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.
