Blessi and the Apple Paddle

Several summers ago, Blessi and I attended a Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) tourney. One of the most challenging obstacles did not involve throwing a lance or chopping a head off a bandit--oh no, Blessi was fine with all that. The tricky part involved an apple.

One challenge consisted of balancing an apple on

a paddle, carrying the apple to an elevated box, and dropping it in. So Lord Johannes, the equestrian marshal, puts the apple on the paddle that I am carrying. And what does Blessi do? He starts circling to the right to chase the apple. He was convinced that the apple was a treat for him and if we circled enough he could get that apple.





After he stopped laughing, Lord Johannes

walked in front of us--calling "This way Blessi"--to get Blessi to stop circling. We followed him and successfully dropped the apple into the box.


Several summers ago, Blessi and I attended a Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) tourney. One of the most challenging obstacles did not involve throwing a lance or chopping a head off a bandit--oh no, Blessi was fine with all that. The tricky part involved an apple.

One challenge consisted of balancing an apple on

a paddle, carrying the apple to an elevated box, and dropping it in. So Lord Johannes, the equestrian marshal, puts the apple on the paddle that I am carrying. And what does Blessi do? He starts circling to the right to chase the apple. He was convinced that the apple was a treat for him and if we circled enough he could get that apple.





After he stopped laughing, Lord Johannes

walked in front of us--calling "This way Blessi"--to get Blessi to stop circling. We followed him and successfully dropped the apple into the box.

Toppur Club Celebrates Icelandic Horse Day on Local News

Toppur, an Icelandic horse club in Iowa, staged a wonderful public relations event.   To publicize the International Icelandic Horse Day, the club arranged an eight minute-segment celebrating this horse breed on Iowa Local 5 News.  What a great way to  show off the calm demeanor and cuteness factor of the breed.

Just one note, my research shows that  the Norse did not use the Icelandic horse as war horses because they did not fight from horse back except on some very rare occasions. 

 

Leadership is not a rank

Kouldbloed Kim produced this video "Leadership is a choice, not a rank."  In the absence of any explanatory information, I believe this may be a TED talk of human leadership overlaying video of working with horses.  I love the crux of the video--horse can choose to see us as leaders by building a relationship.  Several research studies have shown that rank in a horse herd is a very fluid concept depending on circumstances, which horses are in mini-groupings, whether the mares are present, etc.