Mona Lisa

#641 -Arab/QH Filly. Bay, black leggings, white on left rear at coronet. Star. Light coloring on muzzle.

New photo 4/10/02

New Photos 10/17/02

Update 9/27/04 - Rachel came out and worked with Mona on Saturday & Sunday.

Hi everyone, just wanted to say a few words about my weekend at TIER.

First of all, I had a great time seeing Gail and the kids. I hadn’t been out in awhile and it was very over due! Gail was gracious enough to allow me to come out and test my “savvy” with a couple horses. The main horse is Miss Mona.

What a great girl! She is very very smart and let me tell you the epitome of a true “horse”. What I mean by that is, she is sensitive to things that horses SHOULD be sensitive to. That’s how they have survived in the wild all these years. But, since she is NOT in the wild I have come in to teach her or better yet “reprogram” to think instead of react instinctually.

Mona is highly skeptical of new things and very claustrophobic, but gets over it quickly if given the chance to understand what it is you are asking of her. She doesn’t have huge outbursts and has a great “I will try” type of attitude. Highly intelligent and sweet “horse”-anality makes for a great little horse. I started very slow with her since I could see just how sensitive she really. Mona doesn’t have a super dominate behavior so she is a pleasure to work with. Like I said, she is eager to please and very loving.

Her first couple of lessons went very well. Since she didn’t know who the heck I was I made sure to show her I was a friend. The first day I was able to teach her the concept of “catching” me. For the most part she was completely untouched as far as serious ground work/training is concerned so I was able to start with a clean slate.

Once we got really good at her catching me in the pasture area I was able to put the halter on her and lead her around. Together she and I got through all 7 games of the Parelli Natural Horsemanship program. We have started on the ground floor of communicating together as partners.

The next day I played a few games with her to see how much she remembered along with doing a more extreme friendly game. (Which is what you see in the pictures) She wasn’t comfortable at all with ropes going over her head and being touched on her rear end. So I worked with those areas Sunday. Mona went from being very uncomfortable with ropes to allowing me to toss and swing the lead rope over her head and all over her body in a short amount of time. It may not sound like a huge accomplishment but it’s a big deal for her.

I can’t wait to get out there again and play with her some more. By the time I was done playing with her on Sunday afternoon, she wanted to follow me without the halter on in a pasture with her friends, food and water right there. Mona easily could have run off but instead she followed me to the gate, stuck her head over so I could kiss her on the nose good bye and to tell her when I was going to come back. I look forward to seeing her soon so we can play some more. As I work more with her I will make sure to get some pictures and “reports” on her progress. I am excited to share her progress!

Update 10/11/04 - Wow! What a successful weekend! Didn’t take this little girl long to come around!

This is our 3rd time working together and Mona did fantastic! After 2 weeks away I am impressed with how well she responded. It didn’t take her much time to “catch” me this session at all. Instead of getting concerned and pulling away from the halter she stood there and allowed me to put it on and start to play. She allowed me to do some lateral flexion (very well I might add). She continued to get comfortable with ropes swinging around and over her.

Mona is very smart I was able to make some HUGE progress in the trust department with her. After playing a lot of “Friendly Game” with the ropes and carrot stick we started to play a more extreme game. I was able to start doing jumping jacks and making a total goof out of myself around Mona to desensitize her to certain movements. Once I saw her relax with how goofy I was being I grabbed a bucket to stand on so I could be higher than normal (like standing on a mounting block) and did the games standing higher. Funny thing is, is she LOVES things that crinkle. She likes water bottles and things like that. So I had her take a look at he bucket to bite, nuzzle etc so she wasn’t going to be afraid of it when I stood on it and had it next to her.

Next thing I knew she was letting me lie across her back. Then eventually I was able to sit up on her. She was calm, brave and listening the 3 times I was able to mount and dismount. Needless to say I was very proud of her progress in such a short amount of time. I am hoping next weekend that I will be able to play with her some more if there is extra time during the work party.

I can’t say enough good stuff about Mona and how well she is responding to the Parelli program. I think she has come a LONG way in just 3 sessions. What a great way to “Start” a horse instead of “breaking” a horse. It was quiet and loving.

Once again I can’t wait to get back out there and see what else we can do.

Update 12/2004 - by Rachel

Last time I was out there I got another ride on Mona and I was able to putz around with a couple others. She did really well besides her little spook and dumping me LOL! But she allowed me to get back on with no issue and we worked it out. She is still pony sized so it was like falling off a chair! Since it was only a bolt rather than a buck I was left behind I should have been more prepared for that type of movement. *sigh*

Gotta love starting young horses Other than that she was fantastic. I was able to get her to move left and right back up and move her rear end around while riding bareback and one rein. I was proud of her.

Mona is available for Adoption or Sponsorship!