started ducking to the left for all poles and low jumps.  She absolutely knew how to do them.  She had been doing them perfectly.  And then, suddenly, she started having a lot of trouble.  So I walked it back.  We went back to doing single ground poles and then gradually raising the height to about 6".  The last ride Gemma had on her was almost picture perfect.  I was feeling pretty proud of myself for "fixing" the problem.

And then I saw Mr. Schiller's post, and I realized I had probably just put a band-aid on it because I wasn't addressing the root cause, which was probably not Freya's ability to trot over a 6" flower box.  It was clear she was quite capable of jumping at least 2 feet from the work we had done with her.  However, one thing that I hadn't been doing was any bodywork.  I had a chiropractor come out shortly after we got Freya and do a full session, including acupuncture.  The chiropractor told me that aside from one subluxated rib, she hadn't identified any problems.  So I figured that meant we were good to go, and I put bodywork on the back burner so I could focus on other things.

What I didn't think about that I should have was that Freya had gone through a lot.  I don't know exactly what she was doing on a day-to-day basis at her old home, but I think it is safe to say that she had been shown and then taken out of showing and then been leased out to one or more people and then sold to a horse trader.  Then she spent some time (probably a few weeks) at a new location before being brought to an auction to live in a cramped stall for two days.  And then she moved to a new barn with new people and new routines and new expectations.

So her life during the past few years has had a lot in it.  And because of her breeding - she is basically a paint Quarter Horse - her default is to be quiet and just deal with all the crap coming at her without having any big reactions.  But just because she isn't reacting a lot doesn't mean she isn't feeling stress.

And I wouldn't know how much stress until I worked with her to try to release it.  I decided to do a single ground pole exercise on the ground with her last night, followed by the Bladder Meridian Technique from the Masterson Method.  The pole exercise is one that I got big results with from Star when we were in the early stages of rehabbing her, and I was curious to see how Freya handled it.

I got the exercise from Listening to the Horse and it just happened to be the first one from the set that I tried with Star.  She struggled with it, even though it seemed simple enough.  All she had to do was stand next to a ground pole and move one front foot and one hind foot to the side so that she was straddling it.  It took forever to help her understand what I wanted and what I found was that there was a lot of licking and chewing after moving a single foot over the pole.  And after the exercise, Star would literally throw her head in the air and yawn over and over.

I wondered if the reaction was specific to Star or if it might have the same effect on Freya.  So I gave it a try.  Freya wasn't resistant at all to doing the exercise.  In fact, she was the opposite.  She moved all four of her feet over to the other side of the pole, rather than straddling it, even though I was only asking her to move one front foot.  After several attempts with the same result, it occurred to me that she was rushing through the exercise.  Why?  Because it was stressful and she wanted to get it over with?  Because she had already learned it and she thought that was what I was asking for?  Some other reason?

But when I changed the direction and asked her to move to her left over the pole instead of to her right, she froze.  She couldn't do it at all and got increasingly agitated.  I walked her away from the pole and practiced asking her to move her shoulder to the left without a pole.  And I discovered that she couldn't do it.  Why?  Physical issue?  Mental concern?  Too rattled from the pole exercise to concentrate?  I don't really know at this point.

What I do know is that a single pole created a whole lot of stress for her.  The same mare who happily trotted five ground poles perfectly when moving over them from the front instead of the side.

I decided to end the exercise in the arena and go back to the barn for some body work.  I could tell that Freya was stressed, even though the only sign was some fidgeting when asked to stand still.  I wanted to see if I could find a specific part of her body that was bothering her to get more information.

I put her in the cross ties because Gemma had Star in Donut's stall.  (I only have one stall and I end up playing musical horses a lot of days.  I'm on the waiting list for another one, but at my barn, a horse quite literally has to die before there is an opening.)  Normally, I would like the horse loose in the stall to do the Bladder Meridian Technique, but I figured it probably wasn't that big of a deal.  The cross ties were loose enough that Freya could move a little if she wanted and I didn't want to use the bigger space of the round pen.  And quite honestly, I was expecting to see the same type of behavior I'd seen from the several other horses I'd tried the technique on.  That behavior being fidgeting a little, weight shifting, head tossing, and other well-contained reactions.

Before I tell you what happened, let me be clear that we pet Freya all the time and brush her several times a week all over her body.  She stands quietly and has never indicated any concerns.

The second I put my hand on the bladder meridian near her poll, she could not control herself.  She wandered all over and pulled on the cross ties and ran into the wall.  She tried to move my arm away with her nose.  She flung her head in the air.  At several points, she rested her head on my shoulder and tried desperately to will me to move my hand away from her.  (I can't explain it - I just felt it very clearly.)

I stuck with her and gradually moved my hand down the bladder meridian even though she wasn't giving me any signs of tension release.  In fact, she was getting progressively more agitated.  From the lightest pressure on her neck.

By the time I got to her withers, I decided to try the other side.  Most horses carry more tension in one side than the other, so I thought/hoped that maybe I had started with her most tense side and switching sides might bring the pressure down a little so I could get a response.  Thankfully that is what happened.  About 30 seconds after I put my hand on the right side of her poll, I got a huge reaction as she licked and chewed and yawned several times.

I was so relieved because I'm not sure how I would have proceeded if I hadn't gotten that response.  I was worried that I was in over my head.  I did stop the bodywork at that point and turn Freya out in the field.  I felt that given her agitation, a single release was a good stopping point.

My working theory at this point is that Freya has been accumulating stress for awhile.  She has been hiding it and trying to keep working as best as she can because that is her nature.  But at some point, the little gymnastics we were doing were the straw that broke the camel's back, so to speak.  And she was telling us the only way she knew how that she had too much on her plate.

I am also speculating that Freya has lost her ability to self-regulate.  Horses in the wild obviously get exposed to stress all the time.  Hunger, thirst, fear, etc.  But they have the ability to let go of it.  Otherwise they would be a hot mess all the time.

Much like a person who is stressed but knows that there is more stress coming, so they keep it together because they know they don't have the luxury of breaking down, I think Freya has been avoiding showing her stress or releasing it because she has gotten in the habit of holding it in.  Which is why when the intent of my touch changed from petting or brushing to helping her target the tension, she got very agitated.  She was uncomfortable about letting go of it.  (Also, can we all take a moment to reflect about how amazingly sensitive horses are to be able to feel a change in the intent of a touch?)

I have no idea how long it will take to help her become more comfortable with releasing her tension.  But it has become clear to me that it is probably the most important thing I can do for her.  I plan to try the Bladder Meridian Technique several times a week, but I don't think I will do the pole exercise again until I see some positive results from the bodywork.  I will also keep her doing some light under saddle work, but we are going to stay focused on simple things that seem easy for her for a few weeks.

My hope is that this sweet mare will find relief soon.  I really believe that she is going to be a wonderful partner for many years to come, and she is well worth any effort that we put in now to help her be more comfortable.  Even if it does mean I am out at the barn sweating my own body weight every day!:)