An interesting Article

On Dartblog.com there is an interesting article about Pat Parelli. You should read this, it is really good!

http://www.dartblog.com/data/2009/11/008740.php

The month of Lessons

The month of October went by super quickly, and what a savvy month of learning it was! I was able to do two lessons with Parelli professionals in October. One with newly trained 1* Annie Shank, and another with 3* Professional Jesse Peters!

The lesson with Annie was first at our stable, so I didn't even have to trailer out! That was a first for me with Parelli lessons. I had never taken one at my barn! So it was very nice just with that!

There were 4 of us that joined in on the lesson, and Annie taught us 2 at a time. The weather wasn't super cooperative, it was pretty cold and windy, but we made the best of it. It was very muddy in the arenas so we opted for the grass play area by the pond to be our lesson spot.

We did simulations, how to play the circle game, how little does it take for your horse to feel you on the rope, and yo-yo phases. It is amazing how little it takes for your horse to feel you. And the fact that I need to be constantly reminded of that!

I was able to play with my circling game, which had previously been broken when trying to ask her for the canter. And finding out that I have been nagging Duck in my send. We played with refining the send and transitions on the circle, specifically walk, trot and then trot, walk to keep her attention and focus. Annie has such a fun personality and made it so enjoyable. She even played with me, with Duck. Then I played with using ALL of my 22ft line for obstacles and driving in zone 3,4,5. Duck likes to be close to me (for security) and I go close to her as well, but moving into level 3 concepts we need to build our relationship up so we are both comfortable and confident out on the 22ft and eventually the 45ft line.

For our lesson with Jesse Peters we traveled to York, SC which was supposed to be about an hour away. Well it was drizzling, dark and there was traffic so it ended up taking about twice that long to get there (and back). I have been playing with Duck and the trailer a lot quite awhile back and a little bit recently, and Duck is getting much more confident loading. I was even able to load her from zone 5 the other day into the 2 horse! When there is another horse in the trailer, that is another issue. So I decided to do some prior preparation before our lesson. Two days before the lesson Liz, my friend and the one that was going to be trailering Duck with her trailer and herhorse was gracious enough to come over and let me practice loading Duck while her horse Eli was in there. I let Duck approach and retreat as needed and it didn't take too long and she was doing pretty well! So when the morning came, she only back out once when Eli pinned his ears at her, and then after that went in just fine and besides them rocking the trailer from nipping at each other it was an uneventful ride. I was thinking that she may lose confidence from it on the way back and not want to load with him, but I was pleasantly surprised that when we were done Duck really loaded herself. Almost too much! I was trying to put up the other divider so I could get her in and she kept trying to get in! It feels SO good to have her more confident with loading and that wasn't even part of the lesson!

This was my first lesson with Jesse. Liz and Melissa were also there and it was their first lesson with him as well. He was fabulous! What a great instructor. We started out on the ground playing with the figure 8. Duck has always like to tromp the cones and not go around super nicely. Jesse came and took Duck and showed me the leadership I needed to get to be clear to her and gain her respect and confidence. He really encouraged us to"dance" with our horses, not drill them mindlessly and turn it into the 7 jobs, or the 7 tortures! When Duck was ready I was able to mount up and even more fun began!

We played with being effective. Specifically my leg and positioning, and my rein positions. We played "The Matador" game which was the indirect/direct rein in flowing succession, but amped up! Jesse was on the ground supporting with the carrot stick while I was riding it! WOW! It was amazing how swift and clean the exercise felt while he was supporting. And a wake up call to me to how ineffective I have been! I spent the next half hour playing this in conjunction with follow the rail and perfectly trying to practice that concept. I was struggling with my leg being in the effective position for the direct rein. Plus Duck was a lot more sticky when I wasn't focused correctly and didn't follow through with my phases. We got a few really good ones though, and I was quite pleased!

We also played follow the rail (making sure to use ALL of our corners) and doing small circles around barrels placed in the corners and along the half way point of the long side of the arena. My goal was to do them without using my reins and to be effective with my leg. It seemed every time I was effective with my direct rein leg she would speed up and get impulsive, so I played with interrupting that pattern with a direct transition to a 9 step back up. The 9 step back up was also improved by Jesse showing me how to lift the reins even more (and don't pull) and also move one up at at time in conjunction with Ducks front legs.

Other topics we covered over the whole lesson were NO BRACE and DON'T EVER RELEASE ON A BRACE! I can't tell you how many times I have heard this and thought I was getting softness but right off Jesse said our horses all looked bracey, and he was right. So we played around with lateral flexion softness both with the rein and then with the CS and then transitions from the walk to halt using lateral flexion and then the trot to halt the same. He kept telling me to hold it until it was soft and then release. I thought I had been doing that but not enough apparently!

Jesse also touched on horsenality when we first began. And I was shocked! I had said Duck was lbi/lbe which I thought she was. In fact I had just done another chart and was thinking that was correct, but he said that from his observation that Duck is most likely an RBI. I had thought that for a long time, especially in the beginning of our relationship, but as her confidence has grown in quite a few areas, she shows LBI traits as well and I thought that was really what she was. But the licking (for security), needing to be close to me and the way she shrinks and says "I can't" when pressure is applied are all traits of a RBI. He says she is just pretty centered RBI. WHEW! That makes me even more grateful that I hadn't bought the cradle bridle since I would have bought the wrong bit! I felt pretty stupid though, not even knowing her horsenality correctly. I mean gosh, I am supposed to be a level 3 student, and I have had her almost 2 years! How embarrising! I sure licked and chewed on that a lot, and am glad it is cleared up though because I had been wondering what she truly is for so long!

Another thing we talked about was having the "perfect picture" and it's relationship to attitude. And this goes back to the figure 8 online, but Duck is always crabby doing the figure 8 and so am I because it doesn't go very well usually. Jesse warned me to have a better attitude! He said he is always happy for a challenge, or to fix something. I told him that my attitude was just because of the lack of arrows in my quiver, to which he responded that he has lots of arrows in his quiver! Yep I believe that! It sure changes your attitude the more arrows you have! But that being said, he really played up the fact that I need to have a perfect picture in my head of the exercise, both what it is and where it is going. For instance he made the example on the figure 8 of what would Linda Parelli's horse Remmer look like doing this figure 8? WOW! yeah, so that is something to aspire to. But I got the idea and I have gone with it.

We also played with the question box pattern. Jesse had said this was a very important pattern that he chalked up passing his level 3 (which then included flying lead changes. Those are now level 4). We played with walking and trotting on this pattern. Again, using perfect practice. I was supposed to do it without my reins but quickly found out that we aren't there yet. We'd done this pattern before, first at Carol's place back in June, but it was far from perfect. I had a heck of a time keeping Duck super close to the cones. And he said that eventually I should be able to walk, trot and canter that pattern with my arms folded. Now there is my perfect vision!

We played this pattern using monopoly money. For every correction with the CS it would cost me $5, and $10 to use my reins for a correction. $5 if she hit the cone or barrel. But $100 if she left the circle completely. He was again trying to reiterate that everything on the pattern must have some value, or it really isn't a game. Point taken!

I've had very little time to practice at all this month. Between sick kids, work, and camping I haven't been with Duck hardly at all. In fact I hadn't touched Duck for two weeks prior to our lesson with Annie. And then I had only ridden once and played one very short session before we met with Jesse (and that was the trailer loading). And this week isn't much better. Kids are out of school since last week, and 2 days this week and I work all weekend. So I don't know how much playtime I am going to get, but I will for sure try and focus on quality and perfect practice as much as possible in the time I have.

Horsenality Test for humans

Someone had this link posted on the Parelli Savvy Club forum. Looked like fun so I took it. A type of "horsenality" test for humans.

http://mindmedia.com/brainworks/profiler

These are my results...

Lisa, your hemispheric dominance is equally divided between left and right brain, while you show a moderate preference for auditory versus visual learning, signs of a balanced and flexible person.

Your balance gives you the enviable capacity to be verbal and literate while retaining a certain "flair" and individuality. You are logical and compliant but only to a degree. You are organized without being compulsive, goal-directed without being driven, and a "thinking" individual without being excessively so.

The one problem you might have is that your learning might not be as efficient as you would like. At times you will work from the specific to the general, while at other times you'll work from the general to the specific. Sometimes you will be logical in your approach while at other times random. Since you cannot always control the choice, you may experience frustrations not normally felt by persons with a more defined and directed learning style.

You may also minimally experience conflicts associated with auditory processing. You will be systematic and sequential in your processing of information, you will most often focus on a single dimension of the problem or material, and you will be more reflective, i.e., "taking the data in" as opposed to "devouring" it.

Overall, you should feel content with your life and yourself. You are, perhaps, a little too critical of yourself - and of others - while maintaining an "openness" which is redeeming. Indecisiveness is a problem and your creativity is not in keeping with your potential. Being a pragmatist, you downplay this aspect of yourself and focus on the more immediate, the more obvious and the more functional.

Hmm, how interesting!!!

The Flag

So I had found a hole in my program that I wasn't quite willing to tackle for some time. The flag. I know it shouldn't be that big of a deal, but the saying "my horse doesn't to plastic" really applied to Duck. Not big flat blue tarps, she doesn't seem to have so much a problem with those or stepping on them, but smaller pieces of plastic and plastic bags. Especially if they come towards her at all. She can be quite reactive, striking out when startled. And one time when I was riding in the arena there was a small piece of tarp, it was about 1 ft by 3 ft on the ground. She was fine around it, but then it moved in the wind and I about came off. This was several months ago and despite trying to do tarps and stuff with wind swirly things I hadn't had much progress. That was back in June. Fast forward to about 3 weeks ago and I was riding in the hayfield. Since there is a road somewhat near the hayfield some trash makes its way to the field, plastic grocery bags especially. When I was riding one day I saw one stuck in the grass and thought (and paniked) to myself that if that thing moves in the wind I am a goner! That is how I finally came to terms with it that I had become an "avoid-a-holic" from plastic bags. I recently decided to change that.

So in comes the flag. I decided that I would use a grocery bag tied pretty tightly onto the carrot stick. Not to flappy for starters. And I made a program of it. We are on day 5 as of today. Every day I have played the friendly game with the bag. Rubbing (and now tapping) it all over her body. The hardest for her to tolerate is in zone one. Especially if the bag moves at all towards zone one, she had been leaping out of the way, quickly! We have made a lot of progress though beings how the first day I could hardly touch her with it. Today we can touch her all over, and are starting to get a little more confidence in zone 1. I had her follow it with her nose to it quite a ways to retreat. I even put a treat on the bag to see if she was confident enough to eat it from there and she was.

And today I finally got to ride on the trails around the barn (it has been a couple months) and she stepped on a plastic bag on the trail and didn't so much as look at it. Now, I don't think she'd like it if one came flying by still, but it is a good start. So I am pleased, and I am going to keep on with our program to gain her confidence with the flag.

We also have been doing circling game with obstacles at the trot, beginning to canter on the 22ft circle. We have gotten about 4 laps. She is struggling with her leads, but I am not being picky about that yet, just maintaining the gait. I would do it in the round corral as Carol Coppinger suggested, but I think with it's high walls and smaller diameter (60ft) it is just too much pressure for her. She goes totally RB. We have been playing a little in there and retreating out but certainly not anything too demanding!

I am also trying to use lighter phases and longer phase one. I tend to get jumbled and when things don't go right I go too fast and get harder which just loses her confidence. Somewhere along the line our liberty is gone again so I am not even going there right now!

All in all we've been having a good time and I really enjoyed riding on the trails today. It was a nice break from the arena. I would love to do it more often but I have to have people to ride with, and not just any people, people that understand that I want to keep mine and my horses' confidence both in tact!

Today there was a group of 5 deer that went sprinting through the woods spooking both of our horses. Duck did calm down enough to stop but then all communication was lost. I got off and sent her over a log, backed her a ways and then got back on. Things went much better and I played with disengaging her hindquarters while on the trails. See, the communication breaks down because she gets going and worried about what is going on around her and I simply don't exist. So we are playing with that!

In the arena things have been going pretty well. We have been doing lots of freestyle riding with one carrot stick, a few times totally bridle less with just the neck string at the walk and trot doing some patterns, and most recently follow the rail. She gets going at the trot and there is no rhythm in the trot, she gets rushy. So the last few times we've ridden I have done follow the rail at the trot focusing on her rhythm and relaxation. I have been seeing improvements there but still more to go. I would like to get to cantering and get her balanced at the trot and canter. Her impulsivness and forwardness have her with her head up (and emotions up) and on the forehand. I am trying to get her more relaxed, and reward the relaxation.

So many fun things we are playing with! Still enjoying the journey, and enjoying some new friends that have started on the journey as well.

Savvy on!

Catch up!

We've been playing around on the 45 ft line a little here and there. Let's just say that I need increase my rope savvy! :) That is a lot of rope! Yesterday we did some yo-yo's on the 45 ft line over a pole. I was really focused on straightness, and trying to get her draw back. Her butt always drifts to the left while backing is what I noticed. 45 ft is a L-O-N-G way away too! We also did the figure 8 at the walk and trot. It went really well, in fact better than I had been getting. Much softer, less ears pinned. We rode freestyle for awhile. I usually just don't use the reins but have them there. She was offering the canter yesterday, so we cantered (I was bareback, with no pad and noticed how much I missed my bareback pad and it's stickiness!) and it was smooth, with a good rhythm for 6-8 strides for a couple times.

The day before we had ridden in the evening. Usually I am at the barn in the morning, while my kids are in preschool/school. In the morning there is no one around usually. Every once and a while a friend will show up. But the evening, wow! There were so many people! It was 8:30pm when I got out there so it was dark. That just leaves me the main arena to ride in as it is the only one with lights. I did some light warm ups in the round pen on the ground. Then we went to the arena. The UNCC (college) team was having a lesson. There must have been 6 of them, plus others just riding like myself. Talk about thresholds for Duck. We have come such a long way. Even though now she pins her ears still when other horses come into her bubble, I don't lose all control. I remember when I first started riding her and went to my first clinic with her. I had almost zero communication with other horses in the arena. She would just pin her ears and lunge at them, forgetting I was even up there! So now the worst was her getting a bit rushy if they were next to her too long. I will continue to play with it. But our brakes still work!

The day before this I played quite a bit on the ground and then rode some freestyle. The freestyle has really helped my seat. Now I just need to get better at cantering. I still have a gripping reflex when cantering. We did bulls eye a couple times and I put a treat on the barrel to get her thinking to the barrel. Well when I rode the next day all she wanted to do was play bull's eye! She kept spiraling down around barrels, and even the jump standards! I would like to learn more about the fine line between accepting what they offer and being the leader and calling the shots.

That same day I rode bridle less for awhile, following the rail and doing figure 8's etc. I still love it!

We have also been introducing the flag on the carrot stick. Friendly game with it. She is ok in zone 3,4, but still goes RBI when in zones 1 and 2. I have been trying to retreat but she still turns away and can't look towards it (and freezes up), so I am trying to go real slow but keep it in my program.

That is what we've been up to! October is going to be crazy busy. I am working a bit extra, but will have 2 lesson with PNH professionals in October! On the 17th, 1* Annie Shank is coming to our stable to help all of us PNH students along as part of her 50 hrs of lessons she needs to log with PNH. Then on the 27th 3 of us will be heading to York for a lesson with 3* Jesse Peters! I am so excited!!!

Question Box

Yesterday I finally got up the nerve to play with the question box. Why would I need nerve? Oh yeah did I mention that this is what we were playing (and not so well) when Duck went lame the next session way back in June? Well, it was. Question box at the trot to the left. I was trying to get her relaxed and not have to correct on the circle. She kept running out. I guess I should have listened to the feedback that she was DONE with it! LOL

So yesterday I went to set it up in the lower arena. Nope, it was too hard and crunchy for my liking (like it was when she hurt herself). So I turned her loose in that arena while I moved everything to the main arena. I realized after I set it all up that I had put my markers (chairs) in the wrong spot. Oh well I'd just work around it. They are just guidelines anyway, right? :)

We warmed up on the ground first. I have been playing with getting Duck to canter on the 22ft. Our canter riding isn't great, and then it dawned on me that we really haven't cantered much online. She either breaks gait to to a trot or gallops like a mad horse. Really no inbetween there. So I had just did a snappy back up with her and sent her off to the left and she took off! I let her drift to the end of the 22ft rope. She came right back. WOW! I guess I amped her up a bit to much or I had too much "I'm going to tag you" feeling! Either that or she just wanted to GO! But away she went, running like a mad horse. I decided to just stick with it. The nice thing is that she is getting better running fast. Not tripping as much and she isn't pulling me as she's going, there was actually quite a bit of slack in the line which is good! After about 7 laps she slowed down and cantered 1 good lap. So I quit there. I used the CS to slow her (which was a complete halt!) So that is good too, starting to get more downward transitions with the CS online.

So we rode the question box pattern starting at a walk and even though it has been 3 months, she still remembered the pattern and to my surprise did it much better than last time in that I didn't have to correct her to stay on the circle hardly at all compared to in June. Trotting was better too, but she still FLIES around at the trot wanting to break into a canter (and did a few times). We played with it both directions and when she finally slowed down for a lap I quit.

Then we cooled out riding at a a walk and following the rail. This went really well, she didn't stray from the rail at all and had a really nice, forward walk. And like always we ended with some grazing time on our way back to the barn.

I love my horse!

The bridge incident and setbacks...

So even before our 1st bridle less ride I think I didn't mention that about a week after we got home from our clinic in June Duck went lame on her left front and it has been kind of a comedy of errors since then. About 2 weeks of rest, one vet exam including a nerve block and a horse chiropractic visit later we were ready to roll again, until the bridge incident.

So I have to preface this by saying that the play area is by the big pond. We have a bridge, pedestal, trailer, barrels and the pond there to play with. It's great but the storms we kept having in July kept blowing the barrels into the pond. So we had 6 swimming barrels. After a couple weeks Liz was kind enough to "fish" the barrels out of the pond. Thing is, they were on the FAR side of the pond. Liz asked me to take the farm's Kubota to go get them. So I did. Then I set them all upright on the off side of the bridge so they wouldn't roll down the hill into the pond again.

The next day Duck was doing much better and I was cleared to ride. So I saddled up and had a few hours to ride. I had signed my boys up for a 4 hour camp Mon-Thurs that week. So it's Monday and I figure I'll head down to the playground. Everything was going really well.

We'd been playing with front feet on the pedestal and then the trailer. So then I figure we'll go over the bridge which we've done several times before. Well I figured the barrels would be just fine over there. I had a fleeting though that I should move them. Of course I ignored it...

So Duck had put her front feet on the ramp a few times and so I asked her to go over the bridge. Well she got on at an odd angle and ended up with her front feet on the tall flat part of the bridge and the upright barrel under her belly. (she is nowhere near tall enough to have that fit under her, even with her front feet on the bridge). She didn't panic although I was feeling really tense. She sat there for what felt like an eternity. Then she lurched to get her back feet on the bridge. She tried so hard but her back legs came up short and she ended up scraping quite a bit of hide off her back legs. Needless to say I didn't get to ride all week, and was still letting her heal the next one as well. Too bad I didn't go with my gut instinct to move the barrels...

There's a good reason to listen to your gut right there. I was lazy and Duck paid the price. I haven't been back down there since. I want to rubberize the sides so that will never happen again. It's just plywood, but it still scrapes pretty bad when they hit it like that.

She's almost all healed up now, but it has been several weeks. Meanwhile I think I lost a ton of leadership points grazing for weeks at a time.

I've been getting a lot of feedback from her that she isn't enjoying what we are doing. I've been trying out the 45 ft line and her confidence hasn't been great on it. Our liberty that had been so good when to pot as well. And I am trying to figure out where it all went bad and rebuild. Of course it doesn't help that she has round pen phobia. She just wigs out in there for liberty so I am always playing in the big arena.

We have ridden a couple more times bridle less, but generally there are other riders in the arena so I have just been dropping the reins, not taking the bridle all the way off.

Our other issue lately is that we're real heavy on the forehand, and she is constantly tripping because of it. So I am needing to look into how to get her to shift that weight back some.

But the last couple weeks with school starting I haven't done hardly anything with her because of a bunch of other commitments but am going to try and get back into it next week again.

I could sure use A LOT more arrows in my quiver right about now!

Our First Bridle-less Ride!!!

Life Goals: 1. Ride Bridle-less. CHECK!!!!!!!!

I've been wanting to ride Bridle-less for SO long! As long as I have loved horses (which is as far back as I can remember) the idea of having the communication to ride without a bridle has always fascinated me. The type of partnership required for that kind of riding is the kind of partnership I knew I wanted. And that was WAY before I knew about Parelli or any other natural horsemanship.

When I was 13 I bought a book about riding bridle less, but it never worked. And then with Kira I was getting just to the point where we were getting close to it but then I had to make the decision to send her to her new home and start all over with Duck. So I never got there with Kira.

Perhaps that desire of that type of partnership is why I was SO quick to take on the "Parelli" way when I was finally introduced to it at a tour stop so long ago in Utah in 2002. I saw not only one person ride bridle less, but tons more on the savvy team. People that started as regular as I was and ended up with such great relationships with their horses. That and the whole way of thinking about horses was what I had always wanted. I am totally amazed and love the learning that occurs by constantly trying to"read" my horse and her body language.

So last week we finally did it! Duck and I went Bareback and Bridle-less in our large practice arena. I wasn't going to do it at first, but then I realized that it just comes down to a matter of trust. Do I trust her enough not to take off and buck me off? Did I trust that I had laid down the lines of communication well enough to be understood without the safety net of the rein to stop her? One of my biggest concerns are the sudden "spooks" that all horses can have. The "what if" scenario kept running through my head. After all, Duck is still pretty green, and we've been together less than 2 years.

Turns out I did trust her! But it was kind of like the first time you go rock climbing. You are SO excited to get up that wall and then you realize once you get going that someone else is holding your very life in their hands at the bottom. The higher you climb the farther it is to fall. I had to learn to trust my belayer to climb, and I needed to take the plunge and trust Duck, too.

That being said I didn't just jump on and ride bridle-less because it struck my fancy. No, I've been putting in a lot of effort to refining our communication to the point that I felt safe enough to go there. Ever since I got home from the Carol Coppinger clinic in June I have been practicing NOT touching my reins, so doing a lot of carrot stick riding with 1-2 sticks.

I've learned a lot about balance. And I've learned even more about how to communicate with Duck. I was doing a TON of micromanaging with the reins prior to the clinic in June. So my independent seat has come a long way, too

So here's how it went. A friend and fellow Parelli student at my barn Liz offered to take some pictures of Duck and I with her nice camera so we played with our horses in the arena and then went to the pond and did that. (Those cute pics to follow in the next post). Then we went back the arena and I was in there talking to Liz saying "I really want to ride bridle-less" and she says well "why don't you?" to which I reply "I am scared to take off the halter." So she says "well just take off the lead then and start with that." So I did a few steering and brake checks and then unclipped the leadrope. A few straight lines and a couple turns that went smoothly bolstered my confidence and Duck seemed to be doing well. So off it all came! We were totally "naked" besides the savvy string around her neck.

And off we went! We did walk, trot, halt transitions, played with the figure 8 a few times and even took a shot at sideways (we need more practice on that for sure!). All in all, 10 minutes or so and I was BEAMING! I kept telling Liz how happy I was and how for so long I had waited for this moment. For a minute I really did think I was going to cry!

And then she came up with the brilliant idea that she still had the camera so she went and got it and took some pictures! How cool is that? Pictures of our very first Bridle-less ride!

All I can say is YEAH!!!!

Here we are on the figure 8

Looking at something. I think I was thinking "go right"
trotting around
More figure 8 at the trot
Look Mom, no hands!!! :)

Ok I know you can't totally see me in this picture but I am grinning ear to ear. I love this picture!

Level 2/3 Camp with Carol Coppinger

This is Duck and I in our last private lesson. I didn't get too many pictures of the clinic, the camera was dying and I never remembered it. But Niels came one day and took these.
From the lesson. We were playing with Rhythm, and bending. The beginnings of going the direction of finesse.
We're both focused over there! I think we were both looking at the trailer that had been backed into the arena for practicing the trailer loading later that day. I was trying to keep Duck AWAY from the trailer and she was trying to take me IN the trailer a couple times during the lesson!
I love this picture. It is my favorite from the clinic. We actually look good!
Carol telling me how a couple habits I had needed fixed. When tying up the lead line, don't fasten it at the top, only daisy chain it. Her other instruction was not to tie the lead line up until AFTER you get on your horse, and to undo it BEFORE you get off. Why? Well you might need them mounting and dismounting. Yep, seems logical but I was taught incorrectly earlier in my education in Parelli.
Warm up and getting ready to mount.
Duck in her stall. Isn't she cute? And below, Duck and I. Duck is a lick-a-holic!
I had the great opportunity last week to attend a long awaited Parelli Level 2/3 Camp. It was held at 5* Parelli Professional Carol Coppinger's Farm in Mt. Juliet, TN. It was about a 7 hour drive for us, which I had been preparing for with trailer loading practice with Duck for the last several months. (See prior posts about Trailer loading prep.)

I am probably going to post in a few posts about this trip as there was SO much to it! I'll start here.

The loading and trip there was uneventful except for the beginning. Duck was pretty nervous as we were leaving the barn, calling for her pasture mate Kay. We had to make a quick stop for gas and she was still quite jittery (RB for sure!) and calling for Kay. She did the same when we stopped in Asheville for gas, but then after that she calmed down quite a bit and would eat some hay when we were stopped (as long as someone was with her).

The first night Duck was defending her large personal bubble in her stall. We were having an informational meeting in the barn, and Duck was squealing and kicking the stall a lot! Her former pasture mate, Jody's horse Spirit, was stabled next to her. Spirit is also Duck's half brother, they share the same Sire.

After about a day the squealing lessened and she quit kicking the stall. I was totally worried about dealing with RB behavior the whole time we were there. Honestly, I didn't even know if I was going to be able to ride in that big of a group so I went in with no expectations. The first day she did go RBE on me a little bit on the way out to the playground, but then settled in. She did keep pinning her ears as horses would go by but it was nothing like the first clinic I took her to 2 + years ago. I felt like I was going to die at that one! She was lunging at the other horses with teeth bared, and I had practically NO steering! Thankfully the time we've put in together and the opportunity at Sundance to ride around other horses a lot more seems to really have helped. And the clinic helped even more. Yesterday I took Duck out to graze and she touched noses with a horse over the fence which almost always elicit's a huge squeal, but not this time! She just sniffed a little and moved on! WOW!

The general format for the clinic was private lessons in the morning starting at 8am, group groundwork/liberty starting around 10am or so, lunch about 12:30-2, and then ride from 2 till about 5 followed by more private lessons in the evening until about 7pm. That kind of schedule in the heat well lets just say I was pretty tired by the time I got back to the hotel and would pass out quickly and get up and repeat the whole thing again times 4 days!

There are so many concepts that we played with that I am going to do some separate posts on them but to give a couple to lick and chew on that happened in the first hour of the first day of the camp. We were doing lightness simulations with each other and no horses. How little does it take for your partner to notice what it is you want them to do? Amazingly the belly of the rope doesn't even have to move off the ground before you feel the change. Try it sometime with a friend. You will feel a lightness you didn't know existed. And then you will know how much you might have been "screaming" at your horse.

The other part before the simulation just blew my mind and everyone joked that we payed for the first hour of the clinic and the next 4 days were free.

Carol asked us "Are you pleased with your horse, your relationship with your horse?" And most of us said "no", we wanted this or that, or whatever, and we went on complaining about what was wrong. And then she responded by saying "Your horses can feel you being displeased with them, and it is a form pressure from which they get no release because they try and try, but they can never please you. ("It is the pressure that motivates, but the release that teaches." -PP) And then it turns into opposition reflex." And she followed this up by saying "Be pleased with your horses but not satisfied with where you are" That hit the whole group pretty hard I think. We all sat and licked and chewed on that thought for a long time. How to be "pleased" but not satisfied (always leaving room for improvement). Or even pleased AND satisfied.

For me it was a big, fat lightbulb and it didn't just relate to horses, but just life in general. Was I pleased with life? Was I pleased with Duck? And I realized in that moment that I hadn't been. I always wanted more, never was happy with what we had done, it was never enough. And I know she felt it too, because after I changed my attitude, so did she over the next 4 days. Hmm, how interesting!

Are you pleased with the relationship with your horse? Are you pleased with YOUR life? Satisfied? Good food for thought, isn't it?

More to follow...

The Beginning of the Playground

So the barn that I board at has given our Parelli playgroup permission to use the area by the pond to build a playground for the horses! We are allowed to swim in the pond (15ft deep) and put up obstacles. Niels and I took the first (and most ambitious) step of building a bridge. We started the bridge before my trip to Utah and the Reno Celebration and left it sitting (in a nice pile I may add) in our driveway while I was there and Niels was in Seattle for work. When we got back from our trip there was a letter (a few days old) that was from the HOA. It stated that we needed to "move our unsightly wooden object out of the driveway." Needless to say Niels and I were NOT happy about that! It didn't look THAT bad! The good thing is that we decided to clean the garage out so we can make pedestals and work on and keep them in the garage until they are finished so we can avoid any more "pleasant reminders" that our stuff is ugly! UGLY? Seriously, like the yard that had a literal trash can's worth of trash in the backyard for 2 weeks. THAT was ugly. But a bridge?

We got it done (finally) between the many rainstorms that have been gracing us here in North Carolina and it is the beginning of many fun things to play with with our horses!

Other items include

1. Barrels (some with cow flavored covers)

2. poles that stick into the ground to use for weave etc

3. cones

4. pedestals (which are next up to build)

5. pvc pipe for jumps and ground poles

6. The pond (no work required, just savvy!)

7. Eventually a carwash obstacle and 50' playpen with a low fence

But so far just with what we have I've got plenty to keep me busy all summer. So far Duck has only jumped the bridge (which is 33" wide and 18" tall) and put her foot on the ramp in the last 2 sessions. Yes, it is going to be a fun summer!

To add to that we've done mounting bareback by the neck a few times. Nothing consistent yet, but I did get brave enough to try the put my legs between her head when it is down and get flipped up on backwards. Very cool!

Yes, Yes I know it is all tricks! But how else can I justify giving her all those treats that she loves so much?

Reno Celebration, Trail ride, & Kira

I went on vacation! A true, no kids vacation! Well, I DID have to take them on the plane with me to get to Salt Lake and again (kicking and screaming) to come home, but other than that I was kid free for a week! Which is a first for me besides the time I went to help my sister with her new baby, Ayden one year ago.

The purpose of the trip was to have the kids visit my family and the ulterior motive was for me to attend the Parelli Celebration with my sister and her friend Tracy in Reno, NV.

We left for Reno the day after I got there and drove 8 hours. The Celebration was wonderful! Pat played with a Humane Society Rescue horse named Cheyenne. I love watching him play with horses. It is inspiring. His timing is almost perfect!

The celebration also had "savvy spotlights" which are basically regular people studying the program that brought their own horses for Pat to evaluate them. There was so much to learn!

Linda of course rode Remmer with Walter Zettl the dressage master. I was in the retail area looking at Walter's book when I hear a voice in a german accent behind me "That is a very good book!" It was Walter himself. What a sweet, sweet man and an awesome trainer that really knows his discipline and how to achieve it, naturally. I'd love to be able to ride that high of a level someday!

When we got back after 3 fun filled days Kris talked me into going for a trail ride. My trail rides are pretty far and few between. I usually get out twice a year or so. I didn't want to bother her with having to hook up the trailer but she insisted. So we headed out to Rose Canyon which was just so awesome! I rode one of my sister's schooling horses, Cleo. She is such a sweetie.

To top it all off I got to go visit Kira! My sweet, sweet mustang who is now 20 years old! She looks great although she has aged quite a bit since I saw her last. Oh how I miss her. She still nickers at me though, which about made me cry! She loves her home though, and it is truly the lap of horsey luxury!

Here is Cleo and I on the trail in Rose Canyon

Reno! Yeah besides the Celebration, lights and the good food at the brewery we ate at 3 days in a row, Reno doesn't have much happening!
Here are all of us with Walter Zettl. I bought the book (of course who could resist?) and he signed that as well as everything else Kris and Tracy bought too!
Linda and Remmer. My camera didn't work hardly at all in the arena so I didn't get hardly any pictures. They are all very dark!
Kris and I
Linda with Walter
Kris and I on our Trail ride. Kris is riding Sunny.
Grazing the horses after the ride
Kira and I!

Parade of Barns - Parelli Demo

So yesterday my friend Mariah and I did a Parelli Demonstration for the 1st Annual Parade of Barns. The Parade of barns is a showcase of the area's local barns, and I believe there were eight barns involved. Each barn had different demonstrations and things going on. It all ended with appetizers, a silent auction and a tour of Hinds' Feet Farm. Hinds' Feet farm is a special riding center for those that have suffered and are recovering from brain injuries.

Our Demo was at 1pm and Mariah and her family came at about 11:30am. We tacked up and warmed up and even switched horses for awhile! Then we headed to the lower arena to do our Demo. I felt like it went pretty well. We explained the 7 games, some of the patterns, the levels system and some horsenality as well. We demonstrated on the ground and then in the saddle.

Mariah let me try out her Natural performer saddle as well. Her back straps were just as long as the ones on my saddle and this time Duck wasn't scared, she just was a bit mad about that saddle. Grumpy attitude for some reason! But at least she wasn't scared! And oh how I dream of getting a saddle someday like that! But right now I'd settle for even having a saddle that fits my behind!

All in all it was a great time and wonderful experience! So much fun to be able to share what I love to do with horses with others. It was so much fun to play with Duck and good experience for her too! She even got on the pedestal while I was riding her and she's only ever even seen on once in Illinois right before I moved!

Play with the Boys

Today the boys and I tried to beat the rain and play at the barn. They have been begging to play with Buddy. It has been a couple months since they have played so I relented finally today.

Caught Buddy and he was ALL the way out at the back of the field. We saddled him up and then headed to the little barn to get Duck and get her saddled up.

Buddy enjoyed his grazing time and Duck of course just wanted to graze while getting groomed and saddled. Buddy is a LBI/LBE pony with a pony attitude! He doesn't want to do anything for anybody! Poor Christian was struggling with his grazing just to get him up TO where Duck was. 2 steps, head in the grass. Wiggle the rope, head up 2 steps and repeat. It is a challenge for Christian to manage the rope and the stick so he just had the rope.

Aricin led Buddy back to the arena and he got the idea real quick of wiggling. Then Buddy just followed along with a look on his face like "these kids are too smart, darn!"

Back at the round pen I set up a figure 8. I demonstrated with Duck how to do it and then told Christian to give it a go. Buddy just stood there when I asked Christian to back him up. Christian then pitched a tantrum by jumping up and down (which wiggled the rope) and imagine this, Buddy backed up!

I helped him through one figure 8. Then he wanted to ride. I tied the lead rope up but next time I am going to try a savvy string. The lead rope is WAY too long to tie as reins on Buddy because he is so small. Buddy has a habit of just going and doing whatever he wants. I had Christian practice lateral flexion before he headed off. Buddy has an ingrained habit of pulling on pressure, both on the ground and in the saddle. He will just pull on whatever pressure to get to grass etc. Christian's steady pressure wasn't enough to get through to Buddy and he got frustrated and quit. Buddy even did a crow hop when asked to move forward. Aricin went for a go and just ambled a bit. Plan for next time to use more driving game to support the steady pressure to see if we can't get through to him.

After the boys rode I put Buddy up and had left Duck in the round corral all saddled and loose. For a minute I thought she was going to roll when I left but she didn't. She took my carrot stick for a ride in her mouth! When I came back to get her she was on the opposite side of the corral eating grass.

I called her and she came right to me! I know a small thing, but it is big to me. And a year ago Duck would have and did just keep eating and ignoring me. So I put on her hackamore and we headed to the big arena.

I decided after reviewing the corners pattern to introduce that to Duck. She got it real quick especially since there is grass in the corners and she loves to eat! We circled left the corner, straight left the corner, sideways out of the corner, trotted to the next corner etc. Today Duck was offering to canter and kept breaking into it except this time she was bucking as well. So I kept slowing her down to the walk and trot. Upon Carol Coppinger's advice to combine the corners with the cloverleaf we tried that.

Unfortunately Duck wasn't enjoying herself too much. When I got to the gate, Duck took her neck and with a decided push, popped the gate open and proceeded to back out of the gate! Apparently in her opinion I didn't give her enough grazing time!

So after a tap on zone 4 and we were back in and I went straight to the cloverleaf. We got some good turns and then combined again with corners. Of course Duck's favorite part was eating in the corners.

I was done riding when I went to the close end of the arena and there was a small piece of tarp on the ground. Maybe another Parelli student at the barn put it there? It was layed out all flat which Duck didn't have a problem with. I had checked that before I rode by having her step on it etc. By the time we got done though it was really windy and it started to move. Duck of course spooked, which then I got off to deal with the green plastic monster.

I dragged it and her behind me all over the arena and got her to the point I could touch her with it while crumpled up and not flapping on both sides. Right side was harder to get to touch her with. I even got it to where I could put it around her front legs. This was a much needed session and I need many more like this to help build her confidence with plastic flappy things (see birthday trail ride post for more background). She doesn't have a problem stepping on/over them while they are flat on the ground but anything beyond that she is still unconfident. I took the piece of plastic and put it in my locker to use again.

So much to play with! I wish I had more time!

Here are some things I would like to focus on:

1. Zone 5 driving with 1 rein. We are starting to get it in zone 4, kind of!

2. Circling transitions and change of direction (I have been avoiding the circle game pretty much for a year to try and get other things better and her less impulsive about it)

3. Friendly game with bikes/tarps other odd obstacles

4. Build playground and get a pedestal

5. Play on 45ft line (I am thinking I need a left handed line so may need to sell current one)

6. Trailer confidence (which I have been slacking on lately)

7. Thresholds around the property

Not a big list huh? And that doesn't include all the stuff I want to do to get more into level 3 concepts!

Charlotte Jumper Classic

Niels and I had the chance to go to the Charlotte Jumper Classic on Friday night. We went to the opening classes. We saw the Junior (under 18) age group and then an open class. WOW! Those are some REALLY high fences! Over 5 ft or more! I can't imagine having done courses like that when I was under 18! I was lucky to do a 3ft course, and that felt high to me!

The second class which was the welcome class for the international competition had names such as Beezy Madden, Rodrigo Pessoa and Chris Kappler. Almost all the horses were Warmbloods, except 1! There was an American bred Thoroughbred and guess who won against all those European sport horses? Yep, that guy took the class! I was impressed!

All I can say is WAY better than dinner and a movie! Way fun date night!

A playday, cantering, and another near miss!

Last week I got to go to my friend Mariah's house to plan our demo for the Parade of barns next weekend. Traffic was horrible, so it took me about an hour and a half to get there. (Practicing patience at all those red lights!) Well she let me play with her cute horse Bebe for awhile. Then we switched horses again and I got to ride her beautiful Sundance. Sundance is completely in love with Mariah. He didn't want anything to do with me so it took awhile for me to even get him going consistently!

Mariah's brother Christian who is 11 and totally fearless was also out playing with Taco the donkey while I got the pleasure of watching Mariah practice bareback and bridle less flying lead changes. No problem right?

Oh my, what fun Christian and Mariah were. And then the switching, he rode with me on Bebe, and then on Sundance. I had forgotten how much FUN kids have. Just watching them just made me laugh and almost fall off my horse from hysteria. He'd take off trotting, bareback, bridle less, and BACKWARDS on Bebe. Then he tried getting on Sundance backwards by straddling his head and having him flip him up from the top of his neck onto his back. Fun stuff! It was a riot!

I even rode Sundance up on the Pedestal! I haven't done that before!

Then on to the planning. We went in the house and Mariah and her family were kind enough to feed me some yummy soup, crackers and even a homemade chocolate muffin as we discussed our Demo and the definitions of what points we want to convey. Ok, I am extreme RBI so I was wondering why I actually AGREED to do this demo! AHHH!

So when Mariah is a Parelli professional I will be able to say to everyone "Hey look I even rode her awesome horse Sundance and hung out at her farm back in the day!" :)

Previously that day I was out riding Duck. Had a great session. Duck is beginning to offer the canter. And I am completely lacking in my riding the canter ability! UGH! She is much smoother when it is HER idea! We've gotten about half an arena lap at the canter!

Let Duck graze in her favorite clover patch near the arena on the way back. Of course I am totally relaxed holding the reins at the very end when all of a sudden she takes off full tilt. I still struggle with the one rein thing in an emergency. I just grabbed!

Turns out it was a kid on a bike. Did I mention that we are still playing with getting used to bikes? He came up right on the side of the arena in the grass instead of on the dirt road. So he was maybe 10 ft from me and the bike was pretty quiet in the grass. So another near miss. Just when I think "I am going to come off if she goes any further" I am able to stop her. At least that is the case right? Instead of her running 1/2 a mile and bucking too?

Finally a ride!

Ah, I finally got to ride today. Yesterday we just did a little groundwork, mostly down by the pond. Currently Duck doesn't like the pond. One of life's ironic moments isn't it? I have a horse named Duck that doesn't like the pond! What Duck doesn't like a pond? We'll change that and are already playing with it! :)

Today Duck got a lot of grazing time. About an hour and boy was she happy! The field has really greened up and grown with all the rain we've gotten recently. I scrubbed out Duck's water trough since it was empty and then filled it. And then the pasture across from her was empty so I scrubbed and filled that one. It reminded me of when I used to work at the stables as a teenager. We'd always scrub out the troughs and fill them; and then drink right out of them! I didn't do that today although I was tempted!

After I was done for the evening working I went and got Duck and we played in the lower arena. I actually rode her from the barn to the arena, bareback (no pad) in our halter! The only grief she gave me was getting past the hay field although she gave me a very nice (and fast) sidepass to the right to try and get to the grass. Why are all my horses grass monsters? I must make them that way. Too much grazing time? But with Duck I feel really bad because she used to be out on a few acres in Illinois and grazed all day. And now her little turn out pen has NO grass at all. So I try to let her out to graze, a lot. On the bright side she will pretty much always meet me at the gate. (cookies are good too!)

So we ride to the arena and we rode for awhile. It is almost like the break we took has helped stuff settle. I didn't feel like I was getting the responses I wanted off my seat before we had this forced break of weather and housework. She was still really impulsive, and didn't want to slow down. Today was much better. Not perfect but I felt like she finally is trying to "tune into" my seat somewhat. As a bonus our sideways is getting lighter as well.

We did a little weave pattern, ground poles, and a couple rounds of figure eights at the trot. She just doesn't like that stuff though. I am going to watch the patterns again and see how I can expand on some of the things we are doing, move it up a notch.

It is so nice having her so light in transitions. I mean so much more so than a lot of horses I have ridden. We even cantered. She tried to buck the first time and I stopped her. Then we tried again and we went almost a half an arena length which is the most I've done with her in a very long time! The nice thing is she slows right down. I still need to figure out the bucking thing. I wouldn't mind riding her through it but my seat isn't what it used to be when I was riding a lot more often (which was over 10 years ago!) Duck just has such a different canter to me. It is SO different. I don't know if it is just so different or I was just so used to Kira for so long. It feels like I am flying up and down and the whole time she is trying to buck me off even when she isn't!

Then I got off and decided to do a little liberty. Shanna was playing with her cute paint Dakota in the arena. Duck stuck with me the whole time. We did the weave, sent her over the ground poles, cantered stick to me. Couldn't get a close circle today. I want to play with getting our lead by the tail lighter. I feel like it takes too much pressure still!

All in all it was a very fun ride! And to boot we are going to be able to build a playground down by the pond! Now we need to get some obstacles rolling for it! Yeah! I am so excited! Arena's can be SO boring, no matter how interesting you try and make it a change of scenery will be nice!

Play in the MUD!!

Today Liz and I met to play for awhile. It has been raining still. It was MUDDY! In fact someone said to me as I pulled up, "You aren't going to RIDE today are you?" Turns out I did. And it was fine. Yeah we mainly played on the ground on the 12 ft (so I wouldn't totally soak and get my 22ft muddy). We practiced stick to me and some sideways. Then we did a little bit of liberty. Our very first time doing any liberty with another horse in the arena. Duck stayed with me the whole time. She didn't want to do what I did (especially jump) in the beginning but then we got going and we even got a close circle at the trot at liberty! I was so excited. And cantering with stick to me. She is so dominant though, head tossing etc.

I've also been teaching her to bow with cookies. Well I need to make my cue clearer and different than "pick up your foot" because now every time I ask to clean out her foot she bows! My bad! So I just need to think of a different cue and refine it so I don't confuse her! I am so happy that she is trying so hard though!

I ended with riding bareback for a little while and still practicing transitions with my seat. It is getting better. Today I got 3 stops with just my seat. It isn't anywhere close to reliable yet, but going in the right direction!

And Liz seemed to have fun with Eli even though it was so muddy. She turned him out first and he ran like a Banchee, but didn't even come close to slipping. Very fun!

Hopefully it will dry out. I am not complaining though because we really need the rain, especially after last years' horrible drought.

I'm glad I checked first

Well in my quest to search for a new saddle I thought I would try and make due with what I have. My current english saddle is too small for me as I have mentioned before. Funds are tight so buying a new saddle is out of the question unless it is a used saddle AND I can sell my other one first.

So Tuesday I headed to the barn with my western saddle. I haven't ridden western in at least 4-5 years, maybe longer. But I figured I soaped and conditioned my western saddle and it seems to have a bit more wiggle room in the rear if you know what I mean, so why not give it a try?

Well I got there and Duck was only interested in eating grass. Can you say food monster?

So I was also doing back tracings to see if I WAS able to come by a good used saddle what size/tree width I would need. I have currently been looking at the Duett Companion Trail saddle. I am thinking this would be a good fit for all purpose and trail riding that I want to do.

Back to the back tracing. My theraflex was too thick and big to be able to put on my saddle and then get a tracing with the saddle on so I decided to do it with no pad. Saddle up, walk around let the saddle settle. That all went pretty well besides trying to keep her head out of the grass to get the tracing! LOL

Then I brought my western saddle and figured I'd ride in that for the day. So I drove Duck to the saddle in the back of my open van from her grazing spot in the field. No issues. Had her sniff it and the pad. No issues there either. So we saddled up and did some driving from zone 4 ish out in the hayfield and then to the arena with no problems (with the saddle that is)

After a few tightening I decided to try a circle game at the canter to see if she was truly ok with the saddle. Well I asked her to trot, no problem, then canter. WOW! She cantered about half a lap before taking off full speed ahead bucking! I could see then what was bothering her, the long straps on the back of the saddle I had put on when I originally bought it to tie on camping gear.

Well after a couple circle laps full blown ahead I backed myself into the arena wall so she would have to stop sometime while running crazy! It took several half laps and then she finally calmed down, licked and chewed and stood waiting (and sweating.)

I decided to try again with the circle and off she went again, this time I shut it down much quicker. So then I decided to just flap the straps on her butt while she stood there. She kept trying to come into me (thinking I was asking her to move) but soon got it and stood still much more relaxed. We played stick to me for a bit at the walk/trot and did some sideways and backing and then I decided it was safe to mount up for walk/trot.

She went pretty well in the saddle although she had pretty cranky ears (which could have been from the other horses in the arena.) It felt so different to me to ride western I was having a hard time trying to decide if I was on my balance point or not.

Duck was ridden western in Illinois when Brian rode her, I remember he rode her in Carol Coppinger's clinic western too. I think Jody rode her english. But she hasn't had a western saddle on since moving to NC a year and a half ago.

Long story short, I am glad I did the groundwork and preparation to make sure she was OK with the saddle BEFORE I got on and was able to fix the issue on the ground (although next time I need to match her energy more and much, much quicker in hindsight). But you bet I'll be extra vigilant in checking it out on the ground until I know 100% that she is ok with it! WHEW!

More zone 5, transitions and a demo (gulp!)

Yesterday after an extremely long day that consisted of a 6 am run for 30 minutes, morning chores at the barn (walking horses out to pastures), going home for 45 minutes and cooking Niels lunch (he has been sick) and then back to the barn to hostess a b-day party and walk ponies around for an hour, and then afternoon chores (walking horses back into the barn) lets just say my legs were really, really tired! They ached. I almost went home. But then since I haven't played with Duck for 2 weeks I decided to buck up and play/ride!

We played in zone 5 with driving. It took me a lot longer than I was hoping to get us back in "sync." Or maybe it just felt that way to me! We grazed and drove our way to the arena. Played figure 8 around some cones outside the arena to which the first time Duck just pretty much gave me the finger and didn't want anything to do with it. So I switched sides and made it so she'd have to go up/down a little hill (and over grass) while figure 8'ing and increased the energy of the "send". That did it! And we got some good figure 8's on the 12ft line with the hill.

Then we went in the arena and I did a few things on the ground such as sideways over a pole, and then I just decided because she was so distracted (there were about 5 other horses in the arena jumping etc) that I would just have her stick to me a bit and we practiced hindquarter disengagement from the ground.

I mounted up and Duck is getting a little too good at going towards the mounting block. She wants to go over it while I am standing on it sometimes! The nice thing was that when I got on she stood quietly for a couple minutes. That is a good improvement over her needing to just move right then. In fact her energy overall was less than I expected for the amount of time she has spent inside with the rain and me not being able to go play because of sick kids etc.

Started where we left off last riding session. Doing downward transitions. This time since I was in the main arena I used some outside line jump standards as the visual markers. The first 4-5 times she still just wasn't getting it. But then after she became "gate sour" for a minute I put her on the cloverleaf pattern and she was stopping in the middle rather quickly. So we went back to the original exercise and then towards the end the last one we did was really nice! She stopped pretty much right at the standard just off my seat! Yeah! Mixed in with this was also upward transitions, including into 2-3 strides of the canter (which the first time I thought she was going to buck but she didn't) and then back down to a trot. I then did a few trot/walk transitions at the standards and ended there! I still can't get over her canter. It is just SO up and down I feel like she is going to toss me every time! More fluidity practice I guess!

Looks like on April 18th I am doing a Parelli Demo at our barn for the Parade of Barns. The Parade of Barns is a fundraiser for a theraputic riding center in Huntersville. Basically they are selling tickets and there are 10 or so barns locally that will have demo's, lessons, etc. Our barn will be doing the Parelli Demo, UNCC Equestrian team demo and a lesson demo as well as pony rides all day.

I didn't want to do this all by my lonesome so I recruited a Parelli friend that is very close to being done with level 3 to help me, and hopefully some other students at the barn that are familiar with Parelli will too. Should be fun stuff although I admit I am a nervous about talking in front of a possible crowd. (That would be my very introverted personality. LOL) GULP! So we are working together to come up with what to say/demonstrate so far!

This is the website if you are local or want to check it out -

Hinds' Feet Farm

Not much play

Between the awful weather and sick kids I haven't been at the barn very much! Well scratch that. I've WORKED at the barn but haven't played much! I was bound and determined to play with Duck last Saturday though. It was pouring and 35 degrees. Originally I was just going to graze her but I decided to do some driving from zone 4 and grazing all around the hayfield. I am playing with lessening her thresholds around the property. She is very unconfident in new situations (clinics, trail rides, etc) so I am going to play as much as I can around the property in addition to the arena to see if I can increase her overall confidence in new situations! She did pretty good walked out rather quickly even in the pouring rain but I think that enthusiasm was more adrenaline and pent up energy from being cooped up in her stall for a few days. We went towards the road, and then towards the woods and WOW she still is scared to death of the area by the woods. We played squeeze game from well over 100ft away and it took several passes for her to go through slowly and confidently. Now I know what to play with later if this rain ever decides to clear up and my kids finally get better. As of yet they both still have fevers of 101 so I won't be going anywhere anytime soon. :(

Duck the escapee

Yesterday I went to the barn to ride with the kids in tow (didn't work out so well) and the barn workers told me Duck had too much to eat. Come to find out she had escaped fro her turn out pen to graze in the hayfield. (hmm, not food motivated at all huh?) She was out for about 3 hours.

Today I went to the barn to clean as I usually do on Thursdays and my horse was in her pen. On my way out my horse wasn't in her pen! Yep out again! I guess it is because for some reason the fences aren't electrified right now and there are just 2 tapes that keep them in.

So in the picture you can kind of tell she is out. If you look to the back fence you can see how she got out! Thankfully she isn't a wanderer! I was hoping to get a picture of her in the hayfield but she moved closer to Kay by the time I got back from the house getting my camera!

As for the ride Wednesday we played a little at liberty (but I wasn't as prepared as I should have been ) then rode practicing downward transitions off my seat using cones as a visual marker. Duck was pretty distracted with the beagles running in the rabbit field! But we played with it to the right walk/halt and trot/halt. Next time we'll go left.

Duck is officially a Wuss!

So all day Saturday and Sunday it was raining pretty hard and temps in the 30's. So the horses were all in their stalls. So I grazed Duck in the rain on Saturday so she could get some outside time (and played a little) and then Sunday when I was working the rain let up around 11:30 when I was leaving from the morning shift so I decided to kick her out until 3pm when I would be back to feed for the afternoon.

My horse is a WUSS! She has now been stalled for almost a year (usually only in bad weather) and now she can't even stand 2 hours of cold rain. YIKES! My horse from Illinois where it is -20 can't stand a cold NC rainstorm for 2 hours! She was shivering up a storm and extremely eager to get back into her stall! WOW! Well I am guessing that I WILL need a blanket after all just in case!

Too funny! The thought did cross my mind though that it may be the combination that she is already shedding her winter coat and she doesn't have much of a winter coat anyway. She was much, much fuzzier in Illinois.