Elvis is For Sale!

**If photos don't format correctly, click on image and it will open in a separate window**

**I'm Advertising this horse for a friend/student of mine**


Elvis is an 11-year-old Arab/Appaloosa Gelding. He stands about 14.2hh, and 1000lbs. He is dark bay with a star and two small white socks.

Elvis has been brought through Level 2 of the Parelli Program, and is a Left-Brained Extrovert. He has lots of confidence and energy, and loves to be played with. He’s a very brave horse. He knows the seven games up to a 22’ line, handles scary obstacles in stride, and has been ridden freestyle in both a Parelli hackamore and a snaffle bridle. He’s been ridden on trails, and was used in two lessons with 3* Parelli Professional Farrah Green in 2009. He is currently ridden in a western saddle, including a back cinch.

Though Elvis is a smart, playful guy, I wouldn’t suggest him for a total novice. He does best with consistency, and enjoys being played with on a daily basis, and appreciates a leader who can offer him variety and mental stimulation.

Elvis is only for sale because current owner is looking for an older, more reliable mount horse to introduce her husband to Parelli and riding.

Asking $1300, negotiable to a loving, Parelli home.
Contact Fran with any questions regarding Elvis.
Email: savvyup@yahoo.com Cell #:715-495-0094

More photos below!

Progress with Cresty

Hi folks!

The past week has been a really educational week for me with regard to that big bay horse of mine! I'm still in the process of becoming "unconsciously competent" with the information I've learned, and since a recap of the sessions would be ungodly long, I'll hold off on writing this as a "I actually know what I'm talking about" sort of article for the time being.

Here's just a quick, overall recap of what's come in our relationship, and things we've been focusing on and playing with.

**Bringing confidence in zones 3 and 4 to a new level
**Expressing himself with obstacles (Vs. me telling him what to do with them)
**Emotional balance in the canter online to a new level
**Maintain gait, maintain direction, more laps, 22' and 45' lines
**Western pleasure gaits (!!!!!!!!!) More on this in a later post--this is important!
**Purpose to the circling game
**Levade (okay, I admit it, this one is for my own entertainment!)
**Excellence in sideways from Zone 1


Our progress has been huge on an emotional level for both of us. I made some discoveries about myself when he becomes emotional, in that I have a tendency to want to just put him back and not deal with it--talk about dumping my horse off a cliff when he needs a leader most! Time for me to start finishing what I've started--and the results have been FANTASTIC. Crest has gained tons of confidence in my leadership, and the things he's been offering throughout the past week have been amazing...yesterday he began to stretch downward, slow down, and use his back in the canter online. I've NEVER seen him do that, even in the pasture on his own. He also offered a western pleasure jog at the end of the 22' line yesterday. THAT definitely passed the mental "Does that horse look rideable?" test in my book, although I'm holding off from riding him for now.

So. That's what we've been up to. I will continue posting, probably in smaller, specific-task/behavior oriented posts, since this horse has so many interesting behaviors to consider! It's certainly taken some time, but I'm beginning to see this horse in a different light, and I think I'm actually, dare I say, enjoying the complexity?

Savvy on!

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.

Lemons to Lemonade

Hi Folks,

Gonna get a series of short blogs here over the next couple of days. The weather for the most part, is beautiful, but I've been kind of caught up in my head, so writing is essential. Anyway, today's topic is going to revolve around a segment of the January Savvy Club DVD with Dr. Robert Miller, entitled "Lemons to Lemonade".

Dr. Miller is a world-renowned veterinarian, writer, public speaker, the developer of foal imprinting, promoter of natural horsemanship, and also a long-time friend of Pat Parelli. (Click HERE to visit his website) This segment was filmed at a 4-week Masterclass course this summer in Pagosa Springs, where Dr. Miller was invited to give a talk, and told some stories about Pat to the class. He centers his talk around Pat's ability to take difficult situations, and turn them around and work them to his advantage (Hence Lemons to Lemonade). Some of the examples he gives are just befuddling--I knew Pat was good at that, but I didn't realize he was such a master at it. It got me thinking, that is for SURE.

The past couple days here have been kind of chock full of disappointments. In addition to several financial explosions, and bad experiences, I was supposed to be at Kristi Smith's today through Monday at a weekend set of workshops. The weather is looking rather unpredictable, so Kristi had to make a very difficult decision, and cancel the event, and reschedule for April. Yesterday was a very emotional day for the both of us--she more-so than I, probably, though I certainly did my fair share of crying.

In all of my frustration last night, that segment of the DVD kept haunting the back corner of my mind. I finally gave in to temptation and pulled it up on the Savvy Club Vault and watched it again. If nothing else, the lesson to learn from it is exactly the title of the segment. In hearing some of the situations that Pat managed to make good (And from another person's perspective--not his own!), I was reminded and inspired to do just that.

So--even though I'm very disappointed not to spend the weekend with Kristi, you know what? It's 27 degrees, sunny, and not windy. Our driveway is plowed and I started teaching both my horses some neat things yesterday--what a shame it would be to not finish what I started! So this weekend, my goals are to help Crest find rhythm and relaxation for two laps of canter, both directions at liberty, and to teach him to find connection better doing stick-to-me to the right. With Prin, I'm going to finish my externship audition tape, and develop more connection and energy in our large-area liberty.

Savvy on, folks!

Road Trip!

Okay, I'm seriously REALLY BAD at updating this bad-boy. I think I might be the last person to actually accept that fact, but hey. I try. I really do!

Anyway, Prin and I had a little adventure over the past couple of days! As I had mentioned in a previous post, one of my goals currently is to head to Florida to do an Externship at Pat's barn. There is an application process to this, and one of the things that they ask for is an audition video. It's a pretty basic thing, the requirements are online, liberty, and freestyle, show saddling and bridling, ride some bareback, and some patterns under-saddle. All pretty easy stuff to do, provided you've got the footing to do it in the winter, which we certainly don't, right now.

So, on Thursday, despite freezing rain warnings, Prin and I loaded up and hauled to The Horse First Farm in Brooklyn (just south of Madison), WI, to film my tape with my friend and 2* Parelli Professional, Michelle Manshardt. This was my first solo haul, and it was a bit stressful--Firstly being that I was driving a borrowed rig, of course carrying my baby inside, and with the weather. Fortunately, it went fine, and I gained a lot of confidence in my ability to drive with a trailer. (Previously I'd only driven a couple small rigs locally is all) So that's a new arrow in my quiver of "stuff I can do within the horse world".

Thursday was pretty much my warm-up day. I still have a tendency to get a little paralyzed and forget how to use my brain in front of a camera, so the better a plan I can have ahead of time for what i need to show, the better I do. Prin was pretty much the happiest I've seen her in weeks, and after some tips and suggestions from Michelle, we had improved several aspects of our relationship (including our much-struggled-with large area liberty) substantially. My horse now sticks with me in the 100x200 arena (with a couple other horses in the arena at one point) without thought of leaving--too cool!

We finished out the evening at Sr. Peppers (local Mexican restaurant, one of my favs!) and had some nice chat time.

Yesterday was filming day...ahhhh! I'm not going to lie, I totally clammed up. Michelle was very patient with me, and although I'm sure it was really hard for her to watch, she was wonderful, and was able to play enough friendly-game with me and the camera, that after starting over several times, everything flowed. We got everything but three tasks filmed (freestyle patterns on a casual rein), simply because we were so crushed for time, my camera battery died, and Prin was HOT (talk about totally NOT being in condition to be moving for an hour and a half straight). But I feel REALLY good about what we got filmed, which doesn't happen very often. Though it's really kind of a glorified L2 tape (7 games on a 22' line, and at liberty, some bareback riding, saddle and bridle, mount, etc), everything looks SO quality and flowing, I feel very confident that it's exactly what they're looking for. I've got a few more tidbits to film before I send anything in, but I really do feel good about it!

So...that's what we've been up to. The time spent between my last few posts has pretty much been spent keeping my horses alive and getting other aspects of this application package put together. Oh, and I had a lesson with Kristi Smith in there a couple weeks ago too, on a gigantic, fancy Warmblood mare, who had a lot to teach me about emotions and fluidity. But that, my friends, is another story all together. So until next time, savvy on!

Fran and Crest--"The Story"

Introducing Fran and Crest's new video! Finally! Please give me some feedback :)

My Sacrificial Lamb

"You can be so stubborn, there's times I think you just like to fight. And I hope and pray I live to see a day when you say I might be right. And there's times I'd rather kill you than listen to your honesty. But you've always been a friend to me."
~Garth Brooks, "A Friend to Me"


Pat Parelli has said that the first horse a person brings to level 3 (and now level 4) is a "Sacrificial lamb" of sorts. That horse is the one that is put up against all our personal flaws, teaching errors, emotional fitness (or lack there of), and they help us become who we need to be as we learn.

I've been thinking about this concept all day since it came up in the lesson I was teaching this morning--one of my students inquired about something, and I explained that sometimes, though we do our best, the horse we learn PNH with gets to suffer some blunders for the sake of learning.

I had a learning day with Prin today. A big one. It's been an off couple of months for us, and I'm FINALLY starting to get back into my routine of "normality"--that is to say, being able to go to the farm and be positive, progressive, and natural, all at once. Since our freestyle is pretty much ace, I've chosen to develop and focus a bit more energy on our online, while of course keeping the balance with our other savvys. So--to our online.

I made an observation while playing yesterday that really was spark for some thought last night and into my session today. With regard to the circling game, Prin, though very light and responsive in her send, is not biomechanically correct. Breaking down the movement, my horse is not *really* using herself. She falls onto her forehand, and actually does like a haunches-in out onto the circle--her weight falls inward and forward, and her ribs invert toward me. The overall lesson she taught me yesterday was to be more particular about her zone 3, something that I put into practice immediately, and have seen some nice changes with already.

Today, I started out playing with some review of what we did yesterday with zone 3, which went alright. I recognize it's a learning process, and so grant her (and myself!) some room for improvement. We also played with strengthening and stretching her haunches using more vigorous and particular sideways, coupled with circling and slow, flowing backward S pattern. Also played with finding more refined communication with long lines (When did I get so clumsy with 2 reins?!) Though this all went "okay", Prin was erm...kind enough (?) to show me some holes in our online communication that are key to the holes in our communication in large area liberty. These are answers I've been seeking for quite some time, so I was glad for them, but at the same time, it was a bit difficult to stomach. Accepting self-inadequacy is not always an easy go, especially when one is looking to make progress.

I took some of what she showed me, put together a slip-shod plan, played a little until we found a good place to stop for the day, and I packed up, and headed home to think. At first I felt VERY inadequate and frustrated, thinking how badly I wished I had found all this prior to the 6 week hiatus, and how I felt like I was right back to where I was about this time last year: non-progressive, annoyed, and lost as to where to go next. But as I thought further, I realized this is not the case at all. The trend here is simple, I'm not AT ALL where I was last year with regard to HORSEMANSHIP...mentally maybe, and here's why--when Prin gets brutally honest, it's usually because she's telling me I need to move on, that there's more to be learned, and I'm stalling (and by extension, boring the snot out of her). Last year, it was just before I made huge leaps into finishing up L3. I think the trend is the same here--she's asking me to "finish what I've started" so to speak.

In understanding this, I realized how grateful I am to have Prin as my partner, and how essential it is that I finish L4 with her. I had toyed with the idea of finishing my levels with Crest--the superior athlete and learner by far, but I realize it's totally not about that right now. Such a patient, kind, and tolerant horse is HARD to come by, and Prin has stuck it out with and for me all the way. I need that friend and that partner with me to help me learn the final stages. So, as sappy as it sounds, I'd just like to take a chance to thank Prin. Thank you for being my Sacrificial Lamb, girl. I need ya more than I sometimes realize!

Unstoppable!

Okay, so that title may be inspired by the mood I'm in now, by how I feel about my little horse in training, or it could just be inspired by the fact that I have Rascal Flatts blaring as loud as I (and my neighbors!) can stand it at nearly 1:00 am. I'll let you make the call.

Anyway, life has, in essence, been quite the roller-coaster. A bizarre schedule, coupled with burning the candle at both ends, a 19th birthday bash, and Laura Ingalls Wilder Days all were cause for what I can only describe as an off week that I did not plan for. I found myself floundering with organization a little, but fortunately, I've found my track again and things are back to positive, progressive, and natural in a big way :)


Today was a very full pony day--I played with Prin for almost 2 hours this morning. First we went on a LOVELY trail ride. I emphasize on the lovely, because I could not have asked for a more responsive, comfortable, biomechanically CORRECT horse on that ride with me. We did lots of trotting, trying to get back in shape (Prin's rockin' the beer gut a little these days!) and throughout the entire ride, she offered nothing but beautiful rhythm and awesome self-carriage. Too cool! Once we got home, Played with some 22' line stuff. Before her time off, Prin was able to canter between 10-20 laps on the thing without much by way of reminder of difficulty. She struggled to find rhythm in 2-3 today. It's amazing how body condition can degrade so quickly! We'll continue to develop it. We have a lesson with Kristi next week, so let's hope we'll have something to show her at least! I can say though that she was beautifully obedient, just not exactly fit ;)

Also had a lovely session with miss Sunny. I know I've said it in every single other post I've written about her, but this horse is brilliant. She's just BULLDOZING through her lessons, she's been her for 22 days now, and other than needing a bit of smoothing over in Carrot Stick riding, she could EASILY pass L2. We've even started to play with a little liberty. She's particularly talented at downward transitions--last night she gave me a canter/halt that left a cloud of dust hanging! Anyway, today I first rasped her a feet a little, then took her out for her first trail ride alone. She was HILARIOUS, it was by far the most backward trail ride I've had, I couldn't stop her leaving the farm, we trotted a quarter mile at least! We also cantered the first time, it was 3 strides, but it was great. Turning home was a different story, she zig-zagged at a tiny little walk, looking anywhere but up the road, and 3/4 of the way back, she just stopped and refused to go any farther. Her little horsenality reminds me of Micky's old horse Digger, truly a "barn-sour" horse, for once, what a hoot! I'm so proud of her, though. She's awesome! New pictures soon!

Other than that, I've got some big plans cookin' for the fall. Some wonderful opportunities have presented themselves in the teaching department, as well as horsemanship and horse development, and I look forward to seeing what happens. I'll keep ya posted!

Savvy on!

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

While I've Been Gone...

Hi all,

Okay, so it's been approximately forever since I last blogged. My apologies, but if it makes you feel any better, my parents have heard about the same amount from me as you have. Life is insane!

So what have I been doing? Playing with horses, teaching lessons, trimming feet, going to playdays, giving first rides. All kinds of crazy stuff.

So, I guess the last time I thought about blogging, but didn't, was last weekend. My darling friend Jessica came down from Mosinee to spend the weekend horsin' around with the Pepin crowd. We played ponies, trimmed feet, and all around had a great time.

Next I went out to her place for a day, where we did her horse's feet, and then I went over to Anne's, trimmed Blixen, who proceeded to prance around like the little stud muffin he is. Anne says she's never seen him trot or canter after a trim before...we got an entire rodeo show! Amazing what can happen when heels are level and bars kept in check ;)

Last week was the week of insaneness. I had lessons every day except for Thursday, with Tuesday being my craziest, with 4 in one day. I'm really enjoying teaching these days, it's getting more and more fun as my ability to see things, especially tiny little subtleties (that make all the difference) improves.

Yesterday, I went to a demo/playday with one of my students. Since my student lives a distance from me (over an hour), I didn't bring Prin, but I took her little AraAppaloosa gelding, Elvis, to play with. Elvis is s a trip, because he's basically a Mini-Crest. At any rate, everyone played, and enjoyed connecting and hanging out with other savvy folks. Pics:

Me with Elvis


Matador/Mirror games-Me on Elvis, Jenifer on Mamma


So...how good is YOUR squeeze game?


Jenifer and Mamma


About to backflip off. I landed on my knees, because El is so small, (14.2ish) it doesn't allow for much time for my feet to unfold--I'm used to Prin, who's 16.1-lol


This guy gave a Reining Demo and talk


And he wonders why his horse is on the forehand?




Spinning--I had to chuckle, he was struggling to get a good plant in the hind, but kept leaning forward as the horse spun.


My personal favorite.


Standing.





Other than that, I've been at home, improving myself and my horses. I'm in the process of doing some intensive fluidity/saddle fit study, that I'll report on when I finish up.

Last night I had an...erm...interesting...session with both my girls. I took them out to start playing with some double stuff with them (the entire reason I got LB in the first place), only to find that number one, Prin is not thrilled about playing side by side with something 1/4 her size, number 2, Prin can sense "tired and cranky" a mile away, number 3, so can LB, and number 4, that DOES NOT END WELL! Hehehe. But, I did get some pictures, none-the-less.

First with Prin, Liberty in the big field (My mom's timing was about as awake as I was-lol):

Playing the Cutting game


About to do a spin, actually.


Not entirely sure...by the looks of what my legs are doing, sideways?


Both of us on our HQ...cute.

And Now LB, in the Round pen, showing off her stuff-hehe


If it were any other horse, there'd be panic...


Lying down :)


Sit! Farrah has seen this now, too, so I am officially a member of the Sitting Horse Tribe--yay!


She's learned to roll over and do this on command...SO FUNNY


And...a kiss?

This week is shaping up to be about as crazy as last week, too. I have a lesson today, a couple tomorrow, at least 3, maybe 4 or 5 on Tuesday (schedule pending), one on Wednesday, and then on Thursday, Prin and I leave with Farrah again. We'll be with Farrah for about 5 weeks, and we'll be "touring the upper mid-west" so to speak. She's got clinics in IA, MN, and WI, as well as the Madison celebration and The Horse First grand opening, and I'll be tagging along in the role of assistant, which is always a grand time, a fantastic learning experience, and overall lotsa fun!

So, that's all for now, I'm not sure when I'll update again. Could be this week, or it could be into June. I'll be in touch, though!

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!

Lovely Liberty

Sherri and I rode the ponies down to her place today so that they can be "readily available" for Lesson Day with Farrah. The ride went pretty well, I rode Crest, Sherri rode Prin. Crest was a bit riled up, but anyway, another story for another time.

I debated going back out for a while this evening. I had a migraine earlier, and was really lethargic, but a bite to eat and some homemade Gatorade did the trick, and at about 7:00, I decided that I wanted to go back out and play a bit.

I decided to take advantage of Sherri's gorgeous play pen, and play with Prin at liberty. Our liberty has been sorely lacking recently, simply because #1, the footing in our round corral was terrible up until last week, #2, I've been too chicken to relive my last liberty session at the Parelli center and #3, with regard to #2, I've wanted to develop a more solid L4 online relationship before taking the line off.

Anyway, in the round pen, Prin was kind of un-responsive at first, but after a brief "Hello? It's ME!" discussion, she was flying, and on a whole new level of liberty I'd not gotten from her in quite some time. Very snappy transitions upward and downward, as well as some GORGEOUS sideways toward (trot/canter at phase 1 and 2!), and a couple of nice spins, and a flying change of direction.

Our draw is a little sticky, so I need to play a bit more with getting "come to me" worth it :) Cookies will help immensely, I imagine :)

Anyway, I'm off to play with the finishing touches on my stupid tax sheets. Gotta get those sent off tomorrow, weeeee! (I sound enthused, but on the inside, I'm gagging).

Savvy on!

Fran

Liberty in the Rain

Weeeeee!

It's literally been raining non-stop since Tuesday, and the clay soil in our pasture has turned to muck. In some places, my mud boots were wet well past my ankles, and it is truly hard to walk.

Anyway, today Jess and I (By the way, Jess is staying with me until Saturday) decided we HAD to get some filming done, since Jess wants to do a huge video of my horses and me. The ground is just too soppy for riding (in the pasture, anyway) and any ropes used were going to get soaked, so Jess and I decided liberty was the way to go. I got Prin, went to the round pen, and filme, and all in all, it went well. I think the highlights were definitely firstly, backing Prin across the pen with a phase 1 (She went back REALLY enthusiastically, too, which was NEAT) and having her put zone 5 on the panel behind her. She did it so easily, it was like she had been waiting for me to suggest it. Secondly, Prin came as close as she's EVER come to lying down for me, she actually knelt at liberty twice, and we got the best one on camera. She'll be lying down soon enough, and what'll be really neat is that she'll do it at liberty, I bet.

We also went for a little ride out with Jess and Amigo, too. That was fun, and tomorrow, we tackle Jess's dislike of the trot-muahaha.

Anyway, that's a short update of my life, I'll have more when there's more to tell. I'll be going to bed now. I'm sleepy!

Also, Anyone have a set of orange polos, and an orange saddle blanket that they'd be willing to part with? Deer season is coming, and I'm SO not missing my daily ride out because of idiots with guns that shoot at anything that moves around here. So. Anyone?

Tales of an RB mess.

Oh lovely...

So this is what I get for not playing with my semi-unsound LBE of a Crest-monster consistantly for the past 5 weeks. (You get a cookie if you plowed through THAT run-on sentence) I decided that I wanted to play with him a bit, since he's been running around and looking sound for the past few days.

So he sidled up to me as I approached, per usual Cresty style, we haltered up and played stick to me from zone 4 to the gate. Very typical Crest, just hyper and playful. I brought him into the north paddock, and that's when I started to notice some edgy types of behaviors. Crest, while still playful, would throw in a nervous SNORT every couple of seconds. Being slightly unsure of how to read it (and having nothing there to interrupt anyway) I passed it off as adrenaline, and went on to do something a little less "hyper", to get him off his wind a little.

Next we went into the round corral to practice some long-overdue L2 liberty, and that's when things really came "unglued" (except they didn't really, I held it together well, I thought) Crest was totally RB, being anything close to being away from my side (which is charming, had it been LB clingy, not "Save me from the monsters" clingy) and what fascinating was that the majority of the time, if he had to leave my side at ALL, he'd go RBI. Which is a side I RARELY see of him. RBI is the side that comes out in a stressful learning situation, which hardly happens any more since I've gotten more savvy about setting things up for success with him. So. RBI, but a very explosive to RBE sort of RBI. So let me phrase it this way. The entire session was kind of touch and go between sitting doing nothing and freaking out like loonies together.

Finally, we got to a fairly confident spot, and I ended it on a very confident note buy asking him to step up on his pedestal (which he LOVES, and is ALWAYS confident about) and we called it. As I was putting him back in the pasture, the RBI struck one more time, as he was standing there, being what I thought was quiet and obedient, all of a sudden he shied into me. No idea what that was about, but we got things sorted, and I took the halter off only AFTER he got LB. So. Interesting. Guess I know what...or rather WHO I need to be spending some more time with!

Great playday!

I had a GREAT evening play session with Mickey, Prin, and Knightly last night. I was kind of insistant with Mickey that she play with a horse, because the past few sessions, she's come down and watched me and asked questions, which is GREAT, but she needs to get some play time in where she APPLIES the knowledge too-haha. I didn't get to watch much, I played with Prin mostly (more on that in a sec) but what I saw was really great. Mickey started out with Knight, who she's absolutely in love with. They warmed up playing on the 12' line, playing games with cones and working on refining the yoyo game. Knight's got personal space issues, which is hysterical, because he's such a little horse and Mickey's so tall, that it's a bit like a Shetland pony trying to shove over a tree. They did really well on that though, from what I saw.

I played with Princess on getting her to lighten up and be snappier on her transitions and send on the 45' line, and then did some liberty. She's getting more and more extroverted by the day. What's REALLY funny is that last weekend, Linda told me Remmer was getting the same way, so COOL!

I swear, even 6 weeks ago, I never would have dreampt of having THIS MUCH FUN with Prin, and that's saying something, because we always have fun. It seems like we've all of a sudden hit another breakthrough period, and things are just GREAT now. She's becoming more of an extrovert, and we're starting to blossom.

After the ground stuff, we hopped on and I did some bridless riding, and Micky and I played follow the leader (Princess did all the leading, we just sat back and let 'er rip) and then we switched horses.

Knight and I tore around causing trouble (LBEs need something to DO!!!!) and Micky experienced her very first bridless ride!! I was SO PROUD of her. She kept marvelling over how LIGHT and RESPONSIVE Princess was, and almost how comforting it was to not NEED the reins. They walked and trotted, turned, changed directions, did some circles and some backing. I was really impressed with how well Micky did, and also, how great Prin was. She was REALLY responsive to what Micky asked, and took it slow at first when she felt Micky's unconfidence. I'm SO proud of my horse, and of my "little sister" :)

So that was my great session last night. I expect I'll blog again later today about today's sessions. I have a lesson lined up in 1/2 an hour, so I'll talk about that for sure! Thanks for reading.

Ahhhh...So cute

I had very limited time with my ponies today, unfortunately. Anyway, I got out there with the full intent to play with Cricket, only to find her limping obviously on her left front leg! EEK! Not entirely sure what happened to her, but I'm keeping an eye on it. If it's not much better by Monday, I'll call the vet, but for now, I'll keep her on bute and hope it gets better. Keep her in your thoughts please!

I couldn't decide who I wanted to play with at this point. I know that whoever I choose to spend time with, I always end up going longer than I should, so I wanted to play with someone who NEEDED the time. And thats when the answer nuzzled me on the shoulder. There stood little Knighters. So we haltered up.

Okay, let me just take the time to say that Knight is adorable. Really. He is. I managed to keep myself to a time frame, and honestly we didn't do anything too notable, but knight is just SO DANG CUTE that everything he did was wonderful. We did some circling, some yoyo, and some sideways without a fence (he's GETTING IT...such a smart little guy, it's only the second time we've tried it :)) Also did some stick to me, he got the canter today, and he does it all with this adorable "I'm cute and wonderful, and I know you just want to snuggle me" on his face. So after he did that, we quit. Pix to come soon of his cuteness.

This concludes another Knightly News update. And I'll keep posted on Cricket.

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.