Raw Emotion and Shadows

Hi all,

It's been a very interesting and erm...busy past couple of days to say the least. I've just finally worked up the energy to get on here and post, even though I've had news the past couple days in a row. So lets see how much of this I can portray, while keeping my blog to a reasonable length.

Tonight illustrates what Pat Parelli jokes with audiences frequently about. He will often say "How many people here have seen a human go through the WHOLE RANGE of pure, RAW emotions in ONE SESSION with a horse?" And a lot of the times, its true, in a negative sense in that we get mad, upset, happy, etc, at our horses. Tonight, that was not the case. I ran the gammot of emotions, but it was at my cradle bridle...AGAIN! I'm still sort of in the experimentation phase, and long story short, what I thought I had figured out as the correct setting was causing Prin to sull up, lose all forward motion, and then have a freak out (Not entirely sure if it was annoyance or fear) and rear, run backwards, etc. Needless to say, even though this is portrayed in the Bridle wisdom article, after happening 8 or 10 times, you begin to think that you must be doing something to aggrevate it, especially when the finesse is all well and a little bland in the stretchy chinstrap.

I emailed LP and have yet to hear back, but fortunately, kudos for the timing, love, Farrah called today to talk Savvy Conference plans, and I sprung my burning questions on her. She had some suggestions:

*Try the solid strap looser (is that a word?)

*Rubber band the strap in place if the loose setting makes it come un-fastened...I like the way she thinks!

*If she's as blocked in Zone 1 as it sounds like, collect her up NOT moving forward and use one rein...like in a sideways or shoulder in type deal. That way, she's not feeling pushed into a wall.

*If her zone 1 is blocked, mine might be too (DUUUHHHH!!!!!! *headdesk*)

*LOTS of fluid rein, but only until she realizes it's not blocking her, not until she's rooting and leaning.

*Longitudinal flexion is GOOD!

So I went back out after dinner, actually not at all planning on playing with that, but after Prin saw me coming (NOT EVEN FOR HER!) and took off for the other end of the pasture, I decided we needed to get some things straightened out.

We played a bit on the ground, actually trying to keep things interesting and painfully slow (I've not been taking my own advice on LBIs!!) so as to motivate more. After that, we bridled up, and basically went down the line of ideas Farrah had. It was really interesting, because when Prin was feeling blocked, I hadn't noticed before, but she actually started to drift sideways subtly. Way to pick up on that, Fran. We mainly did a lot of fluid rein though, and it took a while, and the changes were really subtle at first (I experienced a great feel for "Drive" with the hind quarters on Prin...that's where it all started) Once her stride changed, then her neck lowered...like an inch at a time, and then she started blowing, and then it all came together in one big BANG...and I stopped, unbridled, and promptly started balling on my horse's shoulder. It's been a MONTH of frustration with that thing, and we FINALLY had a HUGE break. HUGE. I could not BELIEVE IT! THANK YOU FARRAH!

Onto "Shadows". Mikaela got her new horse! He's FABULOUS. LBE to the max, he was so easy to get here, he loaded right into the trailer, rode quietly, and now has settled in and won't leave us alone, go figure. He's very clever, a fast learner, but really cocky. He's reared a couple times with me trying to drive his front end.

My only concern thus far is that Micky has for some reason developed an OBSESSION with teaching him to circle (NO! NO NO NO NO NO!!!!!!!) and that's not what he needs right now. He doesn't even know the Principle games yet! I'd hate to see that perfect little LBE lose his spark this early, especially since Micky's not up to subtlties in horsenality yet. I'll have to be careful and coach this one well, maybe I'll pull the same thing I did on Richard "You know...there are 6 other games. From now on, the circling game is banned within 20 miles of here." haha. And of course, Liberty and Horse behavior will become a regular around here.

Anyway, pictures:


GORGEOUS horse...really he is. 15.1hh, and smart as a whip. Love the blue halter on him, too.


Very expressive face