After each session, Gus has a habit of walking circles to avoid having his blanket put back on. It’s a tedious little dance, with me repeating “whoa” and holding his rope with one hand while flinging the blanket onto his back askew and eventually tugging it flat and straight with my free hand. Once it’s on him, he always stops fussing and stands patiently.
It occurs to me that a particularly apt horse-speak conversation might be what Wilsie calls approach and retreat. It’s how horses almost always interact, giving each other the chance to decline but then asking again. So when it’s time for reblanketing, I try retreating just one step when Gus begins to circle away. Holding the blanket but with my body turned half away from him, I look down and kick the dirt and blow softly; when he relaxes the ever-so-teensiest bit, I turn back to him, asking if the blanket would be OK, and I stay there. Now he stays put too, though there’s still tension on his lead line. I do another “aw, shucks” slump-and-scuff maneuver, and then slowly toss the blanket over his back, and he doesn’t swerve away or fuss at all.
He’s knows there’s no escaping the blanket; so is it simply that he wants the opportunity to lodge a formal objection? Or his system of etiquette decrees that no means no and also that it’s OK to keep asking until no changes to yes? Anyway, it takes me just as long to chase him around in circles and fling the blanket crookedly as it does to approach and retreat, win his cooperation, and blanket him easily.
Yet another Wilsie suggestion is to use what she calls the follow-me button. It’s a spot high on the neck, not too far back from the ears, where you can press a hand for a second and then turn and walk away. It’s where a mare nudges a foal to say she’s leaving and it should follow her. The very first time I try it with Gus, he plods right up behind me and comes alongside. Cool! I don’t really need that gesture, of course, but I remember Wilsie’s assertion that the herd leader is the one who most often initiates these requests and activates these “buttons.” In the uphill struggle to convince a mulish, hard-ass donkey that I should be his leader, I’ll use all the buttons I can.
No comments:
Post a Comment