Never Stop Learning

So much going on, and not enough time to write about it all! First off, we have finally confirmed we have enough people for the workshop with none other than Lillan Roquet! She has been working directly with the fabulous Linda Parelli for the last year! So November 10/11 will pretty much be my dream weekend, short of actually going to Colorado that is ;) She will be accompanied by my local 2* PP Alanna Farrell, who is fabulous! Both ladies are experienced, knowledgeable RBE's so this is guaranteed to be the most fun you could ever have at a workshop! The layout is as follows:

Day 1
-The art of warm up: calm, connected responsive on the ground
-Advancing Liberty
-Creating perfect impulsion
Day 2
- Horsenality Strategies
- Ride Well: focus on posture
- Preparation for Game of Contact

Secondly, last Saturday I had my first lesson with 2*PP Sarah Merry :) The focus was on bridleless riding, and since my horses are currently in eastern WA, I was allowed to ride her (almost L4) mare Cassie. What a fabulous experience! I learned a lot about how my shoulder position is negatively effecting my turning (when I used to take dressage lessons I learned I drop my left shoulder, and this is still plaguing me!) and to not lock my hips while focusing on my upper body. Poor Cassie at one point was going straight in her hindquarters, but turning with her forehand, and it turned into a really awkward sideways when I was just trying to straighten her out because my upper and lower body were telling her two different things. Poor thing! But Cassie was tolerant, sensitive, and an incredible teacher who gave instant, clear feedback :) Sarah had us work on the clover leaf pattern and the weave, and by the end of the day, regardless of it being cold, rainy, and very very windy, Cassie and I were in sync and rocking it! At the end of the lesson, Sarah said I was very well qualified to ride Cassie, and since she is so sensitive not many people have success with her bridleless :) It was a huge compliment that really made me leaving feeling great! 

Parelli is such a fabulous method.. honestly, what other instructor could have you warm up OL, do a quick mounted warm up in the arena, and then take the reins off for an hour and it be no big deal to anyone involved?! This is such a wonderful program, and I couldn't be more grateful for Pat sharing it :)

There is so much more I want to write about, however I am running out of time ;/ I'll try my best to keep you all posted, and I can't wait to share what I learn with Lillan! This is my dream clinic! She is definitely one of my favorite Parelli Professionals, she is from WA, around my age, and to top it off her horse's behavior is almost exactly like Cheyenne's :) And I can guarantee that Chey will be there in all her extroverted, spooky glory as she always is when we are in a new place, so it will be the perfect opportunity to learn new strategies :) And Alanna is an incredible instructor who I always learn SO much from, and has a wonderful, postitive but perfectionist teaching style that I absolutely love... EEK! I CAN'T WAIT!!

Lillan and Damo at the Horse & Soul Puyallup, WA tour stop May 2012

LESSONS! :D

LESSONS ARE COMING! LESSONS ARE COMING!!

I'm SO excited! I have been away from my ponies for a little over a month now (with one day visit somewhere in there) and I am going through major, major withdrawals. However, I am still determined to further my education, so when I hopefully have my OWN property in four months and they are with me again they will see how much I have grown as a leader! 

This weekend I have a lesson with Sarah Merry, a 2* Parelli Instructor :) I have permission to use her horses for the lesson, and the focus is on BRIDLELESS RIDING! I am SO stoked! I've played with it in the pasture before, but I have yet to get a professional pick at my technique and habits :) I am BEYOND thrilled! I get to make connections with a new (to me) PP, get some horsey time in AND further my Parelli knowledge! :D

Then, as long as we get about three more sign ups, I am helping put on a workshop with none other than the fabulous Lillan Roquet, who has been studying right under Linda for the last year! Her RBE mare Damo is a lot like Cheyenne, and I can't wait to pick her brain on tips and methods to focus Chey, as well as help nurture my LBI Gwen's confidence, which has to be done in an entirely differnt way. I have been wanting to meet Lillan for sooo long, I can't wait for this all to come together! It's going to be nothing short of an incredible weekend, and I can't wait to soak all the knowledge up that she has to offer :)

 {Hoping to learn some tips that will be good for my Gweny, pictured above :) }

 

 

 

 

Passive Resistance

So as I've written before, I have problems with Gwen going forward under saddle. She does great online, and has come so incredibly far since I first started working with her about a year ago. On the ground she is willing and has really shown effort and desire to play the games or figure out whatever task is in front of us. However the moment I hop on, defiance arises. Now take in mind I'm the only one who has ever ridden her, and have always used Parelli principles with her. She feels defiant when she doesn't want to move forward; raises her head, ears go back a bit, and her body becomes almost stoic at times. Knowing Gwen, and judging from my previous experience with other horses, I have always seen this as LB defiance. I've tried mirroring her, lots of undemanding time under saddle, and that's helped a bit, but nothing too significant. I've been really puzzled about it, then I read this article by Pat called "Is it Fear, Stubbornness or Lack of Confidence?". It all clicked for me. My mom has seen Gwen's face from the ground when she was being "defiant", and said she almost looked scared, but it just didn't match Gwen's patterns from before, so I didn't believe her, but those words always stuck in the back of my mind. And what do you know, she was right! Maybe it IS okay to listen to your parents every now and again, no matter what your age ;) 

Pat writes "But other horses, who maybe don’t have as much fire in their feet, may not exhibit their fear or lack of confidence that way. Oftentimes those horses don’t want to go forward at all and they’ll plant their feet. In assessing a fearful or stubborn horse, I try to determine how a lack of confidence will exhibit itself—flight from fear or a more a passive resistance?". That totally struck home for me. When Cheyenne is unconfident, she leaves no doubt in your mind that's how she feels. Her ears shoot up, she snorts, pulls away, dances around, all the classic signals of a scared pony. She shows it by "flight from fear". But not Gwen. I feel so terrible just brushing that possibility away now. And Pat goes onto say "Your attitude applies directly to your relationship with your horse. If you are confident, the horse gains confidence. If you are nervous, your horse will feel unsafe and lose confidence in you as his leader. If you are overaggressive or inconsiderate, the horse may become fearful (or fight back).

In so many ways, your horse is your mirror. Lots of people blame the horse for his attitude and not realize the part their attitude plays in this two-way relationship. Your attitude and behavior determine the amount of respect you’ll get from your horse. You’ll be amazed at what your horse will do for you once he trusts you as his leader." It hurts to read, but it is right on target. On so many levels this article is what I needed to read. A) I see myself as an extremely confident leader and rider, and B) My Gweny doesn't have the trust in me and my leadership that I thought she did. I realize I'm missing some key anatomy here, but it feels like a kick in the balls. And the heart. My lack of fear comes from what my mother has told me about Gwen, the entire reason she's given her to me - Gwen can blow up quite easily when she is frustrated, and that mare can put some of those bulls at the rodeo to shame when she's out playing in the pasture with the power to back it up. However I know my girl, and at least on the ground I can see the signs and have never had the negative experiences my mother had with her. But I have to admit, knowing what she is capable of and knowing I am the pioneer rider makes me a little apprehensive when she starts questioning my leadership, which obviously doesn't help that situation at all. 

Gwen's lack of confidence in my leadership (not me personally.. that's one thing I still have to learn is to not take this personally! It is feedback, nothing more and nothing less) is an easy fix, I believe. I'm thinking we just need more hours on the ground with some saddle time peppered into our play sessions to build her confidence in my leadership. Take the time it takes so it takes less time. Another tool I'll use is my trusty camera :) I want to video tape our sessions as best I can so I can see her facial expressions I otherwise miss when I'm on her back. I just can't help but feel (although maybe this is just human pride?) that there is something I'm missing in her facial expression that will be the key to what and where things start falling apart. After all, it took someone on the ground to even be able to see her signals of unconfidence to even bring that possibility to my mind. 

I have about a week until I'm reunited with my ponies, even if it's only for a day. But I'm using my away time to do more research and more studying about LBIs, and hopefully on the 11th I'll have a great progress report! If nothing else, I need to remember that she is my mirror, this is teaching me to really take my time (I've never had to do so much ground prep before riding before, but each horse is unique), and to let the horse tell me when she is ready, not the other way around. Just more arrows in my quiver, and more Parelli Principles sinking in :)

Bittersweet ride..

Today was my last ride on Cheyenne before I move Friday :( It will start getting cold here in a month or so, and I usually don't get out to the pasture much once it gets wintery, so I don't feel like I'll get too far behind where I would have been, but it's still a little sad. My girls will stay in Pasco while I move back to the Seattle area until February, and then after that I have no idea. My boyfriend graduates in Feb, and we are hoping he lands a job in central WA where we can buy property and I will finally have MY pasture the way I want it! I'll still come home to visit as much as I can until the pass gets dangerous, and most of my time will be spent in the pasture. So today I just wanted to have fun before my pasture time gets scarce :)

I went out at 1:30 when Chey is usually trying to nap, so she was pretty laggy. I really wanted to just tootle around and have some bridleless fun, but she was sleepy and pretty nonsensitive since her mind was in sleep mode. I decided to take her out into the field and get her blood pumpin' ;) SUCH A GREAT TIME!!! I want everything to start transferring over to no reins, so I'm trying to get her more responsive to all my other aides. We did the weave to get her start paying attention, then did trotting point-to-points, and even went over the jump a few times before she finally began waking up and becoming connected. We worked on trot/walk/stop/back up transitions and staying sensitive. I've found she can't really feel my seat through the saddle, so I use my knees to squeeze instead of my cheeks when I want a downward transition or a halt which works pretty well. I never realized until today how much I rely on my reins to stop, which really blows my mind because I've been focusing on her response off my body so much. I hardly used my reins at all other than that, it was glorious! We were trotting quite a bit at first, and then we got some good long lopes in, and she even offered a flying lead change at one point!! She doesn't go balls to the walls when she runs which is surprising because she sure can do it when she is out playing, but I'm grateful for this because I never have to worry about speed, we just go! She was LOVING it, and it hardly took anything at all to ask for an upward OR downward transition! She was SO light to the touch on all my aids.. oh man... what a memorable ride :) Fast and fun! I really needed something like that today, and I feel it was a perfect note to end on before our hiatus. To cool her down I brought her back into the dry lot and we played Follow The Rail bridleless, some figure 8's, and pushed the other horses around a bit. She truly is an amazingly special mare, I have learned so much from her, and so blessed to have such a willing, loving partner <3

Goals and Advancement

Every time I go out into the pasture, especially with Cheyenne, I have something new to try. And for my little extrovert that's something she really needs and enjoys, otherwise she is bored and a little sour. I should have taped my L2 videos in February, I've been ready for it for way too long and Chey and I could do it all in our sleep. (Fear of failure, aka not getting a 2++ is holding me back a bit). We are even ready for most of L3, and we have even had some pretty insanely successful bridleless riding sessions, which I'm pretty proud of after all the prep we put into that. Gwen is coming along amazingly well OL, but mounted we still have a lot of pretty serious "forward" issues, as in hardly moving at all. But every time she puts a little more into it, I'm just doing my best to give her what she needs and not push her. It's funny to think that if I never had heard of PNH, I would be out there kicking her and probably have a riding crop out there, and ruining our relationship, along with her trust in me. Sometimes I find it interesting to compare the "two horse worlds" of training (PNH and non), and it just reiterates that I'm doing the right thing. 

However as great as all this sounds, I'm getting to the point where I could care less about my goals right now. I get in this funk every so often, and long for the days of riding aimlessly in the foothills, just running around like a mad Indian woman and her faithful pony, my only thought being fun. Don't get me wrong, I don't forget all my principles and un-do all of our hard work. I still go for a response from the lightest cue, use my proper aids and put my horse first, but I think having a day off where I don't think about how my audition videos will look is the most refreshing thing I can do. After all, I have horses because they provide me a freedom and happiness I can't get anywhere else. I just gotta remind myself it's okay to have a day where I can enjoy the spoils of our hours and hours of "good, better, best" and never ending self improvement, and just do whatever we wanna do :)

Getting bored.. Onward and Upward!

So I've been getting really bored with the same ol', same ol', and frankly so has Cheyenne. So after watching some L3 liberty videos, I realized there are a couple things we haven't even tried that look like fun! One is to challenge her to jump only one barrel (on its side, not standing up just yet) and the other is to sidepass to me. I drug a barrel into the round pen, and to my surprise, pleasure and disappointment she got it EVERY time, both ways. It's cool that she is so willing, but I'm disappointing because there was no challenge in it. But I can be okay with that knowing it's because of such a positive reason! 

My Baby Chey <3

So the next task I knew was going to be a little bit harder. We sidepassed over the barrel like normal a few times, just to get in the "sideways" frame of mind. Then we went into the open, I put the carrot stick on the opposite side of me, and asked her to move towards me. I got sideways away from me, forward, backwards, but never towards me. Hmm.. how interesting! After about a minute of her flipping through her little card file trying to figure it out, I realized we needed to back it up one more step. I rubbed her to a stop, then tapped her on my side, asking her to go away from me. Began going forward, then backward again, but on her third attempt she crossed her front feet :) Success #1!  She got her scratchins, and we did it a few more times, confirming it in her mind that when the carrot stick taps her side, she is to move away from the rhythmic pressure. So now to try it towards me again. I put the side opposite myself up against the fence, then tapped the opposite side again. Like every time before, she tried moving forward, then backwards, trying to figure it out. This went on for another 30 seconds or so, and she was trying SO hard to figure it out... the determination was so obvious in her facial expressions. I think she just thought she didn't want to run me over, and she has always been taught to stay out of my space unless invited in, but you could see her thinking "well nothing else is working, I'm getting frustrated, and towards mom is the only way I haven't tried... well, here we go!" and BAM! Her outside front foot crossed over inside front, and she got all kinds of scratches and praises. OUR VERY FIRST STEP OF SIDEWAYS TO ME! I am SO excited!! I've always wanted to be able to do it, it looks so fancy on everyone's videos, but I never knew the proper way to teach it to her, and I didn't want to mess things up. This process seemed logical enough to me.. haha.. and I couldn't be happier!! We got about two more steps towards me, one at a time, and she was showered with "atta girls" and we called that good :) I am SO thrilled!!

A while back you might remember I was trying to teach Cheyenne how to lay down. And, over my past blogs, you may have noticed the re-occurring pattern of mine to push too hard. Well that's exactly what happened.. she was making quick progress, and I kept trying for a little more.. and a little more... and an iiitttyy bit more... and then all of the sudden she refused to pick up her foot :( I knew I should have stopped, and I knew it was all my fault. I was so bummed, and I knew I had to lay off for a while so she would hopefully forget and we could start with a clean slate again. That was a few months back, I believe mid spring or so, and figured it was time to try again. I picked up her front left foot, and slowly brought it backwards. She shifted her body weight backwards a bit, and I gently put her foot down and loved on her a bit. I had been fighting her from eating all night, and I figured now would be the time to embrace her love of food and use it as a reward. So I picked up the foot again, bringing it back a bit further this time, and when she put her head down to sneak in a bite, I didn't stop her. I put her foot down and gave her some rubs, and when she brought her head up I asked her to put it right back down, which she happily did. We did it about 5 times total, each time getting her a bit lower to the ground, and right when I got the urge to push for her knee to touch the ground, I called it good. Humans really can learn! lol. Anyways, at that point we called it good for the night. I introduced a few new things, and she was a champ at them all :) I am so, so proud. She is really turning into such a wonderful, TRUE partner, and I can't remember the last night she went RB that I didn't notice (it was my doing) and correct, bringing her right back down to LB and relaxed. Hard work and patience (a big learning step for me) is really paying off... they always say you end up with the horse that will teach you the most, and I believe it with all my heart :)

Chunky McChunkerson at her finest :)

Our dusty desert sunset at the end of the night :)

Dreams Do Come True :)

Yesterday Cheyenne and I had a groundbreaking moment...! With riding at liberty in mind, we did a quick warm up on the ground with the driving game, and did a quick mounted warm up of figure 8, stop/back up without the reins, etc. She was feeling great.. light, responsive, willing, and left brained. So the halter came off! F8 and point to point were fabulous, so we tried trotting for the first time ever without any tack... it was fluid and amazing!! I called my mom over to watch, and little did I know, she brought her camera with her :) I showed her our latest achievement, and when I was done, I just so happened to look over at a jump I had set up. Then I thought.. why not? Chey is being the perfect partner, so well connected, and she loves to jump... what better time than now?! With that decided, I had my mom (aka minion ;p) grab my fancy jump of cones and a pole and set it up in the pasture. I put the hackamore back on, and we jumped about 4 times before I decided we were good to go. It was so cool, I must be more balanced on her bareback than in the saddle, because she was REALLY able to bring her front end up!! It was such a dramatic arch! It felt great, and my mom said her leg tuck was incredible. It only lasted for the first two 'warm up' jumps, but I love that I now know what she is capable of!! Eeek! I get excited just thinking about it! So anyways, the halter came off. I didn't think I was coordinated enough to focus on the jump, my position/balance, and the carrot stick all at once, so it was just my trusty steed, the savvy string around her neck, and me. She was perfect :) I focused on our perimeter fence out in the distance, asked for a trot, and she sailed right over, no hesitation :) I WAS SO ECSTATIC!!! I can't help but get giddy every time I think about it now, this was a dream I've had with her for YEARS, and we finally achieved it!! One more goal checked off my list for 2012 :) I am SO blessed to have this mare in my life... she may not be some easy push button levels horse, but oh man have I learned so much from her!!! I'm fighting back tears as I write this.. she really has brought me through an emotional journey of my own. I couldn't be more proud of this amazing, amazing girl :)

Anyways! Past the mushy stuff and onto the video! I am really excited to share this with everyone, please feel free to give me feedback or commentary!! The link is below =]

http://youtu.be/ayRDr5hEg5A

Figure 8 at Liberty video is up! :D

Yesterday I was able to sucker someone into video taping Cheyenne and I for our second session on the figure 8 at liberty!! I learned I'm not as assertive and clear as I thought I was, and especially when Cheyenne turns from RB to LB, I really need to get my energy up to motivate her and for once try to get her a little more extroverted to play the game. But over all I feel really great about it! And for my little RBE, it is HUGE that she is so LB about this new task, especially at liberty! She was much more connected to the grass yesterday than to me, but again I think bringing my energy up would have helped that as well. Any comments/feedback are welcome!! Click right here to see the video of awesomeness ;)

The perfect day :)

AH-MAZING DAY WITH THE GIRLS!!! After watching the SC DVD last night on F8 @ Liberty, I was itching to give it a try!! I threw the barrels in the round pen, and warmed Cheyenne up in the pasture OL with transitions on the circle, backing through the gate from 22' away, and some STM. Then we moved into the round pen and did a little more STM, remembering what Linda was telling Elli about just go where you're going with confidence, and holding the horse responsible for staying with me, instead of me having to slow down to make sure Chey is still with me. That went great! We finally moved to F8 OL, and I played with my timing and making sure I ran STRAIGHT back. All felt good, so off came the halter! She sent out well with just a finger and a slight lift of the stick 2 seconds later, and when she went around one of the barrels, I brought her in for an "atta girl". First barrel, came in and snorted about 10 times with a lick-and-chew thrown in there! I couldn't believe it! So I sent her back out, and she blew past me when I asked for a change of direction around the barrel. I let her finish her circle, let her life come down a bit, and asked again. I think I might have been asking her for a COD too soon because she ended up stopping, spinning an 180 and heading the other way. I kept my cool, slapped the ground where she turned around, and went back to the center. This happened three times, and then she went around a barrel doing half of the F8 :) Brought her in for more praise, and the next time I sent her out she felt SO connected!! Instead of cantering around (it was still a nice LB canter, but a canter) like she had been doing, she was giving me a nice trot with an ear and an eye on me, like "ok, where do you want me?". She did one barrel well, I brought her in to let her think, and went I sent her out (with just my finger) she went straight to a barrel, put her nose on it, and looked at me with ears up with an amazing expression asking "is this where you want me??!" SO COOL! I supported her with a little direction, and it was beautiful! She was so LB and in tune with me, and putting 110% into the task. We did two full F8, another partial, and called it good. What an incredible feeling! I wanted so badly to hop on with just the carrot stick and savvy string and practice it more FS, but I stopped myself there. I have a tendency of pushing, pushing, pushing, and all it does is hurt our progress. So we called it quits there! I couldn't be more excited!! One thing Linda talked about in the DVD was the conversations that Elli and the bay mare (I can't remember her name) were having, and I realized I never really allowed my horses to have a conversation with me, I was sucked into my direct line thinking, and my focus was 100% on what I was asking the horse to do, and not paying near as much attention to her feedback as I should have been. Well, today that changed! I felt very "in the moment", relaxed, and was actually LOVING the conversations Chey and I were having!! I've been working on slowing down and allowing Cheyenne to try instead of rushing her, and tonight adding the reminder of letting a conversation happen pulled it all together for me, and I just feel amazing on so many levels, and it really helped Chey to be a champ tonight!! Ah.. oh man.. great, great session!!! I would have video taped and (and wish I could have!!!) but the wind was in full force today and would have just knocked it over. But I will try to video tape our next liberty F8 session and post it on YouTube to share our progress! :)

Ok, so with Gwen tonight I decided I wanted to ride since I didn't want to push things with Cheyenne and hop on. Gwen and I warmed up OL with learning transitions OL, yo-yo, driving game on her front quarters, and sideways. She did great, but was a classic LBI tonight not wanting to put too much effort into anything. I hopped on, remembering how during our last ride I pushed too much (geez, are you seeing a pattern here?! lol) and kept asking Gweny to do point-to-points, trot, and play FTR. Wellllll she still doesn't have too many rides under her belt, and wants to go where SHE wants to go! I started letting her pick the direction half the time, and I picked the other half, and she became a lot more willing. Well, again on the SC DVD last night, Linda talked about how she never really knew how to play with Allure until she did what he wanted to do and just play and make a game out of everything, and only then would he become connected and willing. With that in mind, I decided to have our first true passenter/mirroring ride :) It was great for both of us!I I just supported whatever she wanted to do, and every time she offered to walk to the other end of the pasture, she got a cookie. When she just wanted to stand there, I scratched her, played with her neck, scooted to her butt and back, messed with her tail, etc, just getting her used to everything. She brought her head back every once in a while looking for a cookie, and I mirrored her head and turned my head and body just like hers. She paused for the longest time, stretched her neck further back (which I did as well), she paused again, brought her head back to almost straight, felt me do the same thing, then put her head straight again. It was too funny! The expression on her face was like "what is this girl doing?!". I don't know how many times we did this tonight, but it was hilarious to watch her play with her head position trying to figure out why I was mirroring her, and to see if I would keep doing it. Once or twice I got bored just sitting there and asked her to walk, or even trot, and she began to brace and since I was bareback I could really feel that hump emerge in her back - you know, that hump that happens right before a horse bucks. She's never bucked with me on her back, but her brace was her way of telling me she was definitely not okay with being bossed around. I reminded myself I needed patience, and to show her she wasn't going to be forced into anything. I want her to know she is my partner, not my vehicle. So I stopped, and let her do what she wanted until I ran out of cookies :) At first I was kind of bored just sitting around when she just wanted to hang out in a corner, but by the end of the ride both of us were having a great time! She realized whenever she moved forward and offered a walk she got a cookie and really started offering more by the end of the ride, and I learned a good lesson in patience and horsemanship :) Kalley Krickenburg said once that all the magic happens in the quiet moments, and tonight I really learned the truth behind that :) Aaahhhhh... can every day be like this, please? :)

Z5 Driving

I had so much fun trying to do the weave from Z5 last night with Cheyenne, I decided to make that the focus of our play session today! This time, armed with TWO 22' lines (feather lines are looking like a good addition to my tack room right about now! :p) we headed out! At first Cheyenne was seriously confused. All she wanted to do was back up or turn, desperately trying to figure out why I was behind her and not beside her! I was getting a little frustrated, but eventually figured out that just holding my arms straight out and clucking helped her think forward. Whatever direction she walked in I took, and after a good twenty strides or so I stopped her and gave her a good scratch. We did this a few times, and I slowly started asking her to turn. It was like driving a sports car with extremely sensitive steering at first, getting dramatically sharp turns left and right (literally!).  However soon her head dropped, she got a little more relaxed and we began fine-tuning our communication :) We went over a log, did a little point-to-point, and then finally the weave!! The first one was a little all over the place, but three or four laps later she was pro! I love this mare, I can't stress enough how much "try" she offers! I get frustrated easily and instantly want to blame her when things get rocky, then I remember that I'm the leader, and whatever is happening is a reflection of myself, not her. I take a deep breath, give her a chance to try, and wha-la! Things are instantly better :) We kept it short tonight, but she made so much progress from start to finish I wanted to end on a good note before I pushed her too far and overwhelmed her, especially on day one. I am so grateful for this girl being a part of my life <3 She really has taught me so much, and especially about myself. If you truly want to make yourself a better person, get a horse; they will show you all your faults, and Parelli will show you how to make them better :)

A great night with muh girls :)

Had a great night with both girls! I've been getting really bored with the same old stuff, and yesterday I saw a L3 video of a woman doing Z5 driving at liberty doing the weave with just the carrot stick, and thought it was something Chey and I definitely had to try!!! We did our first attempt at it tonight OL, and it was pretty hilarious. Cheyenne wasn't sure what I was doing back there, and kept trying to circle around or side pass over the cones! But once she got it she did great, and I was really proud of her :) Also to make things more interesting, I tried asking her to side pass over objects from 10 feet away, back through the gate with me 10 feet away from it but having her back all the way to the end of the 22, putting her back feet on the pedestal, and things of that nature :) She was very LB tonight, in a great learning frame of mind (when she wasn't sneaking grass) and put 110% into everything we did :) I hopped on and we played with transitions during FTR for the first time in a few weeks, and she did really well, and we had lots of exhales and breakthrough moments :) Such a good girl!


I did a quick OL warm up with Gwen and hopped on. She did okay, had a few good moments of impulsion but I feel the ride could have maybe gone better.The trick with her little LBI mind is to make things her idea, and get over my direct line thinking of "JUST GO TO THE CORNER! THAT SPECIFIC CORNER!". We had to kind of regress a bit and not focus so much on where we were going, but just the gait itself. Once she got a little better at maintaining gait, we played FTR for the first time, and she began to get the hang of it. We had a few distractions (my nephew came out again, and another horse was being played with in the pasture) but overall I'd rate the ride as a 5. Not bad, but not great either. Always something to improve though, right?! 


I finally wrangled someone into being my photographer for five minutes and got a few pictures on Gweny at sunset :) Enjoy!

Summer nights and four legged friends :)

Had a short and simple night with my girls tonight. Started out with Cheyenne, did a quick warm up OL with the weave, pedestal, and a little circle game. She was more focused on grass than anything, but was pretty LB, so I decided it was time to bridle up! We practiced stage 1 and 2 of the GOC, played FTR and I worked on my sitting trot with her since I was riding bareback. Let me tell you what, that mare is not your prime candidate for trotting fluidity! Lol! Her speed and direction are very inconsistent, especially when we track to the right for some reason. I have to lean way back and have a slight arch in my back for her to not be irritated with me and really start moving forward and relaxed. I found I have a tendency to lean forwards at the trot, which in turn makes her slow down, so I really had to make a point to lean back (to an extreme angle, at least it felt to me, but if she's happy, I'm happy!).  It's been really hot, so we called that good once I got a relaxed walk and trot both directions :) She did so well! More whoa than go tonight which was interesting, but possibly heat related? She didn't seem laggy, just almost unmotivated, which is unusual for her. However still somehow responsive.. well maybe that's just an RBE's version of being LB... yeah.. we will call it that ;)

Gwen had a quick warm up OL as well, and I hopped on her bareback with the natural hackamore. We didn't get very far into our ride at all before my sister came strolling down the back yard, and trailing behind her was a red radio flyer wagon holding my four year old nephew! Weeeelllll... this was apparently a horse eating wagon, and my normally chill LBI had a visual lock on the foreign object. I had my sister play approach and retreat with the wagon until finally my nephew got impatient and decided to just jump out and walk the rest of the way to the horses. It was a nice surprise to be able to expose the horses to new things!

Pictures from a peaceful night :)

Relaxation.. MY way ;)

After two weeks, I finally got to sped some time with my four-legged-ladies!! I tried doing some OL with Cheyenne, but it was well over 100 degrees and she was just not in the state of mind to be learning, and frankly I can't blame her! So it was another pony spa day, and it felt amazing to be back with my girls :) And after combing Gwen's mane (which by the way is no small task) I did the Friesian braid in her mane for the first time!!! Even added a flower, she is such a lady... ;)

The masked marauder!

Ta-Da! A Pedestal!

Arts and crafts time tonight... My way ;) 

Wa-la! A pedestal is born!

Chey giving it the ol' sniff n' paw inspection..

Success! Pony approved! =D

"Is it my turn yet?" LOVE my Gweny! <3

A video still from 6/13 that I had to share.. <3

Circling Success! Video is UP!

Click here to see Day #3 of our new circling strategy!! She always gave me lots of slack in the line until we added cantering to the mix, and now she likes to pull at the end of my rope, and you can even see her now looking out of the circle quite a bit. She also now has a tendency to rush at the trot and canter, and is more worried about speed than focusing or relaxing. Only three days in, and she is already looking more relaxed! She still needs some better consistency for the canter without transitioning down into a trot, but we already have progress! Can't wait to see what three more sessions will bring!! :):)

Frolicking in the sunshine :)

Ah-mazing day with both my four-legged-ladies!! Started out with Cheyenne pacing up and down the fence line as I got everything set up in the play pen, and being a FABULOUS partner today!! I brought the video camera out to get an outside view on my body language, approach, and maybe see some feedback from my horses I may have been missing. She was a CHAMP! Day #3 of my new overly-aware approach with Cheyenne and staying calmer, not rushing her, and giving her space to think and try. I wish I had video taped day #1, because already there is an enormous change in her! Poor thing has been putting up with my ignorances for way too long lol. But transitions on the circle were great, and in all 3 gaits she is much more relaxed.

Gweny nickered as I came up to the fence with her halter :) Gosh, I am loving that! She was willing yet a little ornery today, but we had a BLAST! Made a game out of asking her to bring her head up and out of the grass which was successful, a few great circles, LOTS of great jumps today, is doing really well with the weave, and just seemed really into everything we played with :)

Today I also started stage 1 of the GOC with Cheyenne. I'll try to attach a video below of how the bit fits, but one hole up is clearly way too tight, and one hole down and the bit doesn't even touch the corners of her mouth and she slides her tongue right over the top of it. Tonight I just put some pressure on the bit and released when she pushed against it with her nose. She was a little confused at first, but once I got a couple good responses we called it a day. I'm so excited about what's to come! (And so thankful she is off of her RB Hysteria mode! =p).

Chey about to turn "touch it" into "taste it" lol!

Breakthroughs!

Kept things very short and sweet with Cheyenne tonight. Today at work when I got bored, I wrote out my guidelines for tonight: don't worry about how long it takes, giver her space, don't worry about speed (this is a big one with me), and don't push.

Circling to the left was surprisingly better than to the right! A lot of tension on the 22' line during the canter (normally I am always pushing her out to the end of it, reminding her to broaden the circle) but she didn't take too long to figure out the circumference she was working with and a few laps into it gave me a nice consistent canter circle. Transition down to a trot was good, and with a few reminders to stop pulling on the rope and relax, I had a good trot. Walk was great first lap. Going to the right, canter took about three times as long to get. I sadly didn't count my laps tonight, but she was more worried about running fast instead of paying attention to the tautness of the rope. Several suggestions later to get off the rope, I was getting good at making a correction and going back to neutral! I realized I was blaming her and focused more on what and how I was asking. Once she got a little energy out she was able to think, not break gait, and give me a nice circle :) yay! Trotting right also took more time, as well as the walk, to get a good relaxed lap without breaking gait. While at the walk, about two laps into it she began licking and chewing, and I brought her right in. What a fabulous point to end at - the thinking/processing part!

Sideways from cone to cone seems to be a big hit for her, and I made a conscious effort to keep her at least 4 feet from me, and to NOT RUSH her. I am definitely not helping my extreme RBE when I make her feel rushed and wrong all the time by making her go quickly, micromanaging, and making constant corrections. So tonight I did the opposite of all that, and got some more relaxed, and towards the end, confident, side passes :) We did a victory jump over the 3 footer and called it a night after a little bit of touch-it :) Things went really well. I just am learning to make a mental effort to be more aware of what and how I am asking her to do. My first real steps towards level three thinking and refinement!! :) I'm not gonna lie, this little breakthrough is exciting!!

 

Pony Play Time :)

Played with both horses tonight. Gweny was a rockstar on our FS ride! I've learned if I let her go where she wants half the time, the other half she is more willing to take my suggestions :) She picked up a trot off of a voice cue for the first time instead of me having to use my carrot stick! I was so excited! She even offered a trot once, and she gave me a few nicely paced walks, and a lot more good expressions than normal too :) She got her first bath today and did pretty well :) Got some conditioner in that crazy thick tail of hers, braided it, and hopefully in two days or so it'll comb out much nicer for me. It took 1/3 of a 32oz bottle of conditioner to soak the whole thing... O.O

Cheyenne was extremely spooky tonight. At everything. We warmed up a bit OL and she did really well, but when I went to get on, she acted like she didn't understand anything, wasn't paying attention, and was panicking over everything around us. I hopped off and we played a little OL, and we started with transitions on the circle. Walk to trot was good as usual, and trot to canter took a little bit but eventually she got it. Canter to trot was light, however trot to walk took a loooot for her to do. So we worked on that until I had a relaxed pace in all three gaits (canter wasn't really too relaxed, but it was more relaxed when where we started, and it being so hot today I didn't want to over do her).

It was her turn to get a shower, which she usually is great about. Not today! lol. I really wasn't emotionally fit to play with her extreme RB behaviors today. But I tried. It's just frustrating for me to understand why all of a sudden, seemingly out of nowhere, today things she has done a million times are all spooky and life threatening. But I am trying really hard to see it from her perspective. She was fine until the hose got to her tail. Interesting. She danced around, and a few times circled somewhat violently to get away from it. I kept the hose on her until she stopped, then rewarded by taking the hose away. We did this for quite some time until she allowed me to hose it from the side. I took it, and soaked her tail and scratched her in her itchy spots afterwards as a reward. I got her tail conditioned and braided and put her in the pasture. I had her canter a few laps each way, thinking maybe she was just too energetic to think today. She got some energy out, and is now enjoying the fresh grass. The horses will have a day off tomorrow, and hopefully Sunday night she will be feeling a little more relaxed and LB :)

 

LBI Progress!

(On Line, 30 mins) Sideways on the fence was willing and at a nice pace for as few times as we've played with it, great porcupine game on the hind end both ways, and nice willing circle game. Stm and driving were excellent as well. She was very willing tonight, and now that she is getting cookies when she puts effort into trotting, it's coming along very nicely :)

  (Freestyle, 30 mins) BEST RIDE SO FAR!! Back up is light and snappy, she is starting to take direction from my reins more willingly instead of having little arguments here and there to be reinforced with driving game on the forehand with the CS, and when I ask for a trot she gives it right away :) She is even coming off my leg nicely and half the time I didn't need my CS :) We had a "crisis" when my foot hit the hot wire fence (was not plugged in) and she lurched to the side and slowly (quickly for her though) cro-hopped. I brought her in with a one-reined stop, and that was that. Her head went down, body relaxed 100% and it was like it never happened. One amazing thing about LBI's <3. Great ride!!

Another great thing that happened tonight.. I was out with my camera tonight taking pictures in the back pasture at sunset, when I turned around and saw Gweny prancing around the pasture. My 4 year old nephew was out with my sister feeding the horses, and did something to rile her up. I stepped back into the pasture, and my Gwenasaurus Rex trotted all the way across the pasture just to be next to me for safety, and looked back at the little midget still holding a fist full of grass for her :) It was a really great feeling to know that she sees me as her protector, and that I'm worth trotting across the pasture for when there were other people and horses to hide behind :) Just ended my evening on a really great note :)