Filming Filming, Filming, and KNEELING!

Short blog tonight, but I felt like I should probably update since I've been mystery woman all fall, and am in danger of keeping it up.

Yesterday and today (and part of tomorrow for that matter), I've spent the majority of my time filming one of my student's L1 assessment. It's gone almost flawlessly, save for a few humorous bobbles in the Squeeze game, and follow the rail, and a great "finger freezing" episode toward the end of the saddling.

I'm now in the process of rough-cutting the video together (fancy stuff comes tomorrow, after we finish the pushing passenger lesson) and I'm thoroughly enjoying something that I KNOW what should look like, as opposed to my "highlight" videos, which I really never have a plan for.

Anyway, the final part of this would have to do with Prin :) I've been playing with all sorts of fun stuff this summer/fall/ and now into winter, and one of them is the bow/lie down task. Farrah has always emphasized the importance of breaking everything down into tiny little bits and getting each component perfect, so that they all come together flawlessly into the task. I understand this, of course, but it is only human of me to go "C'mon, can't you just LIE DOWN?!" Which is EXACTLY why it's been an epic failure so far.

I noticed today, as I was playing with Prin's bow (she's getting REALLY good at that) that if she is left to her own devices with her legs, she'll actually put a knee down on her own without my asking. I played around with different degrees of weight and balance on her, and realized that she's actually far more confident if I just pick her foot up for her, then let it go. Two times trying this, and Prin swept low into a MAGNIFICENT bow, and then she turned, looked at me, and put her other knee down, and knelt, much like I've seen Farrah do with Caesar on multiple occasions. I gave her about a cookie, rubbed her a BUNCH, and then ASKED her to get up...I'm pretty sure she'dve gone all the way down for me, had I asked, but I wanted her to feel safe and confident around me so that she'd be confident in my asking her to do it again some time. So...YAY! Progress!

I'm learning every day just how important being particular about the little pieces is. I'm SO glad I spent time getting her shoulders loose, getting her to stretch her topline, getting her to Spanish walk and park out. It's starting to come together, and I'm REALLY excited for the progress.

And on that note, I'm off for bed. It's COLD tonight! I'm not ready for winter yet!!

Mindless ramblings of the Tired Brain

I thought that when I graduated high school, I might have escaped the multiple nights of "not-enough-sleepness" in a row, but I guess not--blergh. I've gotten less than 9 hours of sleep 5 nights in a row now, so short blog then BED TIME!

I'm seriously starting to get drained by my insane schedule. I'm never home anymore (which is good, probably) but I'm starting to see an alarming decline in the amount of quality time MY horses are getting as a result, EEK! I'm teaching AT LEAST 8 (if not more) lessons a week, and am doing a lot of traveling to learn, too. While it's all a great time, and I LOVE what I'm doing, I'm worn out!

Farrah and I have the same tendency to get so excited about teaching that we forget that we have lives, too. Anyway, I'm not complaining, but if I seem a little out of it, that's why. I really need a long night's sleep.

Had a really amusing experience with Prin tonight. She's now inserted the spanish walk as her default "give me cookie now" trick, and it's getting rather hilarious. Any time I approach her now, she Spanish walks, and gives me this "SEE?!" expression, and of course it's so hilarious that I give her a cookie and crack up laughing. I have to be totally honest, I'm not sure which she enjoys more, the laughter or the cookie. Anyway, tonight, I decided to try to teach her to lift her leg up and hold it, kind of like "Shake" for a dog. Since she obviously gets the concept, I figured it'd be easy for her to at least try. And it was, but she'd hold it up and then paw the air. My horse is just so weird.

And on that note, I'm going to do laundry, then immerse myself in "The Fountainhead" until I fall asleep. Yet another busy day tomorrow.

Savvy out.