Springtime Funtime

The last few weeks have been full of mini adventures with the horses :) For mother's day my mom and I did a mini photo shoot with her and her Friesian x Mustang mare, Lena, which was a huge blast! I also hopped on Lena that day and was her first official passenger! She did so good and took it all in stride. As the summer continues I'm hoping to help my mother start her more under saddle and get her more solid so she can become my mom's next trail/dressage partner :)

Last weekend Cheyenne and I had a great break through under saddle! Or, mote accurately, I had a break through ;) She was great online, and was calm, cool, and connected. However when I swung into the saddle her energy spiked, she came alive, and our connection flew right out the window. I'm still not sure if it was my energy coming up unknowingly, or if by accident I have conditioned her to bring her life up under saddle and to expect a faster pace. I started with some figure eights around the cones to get her more focused on my aids which (kind of) worked, then decided to play Follow the Rail and ask for a walk/trot transition every 15 strides. Our down transitions were extremely rough and I felt like I had to be very firm with my reins to get a response. Obviously this still wasn't engaging her mentally, so we started having an up, down, or backing transition every four strides. Bam! Instant success! She started paying attention to my aids, and by the end of the ride I could ask her to move down from a canter to a trot with just my seat aids :) I have learned it's necessary to take the ideas behind the patterns I've been given and start thinking for myself and start tweaking the patterns to find something that works for the horse I'm on in the situation I'm in; there is no cookie-cutter solition. Chey was SO relaxed and responsive by the end of our ride, and I couldn't have been more proud of her :) I was even able to canter on a completely loose rein and steer with just my seat/leg aids 80% of the time :) Progress!

Yesterday my back was hurting pretty badly, so we just had a day to hang out together, be mellow, and enjoy the sunshine :) Honestly I feel like we have the best time when we just sit around and do nothing lol. 

I hope everyone is having a fabulous holiday weekend! Have fun, and don't forget to go play with your ponies!

An Apple a Day Keeps The Dentist Away! Wait...

This weekend is moving weekend for me, so unfortunately nothing too exciting is going to happen with the ponies this weekend. I did however get the vet out to float Gwen's teeth! She was uncommonly hard to keep at a decent weight over the winter, and although worming helped, she is definitely underweight. She receives quality hay and her coat is nice and shiny, she just wasn't able to absorb all the calories she was being given, and turned into a bony pony. I am so excited to finally get some flab back on her so I can ride the crap out of her this summer ;)

You can see her ribs.. can't wait for her to be fat and happy again!

The vet had to give Gweny two tranquilizers because she is so large, and it was hilarious to see her all drugged up. We had her butt in the corner of the fence with a rope around her chest to lean into for stabilization, and she was using that rope for all it was worth! Her hind right leg was cocked and wobbly, tongue hanging out, bottom lip like a sleeping camel.. too funny. She was a total champ, and the vet commented on what a great bite she has, and that she shouldn't need a follow up appointment next year! 

I hope everyone is having a fabulous weekend, and getting some sunshine and warm weather!

Flowers from the parking lot at work :)

Lazy Days

The weather always seems to know how to get in the way of a good pasture day ;) With high winds all weekend it was hard to really get anything done, so tonight was pretty chill. The girls got their apple flavored wormer, brushed down (still so much hair!), and Chey got to go for a mini ride. It will never cease to amaze me how sensitive and responsive that girl is, despite the fact she has been more of a pasture ornament lately. I always try so hard to keep her that light, but I feel like after a long break it is easier to do, like a clean slate. 

I finally was able to talk someone into moving the horse trailer into the pasture tonight as well! Now it's in a spot where I'm able to start playing with trailer loading again. If you didn't read my post about my 2014 horsemanship goals, loading Cheyenne at liberty is a big one :) I am really excited to get going on it!

Again, nothing too exciting happened tonight, but here are some pics of our down time tonight :)

Flowers and Sunshine and Ponies, Oh My!

Spring is here! And I was finally home for a weekend and able to clock some time with my girls! Oh, and try out my new rope, aka the best horsemanship tool ever invented for ground work ;) It's the 32' Round Pen Lariat from Kalley Krickeberg's Horse Education Company. It can be used as a line for groundwork, or take the snap off and use it as a lariat. What really drew me to it was the simple fact that goatheads (those pokey demon weeds) can't get stuck in it unlike marine rope, and it coils up nicely which will be awesome when I'm ponying Gwen on trails, because the coil can just sit over my saddle horn and keep itself nice and tidy without me having to worry about it. It will also work great as a tie line when I take the horses camping :) 

I tried it out the first day I got it, and obviously had to teach myself how to rope ;) My pup was victim numero uno, and I had a total blast trying it out. The horses weren't as amused with it as I was at first, but they began to not care after a few swings and did really well. I took them both out to a small hill in our back pasture to get some energy out, and this rope was fantastic.. the coil takes the place of my carrot stick as a driving tool, and in my opinion is much more natural to use than wielding a stick around. The coils were easy to keep together, but if they did come undone, I only had 32' instead of 45' of rope to deal with, which is why I chose this one over Parelli's 45' line. I just simply don't need that much line, and I'm pretty sure I'd end up in trouble with that much slack around me! 

 

Gweny was not amused..

I hopped on Cheyenne, and she did great. We started off with fifteen strides of walk/fifteen strides of trot to help get her up and down transitions smoother, and to get her focusing on me. I threw in a little figure eight pattern here and there, and she settled down pretty quickly. Down transitions were terrible at first, and I ended up using way more rein than I'd like, but by the time we were done we had it primarily off of my seat aids. I was going to grab Gweny and practice ponying her, however my neighbor's bull got into our pasture and so I decided it was safer to just put Chey to bed and call it a day. But hey, short and sweet sessions have always been great for her, so I'm not complaining :) It was a successful day, and it felt so good to get back on a horse. 

Chey and our new 32' line

Gwen was so great online.. Typically it's a huge ordeal to get her to canter, and she just short of offered it to me! Granted she's been getting alfalfa/grass mix and has been feeling cooped up lately, but it all played in my favor, and we had a blast. Under saddle I have to take things very slowly with her, and we are still working at getting a willing trot and smoother up transitions. However when I saw her canter, my jaw dropped. Most of the time when she canters she can really get going, but this time she gave me a beautiful, collected lope, and it looked like one of those rocking horse canters you typically only dream of. My dressage instructor growing up had a thoroughbred mare who had such a canter, and one stride covered what felt like a quarter of the arena. I felt like I was watching that mare instead of Gwen, and it makes me that much more excited to get back on her! We have been focusing more on ground work, but holy cow I can't wait to ride that canter! I'm pretty sure I'm going to go find a long trail and just canter her everywhere.. that mare is going to have some great muscle by the end of this summer ;)

Gweny feeling good and being a Little Miss Sassy Pants

I'm hoping next weekend is in the upper 70's so I can bathe them and get their tails looking nice again. I love Spring time so much! Horses are feeling good, I'm feeling refreshed, and we have an entire year of trails, clinics, and good times ahead. What more could a girl as for?! I hope everyone else is having a great Spring with their ponies!

2014 Goals

So it appears I never made a horsemanship goal list for this year! Last summer my eyes were opened up while I had my internship at the Northwest Natural Horsemanship Center, and how I have been limiting myself to only following one method of horsemanship. Since then my horizons have expanded, and I have found so many amazing natural horseman that have so much quality information to share. It's really changed my approach to playing with my horses, and has been a refreshing change of pace from the seven games. While I still practice PNH, I've also given myself permission (why was I limiting myself before?) to pursue my eventing goals, and honestly just play around in the pasture however I feel like it. So I'm pretty excited about my goal list this year :)

1) Audit another Buck Brannaman clinic when he comes in July

2) Audit at least one jumping/eventing clinic at the Washington State Horse Park

3) Volunteer at least once at the WSHP for a clean-up or working day

4) Begin my monthly challenges (more on this soon!)

5) Canter Gwen and ride her bridleless

6) Load Cheyenne into the trailer at liberty from 20+ feet away

It's a short list, but I feel like it's going to make it more likely for me to cross everything off this year. My goals with Gwen are big as well, because with her everything takes so long to accomplish. She is by no means a stupid horse, she just challenges me every step of the way, especially when it comes to riding. We have to do 90% ground work, 10% riding right now in order to keep progressing while maintaining her willing attitude. It will get better with time, it's just something I definitely can't be in a hurry for. Take the time it takes so it takes less time. 

If anyone else is planning on attending the same clinics, please let me know! I always love meeting new horsemanship friends :) What are everyone else's goals for this year? Have you already accomplished some?

Hurry Up and Wait

I woke up today to three inches of snow magically gone, sunshine, and 55 degree weather! Early Spring miracle? I think so ;) Now that the ground is more solid, I decided to throw the round pen back up. 

Cheyenne has been on "winter break" for a few months, and so we started with some easy stuff today. Figure 8 on the 22' line and STM at the walk, trot, and... canter! What?! Yes! You heard me!

I've discovered I've been an avoid-a-holic when it comes to cantering with Chey, both in the saddle and apparently online as well. When I was starting her under saddle she had a very difficult time finding balance at the canter, so after a while I just stopped asking for it. Apparently that transferred to our ground work as well, and now that I've realized this, it's time to change it up! She is so great at mirroring me while playing STM, so we warmed up with walk, stop, back up, walk, trot transitions. Tracking left I asked for the canter with her between myself and the round pen. I cantered in my own stride, and tapped her with the carrot stick until we got a stride of canter, and then we stopped for a reward. About the third time she started to really get it down! Going to the right was a bit more sticky. It took longer for her to pick up the canter, and we had a lot more sour faces, but once she gave me a few good strides she got lots of lovins', and it was onto something she knew :)

Chey soaking it all up :)

I've learned with Chey I really need to pause more often between tasks, or even during them. When I say "game over", she needs to chill for more than five seconds. She is normally an RBE, and when I play with her my LBE side comes out, and I thought before that changing it up and constant go-go-go is what she needed. However I've noticed that gets her pretty amped up, doesn't give her a chance to think about what just happened, and she begins assuming more and more. I've gotten better about noticing when she needs to take a break and think, and when to keep moving, and it has made a huge difference in her confidence, and my personal attention to detail. 

Another thing I've been avoiding is carrot stick riding. Or anything to do with my carrot stick, really. Between the stick and the rope, I find there is too much in my hands and I'm more distracted with organizing myself and less effective with whatever my horse and I are doing. But it's something that is way over due, and so we worked on carrot stick riding combined with "don't make me pick up my reins". It went okay.. I was bareback, and the wind is pretty strong today. Combine those factors with my sloppyness with the reins and stick, and a hyper mare that likes to counter bend and randomly take off trotting because she's feeling her spring-time-spunkies, and you're gonna have a bad time ;) I ditched the carrot stick and we worked on transitions and quality of the back-up to cool her down, and to give her a chance to end on something familiar and on a good note. She was such a gem!

Checking in with me on our ride :)

What I learned today: I need to stop avoiding cantering, as well as carrot stick riding. Cheyenne's STM is worse tracking right, and I need to learn to be more efficient at juggling my tools. 

On a completely unrelated note, this is Lena, my mom's mare, looking too darn cute

Fired Up Friday!

Welcome to this week's FIRED UP FRIDAY!

Most of us tend to get caught up in our goals.. this could be passing the Parelli levels, progressing to Prelim in XC, running a quicker pole pattern, etc. Goals are fabulous and they keep us going. Many of us don't need to be pushed to progress, compete, and up our game in general. But what we also need to keep in mind is our inner child. Have fun with your horse! They get burnt out just like us, and sometimes we look over the signs when our tunnel vision kicks in and says "I need to get a 65% at the Ice Breaker Dressage show, I better train hard!". 

This is what your horse will say when Serious Sally walks into his field!

Let's also look at it this way, with a perspective we can all relate to. You're at work, and your company is trying to beat your competitor across town in sales. Manager A comes in and just stares over your shoulder while your working. Then she starts to nitpick. "Sit up straight. Why did you wear that outfit today? How are your numbers? You need to be utilizing the strategies I emailed you. Have you followed up on all your voicemails?". She means well, and she wants to see you succeed, but she does it in a critical, goal oriented manner. She might even say it with a smile, but that doesn't help your anxiety levels every time she comes around you.

Next, Manager B comes waltzing up to your desk. "Heeeey! How are you? {gives you a hug} Is your head cold getting any better? Your numbers are looking fabulous, and I even emailed you a list of strategies to help keep them soaring. Let me know if you need anything, and by the way, love your shirt!".  She has a genuinely positive attitude, takes a personal interest in you, not just your performance, and you feel more at ease and confident every time she comes around.

Seriously, who would you rather work for? More specifically, who would you go the extra mile for? I'm pretty sure we would all pick Manager B, and so would your horse. Like Pat Parelli says, they start feeding off of your engergy before you even enter the pasture. We need to make down time a priority and take advantage of our horse's play drive. When I was young I did what now would be considered the extreme friendly a LOT. I tied my sweater over my horse's eye balls, put my gloves over his ears, did summer-salts between his legs, rode him backwards, you name it I probably did it at some point. When I look back, I realize how much better my relationship with my horses was, and what a big impact goofing off had. He was definitely desensitized to anything and everything, he was confident in new situations and with new objects around him, and that little guy put his heart and soul into everything we did. We had an amazing bond, and our main priority was fun. 


 

I love seeing people making leaps and bounds with their furry friends, and it's so cool to watch them continue to climb the ladder and accomplish their horsey dreams. However I keep reading about horsewomen and men hitting a wall, finding a decline in their rapport and relationship, and feeling totally lost. Don't ever forget the value of play for yourself or your pony. Stop taking everything so seriously, and just relax. If you're not smiling and laughing when you're together, find a way to make that happen, and if nothing else you'll walk away from having the time of your life with your bestest buddy :)