Parelli Playdate!

This last Saturday I had the opportunity to finally go to a Parelli Playdate! Got to trailer off the farm and head to Mariah Helms' place in Wingate. WOW, what a beautiful place. I have been there before, but it still is just such a nice farm!
Liz came along as well (since she has the horse trailer after all and wanted a fun day out) and we headed down.

We came up with a new slogan that we need to use as a sticker on Liz's trailer for when Duck and Eli are trailered together. "If the trailer's rockin' don't come a knockin!"

Duck and Eli are hilarious! It is a 2-horse straighload trailer, but there is no separation between their heads, so they can reach over and bother each other. And bother they do! It is constant! And they do it so much the trailer really does get to rockin'!

After we arrived we played in Mariah's new play area which is a big open area with obstacles as well as a new round corral. Duck did very well considering being in a new place and that we don't get to play in the open as much as I would like. We played online in the morning using the obstacles such as logs, poles, etc. I even played with Laura's mini named Ace, but that little LBE gave me a run for my money! He has a habit of pulling very hard on the lead and taking off! I seriously don't think that Duck has ever pulled on me that hard! Little guy got away twice! The first time just caught me off guard, and the second time he waited until I was talking to Liz to take off! Oh well, now I know not to hold the very end of the rope with a new horse like that. There just wasn't enough play in the rope for me to recover! LOL

At lunch we turned Duck and Eli out together in Mariah's huge pasture! I told her we may end up playing the catching game! Both Duck and Eli were loving all that room! But by the time we got back, she was at the gate and after coming to me once and then trotting off and then coming again, she was ready to "catch me". Later I found out from Mariah's mom that Duck and Eli had heard us coming and ran over to the gate to greet us! I can't think of a better compliment than that, it surely made my day!

We rode in the afternoon out in the same area. I practiced with some of the obstacles and also with going across the field and back several times. Christian, Mariah's brother and Bethany who were also at the playdate were running their horses back and forth randomly. Of course since Duck isn't used to galloping horses it upped her emotions. So it was good to just play with keeping her relaxed in spite of the thundering hooves!

Lately Duck has been super choppy wanting to canter all the time when I ask for the trot. So at the playdate I did the circling pattern around a log to try and get her more relaxed. It worked! It took quite a few laps there, but this week when I did the same she was much more relaxed at the trot and not trying to rush off!

All in all, it was a great playdate and I was tired by the end of the day. I think I was gone for 12 hours total with the trailering there, playdate, trailering back and unloading everything and taking care of Duck for the evening. Good thing I have a super supportive awesome hubby that watched the kids all that time so that I could play with Duck and my friends. I don't get to do that sort of thing very often because of working and time constraints on the weekends so it was a real treat! I am looking forward to being able to do it again really soon!

Full of of it for Spring

It must be spring. Or at least Duck is acting like it is spring! She is frisky, and downright fast sometimes! She has a lot of buck in her lately which is OK when I am on the ground, but not so hot when I'm trying to ride!

So this week I have been playing around with the 45 ft line again. Just trying to use it (on the dog) to get used to it. I've put it on Duck a couple times, but she does seem a bit "lost" out there with all that rope! So for now I am just trying it here and there and trying to improve my rope handling skills.

Yesterday I went to ride and she was full of it online. So much energy she cantered 6 laps on the 22ft line for circling game! Yippee! Then she added in a gallop and about 3-4 good bucks! We played for awhile longer and I felt like she was pretty in tune so I mounted up.

I must have been W-R-O-N-G! She kept giving me really nasty ears and wanting to canter when trotting so I was doing transitions downward to get her back in tune. This is all while playing the corners game. After a few laps she decided to canter off and I decided to say "and a few more ounces" to keep her going. She didn't like the idea that I was asking her to go past the corner, so she promptly BUCKED a huge buck and then stopped very nicely in the corner. WHEW! I got off and tied up her hackamore so I had the 12ft to play on. And then I backed her, a long ways. And she is still full of it, so I decided to have her burn off some more energy. I sent her over every jump in the arena. Most of them were cross rails, but 2-3 were straight rails. 2 of them were 2 ft straight rails, well the other one was higher, probably 2'6" maybe a bit higher, I'm not sure. But she has been very hesitant to do anything other than cross rails and with all this newfound energy I decided to give it a whirl.

I sent her from the trot and she flew over it, turned and faced. Mind you I'm on the 12ft line and the standards are so high you can't throw the rope over so I am on the near side of the jump wondering if she's going to take off after she lands! But she didn't and then I stayed there in zone 1 and asked her to come over it again, and she did! With hardly any pressure!

And then she was tired out a little and not so energetic, so I got back on.

I had recently changed my shim pattern so I wonder if the major nasty ears were feedback from that. Today I changed her shims back and she still got some nasty ears when trotting but not near as much.

She does, however want to keep cantering when I am asking her to trot. I think that stems from the last serious play we did of "gaits within the gait" at the walk and trot. She wanted to canter while I was doing that and a few times I let her because she was in tune and didn't feel like she was going to buck! So we have done some passenger lessons at the canter, but we are still working on direction at the trot! She likes to get hard-headed and since my mustang was exactly the same I can only assume that it is me making her stiff. So I am trying the advice of "never, ever, release on a brace". I'll keep you in tune for how it goes!

The other news is that Duck got a new pasture buddy. Her pasture buddy, Kay that has lived with Duck since we moved to Sundance almost 2 years ago left a couple weeks ago. Now she has a cute black and white paint gelding named Oakie for a buddy. Duck owns the pen now though, before it was Kay that was top horse! She hasn't buddied up with Oakie too much yet, but she isn't running him all the way to the other end of the pen constantly anymore either.

Tomorrow we are headed to a Parelli play date! I am so excited to get off the property and practice our savvy at a new place! Hopefully someday I can get a trailer so I can actually start going on more trail rides! But that in itself is a whole different post for another day.