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? :)
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? :)
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