Tonka and I have been busy. The sport that I do with him is dressage. You might have seen photographs of large and fancy horses trotting in place with their noses pointed to the ground. That’s dressage, but that’s not what I do. At dressage’s foundation is the belief that slow and systematic training can create fluid communication between the rider and the horse. Both become flexible and athletic. Movement flows. Dressage done right creates a horse and rider pair that is physically able to be a team for many years. Done right, you get into tune with your horse partner. You get so into sync that small shifts in position cue the horse. For example, if I shift slightly down with my hip, Tonka rises into the trot from the walk. If I take a deep breath and stretch my torso up, he slows. A change in how soft his mouth feels in my hands via the reins tells me how comfortable he is. Perfect communication and movement is hard to come by. Sometimes we feel it for only a second or two. We work at it.

I do this for the partnership, not because I have competition in mind. But, it’s fun to get out. It’s good to have a judge’s opinion of how we’re doing. At a dressage show you ride a preset test pattern, by yourself in a ring. A judge scores each movement.

We’ve been to three shows and ridden four tests. We’ve done well. Five blue ribbons (those are first places) and one second. (A couple of those extra ribbons were for high point placements in our division.)

But, I wouldn’t want Tonka to only see the inside of a ring. We get out. The other day, just the two of us went for an almost six mile ride through a forest.

We get out with friends, too.

Horse people talk about balance a lot. You have to have it when in the saddle, or you end up on the ground! I think that we should talk about balance in our lives with our horses, too. Time in the woods improves the time in the ring. And time in the ring opens the communication channels that make excursions into the woods safe and enjoyable.

Tonka and I help others to find this balance. We have clients that we’ll be introducing the wide world of the trails to. Details about this service is at my other website, The Cooperative Horse.

I also teach specific behaviors to horses using positive reinforcement and clicker training. For example, if you’re having trouble getting your horse to trailer calmly, a reward-based approach can ease everyone’s anxiety. One very useful behavior is to teach a horse to stay. You can find my instructions on how to do that here or on the Karen Pryor Clicker Training site.

There’s Shark Week, which I don’t watch, and there’s Cephalopod Week, which I do. Next week, here at HenCam, it will be Phoebe Week. Steve’s been taking photographs of the nest – I won’t do a spoiler here to tell you what happened to the eggs (well, I can’t resist, let’s just say it’s cute.)

Pearl is currently as flat as a pancake. Do my international readers know that expression? Do you have a similar phrase?

Pearl is broody. Of course. She’s a cochin. It’s what this breed does.

Here is Twiggy for comparison. She’s a leghorn. She’s an extraordinary layer. When she goes into the nesting box, it’s all business and it’s for as little time as possible. Note that her head stays upright and that she stays alert to the world. (Also note that there is a rabbit below!)

In contrast, Pearl has staked out everyone’s favorite nesting box, the one second to the right. She hunkers down as flat as a fluffy and hefty hen can. Onyx is in the box next to her. Note the difference. Onyx is bright-eyed and her head is several inches above the edge of the box.

Not Pearl. She glares. It’s the classic broody attitude.

Even when not broody, at best, Pearl lays only a couple of eggs a week. So, it’s not worth trying to snap her out of it. I’m ignoring her state. Let her be in a huff. Let her sit there. It does her no harm. I know that she’s getting out to eat, drink and dust bathe – all with broody attitude.

Is anyone flat as a pancake in your coop?

A blogging friend recently lost his very dear and special cat. It made me think about the one animal that I don’t have here. I can’t have a house cat – my eyes puff up and I can’t breathe – but I’m fine with the barn cats at Tonka’s stable. The barn owner just adopted a new one, who is one of those rub-against-the-legs cats, who knows how very useful, yet beautiful he is. My twenty-something son has recently moved into an apartment. He doesn’t have a cat – yet – but he made sure that the unit was pet friendly before signing the lease. It’s good to have cats in one’s life, even if at a distance.

If I had my druthers, I’d have a cat with big rumbling purrs that I could feel, but who still has that bit of aloof arrogance that give a cat, cat integrity.

Do you have a favorite cat story? I want to hear it!

Some of you have already noticed the logo to the side of the HenCam page for my new endeavor, The Cooperative Horse. First off, big thanks to my good friend, Lauren Scheuer for the drawing that exemplifies what I want for my horses – engagement, confidence, and trust. Like my work here at HenCam, through the Cooperative Horse, I’ll be helping individuals with their animals, via my writing on the website, and also individually in person and by email, Skype, etc. In this, case, though, the animals weigh about 1000 pounds more than the hens!

I do reward-based training.

Tonka is getting a peppermint for a particularly nice canter.

This means that I look for the moment that the animal is doing something right, and I show my appreciation by giving a treat of some sort. Positive associations are built. Communication is clear. I’ve done this sort of training with dogs, goats, horses, chickens and even fish. Obviously, the reward varies by the animal, as does the environment that gives them security and comfort during training. So, before you can even begin asking for behaviors, you have to have a deep understanding of what motivates the animal. For that, it helps to study ethology – how they behave in their natural environment.

Research is being done of horses in established feral herds, and what is being discovered is transforming how we care for and train our equines. I’m working on an article about this for The Cooperative Horse website. I’ll let you know when it’s up. But, if you live in the Boston area, you can hear about it in person. I’ll be leading a conversation about horse ethology at a lovely little tack store, The Complete Equestrian Saddlery, in Bedford, MA. on June 30. Details are here. It’s free, and there will be cold drinks and cookies (made by me, in the shape of horses, of course.) I hope to see you there.