Hi folks,
More blogs coming soon, I PROMISE. I've started two that I need to finish. But for now, I wanted to give you a little treat. Or...well..I think it's a treat, I'll let you make the final judgment ;)
Below is a video of me playing with Sunny on the day that I took her home. She taught me lots while she was here. Some of the big things were being in the moment, as well as an acute sensitivity to personal space, and understanding comfort/discomfort motivation to a new level. I'm very proud of what the two of us were able to accomplish in our time together, and I hope that her owner finds as much joy in playing with her as I did :)
Please let me know what you think!
Photo by Margaret Chant and edited by Jessica Metropulos
Showing posts with label Level 3. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Level 3. Show all posts
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Thursday, June 3, 2010
New Website, New Blog, Exciting News, etc
Howdy folks. Yes. I did abandon you again. I had some things to sort out, here. But, the good news is, I am here now. Alive, well, happy, and ready to continue to learn, and progress in my crazy journey.
So, First order(s) of business. Who's game for some updated material?
I have a brand spankin' new business name, new website, and new blog to go with it!
I am now proud to call my business Heart and Desire Horsemanship. My website is getting the finishing touches put on, so if you go check it out immediately, bear with me if there are a couple of blank pages yet. You can view it by clicking here: HEART AND DESIRE HORSEMANSHIP WEBSITE Take note of the URL while you're there!
Secondly, new blog! A place for me to share all things going on with my business--Trainee horses, posture and trimming experiments with my own horses, lesson highlights, and learning opportunities. Check that out here, and FOLLOW: HEART AND DESIRE HORSEMANSHIP BLOG
Thirdly, I have some HUGE news! HUGE HUGE HUGE!
Crest and I have been accepted, and invited to participate as "Linda's Lesson" at the Parelli Across America event in Columbus, OH! You want to talk about one proud, excited mommy! I've been hoping for an opportunity like this for years with this horse. I told Parelli that my goals for the lesson were to gain some insight into a more safe, enjoyable, and eventually, progressive riding experience with Crest. Since his online and liberty are L4 quality material, I'm struggling to find where there might be a hole in our communication on the ground, and so am searching for thoughts from atop zone 3 to progress us beyond Crest's emotional tendencies. This'll be a wonderful opportunity to have a lesson with someone who is considered a master! I can't wait, and of course there'll be a play-by-play post (novel?) and many pictures to follow!
So, was that enough of an update for you? Will I see any of you in Columbus?
Savvy on!
So, First order(s) of business. Who's game for some updated material?
I have a brand spankin' new business name, new website, and new blog to go with it!
I am now proud to call my business Heart and Desire Horsemanship. My website is getting the finishing touches put on, so if you go check it out immediately, bear with me if there are a couple of blank pages yet. You can view it by clicking here: HEART AND DESIRE HORSEMANSHIP WEBSITE Take note of the URL while you're there!
Secondly, new blog! A place for me to share all things going on with my business--Trainee horses, posture and trimming experiments with my own horses, lesson highlights, and learning opportunities. Check that out here, and FOLLOW: HEART AND DESIRE HORSEMANSHIP BLOG
Thirdly, I have some HUGE news! HUGE HUGE HUGE!
Crest and I have been accepted, and invited to participate as "Linda's Lesson" at the Parelli Across America event in Columbus, OH! You want to talk about one proud, excited mommy! I've been hoping for an opportunity like this for years with this horse. I told Parelli that my goals for the lesson were to gain some insight into a more safe, enjoyable, and eventually, progressive riding experience with Crest. Since his online and liberty are L4 quality material, I'm struggling to find where there might be a hole in our communication on the ground, and so am searching for thoughts from atop zone 3 to progress us beyond Crest's emotional tendencies. This'll be a wonderful opportunity to have a lesson with someone who is considered a master! I can't wait, and of course there'll be a play-by-play post (novel?) and many pictures to follow!
So, was that enough of an update for you? Will I see any of you in Columbus?
Savvy on!
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Slow and Right...
"Slow and right beats fast and wrong, and slow and right BUILDS fast and right, and NOTHING beats fast and right!" ~Pat Parelli
Over the past few days, I've gained a new appreciation for that Parelli-ism. You see, I've been hitting a new level of incompetence with Crest. It seems to happen more often with him than with my other projects, which is not all-together to shocking, but this particular bout of incompetence has been a bit more extreme, in that I couldn't simply step back and research my way out of it.
To be honest, this all started with my realizing that I'm unconfident enough that I cannot canter on Crest and feel safe, and I feel like that's really holding us back from progressing into L3 freestyle.
It's cause by different things for both of us. For me, it's fear. I've never been hurt cantering on him, but I've had too many near misses and little hits to my confidence that have built up over time, as well as not recognizing fear and plowing my own thresholds. That's an easy enough problem to solve with approach and retreat mentally--but then actually fixing my fear on his back is really hard, especially since it's not a worry about my ABILITY to canter (put me on any other horse and I'll canter standing up, backwards, forwards, you name it, all with confidence), but in my ability to canter ON HIM.
For Crest, it's an emotional issue. He comes unglued really fast and really easily with a rider. You've probably heard me elude to that fact in prior posts. It used to be that he had a hard time controlling his body--he'd get very emotional even cantering online, but after spending the early summer with Farrah, and spending the majority of the fall developing his online to L4, that's not much of an issue anymore. When I get on his back, though, he falls apart. I'm sure I'm not helping. I tend to want to canter, but only a little bit, so to speak. That trust isn't there 100% a lot of the time.
The issue I was faced with was how one builds confidence as a rider, while helping the horse become a less-emotional individual WITH a rider. To me, it seemed like the kind of thing that shouldn't be solved at the same time, but the problem was, I couldn't seem to find another way to do it.
I sent emails to 3 friends of mine who are Parelli professionals, seeking their thoughts and feedback. Two of the three gave me really really good philosophical thoughts to ponder...post-its with these thoughts now line the frame on my monitor as I type this. The third came back with "hands-on" information, and this is where "Slow and right" comes in.
We often generalize that extroverts need to move their feet. They are, after-all, extroverts. What I seem to forget, apparently too often, is that confident, Left-Brained horses are not always confident left-brained learners. In fact, in Crest's case, he's not a confident learner at all.
The FIRST thing my friend said in her email was this thought-provoking paragraph:
"You have to make your horse's confidence primary. When you get him calm, confident and trusting, it will be easier for you to trust him. I think that you're not paying enough attention to his emotional state and pushing him over thresholds that you are probably not even aware of. Slow down, make it easier for him. Break things down in to little chunks. And where necessary, get off for HIS confidence - which probably goes before yours. And when I talk about his confidence, it may not be that he's afraid, as in prey animal afraid, but that he's lost confidence in your leadership."
...Naturally. We've been through this before. I think there's a blog entry from early 2008 with nearly the same advice with regard to a different subject.
So for the past week, Crest and I have been taking it SLOWLY. When I say slowly, I mean observing MICROSCOPIC behaviors. I've re-watched some key demos in the Liberty and Horse Behavior pack, and have actually incorporated some things Pat has done with Casper into our liberty play, here, as well as lots of short pattern-oriented rides. Haven't seen any huge effect yet, but again, "slow and right..." We'll get there, it's been a great lesson in dropping the time-line (which I hadn't even realized I had on him!)
Interestingly enough, the effect that this has had on Prin is for the better, too--I think my introvert is feeling a little resentful--"Sure, you'll finally slow down if it's HIM?" ...nah, kidding! But seriously, she's doing really well as a result, too--the giddyup and go that she's got in her draw, flying changes, and circling game are pretty impressive. It's only taken me 7 years and another horse to teach me the lesson, but hey!
So anyway, with that said, I'm off to go play with a couple ponies.
Over the past few days, I've gained a new appreciation for that Parelli-ism. You see, I've been hitting a new level of incompetence with Crest. It seems to happen more often with him than with my other projects, which is not all-together to shocking, but this particular bout of incompetence has been a bit more extreme, in that I couldn't simply step back and research my way out of it.
To be honest, this all started with my realizing that I'm unconfident enough that I cannot canter on Crest and feel safe, and I feel like that's really holding us back from progressing into L3 freestyle.
It's cause by different things for both of us. For me, it's fear. I've never been hurt cantering on him, but I've had too many near misses and little hits to my confidence that have built up over time, as well as not recognizing fear and plowing my own thresholds. That's an easy enough problem to solve with approach and retreat mentally--but then actually fixing my fear on his back is really hard, especially since it's not a worry about my ABILITY to canter (put me on any other horse and I'll canter standing up, backwards, forwards, you name it, all with confidence), but in my ability to canter ON HIM.
For Crest, it's an emotional issue. He comes unglued really fast and really easily with a rider. You've probably heard me elude to that fact in prior posts. It used to be that he had a hard time controlling his body--he'd get very emotional even cantering online, but after spending the early summer with Farrah, and spending the majority of the fall developing his online to L4, that's not much of an issue anymore. When I get on his back, though, he falls apart. I'm sure I'm not helping. I tend to want to canter, but only a little bit, so to speak. That trust isn't there 100% a lot of the time.
The issue I was faced with was how one builds confidence as a rider, while helping the horse become a less-emotional individual WITH a rider. To me, it seemed like the kind of thing that shouldn't be solved at the same time, but the problem was, I couldn't seem to find another way to do it.
I sent emails to 3 friends of mine who are Parelli professionals, seeking their thoughts and feedback. Two of the three gave me really really good philosophical thoughts to ponder...post-its with these thoughts now line the frame on my monitor as I type this. The third came back with "hands-on" information, and this is where "Slow and right" comes in.
We often generalize that extroverts need to move their feet. They are, after-all, extroverts. What I seem to forget, apparently too often, is that confident, Left-Brained horses are not always confident left-brained learners. In fact, in Crest's case, he's not a confident learner at all.
The FIRST thing my friend said in her email was this thought-provoking paragraph:
"You have to make your horse's confidence primary. When you get him calm, confident and trusting, it will be easier for you to trust him. I think that you're not paying enough attention to his emotional state and pushing him over thresholds that you are probably not even aware of. Slow down, make it easier for him. Break things down in to little chunks. And where necessary, get off for HIS confidence - which probably goes before yours. And when I talk about his confidence, it may not be that he's afraid, as in prey animal afraid, but that he's lost confidence in your leadership."
...Naturally. We've been through this before. I think there's a blog entry from early 2008 with nearly the same advice with regard to a different subject.
So for the past week, Crest and I have been taking it SLOWLY. When I say slowly, I mean observing MICROSCOPIC behaviors. I've re-watched some key demos in the Liberty and Horse Behavior pack, and have actually incorporated some things Pat has done with Casper into our liberty play, here, as well as lots of short pattern-oriented rides. Haven't seen any huge effect yet, but again, "slow and right..." We'll get there, it's been a great lesson in dropping the time-line (which I hadn't even realized I had on him!)
Interestingly enough, the effect that this has had on Prin is for the better, too--I think my introvert is feeling a little resentful--"Sure, you'll finally slow down if it's HIM?" ...nah, kidding! But seriously, she's doing really well as a result, too--the giddyup and go that she's got in her draw, flying changes, and circling game are pretty impressive. It's only taken me 7 years and another horse to teach me the lesson, but hey!
So anyway, with that said, I'm off to go play with a couple ponies.
Friday, February 19, 2010
...and Fun Was Had by All
Today has been an absolutely remarkable day. I had two awesome plays with Prin and Cricket, and they're soooo worth sharing about.
I started out this morning playing with Prin. Last night I got a round of inspiration to start playing with some Finesse again, for whatever the reason. I've been avoiding the savvy as much as possible because I tend to turn into a scary person when I ride with contact. I've been focusing my attention to the details and pieces of successful finesse since November, and it suddenly dawned on me that all of my primary pieces were in place at suggestion level. I also came up with some new ideas for ways to develop lateral maneuvers without a rail to follow (I felt brilliant!), and wanted to play a little with it, at the walk, just to see what we could get.
Prior to today, when I'd pick my reins up at the beginning of our session, Prin would be fairly heavy. I'd have to do a fair amount of suspension rein and duck-landing transitions before she would be light enough in her front end to even handle "coiling the spring" so to speak, and collecting up.
Today, I just lifted my reins and her head came in, when I picked up contact, I felt her ENTIRE FRONT END come up to meet my hands. Not that I didn't believe it was possible, but I've NEVER felt anything like that come out of Prin before. It was exhilarating and we hadn't even moved yet!
We rode some figure 8's, focusing on keeping zone 5 closest to the barrel (focusing on keeping weight back and HQs flexible), and she felt REALLY solid. Did several more figure 8's with leg yields through the middle, and then played with the weave pattern, doing haunches and shoulders in through the cones. This all went really well, the neatest thing I found was that she was actually a little TOO flexible in her lateral stuff--it used to be that she couldn't do haunches and shoulders because she was so braced and locked up. Though she's still not 100% correct, I consider over-flexibility to be a HUGE step in the right direction for her. And the best part was, neither one of us ever lost our patience or our confidence. HUGE HUGE HUGE. It was awesome, and a huge success!
Next, I played with Cricket. I'm in the process of developing her into my lesson horse troop for 2010, and so I've been playing on developing her knowledge for patterns in online/freestyle up to Level 3. She's doing really beautifully online, especially, but recently she's been getting a bit presumptuous about the circling game, and has lost a lot of her play drive. I'm sure I've just drilled her a bit, is all, so today, I set out to make it right and bring her curiosity back out.
I used the touch-it game as my motivator. Cricket is innately a very dominant LB horse, set into some very resentful, almost RB-esque patterns from poor previous handling. I chose touch it because it allows for a horse's dominance to come out through the nose, something Left-Brain extroverts especially have a tendency for.
At first, she wanted none of it. Though she would touch the cones, she would do it with a "Why would I WANT to do that?" expression on her face. But as the game progressed (cones, barrels, round corral panels, tree limbs, etc), her curiosity started to take over, until she was getting a bit playful. Below are a couple of photos I snapped as we played toward the end of our session. The photo with the barrel was taken right before we quit. She had knocked it over, and had pushed it about 10 feet, before settling in to bite it. The one with the cone was taken just before she knocked it over, and then picked it up. Isn't she just the cutest?
BITE!
"I'll knock it over, then bite it!"
As you can see, we had fun :)
Alright, off to bed. Savvy on, folks!
I started out this morning playing with Prin. Last night I got a round of inspiration to start playing with some Finesse again, for whatever the reason. I've been avoiding the savvy as much as possible because I tend to turn into a scary person when I ride with contact. I've been focusing my attention to the details and pieces of successful finesse since November, and it suddenly dawned on me that all of my primary pieces were in place at suggestion level. I also came up with some new ideas for ways to develop lateral maneuvers without a rail to follow (I felt brilliant!), and wanted to play a little with it, at the walk, just to see what we could get.
Prior to today, when I'd pick my reins up at the beginning of our session, Prin would be fairly heavy. I'd have to do a fair amount of suspension rein and duck-landing transitions before she would be light enough in her front end to even handle "coiling the spring" so to speak, and collecting up.
Today, I just lifted my reins and her head came in, when I picked up contact, I felt her ENTIRE FRONT END come up to meet my hands. Not that I didn't believe it was possible, but I've NEVER felt anything like that come out of Prin before. It was exhilarating and we hadn't even moved yet!
We rode some figure 8's, focusing on keeping zone 5 closest to the barrel (focusing on keeping weight back and HQs flexible), and she felt REALLY solid. Did several more figure 8's with leg yields through the middle, and then played with the weave pattern, doing haunches and shoulders in through the cones. This all went really well, the neatest thing I found was that she was actually a little TOO flexible in her lateral stuff--it used to be that she couldn't do haunches and shoulders because she was so braced and locked up. Though she's still not 100% correct, I consider over-flexibility to be a HUGE step in the right direction for her. And the best part was, neither one of us ever lost our patience or our confidence. HUGE HUGE HUGE. It was awesome, and a huge success!
Next, I played with Cricket. I'm in the process of developing her into my lesson horse troop for 2010, and so I've been playing on developing her knowledge for patterns in online/freestyle up to Level 3. She's doing really beautifully online, especially, but recently she's been getting a bit presumptuous about the circling game, and has lost a lot of her play drive. I'm sure I've just drilled her a bit, is all, so today, I set out to make it right and bring her curiosity back out.
I used the touch-it game as my motivator. Cricket is innately a very dominant LB horse, set into some very resentful, almost RB-esque patterns from poor previous handling. I chose touch it because it allows for a horse's dominance to come out through the nose, something Left-Brain extroverts especially have a tendency for.
At first, she wanted none of it. Though she would touch the cones, she would do it with a "Why would I WANT to do that?" expression on her face. But as the game progressed (cones, barrels, round corral panels, tree limbs, etc), her curiosity started to take over, until she was getting a bit playful. Below are a couple of photos I snapped as we played toward the end of our session. The photo with the barrel was taken right before we quit. She had knocked it over, and had pushed it about 10 feet, before settling in to bite it. The one with the cone was taken just before she knocked it over, and then picked it up. Isn't she just the cutest?
BITE!
"I'll knock it over, then bite it!"
As you can see, we had fun :)
Alright, off to bed. Savvy on, folks!
Monday, November 30, 2009
Oh, Heavenly Day
Oh goodness, I could not have asked for a more marvelous day with my horses, today!
So that blog I wrote a couple days ago about partial disengagement? Yeah, I was definitely onto something. Today, though it took a bit of time for her to find that sweet spot, Prin was a stretching MACHINE, online. It was absolutely amazing to see her truly come through and over in her body--this is something we've been struggling with for a year! I can feel major changes in our online coming, very VERY soon--this is the key that we've been missing to flexion on the 45' line, quality in close range circling at liberty, and a happier horse on the circle in general. This is the key to better finesse. I cannot believe that it finally clicked. I'm SO proud of her! I'll try to get some pix ASAP.
In other news--I taught LB the beginnings of driving today--just started out in zones 3/4/5 with long lines. She was a little unconfident with it at first, she was downright confused as to how I was communicating with both sides of her at once, but she got the hang of it, and picked up on some basics right away--she now knows "Whoa", "Step", and "Back" all verbally, and ground drives walk/halt/reverse fairly well. I'm trying to convince my dad to get me a harness for her for Xmas, so we shall see where this goes. Little horse LOVES having a purpose, and honestly, she needs to start pulling some weight around...chubby little booger!
So that's where it's at tonight. Feeling VERY happy with how things are going out there, and SO proud of my girls!
Savvy on!
So that blog I wrote a couple days ago about partial disengagement? Yeah, I was definitely onto something. Today, though it took a bit of time for her to find that sweet spot, Prin was a stretching MACHINE, online. It was absolutely amazing to see her truly come through and over in her body--this is something we've been struggling with for a year! I can feel major changes in our online coming, very VERY soon--this is the key that we've been missing to flexion on the 45' line, quality in close range circling at liberty, and a happier horse on the circle in general. This is the key to better finesse. I cannot believe that it finally clicked. I'm SO proud of her! I'll try to get some pix ASAP.
In other news--I taught LB the beginnings of driving today--just started out in zones 3/4/5 with long lines. She was a little unconfident with it at first, she was downright confused as to how I was communicating with both sides of her at once, but she got the hang of it, and picked up on some basics right away--she now knows "Whoa", "Step", and "Back" all verbally, and ground drives walk/halt/reverse fairly well. I'm trying to convince my dad to get me a harness for her for Xmas, so we shall see where this goes. Little horse LOVES having a purpose, and honestly, she needs to start pulling some weight around...chubby little booger!
So that's where it's at tonight. Feeling VERY happy with how things are going out there, and SO proud of my girls!
Savvy on!
Friday, November 27, 2009
Oh, My Extroverts!
Today's play was an interesting wake-up call to me with regard to two of my little herd. I am innately a Left-Brain Extrovert, and though I'm pretty adequate at handling all the horsenalities, I've always been partial to my left-brain horses, particularly the extroverts, recently (though it used to be LBIs, hands down! Thanks Prin!). Today's events revolved around two fascinating (and perplexing, in some cases) sessions with two of my horses--and involved my digging deep into my savvy quiver at points.
I started my afternoon out with a half an hour long session with little LB. It's been a long time since I've put any effort into LB's development, simply for time's sake. LB is QUITE the little extrovert, and what little time I've put on her has been centered around developing obedience--something, she taught me right off the bat, that doesn't last unless she's played with consistently. Note to self...
LB's version of disobedience--she was supposed to be trotting a circle!
We played with developing obedience and smoothness on the 22' line. LB's circling game particularly has lots to improve upon, the little rascal likes to circle with her nose IN THE AIR, tilted away from me. My usual strategy for dealing with this is actually to just hold my hand closed and firm with as little rope as possible, and then release on the slightest try, but LB wanted none of it. I have NEVER had that strategy not work, most horses get tired of carrying themselves incorrectly within a couple laps and start to relax--not her! I isolated it as a broken porcupine, and inspected some other areas--broken draw in yo-yo, broken bring-back on the circle, and decided I needed to focus on porcupining the front end.
We started with basic L1 porcupine games, and moved on to other things while in motion--I used the figure-8 pattern to my advantage, looking to continue the pattern until she showed signs of obedience. I was very impressed with her persistence, I must say--she came up with about 28 ways NOT to do the figure 8 pattern, but all of a sudden, she just fell into a rhythm. I got several repetitions of very soft, pretty, obedient pattern, and brought her in. I unhaltered her, and she started offering to do some things at liberty on her own, which I thought was pretty darn neat! We played for another couple of minutes before I put her back and went for my next playmate.
I played with Crest, next. Crest was VERY emotional today--whether it was the weather, the fact that I was still a bit mentally bound up over my session with LB, or just because that's how he was meant to be today, I don't know. But he started out by telling me quite plainly that he NEEDED to move his feet. I obliged, and let him move about at the end of my 45' line. That was not probably the best move on my part--had I been more on my game, I might have put him on a pattern or something, so as to keep his mind occupied. Anyway, it ended fine, he just took a little longer to focus.
We played a lot online, focusing on walk/canter/walk transitions (hoping this'll transfer to our riding), and then moving to long-line driving--which he is now the champion of. I'm still a bit clumsy when it comes to changing bend/flow from side to side on circles, and it bothers him a little, I think. I'm pretty sure it just breaks down to a communication slip--my timing isn't perfect yet, and Crest is so sensitive that we're just missing something by a hair. I'll keep playing with it and let you know how it goes--I think I'll probably use the figure 8 pattern here, too. It's a pattern he knows well (he's playing in L4) so that buys me some opportunity to work on myself without worrying about him. We shall see how it goes.
I got on his back for a few minutes and just focused on isolations again--my GOODNESS he's getting light! I got several GORGEOUS 180 degree rollbacks using practically nothing, and he's getting this super speedy, but super controlled backup going, too. What a neato horse!
So, that's pretty much it for today. I'm so tired I can hardly keep my eyes open right now. Again, I'm very wordy, but I hope I gave you at least a little insight into my day--again, feedback is welcome if you wish :)
Savvy on, I'm off for BED!
I started my afternoon out with a half an hour long session with little LB. It's been a long time since I've put any effort into LB's development, simply for time's sake. LB is QUITE the little extrovert, and what little time I've put on her has been centered around developing obedience--something, she taught me right off the bat, that doesn't last unless she's played with consistently. Note to self...
LB's version of disobedience--she was supposed to be trotting a circle!
We played with developing obedience and smoothness on the 22' line. LB's circling game particularly has lots to improve upon, the little rascal likes to circle with her nose IN THE AIR, tilted away from me. My usual strategy for dealing with this is actually to just hold my hand closed and firm with as little rope as possible, and then release on the slightest try, but LB wanted none of it. I have NEVER had that strategy not work, most horses get tired of carrying themselves incorrectly within a couple laps and start to relax--not her! I isolated it as a broken porcupine, and inspected some other areas--broken draw in yo-yo, broken bring-back on the circle, and decided I needed to focus on porcupining the front end.
We started with basic L1 porcupine games, and moved on to other things while in motion--I used the figure-8 pattern to my advantage, looking to continue the pattern until she showed signs of obedience. I was very impressed with her persistence, I must say--she came up with about 28 ways NOT to do the figure 8 pattern, but all of a sudden, she just fell into a rhythm. I got several repetitions of very soft, pretty, obedient pattern, and brought her in. I unhaltered her, and she started offering to do some things at liberty on her own, which I thought was pretty darn neat! We played for another couple of minutes before I put her back and went for my next playmate.
I played with Crest, next. Crest was VERY emotional today--whether it was the weather, the fact that I was still a bit mentally bound up over my session with LB, or just because that's how he was meant to be today, I don't know. But he started out by telling me quite plainly that he NEEDED to move his feet. I obliged, and let him move about at the end of my 45' line. That was not probably the best move on my part--had I been more on my game, I might have put him on a pattern or something, so as to keep his mind occupied. Anyway, it ended fine, he just took a little longer to focus.
We played a lot online, focusing on walk/canter/walk transitions (hoping this'll transfer to our riding), and then moving to long-line driving--which he is now the champion of. I'm still a bit clumsy when it comes to changing bend/flow from side to side on circles, and it bothers him a little, I think. I'm pretty sure it just breaks down to a communication slip--my timing isn't perfect yet, and Crest is so sensitive that we're just missing something by a hair. I'll keep playing with it and let you know how it goes--I think I'll probably use the figure 8 pattern here, too. It's a pattern he knows well (he's playing in L4) so that buys me some opportunity to work on myself without worrying about him. We shall see how it goes.
I got on his back for a few minutes and just focused on isolations again--my GOODNESS he's getting light! I got several GORGEOUS 180 degree rollbacks using practically nothing, and he's getting this super speedy, but super controlled backup going, too. What a neato horse!
So, that's pretty much it for today. I'm so tired I can hardly keep my eyes open right now. Again, I'm very wordy, but I hope I gave you at least a little insight into my day--again, feedback is welcome if you wish :)
Savvy on, I'm off for BED!
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Fran and Crest--"The Story"
Introducing Fran and Crest's new video! Finally! Please give me some feedback :)
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Oh, So THAT'S What Productive Feels Like!
Hi you guys!
It's been a very bizarre week, hence my slight drop off the face of the planet. Physical exhaustion, coupled with major disorganization, and a rather unkind man-made knock to my confidence have all taken a toll on my horsin' around these days. So anyway, I figured you all were due for a bit of an update!
As I mentioned, it's been slow here, and the tension within MY MIND has been building slowly, and got to the point last night that I COULD NOT ignore it anymore. So last night, I broke, and went "I'm going to LISTEN to my body for once! I want sleep, I want to get up early and enjoy the morning, I want to stay hydrated, I want to stop eating crap at random times, I want to read, I want to get back to my learning frame of mind, I want to spend all day at the barn and love it like I used to. I'm going to get organized, and I'm GOING to do this." So I did. I was up early this morning, actually ate breakfast, made coffee, drank 3 glasses of water before I left. I cleaned my car out, then headed to the farm and had my first round with the horses--an hour and a half long session with little Sunny.
That was an adventure. I had a wedding to go to yesterday, and so little Sunshine got the day off, which was fine, she had earned it, but she must have spent the day plotting her next playtime with me! Today's session revolved around all things porcupine. When she arrived here, she was very unconfident in zone one, and made up for it with confidence and dominance in zones 2 and 3. All last week revolved around getting zone 1 really nice and friendly, while keeping her ribs and shoulders where they belong--not on top of me ;)
Today was quite the opposite, she offered some of the most beautiful correct trotting circles she's given since she's been here, but she was very snotty and pushy with zone 1. Talk about swinging the pendulum! Anyway, We played with porcupine pressure on the poll, leading by the chin and ears, as well as by the legs. She was a little resistant at first, but really caught on quickly, and by the end of the session was leading all over the place by different parts of her body, and offering to put her head down, around, or up, depending on what the situation called for. Really cool stuff!
Afterward, I hopped on her back. I'd been on her twice before, and really focused on getting her to accept my existing there, lots of friendly games, etc, and she's been a champ, so today I started teaching her the beginnings of HQ and FQ yields. At first there was a little brace, which was more my not having my weight correctly distributed, so once I fixed myself, she picked right up on it. I think she's going to be just wonderful! Pictures and VIDEO to come, I promise!!!
I headed home, and ate a healthy lunch (I have developed some really unhealthy sporadic eating habits this summer, and that's something I am determined to correct now), caught up on some reading, and then headed back up to play with both Crest and Cricket.
I had a really fun and educational online to Freestyle session with Crest, involving lots of play with a flank rope--how interesting. I followed an interesting path of indicators to get there, and let's just say his take on the whole concept has changed a bit since I last played with it. But it ended well, and I really want to include some of that good stuff in a video of us. He's awesome ;) The Freestyle riding was an entirely different story (For me anyway!). I opted to ride bareback with a carrot stick today and really start developing and progressing towards L3 Patterns. This was interesting for two reasons. One, I haven't ridden Crest in almost 3 weeks, and two, I haven't carrot stick ridden on him in who-knows how long. The main lesson I took out of it was that I need to do it FAR more often, and that I use my reins to balance on him A LOT. Yikes! I'll be playing with that in the near future! Overall his response was great though--much more responsive than I anticipated, and I got gutzy and rode with just a savvy string for a while (hackamore for safety net), and I actually felt very connected with him, which is super cool. More to develop there soon, I'm sure.
My session on Cricket was very rewarding. First of all, I took the time and shimmed her up in my fluidity saddle, which is huge, because when she came here, my 32 cm Stubben Roxane (WAYYY narrow) was too wide for her. She uses less shims in the super-wide fluidity than Crest, now! Gotta love her for that little Arabian rib cage! Anyway, I had a really really nice freestyle ride on her. We played in the round pen first on isolations (HQ and FQ), and then playing with follow the rail and transitions which she did magnificently with. I can't wait to develop her futher, she's going to make someone a PERFECT partner, I just know it!
Anyway, that's all for now folks. It's now 11:00, and I'm going to pattern that whole "early to bed" thing this week! Savvy on!
It's been a very bizarre week, hence my slight drop off the face of the planet. Physical exhaustion, coupled with major disorganization, and a rather unkind man-made knock to my confidence have all taken a toll on my horsin' around these days. So anyway, I figured you all were due for a bit of an update!
As I mentioned, it's been slow here, and the tension within MY MIND has been building slowly, and got to the point last night that I COULD NOT ignore it anymore. So last night, I broke, and went "I'm going to LISTEN to my body for once! I want sleep, I want to get up early and enjoy the morning, I want to stay hydrated, I want to stop eating crap at random times, I want to read, I want to get back to my learning frame of mind, I want to spend all day at the barn and love it like I used to. I'm going to get organized, and I'm GOING to do this." So I did. I was up early this morning, actually ate breakfast, made coffee, drank 3 glasses of water before I left. I cleaned my car out, then headed to the farm and had my first round with the horses--an hour and a half long session with little Sunny.
That was an adventure. I had a wedding to go to yesterday, and so little Sunshine got the day off, which was fine, she had earned it, but she must have spent the day plotting her next playtime with me! Today's session revolved around all things porcupine. When she arrived here, she was very unconfident in zone one, and made up for it with confidence and dominance in zones 2 and 3. All last week revolved around getting zone 1 really nice and friendly, while keeping her ribs and shoulders where they belong--not on top of me ;)
Today was quite the opposite, she offered some of the most beautiful correct trotting circles she's given since she's been here, but she was very snotty and pushy with zone 1. Talk about swinging the pendulum! Anyway, We played with porcupine pressure on the poll, leading by the chin and ears, as well as by the legs. She was a little resistant at first, but really caught on quickly, and by the end of the session was leading all over the place by different parts of her body, and offering to put her head down, around, or up, depending on what the situation called for. Really cool stuff!
Afterward, I hopped on her back. I'd been on her twice before, and really focused on getting her to accept my existing there, lots of friendly games, etc, and she's been a champ, so today I started teaching her the beginnings of HQ and FQ yields. At first there was a little brace, which was more my not having my weight correctly distributed, so once I fixed myself, she picked right up on it. I think she's going to be just wonderful! Pictures and VIDEO to come, I promise!!!
I headed home, and ate a healthy lunch (I have developed some really unhealthy sporadic eating habits this summer, and that's something I am determined to correct now), caught up on some reading, and then headed back up to play with both Crest and Cricket.
I had a really fun and educational online to Freestyle session with Crest, involving lots of play with a flank rope--how interesting. I followed an interesting path of indicators to get there, and let's just say his take on the whole concept has changed a bit since I last played with it. But it ended well, and I really want to include some of that good stuff in a video of us. He's awesome ;) The Freestyle riding was an entirely different story (For me anyway!). I opted to ride bareback with a carrot stick today and really start developing and progressing towards L3 Patterns. This was interesting for two reasons. One, I haven't ridden Crest in almost 3 weeks, and two, I haven't carrot stick ridden on him in who-knows how long. The main lesson I took out of it was that I need to do it FAR more often, and that I use my reins to balance on him A LOT. Yikes! I'll be playing with that in the near future! Overall his response was great though--much more responsive than I anticipated, and I got gutzy and rode with just a savvy string for a while (hackamore for safety net), and I actually felt very connected with him, which is super cool. More to develop there soon, I'm sure.
My session on Cricket was very rewarding. First of all, I took the time and shimmed her up in my fluidity saddle, which is huge, because when she came here, my 32 cm Stubben Roxane (WAYYY narrow) was too wide for her. She uses less shims in the super-wide fluidity than Crest, now! Gotta love her for that little Arabian rib cage! Anyway, I had a really really nice freestyle ride on her. We played in the round pen first on isolations (HQ and FQ), and then playing with follow the rail and transitions which she did magnificently with. I can't wait to develop her futher, she's going to make someone a PERFECT partner, I just know it!
Anyway, that's all for now folks. It's now 11:00, and I'm going to pattern that whole "early to bed" thing this week! Savvy on!
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Subtleties in Adrenaline
It's been an interesting couple of weeks around here, but I'm finally started to settle back into a routine of things with my ponies and the like. I had my second session with Crest since my accident, and like nothing had ever happened, he's back to being a miraculous teacher and partner for me.
Recently, it's become increasingly apparent to me that Crest's walk and canter (and the behaviors that surround them) are connected. He has a tendency to get very adrenalized and excited in the canter with me on his back, and of course, he power-walks like a fiend. I decided to examine his transitions online to see if I could get a feel for how things are transferring to his back.
I've found that Crest had a lot of trouble maintaining rhythm, relaxation, and contact in both canter and walk online. Now granted, I'm looking at this from a L4 standpoint. He's a shoo-in for L3. But he lacks that contact that I'd need to get the kind of ride I'd like out of him. Anyway, I've been playing a lot with getting his walk slow...and...rhythmic...and...not...adrenalized. Yes. At that pace. It is SO HARD for him, especially at the beginning of a session or after a downward transition. He gets very hyped up. Eventually what I'd like to see is for him to do canter-walk transitions online, and be able to find a nice relaxed walk almost immediately.
The key has been to recognize and release when he's truly found his relaxation, so that he knows that THAT is what I am looking for. The rest will come with repetition with him (once he figures out the pattern, he'll be great, he's so clever!). The subtle difference has to do with the tension in his body, as well as his breathing and I have to be VERY careful that I recognize it. I took a couple photos to show the subtleties I'm looking at. Thought you guys might be interested in them :) See if you can spot the difference. And yes, he's covered in mud, it poured all morning yesterday.
The "Adrenalized Walk"
Notice the tension he's carrying, particularly in his back, haunches, and withers. His topline is taught, stride long and deliberate. You can also see a flared nostril if you look carefully. His head is also above the vertical.
The "Calm Walk" (I tried to get it as close to the same place in stride as possible)
Here's his calm walk. Though it's not as evident through a photo as it would be in video, you can see that he's really using his whole body. He's reaching up and over the top, his head is lower, and his hind leg is REALLY reaching under him, indicating that he's actually focused on using his hind end. His head is also much closer to vertical. And finally, take a look at his tail. In the first photo, it's between his back legs. Not that it wasn't a bit sticky and humid, but it indicates that he was pretty braced. In the second photo, near the same place in stride, his tail is loose. Pretty interesting huh?
So that's what I've been playing with in him for now. I'm really looking forward to seeing how this transfers to his back--I may start playing with this walk-trot style freestyle. Let me know what you think!
Recently, it's become increasingly apparent to me that Crest's walk and canter (and the behaviors that surround them) are connected. He has a tendency to get very adrenalized and excited in the canter with me on his back, and of course, he power-walks like a fiend. I decided to examine his transitions online to see if I could get a feel for how things are transferring to his back.
I've found that Crest had a lot of trouble maintaining rhythm, relaxation, and contact in both canter and walk online. Now granted, I'm looking at this from a L4 standpoint. He's a shoo-in for L3. But he lacks that contact that I'd need to get the kind of ride I'd like out of him. Anyway, I've been playing a lot with getting his walk slow...and...rhythmic...and...not...adrenalized. Yes. At that pace. It is SO HARD for him, especially at the beginning of a session or after a downward transition. He gets very hyped up. Eventually what I'd like to see is for him to do canter-walk transitions online, and be able to find a nice relaxed walk almost immediately.
The key has been to recognize and release when he's truly found his relaxation, so that he knows that THAT is what I am looking for. The rest will come with repetition with him (once he figures out the pattern, he'll be great, he's so clever!). The subtle difference has to do with the tension in his body, as well as his breathing and I have to be VERY careful that I recognize it. I took a couple photos to show the subtleties I'm looking at. Thought you guys might be interested in them :) See if you can spot the difference. And yes, he's covered in mud, it poured all morning yesterday.
The "Adrenalized Walk"
Notice the tension he's carrying, particularly in his back, haunches, and withers. His topline is taught, stride long and deliberate. You can also see a flared nostril if you look carefully. His head is also above the vertical.
The "Calm Walk" (I tried to get it as close to the same place in stride as possible)
Here's his calm walk. Though it's not as evident through a photo as it would be in video, you can see that he's really using his whole body. He's reaching up and over the top, his head is lower, and his hind leg is REALLY reaching under him, indicating that he's actually focused on using his hind end. His head is also much closer to vertical. And finally, take a look at his tail. In the first photo, it's between his back legs. Not that it wasn't a bit sticky and humid, but it indicates that he was pretty braced. In the second photo, near the same place in stride, his tail is loose. Pretty interesting huh?
So that's what I've been playing with in him for now. I'm really looking forward to seeing how this transfers to his back--I may start playing with this walk-trot style freestyle. Let me know what you think!
Saturday, August 15, 2009
FANTASTIC Lessons
Hey All,
Quick update. My internet has been down, I'm typing on a library computer right now. I'll have more for you probably on Monday when my mother gets home and can wrangle the turkeys at CenturyTel into giving us information as to WHY our computer isn't working. (That's another story)
So, Kristi Smith was here Wednesday evening through Friday early morning. She taught lessons all day Thursday and we had a TON of fun. I shared a 3 hour semi-private with my good friend Anna and her horse Piper. We had a ton of fun, and by the end, I was literally riding a spotted hovercraft with hooves. Prin was SO LIGHT and responsive to everything Kristi had us playing with, it was truly a pleasure. I'm loving the progress that comes with these monthly lessons--be it Kristi or Farrah.
Richard took a lesson on Amigo which was REALLY nice to watch. Richard hasn't done a whole lot of riding recently--injury coupled with lack of time I think has really gotten his motivation levels. Anyway, they played with freestyle, and the patterns that go with it. Amigo went through one HELL of a transformation. Not that he's a difficult horse, but he hasn't really been ridden at all in the past 6 months. He went from cutting corners and neglecting responsibilities to following the rail and doing figure 8's like a L2 pony should. It was just beautiful to watch, and Richard, Kristi, and Amigo were all smiles throughout :)
We finished with my friend Jessica taking a lesson on Prin, which was just AWESOME. Kristi read my mind on subject matter, put a bareback pad on Prin, and proceeded to blow our minds with the most magnificent freestyle/fluidity lesson and transformation I've ever seen, personally. More on that later, I need to compose my thoughts and actually write this out. It might even be a seperate post, it was that amazing. So cool.
Kristi's demo, though slightly less-attended due to the rain, was wonderful. I was particularly pleased and impressed with her long-line driving, they've come so far even since I was in FL this winter. And of course their liberty, Maxi is such a hoot. Kristi did a great job engaging our group for the Q&A too, there were several...skeptics...in the audience, and she definitely got them thinking. To see members of my local saddle club leaving with horsenality charts was priceless. YAY!
Anyway, there's my short update. There will be pictures as soon as my internet is back up. I have pix of everyones' lessons, as well as some of the demo, courtesy of Raven Flores and Richard Knopf (when they arrive).
Savvy on!
Quick update. My internet has been down, I'm typing on a library computer right now. I'll have more for you probably on Monday when my mother gets home and can wrangle the turkeys at CenturyTel into giving us information as to WHY our computer isn't working. (That's another story)
So, Kristi Smith was here Wednesday evening through Friday early morning. She taught lessons all day Thursday and we had a TON of fun. I shared a 3 hour semi-private with my good friend Anna and her horse Piper. We had a ton of fun, and by the end, I was literally riding a spotted hovercraft with hooves. Prin was SO LIGHT and responsive to everything Kristi had us playing with, it was truly a pleasure. I'm loving the progress that comes with these monthly lessons--be it Kristi or Farrah.
Richard took a lesson on Amigo which was REALLY nice to watch. Richard hasn't done a whole lot of riding recently--injury coupled with lack of time I think has really gotten his motivation levels. Anyway, they played with freestyle, and the patterns that go with it. Amigo went through one HELL of a transformation. Not that he's a difficult horse, but he hasn't really been ridden at all in the past 6 months. He went from cutting corners and neglecting responsibilities to following the rail and doing figure 8's like a L2 pony should. It was just beautiful to watch, and Richard, Kristi, and Amigo were all smiles throughout :)
We finished with my friend Jessica taking a lesson on Prin, which was just AWESOME. Kristi read my mind on subject matter, put a bareback pad on Prin, and proceeded to blow our minds with the most magnificent freestyle/fluidity lesson and transformation I've ever seen, personally. More on that later, I need to compose my thoughts and actually write this out. It might even be a seperate post, it was that amazing. So cool.
Kristi's demo, though slightly less-attended due to the rain, was wonderful. I was particularly pleased and impressed with her long-line driving, they've come so far even since I was in FL this winter. And of course their liberty, Maxi is such a hoot. Kristi did a great job engaging our group for the Q&A too, there were several...skeptics...in the audience, and she definitely got them thinking. To see members of my local saddle club leaving with horsenality charts was priceless. YAY!
Anyway, there's my short update. There will be pictures as soon as my internet is back up. I have pix of everyones' lessons, as well as some of the demo, courtesy of Raven Flores and Richard Knopf (when they arrive).
Savvy on!
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
My *Potential* Audition
Hi all,
Here is the potential last leg to my L3 journey, my liberty audition. I think it turned out fairly well, but I did have one concern that I wanted some feedback on before I sent it in. We live a hop, skip, and a jump up from a river, and so during the summer months, we've got a horrific deer fly problem. We practically bathe our horses in flyspray and it hardly dents the issue. Anyway, in this video, my horse does a lot of tail-swishing and head-nodding. While it's evident through the video that it isn't directed at me, what I'd like feedback on is whether or not you think it detracts from the quality. Also, if there are any glaring horsemanship things that need fixing (like Pre-L3 things), feel free to point them out as well.
I'm not really looking forward to the prospect of filming it again, but if it needs to be done, it's done. I don't feel 100% confident about the quality in this audition, so please give me some feedback.
Thanks!
F
Here is the potential last leg to my L3 journey, my liberty audition. I think it turned out fairly well, but I did have one concern that I wanted some feedback on before I sent it in. We live a hop, skip, and a jump up from a river, and so during the summer months, we've got a horrific deer fly problem. We practically bathe our horses in flyspray and it hardly dents the issue. Anyway, in this video, my horse does a lot of tail-swishing and head-nodding. While it's evident through the video that it isn't directed at me, what I'd like feedback on is whether or not you think it detracts from the quality. Also, if there are any glaring horsemanship things that need fixing (like Pre-L3 things), feel free to point them out as well.
I'm not really looking forward to the prospect of filming it again, but if it needs to be done, it's done. I don't feel 100% confident about the quality in this audition, so please give me some feedback.
Thanks!
F
Friday, June 12, 2009
A Promise...
...I WILL blog more often, I swear. All I can say is that life is freaking INSANE right now. Between traveling, teaching, assisting, playing with my horse, spotlighting, celebrating, and going crazy, I have found myself with practically zero time to do anything on the computer. As I write this it's currently 1:39 am, and I'm still up, babysitting a large load of laundry that needs to dry faster than it is. That gives you an idea of the time crunch I'm in.
For those of you dying to know, my spotlight went fantastically in Madison. I've heard a lot of really wonderful feedback, some rude feedback (okay, seriously guys, I'm sorry if my cantering around bridless bores you), and some downright strange things. But overall, I don't care, my horse and I had fun, and that's what matters, honestly. We scored exactly what I felt we deserved, and I'm happy with it. I'm not satisfied, because I know there's ALWAYS room for improvement, but I'm pleased, have lots of things to play with and I cherish my fat ol' green ribbon that we got, along with the compliments from Pat, Linda, and everyone else who I spoke to. Thanks for your wonderful support! Pics and hopefully a video to come soon (working out copyright stuff with Parelli)
As i said earlier, I'm currently in the laundry biz. I'm home for a night from Rochester MN. I'll be switching horses out tomorrow, and taking Crest with me for the remainder of my 10 days with Farrah. This will be a huge opportunity to really give my up-and-coming boy a lot of attention, and hopefully develop some new ideas and fast-track our progress :) I'll try to keep you all updated. It'll also be a nice opportunity for my girl to rest up and have some time off, so that when I get home we can start to play with our L4 more seriously.
Other than that, I just keep dreaming and playing and enjoying life. I'll do my best to keep you all updated. I've learned a ton, and now need to go to bed so that I have a hope at retaining it. Thanks all for being patient with me, and I'll be back in touch soon.
For now:
WE LOVE YOU ALL!
Savvy on, Fran and Prin
For those of you dying to know, my spotlight went fantastically in Madison. I've heard a lot of really wonderful feedback, some rude feedback (okay, seriously guys, I'm sorry if my cantering around bridless bores you), and some downright strange things. But overall, I don't care, my horse and I had fun, and that's what matters, honestly. We scored exactly what I felt we deserved, and I'm happy with it. I'm not satisfied, because I know there's ALWAYS room for improvement, but I'm pleased, have lots of things to play with and I cherish my fat ol' green ribbon that we got, along with the compliments from Pat, Linda, and everyone else who I spoke to. Thanks for your wonderful support! Pics and hopefully a video to come soon (working out copyright stuff with Parelli)
As i said earlier, I'm currently in the laundry biz. I'm home for a night from Rochester MN. I'll be switching horses out tomorrow, and taking Crest with me for the remainder of my 10 days with Farrah. This will be a huge opportunity to really give my up-and-coming boy a lot of attention, and hopefully develop some new ideas and fast-track our progress :) I'll try to keep you all updated. It'll also be a nice opportunity for my girl to rest up and have some time off, so that when I get home we can start to play with our L4 more seriously.
Other than that, I just keep dreaming and playing and enjoying life. I'll do my best to keep you all updated. I've learned a ton, and now need to go to bed so that I have a hope at retaining it. Thanks all for being patient with me, and I'll be back in touch soon.
For now:
WE LOVE YOU ALL!
Savvy on, Fran and Prin
Friday, May 29, 2009
Trusting the Process...
One of those things we're taught in PNH is to trust the process, and it's something I've struggled with in waves since developing myself as a horsewoman. While I was in FL, I was totally receptive to whatever was said to me, and I totally trusted everyone I was with. Since, it's been in waves, as usual.
Today, I had a reminder about trusting the process that I wanted to share. I just found out last weekend that I was selected for a savvy spotlight, as I had blogged earlier. I hadn't choreographed much of anything other than my savvy, what I wanted in the arena, and my music, since I wanted to consult with Farrah about it. Today, we finally got a chance to play with it for the first time.
Well...long story short, it didn't go very well. Prin was wild and a bit distracted (first time in this particular arena, brand spanking new, with rubber shaved footing, to add weirdness to the whole situation.), and honestly, I couldn't get a whole lot accomplished. I came out feeling like I had a knot of tension in my stomach, and though I wasn't upset, angry, or frustrated, I didn't feel...good. I felt like I wasn't going to do very well if sessions kept up like that.
Then, as I was walking out, Farrah said something in response to my declaration of the above feelings. She said "Fran...I don't care what she does right now, this is about YOU. YOU need to understand, and YOU need to go through and get a feel for it. Don't stress, today is a terrible day to play with this anyway." (They're prepping for grand opening here tomorrow).
Wait. Stop. I need to learn this. Right. Duh. Process. Memorization doesn't happen all at once. Of course. So. With that in mind, take two on Sunday. Woohoo!
Also, my friend Olivia wrote something to me a couple days ago that really hit home with me that I'd like to share, too. I have a tendency to be in director mode when I ride, which is great as long as I can keep my head on straight, and not turn into a dictator. What Olivia said made me realize just how much I need to support Prin, but not push, now more than ever.
"Remember, you're never alone in front of thousands of people...you've got Prin."
~Olivia Mayer
I cried. I will not lie.
So, anyway, we'll keep going and see what happens. It WILL be a good experience.
Savvy on, off to go feed, shower, wipe tables, and get ready for dinner--sushi :D
Today, I had a reminder about trusting the process that I wanted to share. I just found out last weekend that I was selected for a savvy spotlight, as I had blogged earlier. I hadn't choreographed much of anything other than my savvy, what I wanted in the arena, and my music, since I wanted to consult with Farrah about it. Today, we finally got a chance to play with it for the first time.
Well...long story short, it didn't go very well. Prin was wild and a bit distracted (first time in this particular arena, brand spanking new, with rubber shaved footing, to add weirdness to the whole situation.), and honestly, I couldn't get a whole lot accomplished. I came out feeling like I had a knot of tension in my stomach, and though I wasn't upset, angry, or frustrated, I didn't feel...good. I felt like I wasn't going to do very well if sessions kept up like that.
Then, as I was walking out, Farrah said something in response to my declaration of the above feelings. She said "Fran...I don't care what she does right now, this is about YOU. YOU need to understand, and YOU need to go through and get a feel for it. Don't stress, today is a terrible day to play with this anyway." (They're prepping for grand opening here tomorrow).
Wait. Stop. I need to learn this. Right. Duh. Process. Memorization doesn't happen all at once. Of course. So. With that in mind, take two on Sunday. Woohoo!
Also, my friend Olivia wrote something to me a couple days ago that really hit home with me that I'd like to share, too. I have a tendency to be in director mode when I ride, which is great as long as I can keep my head on straight, and not turn into a dictator. What Olivia said made me realize just how much I need to support Prin, but not push, now more than ever.
"Remember, you're never alone in front of thousands of people...you've got Prin."
~Olivia Mayer
I cried. I will not lie.
So, anyway, we'll keep going and see what happens. It WILL be a good experience.
Savvy on, off to go feed, shower, wipe tables, and get ready for dinner--sushi :D
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Spotlight Acceptance
Hey all,
Quick post, wanting to let you all know that I have been accepted to perform in the Savvy Spotlight at the Madison, WI, Celebration coming up here in a couple weeks. Prin and I will be performing a spotlight in Level 3/4 Freestyle, which is our best savvy, by far.
It's funny because I've run the gamut of emotions already. I was totally excited (very much like I was when I found out about the savvy team two years ago), and then of course I went through the "Oh shit...I'm not comfortable doing this in front of 1000 people...alone!", and now I've settled into the "It's okay, you'll have 2 weeks with Farrah before the event, she'll be able to cure you of any pre-show jitters!" Not to mention, think of how much fun this is going to be, spending 4 days in the equivalent of a Savvy Conference...WITH MY HORSE!
So yay! Just had to share my exciting news! There will be pix and video, of COURSE!
Flashback to the last time Prin and I were presented in Madison :)
Quick post, wanting to let you all know that I have been accepted to perform in the Savvy Spotlight at the Madison, WI, Celebration coming up here in a couple weeks. Prin and I will be performing a spotlight in Level 3/4 Freestyle, which is our best savvy, by far.
It's funny because I've run the gamut of emotions already. I was totally excited (very much like I was when I found out about the savvy team two years ago), and then of course I went through the "Oh shit...I'm not comfortable doing this in front of 1000 people...alone!", and now I've settled into the "It's okay, you'll have 2 weeks with Farrah before the event, she'll be able to cure you of any pre-show jitters!" Not to mention, think of how much fun this is going to be, spending 4 days in the equivalent of a Savvy Conference...WITH MY HORSE!
So yay! Just had to share my exciting news! There will be pix and video, of COURSE!
Flashback to the last time Prin and I were presented in Madison :)
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
CONGRATULATIONS FARRAH!
Okay, perhaps some of the more exciting news in recent times, I'd like to throw a big shout-out and congratulations to Ms Farrah Green, who totally passed her Level 4 yesterday!! She has been waiting for the result on her liberty, and jokingly been telling people for a week now that she has 4.5 feet of her black string. Well...now she's got all six! She passed her liberty L4++, which is AWESOME.
Congratulations, girl!
I'm off to go teach now.
F
PS--I'm through filming my L3 stuff, as well, I'll have those up soon!
Congratulations, girl!
I'm off to go teach now.
F
PS--I'm through filming my L3 stuff, as well, I'll have those up soon!
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Updates from Madison
Hi All,
Life has been crazy the past few days, and is liable to remain so for the next week or more, so I thought I would shoot you a quick update and let you know what's going on in the life of Fran.
Tuesday evening, Farrah arrive at my house to teach private lessons on Wednesday. Her horses stayed at Sherri's. We had a nice low-key evening and hit the hay relatively early. Wednesday morning started at 5:30am, and involved lots of running around setting things up, etc. We got everyone rounded up (including LB's second ride loading up in the back of my car!), the arena set, and all that jazz by 9:00am, and lessons began.
Long story short (I'm going to avoid posting details of people's lessons publicly, if you'd like to hear specifics, please shoot me an email) it was as fantastic day and fun was had by all. Farrah and I ended with an inspirational demo with the 4 of our big horses (LB watched). Crest made an AWESOME cameo, playing double online while I rode Prin bridless. Pictures of all this next week (you'll understand why in a moment)
For the rest of this week and all of next, I'll be traveling with Farrah. We headed out for Madison, WI, on Thursday morning, to spend time at the Midwest Horse Fair, and then teach a clinic next weekend. Our trip down was uneventful, thank goodness. We had a lovely sushi dinner that night, and then hit the hay.
Friday was day 1 of Horse Fair, and Farrah and I both woke up with the beginnings of a cold. Nonetheless, we spent the day handing out flyers, editing website stuff, talking to customers, and promoting Parelli and The Horse First (AWESOME new all-natural boarding facility built by some good friends of ours, check out the link!) After the fair was done for the day, we went out riding and we had a FANTASTIC ride. I rode Prin, of course, and Farrah rode Wesley and turned Caesar loose. We rode like crazy people for an hour and a half, trotting, cantering, galloping (I haven't done that in a year at least!!!!) and just generally enjoying the gorgeous evening. I think the particular highlight was Caesar, overall. He's not a very naturally round horse, and Farrah's poured a lot of energy into getting him to look good and carry himself better, and BOY did that show! He looked FANTASTIC! He and Prin were having "extended-trotathons", and he honestly looked like he'd blow them away in the high-level dressage arena. Awesome.
Saturday, I was super super sick. I could hardly breath, let alone do anything productive. I kind of stuck to myself for most of the day, did some website editing for Farrah, and then moseyed around watching presentations for the rest of the day. We hit "The Old-Fashioned", a restaurant owned by another friend of ours, for dinner, and then headed home and after doing chores, crashed (almost literally!) for the night.
Today is the last day of horse fair. After this is finished, Farrah and I plan to go for a ride and do some playing. This week is going to be fun, Farrah will be teaching private lessons on Thursday and Friday, and then a clinic on Saturday and Sunday, and I'll head home Sunday night.
Somewhere in there, we plan to film all the L3 auditions for Prin and me, and see if we can attempt some Level 4 stuff (we'll see how that goes, I think I may be able to do online and freestyle, but like I said, we'll see). I'll get those videos up ASAP. So anyway, just keeping busy for now. I'm going to finish up editing Farrah's calendar, and then head out to lunch with a Parelli friend of mine.
So, I'll try to keep updated, but if I don't, it's only because life is crazy good :)
Savvy on!
Fran
Life has been crazy the past few days, and is liable to remain so for the next week or more, so I thought I would shoot you a quick update and let you know what's going on in the life of Fran.
Tuesday evening, Farrah arrive at my house to teach private lessons on Wednesday. Her horses stayed at Sherri's. We had a nice low-key evening and hit the hay relatively early. Wednesday morning started at 5:30am, and involved lots of running around setting things up, etc. We got everyone rounded up (including LB's second ride loading up in the back of my car!), the arena set, and all that jazz by 9:00am, and lessons began.
Long story short (I'm going to avoid posting details of people's lessons publicly, if you'd like to hear specifics, please shoot me an email) it was as fantastic day and fun was had by all. Farrah and I ended with an inspirational demo with the 4 of our big horses (LB watched). Crest made an AWESOME cameo, playing double online while I rode Prin bridless. Pictures of all this next week (you'll understand why in a moment)
For the rest of this week and all of next, I'll be traveling with Farrah. We headed out for Madison, WI, on Thursday morning, to spend time at the Midwest Horse Fair, and then teach a clinic next weekend. Our trip down was uneventful, thank goodness. We had a lovely sushi dinner that night, and then hit the hay.
Friday was day 1 of Horse Fair, and Farrah and I both woke up with the beginnings of a cold. Nonetheless, we spent the day handing out flyers, editing website stuff, talking to customers, and promoting Parelli and The Horse First (AWESOME new all-natural boarding facility built by some good friends of ours, check out the link!) After the fair was done for the day, we went out riding and we had a FANTASTIC ride. I rode Prin, of course, and Farrah rode Wesley and turned Caesar loose. We rode like crazy people for an hour and a half, trotting, cantering, galloping (I haven't done that in a year at least!!!!) and just generally enjoying the gorgeous evening. I think the particular highlight was Caesar, overall. He's not a very naturally round horse, and Farrah's poured a lot of energy into getting him to look good and carry himself better, and BOY did that show! He looked FANTASTIC! He and Prin were having "extended-trotathons", and he honestly looked like he'd blow them away in the high-level dressage arena. Awesome.
Saturday, I was super super sick. I could hardly breath, let alone do anything productive. I kind of stuck to myself for most of the day, did some website editing for Farrah, and then moseyed around watching presentations for the rest of the day. We hit "The Old-Fashioned", a restaurant owned by another friend of ours, for dinner, and then headed home and after doing chores, crashed (almost literally!) for the night.
Today is the last day of horse fair. After this is finished, Farrah and I plan to go for a ride and do some playing. This week is going to be fun, Farrah will be teaching private lessons on Thursday and Friday, and then a clinic on Saturday and Sunday, and I'll head home Sunday night.
Somewhere in there, we plan to film all the L3 auditions for Prin and me, and see if we can attempt some Level 4 stuff (we'll see how that goes, I think I may be able to do online and freestyle, but like I said, we'll see). I'll get those videos up ASAP. So anyway, just keeping busy for now. I'm going to finish up editing Farrah's calendar, and then head out to lunch with a Parelli friend of mine.
So, I'll try to keep updated, but if I don't, it's only because life is crazy good :)
Savvy on!
Fran
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Motivation!
You know, it's really interesting, studying horses, Parelli, etc, for years, knowing horsenality front to back, and having a seemingly excellent grasp on even the most obscure little pieces of information on how to play with different horses in different situations, and yet, the variations of strategies are so great that you don't realize you've missed something until...well...you find what you missed.
Now, if you were able to follow that obnoxiously long run-on, congrats. What I'm getting at is that there are SO MANY WAYS to motivate an LBI, and if you think you've tried them all, chances are, you really haven't. I had one such experience today with Prin. Now you would think, after having this horse for 6 years, KNOWING she's an LBI, KNOWING she likes food and scratches and slowness, you might get it, and get creative.
I've played a lot with incentives recently, especially now that we're getting more into things that require a greater level of athletecism, that Prin, little miss LBI that she is, doesn't necessarily WANT to do. I've found that there's REALLY nothing Prin won't do for a Winnies cookie, but often times, especially if she's farther out on the line, etc, the moment passes before I can reel her in to give her a cookie, and then we kind of lose all sense of goodness.
So, anyway, today, I happened upon something that actually worked really well, and I found it completely by accident. I had been playing on the 45' line a bit, which had gone okay. We were playing with relaxing and stretching down in the canter, which actually did come together, Prin was blowing and extending out a bit (as opposed to lifting her neck and getting "crunched up")and looked a bit more comfortable. But, as usual, there was a lack of try, and a big "Why am I DOING this? I'm BORED! I HATE circles!" and when she DID try, no way could I get her attention quick enough to get her to associate the reward with the behavior.
After finishing up on a fairly decent note, I left the line and halter on Prin and went and got her feed pan with her grain, and as I was climbing the fence, a thought struck me. I don't know WHY the synapses connected, but for some reason, I thought of how much Prin liked her grain, and just how tangible and OBVIOUS a feed pan was, and how if I placed it strategically enough in the center of the circle, let Prin know I had it, and then set the situation up, my horse would literally create her own motivation. The very best way I can put this is in one word: SUCCESS!
I sent Prin out on the circle, and INSTANTLY encountered a new thing: I actually had trouble getting her to TAKE the rope! usually, on the 45' she goes "Hey, rope, cool! Bye!" and goes to the end. Today, it was a consistant, comfortable 35-40 feet, with slack, belly of the rope dragging, and a WHOLE NEW HORSE out there. She was stretched and moving round, carrying her body arched with the circle, and with NO DRAG AT ALL on her halter. WOW. I couldn't BELIEVE it! She wasn't offering anything spectacularly athletic, but I wasn't expecting that, but the change in mental/physical alone was enough to boggle my mind. I did eventually GET her to canter a couple laps in each direction (using her shoulders correctly, btw) and also got a whole new level of close range circling (WOW let's talk flexibility!).
All in all, a very interesting experience. We'll have to see how this pans out, and whether or not there is a situational thing here, or I've really figured out WHY Farrah actually plays with her horses before they eat ;)
Pix to come tomorrow, lets hope!
Savvy on, and hey look, it's only 10:30! I might get some good sleep tonight!
Now, if you were able to follow that obnoxiously long run-on, congrats. What I'm getting at is that there are SO MANY WAYS to motivate an LBI, and if you think you've tried them all, chances are, you really haven't. I had one such experience today with Prin. Now you would think, after having this horse for 6 years, KNOWING she's an LBI, KNOWING she likes food and scratches and slowness, you might get it, and get creative.
I've played a lot with incentives recently, especially now that we're getting more into things that require a greater level of athletecism, that Prin, little miss LBI that she is, doesn't necessarily WANT to do. I've found that there's REALLY nothing Prin won't do for a Winnies cookie, but often times, especially if she's farther out on the line, etc, the moment passes before I can reel her in to give her a cookie, and then we kind of lose all sense of goodness.
So, anyway, today, I happened upon something that actually worked really well, and I found it completely by accident. I had been playing on the 45' line a bit, which had gone okay. We were playing with relaxing and stretching down in the canter, which actually did come together, Prin was blowing and extending out a bit (as opposed to lifting her neck and getting "crunched up")and looked a bit more comfortable. But, as usual, there was a lack of try, and a big "Why am I DOING this? I'm BORED! I HATE circles!" and when she DID try, no way could I get her attention quick enough to get her to associate the reward with the behavior.
After finishing up on a fairly decent note, I left the line and halter on Prin and went and got her feed pan with her grain, and as I was climbing the fence, a thought struck me. I don't know WHY the synapses connected, but for some reason, I thought of how much Prin liked her grain, and just how tangible and OBVIOUS a feed pan was, and how if I placed it strategically enough in the center of the circle, let Prin know I had it, and then set the situation up, my horse would literally create her own motivation. The very best way I can put this is in one word: SUCCESS!
I sent Prin out on the circle, and INSTANTLY encountered a new thing: I actually had trouble getting her to TAKE the rope! usually, on the 45' she goes "Hey, rope, cool! Bye!" and goes to the end. Today, it was a consistant, comfortable 35-40 feet, with slack, belly of the rope dragging, and a WHOLE NEW HORSE out there. She was stretched and moving round, carrying her body arched with the circle, and with NO DRAG AT ALL on her halter. WOW. I couldn't BELIEVE it! She wasn't offering anything spectacularly athletic, but I wasn't expecting that, but the change in mental/physical alone was enough to boggle my mind. I did eventually GET her to canter a couple laps in each direction (using her shoulders correctly, btw) and also got a whole new level of close range circling (WOW let's talk flexibility!).
All in all, a very interesting experience. We'll have to see how this pans out, and whether or not there is a situational thing here, or I've really figured out WHY Farrah actually plays with her horses before they eat ;)
Pix to come tomorrow, lets hope!
Savvy on, and hey look, it's only 10:30! I might get some good sleep tonight!
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Leading by the Lip
Oooh my, did Prinny and I have a good laugh in our session tonight...I decided to attempt leading her by the lip, which is a L3 task, I admit, I haven't done a whole lot with. I made the disgusting assumption that my horse would probably just follow me, and I wouldn't really have to teach her anything once I got my fingers on her lips. Princess is a pretty easy-going horse, how hard could it be, right? Ah HA! There is a REASON Pat Parelli put that task in the level three criteria. It's NOT that simple. Because your horse may follow, but if he stops, you CANNOT LET GO to encourage him to keep moving. The horse must be capable of following a feel!
A long story short, Princess kept taking a step, (for which I'd stop, reward, etc) and then she'd THROW her head up and curl her lip. It would have been frustrating had the look on my poor horse's face not been so hysterical. I would take her lip in my fingers, and then ask for a step lightly, and Prin would just stand there, ears perked forward, a very befuddled look on her face, with the unmistakable expression of "You want me lead by my WHAT?! Why my LIP?! HUH?!" and then she'd do the above head toss. I actually ended up quitting without any progress because I was laughing too hard. She such a clown when she wants to be.
We did a little bit with leading by the ear too, which she got much quicker, and actually performed really well. Could use a little refining, but she did really well for the second or third time I'd done it, so yay!
It's time for bed for me. I'm zonked.
PS, I was looking at a couple of pictures of Princess from this time last year, and thinking about how she's changed looks-wise. Last year, she had a pretty flat, QHy topline, not a bad banana perse, but just not built or made for collection. Then I looked at some photos taken a couple weeks ago. HOLY CRAP...my horse has bulked. She's getting GOOD BANANA (like REMMER) qualities in her neck, back, and rump that she definitely didn't have last year, especially her nice convex shaped neck. I think my all winter regime of finesse in the 66 acre alfalfa field did my horsey some good! My saddle comes Wednesday, imagine what it'll become THEN! Pix that day for sure!!
A long story short, Princess kept taking a step, (for which I'd stop, reward, etc) and then she'd THROW her head up and curl her lip. It would have been frustrating had the look on my poor horse's face not been so hysterical. I would take her lip in my fingers, and then ask for a step lightly, and Prin would just stand there, ears perked forward, a very befuddled look on her face, with the unmistakable expression of "You want me lead by my WHAT?! Why my LIP?! HUH?!" and then she'd do the above head toss. I actually ended up quitting without any progress because I was laughing too hard. She such a clown when she wants to be.
We did a little bit with leading by the ear too, which she got much quicker, and actually performed really well. Could use a little refining, but she did really well for the second or third time I'd done it, so yay!
It's time for bed for me. I'm zonked.
PS, I was looking at a couple of pictures of Princess from this time last year, and thinking about how she's changed looks-wise. Last year, she had a pretty flat, QHy topline, not a bad banana perse, but just not built or made for collection. Then I looked at some photos taken a couple weeks ago. HOLY CRAP...my horse has bulked. She's getting GOOD BANANA (like REMMER) qualities in her neck, back, and rump that she definitely didn't have last year, especially her nice convex shaped neck. I think my all winter regime of finesse in the 66 acre alfalfa field did my horsey some good! My saddle comes Wednesday, imagine what it'll become THEN! Pix that day for sure!!
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Even True Unity Begins With the Friendly Game
Had a very interesting session with Princess tonight, in the best possible way, hence the title of my entry.
First off, Richard and I paced off grounds for our arena. We actually ended up MOVING it beyond the north paddock, so it'll be easily twice the size it would have been (We're looking at 150' x 175' now!) and a lot flatter and easier to deal with. From the way it sounds, Richard's ready to start on it any time, so YAY! Anyway, what all this has to do with Prin is that I used her to stride out the sides and make sure it was going to be big enough. It'll be just fine for ring work, methinks, 10 canter strides down the short side, 16 down the long, and that's with her pretty opened up (in other words, someone didn't want to STOP!)
So, onward and to the real point of this blog. After figuring out just where the arena was going, Prin and I headed off to the north paddock to play on the 45' line. I haven't played with her in two days other than to trim her skis off yesterday (good lord her feet were long)and so I was curious to see where things had gone since our last session. Well, "good" would be an understatement. "Great" might even be selling it a bit short. First I asked her to do some small, probably 15' circles or so, just to get warmed up. She was totally light and responsive, no leaning on the halter at all, and she seemed just really tuned in. So I brought her in, gave her a scratch, and gave her a cookie, and asked her to yoyo back out.
We had a REALLY funny moment at this point. Prin was dragging her feet with this very obvious "Nahhh...I'll pass on the backing..." attitude, so I gave her about 5 seconds of phase 1, and then just POPPED her with a 4. I have NEVER seen my horse be so hysterically expressive before. She jerked her head up, put two eyes on me, ears sprang forward, zoomed backwards like 4 steps, and she actually SHOOK HER HEAD...as if to say "Whoa..thanks, I needed that!" I laughed out loud, then brought her in again. I love it when she expresses herself. It just makes me smile. And for the record, her next two yoyos were unbelievable!
So we played around on the 45' line for a bit, and I honestly had an entirely different horse. We were almost all the way out to the end, just playin' around, doing directional changes and transitions, etc, and she was light and responsive on the head, no leaning, and slack all the way around. I really love the enthusiasm and motivation she's getting, and that's what leads me into the meaning behind my title for tonight.
So, I unsnapped my line off her halter, thinking "Now here's a test. We're in a 4 acre paddock, with no reason what so ever for her to stay with me. She never has in the past, why should she now?" Well, the next 10 minutes of liberty inspired my title line. Princess was just absolutely GLUED to me. we did stick to me and close range circling and and sideways to and from, at a walk and trot. She did 30' yo-yos at a trot and backed by her tail. A week ago, that would have NEVER happened! I found myself thinking about how so many things are rooted in that simple game that is found on page one of level 1. How it is number one for a reason, and how just a little friendly game can go a long way in a relationship. Even true unity begins with the friendly game. Pictures to come tomorrow.
First off, Richard and I paced off grounds for our arena. We actually ended up MOVING it beyond the north paddock, so it'll be easily twice the size it would have been (We're looking at 150' x 175' now!) and a lot flatter and easier to deal with. From the way it sounds, Richard's ready to start on it any time, so YAY! Anyway, what all this has to do with Prin is that I used her to stride out the sides and make sure it was going to be big enough. It'll be just fine for ring work, methinks, 10 canter strides down the short side, 16 down the long, and that's with her pretty opened up (in other words, someone didn't want to STOP!)
So, onward and to the real point of this blog. After figuring out just where the arena was going, Prin and I headed off to the north paddock to play on the 45' line. I haven't played with her in two days other than to trim her skis off yesterday (good lord her feet were long)and so I was curious to see where things had gone since our last session. Well, "good" would be an understatement. "Great" might even be selling it a bit short. First I asked her to do some small, probably 15' circles or so, just to get warmed up. She was totally light and responsive, no leaning on the halter at all, and she seemed just really tuned in. So I brought her in, gave her a scratch, and gave her a cookie, and asked her to yoyo back out.
We had a REALLY funny moment at this point. Prin was dragging her feet with this very obvious "Nahhh...I'll pass on the backing..." attitude, so I gave her about 5 seconds of phase 1, and then just POPPED her with a 4. I have NEVER seen my horse be so hysterically expressive before. She jerked her head up, put two eyes on me, ears sprang forward, zoomed backwards like 4 steps, and she actually SHOOK HER HEAD...as if to say "Whoa..thanks, I needed that!" I laughed out loud, then brought her in again. I love it when she expresses herself. It just makes me smile. And for the record, her next two yoyos were unbelievable!
So we played around on the 45' line for a bit, and I honestly had an entirely different horse. We were almost all the way out to the end, just playin' around, doing directional changes and transitions, etc, and she was light and responsive on the head, no leaning, and slack all the way around. I really love the enthusiasm and motivation she's getting, and that's what leads me into the meaning behind my title for tonight.
So, I unsnapped my line off her halter, thinking "Now here's a test. We're in a 4 acre paddock, with no reason what so ever for her to stay with me. She never has in the past, why should she now?" Well, the next 10 minutes of liberty inspired my title line. Princess was just absolutely GLUED to me. we did stick to me and close range circling and and sideways to and from, at a walk and trot. She did 30' yo-yos at a trot and backed by her tail. A week ago, that would have NEVER happened! I found myself thinking about how so many things are rooted in that simple game that is found on page one of level 1. How it is number one for a reason, and how just a little friendly game can go a long way in a relationship. Even true unity begins with the friendly game. Pictures to come tomorrow.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
More Forward Motion
I played with Prinny again tonight, and we had a pretty nice session. It's like someone flipped a switch in our relationship, and I guess that might have been the case kind of.
Tonight I got out there kind of late, so I didn't have too much time. Anyway, Princess, Crest and Cricket all came up at once, which was cool, because earlier, Crest was leading the cavalry charge around the north paddock, and my thought was "Oh dear lord, I'm glad I'm busy clearing for the arena and not trying to catch them!"
Prin was eager enough to be haltered, we snapped up to the 45' line, and off we went. I didn't want to jump right into the circling things we've been playing with because that's another really great way to build resentment in a LB horse...how boring can I be, really? So, for the first 5 minutes or so, we played around with getting our yo-yo game really snappy, and BOY did that go well. I only went out about 30 or so feet, and after the first go only, Prin was almost drawing to me at the canter (hard to do that close, really it is) with just my energy. There's a L3 task I'm pretty sure we can get a pass on-haha.
Next, we did move to circling,and it was just a totally different feel. Her transitions were snappy, she had a bright look in her eye and was really tuned in, We goofed around and had a great time. This may have been the first time I've ever seen my horse actually truly ENJOY circling. And the only time she pulled on me at all was when I oh-so-gracefully went to draw her into me, and fell backwards...She just planted her feet and STARED at me...like "You...FOOL! WOW!"
Also, just for fun, we're working on a super secret task. No one gets to know what it is, but lets just say it's going very well,and I might be able to unveil in Kansas City if I'm on the savvy team there. And also, Heidi, if you read this, the key was the savvy string! She totally gets it now!
Anyway, all's going really well, Prin and I are having a blasty blasty blast...thank you Dane Cook for that phrase. I'm just enjoying this so much, I can't believe how much of a L3 online breakthru we're having here (me especially, my attitude is a complete and total BFO!), I don't we've gone thru anything THIS BIG in a long time. I'll keep posting!
Tonight I got out there kind of late, so I didn't have too much time. Anyway, Princess, Crest and Cricket all came up at once, which was cool, because earlier, Crest was leading the cavalry charge around the north paddock, and my thought was "Oh dear lord, I'm glad I'm busy clearing for the arena and not trying to catch them!"
Prin was eager enough to be haltered, we snapped up to the 45' line, and off we went. I didn't want to jump right into the circling things we've been playing with because that's another really great way to build resentment in a LB horse...how boring can I be, really? So, for the first 5 minutes or so, we played around with getting our yo-yo game really snappy, and BOY did that go well. I only went out about 30 or so feet, and after the first go only, Prin was almost drawing to me at the canter (hard to do that close, really it is) with just my energy. There's a L3 task I'm pretty sure we can get a pass on-haha.
Next, we did move to circling,and it was just a totally different feel. Her transitions were snappy, she had a bright look in her eye and was really tuned in, We goofed around and had a great time. This may have been the first time I've ever seen my horse actually truly ENJOY circling. And the only time she pulled on me at all was when I oh-so-gracefully went to draw her into me, and fell backwards...She just planted her feet and STARED at me...like "You...FOOL! WOW!"
Also, just for fun, we're working on a super secret task. No one gets to know what it is, but lets just say it's going very well,and I might be able to unveil in Kansas City if I'm on the savvy team there. And also, Heidi, if you read this, the key was the savvy string! She totally gets it now!
Anyway, all's going really well, Prin and I are having a blasty blasty blast...thank you Dane Cook for that phrase. I'm just enjoying this so much, I can't believe how much of a L3 online breakthru we're having here (me especially, my attitude is a complete and total BFO!), I don't we've gone thru anything THIS BIG in a long time. I'll keep posting!
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