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 :)