Sunday, June 26
Jun. 26th, 2022 11:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gottawonderToday I am grateful for:
No rain yet, though now it is clouding up and thinking about it. We had some clouds and a little thunder earlier, but only about three drops of precipitation.
That River calmed down after the whole herd thought they were in mortal danger.
I went to see him today, and when I walked out to get him, the whole group was staring at something I couldn't see in the bush, and they freaked right out. River was REALLY sure he was going to die.
I managed to get him (barely) into the covered arena, and he was so worried about everything outside that I wasn't sure there was any point working with him today. All he wanted to do was call to his friends and run around.
I used a tool I learned from R, and from a trainer I follow in the internet (Warrick Shiller). I used the whip that has a flag on the end to create energy (not used in any way to punish, just smacking the ground and waving) that would compete with his thoughts about his friends outside. Every time he gave me his focus, I would stop moving it and try to get him to just stand still looking at me. Then I would greet him and pet him.
Every time he "left" I would go back to swinging the flag or smacking the floor.
In a few minutes he was more relaxed and willing to do our liberty work. He was still tense, but trying to work with me.
When he finally decided he was safe, it was big releases and sighs. After that we did our normal work, and he did well.
I wasn't going to try to ride him, but another rider came and by then he seemed focused. We rode together and he went just fine.
R showed up when we were putting away, and I told her about all the horses being so upset (really unusual) and she said there had been some sightings of a black bear in the area. They are unlikely to harm a horse, but that doesn't mean it wouldn't scare the shit out of them. Or, it could be a moose again.
That was most of my day today. I did enough yesterday that I couldn't face doing more yard work.
I learned that the British built over 100 concentration camps during the Second Boer War (1899–1902) in South Africa. Over 26,000 woman & children died in these camps from starvation & disease.
They began as refugee camps, but Baron Kitchener turned them into holding facilities as part of his plan to take any kind of comfort from the guerrilla fighters. His plan meant stripping the landscape of food and buildings, so he burned down all the farms and residences. The families were taken to these internment camps so they could not aid the guerrillas in any way. Thus, they were not refugee camps any more, but a kind of prison.
Though they were not intended to eradicate those interned, disease swept through the camps, rations were insufficient, and hygiene was poor.
Of course there were people who were opposed to these camps, and eventually there were some reforms that improved the situation, but not before tens of thousands perished.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Boer_War_concentration_camps
No rain yet, though now it is clouding up and thinking about it. We had some clouds and a little thunder earlier, but only about three drops of precipitation.
That River calmed down after the whole herd thought they were in mortal danger.
I went to see him today, and when I walked out to get him, the whole group was staring at something I couldn't see in the bush, and they freaked right out. River was REALLY sure he was going to die.
I managed to get him (barely) into the covered arena, and he was so worried about everything outside that I wasn't sure there was any point working with him today. All he wanted to do was call to his friends and run around.
I used a tool I learned from R, and from a trainer I follow in the internet (Warrick Shiller). I used the whip that has a flag on the end to create energy (not used in any way to punish, just smacking the ground and waving) that would compete with his thoughts about his friends outside. Every time he gave me his focus, I would stop moving it and try to get him to just stand still looking at me. Then I would greet him and pet him.
Every time he "left" I would go back to swinging the flag or smacking the floor.
In a few minutes he was more relaxed and willing to do our liberty work. He was still tense, but trying to work with me.
When he finally decided he was safe, it was big releases and sighs. After that we did our normal work, and he did well.
I wasn't going to try to ride him, but another rider came and by then he seemed focused. We rode together and he went just fine.
R showed up when we were putting away, and I told her about all the horses being so upset (really unusual) and she said there had been some sightings of a black bear in the area. They are unlikely to harm a horse, but that doesn't mean it wouldn't scare the shit out of them. Or, it could be a moose again.
That was most of my day today. I did enough yesterday that I couldn't face doing more yard work.
I learned that the British built over 100 concentration camps during the Second Boer War (1899–1902) in South Africa. Over 26,000 woman & children died in these camps from starvation & disease.
They began as refugee camps, but Baron Kitchener turned them into holding facilities as part of his plan to take any kind of comfort from the guerrilla fighters. His plan meant stripping the landscape of food and buildings, so he burned down all the farms and residences. The families were taken to these internment camps so they could not aid the guerrillas in any way. Thus, they were not refugee camps any more, but a kind of prison.
Though they were not intended to eradicate those interned, disease swept through the camps, rations were insufficient, and hygiene was poor.
Of course there were people who were opposed to these camps, and eventually there were some reforms that improved the situation, but not before tens of thousands perished.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Boer_War_concentration_camps
no subject
Date: 2022-06-27 10:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-06-28 06:16 am (UTC)Not that anything I could project would help if we saw a bear. MOST of the time, his concerns might be just smaller things, like wind or other horses.
I also still wanted to work with him, so I didn't waste my trip.
no subject
Date: 2022-06-28 05:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-06-28 06:17 am (UTC)Mainly I wanted to work with him, and it is important to get him to focus on me when I want him to work.