unConsciously Competent

Update Sept 1st, 2011

2011-09-01T09:07:00.001-04:00

Sunrise has not had trouble with her rear leg in some time. She isn't sound but hasn't seemed in pain at all for most of the summer.

I'm worried about Cayleigh. She was a little heavy at the start of the summer but is now getting thin enough I have called the vet. I also have asked the pasture owners to up her feed as much as possible, we had already added a fair amount of hay extender to her diet last month. I have plans to get her out of her pasture as often as possible and let her eat as much grass as possible. Good for UDT I suppose.

Will post more when I know more.

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Update August 2nd, 2011

2011-08-02T18:10:00.001-04:00

Well, in an effort to post a little more I am going to try smaller updates for when I'm with the girls. Today's update come complete with pictures!

Sunrise trying to 'sus out if I have carrots!

Does this lens make my butt look big? Poor Cayleigh, she has been getting thinner but I think it is more the lack of grazing then anything else. She is on grain and extra hay. You can see no grass for her.

Too sexy for your nickers hehe.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

"You have something special here..." Part 2

2011-06-17T11:41:00.003-04:00

While I was happy, almost joyful, during the two day clinic, I was also learning and so had moments of frustration and misunderstanding. I do so hate those moments of conscious incompetence. I was happy with Cayleigh's performance that first day. She gave a whole lot of try.

The second day she gave more of the same. Acting like a partner. Perhaps it wasn't the wisest move but, besides getting on her back and just sitting for a few minutes at a time, Friday morning was our first ride. I am about three months behind where I wanted to be due to the rain and my new stabling arrangements.

Cayleigh stands very still for me to mount, a testament to her previous owners and trainers! I must concentrate and mount correctly but she holds her weight opposite to me and as long as the girth is tight I can mount slowly or quickly from the ground, her neck curling towards me and no signs of annoyance. I think she gives permission happily.

I've been practising my riding at Punkin Patch Farms in order to get myself trained to be relaxing and accepting of what is offered. I also hoped to get over any nerves, which it appears I have to a great success. It is interesting to be riding from scratch in Parelli as it is not a common experience for many it seems. I am trying hard not to learn the bad habits that so many ex-normal riders are struggling with. Larry pretty much left me alone when I was on horseback. I tried to follow his instructions to the letter and he only offered advice on the parts I was missing.

I am learning to keep my seat still. I do wonder if I have to have some one on one lessons to reinforce those good habits I was talking about. I can't wait for Kari to get her second star!

Anyhow, I spent most of the day learning one rein stops and asking Cayleigh to give me lateral flexion. Pick up the rein, trombone three times without wiggling the shank, close each finger oh so slowly and just wait for he to give. It so hard to resist pulling and I wish I had done a better job! It comes back to learning lateral flexion on the ground where I didn't know just how soft you could be and ended up pulling on poor Cayleigh's head. Lots of habits we both need to get out of there.

We spent a good two hours playing together trying to understand each other. Cayleigh never once gave me the impression she didn't want to be ridden or that I was being overly rude. It was a really good morning.

I had just stepped off and was quite bemused

The weather on Friday was much cooler than the 40C humidex of the first day but I suspect that Cayleigh had a rather sleepless night. You see, here is where the first surprise came in. Cayleigh needed to lay down and did so with me in the saddle to gasps and shouts from the on lookers.I remember being surprised but She was so gentle in the way she told me she was going to laying down. She gave me, a very novice rider, a gentle step off of her back before settling into a hard hour long snooze over lunch. I checked her for hydration and made sure her capillary refill was good, but the poor little thing just wanted a snooze. After checking on me Larry advised that I not miss the opportunity to rub her all over. Feeling that she was okay, my mood was grins all over. Right there in the middle of the clinic paddock we just rested together. She let me take off her halter and saddle with barely a twitch although I couldn't get the girth out from under her where she slept. The 12 other students just continued to work around us.

We broke for lunch and she woke up about half way through. She stood up sipped a little water I had left for her. Shortly after she let out a huge whinny. I stood up and as soon as she saw me she was focused like a laser beam. I interrupted my lunch and I took her to where she could find food and water in her paddock.

After I made her more comfy she napped while we ate lunch.

After lunch I had a horse that was so connected and in tune with me. Everything from haltering to driving was a very light touch. In the afternoon I managed to teach Cayleigh to avoid flexion and had to work undoing what I thought of as a good thing. She had been tipping her head rather than bending her neck and I got confused and released at the wrong time. I tell you that the release teaches, big time!

Another hour of saddle play was all I got when I felt that Cayleigh was getting overworked. I'm not sure how I knew, maybe a slight stumble, maybe she just stopped learning, but I knew something was off. I let myself down and just stood beside her. She again fell asleep, this time standing. We exited the riding area as partners and on a good note. I may have missed two hours of clinic time and practice with the nine step backup, but what I do is for the both of us..

Chin tickling

We stayed just outside the gate and watched the rest of the clinic. She napped by my shoulder for another 3 hours. I couldn't resist tickling her chin and flapping her lips while monitoring her condition. She was perfectly fine, just tired! A little later I went to my truck, which can be seen behind the fence in this picture. It was about 40 metres away but I asked Cayleigh to stay where she was. Her focus was completely on me, her eyes bright and head up, but she didn't move an inch while I went to get some water bottles. What an awesome horse!

I once said that laughter and a carrot was the best way to end the day. You don't always need the carrot.

"You have something special here....", Part 1.

2011-06-12T14:08:00.000-04:00

I attended a Larry Stewart level 1/2 clinic this past Thursday/Friday and I am extremely happy I did. Larry is obviously a master horseman with a calm collected attitude. I was warned he might be gruff and grumbly and could have some sharp edges if you were not listening. All of which is true, and none of which was ever unjustly deserved.

Cayleigh exploring her paddock at the clinic

Actually, I came out of it unscathed. He left me to my own devices with only a few brief tips or a correction. I have a LOT to learn, I've learned, but then again that is why my blog's title is what it is. I was very satisfied with my showing at the clinic and it brought Cayleigh and myself together.

The first day was interesting and we strengthened our foundation on the ground with the seven games and tried to tie them into what happens on horseback. I learned just how many little details I do not pick up from DVDs.

My friendly was amongst the best there with a hop and a skip around Cayleigh while pounding the ground with my carrot stick and string. Twirling around her head with the string and "whipping" it at her only to have it land gently. There were a few moments of tenseness at first but in the end the lead was on the ground and she was quiet at my antics.

The porcupine game is the one that is most difficult for me to do. Yet it turns out, obviously, to be the most important one. A good part of what you do a horseback is porcupine. Here I learned that my lateral flexion was broken and that I've been too forceful. My fingers keep applying pressure when they shouldn't. Remember to touch with your palms and not your fingers until you want to apply the pressure. Larry also gave a tip to use opposition reflex to help with showing the difference between pressure and neutral. When Cayleigh left while I was being friendly I simply pushed her to a stop, then proceeded with the porcupine. I got it so that I could get a step each way without any overreaction. She would wait for my pressure, and not just my touch.

Driving has always been pretty easy for Cayleigh. While we have practice to make it better in our future, I was pretty satisfied with where we were at. I'll concentrate on bringing the phases down and on keeping myself quiet. This was the game that I volunteered Cayleigh for, although I was happy to send her up at any time. When I offered her to Larry she came to him willingly and what he said to me was "You have something very special here..." I couldn't help but agree and so the title of this post. Unfortunately, he couldn't show phase four with her so had to select another horse for the demo.

In a few brief instructions Larry fixed up my circling game. He said that driving zone four during the send was impolite and caused problems and that driving zone one away would get a horse that was more relaxed, and curved in towards you on the circle. Again, that one tiny little detail, fixed most of what was wrong with our circle game. It was amazing to watch Cayleigh circle, first at a walk, then at a trot. I even got a reversal "on" the circle and I don't think she minded. It really is the simple things.

I loved the don't you look at her Yoyo game we played. Standing in a horseshoe Larry instructed us to Yoyo our horses back without looking at them. Whoo, to not look back was hard but most of us were able. Near the end Cayleigh and I got good enough to do it with just a finger wiggle. I love it.

We played a mini-sideways game and then I broke down and tried a full out sideways. I need more practice with this as I know Cayleigh was trying but I wasn't being clear with her. It really lets me know I need to know where my belly button is going.

The squeeze game we tried was under our carrot stick and arm. I couldn't send Cayleigh very well so something else to work on. I returned to the driving game as Larry asked us all to drive our horses where ever we went for the rest of the clinic.

Unfortunately by the last two games I was mildly suffering from heat stroke with a huge headache. What a hot hot day. We didn't get to riding that first day, but I think this is a good place to break. Stay tuned for part 2.

The next day, a surprise and a surprise ending.

A little riding time.

2011-05-26T06:11:00.000-04:00

As some of you by now know, my riding time has been limited to 6-8 hours worth of lessons over the last decade or two. I've been working with Cayleigh to get us to the point where we are both ready to have an enjoyable first time. Cayleigh and I are working through some disharmony with each other on-line and both my work and the nasty weather have meant that my plans to have been on her back by now are much waylaid.

This last Saturday I was able to attend a working through level 2 two hour clinic with Sandy Ruiter and a lovely Haflinger gelding called Johann. As his owner, Kathy, describes him on her web page:

This cuddly bear is Johann. He’s a 14.1 Haflinger that was rescued from the meat auction. Natural horsemanship got him over his issues and now he’s a really great guy to be around. He has a few tricks up his sleeve; he lies down, bows and snickers when you tell a joke. He’s a really good herd boss. Only a year younger than Clippi, they are best buddies, affectionately called “the jokers”. He’s pretty good at soccer too.

It was very interesting being a Parelli riding student. While perhaps I was not the most graceful of riders I was able to build my confidence, feel safe, and honestly have more fun riding than ever before.

On another note, a day or two has past since I started this post. Time keeps getting away from me. Cayleigh did something very interesting last night. When everyone got fed, she grabbed a mouthful then came back over to me at the far end of the paddock. She demanded to be brushed some more. Wow, she choose me over food, at least I know I'm being interesting. She also demanded fly spray and to have her foot picked out. I'm not sure how I knew that but it seemed pretty damned obvious to me. I had planned to get the saddle up on her and do a little "work" with her but it seemed to me that a reward for her wanting to be with me shouldn't be "work". In the end, she didn't go eat until I had to leave.

I have plans to visit Johann and do my homework before my next lesson with Sandy.

Trailer loading FUN!

2011-03-21T13:55:00.000-04:00

I'll give a little tip of the hat to Kari Bowser for reinforcing what I already knew but needed to practice.

Trailer loading is really fun. Over the last few weeks, I've been busy looking for a new home for my girls. In an attempt to set things up for success; trailer loading was high on my list of things to get "done".

Cayleigh, my 8 year old Arabian, seems like an old loading pro. She isn't completely calm in the trailer but as long as I give her something to focus on she has been okay in the past. We played a bit with the trailer this winter when it was in the arena for a week. I expected a lot from Cayleigh and she walked up to the trailer until we got to about six feet. Paying attention to her threshold I stopped and waited for the snorting to subside. When she lowered her head to get a good look at the trailer I continued.

Her life was up the entire way to the trailer.

How very interesting I thought. Cayleigh has played with trailers before and loaded and unloaded pretty well. When she showed some curiosity I asked her in. "Nuuunhnua!" she said; going anywhere but the trailer. Well, I asked so I had to see a try in the right direction before I could let go of the pressure. (Thanks for reminding me of that Kari.)

She pawed at the trailer and I let go the pressure. I could see her notice that was what I wanted but it wasn't sitting well being near the trailer.I made an executive decision and rather than waiting for her to relax I took her about 10 foot away from the trailer. I did not want to let her rest away from the trailer so asked her to circle. If you have been follow my blog for a while you'll know that the circling has been giving us some trouble. Not today, our circle game worked really well. We did a few laps in either direction with a slight pause as I stumbled switching hands with the carrot stick.

I went from circling right into driving. Cayleigh is remarkable sensitive to me. I was having a good focus day, and the next attempt into the trailer was with me in zone four driving her to the trailer. I put my focus inside the trailer although I expected to have to circle her one more time. In she pops! She was calm about it so I brought her right back out. We repeated, sometimes with a circle, both sides, and by the end with me at 12'. I think she figured out that each time she came out there was more trotting for her to do as each load lasted a bit longer. In the end it was about 45 minutes and she rested her nose on me as I stood outside the trailer with a loose rope. To finish the day I ask her to line up sideways at the far end of the trailer, since that is where she'll be on the slant load. Sideways game in a trailer. Trailer loading is really fun!

Cayleigh is such an interesting horse to work with too. Not LBI only or RBE only she manages to take a swing through ever quadrant of the horsenality chart. Every second I have to evaluate her when we are doing something new and unusual. Like my other horse, she is very smart.

Speaking of Sunrise, now it was her turn!

Sunrise had the direct benefit of playing with Kari last Tuesday when I was getting all lessoned up. The problem with Sunrise, or more accurately the problem I've created in Sunrise, is that she doesn't know the games well. I've not been playing with her due to the sore leg. Her pain seems to have greatly improved these last two weeks and I've resolved to fix that.

Since she was doing so well Kari and I played with her quite extensively on the Tuesday and I spent another hour with her yesterday. Sunrise remembered her lesson from Tuesday and with a few moments to blow at the trailer she got her front feet up on there and stood still. "Look at me, boss, ain't I grand!" I left her there a few moments and gave her a scratch. Now the thing about Sunrise is that, if you get her past her fear, she LOVES new stuff. I suspect she is often bored out of her mind because she is such a quick witted LBE.

I ask her into the trailer expecting her to climb on in. I set myself up willing to take some forward, any forward from her. I'm prepared for any reaction. It was an interesting five minutes of persistent asking on my part and persistent dodging, crowding and avoidance on hers. I finally see something so that I am able to give her a release and we stand there and lick and chew. Whew, told you this was fun!

We try again, a few moments of avoiding and she climbs on in. What a wonderful girl. The rocking of the trailer gets to her and she pops out. We circle a little and I ask her right back in off of the circle. She pops up like a pro and looks at me as if to say, "Why didn't you tell me this is what you wanted?" The trailer rocks again and out she pops. We load her repeatedly getting her used to rocking. By the end of it she is as calm on the trailer as Cayleigh, even when I'm jumping up and down on the bumper.

One additional insight that I've learned through the trailer loading practice is that giving purpose to the pieces that Parelli teaches makes every task easier to accomplish. You want to come around me, let's make it a circle game. You want to push into me, how about a squeeze with the trailer enstead? You want to stop, let's go play touch-it with the trailer. You want to rest, let's drive onto the trailer and you can rest there.

In writing that last paragraph another thought occurred to me. I read the "Ambassador of Yes" article in this summer's Savvy Times a couple of times. I kept trying to think of ways to put it into practice. Many of the things I heard people were trying were just a new way of saying "No." so I never did figure out the concept for myself. The entire time I was trailer loading, I never once said no to either of my girls. How interesting.

Post #100 and and some moving thoughts

2011-02-14T09:06:00.000-05:00

This is my 100th post which means that I'm doing almost two posts a week on average. That is very respectable. Luckily my motivation is easy to come by.

I'm trying to keep this in mind while I search for a barn:

It’s Not As Hard As You First Thought
The research is clear – when we look at hill, set of stair, mountain, or slope of any sort from the bottom, we over estimate the steepness of the slope.

That is powerful knowledge that we can apply to our lives.

When we look at challenges we over estimate their difficulty, we make up reasons to make the challenges more difficult.

Once we set out to climb the slope, we discover the slope wasn’t as steep as we first thought. It’s the same way when we aggressively confront our challenges.

Don’t be afraid of your challenge. Face it, move into it with confidence.

The research also shows when we look back down the hill, we under estimate the slope.
It’s the same way in life, conquer the challenge, look back, and you recognize the strength you had all the while.

Don't get me wrong there are a lot of great barns out there. Places where people and many horses have fun. I've met a lot of very nice people who are doing what they can for horses.

I'm just surprised by how often I get a regular grilling about just what it is I do with my horses. How much they want me to explain why I'm not riding, the final implication being why I even dare to have the horses I have!

It has not been a fun process trying to figure out if my girls will get the care I want for them while defending their very existence. All the while on what appears to be a tight budget nowadays. Horsefolk, some of whom appear hyper-competant, treat horses as throwaway, while at the same time rescuing horses who they say could not even stand. The distances I've travelled to get to these barns are starting to get to 40 minutes of travel time one way. With gas prices over a buck a litre, I simply cannot afford that.

I care very deeply for my girls, but it looks like I'll be settling for a soso situation for them and me in the near term or putting them so far out of reach that I might as well not own them.

I cannot tell you how much I hate putting their care in others hands right now.

Urgent, Soon to be Moving!

2011-02-09T07:32:00.000-05:00

Last night I got a surprise in the mail. My barn is closing its doors. I understand their reasons and they are as concerned for the care they can give my horses as for their own personal reasons. It is just bad timing to be doing this in February as everyone usually keeps their horses in barns until the end of April! So, my deadline is April 1st, but I'd rather be out of there by the end of the month.

My vet is coming this afternoon to do a coggins test.

If anyone knows a good place in Eastern Ontario for me to look at, please drop me a line either in the comments or at the e-mail in my sidebar. I already have one or two leads and one or two places I'm not even going to check out after asking around. I had already been giving some thought to a place like Drogheda Manor. I'll be seeing Garry soon to find out if it is the place for me.

Snow Days

2011-02-07T06:00:00.001-05:00

What a lovely day I had on Saturday. I was supposed to work all day long on student manuals but by two o'clock I looked out the window and made a decision. I saw the warmth and the storm clouds coming and got the heck out of there. I went to play with my lovelies, in the deep snow and gorgeous temperatures.

It was an interesting time. Cayleigh was excited! Snorting and galloping all over her paddock as the snow fell off the roof of the arena just beside her. I waited quietly at the gate enjoying watching her move with such grace and freedom. The snow dropping 30' to the ground a few horse lengths behind me. Whump.... whump.. a little breather then whump as the snow broke off the main pack and came sliding down.

Cayleigh came to me, I gave her velvety nose a caress and turned to watch the snow. Twice she galloped to the end of her paddock behind her herd of two other horses. Each time she did come back. She waited there beside me, slowly calming down, standing there and played friendly with the whumping snow monster.

We played the games in the snowy paddock. The circling game is better with the tips Kari gave me. It was interesting to watch Cayleigh go on the circle without being reactive. She stopped on the circle twice when I asked her to disengage and drew to me numerous times when we played with that. We got six or eight laps through the snow, a good tool to use as once she has a circle packed she likes to stay on it! Once, as she came behind me she stopped and reared as I asked her to continue. Sometimes she has to shout to get me to listen. It is interesting how without malice she does that, continuing on the circle when I ask her. I drew her to me when she came back around my front and to show that I was listening change what we were doing.

Sideways through the thick snow was given happily, Cayleigh keeping one questioning eye on me the whole time to see what was next. A half circle against the fence and sideways the other way. A few more circles and a great big smile and thanks for a wonderful snow time.

To check out some of the things which are filling my non-horsey time up, you can check out my wife's blog at SPARROWHAVEN. I'm the guy in early medieval dress.

Trimmed Feet and a Teacher

2011-01-17T11:02:00.002-05:00

Kari Bowser was out yesterday for her first follow up visit since I've taken up learning to trim hooves the Equinextion way. You can read some of their public information here: Posture and Stance Report. My girls feet are doing well, and even Sunrise's feet are improving slowly. Kari seems to feel that I won't do too much damage so has admonished me to call if I have any issues or questions but we don't have another formal appointment planned yet. Okay, so Kari probably thinks that I won't hurt my girls, my thumb is a little sore from the rasping it took. A new rasp is SHARP!

It just so happens that Kari is also more than happy to help me with my On-line skills. Three very important things I've learned that I need to work on are: Effectiveness, Focus, and Subtlety.

For effectiveness we worked with playing "hide your hiney". The skill was easy enough and both Cayleigh and Sun know enough to move their behinds when I put my focus there. It was the concept of how to use this game, how to keep it a game, and the expected results. Truthfully, I had noticed that sometimes Cayleigh was much more focused on me after some hind-quarter disengagement but the connection was never made in my head. Kari had a bright easy way of explain this stuff to me but I think she figured out I'm LBI. I have to stop and really think before I can apply the skill. Of course, with horses timing is of the essence! It is interesting to note that the Carolyn Resnick's Eye Contact Waterhole Ritual reminds me of "hide your hinney". Things to keep in mind, make it a game (keep smiling in your heart), "hide that hinney" at all times, think of it as making yourself interesting. All this will eventually make me more effective when I have and am able to be interesting enough to keep Cayleigh's focus.

When I talk about focus it is my focus. It goes back to what Ron Pyne said on my first Parelli day. If you are trying to communicate with your horse, stuttering only confuses. My belly button and gaze go together and I learned a big lesson about Cayleigh. She moves out almost the instant I look the direction I want her to go. This didn't amaze me, I knew she was sensitive, I even knew how sensitive she was, I just didn't have that piece of the puzzle when I was playing with circling. My belly button also plays a roll in my draw, or more importantly, how it relates to the rest of my body. With Kari's suggestions on how to proceed I feel that I can now work on the problems Cayleigh and I have been having. I am going to work on differentiating disengagement on the circle and my draw inwards.If I can get those two things separated in my mind and body I think I'll be able to politely ask for that change of direction on the circle. This is one of the disadvantages to teaching yourself, I've been doing this improperly for so long that I was fighting my body to get it right! If this was all I had learned today it would have been very worth it. I also need to re-assure Cayleigh more often that what she is doing is perfectly okay and I'm happy with her. If she leaves on the circle worried, I need to get her back and try again.

I was pleased to get some positive feedback from Kari as well. I needed another pair of eyes to confirm what I was seeing was truly what was going on. Subtlety is something I've been working on and I have become pretty good at the parts I do well, but Kari was able to give me some more advanced techniques. Particularly for my "ask" on the circle. I have to remember to get the sequence right though, energy up then the ask. I'm not sure what I was thinking when I started getting it the other way around.

So, now I know what I don't know, time to work on getting my physical skills in place so that Cayleigh can figure out what I know.

Ohohoh! I almost forgot, I drove Cayleigh from zone five too! Kari gave me a few little techniques and Cayleigh keep her butt beside me. It was the first little game we played and Cayleigh responded to it really well! She is so smart that little girl! I just need to play with her and get it consistent on my end and she'll be a driving champ!

My good readers, I must once again apologize that I have no pictures. I was so busy doing that I never got to the documenting part of my day yesterday. This has been the part of my blog that has gotten neglected the most. I am getting closer to changing that; my camera made it out to the barn, you see!

What He Said

2011-01-13T13:47:00.000-05:00

I thought what Pat said here was worth repeating:

It’s not about the winning it’s about modeling the way, even in the warm up arenas. It’s about showing that Parelli people are nice, friendly and helpful no matter where we are. In other words principles before purpose no matter what...

So it’s not about the winning, it’s about helping to make the world a better place for horses and humans!

These words have a very deep meaning and include having fun, helping folks, keeping your own council, listening to your partners and your heart. It is a philosophy of life which I am trying hard to embrace.

I also just wanted to announce what some of you have already noticed. I will not be participating in the Savvy Forum any more. Parelli Connect and the Savvy Club Vault have tonnes of useful information and ways to interact with like minded folks so I am remaining a happy member of the Savvy Club. Besides, those Savvy Club DVDs and Magazines are very well put together and deserve my support.Soon I will have my first lesson with a PP since last March and I hope to make that a recurring part of my progress.

As Pat would say, "Keep it natural, eh!" Okay, he'd say that if he were Canadian.

In the Present

2010-12-30T06:00:00.114-05:00

Sunrise and Cayleigh both played with me last night. I had to be stern with Sunrise and in the moment with Cayleigh.

I've almost forgotten how dominating Sunrise can be. Lots of stern faces and three tags on her chest got her attention and some thought! Once leadership was established, she was okay with it. A lot of friendly since we haven't played in a while and then some games. At one point she decided the pile of snow in the middle of the arena was interesting so I drove her over and let her sniff it. Once she appeared done I turned to practice our leading and felt a lead weight on the rope. She had stopped, dropped and rolled! That minx thought she had gotten away with something I'm sure but instead I just encouraged her with my carrot stick tapping the ground on the side she was rolling to. While she enjoyed the rolling I'm sure she was unhappy she didn't get a reaction out of me! I figure that the cue for rolling might come in useful someday so will practice with her when she presents the opportunity. Make my ideas her ideas, but understand her's first seems like the plan for Sunrise. I'm glad she won't be ridden though, wouldn't want to have to ride her through a roll!

Cayleigh was a different kettle of fish. Soft, forgiving, yielding and in tune with me tonight. It took 10 minutes to put on her halter tonight. As always, I could get it on without a fight but I love seeing her push her nose into the halter. My wife suggested she was making it a game when I got back home and I had the same thought while doing it so I changed up what I was doing. When she expected me to halter her I, with a feather touch of porcupine, sent her backwards into her stall three steps then set up the game again. This got her blinking and coming to me more eagerly. I repeated this three times and she put her shoulder where it needed to be and pushed her nose into the halter when I put it around her neck and asked her to bend to me. How very interesting. Overall she was bracey and skeptical of the process until the very end. The odd thing is that she isn't skeptical of me, or the halter, it seems to be standing at her left shoulder is the problem. Picking out her feet was good, although she was very, ahem, athletic again when I had her back feet up.

Leading is working very well, from trot to quick backing 8-10 feet in front of her and in zone four. I think the older Parelli stuff calls this "mirror me". She doesn't quite stay straight beside me when I stop in zone three she turns ever so little towards me but a soft shake of the rope sends her nose away. I will say that she asked me a lot of questions when we were doing this!

Porcupine on the front and the back was good. It is difficult to keep my pressure on her haunch when I'm asking her to move her hind quarters, so it is almost a driving game. Will have to work on slowing the game down, although it isn't an overreaction it is just more than I want.

Driving fore and hind quarters is also very easy with feet crossing getting more common and less forward and back movement.

We played with laterial flexion and Cayleigh became so soft and supple that she allowed me to wrap the rope around her with no unconfidance and licked and chewed while spinning around in the follow my pressure, not me game taught on the level one DVD. That's where you put the lead on the far side of your horse and ask them to turn away from you.

She asked me questions on the lead all the way back to her stall, "do we stop here?, back up? Faster? Slower?" It was great. A lot of laughter and smiles on my part. Her willingness to get close when asked but no longer constantly trying to get just one step closer all the time was great too. I ended the night with laughter and a carrot for my special girl.

New Years Goals

2010-12-29T06:00:00.000-05:00

If you have been reading my blog for a while you may remember my August Goals Page which disappeared around middle Oct. Not because my goals had changed but I found myself with an astounding lack of time to update my goals. However that is then and this is now and I'd like to take some time to take stock and refine my goals for the new year.

As Michelle says, "New Years Resolutions - Should Be VERY Important to Make Them Actually Happen!" I appreciate that she is not only working on her own goals but helping the many people who read her blog with tips and advice.

So, reviewing the top goal, my "endpoint" so to speak I do feel like I am closer to understanding how to allow my two girls to enjoy their time with me and to let their fun and passion soar. We have had some setbacks along the way but all that has done is make me listen harder to them. The horses are so worth it if I can only keep my focus on the why of wanting to change, as opposed to the mechanics.

What about my sub goals though how close have I come to meeting them. Well, I did very well I think. I've only met my goals part way but they were lofty goals and I am happy with what I have achieved. I've working on my level two audition style and while I'm not completely there yet I am happy to report my on-line goals are close to hand. Very happy with that. I lost about half the weight I wanted to, and then plateaued. Not so happy about that, but 20 lbs or so is nothing to sneeze at. I've started a new site to help me track my food intake here at LiveStrong. I encourage you to go and keep me honest, although using the site I find that I am actually not horrible for calorie intake as long as I reduce my night snacking. As long as I get back onto the exercise horse, ahem,so to speak, I should start dropping weight again. My goal is 1 lbs per week now, so I want to be at a target weight of 87 kg (190 lbs) by next Christmas.Unfortunately that prevents anything other than sitting on Cayleigh for brief periods of time for a least a year. It has been suggested to me that I need to find a "levels horse" which is more of a fit for me. While a practical idea, I'm sure, sometimes I just have to stick with the impossible dream.

So, my next goal is to get Kari to give me some horse training time as well as foot trimming lesson. I'd really like to get my level two audition done by the end of January, and as long as Cayleigh continues to say "Yes!" that should be doable.

The night before the night before Christmas

2010-12-24T10:31:00.001-05:00

I'd have to describe Cayleigh as fragile.

My tough minded, strong, charming, brave little girl is fragile!

I've been going slow and paying a lot of attention to her reaction. Our new game of having two feet out of the stall, letting me stand at her shoulder and turning her head towards me for the halter is working well. Pretty much I(we) win the game every time and it is getting faster, it took about half the time as last time. I have to have a very delicate balance, looking for her blocking my actions and preventing that but backing way off when she starts to think about leaving.

As I groomed her I rubbed her legs and brushed out her mane. After last Saturday, holding her feet up so long, I had thought that picking them up would be difficult. She still thinks about leaving when I pick up her left front but decides to stay. I am also back to using the "Parellli" technique of getting the foot up by squeezing the chestnut. I had switched to tapping the back of the fetlock because that is what the girls already understood. After a quick lesson by Kari Bowser (1* Parelli Professional) I noticed how well the girls would pick up their feet and show me the sole of their hooves. Sunrise is still stubborn as anything but she's getting better since I just don't let up.

Anyhow, Cayleigh stood without moving a hoof unless she was shifting weight getting ready to lift up her foot for me. Talk about being a partner! We played a little with lateral flexion and she is still stiff on her left side, backing rather than bending but again much better than last time. More of a plank the first time than the log it was last time. Once she flexed the first time, she gave to the pressure each subsequent time. Her right side was much more supple and we managed to get flexion with only one step back.

We played the first four games before we were interrupted. It was a good time to stop anyhow as the hay had just been brought out. A nice reward for her trust and hard work at trying! Well, going into the barn through the garage door she forgot about me at the sight of the hay. A quick wiggle and back on me she was, then I back out the door and she was so calmly in tune with me she backed right into the riding ring mirroring me from zone 3! The hay was well deserved.

So, what did I learn about our relationship. A large amount of my focus has to be on how she is feeling. If she going well I can shift my focus outwards to tasks she might find interesting. Strangely, Linda Parelli's blog has the same thought:

You get into trouble when you try to accomplish a task but your horse is having emotional trouble. And when the horse is ready and willing you can miss the opportunity to make progress.

which just goes to show that you need to have an all around view of your horse even when you are focused on being particular about a task. Cayleigh is extremely subtle in her emotions but they are there. I've learned that she needs me to stop, give her time and a smile.

Taking Time.

2010-12-15T06:35:00.093-05:00

I took time from what I had planned tonight.

I gifted it to Cayleigh in an effort to understand and help her. I'm feeling in a much better place and so, I think, is she.

It took almost an hour to put on her halter, and not a second of it was frustrating. I made a game out of it, using the imagination that Parelli tries to get us to cultivate. My intention became to up the catch me game and turn it into the "I'll halter myself" game.

I opened the stall door and took two steps back. Cayleigh has shown me she likes staying in her stall so, fair enough, I started there. Door open, me two steps back and waited. Being the curious horse that she is, she came to me both front feet inside the stall. I hadn't quite invented the game at this point, all I was looking for was a willingness to come to me, but when I tried putting on the halter I was shocked to read her expression. Everything about it was negative including a small step away from me.

I backed off right out of the stall back to my starting position. It took her a few moments to come around and she rocked a little on her front feet. When she came back to me I let her explore but ended up having to drive her away as she became nippy.

Hrrrmmm, about this time is when I invented the game. Here were the basic rules:
I retreat when you retreat
I approach when you step forward
Rubbing with halter unless you are uncomfortable
Two feet outside the stall
You choose when to put your head in the halter, I'll choose when to tie it.

So we played this for about an hour, I had to close the door and walk away for 5 minutes or so whenever she nipped and I had to drive her away. I could feel something deep inside her trying to come out, she was responding to what had happened to her and not what was happening to her. Eventually she allowed me to put the halter on her, so we'll have to work on that last step, but I think the goal of getting her to push her head into the halter is very doable. We both were relaxed once the halter was on and I got a big chew out of her. I also paid special attention to her eyes tonight going only as fast as she was blinking.

When I had her out of the stall she followed easily and stood while I massaged her legs and feet all the way round. Then she quietly and with no resistance at all picked her feet up when asked and even allowed me to oil them without trying to get me to hurry up.

We also played in the arena where, on a 12' line our circling game is good, as is our porcupine, driving, Yo-yo (some ears back when stepping backward), sideways. All could use improvement but I'm sure they always will since that is the nature of the game. It was there that I discovered how badly my draw was broken. After a bit of sideways I backed up at a trot pace and Cayleigh's emotions were way way up! It took quite some time to calm her down. This is something I've been doing since I've owned her. It was very interesting and I paused until she became calm. After a few more games this also explains why our reversing on the circle is so poor, no draw. How very interesting.... My draw at slower paces remains very high, so no hint of draw problems during calm controlled Yoyos.

We finished the day calmly backing into and out of her stall in an attempt to work on her ears and her confidence in my draw.

All this is teaching me a lot I think. I could only wish Cayleigh wouldn't take my fumbles so to heart!

Seven keys to success

2010-12-13T11:30:00.000-05:00

After trying to be progressive and bringing our game up I ended up with a horse that was pissed off and wouldn't talk to me. I had tried to give comfort, rest, friendly though-out the session and I still haven't figured out what went wrong. I've slowly salvaged the relationship using UDT and some time. We have not played for three days.

As a result, I figure I need to go back to some basics and think about them:

The Seven Keys to Success

Ask Knowingly, To Thoughtfully Turn Intention to Success

That is one of many memonics to remember the seven keys to success. The keys are

Attitude
Knowledge
Tools
Techniques
Time
Imagination
Support

Okay, so what do these seven keys mean to me now, almost 9 months after the start of our journey.

Attitude
An attitude of FOR the horse and not to the horse is the one I try to cultivate. It is a matter of what you intend to accomplish rather then what you expect should happen. If I intend to play progressively with my horse, do new and interesting things in new and interesting ways it doesn't matter if my horse takes one step or three along the road.
Listening and communication are what is key, taking what the horse suggests and making it a great idea, then making your ideas even better is the way to accomplish leadership through attitude. I'm here to help my horse want to be the partner possible, not to force her into a cave on wheels. It is not about the figure 8, it isn't even about the games, it is about the relationship.
Every step, even the backwards ones, are a positive experience because they give you something to learn, something to try to achieve, and a chance to get better at talking to your horse.

Knowledge
I feel like I have learned so much so far. A few nights ago playing with my friend we talked a lot about Parelli, me going for hours about what the various Parelli ideas mean to me. Today I feel like I am in over my head again. One of my efforts to tread water is this blog post, another I am considering is returning to the "starting out" level on Parelli Connect and seeing what holes I might need to fill. I'm considering purchasing the last levels pack through e-bay as the new Pathways DVD leaves me so many questions. I'm not a visual learner and honestly the tasks and information on Parelli Connect seem based on the old packages.
I'm getting threads of information from many Parelli sources and trying to weave an understanding from each of the various threads.

Tools
This one I think is pretty good. I've moved "up" to the 22' rope and really love the rope halters and carrot stick. I have noticed that the 22' rope seems heavy to Cayleigh, and as I play out line or pull it in it creates a lot of "noise". I have several "obstacles" in the arena and have purchased a big green ball that I hope to have some fun with.

Technique
"The right attitude, focus, feel, timing, and balance" and "steady and rhythmic pressure, rhythmic motion, comfort, discomfort, phases, and release." All those techniques form a remarkable repertoire to play and communicate with your horse.
The seven games have given me a very good understanding of pressure, comfort, phases and release. It is my efforts to gain feel, timing and balance which require more practice with a willing partner. I seem to continually ask the wrong question at the wrong time of my horse. While my intentions are good this means that as a leader a horse would not choose to follow where I lead. I need to make it natural to go where I ask. Last time we played together Cayleigh did everything I asked and I consider it one of the poorest sessions in a while. She was compliant but not willing. I used the tools in an effort to improve our relationship and ended up with a situation I've had to repair. Perhaps it was as simple as not asking her if she wanted to play?

Time
Time works both for and against you. Often I loose track of all time when playing with my horses. Usually I have 3 hours of fun only to realize that I've only been playing for 45 minutes and I've found a nice place to stop. I need to plan my intentions, so as not to let time get away from me, yet not assume that my expectations can be met in that amount of time.
A plan for the day, but not everything according to plan. I'm not sure I could spend four or five hours playing with my horse on my own, but I know it can be done happily as my first Parelli experience was two eight hour sessions over a weekend.
My time is something I'll have to think about more.

Imagination
I have never been creative. That's not a negative, just a fact. It does not mean that I cannot work on being more interesting, perhaps stealing all kinds of concepts and ideas from all my Parelli friends. It does mean I have to work very hard at not being direct-line in what I ask my horses to do.
All of which shows up in how and when my horses question me; which is seldom. I work on getting the games more regular, but I always try to do something different in each session. The same games used in a different way each time.

Support
Working with my friend taught me that I need to have more interaction at the barn. I already know I need to have someone give me some feedback on what I am not seeing when I play with my horses, but being able to show my accomplishments would be fun and I know watching someone else do the same thing would show me so much more than I have been getting from a DVD.
I'm still in the process of finding a PP who won't have to take several hours to get here from their home base. I think that is the level of support I most need to help me help myself over my current confusions.

Night Off

2010-12-07T19:29:00.003-05:00

Last night when I went to set up the X game in the arena it seemed like it was time to just do something simple. The arena had a line of snow from end to end down the middle from the storm going on outside. The ridge cap allow the blowing snow in if the wind is the right way. The walls were rattling around as well because it was quite blustery. Normally I enjoy weather, even the cold, but not that night. Instead of formal play, I decided to do some of what I've come to call "demanding" undemanding time with my girls. D-UDT This is where I do things that are part of a normal routine with the goal being to bond through time together. Things like grooming, and blanketing. Things we can slip into like an old warm comfortable slipper. Sometimes during DUDT we can learn new things if they are simple, as we shall see below.

Sunrise got a good brushing and hoof picking. We put on blankets, just to make sure she is okay with them. Thanks for the idea Michelle. We did the blanket over the head with buckles done up, since that is the "fast way" that the barn help prefers to use. Sun's head went up but it turns out that was my fault, the blanket had a wrinkle that I didn't see and that squeezed her head. Luckily, I took the time it takes with the blankets last year, so it took less time for me to play friendly and get her completely used to the blanket over her head again.We also did some lateral flexion, but more on that later.

Cayleigh was soft, supple, a a delight to work with. Her curiosity was up and she was making very interesting, yet cute, faces when I was at her front. She stayed more still, focused on me, than she has in a while. Similarly brushed, blanketed and hoof picked. When I went to pick up her right front hoof she turned her head away, repeatedly. She was also sensitive near a "surface" crack my farrier assured me was nothing. I've called in a new farrier who is going to teach me about Equinextion natural hoof trimming. I attended her natural hoof care seminar a little while ago and it made a lot of sense. She is also a 1* PP so I'll also see how I feel about learning 1 on 1 from her. I spent several minutes playing friendly with Cayleigh and that foot. I could tell from her attitude she appreciated that I was respecting her thresholds and waiting for her to come back to me before continuing.

Cayleigh became her usual cookie, err carrot monster self once I was done with that hoof. I need to get a picture of her tucking her chin in search of a carrot, again she is too cute. I need to take a look at playing with stretches with her and Sunrise. Another fun game for all of us I would think.

I practised some lateral flexion with Cayleigh too. You see I'm actually considering riding her. This is a first for me and I'm kinda giddy about it. It was a goal but I wasn't sure I'd get to this point any time soon. I've gotten to a place where I'd feel very comfortable with riding. My previous riding experience is 5-6 hours riding school horses that didn't listen to you anyway. We are about a month behind on the original time line I set, which I happily admit was very ambitious so I'm very pleased with that performance. Not so pleasing is my own weight timetable. I have lost 15 pounds, but still need to shave off another 50 before I'm happy and will do more than sit or walk Cayleigh. (Well, unless she has other ideas!)

While teaching the lateral flexion, Sunrise was amazingly supple and soft on the lead. With my one hand on her whithers, and a soft pull her head came around and waited with no pressure. A small bump on her nose when she went to go straight before I released on the one side but WOW! Sunrise has never had any riding done, and usually bullies her way through things at first. I told her what a good girl she was. I managed to get it to 15 seconds on each side, reminding myself not to tempt fate by holding it too long this session.

I forced myself no have expectations as to how Cayleigh would perform. I've learned she is smart, complex, and has some baggage. As we danced around the aisleway I marveled at how much like a plank of wood her neck was. Pressing on her whithers firmly, with gentle but firm pressure on her halter, and finally with patients I got a bit of a neck bend. We only circled twice. Excellent. A few repetitions and she figured out what I wanted and was as soft as Sunrise, giving no resistance for 5 seconds. Licking and chewing was had by all!

On her left side things went a little longer. If her right side was a plank, the left was a log. She ended up backing into a pile of junk so I released and reset her feet to "home" position and tried again. She is not happy that I out persist her nowadays. After one last spin, she sighed and turned her head. Each time she responded to me she got a big old rub on the neck and some friendly. Again I pushed my luck all the way to 5 seconds of hold and reminded myself that while she was giving no resistance I didn't need to push my luck and ruin what I had accomplished so far!

Both of my girls were soft eyed by the end of the session and enjoyed the chance to get out of their stalls. Next time we will do lateral flexion in both directions from each side and beat the 10 second barrier with Cayleigh!

The Right Pace

2010-12-06T14:35:00.000-05:00

Last night was awesome in so many ways. Cayleigh learned to do a figure 8 both the hard way and the "easy" way Pat shows using circling game.We spent about an hour playing with it, doing several other things so that neither of us made assumptions about what was next.

I was calm, but demanding, almost rude although I tried to understand her ideas as much as possible. I had two cones set up and just asked her around them, drawing her to me in the middle each time. It was rough, it was awkward for the both of us but we got the concept down.

I've been working with Cayleigh on our circling too. Using my draw to reverse her around as was suggested to me 5 or 6 posts back, but not "lieing" with a disengagement. It was natural for us to move up from a 12' line standing figure 8 to a circling figure eight. First one cone and a change of direction, then both cones and a full figure 8.

Other game related updates before we go on to talking about what we learned: sideways is going so nicely I need to work on it without a wall to see how she goes. Her forehand is angled slightly away from me no matter how much I focus on her butt and I'm not sure if that is right. I need to do more porcupine and driving game as circling forequarter and hindquarter really gets her attention. It gets her in the mood to listen but doesn't seem to upset her. Yoyo is great up close, and good on the draw from any distance. Backing more than 8 feet or so gets a lot of resistance. It seems she knows the range of my phase four is about 12'. I can back her through or over most anything as long as I let her scope it out first, but never more than 8 foot away.

Progress was quick as it often is with Cayleigh. She learned the figure 8 fast. We even managed to do sloppy figure 8s at a trot. Thinking about it in the light of day I probably asked for too much. I always do when she is so quick and smart. I get dissatisfied with a reliable one step and ask for two, so to speak.

Her two eyes were on me for most of the time. When they weren't I either played friendly when she was unconfidant or "hide your hiney" when she was distracted by the coyotes.

It was a very good session for me.

I'm not sure she feels the same way. I do think she was more interested because I was much more provocative but my final impression is that the relationship suffered. Going back to the Yoyo and circling game, as I said before, she knows my phase four has only a 12 foot reach. I'm not sure when I taught her this, but it is obviously something she has learned. I backed her up to about 15 feet away. Her ears were back but it is difficult for me to say if she had a sour face or just listening behind her. Each time she balked at going back I upped my phases then dropped down to phase one once she was moving again. Unfortunately, it was each step I had to up my phases. Not a smart or snappy response. At least it was completely straight!

Generally my phases are very light, although I'm not afraid to take them higher I expect her to respond with a lifted finger or just giving her rope with a focus as Yoyo was her best game. Once out there at the end of the lead, her ears forward and intent I ask for a circle.

She knows circles but we still have our issues. I got what I read as a big NO, but thinking about it now was there a subtle glance to the left? Should I have rewarded that. Is it different for her way out there that I have to teach her again?

Anyhow, my phases upped to what I consider phase 3, tagging the ground to the right of zone one. Nothing, a little raise of the head perhaps? If I had my Ps with me, I would have performed "prior and proper preparations to prevent this P poor performance!" because I was at a lost for phase four at this distance.

Normally phase four is tagging zone 3 on the shoulder with lots of zone two pressure and porcupine on zone one. Luckily, the solution presented itself in the form of me tagging the rope about 2 foot in front of her nose. It got her going on a wild ride, crashing through a cone and a mounting block. Normally I'd expect her to choose a side and dodge but obviously the RBE came out to play. I gave her her head slowly bringing her closer and closer to me until she came back to the world. I waited in neutral until I could expect asking her to hindquarter yield would be successful. She came to me and put her head flat on my chest and belly.

Another instance a little later, again at a distance and with circling, I got what I saw as a LBE "NO" when Cayleigh decided the other way was her choice. Ready for this, I was all "I love it, but I'd like it at a canter please!" Well, making her idea my own sent her RB again and move she did, again over things as opposed to around things. She came back after a lap and slowed but I brought her up to the canter again. Saying, in effect, I want you to think but at a canter. She was at the end of the lead after trying to jerk it out of my hand on the first lap so I got three laps out of her in LB mode before asking her in. She trotted snorting all the way right too me. It seems that friendly isn't so much a boring game anymore for her. She settled in and enjoyed some comfort. Am I doing all this right? Is she more or less confidant with me at the end of a 22' rope? I just cannot tell. All I know is that I was able to get several circles at a walk in both directions in addition to a figure 8 or two on the circle. It was close in but so soft I didn't have the heart to ask for more.

Was it a good session for Cayleigh? At the end of the day I brought both my girls out of the arena, one in each hand and pointed them into their stalls. Standing half way between the stalls they followed my feel and turned around heads out the door when I pulled in the slack. Sunrise, not as well trained needed more direction and does not stay still yet so I dropped the lead in front of Cayleigh and politely asked her to stay, and went over to Sunrise, took off her halter and shooed her back into her stall. Cayleigh stoically waited for me to finish up with Sunrise. Thanking her with a carrot I took her halter off and scratched her head all over.

Still my partner, I think.

While I'll figure eight in many different ways over the course of the next week as I can think of, I won't drill her to boredom. I think I'll try the game of X next as outlined in the Savvy Times this month too.

A New Thought on an Unusual Evening.

2010-12-05T13:58:00.000-05:00

Sunrise, Cayleigh and I entertained a new friend last night. A self described "dabbler" in horse training he has more experience in caring and working with horses than I do. In his efforts of caring and working with horses, he has found himself confronted with the fact that "everything we do with our horses is training." He too, like the rest of us, never thought of himself as a trainer of horses, just an owner, barn hand, barn manager or whatever role he fulfilled in the life of a horse.

I lent him my Parelli DVD a while back and he has been eagerly awaiting a chance to play with my girls. He is thoughtful and careful, but also tense and tentative. A leader for his horse, as he acknowledges, he is not. Like me, he has some trouble with planning what to do next and that leaves the both of us with underutilized potential.

That was my new thought.

While playing with Cayleigh and Sunrise I found myself describing out loud what I was seeing to my friend. I was surprised to see how much of what I've been thinking about has become second nature to me. Cayleigh settled down quite quickly and grew attached to me. She even gave me an excellent circle after trying to go the wrong way the first time with lots of excitement. We squeezed and sideways'ed, drove and spun around and even played with hulahoops rather than carrot stick to drive. We played games going into and out of her stall about 10 or 15 times driving her in and asking her back out to do a trailer simulation. I even sent her in from zone four.

Why did I have all this new stuff suddenly occur to me. Why am I denying Cayleigh's so obvious potential?

I've not given the slalom game a try, my figure 8 has been put off until circling is better, and I have no pedestal to put my horse on. Lately I've been trying to fix things with Cayleigh rather than doing the more interesting things. I think I've still managed to keep some play and not be direct lined with my actions but I do want her to be more confidant on the circle and that has been bugging me.

What is a horse lover to do? Parelli Tube to the rescue. It was a little difficult finding some on-line auditions at level 1 and 2. For example:

OR

I did manage to view several videos this morning with these two being typical.

I was surprised to see so many level 1 folks passing at level 2. I was also surprised to see how much my phase one is refined compared to what I saw. To me watching these video folks are going all the way to phase two pressure right at the start! I also see many of the same troubles I am having as I learn and that is re-assuring in some way. I know it is only a matter of effort now to do everything I see in these two videos. A matter of regular practice and play. I should have watched some of these earlier.

I hope things are going to get very interesting.

Also, yes yes I know, I need to take my video!!!

On another note, I am not saying anything bad about the people, horses or methods I see in the YouTube videos. They are on their own journey and I only compare myself to them so I, and perhaps you, can learn some things.

Am I Canada's Worst Driver?

2010-11-30T14:57:00.002-05:00

Last night I thought I’d give my lovelies some UDT in the arena. Opening their stall doors, they were happy to be out of being cooped up! Both went where I asked, halter-less and eagerly.

Sunrise has been on Previcox for only two days. IT is also known as Firocoxib and Equioxx. Previcox is the canine version for osteoarthritis. It is an off-label use of the product as it has not been approved for Equines in Canada as of yet, but it has been approved in the US. I didn't think that it worked this fast but Sunrise was full of herself tonight.

Sunrise was bucking and kicking out like crazy; unusual for Sunrise but interesting to watch. She rolled several times quite close to me with no apparent thought that I was there. I slipped them both a carrot chunk and was just walking around the arena, watching out of the corner of my eye. Cayleigh was doing beautiful foot work, tail and head held high. She would check in with me every so often then go off to play again. Sunrise was in the corner facing the wall and examining the cones, manure bucket and window there minutely. Sun would buck around half the arena and return to her corner. It is hard to say when things changed but at some point her head came down and ears laid back. She didn’t seem worried about Cayleigh, although Cayleigh did give her a respectful distance.

She charged around, near and even at me several times as I continued to “putter” around the Arena, although my entire focus was on her. Whenever I thought she was likely to come into striking range I faced her and extended my carrot stick. Which I was very thankful to have! At the time, I wanted to simply and effectively express my leadership without needing to exert extra energy. Oh, I was ready to, but I wanted her to know that I didn’t feel it necessary.

Eventually, and grudgingly she agreed that the Carrot stick was powerful Juju and discontinued her displays of outward dominance. She remained sulky and disrespectful.

At one point after the commotion Cayleigh looked like she was going to roll herself, I had just turned and saw her contemplating it so backed off a little and watched her. She tested the arena floor several times but didn’t lay down. Shucks. I think it was because I was there.

I still wasn’t happy with Sun’s attitude.

A half hour into our UDT time I decided it was time to give them a groom and so raised the door out of the arena. Cayleigh, still attached to me as she had been all night came over and checked in. I asked her into her stall and she happily complied.

Sunrise wasn’t so complaint.

Don’t let anyone tell you that horses don’t go into caves either. Sun has the next stall up from the arena, not a problem I had thought. I asked her in and walked her along towards the stall directing her in. Sunrise, being the minx that she is, turned behind me and into the newly constructed wood shop/farm garage attached to the barn. There were no lights, a ten foot hallway and most importantly, no door to stop her.

Sigh.

She had entered it calmly, confidently, and defiantly. “What are you going to do now, big shot?!?” she asked as she looked over her shoulder at me. Well, while I puzzled this pickle out, the horse that wanted to “kill me”, in an extremely confined space, with lots of sharp object, and her back end facing me casually looked into boxes and on shelves; nosing things out of the way as she saw fit.

Ever seen Canada’s Worst Driver, think of this situation as “The Cross” . I was the driver and the car had a mind of her own. Well, she was calm, demure almost, so I dove in and proceeded to do the precision porcupine game. Amusingly she didn’t fight me once until I went to drive her down the hallway. I thought at the time she didn’t want to go because her fun was over. I did expect her to turn towards her stall and carry on to visit the other horses of the barn. That would have been a bit of a problem but instead she turned back into the ring

How interesting.

I asked her back in, this time being more careful with my carrot stick and blocking the doorway while focusing on her stall. Gently driving zone three just behind the drive line. Nope, turned into the carrot stick and started to turn around. A big drive in zone five, a “get out of my aisleway” if you will and I made her move around the arena. I tried that a few times to the same results and I could tell that she was getting, not afraid, but unconfident. Perhaps it was just my draw suffering, although she always came back to me when I asked her to her stall.

I did get the biggest tongue chew out of her that I’d ever seen.

How interesting. I changed tactics.

I picked up the lead I had left at the arena door and then closed the door. I walked to the far half of the arena and knelt there, leaning on my carrot stick, half turned away from Sunrise. Well, it took about 3 minutes but she couldn’t stand it. She took a few steps to the mounting block and gave that a sniff. I could hear her moving, every fourth step a loud click from her left hind. I had made myself interesting, and it wasn’t long before her few tentative steps to the mounting block became a direct walk to me. She snuffled and rubbed my back with her fuzzy lip. Watching her reaction I stood and turned to her. She was much softer and interested than she had been. We finished up playing some of the seven games on-line. My favourite, keeping her foot in mind, is the driving game with long straight walks to targets, or just around the arena. She was much more interested in moving and several times swung around the front of me. My reaction was a mixture of slowing her down and encouraging her to go around, a little confusing for the both of us, but I went from slowing to moving her around since the slowing seemed to be the opposite of what she needed. This meant she spun on that leg a lot, but it was what she needed. We played some squeeze but the backwards Yoyo is going to be out for the rest of her life I am afraid. We ended up leaving the arena together with her long on the lead. Going into her stall like the good horse she is.

Linda talks about being provocative and that it feels rude and demanding. I’m learning that this is what LBEs need and I think that Cayleigh will see some of this too in case it helps her with her interest.

Update:
This post has been edited several times for clarity and because I apparently cannot speak coherently with a headache. My apoligies to those who had to stumble through the bad grammar and spelling.

A Parelli Machine

2010-11-21T12:06:00.001-05:00

Well, last night was an excellent session. I played for about a half hour and things are really refining. I hadn't actually planned on play so I ended up using my 12' line. I did bring my 22' line but never changed over since things were going so well.

Cayleigh was a real Parelli machine responding to my requests like crazy. By no means are we perfect as I'll discuss below but it was a really good night for the both of us.

In an effort to get my thinking brain engaged I'm going to try go over a few "Parelli'isms" and see how and if they can apply to what went on last night. I got the idea from Return to Harmony's latest posting which she talks about the three pillar's of foundation: 1-catch the human, 2-stand still, 3-accept direction. While I am really happy with last night and how things went, I want to learn from what went on so I choose to be critical but in a good way.

To start off, we know the catching is broken. It is remarkable good, but broken none the less. I entered her stall and as usual gave her some time to let me in. She seems okay with me going to either side now, not blocking except in the search for carrots. I always welcome her into my space as she allows me into hers. We always end up "sharing breath" which is an interesting ritual we have. Once I made it to her left shoulder, my hand on her whiters, her head came up. I was facing her butt so turned away from her, my hand on her still. I also tried facing forward, and towards her. She did not turn her head away today. Interesting. I am not sure what is triggering this but it isn't haltering. The halter seems to calm her down once it is over her neck she puts her nose in it then touches her nose to my belly. The tension just flows out of her. In the pasture, as long as the grass isn't too tasty, she'll follow me all over. She'll even race to the gate and wait for me there if that is where my focus is.

What about the stand still? Well, I can back her up, and sideways, drive and porcupine her around and around but there is always one step towards or away from me left in her. For example if I back her up on the Yoyo, she goes well, and quickly. When I drop my energy, she always takes a step towards me. She'll walk right to me unless I interrupt her. Similarly setting up for sideways, if I play "touch-it" with the posters on the wall when I release she takes a step on the forehand to me and I have to direct energy at her head to make her wait. The sideways is almost flawless and I'm working on reducing my phase one to just focus and planning on doing it without the wall.

"Ask.... Tell.... Promise." Cayleigh did well tonight as I was finally pretty clear in what I wanted. In other words, my feeling is that my ask was much better and as a result she was more willing. I managed to get two full circles in both directions on both the forehand and backhand. I do not think she liked yielding the forehand away from her right side and as such I had to keep my promise by lightly tapping her neck. I do have to concentrate on keeping my ask as long as possible and keeping my promise quickly.

Cayleigh wouldn't go when asked to go to the right on the circle. In review I wonder if I did the right thing. Holding my left hand and turning my foot out I asked, and she leaned and turned her head that way. I wonder now if I should have released at that point and tried again, After all, I need to be "Firm" but also "Fair and Friendly". She did try for me even though she knows that I wanted more. Something for me to lick and chew I think.

Speaking of friendly, I got a couple of big sighs out of her tonight, a nice change. Whenever I went to phase four she was always happy to play friendly afterwards and was not perceptibly nervous of the carrot stick as she has sometimes gotten in the past.

"Trust that they will respond but be ready to correct. Not more one than the other." This is the difficult one for me and I think the lesson that I need take from tonight. Corrections don't have to be violent or harsh, they can just be gentle reminders. The fine line between allowing Cayleigh the time to respond without an ill-response or over reaction. Correcting an ill-response and supporting her through the reaction so we can try again with better results.

Cayleigh was doing some licking and chewing last night too. She did so well and I am very proud of her. I think she knows that.

Princess Cayleigh

2010-11-16T11:30:00.000-05:00

A story in which all is right in Cayleigh's world.

After a hard day of rolling around in the thick and plentiful mud pits of yonder, her staff arrives to feed and tend her for the evening. The princess, having a healthy appetite after the days work, chooses to eat first. Once suitable sated she raps twice on the door summoning her her "handmaidman". "Groom me, for I am itchy!" she intones in her regal continence.......

Heh. Cayleigh really was on form last night, beyond being a little greedy for the carrots in my pocket she was a picture perfect little mare. She even relaxed as I groomed the underside of her tail. It has been collecting a lot of, ahem, stuff. Really, that started out as a butt massage, then a tail massage, then a really good tail grooming. At each phase her head got lower and lower. If it wasn't for the horse kicking up stuff against the wall as he trotted around the arena I'm pretty sure she would have fallen asleep.

Since "never ending self improvement" is one of my goal for this blog I have to say there is one problem I have noted. We have played off and on, over the last several weeks, but nothing particularly trying or for any length of time. That's mostly my fault although a few external things have gotten in the way. As I said a few blog post ago, Cayleigh has a lot more focus on me, particularly giving me two eyes and her attention when we do something. This has been a welcome change.

There is one more thing that is on going. Like many of the other relationship problems Cayleigh and I have had this one from early on. Each time I peel away one layer, I find myself with another more illusive layer of her personality. Her trust in me is almost absolute, and yet she boggles my mind with her body language.

She isn't subtle. It is a simple thing. She turns her head away form me. Wait a second, didn't I just say she's looking at me now? Well, yes, playing and otherwise she even seems eager. It is the oddest thing and more often happens in her stall, let me describe what she does. I've gotten to be quite polite about her space, while I may sometimes insist, I try to always ask first. I open the door and let her say hello. She had been blocking me moving to her left. I've been politely but persistently asking her to move her head so I could stand at her shoulder in preparation for putting on her halter. Keep in mind that I don't always choose that side and have even put the halter on from her off side, although I cannot do up the knot from that side. So, to the meat of the matter, say I'm at her left shoulder, and she is standing with her right side parallel to the stall wall. With my hand on her withers, she will turn her face to the wall. Her attention, and I can feel it, is completely on me. She'll do this is I scratch itches or attempt to put the halter on. I've rubbed with the halter and walked away, I've tossed the lead over her neck and played friendly with that. It only last a minute or two but it is a definate "thing she does". Here is what blows me away. When I do bring out the halter, she is eager to put her nose in it. She curves her head back, noses the halter open, nuzzles me, and waits for me to finish adjusting it.

A thought just occurred, is she testing me? If so, I'm not sure what the correct response is. Sometimes I think this relates to her shoulder injury and other times I'm just not sure. We have grown to trust each other over the last year, I am much more aware of her thresholds and she has far few of those now that she has learned I won't push her through them. She even comes to me for protection. I'm sure I'm reading enjoyment when she plays with me.

It is a nagging thing that is not perfect in an otherwise great relationship. So what's up?

Happy Anniversary!

2010-11-04T09:31:00.001-04:00

The other night was interesting. I was celebrating my first year with my two girls. After working all day, reading stuff on the forums etc. my insides weren't right with my outsides.

I remembered two things I read yesterday; the first talking about the feel you have with your horses, the second being a thread on spiritualism and paganism. I thought about the disconnected feelings I had been having, trying to please too many, including myself with what I thought was wanted. Clocks figure prominently in all of this as they always seem to as does my job.

Anyhow, by the time I was out to the barn I was refocused, and re-centred on what is important: being in the moment.

All I did that night is what I did the first time I brought home the girls. Take care of them. Groom them for the mud and burrs in mane and tail. Pick out feet.

Pretty boring right?

Re-energizing. Things that we had never tried before were easy. Both my girls picked up all four feet, twice, once all from the left side, then again all from the right. Cayleigh's reaction was particularly interesting, a light tap of the leg closest to me, no trouble, know what that means. One clean foot later and a tap of the foot on the other side. Well, her head went down, ears out, eyes wide. I just continued to softly tap for about 20 seconds and got a big lick and chew and up pops the foot. It was just communication we were together in the moment. I'm happy to say that those moments are happening more often week by week.

Also for the first time, I tried draping my arm up along their neck and over the poll just because it seemed like a good thing to get used too. I got the idea from the last Saavy Club DVD on bridling. They both did it without any brace. Cayleigh's ears are particularly sensitive so that was so sweet.

Small stuff, but it is that stuff that makes life so good.

I'm not sure if I can call this UDT or if it is "demanding" UDT. I'm asking for new things but simple things in a way that is relaxing. These things seem to build a bond, letting my girls know what is in my heart but still getting in the daily barn chores we all have to do.

Hey! That's MY space.

2010-10-25T12:24:00.000-04:00

Well, a few weeks ago I tripped upon a surprising place for Cayleigh.

Outside of a few little things when I first got her and the fact that she plants her butt to my chest when doing UDT for scratches Cayleigh has a great deal of respect for my space. She goes forward and back while leading and doesn't crowd me while playing games. She want to be near and does express that preference but not in a way that feels like crowding or disrespecting my space.

So, a few weeks ago she had a bit of a lameness in her left front leg. Well, I was already regularly applying cold to Sunrise so another horse didn't seem like a problem. Well, the first time she nearly smeared me into the corner of the wash stall.

Porcupine did nothing, asking her to move in any way did nothing. She was going to put herself firmly upon the side wall as far away from the drain as possible. She wasn't thinking, wasn't listening. In the context of the change of direction (COD) issues I've had recently I'm left wondering how accurately I've read her. Is this the difference between her inner thoughts and her training. Am I bringing out the worst in her, driving her crazy, or the best of her, allowing the ticking time bomb to come out so we can deal with it? Is this an act of trust on her part or fear?

After the RB circling we did four or five days ago we have had several really good sessions with lots of eye contact and very effective communication. As a matter of fact I've driven her from zone five and into her stall.
I think I surprised Cayleigh by gently insisting she come back to me when her mind had fled to the RB world and then giving her space to sort out her thoughts by just standing beside me when she did. No anger, no fracas, just a thank you for coming back to me. It had seemed like a great deal of progress. I've not done COD again for a variety of reasons including doing some studying so I understand the process and send the right signals. I'm not concerned that we will have the same problem again. I'm sure it will be an entirely new problem to solve! Good thing I've learned to love my problems.

Sunday the farrier was out and Cayleigh was in quite a mood, and again when I visited later. I'd almost describe her as unfriendly. I'm left to wonder today where exactly our relationship lays. Each moment we are with our horses we teach them something. I'm not exactly sure what I am teaching her anymore.

Sunrise has had a little extra time in the arena with me the last few weeks too. She is remarkably smart and my efforts with Cayleigh have taught me a lot about how to communicate. As a matter of fact, one of the goals I have for her was to teach her to drive from zone five. Well, I was doing very well from zone two and three and I was taking her back to her stall. I thought here is an opportunity so I moved off to the end of the 12 foot line and drove her to the aisleway exit. The garage door was up so a few taps off toward zone four to get her going a little more than me and the narrowness of the door made it perfectly natural for her to offer me zone five to walk in. I know she was still following my feel as she followed it right into her stall through a right angle turn. This is what prompted me to try the zone five driving with Cayleigh. While I have things I concentrate on, I want to do different and "surprising" things for her too.

Unfortunately, I extended the time Sunrise was in the arena this last time to over 10 minutes and she started to feel it in her foot. I've put her on bute again and will be talking to her vet on Wednesday when she comes out for the last booster of the year.

Did I mention Cayleigh Rocks?

2010-10-21T14:30:00.051-04:00

So here I am, two days later in the arena with Cayleigh again. I've come out to the barn just to say hi and since Sunrise doesn't have tonnes of burrs in her mane I thought I'd play a little with Cayleigh.

I figured that things would be a little rough as our last session was, ahem, provocative. It couldn't be anything further from the truth. She seemed a little nervous when we entered the ring so I just lead her to the centre and played friendly with her. Well, I got a blow and a sigh, then some licking of lips and chewing!

I hardly ever get this with Cayleigh, more often than not I get nothing until the "you are SOOOO boring" look.

I also found it interesting sh was nervous, there was literally nothing in the arena except a mounting block, and three cavelletti which have been there for almost every session we've done. I just gave her a big smile and waited until she stopped expressing herself but not long enough to get the bored look. Three or four driving across the arena, the last one with the rope in my hand but not touching the ground in either direction. I relax, leave her nose on the wall and walk over to her to slip her a carrot. I'm hoping that this will teach her that waiting where I leave her is a good thing. I drop the rope when I want her to stay put so the end of it was back 20 feet or so. As always when I want to leave her space Cayleigh tries to follow. I love this, but I want her to realize that following me is not always what I want, just her focus. After a few false starts I manage to walk all the way to the end of the rope to pick it up. Now THAT's a triumph because she is still focused on me but made the decision to stay put!

A little more driving, this time at a closer 12'ish range and straight into sideways. Wow. This horse could have made someone such a dressage horse with a look like that. Her head was tucked, back was arched, and her delcate feet were placed ever so deliberately. Ten steps and I completely relax with this big grin on my face. She even got a carrot! A few squeezes and a hindquarter yield to set her up and we sideways the other way along the same wall. Not as pretty, but I'm not sure if her shoulder injury interferes with this direction. Again I relax after ten steps as she really is trying her heart out. Another carrot and we move towards the exit for some forequarter yields. The thing that struck me was we were communicating much better and at the end of the yields she turned her head and put two soft eyes on me. I stroked her neck and just waited a bit.

Just to get some exercise, for me and for her, I trotted around the arena and over the cavellett, transitioning from trot to back and then to trot again a couple of times. She was so in tune with me.

I brushed her a second time that day with carrot chunks a plenty before returning her to her stall. Not bad for a night that I didn't have anything planned!

A Journey Around 3/4s of the Horsenality Circle

2010-10-21T14:13:00.000-04:00

I've been warned again and again that Arabs are "crazy". Even Arab horse owners on the Savvy Club Forum are proud of just how many corners of the Horsenality chart their horses exist in. Cayleigh has been pretty straight forward for me, an LBI with some minor LBE tenancies. Not strongly in any particular corner but generally a pleasure to play with even if she can be a bit stubborn.

Tonight Cayleigh and I played with several items, my $1 hula-hoops with "rain beads" inside them for a nice rattling sound, a blue tarp, some cones and a small horse ball with handle. I brought her into the ring and we warmed up with some spinning in place, we are starting to get the timing right so that we don't move forward and back so much but instead move her feet sideways. Everything seems okay but that old one eye problem remains even when she is standing square on to me she will shift her head so only one eye is on me. I do not want to constantly correct her but at this point a quick twitch of the line seems to be the only thing to get her looking at me. Friendly before and after but I moved on fairly quickly as she seemed impatient to me.

Driving is getting better on the 22' line, we still start close then I can set it up so that I'm further away, say 4-5 feet from the end of the line. She listens to my pressure from the carrot stick to move forward and/or keep her front in line with the direction of travel. As long as I'm moving she is. To capitalize on that I've been working on my focus, paying special attention to where we are going. I think setting up a serpentine and working on my energy level will be the next step in progressing our communication while driving.

Sideways was next on the plate since I often drive to the letters on the wall and the transition from driving to sideways is getting better. With that success I've been teaching Cayleigh to sideways with porcupine off my thumb and finger in zone three. She will move directly sideways now if I have equal pressure on both fingers, and I can apply a little more pressure to the front or back to get her straightened out. Some more driving towards the tarp and we have some reaction but in typical LBI fashion she stands and stared, or jumps back to be "safe" and then stands and stares. I put pressure on until near the edge of the tarp then let her decide what to do. It has been interesting watching her get excited and move through her internal processes to the point where she is testing out the tarp with her lips. "Head, Neck and maybe the feet" will get on there next time. Some squeeze game between me and the tarp 3 feet away and she walks gently, disengaging readily. After Yoyo, I think Squeeze is her favourite game because she gets to be close to me, even brushing me when I narrow the gap further.

All this is fairly typical of the Left Brain Introvert I've come to know and respect. We move on to the circling game I Yoyo her out and ask for a left circle, she goes as soon as I lift the stick and I tag the ground in front of me to get her energy up just a little. She's off at a canter. Faster than I wanted but the goal was a little energy and I'm happy if she stays there and responds when I ask her to come in. She still does more of an oval behind me than a circle, so on the second lap I put pressure on her to move her out. I'm concerned that the rope is too slack when she is behind me as she is not putting any pressure on in at all around the front. As a matter of fact it is dragging exactly the way one would wish at higher levels but that proves a concern as she comes in where I can see the rope less behind me. Well, that works, and next time she doesn't come in nearly the oval she usually does. As long as I'm not actively guiding her I'm trying hard to be neutral and not add to her energy. I don't want her to loose contact so on the fourth lap and little bend to my body and a look at her butt and bang she is disengaged and walking to me with a question. So, now this is the second quater of the circle I've been seeing signs of in her, the Extrovert. A quick pet on the nose and some friendly and I ask her out and to the right this time. Pretty much the same thing, very focused on me with quick responses to my pressure, this time she didn't need to be reminded that she needs to stay out on the circle. Excelllent, this looks like it is going to be some kinda fun. Okay, let's try a reverse on the circle, wish I had set up an extra cone over here 'cause my goal is a figure eight in the end. We go to the left again, with her energy up she responds well when I bow a little, look at her butt and take a step back, as she turns to me, my arm goes out to the right and I stand up with my stick pointing directly opposite my right hand. Well, reverses on the circle are always exciting for her (I've never tagged her or the ground when doing this so I'm not sure why). When behind me she breaks stride then speeds up again like I smacked her. Odd. She does this twice more and I decide to bring her in. The usual hind quarter disengagement simply doesn't work. She went from unmovable LBI, to attentive and excited LBE, but the reverse put her way over the top and she detached from me, running on emotion and not much else. The one thing she's never been is detached from me! I pull on her nose for my phase two.

Oh, did I mention I was standing in a hula-hoop? Well, I didn't remember I was in one then either so when she pulled me off my feet I almost tripped over it. Luckily the hoop didn't cling to my feet so I landed into a low centre of gravity crouch and simply counterbalanced her pulling. Hand over hand I brough her in towards me until she reconnected and came to me. Of course, at the time I didn't realize she was RBE. I didn't figure that out until we were looking at each other, she sweating from the exercise in her medium length winter coat, and me puzzled by this new part of her personality I've uncovered. I'm pretty sure it is the distance from me that is doing it as I never had this reaction on the twelve foot line. She's often made it to LBE and her wanting to drift when her energy is up is why I've moved up to the 22' line, to give her that freedom.

We ended the day with some driving and leading exercises just to make sure everything was okay, it was, and so I could think about what happened.

Love Your Problems

2010-10-13T09:50:00.001-04:00

Linda Parelli's Blog and her recent post entitled "Love your Problems" jived with me this week.

I've been reflecting on how my attitude with Cayleigh and with horses in general has changed over the course of the last 6-8 months. Particularly my attitude to when Cayleigh is acting up and doing something "bad" like spooking or dancing around.

I find it interesting to note that it doesn't even bother me anymore. I allow it then modify the behaviour so it becomes something fun and acceptable. I think this is the subtle difference between owning and working with a horse as compared to training a horse. I've not been playing with my horses enough the last few weeks. Work and fall chores and my own general lack of energy has gotten in the way. I did spend a couple of days introducing the new 22' line to Cayleigh.

The first day it was pouring down rain on the tin of the arena roof. I set up a tarp and some other obstacles just to have fun with and see what Cayleigh could do. Well, her energy was up Up UP do to the loudness of the rain! It was a lot of pressure on her. I asked her for a lot, expected a lot and accepted what she could give me.

I learned that at the end of a 22' line that I can not do much about her LBI "NO!"s so I had to reset, hold the rope at 12' and work my way out. As a matter of fact, by the end of that little episode with Cayleigh doing a wonderfully curved side pass, facing me at about 20' in completely the wrong direction I realized that we were not really having the "conversation" I've come to expect. Yea, I can be slow.

I went back to first principals, put away the stick and just moved her by touch. She very handily went around and around with the lightest touch. As a matter of fact, I was sometimes not fast enough to keep up to her. Since she stopped the moment I stopped the pressure and started again in any direction when asked it was definitely communication. It was a very interesting time, as both her forequarter and hindquarter yields were light, less than phase one in both directions. Unexpected.

What the heck? I thought we weren't communicating. Well, in hindsight, Cayleigh lacks a surprising amount of confidence when asking her to do anything. She is always the first into the woods, or exploring, but put a halter on her and she needs the reassurance of being close to her human.

I went through the games, making them into a checklist of the possible. As it turns out, that little bit of reassurance was mostly what she needed, my hands on her. It seems friendly only goes so far with my Cayleigh, she wants friendly and active at the same time.

Once we got to playing through the driving game, point to point I saw that soft feel come over her. The so called "soft eye". Oh the rain was still a pressure on her but we were in sync finally.

So I played with the tarp laid out on the ground, just doing the usual, drive up to the tarp and see what she does, then somewhere else. A couple of circles around the tarp and at the end of the 22' line. She had enough drift to choose what to do and chose to act like a goof. Starting and snorting and all kinds of crazy. Kicking the little rubber arena footing onto the tarp and doing the freak out when that make crinkly noises.

As I said at the beginning, this is okay. Actually, I was kinda amazed to find myself thinking how funny it was and that we'd overcome her unconfidence in no time. We came to the tarp again and again that night each time getting a little progress. I never got her to put a foot on it, but I did get the head and neck. The feet will come. I love problems, how interesting.

A Tall Tail of Teaching

2010-09-10T12:16:00.001-04:00

Release.

The single best thing I've learned through the Parelli program.

I practice on my timing now but every moment I spend with my girls is both a learning experience and a teaching experience all through the process of release. They are both great, interested in me and what I am doing. Especially if the music playing is getting me to groove to the beat while grooming them.

Sunrise is very laid back and thoughtful, while Cayleigh always has thoughts racing through her mind.

Tonight everyone was in out of the cold rain so I thought I'd spend some time just brushing and making them look pretty. Sunrise had managed to get all kinds of little spikey seed pods into her mane so I spent 20 minutes combing it out. It was interesting to me that she stood for it. She hates having her mane pulled and while I'm very careful I'm sure the occasional hair does get pulled. Up until this time I've had to "make" this type of grooming happen but tonight, loose in her stall, she curved her neck towards me and just waited. I wish I could get it into words the soft look in her eye, the relaxation and curiosity. This is a big improvement in our relationship.

The day before I had some success with Cayleigh teaching her to yield to pressure on her tail. I thought it would be a good thing for Sunrise to start to learn too. The farrier often wants her to step once to the side due to her bad foot so a "control" handle on her butt would be good. Sunrise was not nearly as easy to teach as Cayleigh. As I pulled, adding pressure trying to get 4 phases, she would pull away from me in opposition reflex. My phase one is standing back to give room for the step and running her tail through the open palm of my hand. Phase 4 is letting her pull my full weight around.

Well, it took a long time before I even got a slight shift of the hips my way! She dragged me around the stall quite firmly while I tried to maintain steady pressure, but even eventually she stopped and her weight automatically shifted my way. Release! I figured stopping was enough for the release but I'll take more when offered. Well, a minute of butt scratching later, (boy does she have an itchy butt the way she makes faces!) and the lifted tail meets with an almost imperceptible shift towards me I drop the tail but my reaction time just wasn't fast enough and she stepped away. I'm slow slow slow and think too much! Oh well, taking longer than it could have I just repeated this 10 times and was getting two to three steps with a slight lift of the tail. Good stuff, repeat that on the other side with about the same results.

Backwards! Well, Sunrise is a smart horse, she may be stubborn but she thinks, a lot. Standing behind her and a minimal pull on her tail gets me a full step! The release lets her know she did well and boom, lesson taught. Three to four steps easily, and that's as much as we can do in the stall.

Every time you are with your horse you are teaching them something. What are you teaching them today?

A Nice easy Labour Day

2010-09-07T14:29:00.000-04:00

This weekend was a little bit of a bust as far as horse "work" goes but labour day held a pleasant nugget of horse activity for me. It seems that all the girls, including a QH mare which sometimes is put in with mine are in heat.

I kinda feel sorry for the gelding, so many advances every hour have got to be tiring!

I was out in the paddock with the girls just checking feet, picking out hooves and the like. I bought out a halter to put on and throw the lead rope over their back, just as a nod to safety. I'm comfortable with my girls but when in a herd situation I take extra precautions.

It was amazing to watch, everyone was trying to get close to me, carefully. When one of the boarders came out with a fly mask for the other mare. I watched him march straight up to her and, at about six feet she'd finally had enough. She spiralled around to come join me. It was my impression that it was me she was looking for as she could have gone off with the gelding. Well, Cayleigh was having none of this at all. She violently defended her space. It was interesting to watch as never a blow was landed but there was no question in Cayleigh's mind she wasn't going to have this interloper around.

So this boarder keeps chasing his horse, and Cayleigh keeps running her off. I'm sure he was thinking it was Cayleigh's fault, so I asked her to me and transfered the halter from Sun to Cayleigh. The boarder never did get the fly mask on his horse.

Besides feeling really in control of my girls and very grateful at how much they are attached to me it struck me as how interesting that he did not see his horse yell at him to give her a moment. If he had stopped at 10 feet and maybe turned away a little I am sure she would have turned towards him and given him permission to approach. As it was I knew easily at 10 feet that she wasn't going to get a fly mask put on her.

It is small, but like my now loose pants, it is something!

When it rains it pours.

2010-08-31T21:33:00.001-04:00

I got to the barn today to take care of Sun's leg as I've been doing for several weeks now. Lo and behold in the boarder log, "Cayleigh a little lame today in the left front."

She is a touch stiff, and if we looked really hard we could find a smidgen of heat. I trotted her, and by the way the Parelli driving game worked well, although trying to watch her feet cause a few communication problems. It is interesting how simple some things have become since starting Parelli. Anyhow, she seemed to hurt every now and again on that foot.

So, the farrier is being scheduled and Cayleigh will get cold treatments for a few days. We'll watch her closely.

It was hard to find any heat in that leg, but two of us found it in the same spot. The hoof itself was not sensitive and I tapped it all over.

X-rays for Sunrise

2010-08-28T00:37:00.001-04:00

WARNING: This post is not for those faint of heart or those with good imaginations.

So, the vet was out with the new super duper X-Ray machine. Reusable X-Ray film, how cool is that.

The prognosis for Sun is that her leg will slowly get worse over the course of the next 5 years until I'll have to consider her quality of life.

Hoof Anatomy

So, let's look at the pictures!

First, an anatomy chart to lay out what we are going to look at. Pay special attention to the long pastern where it joins the Cannon bone.

X-Rays:

The first two pictures are the money shot, one I've reverse to positive. It is a view form the front of her hoof. The picture below to the left is the side view, and finally a diagonal view on the bottom right.

The bottom right confirmed my fears as to what was going on. It was the first picture we saw. I knew there were spurs as you can see I've highlighted below with light grey circles.

The side view provides some perspective on that top spur. It looks like it is coming all the way around the joint from the long pastern and touching the cannon bone. Particularly pay attention to the spurs, this is what is giving her trouble with her ligaments at the moment we believe. Spurs highlighted to the left between arrows.

The front shot shows the real cause of all this. Sometime before I met her sunrise had a break and the vet suspects she was not rested as she should have been or possibly an infection. The break stretches around the pastern and can be seen between the two arrows on the right.

Another bad problem is that the long pastern, where the break is, is much longer on the left side than the right, the top is almost level but the rest of the foot is cocked at an odd angle.

The severity of what was there made me think about putting her down, if I tell the truth. I decided that she is happy, and in little pain. It sounds amazing but that is the vet's judgement as well. There are no real signs of pain on Sun except for what the vet characterizes as a slight stiffness.

The other issue, which will cause the worst of it is that the joint is going away. We talked about a lot of treatments but in the end it sounded like a lot of pain now for a few months of not so much pain but the likelihood of causing other problems. The vet and I decided to not do much more than manage pain until it becomes apparent that there is something we can do. X-Rays once a year to monitor progress unless things change along with painkillers and inflammation reduction procedures as needed.

She is an amazingly tough Morgan horse but the prognosis is that 5 years is about all we will be able to extend her enjoyment of life. Once we get this latest bout of stiffness under control the vet advised me to keep her moving. As a matter of fact, she suggested Parelli or something similar. The issue being that I need to prevent her twisting and turning too much. I'll look forward to figuring that out.

Oh, and I learned that a horse can gallop with only three legs functional today. Of course, Sun proved it by galloping from the far back pasture to the gate and back again twice. Giving everyone else in the paddock a run for their money!

Stepping it up a notch excitement!

2010-08-27T11:08:00.000-04:00

Thursday night Cayleigh showed me something of herself that I did not suspect. She has a more complex personality that I originally guessed. My goal for the night was to see if I could get figure 8 to the point that I could use draw and pressure to get one complete go around.

Catching has greatly improved, she took two steps away and when I simply followed she put her nose against me with her head down so I could slip on the halter. A little more UDT with halter in hand might help.

In the arena, I was using a couple of blue barrels and tried out our new circling skills. Whoa girl! Something about those blue barrels tonight was causing her to get excited, fractious and blow hard. These blue barrels have been in this configuration before and have been a part of our training from the start. My phase one was long and she went right away. I only tapped the 12 o'clock position once this time to get her energy up and she was good. So, in this case, I had put on less pressure than than usual. She grew more and more concerned about the barrels and stopped behind me, actually trying to come to the inside the barrel! Judgeing the distance to be great enough I quickly sent her the other way. Well, apparently that blue barrel on the right has a monster in it, or so she told me. She did as asked but was obviously unhappy with it.

Keep in mind that I did a little Yoyo and a few other games to start off the night with no sign of excitement or fear.

So, upon trying some more circling away from the barrels she wouldn't go at phase one. I'm happy to report that my phase 4 landed on her shoulder exactly where I wanted and got her moving. I had to do that in both directions. My impression of her reaction was a "Oh! You are going to follow through." She was calm enough on the circle, responding to my disengage by coming to me gently.

Cayleigh was completely okay with the friendly that followed, helicopter from zones one, two, three and four, and smacking the ground hard on either side of her zone three. Alter the friendly and some driving game and a couple of "touch-its" I figured I'd try a reverse on the circle with draw and a re-sent. That being the first part of how I was going to teach the figure 8. I was actually really gentle with it but it was terribly exciting for Cayleigh. I had originally thought it even pushed her into RB mode but now I wonder. She galloped and cantered around me six times before I tried to disengage her. She tried to rip my arm out of its socket and even managed to pull me three paces once. She disengaged immediately but was high headed coming to me and would twitch with every little thing. I got all that energy from lowering my life and backing up two steps, then standing up with my arms out to my sides. What happened then and for the rest of the session was a lot of movement and "licking and chewing" like I've never seen before. Everytime I let her pause it was lick, chew, lick, chew. I gave her time to stop licking and chewing by playing friendly with her and when she was ready we'd try something else.Tried a reverse going the other way with the same results. How interesting. The speed and action screams RB to me, but the responsiveness makes me think LB. Or, am I confused by the fact that she feels more confidant near me so when I ask to disengage her RB mood loves it as she gets to come to safety. I don't know, the almost instant licking and chewing suggests a struggle between the two at most. After sleeping on it I feel that she was LB most of the time but where did the energy and emotion come from then?

Even with all that was going on I noticed that I was able to driver her at the end of the 12' rope, something we've been doing at 6' until tonight..

To end the session some light driving and touch-it with the barrels and the letters on the arena wall. She simple would not touch that barrel with the monster in it. She'd walk up to it, put her head over it, but not touch it. Okay, how to solve that problem, well I moved her off and "sneaked" a cookie on top of the barrel and drove her back to it. About three and a half minutes later her body's tension collapsed and her mouth somehow ended up on the cookie. Needless to say, the cookie never had a chance. The interesting things was that it was the barrel that was the issue, she was not tense unless near it. I just don't know what happened. Perhaps it bit her in some way as she was behind me near that barrel when we started having trouble.

I hope that was a good solution to the end of the day. Some scratches and a few more bits of carrot on the way out to the paddock might have helped too.

I felt my emotional fitness was and has been good with Cayleigh for quite some time. Tonight was no exception, I allowed what happened to happen, corrected when I needed to for safety and certainly do not feel the least affronted that she "blew up". As she came back to herself I resumed our conversation quitely, adding emphasis where needed.

I will repeat that I have NEVER seen her lick and chew like she was all night. She even sighed sometimes. This morning she came over to the gate to see me. Is THAT what it takes to be provocative?

Some forced UDT.

2010-08-26T09:25:00.000-04:00

Fate, the universe and a mare have conspired against me. I have not had a play session since Sunday and had really hoped to get one in last night. Well, after locking keys in the running truck, forgetting my wallet and various other silly results from waking up far to early each day to tend Sun's leg I couldn't bear to attempt anything last night.

I did have quite a touching moment with Cayleigh the other night in the evening twilight. I entered her paddock with the express intent of stuffing her full of carrots and not much else when she joined up with me. Actually, since the haltering in the stall incident this weekend she has been pretty focused on me.Last night was a bit different but I'll talk about that later.

After a chunk or two and some mutual grooming she was hooked on to me, so I just started moving around the paddock, walking, trotting or running as the mood struck. The entire evening was full of energy and sure enough Cayleigh was too. We galloped and trotted and cantered around that pasture with me choosing the direction and speed and Cayleigh making it look beautiful. Arabians with their heads held just right and tails up are some of the most beautiful creatures.

I'd jump around and change directions and Cayleigh would skid to a stop and come with me. Whenever she broke free, usually when her pasture mate joined it, it would be scant seconds before she'd noticed I'd stopped and spin around to come see me. Usually at full speed! She'd stop hard just out of reach and if I remained neutral poke her way into my space, if I moved she'd follow again. We played like this for about ten minutes with her snorting, bucking and galloping around me.

That'll be a good memory and great UDT. I never asked a thing from her.

Last night, although she watched me constantly, she did not move. Which is okay, as I said, I'd have probably rubbed the electric fence or something if I had gone near her that day.

Sunrise's foot is worse off this week. Part of it is because I caught her running around and bucking with all four feet off the ground by about half a metre. That was the same night above and all the horses at the barn were feeling frisky! X-Rays will be taken tomorrow with a vet who is a little more specialized in lameness.

I fear that it is going to be a case of pain management.

Thought for the Day

2010-08-23T14:13:00.000-04:00

First - calm. Second - trusting. Third - Obedient. LASTLY - motivated

I've been reading about an LBI giving a fellow Parelli student problems and was reminded of Cayleigh. She is not nearly as extreme and is actually coming along quite nicely. The above quote, paraphrased from an unknown PP got me to thinking about how Cayleigh is acting.

Am I getting calm? Is she relaxed around me and in the environment I provide? I have not ever noticed her blink with her halter on but I only ever remember her blinking twice. She will cock a leg to rest it very quickly, her head usually lowers shortly after, and I get a half hearted lick and chew from her about 40% of the time. More often if we just did something interesting and I'm letting her think. I'd be happy to play an hour of friendly rather than doing anything else but she gets bored. The calmer she is the quicker she gets bored. Perhaps undemanding time is what we need, which means I'll have to make arrangements to spend a little daytime time with her. Perhaps move her to a different paddock and release her on the lush grass to see what happens.

Does she trust me? Well, she wants to be with me as our recent experiences with liberty has shown. She tries her heart out. She does not ground tie well if I "leave" but is really good otherwise with my in any zone. I think she trusts people in general. She has walked into the carrot stick with her delicate zones once or twice. I act like I did not do anything to her and just continue asking. I'm guessing here but I do not think she blames me although on the inside I'm taking blame. I hate it when that happens! Except for the turning away when I try halter her, which I will continue to problem solve, she is willing for most things. When I am there, she is twice as brave.

Is she Obedient? I am trying to think of a clear request that she did not do for me. I say clear request because we have both been learning together. I'm sure that I'm not as clear as I could be and o not expect her to obey something she doesn't yet understand. The only thing that really strikes me as disobedient is the way she puts her rump to me. Usually she is gentle, slowly turning, walking backwards into me with high careful steps to avoid my feet. Lately, it has been a too forceful swinging of her rump at me. It can be enough to force me to move, although only when I'm already at her side.

How about Motivated? Well, I find that a tough question to answer. As long as I am asking something of her she seems willing to do. Driving is good, even in harmony position, porcupine is good, squeeze is excellent (I should try falling leaf with her), Yoyo is excellent. In general her speed is relative to the energy I bring up in my body and I seldom go past phase two anymore. I'd love to see how fast I can get her to go backwards in a controlled manor but that is something I'll work on very slowly. The circling game: I think this is a real test of motivation. How much does she want to do herself? For now, I don't let her get past four circles before pulling her in. However, she seldom goes that long herself. I've been interspersing circle with other activities because I do not want a bored LB! The last few times I've tried to re-send in the opposite direction and that gets her off to a fast start but hasn't really improved her motivation in the long term. I also do not want to spoil the connection she has with me expressed as being near me. Other LBI methods of motivation I've tried include treats, both hidden and by hand, and doing the opposite of what she expects. Turning her loose rather than playing, asking her to stand rather than circle.

The New Plan. Day 10. Goal step one; complete?

2010-08-22T12:05:00.001-04:00

Well, here it is, the last day of the first goal of my new plan.

Friday night I gave everyone permission for a night off including myself, except to say hi and change wrappings.

It is now 6am Sunday. I've already been out to the barn and doctored Sunrise's leg. Cayleigh actually whinnied at me this morning, although I'm not sure if it was for me or in the belief that the first person she sees in the morning brings more food. It has been raining pretty hard so all the horses were inside this morning. Sunrise was a little restive and only "pretty good" rather than the very good in the wash stall as I cooled her hind leg. The cold water isn't the nicest thing; I had some tendinitis myself and understand that to be effective it even hurts before it numbs. Wraps are going on both her hind feet now. While the first few days seemed to make things worse; the last two days have, I think, seen a marked improvement. Sometimes it is hard to tell as she has learned over the years to hold herself oddly. It will take time and effort for her to trust that leg completely again.

I had a nice time last night with both my girls. I had set up... hmmm, let's see if this google draw program works so I don't have to describe it.

There we are, that's the set up from the top, blue barrels and two poles on the ground. Why that? Because it was different. It was about sixteen feet from one 8 foot pole to the other. Sunrise, who is not supposed to turn or do more than walk got lead around the outside of the arena in big long swoopy turns and then through the set up along the length of the poles. The set up was enough to make her interested and not pushy! Back into her stall for more boredom. I've given her a lik-it, and a "Jolly" ball to play with. The ball isn't so interesting but the empty lik-it is going over well.

I'm always trying new things with Cayleigh these days and I've noticed some problems. She doesn't want to be "caught". Also, she often does not give me both eyes.

So, I went into Cayleigh's stall to halter her and while I certainly could have she was definitely in the "no" place. Standing in such a way that I couldn't get to her left side, even using the "horseman's handshake" method. She has always been a strong blocker that way. I had thought we both were having fun during our play sessions, actually, I still think she does. So, as a quick decision I just stayed with her shoulder as she moved around. She didn't like that much but I made no move to halter her. When she finally stopped she was along one wall, about a half metre from it with her head turned away from me, nose on the wall. She stood there for 3-4 minutes just like that as I watched and waited. Eventually, I started to play with the halter like I was going to put it on. Her curiosity is as strong as a cats and she just had to look. So I wrapped the top of the halter around her nose for a moment and left the stall to go do something. My impression was she was glad I left. About five minutes later I returned and she was blocking again so I just stood on her off side and started to put the halter on. Heh, she didn't think that wasn't very fair of me and I ended up following her around again. I guess that was a "blew her mind moment" because I changed the rules of the game. When she stopped, her head was straight so I just looped the halter over and rubbed it up and down her neck. Leaving shortly thereafter.

Again five minutes later I returned for a slow motion repeat on her left side, in about half the time I was able to put the halter around and over her neck. I rubbed it on the far side and did a few "lower your head" porcupines with the halter ropes. Again I left. Upon returning I noticed a little bit of a difference. She actually seemed a little interested in me. Although still standing in a difficult spot, she was not blocking at all with her head. Since she wasn't moving I opened up the halter and did some more porcupine she actually placed her head in the halter at a relatively low altitude so I rubbed it around tied a knot and stood there waiting. Shortly, I took off the halter and left. At this point she wasn't in a no place but not in the "Be the Ambassador of YES!" place to quote Pat Parelli.

In what turned out to be the last return for the night, Cayleigh moved to stand with her right side against the wall by the door when she saw me show up. When I opened the door her old reflexive block happened and she turned her head to her left across my path, but I just did the "Horseman's Handshake" She "took it" and agreed to let me onto her left side for haltering. I put it on and she held her head down, and pushed into the halter. I'm trying to find a way to hold the nose band open enough that I don't have to slide it over her nose. I'll try taking off the lead next time and see if that helps. I asked her if she was ready, literally and out loud, and she again turned her nose to my chest. Taking that for a "yes" I stepped out of the stall and turned into the arena.

I started off by leading her around as I did with Sun. I'm working on getting her to walk behind me and not off to the side when leading so I drove her zone one and two from out in front when ever she started to come up beside me. Her backup while leading is getting much better! Through and around the gap in my obstacle course at both walk and trot and she was very attached to me.

The send on circling is pretty close to being "right away" with usually only phase one required. The allow is troublesome but I have some strategies to work on that including reversing and the obstacle course to make it more fun. The disengage is still as sensitive as all get out. She sometimes responds now when I pull the rope taught in preparation to "pull" her nose while driving her hind quarters. This is where I started noticing the eyes going away. Oh she'll stand straight on to me, but looks to her right mostly with only one eye on me. I can rope wiggle to get two eyes on me but that is going to be overused very fast. I'm not sure at what point she disconnected from me. I've been beating the twelve o'clock three times once she starts to get the circle a little more lively before I put down the stick, and never whip at her. She's usually just moving behind me by the third whip. My hands can be a little lower now and she'll move around me when I'm at neutral. Did she disconnect then? She is sensitive after all, but no, I don't think so. At about one and three-quarters circles she started to come in, fairly quickly I sent her the other direction and she took off. Boy oh boy, I tapped the ground once at where she was and she pulled the rope to the end with a little bucking, maybe, I couldn't quite see what she was doing although I felt and hear something. I was in neutral and wasn't going to even look at her unless it felt dangerous. She settled down to a nice trot with the lead almost touching the ground. It seemed like the disconnect should have been then, but the trots was nice and connected. Did I stumble on some training characteristic perhaps? She disengaged and came right too me again. This was about the time I noticed the one eye thing when she stopped. There was a noise somewhere and that was what she was looking at but after her haltering I wanted to pay attention!

Seemed like a good time for friendly and that got me a sigh but nothing else, not so much as a twitch, out of her. Usually if I've overdone things she'll move during the friendly so I think I've gotten to where I at least know that much! She did block on her left side, as she usually does during friendly, when I move the carrot stick to the left hand. I was able to very gently move her muzzle out of the way with a porcupine, even more of a caress. Twirling the savvy string, lightly whipping the ground either side of her, and flipping it over her head didn't make her twitch at all.

Yoyo, starting to be able to just feed out the rope and get some steps back, then the fun stuff began, I drove Cayleigh around the arena, for the first time some of it at the trot! Over the poles, through the gap and back again on each side. Then I narrowed the gap. Rinse, repeat. Then I narrowed the gap... you get the idea, eventually she had to kick one barrel out of the way to feel like she had enough room to step through. All of it unhurried as I let her puzzle solve.

Sideways was very gentle, both sides up to 10 paces. I've gotten into the habit of letting her come to me when she is done her sideways and will have to try to get her to stand when I relax. I'd like to be able to ask, relax, and ask again in the same direction without having to set her up again. Oh, something I should mention, I drive her underhanded, if I lift the stick to drive over handed it seems to bother her although if I have to move her back end away I sometimes do. I think this has made her much more responsive.

Then the real test, the barrels together. She stopped, poked at them with her nose, then tried to come around them on my side. NOPE, not through my space and I had to tap on her shoulder! Try something else. After much consternation and avoiding of what was the obvious solution she jumped over in a pretty little hop and then as I was still gently driving her but not moving myself made a quarter circle as I disengaged her. Very nice. The less obvious solutions were to go around outside my space or move the barrels as she did before.

Friendly to see how she feels about things and some licks and chews and a leg cock. I've been trying to watch for blinks but while her eyes can be "sleepy" she doesn't blink much.

Squeeze seven times, getting it down to a metre and a bit, both ways. That started to meet a little resistance so I didn't push.

A travelling circle setting her up to make a choice of which side of the barrels to be on, either my side or the other side between the pole and barrels. She surprised herself as she got close to those barrels (they shouldn't be there!) but chose my side. The other direction was an easy choice although she came to me too soon and I sent her off around the other way again. I'm still not certain if that gets her interest up but it does get her energy up briefly. Now that her circling is working I need to set up for figure eight and see how she feels about it, might be fun.

Throughout those last several games I tried to keep my energy down but I still think that there is something wrong as I lost then recovered her two eyes several times. I think there is something inside her that needs to trust warring with something else. I wonder if I'm too loud or oblivious sometimes as I am renowned for but I just cannot see to figure out what is happening.

As we left the arena for the night the connection was very strong, I asked her into her stall and she went willingly turning her side to me to let me get at the halter and even bending her neck, a little.

If I had a camera, I would have taped my audition last night and I'm pretty sure that passing would have been easy. I'm not sure if there would have been any 2s or 1++s but I believe that much of what we did showed flow even if I`m still a little jerky. The level 2 skills are due in January according to my goals.

So, I think part one of my goals for August are official done. I plan on taping an audition as soon as I can figure out what to do about a camera! I think I can borrow one from work with a nice tripod but will have to make sure it does not get damaged.

But how does this relate to the ultimate goal? Am I getting Cayleigh to act with motivation and pleasure and enjoy her time with me? I am getting better I think, at least in reading her so I can act in ways that will get us there. There is definitely more communication. Am I pushing too hard? I don't think so, she seems to want to go there even if I'm not comfortable with it. I think the tools of Parelli have enabled me to speak to her more clearly. Although as Ron Pyne suggested to me, I suspect I'm still a bit of a horse stutter as far as Cayleigh is concerned. Paying attention to my practice will help me with that. I should see if I can get enough interest at the barn to host another clinic. I think that Cayleigh and I are ready for a level 2 on-line clinic, but what about freestyle? I'm down below 250 now and about a quarter of the way to my current goal weight. If I'm still on track I'll reset that goal closer to Christmas and see if I can get to my maximum healthy BMI weight.

The New Plan. Day 9.

2010-08-20T09:57:00.002-04:00

Well, I received a suggest on my facebook account regarding videos. It turns out I do have a small, old Camera from 2001 that does videos. Unfortunately, it doesn't matter the size of memory card in it, it is designed to only take 20s at a time. I will, however, see if Cayleigh will pose for you and post a video someday soon.

Last night I was a bit late to the barn. Cayleigh's catching game was interesting. As per usual, I gave her several chances to catch me. Her Paddock is in an L shape with the gate at the top of the L and her favourite place to stand at the right hand side of the bottom. Her shed is in the corner where vertical and horizontal meet. Well, to come around the shed you'd think she had to gallop 50 miles! Her partner in crime, that gelding, feels the same way with his owner. Both horses are happy to walk the last 15 paces to you but the amount of effort to get around that shed is just too much, even for treats or hay.

I walked around the shed and Cayleigh joined up almost instantly. She followed me around the paddock, even trotting with me to the gate, backing up, sudden dodges right and left. So, even though I scratched every bit of her, why then does she dislike the halter so much? Oh, in the end she put her head into it herself but there was a lot of passive persistent on my part between the start and the finish. The game started out with backwards and forwards. He new favourite solution to every problem is to try backing up first if you remember from my last post. With my hand on her whithers, which I'm not convinced she likes as much as Pat likes to say that all horses do, I just followed along her movements. Well, that didn't work like she planned so she started turning away from me to place her rump for a scratching. Again, I just followed her along until she stopped 15 circles later and she was good with that. What did I do? I put my arms around her neck like I was going to halter and walked off before she reacted at all. She actually started to follow before the gelding decided he wasn't getting enough attention paid to him and intervened. Once I got her mostly alone again I stood at her shoulder and after a few tentative steps back and forward she let out this big sigh.I put my arms around her, scratched and she turned her head to me, on when the halter with lots of rubbing.

I would have taken the halter off at this point, and probably should have anyhow but Cayleigh has developed some long thin cracks in her hooves. She has had a problem with 1/4 cracks that go almost up to her coronet band so she has been on Farrier's Formula since I moved to the new barn. This is something new and concerns me. So now she is going to get hoof dressing every day until things improve.

Well enough, but that bugger of a gelding decided he was going to play games. He charged Cayleigh at least a dozen times requiring me to protect her forcefully with a swinging stick and string. Each time I'd try to unlatch the gate he'd come at her again, each time I turned my back he'd come at her again. For the most part Cayleigh understood I wasn't angry at her although it was a problem one time when I had to quickly move to stand beside zone four as the gelding was too close, she spun her hind quarters out of the way but, I think, quickly realized that she had nothing to worry about. Grrrrr, needless to say, once I did get through the difficult gate combination (It opens into another pen at right angles to the gate to the isle way between paddocks and must be tightly chained as Sunrise is an escape artist making a one handed latch impossible).

Well, half way to the barn Cayleigh decided she doesn't like something. I never did figure out what. A noise, a plan, a howl or a shadow are all possibilities but she wouldn't settle for anything. Friendly is useless in this situation as it is seldom me she is nervous about and letting her take time to think about the monster under the bush doesn't help. I tried anyhow, taking her around to look at the barn, her stall, the arena, doing my neutral and playing friendly. Although I have had good results, I did not turn her loose tonight as that seemed to get her cranked up yesterday. She settled somewhat but the hoof dressing on only after a good 10 minute dance. She deliberately did not kick over the can of hoof oil, lifting her hoof over it when she had the chance. She is so dainty and controlled when she wants to be. I'm sure going to enjoy riding her eventually.

Leading her into the arena again, her lead is good at walk and trot even if she is distracted. Backing up went well and all I have to do is emphasize picking up my feet without chicken wings now. I sat on the barrels set up as yesterday and she looked around, then walked up to me, still heavily distracted. I said to her, out loud, "No, I'm not doing anything with you until you calm down." and sat there like a bump on a log with my carrot stick leaning up against me. Some minutes passed, me with my arms cross, Cayleigh constantly looking over her shoulder and, oddly, not moving. The occasional car passed on the road but I heard nothing.

A big heaving sigh later, finally, and remaining seated I asked her to back up. Wow, that kinda blew her mind but she complied at phase two. Phase one now being drawing myself up and making the "mother-in-law" face at her. Phase two is holding up my hands. I released momentarily and then, again drawing up my life, pointed out a circle. I waited but about 15-20 seconds later she was off for two laps at a walk and came to me when I shifted my hands to start to disengage her. I Yoyo her in for a carrot. So sensitive to every least touch on her lead and me being about as clumsy as you can be without falling down while chewing gum. I think she puts up a lot from me. Tonight, I avoided the very strong send that I've started to use with her as her emotions were a little roller coaster or so it seemed to me.

A pause, a Yoyo out, and send the other way. A half circle at a slow walk and I feel a nose on my neck. Silly horse. Yoyo out, send, and two laps at a walk. I'm finding that if I get too neutral she stops so I hold my arms out somewhat. I will have to work on that as it is her job to keep going, my job to know what I want her to do. A harder send as I did last time I circled her "fixes this problem" so I hope just playing the games will be good for that.

That was it for the day, a reward for her. Besides, the hay truck came out around that time.

Found my Quote!

2010-08-19T21:00:00.000-04:00

Found my quote for my goals today.

Learn to become more imaginative, more sensitive and more creative when you play with your horse.

-Pat Parelli

It doesn't have Ps!

The New Plan. Day 8.

2010-08-19T12:22:00.001-04:00

Well, last night after changing out Sunrise's sweat wrap I had a few hours to kill. After some conversations at the barn, you see we have a new "half" leasee, and one of the owners who has been kept away most of the year with a sick kid has returned. The leasee is very giggly women while the owner is a pleasent women who does Parelli. I'd guess both are thirty-ish give or take five years. The "owner"owns that mean old gelding I've befriended so he is in for more time spent playing. Unfortunately, having been away for so long she has lost track of some of her gear so couldn't play! I've offered the loan of my halters if they will do her any good for now. Since I plan to buy a 22' rope soon I've offered to buy her a halter to save her shipping costs.

As much as I liked having the barn almost to myself, the barn seems more lively, a more happy place the last three or four days. Even with my chore of changing out wrappings on Sun twice a day. Speaking of which, while I figure the vet knows what she is talking about what is the point of a sweat? I read it on-line and in my horse books but the purpose eludes me. Furazone is an antibiotic as far as I can tell and that is what I'm wrapping inside the plastic wrap, inside the leg wrap. I had thought Furazone was equivalent to DMSO or other heat producing liniment.

I hope everyone at the barn gets along. Oh, and the leasee loves the fact that I kiss my horses.

Since I had a couple of hours to kill while the wrap did its thing. I took some time to set up a more interesting arena for Cayleigh. The mostly empty arena of the night before seemed to get her fairly worked up and, as asked in a previous question, I was wondering what to do to get her interest up. Her circling game was low energy to say the least although she is circling now.

So, I brought in a couple of barrels and did something different for them, I stacked them end to end in a line. Not having enough barrels I also put two 2 metre polls side by side at the end of my line of barrels giving me about four metres of obstacle across the middle of the arena to play with. All I was sure of was that I was going to use it somehow with her. I also opened the garage doors on all sides of the arena to let a lovely cross breeze through.

I went out to get Cayleigh and as usual, she won't move a foot until I'm within three metres of her. Then she'll come to me so I turned and walked away. She followed me and got a treat for her efforts, as did the gelding for no particular reason. I then moved around the pasture for about five minutes and Cayleigh was definitely "hooked on". I didn't notice it at the time but when I got around to putting the halter on I did it facing her zone three (i.e. sideways rather than forward) and slipped it over her nose without a step backwards. Hmmm, interesting. On this bright and sunny day she seemed happy to come with me. I turned her around in the aisle way to the arena and tried to get her to back into the arena. Boy, she was as crooked as a dogs back leg.

After far too many attempts I did a facepalm and reminded myself to not be so direct about it. Sure she agreed to do it yesterday but she kept looking over her shoulder into the arena today.

So I brought her into the arena and walked her around once, then Yoyo'd her nose out, backed her up, then her front hooves, backed her out then all of her a few metres in and all the way out. Sigh, I'm sorry Cayleigh, I'll figure it out eventually.

Then to break things up I decided to just give some stuff a try. Leading is working well, and she'll back up even if she gets out of position, off to my side. I need to work on getting her to know the difference between harmony and follow me. Again at the trot over the poles, back again, she got over to the side again so presented herself with a problem. Two blue barrels at pretty close to as fast as I can run. I spun around into my Yoyo pose opposite the barrels from her and encouraging her to come to me. Pretty as you please she hops those barrels and I would have been happy if she just tapped one with a hoof.

Well, that set the tone for the rest of the day. I had already worked out the porcupine and driving games trying to get her to straighten up in the barn, so off I went with friendly, circle and squeeze with a bit of long range driving game all tied together.

The circling game was interesting because of a gentleman, whom I never quite did see, singing lovely ditties just the other side of the brush where the doors were open. Cayleigh heard him first so I decided to try a little Yoyo from outside to inside the arena and walk her around a little in the clearing which she was so interested in. Once she had heard him clearly she was back to being a professional and Yoyo'd in and out of the arena very well. I never did get more than a circle out of her that time and tried the changes of direction suggested to me a few posts ago. I'm not sure if she was distracted or it just didn't work, but will try again another session. Stay tuned my dear readers, for I got six laps in each direction from my lovely Cayleigh later on in this play time!

One thing I've noticed with Cayleigh is she doesn't like giving me both eyes all the time. I'll have to figure out what is going on there although a few "pay attention" wiggles seemed to get her out of her head space and she lowered two eyes on to me. I did a couple of fore quarter and hind quarter yields, a circle for each of them. I still feel out of position every time I do the fore quarter yield even though I'm becoming more effective. Driving game to the barrels for touch it. Had to correct her (make life difficult for the wrong thing) as she tried going around one side then the other, since I was standing on one side I got quite firm with her for coming into my space but I like that she is trying stuff. A little more driving game and the neck goes over. Then to the wall for an attempt at sideways, on her good side as she gets to the wall I shift to sideways and get.... backup! Hrrm, so I just sit there waving my stick softly and pointing along the wall. Giving her time to think about it. Well, she walks up to the wall and again I change my pressure to sideways and get a nice five paces of sideways. What a good girl I let her rest. Trying to expand into level two and taking some chances I Yoyo her to me, ask for the circle around me and into sideways on her off side. Didn't work, bounce another half circle, sideways on her good side, relax. Lick and chew. That's the most licking and chewing I've seen her do in a fair while. The entire session so far was light, reasonably happy with tons of excitement.

Her eyes started to be more and more on me as time went on. I felt a connection as I hope she did too.

We trotted over to the other side of the arena, light as a feather, then ran the entire circuit around at my top speed, which is quite a feat for me and seemed fun for Cayleigh, again, not an inch of the lead slid through my arm. I ended standing at the end of the barrels, Cayleigh off to the left of them. I panted for a while, then asked Cayleigh, with a two ground hit send to circle to the left. She started off fast, her blood up, but by the time she hit 1 o'clock she was walking again.

What's this..... a pole!!!! The twelve foot line put her right in the middle of the poles as I had planned it. They were in her way and zoom off she went again, over the poles getting faster. At this point she did start to hit the end of the line but I rode it out letting the rope slide, but keeping her attached. She went around behind me at a full rope distance. Then again at 1 o'clock was walking. What's this.... a pole!!!!!! Zoom and she was off again. I laugh and smiled, remaining as neutral as I can. This time not quite as much jerking at the rope and even a nice movement with slack in the rope enough to touch the ground as she comes back to... you guessed it.... a pole!!!! Zooom!

Well, I let this go for six times as she improved each time, if I can get her to stay at either canter, trot or walk she'd be perfect but this was really good in my eyes. As she went over the poles the sixth time, I shifted my hands and just started to bend to yield her hind quarters when BANG two eyes on me. Wow. I brought her in and gave her TWO carrots.

I have a feeling that this is what it is going to be like for Cayleigh, nothing, trouble, difficulty then bang. I have to remember to give her time to think, more time than I've been even giving her now, but to also give her "tough" stuff to do too.

Sending to the right was a little more of a rough ride but with much the same result. The disengagement was not as nice but she never does like to give on that side.More rewards and driving to the wall, then a Yoyo turned into a squeeze and travelling circle back to the barrels. Not sure how I managed that one as I got two left feet. After trying to go around on either side again she waited facing the barrels.

Taking another chance I asked for a sideways, I was pretty sure she didn't want to jump em. She asked, back up? I said no dear, sideways, so she walked back up the the barrels and gave me three paces.

Well, I was all smiles and giggles and finished the session by Yoyoing her back and forth over the threshold into the barn, checking to make sure her leading was still good both forwards and back. Yep! Then again since I wanted to stop and talk to someone. Cayleigh doesn't know which way I'm going to go! Unfortunately, she crowded a little and when we did start up again I hadn't taken out enough slack so she stepped on it. Darn it, every good play session seems to end that way somehow. Oh well, five or ten minutes of hand grazing will help. Then through the doubly annoying double gate into her pasture through Sunrises isolation paddock. A good scritch, remove the halter and more scritching.

Now it is time to take the wrap off Sunrise's leg. Well, Cayleigh doesn't want me to go. I noticed that her muzzle hair is out of place where the halter sits so I give her face an all over scratch. That's a good 5 minutes of her head in my chest with my fingers violently scratching nose, forehead, cheeks chin and everywhere else. She keeps lowering her head so down her neck too! Finally I tell her to go play with her gelding friend and use the porcupine game, hand on nose and shoulder and get her facing the right way. Walking to the gate she, respectfully, mobs me. More scratching, and a kiss on the nose. That's when the leasee saw me. Again I turn her around and point her off in the right direction. This time she backs into me, rather quickly. Startling the leasee but not me. She has done this to me since day one and it gives me a chance to clean vulva and udder while scratching her butt and giving it a big hug. I finally sneak behind her shed, just off to where her friend is. Sure enough she comes and finds me. Everyone gets treats and I tell her I really have to go. She sighs and stays with the gelding.

Sun was a doll, standing ground tied as I messed with her foot. She has also learned to accept the wash stall and have really cold water on her leg for upwards of five minutes. All done through passive persistence, each time she moves I move her back in place, each minute she stays put I stop and give her a carrot chunk. She has no more resistance to the wash stall which should make giving her a bath a messy but safe experience.

The New Plan. Day 7.

2010-08-19T09:12:00.001-04:00

Well, day seven was interesting.

Because I've been so busy with Sunrise, Cayleigh lost a day with me and I had little time for her day 7 so I thought I'd take her into the arena and just turn her loose. She was in a normal halter and I didn't want to change it over.

I walked over to the middle of the arena and dropped to my knees, saying nothing, doing nothing, just watching her. It was quite fun and she really is a horse with beautiful movement and a sexy neck when she gets going. She'd circle to the viewing room window, then the door to the barn, then around half the arena stopping at me to sniff, and off she'd go again. Each time getting more and more excited.

In the end she cantered to me and stopped dead. "Sniff". This whole process took her about 10 minutes each lap building speed. I clipped back on to her halter, stood up and lead her back out to the paddock.

Interesting but I don't know what it means.....

The New Plan. Day 6.

2010-08-16T15:02:00.000-04:00

The sky was dark and ominous and the sun was setting behind the thick clouds.

I guess it is starting to get on into Fall when artificial lighting is going to have to do for our training sessions. I could wish to have a double row of lights in the big arena but the playing goes on...

I took Sun out first tonight, brushing and grooming and thought I had better do something with her other than the usual just to make sure she doesn't forget what she has learned. She did well with what I tried but I avoided squeeze, and circle because of her foot. I did get her to trot with me running backwards so I can see how she is doing and her movement is okay. I know it is a bit owie for her but I've been avoiding masking the problem with pain killers. Unfortunately what I've been doing is not working so the vet has been called and may interrupt the writing of this post.

As for the games, Sun had to be reminded about Yoyo but picked it back up quick, a few hind quarter yields didn't seem to bother her foot and porcupine is okay although she is showing more opposition reflex than she has. It was fun for her to be out and doing stuff as she was in her stall for most of the afternoon. Friendly is doing well and she also stands well for me in picking up her feet and for grooming. I need to spend more undemanding time(UDT) in her stall and in the field but she gets bored with me easily so how do you make UDT provocative and keep a LBE/I interested?

Cayleigh also got a good brushing today but was a bit of a pig for picking up her left hind foot. I couldn't see what was bothering her except a need to get on with things. She has always had a bit of a fidget when her feet are up, well, she just fidgets in standing still doing anything. She reacts mostly like an LBI but this seems to be her primary trait as an LBE.

Since I left her for four days without much more than a scratch on the nose and a few visits to say "Hi!" she was a little rusty one everything except Yoyo and Squeeze.

In fact, her Yoyo was really good! Our first game after grooming was to walk backwards into the ring. The ring has a rubber pellet flooring and is about an inch lower than the concrete of the barn floor. It is also high contrast white to black and has an overhead garage door. Well, getting Cayleigh to back to the edge was easy. I did that a few times, Yoyoing her back to me for a pat of the nose. The fourth time I applied just a smidge more pressure as she got to the edge and paused there. With the lift of her left hind I told her what a good girl she was and brought her back to me. Again, Yoyoing her back was easy until the threshold I asked for just a bit more and she knew what it was all about. Stepping back one foot I relaxed and got the other foot lifted for my trouble. She waited there a few seconds, thinking, then I asked her towards me. By the end of it all she was picking up her hind feet really high to place them down on the arena floor but was not hesitating and didn't need urging. I got all four hooves into the arena and walked up to thank her with a carrot and carried on into the arena.

Since it was something new, her leading with back-up was a little rusty. Consistency and repetition really need to be my watch words. Friendly was exciting for her as I was waving the carrot stick and Savvy string on either side of her while backing up. What a cute little slow trot she has when interested. She certainly wasn't afraid as I kept having to pick up the slack she was leaving in the rope so she would trip over it. That being said I think she'd enjoy a longer lead. Time to head to the store!

Throwing the rope over and around her was easy as always, even got some chewing and a sigh out of her. I'm glad to see she can actually sigh as I was beginning to wonder! She even sighed again later on after doing a circle.

Circling game in both directions is okay, but unmotivated. The what's in it for her factor is missing so I'm going to have to get advice on how to keep an LBI moving. I did get two laps in both directions but had trouble sending her to the left as she kept coming into me when behind me. I've been watching some information in the Savvy vault and in the latest Savvy club DVD and I think, for her, I'm being a little too neutral. I've tried resending but that didn't seem to improving anything until I upped the pressure on the send. Even then, resending doesn't seem to mean much to her as far as keeping out and going. Another thing that is causing problems is that she will not pull the lead through my hand, at all. I can hold the rope in the loosest grip I can muster, dropping it on the ground on occasion even my grip is so loose, but the slightest friction she won't pull away from. It's hard to put slack in a circle that ranges from 4-6 feet without giving her something to trip on!

Her right side sideways is still good at five steps. I've not asked for more yet but will next time. Her left side has developed a problem, she backs rather than go sideways. I continue a light pressure, both on zone one/two and a even rythmic pressure on zone 2/3. As before I relax when she gets to the wall. I know I'm not "talking" to her correctly, but I am focusing my will on the zone I want away from me. I'm not sure my carrot stick is supporting what I want. Once I got her comfortable with coming up to the wall in one smooth motion I held my right arm to her nose and lifted my stick at her shoulder, as soon as she started to step I ducked shifted the carrot stick and ducked at her hind end. A step from both fore and aft! Expect a lot, but accept a little and that was a good place to stop. She was calm and licked her lips when I relaxed then I went on to do a few squeezes.

I need to get a couple of cones and work on her figure-8 it might give the circling game more purpose. I also need to show up every day this week and get her sideways something fun to do. I'm working on combining things and not having as many pauses in our games for relaxation in an effort to make things more fun. To offset I am playing friendly in longer batches rather than after each request. It seems to be working out. I have to be careful though as she can get sensitive to the carrot stick and has before when I've had to use a phase four. My logner phase ones seem to have sped her reactions up thought so phase fours are, well, I don't think I've used a phase four at all for training recently. Only to defend my space once or twice and on the "12 o'clock position" when sending her in the circling game. Something small that is actually a really big improvement in disguise I think.

No call from the vet yet for Sun's appointment. I hope we find out more and that something can be done with some hope of success!

The New Plan. Day 5.

2010-08-15T14:56:00.000-04:00

Today Cayleigh comes in pretty easily from the pasture. She still backs when I'm in zone three wanting to put her halter on. I need to figure that out. She does not like to bend or lower her head into the halter anymore even though I've spent time doing stuff other than "work" once getting her haltered.

As an omen of things to come her willingness to be with me encouraged me to give something a little different a try. Once int he arena I turned her loose to explore the truck, the obstacles, whatever she wanted. It is interesting that turning a horse loose makes it more connected to you but I have noticed that it is very true over the years. After each pass by something in the arena she came to me, once for a butt scratch but mostly to blow on my chest then go back to exploring. I simply sat on the side of the blue barrel and waited for her.

She did not come within 4 feet of the truck or trailer although she was obviously very curious about it, she'd stand with her feet six feet away and stretch out her neck to the longest it can go and snort! Silly mare. When she finally came to me and just stood for a while I put the lead back on her and walked over by the truck. It was touching that, simply with my presence the truck became a non-issue and good enough to lick, as did the trailer tires, including the spare hanging on the side. I neither encouraged not discouraged just, I guess, provided moral support.

We went about our games and loading onto the trailer. I never did get all four feet up but she seems truly unconcerned and we'll have to play with it more.

Friendly was pretty good, with savvy string and stick okay in all zones, even wrapping around legs and tail. Today on her left side she had trouble with the spin around game, backing rather than waiting for pressure. I think I was too slow to get the lead into my other hand and take the weight of the rope off. On the other hand she did eventually settle down.

Porcupine, driving, cirlcing, Yoyo, sideways and squeeze are all of a quality that I should be able to get my level one video done. Assuming I can get me a video camera! She moved well at sideways both ways I'll need to ask for more from her next time and see how far I can take it. She has always been good at the squeeze game, which makes sense, she likes being close to me. Under four feet she does ask me if I REALLY want her too as it is getting tight for her but she does as asked. Touch it was well, but I ended the session before we got to the figure eight.

For fun, I thought I'd turn her loose and see her reaction. She followed me from one end of the ring to the other, trotted with me, stopped and backed up with me. A little sloppily but impressive none the less. At one point she was distracted sniffing something in one corner of the arena so I moved to the other corner and asked her to come to me with my Yoyo game. She did.

She can make me feel so loved!

I wonder what next will bring. I can now check off all the tasks at level one in the "mostly" column.

The New Plan. Day 4.

2010-08-15T14:38:00.000-04:00

I really need to be more methodical in documenting my progress. This blog post is being written a week too late to get more than the gist of what went on. Hopefully that will get better going forward!

Today started out much as did yesterday, the horses were inside and it was fairly warm. The truck and trailer were still in the arena. As I walked into the arena one of the other folks took her daughter and pony into the arena right behind. That distracted Cayleigh a little which was a good thing as she was getting all excited about the trailer again. I watched as the pony was loaded five or six time. Cayleigh's ears getting more and more upright as the pony shook the trailer. I took her over behind the trailer to watch the proceedings and Cayleigh arched her neck and was all Arabian attention watching the show. The pony loaded pretty well under the daughters control. Jumping up and coming back out until he was satisfied with staying inside. After about 10 minutes they left for parts unknown and Cayleigh looked like she was ready to try it.

It was then that a quick little breakthrough with the circling game happened. I asked, she moved, I taped the ground at 12 o'clock three times firmly, and she went around me enough that I disengaged her and slipped her a carrot. I drove her to the trailer and relaxed letting her snort at it and then nose it. Off we went to do something else and back we were at the trailer, more nosing, even lipping up some wayward hay with her neck all the way in. I figured that was pretty relaxed if she was sneaking hay, so put more driving pressure on her in zone three with the lead and my finger pointed into the trailer. She made a half step backwards and I just kept gently asking for forwards. I was rewarded with a step up the the trailer and a lift of the hoof. I relaxed and let her take that in.

Some half hearted lip smacks and licks, the kind that suggests she's only half thinking. It is difficult to get a full fledged licking of the lips out of her but when she does, boy does it mean something. Anyhow, off to do something else. A little circling and some driving between two blue barrels. Then back to the trailer, driving her towards the trailer she walks right up and puts a hoof in and back out, excellent. After some relaxation, more pressure on zone three. A step up into the trailer. Calm, relaxed, she doesn't stay but that will come. I end the session with her two front feet in the trailer for 30 seconds as she sniffs around and looks for some more of that wayward hay.

We also managed three slow steps of sideways on her off side with little to no reaction today. I drive her to a wall and then walk along it asking for just a step of her front or her back. I think she gets it now and we will see tomorrow!

The New Plan, Day 3.

2010-08-15T14:14:00.001-04:00

Well, tonight, Sunday, almost a week from when this all started was an interesting night.

The horses were inside for some reason, and when I rubbed sunrise I got a handful of horse hair! Shedding already but the weather has been up and down and the light has changed enough to really be noticeable. So everyone got a good grooming!

The night was interesting in that it seems nether I nor Cayleigh felt like playing. The barn owner moved a trailer into the arena, it was hot, and Cayleigh was the grumpiest horse alive. Hehe.

We did walk around the arena but Cayleigh's focus was on the horse eating truck and trailer. I lead her back and forth, gave her space and time, but the evening was just not right for much more of anything. Instead we returned to her stall and I sat at the back just being with her. Well, I got to see both her front end and back end up close as she turned around and pointed out itchy spots for me.

It was a nice relaxing night.

Sunrise got some special attention as well and was more than willing to have a play session. Unfortunately, doing much more than walking in a straight line and wide turns gives her foot a little soreness. She's happy to trot and gallop on it on her own but I'm concerned about making it worse with too many tight turns and such. Sunrise was much more interested in the truck, sticking her head in the window to nose the steering wheel. It is actually kinda funny. Sun is the hard loader and Cayleigh is the one who gets on and sighs.

The New Plan, Day 2.

2010-08-08T15:12:00.001-04:00

Tuesday rolled around and I went out to the barn earlier in the day than usual. Everyone seemed happy to see me if, again, they don't come running. The barrels and cones were left over from the day before where I had set them up so Cayleigh and I got to playing. I checked a few things as far as friendly went and managed to get some helicopter in in zone three without too much of a reaction. As her head lowered my helicopter stopped so I hope that the release gave her something to think about.

Her leading is also very good and trotting to backing up was okay with one little reminder to start. Consistency will have to become my second nature as much as I like to be near my horses.

The rope around the far side "spin" trick is about the same as it was. Some backing up when I get in position on her far side. I just wait it out and she calmed.

The first three games have not a lot to talk about, she understands them and I think our communication is getting better in those areas. Her reactions are still a little slow, but I'm pretty sure I'm also not as obvious as I think I am at giving her signals. Will work on that.

Yoyo remains excellent but I wanted to get on to circling and sideways.

Circling was interesting, after watching that video on getting a good send in the circling game I asked sent her and waited, as a matter of fact I out waited her and she started moving the direction I wanted her to go. I slapped the ground three times at 12 o'clock and that got her going into a trot. I feel like she realized when she was behind me that I wasn't smacking at her or at least she processed it and dropped quickly down to a fast walk. I got one and a half circles out of her before she came to check in with me. A good improvement but not as partner oriented as I'd have wished for. Baby steps. I yoyo her out right away and asked again for the same direction and three more slaps. Again a quick take off but I think she enjoyed it more than was worried by it. A good result except when I asked her to disengage she wouldn't! I had to laugh and got her to within about 2 foot of my hand before she went "OHHH! Time to disengage!". It is hard to say if she went right brained (it didn't seem that way) or was doing what she wanted to do. The other direction worked out about as well with about the same results. So, improvement in the circling game!

Sideways was interesting, I lead her to the wall on her left side and simply turned, walking along the wall and putting pressure on her nose and her rear as needed. Another five or six steps of sideways without much thought! As I alluded to yesterday, the other side was a little more fun.

On that side, I started slowly, or so I thought. I circled her up to the wall with me on her right side and just relaxed there. Each time I tried to walk up along the wall I got an interesting response though! Her nose moved away from me fine one to have her butt almost face on to me and her "evil" foot as the farrier likes to call it raised to strike! Unfortunately, each time I had to yank on her nose, not being the cool cucumber I should be I was concerned for my safety. I was probably at a range to be okay but...

So, not enough pressure on the hind quarters I guess. I know her driving game on both sides is okay so another attempt this time with more momentum. As with her other side before she can stop at the wall, walk along it putting pressure on her fore and hind. Same result. More pressure on her hind and the faster she goes to kick. Well, let's recheck her other side and see if she gets it. 5-6 steps sideways without a blink. Okay, let's try the squeeze, another new game but perhaps just something to take her mind off everything. Squeeze both ways, at a slow pace, first time, 4' or smaller. I simply walked backwards from the wall while asking her to move and she choose the width that was acceptable to her. Excellent job Cayleigh!

Okay, once more unto the breech dear friends! I tried the off side sideways in a different spot in the arena and sure enough, more threats and this time she got angry enough to rear and try strike. This was a completely Left-brain "NO I WON'T" activity. I will say this, Parelli has improved my confidence enough in handling horses that I was never worried although a little bit of fancy footwork ensued. I did feel under control and that even if she had gotten more aggressive I still could manage her. The thing about her is, she is still listening to me. Still doing the things I ask after her tantrum and still "sidewaysing" on her other side!

Well, I decided to listen to her. I wasn't sure what she was saying but I made a big big effort to break everything I was asking down into smaller steps. I circled her to the right and just relaxed completely. When she stopped I asked her to take a few more steps to the wall and place her nose on it and again, exaggerated my relaxation. Whew, okay, let's go walk somewhere else for a moment. Then in the new place again, just nose on the wall and relax. Whew. Listening like a champ. Okay, let's ask for one step from the front. Got it and COMPLETE relaxation again. Go for a walk about and nose to the wall again. Very nice. Front foot, just one step please. Good. Relax... relax... another front foot step? Good. Lean my body towards her butt and drive just a little..... Rear foot step over!!!! WIN!!!! The last of the carrot for you my dear and I'll see you soon. :)

So, what I've tried to learn from this is when you expect a lot don't keep asking for it. She is so good on her one side that I get it with very little pressure, but her off side needs much more time to get to work. When next I see her, we shall see if I can get two steps from each end!

The New Plan. Day 1.

2010-08-07T16:00:00.000-04:00

Sunrise's foot problem, while serious, does not bother her enough to stymie her enjoyment of life. I hope that it never will. This presented only a slight problem, since Cayleigh has also started the program. Actually, in a small way it might be a blessing in disguise.

Cayleigh has had a substantial amount more training for riding and was obviously taught with some love. She is a real sweet heart and I can just occasionally get some curiosity out of her. The more I play and allow her to explore, the better that gets. She does have more experience in playing the games with humans on her terms so she will be more difficult to passively persuade to make my idea her own, but her horsenality seems more compatible with mine and the mutual solutions we find to our problems seem to work well.

So, Monday was our first play date of the new rest of my life as described in my August goals. July's goals were a little less focused so I thought I'd crank it up a notch. First off, since my official re-start I've only been able to play two times in the last six days with another play scheduled for tonight. Monday was a while ago and I should have blog'ed sooner but let's see if I can give you an idea of what went on.

Cayleigh was her usual self, not exactly standoffish but not overly interested in saying "Hi!" I guess she knows I'll come to her so she doesn't have to come to me. So I sat down. Plunk, right in the middle of their pasture, carrot stick and all, with them at the far end. Well, the girls and my new friend the gelding weren't having none of that strangeness! Right over to me they came. Three muzzles, three carrot chunks! That being said, I did my usual walk away and you can follow me if you like trick and got them separated enough to halter Cayleigh. I think she is the more curious of the bunch when the gelding isn't picking on her.

So, Haltering. When I stand in zone 3 to put her halter on, Cayleigh has gotten into the habit of trying to put zone one beside me. I just back with her but it is something I need to change in the way I work with her. I have a feeling that I'm taking too long, yes, you heard me, too long to put the halter on. Cayliegh knows I can scratch without the halter on her so she wants that. I'm going to try address this by only scratching after the halter is on. We shall see. She turns her head when asked but does not leave it there while haltering. Once haltered, she'll hold her head in place and let me play(scratch with) and adjust it. She is not nearly as mouthy as Sunrise, even though I've offered it to her. Haltering savvy six out of ten.

Leading, well, my savvy was maybe 3 out of 10 until I re-checked the checklist on the level one compulsories and found the videos in the savvy vault as to what is expected. It seems my stopping and backing up were not good savvy-fu. So, I started there. I know Cayleigh isn't bad about porcupine or driving as long as I can make my focus clear and sure enough she's a fast learner. The "chicken dance" stops her readily enough but for the life of me I couldn't figure out how to get her to back on the end of a very flexible lead rope. I simply applied the tools I've learned in a natural feeling way, stop, lifting feet high while slowly backing, rythmic pressure without contact and then finally backing into her so there was contact. As one would expect she got out of the way, and since her best thing is Yoyo she backed almost straight up. Thinking about it now, I have to learn to stop sooner. I think as that would aid Cayleigh's learning even though she got this quite quick. Stop, relax all pressure, and start forward again, letting her take the slack from my hands. Now, the method usually talked about for this is much more forceful so I hope that I've mearly adjusted the request to the horse rather than missed the point! Over the course of the training session I took about 10-15 "little" leads from one corner of the ring to the other with one or two stops and the occasional backup thrown in. Even did it at the trot and she followed me well. I even hardly had to put pressure on the lead to get going. Very happy with that. Cayleigh is also following at whatever distance she starts at now, something I've been unable to really get through to her about. She likes being near me rather than away from me. Leading savvy, umm, at least 6 our of ten now!

She knows the other games we normally play but hasn't been asked to do sideways or squeeze. Now, Pat lately has been saying to do what the horse needs and not follow the program step by step but since I'm learning and she is learning I figure for now it is good if I check in with her at each step Friendly was good with everything I tried, rope, or savvy string on stick. She did back up on her off side when I slipped the rope around her rump to the other side to perform the little "spin in place" try it from the level one DVD. I simply moved with her until she was more comfortable, holding her halter gently acting like it was nothing unusual. I've written about this before, nothing I do around her zone five seems to bother her except this. I again have the feeling that something happened to her on her off side and this is the closest thing I've found to simulating it. Once she settles, she calmly turns away from me and comes back to me. Interesting, no? Friendly savvy, 6-8 out of ten depending on the day.

Porcupine and driving are both good, "touch it" works fairly well. I'd say she is 60% of the way there to doing what I ask all the time. I need to slow down my phase one more. I think she'll learn to respond faster the slower I go. A real thinker this one is. Something to try at least. I also keep in mind that I've not played touch it with her for some weeks. It is not pretty but I think that my forequater driving game is getting better. I'm more likely in the proper position and as a result Cayleigh responds better. Still too much forwards and backwards but full circles are possible without an unhappy horse. I'll give porcupine savvy a 7 out of ten and Driving savvy 6 our of ten.

Yoyo was, as it has always been, a smashing success. This game combined with our new lead skills well and I managed to get her to back over a pole between two upright barrels to simulate the gate backup that is part of the level two checklist. It is a matter of going up and backing away long before getting between anything and then just getting closer until you are doing it. I can even sorta waggle my finger on the down low and make a face and she'll back. Yoyo, for level one, 8 or 9 out of 10, level two hmmm, not actually sure but I think about the same. I'll have to read some more of the level two stuff and keep it in mind.

Circling is still problematic.Cayleigh doesn't fight me the way Sunrise does, and if I give her long enough at phase one will go but simply doesn't have much motivation and may make it a quarter circle before "checking in" with me at the centre. I wonder if I just need more rope? If I up the phases too soon she'll push into the pressure, which is odd since driving her isn't difficult at all. Something to think about.

I used the Arena wall to see if I could get her to think about going a half circle without much effort and that seemed to work and gave her a natural place to stop. It also gave me an opportunity to ask her to sideways which, luckily for me as you'll hear next time, I got a good 5 steps from her left side. I gave her the release, then went and thanked her as she stood there. I was "OUT OF CARROTS!!!!!!!" D'oh, well, a good scritch is worth a carrot bite, right? I thought that excellent try would be a good way to call it a day and we had been at it for over an hour and a quarter.

Tuesday's efforts, with a lot more "Hmmm, Interesting!!!" will be up as soon as I can type it in. However now it is time for some dinner and more horse play!

A New Months Resolutions

2010-08-07T14:38:00.000-04:00

Well, a bunch of different things have happened to me this week, including a whole lot of nothing! I had thought vacation would clear up some time to spend with my horses but oddly enough having time of my own doesn't seem to help. I will only claim that I got extensively burnt out at work. The only thing that is keeping me there now is the cash and job security.

So, how have things been going, well, you can see at the top of the blog I now have my August's goals outlined. They are quite extensive and are really a good read in an of themselves! They outline a plan for the next two or three years. It is extensively Parelli in an effort to maintain focus.

July's goals included:

Be able to spray fly spray on Sun with no threshold. (60% there)
Teach Cayleigh all seven games(12' line, level 1) and be able to get her to understand me without thresholds.(2 more games to go!)
Teach Sun to figure 8 easily, continue working on her 7 games to get them all to several paces.
Focus on my communication with the horses and make sure they enjoy what we are doing together.

The last weeks of July were a wash out for me as far as training anything. My own mental state wasn't the best and there just doesn't seem enough time in the day to move forward with Parelli training while working on specific issues. So, 1 and 2 were a bust. Number 3 was going along nicely until Sunrise injured herself and couldn't go in tight circles, or really circles at all. Number 4 was pretty good, I just needed time to pet and unwind with the horses and it turns out I have a new equine friend in the girls pasture.

So, go read my August goals while I type up how things have gone so far this month.

WTH! Our first liberty!

2010-07-22T10:35:00.003-04:00

Well, I've not been fairing well on the Parelli Journey this last week. My focus has been out the window and a lack of desire to do much of anything has kept me from doing much of anything. Part of the problem is Sun's foot obviously, I simply can not do anything Parelli with her except perhaps some touch-it in straight long lines with plenty of space to turn around. I've even looked in the Savvy vault Q&As the recommendation seems to be move on to a healthy horse.

Last night was very interesting for me. I was again at the barn waffling on what I wanted to do. I think I picked up Cayleigh's halter three times and put it back just to go scratch either Cayleigh or Sun for lack of anything better to do. Eventually I got over that and took the both of them into the Arena, turning first Cayleigh loose. Well she was very focused on me, I had the lead rope in my hand but not attached. I walked to the end of the arena, passing between two barrels I had placed earlier and she followed well. I stopped a couple of times quickly and she was right with me. How interesting! Since my plan had finally become to have fun I thought I'd give a fast trot a try and sure enough, she stayed with my for the first length!!!!! What the HECK! I'm not supposed to be doing liberty yet! A few starts and stops with her mirroring me perfectly. Wow! Shortly after she was distracted by one of the barrels and went to play with it, so I nonchalantly took out a few traffic cones, placing them very deliberately, and went to get Sun acting as if that was my idea the whole time.

Turning Sun loose I went over to sit on one of the barrels and just watch. As before, both checked in with my periodically as they explored. Being most keenly interested in the windows back to the barn and the viewing room at the start. Cayleigh stuck her nose in the ring's manure bucket and got a snootful of something as she wrinkled her nose and trotted over to me smacking and licking her lips. Silly horse rubbed her nose along the length of my jeans. The innocent, "Who me, I'm just sniffing you!" look on her face was worth a laugh.

It was interesting that it took the both of them about five minutes to decide to pass me to the whole other half of the Arena. Both took a good chew of the traffic cones before returning to the barn side of the arena. Horses!

I've not played any games with Cayleigh in the last while, except for some extreme friendly when I drove that pasture gelding away from the other side of her. She has learned that my focus is where my energy is going and is completely indifferent until I focus on her. Just as I'd like her to be. Another advantage to protecting her in her pasture. So, I started from the beginning and just touched each of the games up to circling. Her FQ yields are still soso and I'm still sure part of that is that I'm not in the proper position. She is also not one to yield easily too. She is better when I'm driving than porcupine.Yoyo, as long as I'm particular, is still very good. I took the suggestion to go to her when I'm happy with her standing and reward her for that. I think I saw an improvement last night. I had to be particular with her several times but at the end she stood two times where I was able to get to her with a reward. I think she got it and I hope to see what she does with it.

Unfortunately, I did have to drive off Sun once or twice, she can come see me but must leave Cayleigh alone if she's connected to me. But I don't think there is any hurt feelings.

That was all I wanted to do tonight and I thought it was fairly successful. I dropped off the lead and the carrot stick at the door to the barn and noticed that Cayleigh was following me again. I tried for a trot, but that was too much to ask.

Yet....

I did get her attention. When I stopped at the traffic cone on the far side of the arena she walked towards me. Again, a "how interesting" moment! Without much thinking, and I really need to let my intuition out more, I tapped the cone and ran to the other about 20 feet away. Well, I got the nicest curve as she continued to walk towards me. Well, that worked so well I ran back and forth, pausing each time to tap, between the cones as she walked towards me. That kept her interest and she serpentines all the way to me finally touching the cone I just tapped. Wow. Neat! Again, more liberty than I knew what to do with. I pet her nose and just waited to see what she'd do. So she bit the cone. Well, time to make this more interesting. Off I go, trying to bring her energy up by being provocative but non-threatening.

Tap goes the other cone...

Cayleigh's energy didn't make it much above a slow walk, but while I expected a lot, she gave none the less.

Sniff goes the cone....

Woot! Big smiles and off to the blue barrel!

Tap goes the barrel......

Again the same results a slow walk....

Tap goes the barrel......

Tap goes the barrel.....

Sniff goes the barrel.... WIN! She sniffs the far end where I tapped, the middle where I tapped, and the near end where I give her a carrot! I'm not sure what the purpose of the game is, but it is a purpose!

More slowly now, I go tap on the dressage letter on the wall. By this point Sun realized there might be a carrot in it for her. Both horses walk from the barrel, Cayleigh in the lead. She looks at me then the wall, "Sniff?" Nope, and a tap of the letter. Well, she set herself up to cross a threshold. When I first got to the barn and tried out the arena she did not like the way the outer door had a bit of a gap under it. If I forced her towards it, it was not good. About that time I read about fear thresholds, or perhaps it was on the Savvy DVD that month, anyhow, some approach and retreat took care of any outward signs when she is on the lead and she has often gone to the door of her own accord. But now she was examining the wall and boy, that crack surely held horse eating, but very thin, monsters!

Tap went the letter, but it is your choice.

Sniff sniff went the thin monster hiding crack then she walked right to the letter and touched it! Sun then proceeded to try rip it off the wall. You can lead a horse to letters but you can't make a LB not chew them. Laughter and I went off to tap something else when whoosh a bit of a startle for the both of them. I think that it was the barn owner tapping on the door, I'd be in for an hour and she wanted to do some training herself. I'm not sure what she thought of what I was doing but I suspect she thinks I'm kinda crazy. She was the one who introduced Parelli to me so...

Time to quit, Cayleigh put herself forward to get taken out first so I do. Again, having to drive Sun back from the door and Cayleigh. A pair of accusing horsey eyes stares at me through the garage style door window to while I put Cayleigh away. Oh well, can't win em all. I go get her and tell her what a good girl she is. She gets a carrot and all is forgiven! Yeah.

I leave, feeling well accomplished, treats for everyone!

Difficult gelding.

2010-07-19T13:57:00.001-04:00

Well, this last week has been one where I've felt burned out and a little depressed. My birthday was Saturday and that was nice. My wife has been her usually supportive stuff but I got a whole bunch of "smarten up" from Cayleigh this week. I've not asked much of her so Sun has been quite happy this week. I was even able to go around the corner of the barn and she only took one step to snuffle at something on the ground. She gets treats if she stays still so that seems to be her primary motivation.

Anyhow, last night I went out to the barn to apply the anti-inflammatory rub to Sun's foot. I arrived in a torrential downpour that the horses seemed to enjoy. I think it gave them some relief from the bugs and it has been reasonably less hot since the rain too.

Anyhow, the rain went from torrential to none in about 3 minutes. I went out to put on the gunk out in the pasture since she is so good about it and the barn was busy. Well, sure enough I needed my carrot stick to get some communication in with that gelding my girls are with. The entire time I was there with about a minutes exception he was driving Cayleigh around which was getting Sun moving too as they barged into and around us. I had a chance to show what kind of leader I was and couldn't as I don't trust that Gelding wouldn't cow kick me to spite. Unfortunately I had thought we had come to a truce. I suspect that he bullies the stable hands and each time he does he tries it with me again. His ears are always back when they give him food and hay and I hear stories about how he'll take a chunk out of you.

Lesson learned for the evening, carrot stick every where I go and any horse trying to dominate me gets to run out of my space until I'm good and ready to let em stop no matter who might own them.

On the positive side, at least I learned something tonight!

Not what I have come to expect!

2010-07-15T10:39:00.000-04:00

I went out to the barn a little early last night so I could treat Sun's foot and just generally hang out. Sun was an absolute doll. Stood for all kinds of stuff without moving. I had to gently remind her where she needed to stand only once.

Cayleigh gave me several bad moments ending with me backing her up with a Heavy handed Yoyo. I Yoyoed her out and in several times but boy did she give me the ears! I got somewhat frustrated when she wouldn't let me pick up either of her off side hooves to be picked out. Something I've been working with all week and she was great all week.She'd even block me with her head when I asked to go to that side, so I used something Pat showed us on a Savvy DVD recently, and gently but insistently asked her to move her head and front feet over.

I think I understand why she was like this. It was near the end of the afternoon when everyone gets put out. She simply didn't want to delay getting out. I understand her point of view, and had made plans to do the minimum with her just so she could get out and go for a gallop. As such perhaps I did not spend as much time saying hello as I should have.

Emotionally, I'm not real happy about this. It is a sign that I wasn't communicating effectively and that Cayleigh's respect is less than I thought it was. I wonder what I should do with her tonight. I'd like to go through a play session with her but if she is in the same mood I know it won't be fun for her.

Mid-week Update

2010-07-14T10:42:00.000-04:00

Well, I've lost a lot of horse time this week for a couple of reasons. Farrier, and vet visits. Plus I've been needing extra sleep time, and finally just decided to take a little bit of it for myself. My mood has been off and I do not like inflicting that onto my horses although they always manage to cheer me up. Plus it is just so stinking hot and humid that I can hardly do much of anything!

Enough complaining though. Not too much to update from this weekend. The farrier approves of the way the horses are coming in being polite, enough at least that he mentioned it on Saturday. That's most excellent. Cayleigh and Sunrise are both coming to me at the gate if I make myself interesting. Cayleigh seems to enjoy being near me even more than ever too which is a big improvement over what it has been recently.

The vet took some time with Sunrise to check her right hind foot. This is a new vet to me who also does acupuncture. He suggested that the suspensory ligament is the problem and from what he showed me it is very likely. It is an off and on again problem with Sunrise most recently aggravated by a figure 8 on the 12' line.

He recommended conventional treatment and rest for her. Once the owie is out of the foot slow long walks in straight lines on level ground and no circling at all! So much for my circling game with her. I have to think about if we need to change her pasture as there is a bit of a hill in it. She doesn't tend to expend a lot of energy though so it might not be an issue for her.

An Accident with Sunrise!

2010-07-09T21:43:00.001-04:00

Well, this is what I get for following the advice of a Parelli Professional.

A few posts ago, Petra suggested in the comments I try some things with Sunrise. Particularly, if you remember, to lower her head to assist her in accepting the fly spray on her body. I've already got her complete good to the spray, spray bottle, and the shhhhht of the spray.

So, what happened?

Well, rather than making sunrise accept the spray, I accidentally trained her to lower her head when being sprayed! Shhhht, lower head, shhht, lower head, shhht, lower head.

It's horrible! Here I am trying to teach her to relax to the fly spray and bang, there she goes and learns that dropping her head turns off the fly spray. She trained me up good and it only took 5 minutes!

I didn't laugh at her but boy was it hard!

Petra, did I get you?

I would like to thank Lisa, Linda, and Pertra each for their help on this issue. I had been plugging away at it on and off for 2 weeks with no success.

It was really quite incredible how Sun responded to me tonight. Yes, for the first 90 seconds Sun spun, tried to barge through me, and would not lower her head. I kept a constant pressure down but let her act out as she needed. I applied what I've learned through the program so far, and while it was "interesting", I was passively persistent with her, not letting up until I got just the barest of nods out of her. Each time she tried to get into my space she met some porcupine from an elbow that just happened to be there. My own feeling was safe and my emotions were level. I knew she would react and was prepared for it. Sunrise is a very smart horse and with the first release I can see her getting it. It only took about 2 more minutes before we were to the point where I was totally happy with her. On the other side it was even faster as she did not move her feet much at all! By the time I quit, about ten sprays on her off side the lead was slack in my hand and she was offering her lowered head with each pump of the spray. I will have to rinse and repeat but what an experience in five minutes.

One of the things I noticed was, once she got her mind back, just how sensitive she had become. Two fingers lightly on the lead and a subtle shift down at the knuckle and she lowers her head. Wow. A slightly less than phase one touch of the nose and her foot steps back, the same for her chest. She remained that sensitive the entire night. I even hugged her around the head, she put her head against my chest, hiding her eyes and she backed up with a step, blindfolded! We also did the usual, she is getting good at being ground tied. Picking out feet and after a four attempts I managed to get her to stay while I left to get a squeegee! She even walked into the wash stall with lowered head at the least suggestion, sniffing and lipping at the concrete floor .

Successes:Ten sprays per side without moving and with lowering of head! Walk into the wash stall with a lowered head and sense of curiosity! Stand ground tied while I walked off 20 paces to get the squeegee, stood ground tied while I picked all her hooves. But even with all that the important part was the relationship.
Failures: None, so I stopped!
What I learned: Sometimes you need to push something to get that break through. Sunrise has taught me this on several occasions but I can be dense. With the right "Savvy Arrow" the push becomes relaxation and another way that you have built up your relationship.I wish I could immerse myself into this for three to four weeks, but alas I have to work to live.

A shout out to Petra Christensen a 1* Parelli Professional who gave me a hand over the internet just 'cause!

Arabian Horses are Funny People

2010-07-09T14:34:00.001-04:00

Cayleigh and my relationship is getting quiet a bit better recently. If you have been following my blog you know I got her because she was so sweet and pretty to look at even though her shoulder was injured. I met her when buying Sunrise and couldn't pass up the $100 dollar deal. I could not let her get into the meat truck that was her next step. She has always been a nice horse, and it has become clear to me she was extremely well trained.

Cayleigh being very interested in me and coming into the scary back woods leading all the 20 plus horses in the herd with her to come find me.Nov 2009

Last night, in the heat, Cayleigh got a lot of fun time with me. Not undemanding time, but things that were interesting that didn't demand a lot from her except curiosity and a little bit of putting up with things. Now that I've done it a few times with lots of positive reinforcement she stands for the pump spray no problem, she never really had an issue with it before but still....

Next came the hose, no nozzle on it this time. I just held it up, about waist high and let it stream straight up and back down on itself. Wow, did her entire focus change. A few rollers in the nose then a whole lot of interest. That gorgeous Arabian face with the big nostrils, pointy ears and scooped face was all about that fountain of water. She brought her nose close as it burbled, just a little closer, and again a little closer. Splish splash right on the nose it goes! She tosses her head in the funny Arabian way and goes back to her intent studying of that fountain. A little closer, a little closer, splish splash on the nose it goes, so she BUMPS it with her nose! Well, that made enough contact to make her nose good and wet. I had to laugh and she fixed me with a quick stare but I think I saw a twinkle in her eye. She got right back to getting her nose wet.

I'm not sure she was really keen on getting the rest of her wet but for such a hot day and a breeze blowing I figured it would turn out well. The water was cold though so the first few applications above the legs were not immediately welcome. Once she felt cooler though, I think she started to enjoy it. Ready for bath time for Cayleigh!

Sun was another story....

Too Hot for Much, or How I learned to Quit Worrying and Love the Ceiling Fans in the Barn

2010-07-07T11:42:00.000-04:00

Whew, sweaty horses and all they were doing is eating!

Tonight I'm going to play with the hose but last night I thought that a spray bottle of water would be a good instrument of coolness. It seems I still haven't broken through the "I don't wannas" with Sunrise. It does not seem to be a matter of fear or excitement anymore. She just doesn't like having that spray touch her.

Anyhow, Cayleigh was first to catch me. I spent some friendly time in the paddock with carrot stick and halter just getting along with the herd. Cayleigh and Sun both spent a lot more time looking at me tonight that lately but I wasn't interesting enough to draw them to me.

It was hot and I was only going to halter up a volunteer, if I got one. Well, I thought, no such luck after about 20 minutes (no one would stand still with me at their shoulder) so I went up to get the water spray which I had deposited on an upturned water troff just the other side of the gate. I turn around and look back at the gate and Hmmm, is that Cayleigh looking awfully interested in being with me? Cool. I walk slowly to the gate and stand just inside in my, come get me pose. Leg cocked, carrot stick on the ground my wrist crossed waiting on the end of the carrot stick. Cayleigh walked, with many pauses for grass or to kill an annoying fly, but I could see the intent to come to me in her body. I just waited, stamping at flies and doing an all over body wiggle to keep it interesting. She caught me and let me /*shush shush shush*/ spray water all over her. I again asked to halter her, something I recently saw in the Savvy Vault on a DVD from 2003, and backed off as soon as she leaned away from me. One more try and she put her nose in the halter, curved from zone three.

I brough her inside without much plan except to give her some relief from bugs. I've always disliked the ceiling fans in the barn as they tend to blow dust around if you are doing anything. Well, Cayleigh was sweaty all over her shoulders and her entire butt. Those fans not only evaporated the water I sprayed but cooled her off enough to stop sweating noticeably! For those concerned she was sweating again by the time I left and has plenty of fresh water in her paddock. She stood like a champ for the fly spray, ground tied. Even got a nice udder rub! I'm glad she did because her tail went from swishing all the time to maybe every 30s, it was especially noticeable when I put her back with the other two. A little relief goes a long way.

Sunrise was happy to come out of the paddock too. Less graceful than Cayleigh she couldn't hold her nose, but did put it in the halter for me, what a good girl! I brought her in to stand under the fans and got out the water bottle and fly spray. Tonight I started the usual way, advancing until the smallest reaction then retreating. That worked quickly as we have done this plenty. As soon as the smallest drop touched her she gets annoyed and moves. I've tackled this in two ways, making moving uncomfortable, either with a rope wiggle or 20 more paces than she wants to make. Polite, passive and persistent but I'm not going to force the issue as much as I would like to get some fly spray on her for her own comfort. My idea has not become her idea. I can spray my hand beside her (zone 3) and rub it on and that'll have to do for the sensitive areas for now. She even enjoyed a ground tied udder rub!

Back outside, we spotted some Turkey's in the far field. Boy, id that get a really big.... no it didn't. I think I saw an ear flick, but it is hard to be sure. It was too hot to get excited!

Sunday without formal play!

2010-07-04T14:02:00.000-04:00

This morning I went out to the barn and filled in the on-line check list as I really didn't feel like playing in an organized way. A few things I've noticed that I need to work on include a calm horse under phases. Usually they are okay, but as you see from yesterday I sometimes get flare-ups. I'm also sure that is because I'm not meeting their needs.

Going down the list, for Sunrise, I need to work on:
Haltering with Savvy
Driving from Zone 2(will have to see what that means as in general she can touch-it okay which is a driving purpose)
YoYo has been good, although recently I've not practised over a poll and should set up a "gate" for her
Circling isn't on the list for level 1 and nothing in level 2 is close yet
Sideways is inconsistent and I need to work on it more. I'm getting stuck with the reactions to the first four games.
Squeeze is good so long as driving is good, and can be played with in conjunction with Sideways as per the DVD. No trailer to sniff yet, although it is close. Will have to give it a try.

Going down the list, for Cayleigh, I need to work on:
Friendly is good when everything is calm, including haltering, need to work on our confidence.
Porcupine, again, not sure I'm setting this up correctly, Sun has gotten it but I always find myself out of place with Cayleigh. I'm not rewarding soon enough and it pisses her off.
Driving is good as long as I'm clear.
Yoyo, very good back and forth at phase 1. "Teach to stop and Yield" is something that needs work. Once she is away from me she will move, sidepass actually, around. I don't want to discourage that but do want her to wait for me to ask!!!
The rest of the games need to be practised yet...

Keep in mind that when I say good, I mean good for level one as far as I understand. It can always be improved!

The rest of the morning was me stuffing them with carrots, even the gelding as he respecting my space although not always Cayleigh's and will move away from me with a look now. I also walked around their adjoining pasture, I expected them to follow me, particularly Cayleigh but she is not nearly as connected to me as when I first met her. She was in a herd of 20+ horses and would always come to me and follow me, even into the woods. It's something for me to lick a chew. I'd rather her enjoy my presence and seek it out.

Saturday Evening at the Barn

2010-07-04T13:43:00.000-04:00

Well, in an unusual double header I went out for a couple of hours Saturday evening too! This time I spent playing with Cayleigh although I'm not sure she thought it was all that much play.

A lot of work had been done at the barn including loading and unloading big, taller than me, piles of stone and lots of moving around of trailers and trucks to make way for it. There wasn't a single "easy" way for me to get from point A to point B including big nosey fans in the aisle way of barn for the horses that need to loose a little weight and cannot be on grass all day! I decided to use the front sand ring but we had to pass a large hay wagon and tractors, a truck, squeeze between a tree and a large pile of gravel and finally get into the sand ring with the monster moving maple trees at the far end. Whew. I tried to keep her moving with savvy, letting her retreat when she lifted her head and sniff when she wanted too. She did well and while I'm sure she was excited I did not see much in the way of fear in her as long as I let her take it at her own pace.

Once in the ring I played some friendly game for her. She was obviously distracted for most of the first half of the session but how do you focus with the friendly game? I tried some porcupine and driving and she settled into the friendly game after each. I have to play a great deal of friendly game because she is so sensitive. I assume that my motions are screaming at her as I have not been able to refine them much. Time to re-hit the DVDs! The only time that I really got her attention, for about 15 minutes, was when I was going through touch it between point A and point B. Similarly to Sunrise after the first few times she fell back and it felt like I was leading her. I "hid" some carrots on the mounting block and drove her over to it. That got her attention! She was sniffing everything I put in front of her.

Her circling game on the left is better, a full circle without stopping until I disengaged her. I felt it was better to be the one asking her to disengage than her doing it herself and I didn't want to put two circles at this time. She got a carrot for coming to me but not too close.

Oh, speaking of not too close, I've now started the chicken dance whenever I ask the horses to stop and they do not give me distance. I still have trouble with them not coming in to me when out there but one thing at a time.

When I asked her for the other way, I got a herd full of Arab attitude! If I didn't think it was just a little dangerous I could watch her shake her head and dance like that all day. I gave the lead a huge shake and wiggle with a stern look on my face and got a stop and a lick and chew for my trouble. Asking her to circle, again to the right with only a twitch of the stick this time, got me the most perfect walk, not too fast, not too slow, a great disengagement and a nose softly resting on my chest after asking for permission to come see me. God I love this horse! She, on the other hand, loved the carrot she got for being perfect.

I called it an end there on such a perfect moment.

Saturday Morning at the Barn

2010-07-03T13:24:00.000-04:00

A beautiful morning at the barn. The sun shining brightly and promising a hot day but a nice stiff constant wind to blow the heat and flies away. Both Sunrise and Cayleigh are coming to the fence to greet me although Cayleigh is still having trouble with that gelding trying to drive her. The barn was a busy place, the inside staff cleaning, the outside staff getting three tractors going to do heaven knows what. It looked like they left with the manure spreader, a log splitter and a mowing deck. I don't like busy times at the barn for several reason, but primarily I find it really affects my focus. It can distract the girls too, especially if I'm not being provocative enough.

Speaking of provocative, a good session of grooming and hoof picking while being ground tied again for Sunrise. She is completely free of any fear from stepping on her lead rope now. She used to pull on it and throw herself back but my calmness and her experimentation has done a great deal to fix that little problem. I am working on walking away from her for a few paces and back again to try to get her used to waiting for me but both my girls want to go where I'm going. I'm flattered but use the one step forward gets you two steps back technique. As long as I'm right with them, they stand well for picking up feet or brushing. Sunrise even is happy to have me touch her teats again although I'll have to keep working at it as she has been unpredictable in the past.

Off into the arena and after a brief bit of friendly, a few steps back of porcupine and a couple of driving yields of the hind end I could see that it just wasn't doing it for her. Oh Sun was being good but obviously a little bored. So I tried a few touch-its, back and forth between a big blue barrel and the little plastic mounting block. I noted that I'm going to have to work on her to get her out front or beside me while driving she is very focused on me and not what she is doing. However, small steps and all and I made sure she knew I was very happy with her! Since the big blue barrels were set up for a wide figure eight from last weekend I decided to send her around those for some more entertainment. Talk about provocative! She did these before during my PP clinic but this is the first time I've asked her on my lonesome. Being fair, but very particular with her is a big thing. I have to let her know what I'm asking, that I'm serious, and that a try is enough to satisfy me the first few times. Sun can be very intelligent and will seek to avoid, often to see if she can win and do less than what I'm asking. I got about a half dozen circles around each of the barrels, stopping in between each time to friendly. The last time she just about surprised me by walking over me! Not sure where that came from but she got the full arm waves and a knee in her chest before she backed up and stood for her friendly. I had not intended to knee her, but it was waving and she walked into it. I got a lick and chew out of that one. Actually she was very relaxed and ready to do stuff all morning long as long as Cayleigh wasn't calling for her. Neither of them are barn sweet, but the one that gets left behind, even with companionship, often calls up a storm.

Sunrise seemed to really enjoy doing the more difficult tasks, so the next time through I sent her, brought her back and in one motion sent her again around the other barrel. Well, that didn't work out so well as, since she likes being close to me, she tried to go between me and the barrel, I walked with her gentle driving zone two and three and gave her a broad smile when she went around the other side and I brought her home to friendly.

Unfortunately, this revealed a problem. Sunrise showed me that her right rear was hurting. It is an ongoing problem, as I purchased her knowing this. She has some calcification and it occasionally bothers her. The farrier is trying to get the foot to work better but the last time he was out she was sore for a day then back to normal. Off and on over the last little while she has been standing less on it, although is happy to gallop out to grass and otherwise use it. I'm going to suggest to the farrier to rethink what he did last week and see where we end up. I'm also considering, although money is tight, on getting the vet out to take a close look at it and a couple of x-rays just to capture what she looks like today so we have some idea what is happening if it gets worse. When she showed me her foot was sore I thanked her for her efforts and we went to eat some grass. It is hard to see anything wrong with her when you are leading her it is only at rest where she seems to show much sign of anything at all. Then again, my eyes are not as training to look for that sort of stuff. It feels like I need to immerse myself into an equine education program that includes more than just training like Parelli.

Sun stood like a champ, head curved to me while I took her halter off. If it wasn't for the biting flies she would have been perfect. Luckilly, I saw it land and got it before she had to do much!

She really is a hoot!

An Evening of Horsitude!

2010-06-29T21:49:00.000-04:00

Last night was a good night. Hot as all heck out but that's not stopping me. Cayleigh was up for some fun and games and she caught me in good style. Neither of them are coming to me like I'd hope so obviously I need to make things more fun. Something Cayleigh did tonight a few times was a shaking of her head, it is actually very pretty but I wonder if it is sign of something? She arches her neck with mouth almost to the chest then circles her mouth in a figure eight, tilting her head back and forth. Usually she does this standing still although I've seen her do this at the trot and standing still. My impression is that she is happy, interested, or excited but I just cannot tell for sure.

I brought her into the extra hot indoor ring because I had stashed a bunch of carrot adn cookies in the 2 barrels, 8 cones and in and around the rails and jump posts. I turned her loose and it was interesting. She kept to me as I walked around the ring so I decided to give her the trot hop and go, she broke off and sniffed at the wall as I looked silly trotting around the ring on my own.

I ended up at a barrel and sat down on it. For the next 10 minutes or so she wandered around sniffing something and coming to me for safety, then going out again for something else. A Union Jack stuck in the top of a cone did not even phase her as she went over for a taste and returned to me yet again. In the end I fed her a chunk of carrot and put the lead on again.

I started out with lots of friendly and got a lot of licking and chewing! Ya! It was nice to see that a relaxed friendly got the results I wanted while we were in the ring.We played with the Porcupine game and I concentrated on low phase one with quick release. That got her moving at some really gentle touches.Her forequarter yield became light as a feather. The really nice thing is that we were working together.

The same thing with her driving game, it started out good, but got better so that less stick waving was needed. Again, quick release of pressure was key to the refining of the lightness it seems. When trying to drive her at distances she likes to walk towards me and not in harmony as if I am leading her. It does require a lot of phase two to motivate her to walk with me and as soon as I relax my energy I tend to pull her towards me. Certainly a good thing except in this context! I told her she was a silly mare and tried it again back and forth between a cone and a barrel and another cone and the flag. She yields fine, and will step away either front or back feet as asked but won't keep her entire self away. Sideways game potential I thought but continued through the games as I learned what problems might lurk if I didn't.

YoYo was oddly heavy after what seemed like a good bit of communication and the fact she was good at it the last time. But there was no reason to be critical of her and she backed up and came forward pretty well at the higher phase. I didn't want to either bore her or be critical so I thought to leave it at that for now as I didn't see it as a problem just something to improve later.

On to the circling game and the send was pretty good with only a little stick needed, both directions were okay. Again, she wanted to be closer than father and she never did manage to make more than a three quarter circle unless I really drove her up to trot. When I relax she slows and eventually settles in just after she passes behind me to turn and come towards me. I'm not sure how to solve that problem yet but I'll give it a lick and chew.

Since I wasn't really happy with the circling game I decided to try something other than the sideways. Back when I was working with my PP at the end of the last day we tried to get our horses to Yoyo over a rail on the ground. Sunrise was very good at this and so I thought I'd apply those lessons to play with Cayleigh and see if I can get her a little more supple and put a purpose to the Yoyo. Since it wasn't about the rail I put her at the end of the lead on the other side of the rail and Yoyo'd her in relaxing as she approached the rail. I did this twice until she offered a step over the rail like it wasn't there. I relaxed and smiled at her and she stayed over the rail. The Yoyo back was good, in fact the lightest Yoyo of the evening. Again I brought her forward and she walked over the rail easily so I stopped her, and asked her for a back up.

Well, that just wasn't going to happen this time, no siree! So I changed it into a circle and stepped over to the other side of the rail when I stopped her. I left her there for a little while, then brought her forward, sending her back was almost the same result except this time I was going to be more particular. I went from finger wiggle to arm wave not accepting an avoid this time. She picked up her left rear foot and it tapped the rail. Immediate release! She licked and chewed it really hard. The next try came at phase 2. The next and a complete back up from phase one. A carrot was her reward and the end of the evening.

She's my doll. A silly mare and all but so very smart. I've been warned about Arabians repeatedly, but she has this horsitude that comes out when she truly decides to be my partner. I'm glad that I can offer her that partnership.

My Own Understanding is Flawed.

2010-06-25T20:44:00.000-04:00

Last night I again tried to play with Sunrise. Again, I tried to play with her and again another mixed bag of results. Perhaps I'm not finding the distinction between particular and critical, maybe I'm not reading her right. I am just not sure.
I do know that I'm learning some things as I practice the games. Sun's driving from the forequarter is a little better, but only as good as my waving of the stick. I'm finding it difficult to keep in mind what I've seen in the Lvl 1 DVD and so am still giving mixed signals. Sun will walk forward so I apply pressure to hold her back with the lead rope. It sometimes works but as she steps away I find myself lost as I try to keep up. I've always had trouble with physical skills. I am also finding the level one DVD to be not enough for me. I'm not a visual learner, I'm not sure which detail to focus on, and then when it comes to application I have trouble focusing on what I learnt visually. I'll do some searching for some reading on the Savvy Vault, something about being particular about what to expect but not critical I think.

I think my two big problems are that I don't know how to take a small step/reward the slightest try and I send confusing signals.

I did do what I said I was going to do and went through each game making sure each was working okay before moving on. I do not want to bore Sun as she starts to fidget. Unfortunately, this fidgeting starts during the friendly game if I don't move on quickly. Which means that I never really get a good lick or chew at the friendly game, she never really seems to relax. I am pretty sure she is one of the toughest horsenalities to work with but I am having difficultly understanding what to do with her to keep her interested . I'm not really interested in buying more DVDs at this point as to spend time watching them means less practice with my girls!

In the end, I think Sunrise is trying and I'm failing to lead. My understanding of what she needs is flawed. This can make her angry and I have to interrupt her and make that thing difficult. I am keeping this in mind, but am not dwelling or feeling bad about it. It is just a fact that I have to change, no more. I do not want her to loose her fun in play though! I have not seen a whole lot of her play drive but she likes to be naughty and I'm happy to have her play. She is getting better about the send in the circle game, not pushing into the send as much as she was. I have been more particular about that, more quickly going to phase four and trying really hard to drop to a good happy neutral (And if anyone can explain what they do for that, I'd love to see it!) so that she understands that the right thing is easy.

I did get all seven games in one session tonight without too many issues. It was nice to see a few steps sideways and three or four really good squeezes in both directions. I tried some point to point but got confused and confused Sun. I did a little friendly to end showing her I won't get angry at her, just firm.

On an interesting note, a family at the barn decided to share the riding ring with me to warm up and check out their horses. Oddly enough, Sunrise was better with them in the ring then out. I assume that it has to do with my lack of leadership and her comfort with other horses.

A Quickie with Feeling!

2010-06-24T08:07:00.000-04:00

Monday's session went so well I wanted to rush right back out and do more! As usual life intervened and I ended up stuck in traffic in a city not far away. I did manage to make it out last night however for a little undemanding time and to pass around some apples.

Overall the feeling was good amongst the herd. Everyone came up to see me at the gate as I waited there. At a walk with no nickering or calling to me but it is much better than it was two weeks ago. From what I'm learning about Sunrise that was almost as good as a full gallop to me to say "Hi!" as she seems a little... ummm... how to put this.... lazy. Her emotions are seldom up, and when they are it is most often a dominance issue, new things she often takes in stride. Nothing seems worth the energy for her. I think the program will help with that, and help me tailor my requests to her need for interest and motivation.

My session with Sunrise has stuck with her and she gave a gentle forequarter yield when everyone started to get a little crowded. It is interesting to note that one of her traits is that as she gains confidence in my she becomes more mouthy. It is something I will have to watch and direct. Another interesting thing, or so it seems at the moment, the more confidant she is, the less dominance she shows to me.

All part of becoming the benevolent leader, I suppose!

Although I never seem to have enough time to do everything I want, I love having extra challenges, like over at Michelle's Blog, that I can throw into our play just because the thought occurs. That particular link is about the friendly game that Pat shows on his level one DVD. Pretty simple really, run your hands along the bottom and top line of your horse as much as you can while keeping one hand on the whithers. I'm happy to report that it was a great success for me tonight. Even Cayleigh who, being Arabian has a little bit of a dislike of having her ears touched, was completely unfazed. Ears went down as my hand went over them and popped right back up, no pinning, no shake of the head, not even a twitched lip!

Progress is measured in small steps. Expect big, Accept small, and reward for the slightest try.

I wish I had more time for my girls but at this point, to keep my life balanced, I cannot spend as much time as I like. I don't want to be the guy arriving home from work, grabbing two slices of bread, not bothering to butter them because there is not enough time, and running out the door leaving my wife to her own devices.It is not a way to live at all. When I have my own place I will not have a 21:00 curfew at the barn to deal with anymore.

Sunrise, darkest before the dawn?

2010-06-22T21:07:00.000-04:00

I have been having trouble with my first Parelli horse. I am also her first Parelli human. I've always suspected that she would teach me a lot of good stuff but as you have been reading recently, it has been frustrating me to no end to play with her. The problem is that she is smarter than me and tends to the dominant side.

It was with trepidation, but also with love, that I headed out to the barn. I know she needs me, to play, to give her more of a life than being a pasture ornament. As smart as she is, she must go bonkers when she has nothing lick and chew about. Tonight they were out in the side pasture which means that we were farther away from our usual play spot. Never the less Sunrise behaviour was good and she does not normally fuss unless someone else is stirring up something. Tonight was no exception although for the first two thirds of out play session she was not focused on me and was looking around the end of the barn. Oh the way out to the ring we tried leading at the trot and I got a whole lot of whoa, so much that she ended up stopping with me pulling on her head. A bad situation as she has always trotted for me since day one. The promise of the program is looking shaky but I'm forever an optimist and that first day showed me that we can really do all this stuff, I just need to get it right!

We started with a little driving game, hindquarter yields are still good. Then I quickly moved on to the circling game to see what we could do about improving that. Well, we got stuck in the same problem as usual. Meh, more fighting, rope wiggling, etc, etc. She stops every quarter on the circle and doesn't like to be resent. Shaking of the head, pawing of the ground, lots of "You're not my leader bub!" She does not have a lot of impulsion and almost everything was done at the walk. Early on, since her driving game is often good, I moved to a sideways along the fence, she will pretty comfortable rest her nose on the fence for me after a half circle.Her hind end was closer to me so direct energy there, then the front waving my stick at her shoulder, again at the back as the shoulder moves, dance dance dance and we have three steps of sideways, very pretty and when I dropped my energy she ended up facing me. I gave her time to think about that and a little lick and chew later she also got a chunk of carrot when I YoYo'ed her in. I tried the other direction with me on her right side and that was a struggle again and unsuccessful so I moved out into the centre of the ring and figured we would go back to working on our circling. Well, that is when it got really dark. Her YoYo out was completely gone. Avoid to the right, avoid to the left, rear.

I kept my cool and decided to force the issue, increasing to a phase four driving game at the length of the 12' line and marching her back, straight, without compromise. When I stopped and relaxed, showing her that I was not angry, just dominate she gave a good lick and chew. As a matter of fact, the rest of the session which only lasted another 20 minutes, there was plenty of licking and chewing. It was almost as easy as working with Cayleigh!

During that time we got lovely forequater yields and hindquarter yields. Well, I was often out of place but Sun was great listening to me but not being forced. A perfect circle to the right with willing movement at the walk, two full circles without a stop and a great disengagement and walk up to me. A chunk of carrot was the reward. It was so good that I decided to call it quits as I was extremely pleased with her.

We stood there her nose at my chest as it often is and she decided to chew on the end of the carrot stick. I had a funny notion so slipped about six inches of it into her mouth and gave it to her to play with. I stepped back a few paces with a smile on my face and I swear she swung it a few times getting used to it so she could drive me! It was so funny that I laughed out loud. I started off to leave the ring and give her some grazing time but something twigged in me and it seemed she wanted to do something more. We tried walking in harmony, with my stick resting on her withers, first on her left where she was perfect, a hindquarter yield around, and start back on the other side. I managed to get a slow trot from her and finally relaxed and waited to see what she'd do. It was more licking and chewing, how interesting!

Oh, and remember the leading? She leads quietly and quickly at walk and trot without having to pull. The rope just over the arm. I made two passes the length of the barn. Isn't that interesting too.

Successes: Three steps of sideways, a really good circling game in one direction, a wonderful harmony the length of the ring and back again on the other side.
Failures: Not being progressive enough, expecting enough, slow to correct problems.
Learned :Laughter, persistence, progressive. Start at the first game and work up, fixing issues as they arise.

A little work, a lot of improvement.

2010-06-20T12:26:00.000-04:00

Today I headed out to the barn with a carrot in each pocket, thinking that'd I just spend a few minutes. I have been travelling for a few days so haven't been out to the barn since Tuesday, 4 days ago. Everyone was inside with fans a blowing as we have had thunderstorms all afternoon and the owner of the barn keeps the horses inside. Both looked kinda bored so I thought I'd spend the time before the barn closed to give them a groom and pick out their feet and walk them around a little.

I've been working on ground tying both of my girls. Sunrise is pretty good about it but Cayleigh is always a handful. The more relaxed she is the more she moves around. Today, without any particular training, just a better relationship, they both let me pick up feet, and brush them all over without stepping away. It was almost a surprise to me, although I expected a lot, they gave me more.

Sometimes, things are working even when you do not even realize. I was surprised by how happy to wait for me they were as I got things ready. Cayleigh has always had a few issues with picking up her feet, nothing dangerous, she is just figity and will move around.

Both stood like champs and as if they had been doing it all their lives. Hopefully no more cross-ties for me any more!

PeterC

Cayleigh's not so sleepy eye!

2010-06-15T11:30:00.000-04:00

Last night I let Cayleigh catch me again. I usually have to come out to about 15 feet away in the pasture to have enough draw but Cayleigh now regularly peels out of the herd to come see me at that distance and sticks with me nicely. She will graze towards me after saying hi, and generally follows me around the pasture to graze where I am.

She asked if that was a carrot in my pocket and I hate to admit that it was. As a reward for when she was being particularly pleasant or thoughtful she got a bite of the carrot. She didn't get a bite of carrot when she went for the pocket. She is smart and caught on to the game. She has a little trouble with me standing at her shoulder and facing forward with her. She doesn't react right away so I have 10-15 seconds to scratch her. It is something I'm going to have to practice and watch but mostly I think she wanted to be with me. She'd turn her head towards me to nuzzle and the rest of her would go away. Each time I would step forward so she would have to come a few paces to me to get her head back where she liked it. Then I'd pause when she came along side me, and step back a few paces to be at her shoulder again. The halter eventually went around her neck and her nose curved to me for the halter to be put on. I am definitely getting better with positioning the halter and tieing it up.

The time spent playing the catching game taught me that Cayleigh likes to move, in small measured movements, but move she does.

As I get more in tune with her I see she can hardly hold her feet still unless I'm a large presence near her. We went into the barn to practice her staying power and I managed to hide around a corner for a few seconds with her ground tied in the aisle. Then she couldn't stand it and came towards where she saw me go. Each time she moved I took her the long way round to get her back in the same spot. Hopefully that'll be enough extra work for her to associate moving when ground tied with more effort than it is worth. Throughout all of this she was as calm as can be. Not bad for an Arab that I keep getting warned is going to be so hot blooded. She has obviously been well loved and trained before I met her.

Out to the front arena we go with a nice white fence and a few obstacles that we didn't use tonight. Cayleigh is obviously attached to Sunrise and her threshold is somewhere about the distance that the front arena is from the pasture. I've been playing with this and was happy to see that, since no one called to her, she did not call for them. She did have moments of staring and looking for other horses but for the most part it was understandable and a definite improvement over the way Sunrise acts and the constant calling Cayleigh does when I take Sun away.

Overall, Cayleigh was alert and playful.

We did some friendly game and she is getting a little better about letting me onto her right side. I am also noticing that I'm a little more effective in using the CS to support my requests. Boy is this a lot of thinking and work so, since I'm starting to get effective in that area, I guess I've started to graduated to Consciously Competent in moving around her space. In this case I used a driving game when she went to block me. I had just switched hands and waved the carrot stick from the far side with my arm under her neck. Once she gave to pressure I went completely relaxed and did not try to continue to her other side. When she saw this she gentle snuffled my arm and turned her head so that I was on the other side! Score one for release! I've been passively persistant about moving to her other side and this was the first real try that I saw to reward and it worked! Once on the other side her friendly is good there too. She is slowly loosing the little bit of fear regarding having the lead rope around her in zone five.

She was relaxed with me and what I was doing but the friendly did not ease her worries about the other horses. It did seem to start boring her.I wanted to get her feet moving with the realizeation that I had from before that perhaps her previous training has prevented her from moving her feet when she really wants to. If I can get her to move her feet when I want to, but also when I see she needs to, we will have some partnership going.

I went through the other games, with okay porcupines, better with the hand than the CS. She really likes knocking the stick off her chest at phase one with her mouth. I realized later that I unconsciously avoided the forequarter yields with her, although she is good with them as long as I am slow. I did some hindquarter yields and all was good even though it was often a phase three going into four. This is an improvement and I wasn't going to harp on it tonight with her mood. With driving I got a good responsive result in the phase 1-2 range in everything I tried but again I did not move her forequarters.

The YoYo was another story, she has been introduced to it but has issues with me. I now expect her to go out to the end of the rope, but will accept two or three steps then repeat to get her there if it is required. It was heavy phase 4 two or three times then she wouldn't stay away from me so more rope wiggling to make the wrong thing hard. She almost always takes a step towards me when she is like this, even a half step. If she does take that step I know she does not get it or is perhaps chooses to challenge me. I made a mistake at this point and moved on to the next game. I think now I realize that what she was telling me was that I had taken her dignity away, she backed up because my phase four was strong. Throughout the night I had been trying to give her long phase one and fairly rapid phase 2, 3, 4. Stopping at whichever phase got the response, and sometimes dropping back to phase one if the response was really good. On to the circling game!

The circling game was exciting! Asking her to go with a long phase one, a pick up stick, a tap the ground in zone 2-3 and finally a light tap in zone two just in front of the drive line for phase four. Whoosh, she was off at a canter, a little heavy on the line but not horrible, so I let that go for four laps and then her hindquarter disengage was excellent and she came right up to me, breathing hard, snorting a little but not seeming afraid? A little porcupine and driving back out, a pause and try a circle to the left. She wanted to come right through me at a canter in phase one. I never let her get closer to me than about 6 feet as my phases went up and I directed that energy down the rope but you should have see the beautiful side pass she was doing with me as the fulcrum. A good ten paces at the trot! Finally she turned away from me and went for a canter in the circle. The instant she turned away, and I think I timed it perfectly, she got completely neutral from me. I could feel her surprise come up the rope or something at that instant. She cantered around me another four times and again a perfect disengagement of the hindquarters and right up to me for a quick pet of the nose. We stood there with her breathing hard and me being relaxed for a while. I could wish she walked but hey, she's out on the circle, maintaining a pace. I'll take her try and work on refining it later, right?!? Again, twice in each direction, this time using the YoYo to back her off. Each time the YoYo brought her emotions up and each time a trot or canter and some head tossing to start off with.

I returned to the YoYo thinking that this isn't right, my YoYo should not be so exciting for her! I worked with her paying attention to my own posture, a lot bigger, hands on hips and a stupid scrunched up look on my face. Oh how I hate that look! Phase one a long time, phase two slightly shorter then a quick 3, 4. I backed her up 8 times, once using a phase 3 and 4 times at phase one never having to go to phase 4. She was backing up with ease and mostly straight! Apparently, I was confusing her the first time, stuttering, so to speak. This lightness was a good place to end the session and it was starting to get on to 9pm and the barn curfew.

We then enjoyed some grazing near the other horses but apart from them. Returning her to the pasture has become easier as I protect her space more and take the time it takes. She has always been very good for removing her halter but the other horses do not respect the space I need to do it safely. The CS takes care of that with a few light taps on the ground. Cayleigh is un-phased by that so waits patiently while I clear her baffles, so to speak. I even used a bit of the driving game to get her through the gate easily and at a fast walk, just what I wanted of her.

The one thing I didn't do tonight was the harmony challenge, but that's okay, next time is a charm.

A good night that left me with great feelings. I hope that Cayleigh feels the same way, and I suspect she does as she stood with me at her shoulder when I took her halter off. I had to leave first, but not after a good scratch of her neck and face.

Successes: YoYo game is getting light! (Strangely, Sun's YoYo is also the lightest)
Failures: Not getting the YoYo right when I saw something wrong with it.
Things learned: Cayleigh can be willful and also light to the touch. I expect things from her but I have to be careful with the attitude of justice. Communication is key, even when I've thought that we are beyond the teaching phase and doing a little refinement. Don't ignore a game your having a problem with, they are building blocks. Cayleigh likes to move and I should use that more.

A lazy weekend.

2010-06-14T10:34:00.001-04:00

Well, not a whole lot got done this weekend as it was quite a lazy weekend.

I visited with my mares twice for about an hour a peice and just spent time feeding apples or watching them graze. Cayleigh is really starting to stick with me even if the herd gallops off. It is only when they got around a corner and completely out of sight did she decide she needed to see what was going on. It is very pleasant to have the feeling that she wants more to be with me than the other horses and for now only leaves me for safety. Soon, I hope, she will feel safer with me. Sunrise is less attached to me than she has been before and I'm curious as to why. We have had our little trials together during training and I think she does not like having me be dominant. I try not to correct her but I do stick to my four phases and make the unwanted thing difficult. She is coming to terms with that.

The weather has been a mixed bag of cool and wet or warm and humid. Good for working with horses but, unfortunately, also good for chopping down trees and other yard work.

On Sunday, unbeknownst to me, my girls were turned out to new pasture that has not been touched yet this year. I was surprised to find them in the lushest, green fields with much of the tall grass coming up to my chest. They have been on mostly grass since mid-march so I'm not too worried about colic. It was enjoyable to watch horses being horses in such a lovely setting. There is about three acres of mud free pasture for them to romp around in now and they are appreciating it quite a bit.

I do think that our relationship would be better served if I could keep them myself rather than relying on barn staff who have goals and desires different from my own. They have a job to do while I have a relationship to build. I will have to think about that some more.

Goals - Long Term

2010-06-12T12:47:00.000-04:00

The white chalk horse in Uffingtion. As the song says,

We'll run the course from Stonehenge up to Uffington
On a white chalk horse we'll ride
No fear have I of Faerie, sprite or mortal man
If you are by my side

to ride from Stonehenge, across the Salisbury plain and up north.

The world is a wondrous place.

A dreary day!

2010-06-11T12:00:00.000-04:00

Since the last time I posted about working with my girls it has been two days. The first of those two days was spent doing undemanding things (UDT) with all three of my girls as my wife and I were returning from shopping and decided to stop in for 45 minutes of scratching and generally making kissy faces.
Last night, I worked with Sunrise. She was unsettled and overall felt uncooperative. I think I spent about 90% of the hour and a half I spent with her doing the friendly game and looking for a place where we could stop for the night on a success. Her porcupine is getting less responsive as I ask more from her, although the driving game is improving with a full circle both on forehand and hind quarters on both sides. There was only minor head raising and then only on the start. She calmed down when I went back to phase one.
I also got one of the most perfect cirleing games to the right she has ever given me! Her emotions were up and she did it at a trot with a bumpy ending, but four circles and an almost instant disengagement of the hind quarters is something I was proud of. I should have ended it there with some friendly game. I was unsuccessful in my communication for the rest of the night.
Part of the problem for most of the night was that Cayleigh was being an outright pig about being separated from Sun and got the other horse in her pasture to join in. I wanted to work either in the front sand ring or the arena because I needed a wall to get to the last few games. I choose the arena, and their paddock is along the long side about 10 feet away. Whist on the inside of the arena you cannot see outside, you can certainly hear the pounding of hooves galloping back and forth, and the whinnies of a horse who wants to see her friend. Sunrise was perfectly content to be with me until that non-sense started up. It was also interesting to see that the outside commotion only started when I raise and lowered the door to the arena, before that I had sun inside several times to fill the spray bottle with water while I worked with her on getting sprayed.
The other problem was with my attracting Sun's attention. The grass was ever so green and her head was down eating as often as she could get it. I'm not certain if I need to correct this every time. Any PNH got suggestions? A quick wiggle of the lead would get her head up and focused on me but I'm not sure if that was the thing to do.
Successes for the night: While neither horse was excited to see me, both stood without moving away while I brought the halter and Carrot Stick (CS) to them. I can now spray the bottle with my arm under and over Sun's neck from either side and over her whithers from the left side. Defended Sunrise's space when returning her to the paddock. It started getting her excited when I was swinging that CS and savvy string but I think it improved our relationship when, I think, she realized I was being a leader and defending her space.
Failures that night: Still cannot get a dribble on sun from the spray bottle or it is game over. Sun is still all over the map and I suspect it has to do with my confidence and ability as a leader.
Learned that night: Not really sure I learned much but have lots of unresolved questions. I guess I'm consciously incompetent.

Playing on the Other Side of the Barn

2010-06-10T14:39:00.000-04:00

Once I was caught, I decided to try something new and it was very informative. We have a second sand ring, not quite as in good state as the one I have been using but it has the distinct advantage of having fences and toys (some jumps) in it.
I played some porcupine and driving game with Cayleigh and she responded well to each as long as I was able to hold her attention. She occasionally got to looking at the herd and so more friendly game was called for I think.
What is amazing to me is just how quickly Cayleigh has become sensative to the games. If I stand at her shoulder and just lightly brush a fingertip on her chest she will step back for me. It is getting her into a happy place where she is focused on me that needs the work. Sure, she isn't perfect at the games, that's mostly because I'm not asking perfectly yet, right? I'm going to have to think on how to give her the confidance she needs to focus on nothing but me. That means, at a start, I have to really learn how to be a leader!
What I did learn is, when she is anchious, her right side is a virtual nomans land. She will stand so that her left eye is on me, work well off the left side, even be slightly playful on the left side. On her right she is stiff, definately not playful, and wants to get that left eye on me again. Gentle passive persistance should be the key to fixing this up, let her take some of my confidance in her and keep it inside herself. At least I hope so!
We also played some of the harmony game from the level 1 DVD. The first time I did this I was able to go up the middle of the ring the long way and back, on both sides with only one or two taps of the carrot stick and a block or two up front to get her to go straight rather than walk on me. Tonight, the left side required some giddy-up but she did well without needing to have her front end driving away. With me on her right she was definately not in a happy place. Lots of gifddy-up tapping, lots of blocking, and eventually a blow up as we rounded a corner of the ring. While blowing up was not what I was aiming for I am proud of myself for how I reacted. I simply steped into what Pat calls the power position, told her to hide the hinney, got her spun around, continued to walk, played a ten seconds of friendly with the stick across her withers and continued on with the harmony on her left side again. No high emotions, no fear (that's a big one for me recently), the situation under control and back to what I wanted. She licked and chewed on that while we were walking along.
It was starting to get dark and I felt she had pretty much learned as much as she was going to that day. I turned her around using the driving game and walked her back to the gate in harmony from the right side. Once we got about a quarter of the way along the ring with her getting less excited I thanked her and took her out to eat some grass before returning her to her pasture.
This session gave both of us a lot to lick and chew. One thing I noticed, after reading Emma Kline's post about it, that some of Cayleigh's licks and chews were only half hearted. I played more friendly when I saw this and she finally blew and let me know she was comfortable. That's something to keep in mind for me.
Oh, and about catching me in the pasture. After releasing Cayleigh into the pasture I got their apple, in part because I was so pleased with Cayleigh, although in truth they always get some little treat from me. I entered their pasture and no one moved much, they were gathered in a line along the electric fence facing every which way. I walked up the fence, took a chunk of apple and as I passed Sunrise I "shoved" it into her mouth as I walked past her. She was greatful but the surprised look on her face that I'd just walk right on by her made me laugh. That got her interest up and she watched me without following as I ended up in front of Cayleigh. Actually I had to stop walking as Cayleigh started towards me from about ten paces out. I had hoped that she would. I don't think it was the apple as they usually do not come to me just because of an apple. She, my special student of the night, got most of the apple; chunk by chunk, snuffling and whuffling on me as I fed it to her. Sunrise finally came up and got to lick the juice off my hand because Cayleigh got the larger portion of the apple tonight. The other horses knew there was an apple by that point but only circled at a bit of a distance as I did not invite them in. All in all, a good day for me and, I think, for Cayleigh.
PeterC

Horseman's Handshake.

2010-06-09T14:38:00.000-04:00

Well, now that they have some new pasture mates I'm willing to take my girls a little further afield. In general they trust me enough to go where I go unless their herd partner makes a fuss. Trust me, much less fuss is made now that I'm not leaving anyone alone.
Tonight I took Cayleigh to the other side of the barn where the sand ring has a nice fence and a few small jumps are set up. But that is a story for my next blog entry; I have something much more interesting for this one.
A strange thing happened last night, a first for myself and these girls. My lovelies came up to me like usual when I went out to get them. As you'd expect with new horses in the herd there is still a little settling to do. I had to fend off a gelding, friendly enough to me, but definitely telling my girls to get away from me. I, in turn, told him to stay away from me and my girls. While he did turn away and go off strangely so did my girls. I know all my energy was directed away from them as I had my back to them and was pointing at the gelding in question. The really interesting bit came when I got close and tried to halter Cayleigh. Both Sun and Cayleigh would not let me nearer than two paces to them. "Huh, Interesting" I said and walked passed them to wait it out as if that had been my idea all along.
The four horses grouped together in the corner and huddled, discussing me I'm sure. So I just moved with the herd, with the same energy they showed, somewhat in front and with my back to them. In other words, trying really hard to let them catch me. Barn chores went on as usual and eventually someone passed the paddock and Sun and the two newcomers went off to say "Hi!" and stand in the shade. I wish I could have seen the grin on my face because I knew I was about to be caught. I moved about ten paces towards the other horses then stopped again. Cayleigh, walking behind me, walked right up to me and snuffled my back. I gave her time to have a good sniff and slowly turned around to give her the horseman's handshake.
After that it was a matter of, ever so slowly, moving into her space and playing friendly game with her. Rubbing her neck and giving her a good scratch at the whithers. It took a little while, maybe another five minutes to be able to stand at her shoulder facing forward without her backing up.
When I picked up and adjusted the halter she lowered her head and turned it towards me enough so I could loop the halter around her neck easily. A little bit of pressure and she tried to put her head into the halter herself. Again she caught me! I'm getting better at fumbling around the halter and got it nicely positioned in short order. Maybe one day I'll "do the simple things right" and the rest will follow.
The play session that followed was very informative.....
PeterC

A New Development

2010-06-08T14:37:00.000-04:00

My efforts with Cayleigh have been rewarded by improvements with Sunrise. Sunrise and I have started moving along nicely although circling is still a problem.
The latest situation occurred during an otherwise productive play session. Sunrise is a LBE with some RBE tendencies and fairly weak E although she does prefer to move more then stand.
We are getting better at the first four games, particularly the porcupine game where my phase one most often does the trick. Sunrise is fairly touchy about the string or lead if I ever have to use it at phase four so I often have to play the friendly game extensively before, during and after to make sure she can stand when I'm not asking her to do something. Yo-yo is consistently phase one, with no other pressure.
So, the problem becomes my expectations of her and my efforts to make the wrong things hard and the right things easy. When I yo-yo her out she will stand there well. At least, until I try the circle game, I still use an exaggerated phase one(as Pat describes on the level 1 DVD)and I'll wait on her. Fairly quickly, and almost invariably she will circle in the wrong direction. It doesn't matter which way I send her. I think it is a dominance thing. I am not fast enough with my phase 2-4 and do not catch her when she just leans in the wrong direction even though I'm watching for it. This problem actually started for me when I was working with Ron Pyne(3*) on my first day of Parelli. His suggestion, using a phase 2-3 stick wave in zone one until she turns around(maybe I should pull zone one closer?) doesn't do anything except have me watch her go around. It did work for me that day when I was inside as I also used the wall for support. If I use a quick, medium strong phase four on the ground in zone 2 before she gets her head completely the wrong way I can usually get her around the right way.
Last night something happened that I've not encountered before, pinned ears. She did not like going that way even though at the phase four she did change direction. She was much more likely to be slow and stop, as well. I want to be that benevolent leader that Pat talks about but it often seems to me that at every turn she is looking to dominate in new and interesting ways. Crowding has been a particular favorite and has slowly gone away after a few incidents and then my passive persistance.
One thing Ron did tell me was that I was not being progressive enough with Sun and I can see that it may be that I have to change some stuff up. I can start doing that now as we have another horse in the pasture and that will let me take Sun away for a while to where I have a fence or even inside with all the toys. I'm not sure that will be enough, if she is just uninterested and so is trying to make things interesting for herself.
It is funny. I always seem to write up my own answers when I make a blog post. Obvious answers at that! You guys have been reading my trials, what do you think? Is there something else to look at here?
Peter

Fly Spray Problems

2010-06-02T14:36:00.001-04:00

In general, when I was out in Alberta, I did not have to worry about constant fly spraying or masks. So when I noted that Sunrise was a little tense when spraying some show sheen on her I put it on the back burner as a grooming thing to work on when our relationship was better.

As it turns out better feed has done a lot to make the girls look slick all by their lonesome, and as you can guess by the title, the issue has come back with a vengeance since fly spray and masks are needed for their comfort now.

A few days ago I arrived early helped the barn staff put my girls out for the evening. The masks were no problem as I took it slow when I first introduced it and I think they appreciate the lack of bugs nipping at their ears! The stable hand in question decided they needed fly spray and in an effort to speed through all her chores flew the door open, “ran” into the stall, flew the door closed and proceeded to get to spraying never once thinking about Sunrise or even noticing her head was up a little before the spray bottle went off. No halter, no nothing so what does my girl do, spin around on the spot in the back corner trying to avoid and I’m sure getting ready to kick after a few warnings. I gently pointed out that Sun can get a little excited about spray bottles (never a reaction like that if you take it slow) and that she should take it slow. Unfortunately, the reason she was speeding through her chores was her children were all over the place “helping” and she had some sort of meeting to get too. Her ears were closed. In the end she sprayed her hands and got Sun into a corner and rubbed the spray over her neck, still unseeing of how high Sun had raised her head.
I worked with sun that day and using basic approach and retreat I could spray as hard as I wanted to the side of her while her nose was on the bottle. A pretty good response which I hoped would translate into better performance for the stable hand.
Well, every moment with a horse is a training moment and unfortunately I did not see Sunrise for a few days, and on those days I did I had no time to do anything more than some friendly and undemanding time. I’m sure the stable hand did not slow down and as a result Sun is getting more fearful of the fly spray. Luckily, the application is only every 2-3 days as needed for this stuff. I had a note to me in the barn log from the owner about Sun and that I should work with her on fly spray. The barn owner is the one who first showed me Parelli by the way. It was a fair comment I’m sure, and I got the water bottle out and again got Sun to a state of touching the bottle while spraying. The next step is to actually get close to her with the spray and I’ll need some suggestions on that as she is pretty good with it until the spray actually lands on her.
The barn owner was doing some riding in the sand arena next to where I was working with Sun and that was a plus for me. She could see that Sun was not dangerous. The barn owner had a smile on her face when she rode over to where I was working and we had a conversation all the while the spray bottle going “swishhhhhh, swissshhh” as I used this time to let Sun eat a patch of grass and get used to the bottle. It turns out that she had put the note into the log herself as she had to turn Sun out the day before and had noticed that Sun was a little flighty. She did not have the big reaction that Sun gives the stable hand now. We discussed this a big and I made the motions that I had observed the stable hand making towards Sun. It was interesting that her “like a rock” horse lifted his head at each jerk towards him with her on his back that I made. I did it unintentionally but I think she noticed this. I asked her to get her stable hand to stop trying to apply fly spray to Sunrise as she was being much too direct about it.
What did I learn today? To attempt to be more forceful with people, how well approach and retreat works. I also learned that even though she attended the same clinic I did and lives pretty much next door to her horse that the stable hand in question has a lot of previous horse experience to overcome before being able to embrace the program.
My failures include not sticking up for Sun and not putting more effort to be at the barn for both my horses.
My successes were the removal of the fly spray irritant from Sunrise and the stable hand, my logical discussion with the stable owner and, of course, Sunrise herself getting her nose on that bottle. It was completely her idea although I set her up for it by offering it after a great deal of approach and retreat.

Hmmm, Interesting!

2010-05-30T14:35:00.001-04:00

Well, as you know from following this blog I've had some success, some failures, but most importantly I got stuck with Sunrise. Well, last post I mentioned that I unstuck myself by taking into training my second equine companion Cayleigh.
Sunrise is green and I am green and we all know what colours that makes. Cayleigh, and I have video evidence to prove it, will put up with a whole lot from saddle back, so I figured she had a fairly good training on the ground as well.
It is true, and on my own I've brought her through the first 4 games on the new level one DVD and the "You try it" too. What I knew about her from the start is that on her right side she has a few "I'm not so sure about this" things that I suspect are due how her injury happened. She is sensitive and can be very wilful. She knows what she wants but is generally not a dominant horse.
What I learned today in the third hour of her training time: (Yes, I know that is far too little in a few weeks and I'm changing that) She is really sensitive and will often respond to level one, or even the set-up for level one. I need to refine my cues to her pronto. She is happy to back up with the porcupine but is insulted during the driving game while backing up. I have to make an effort to maintain her dignity and I need to figure out a way for that.
It is possible she did not understand what I wanted of her even though I was pressuring zones 1 and 2 from the front.
The "try it" where you put the rope on the far side of the horse and around zone 5 and gently put pressure on the horse to turn around is where I learned the most. Successful first time, if slow, from the left side and having her turn to her right. The other side was by far more interesting. She is find with throwing the rope or the Savvy string anywhere on her now from either side, so I expected her other side to work like a charm. With me on her right, my left hand on her wither, I put the rope over her head as I've done many times before. I hold onto the halter with my right and throw the rope gentle out over he haunches to let is slip behind her. Did not like that at all. Backed up and tried to avoid. I held her head with my right hand and removed the rope, I even though "Huh, isn't that interesting!" So Linda would be proud. Anyhow, I tried to isolate what the problem was. On the other side I rubbed the rope and hung it along her side. Nope, not that, On her right side again I kept the rope on this side of her neck but threw the rope all over. Nope, nothing, just like all the other times. Hmmmm... okay, so I put the lead rope over her head and threw the end of it everywhere, again with my hand on her withers. Not even a twitch!!! What the heck? So I do the "try it" again. Sure enough, something about the rope going around her is what is scary. Okay, some approach and retreat, rope goes down a little, comes back. If she doesn't move, repeat with more emphasis. Well, I probably went a little fast, not sure why as I literally had all day. In the end, she did a lovely, if somewhat reactive, pirouette around to her left. The beauty and happiest part for me was how eager she was when I continued on by YoYoing her to me for a pet of the nose.
She taught me to more closely watch out for a horses dignity today and that you don't have to finish something right away. What is the phrase my PP used, "Break apart and recombine"? Anyways, I did five or six of those to the right and rewarded her for her one time to the left with some UDT and lush grass from the other side of the fence.

Cayleigh is very much a different horse than Sunrise. Sunrise is dominant, and has only some respect for personal space and that was hard taught. Sun is probably too much horse to learn on for me but we'll keep slugging at it as she has lots to teach me as well. Cayleigh is a great horse. I am so happy I decided to expand my efforts to her. I am also really happy that the big sucker light lit on my forhead when I was buying Sunrise. I couldn't see Cayleigh going to meat she is too much of great horse.

A long time and a change in strategy

2010-05-20T14:34:00.000-04:00

I've been away from my girls for the longest time since I've known them, four days. The horror! Needless to say that I was pleased when Sunrise started moving as soon as she saw me and Cayleigh came from the other side of the pasture once I got to the gate, albeit at her normally sedate pace.
I've decided, against the Internet advice of pretty much everyone, to work Parelli with both my horses even though I am just learning. I do not want to have just Sunrise being the one worked with as I think that Cayleigh's neglect is starting to be acted out. In other words, she's bored, and okay so it's not neglect when she gets as many scritches as she wants but...
It just seems the more natural way to do things and I've bought into that program pretty well now.
Unfortunately, Sunrise still often forgets her manners when it comes to me working with Cayleigh. Getting Cayleigh's halter on can be some work out in the pasture because Sunrise does not want it to happen. In any event I had to drive both the girls out of my space, established with the barn owner as twenty feet around the gate, with the carrot stick in order to separate them enough so she is not after Cayleigh ever time I turn my back on her. Once the halter was on, Sunrise was right at Cayleigh's butt and I had to slap the ground in zone one pretty hard to get the message across that Cayleigh is under my protection. Once established that was good enough and Sunrise was on her best behaviour standing in her "I'm waiting for you" spot by the waterer. It seems that Sunrise will continue to test me in all things. I still love her.
The girls are still alone together in their pasture, we are waiting on the results of the fecal egg count to ensure the wormer is working, so I brought Cayleigh to the sand ring beside their pasture. The owner tells me both girls love to prance for her two dressage guys and can put on quite a show. I wish I could see it! Back to Cayleigh, I have done a few very minor things with her in the Arena but she is very distracted inside and expected more of the same outside.
It was wonderful. The basics of the friendly game and helicopter over her head at high speed after a little bit of retreat, throwing the rope over her neck and haunches, pretty much the full friendly stuff from the level one DVD. A few little twitches and then a lot of sighs and a few chews. My own practice with the lead over the arm is also improving and seems to work well with her.
The porcupine game went as well with a few caveats. I have to learn to reward the slightest try! I was lucky last night that I saw a few of her tries and rewarded them with some rest. As long as I can do that she is lightening sharp when she is relaxed and I'm interesting. Her hindquarter yield with me on the left side built up beautifully. Her forequarter yield is there although she enjoys avoiding it with a little shake of the head and keeps me on my toes.I can get two steps from her now both back and front so I felt that was very good of her for the first play date. When I'm on her right side, as it has always been for her, is much more interesting. On the forequarter I can now get a step but ears are not forward. Her right hind leg is an interesting one. I suspect that somehow, something on the right was the cause of her sweeny shoulder on the left. Each time I started to ask for a hindquarter yield she would try to step forward and turn her hindquarters to me in threat. Holding the lead rope as per the program prevents this and she did eventually shift and step. Each time trying to bring that foot in line with me first. The second last time I asked her she stepped over and then picked up her right hind as if shaking it at me. "Huh, how interesting!" The farrier has noted that that foot is also one to watch when cocked and it is also the foot that has managed to give me a love tap. It certainly was not at full power but a targeted hit for sure.
It is interesting the only other time I tried playing the porcupine game with her was a complete failure. I now understand that she was not focused on me and actually quite concerned about not being with her barn mate. Every seen a Carrot stick bent in half and not movement for a good few minutes? That was me so in the relaxed atmosphere of the outdoors she was golden.
Once she completed a few steps for each that I was happy with I moved on to the YoYo. I must admit that I really do not like the slapping of the lead rope to get the horse to back up that Pat does on the new level 1 DVD. I learned the method of waggling and I'm going to go back to that. But I did get that working somewhat. I also used a driving YoYo game which worked better but I was too quick with it. Cayleigh needed to think and I did not give her that time!
In the end, I learned something, did something right, and did something wrong. Cayleigh did lots right, trusted me, and was focused on me but has shown me out in the open a vice I knew was there. This is how it is supposed to work when you are natural. Perfect? Never! Just natural. I liken perfection to pure chemicals, refined (perfect) sugar is never good for you but natural sugars, available in fruit, are!
It makes me feel a whole lot better about the wall that I feel I've run into with Sunrise. I wonder how much of that wall was the distractions of wind and unseen horses around us and my lack in ability to get a good connection with Sunrise. Another step in the journey. Whew, a long post and a little stream of consciousness, I hope you enjoy it!
PeterC

Demanding Undemanding Time

2010-05-14T14:32:00.000-04:00

Well, I recently tried a demanding, undemanding time with Sunrise.
A quick brush and hoof pick then turned loose in the arena. I went about the business of moving everything I could find to random spots in the arena and watching her reactions. I was thinking that she was fairly bored by life in the barn and this might be interesting for her. She checked out from me and back in with me several times and it is my feeling that while she might like me our relationship is only on a mediocre level at this time. Once on the lead rope it was much more interesting for her, I think. She was less tense of the new stuff and as long as I didn’t force her right up to the item she would take my presence as enough to reach out and lip or chew. She even picked up the traffic cone a few times and I laughed and rubbed her. That’ll probably turn into a savvy “trick” some day when we find a use for it.
Cayleigh is a very different horse, stayed close to what she knew (the exit), and hardly investigated at all. Always looking out the window into the barn where her friends are. Since that didn’t really seem undemanding for her I stepped it up a notch and asked her for a few simple things On the line I had to do a fair amount of advance and retreat for each item and never did end up getting near the small green ball I had been kicking around for Sun. The one thing I did noticed through it all is that I had more fun than trying to work towards something. I have to learn to catch that feeling while progressing.
Change and learning are difficult and painful but you have to remember to breath.
PeterC

Better with friendly game

2010-05-06T14:31:00.000-04:00

Well, I've not worked nearly as hard as I had hoped with Sunrise and the program. I've actually been seeing her much less than I had hoped period. Often enough to groom her and her pasture mate but not much else.
Sunrise was having difficulty with the friendly game that wasn't solved until we took it inside the arena again and the wind wasn't shaking the building. I managed to do the wrap around can you with her, gently, first time, without so much as an ear flick, just a nice turn around. I'm also able to swing, usually, the carrot and savvy string around while walking away from her, and helicopter behind my head walking backwards away from her. Much better as she has been fearful of the savvy string for quiet some time.
An interesting problem, she is much more interested in complex games combining multiples of the 7 games, for example touch-it, than the seven games themselves. The pocupine is okay, the driving game up close is stutters, the circle game maybe I get a quarter turn out of her before having to re-send. When doing any of the basic seven she is not focused on me.
Touch it, and I have her full attention, can drive at a low phase one both hind and forequaters, pull her around with a finger full of pressure, disengage her hindquarters on the left side and the right side is coming along. I wish I could get her to send nicely in the circling game as that would help in touch-it.
PeterC

Cayleigh of the Sleepy Eye

2010-04-22T14:29:00.000-04:00

Hmmm, did I mention that Cayleigh is an Arabian? Quite pretty in my estimation.
The more I have been reading here and in other forums the less I think that Cayleigh is RBI and the more I think LBI. She can be frighteningly smart but has no desire to move. I don't really "get" the LBI personality yet although I have some idea of how to interact with them. In some ways it is unfortunate that I choose Sunrise as my levels horse. It means Cayleigh gets less of my time than she really deserves as I learn the program.
PeterC

What is inside alwasy affects what is outside!

2010-04-20T14:29:00.000-04:00

After some thought about how things went on the weekend I have to say that much of the difficultly of me teaching Parelli to my equine partner is internal to me...
In this post on the savvy club forum, Pepper-p writes:

I really believe that if you are discouraged by an animal in any way (disappointment, frustration, anger, anxiety, etc...) they feel it & they can't help but be what you expect. Imagine that? Like going to English class in school with a teacher who just KNOWS that you'll never be anything better than a C student. The teacher may not say anything nasty but as the student you feel the weight of the attitude. Pretty soon your self esteem takes a hit. It's natural for humans to get discouraged or to feel these emotions but if you change your internal thought process around you may well see changes in your horse. And if you spend time where you're not asking for anything except to be in the same space but you have a different attitude. You're OK with her just ignoring you.. you might find it pricks her curiosity.

I really think that hits it on the head. My emotions have not been in the best of control when with my girls and it can show any day. I have always given them the benefit of the doubt and do not blame them; however what is going on inside my heart is not so easy to control as my actions.
Sunrise was crowding me again this weekend and I'm still not sure why. I keep having to push her back and Saturday she got a smack in the head with the carrot stick. Not on purpose but I put up my hand and she ran right into it. Yet, to do the friendly game with her I need to step close enough to throw the lead around her neck. Of course, there is also lots of wind the last several weeks which isn't helping either of our attention spans.
The savvy string is not Sunrise's friend. I can now swing the carrot/savvy string combo at the end of the twelve foot line with a good amount of force thanks to a lot of walk away retreat while swinging. She doesn't spook with anything I do with her but it can raise her alarm level so I try to respect thresholds and retreat when necessary.
Each time I play an extended session I learn something about myself and about my girl. I am still not effective with her but I hope that can change.

Clacking Teeth Amusement

2010-04-16T14:28:00.000-04:00

I wasn't doing anything with my girls last night except picking out feet and some grooming and they both were calm and collected.
All the feet came up slow and steady and my L/RBI Cayleigh picked up her feet for me as I went down to pick them up. Not exactally the best results as I hadn't cued her but she normally is the one who gives me heck getting and keeping her feet up.
She was definitely itchy last night, as a matter of fact, I stumbled onto another interesting behaviour of hers. I got to grooming her whithers nice and hard and suddenly I hear "clack clack clack clack" as she tries really hard to give the air a good grooming. Normally I offer my back when my horses get funny lips from grooming but with Cayleigh it was interesting. She obviously has been trained that teeth don't meet human flesh and so wouldn't groom me at all. She also obviously had the need to groom something!
I had to laugh at her and finally got her to lip at my arm, teeth clacking all the time but definitely being kept away from me. (I do have a plan for when she tries using teeth which I think will get the message across if needed.)
That mare has such depth of soul that if I can ever get her to trust me and treat her fairly, in her mind, then I think she'll do anything for me. The beautiful thing about her is that, as far as I can tell, she has not been abused at all. I'm sure she's had some tough times, being shipped from the other side of the continent, for sale after her injury. In general she does not signs that humans are not to be trusted, just that she needs to be skeptical around em.

PeterC

Heavy Hands!

2010-04-15T14:18:00.000-04:00

So I caught myself the other day using what I consider level 3 pressure to start. Sunrise is very responsive to me and I seriously need to work on making my touch much lighter for the things she is good at to cultivate the sense of justice. I am beginning to believe I am being really unfair to her.
I practice the hands that close slowly and open quickly simulation but I still keep catching myself going way too hard.
I'll continue to look for information in the Savvy Vault.

PeterC

Odd Fear of the Barn

2010-04-14T14:17:00.000-04:00

Well, this is something I've been struggling with for a while now. Some days I think it is related to the Chirstmas incident and some days I'm just not sure where it is coming from.
I enjoy my time with both my girls and often leave the barn with the smile on my face that I should have had coming into the barn. Even on the bad work/life days I always try to bring a smile wherever I go anyhow. Of course, some days I end up leaving the barn a little frustrated but mostly I am now trying to say, "Huh, that's interesting." to break the pattern.

So, even though I usually leave the barn feeling much better than when I get there I have a strange reaction to thinking and driving out to the barn. I get all tight in the stomach and have a fear response. Some days it is enough to stop me from going. Of course, I usually have other things to do too but I know the real reason I do not go.

It bothers me immensely. My wife is supportive of my horse habit and generally gives me space to go do what I need to. Really, besides a litlte bit of a lack of cash, the only true impediment to my "blossoming" with Parelli and my girls is this fear.

This fear does translate into the time I work with the girls and tends to keep that time to a short period of anywhere under 45 min. Undemanding time can often last much longer for me. I'm reading up on Linda's "Fear" series in the Savvy Vault but have not hit a breakthrough yet.

PeterC

Blocks

2010-04-13T14:16:00.000-04:00

Just reviewed the Lvl 1 DVD simulations section and boy am I going to be looking silly doing wax on and wax off blocks alone in the barn. I got a sticker for the truck today "What goes on in the barn, stays in the barn!" We'll see how that goes.
Cayleigh, my Arabian RBI, has been practicing her blocks on me. For about 2 months now, she has gone from the bottom of the herd's pecking order to the top although not without contest. It has been an interesting transformation. It is a test of will some days to be with her, hindquarter yields are definitely called for as she has on occasion wiggled that hind foot at me when I stand at her side. I've never let that stop me but it also hasn't always been exactally safe. I'm working on doing things more naturally.
Now to get to the block she is practicing on me. Cayleigh, when I leave her stall, will move over to the door and curl her head around me to block my leaving. It makes me feel good to see that she wants me to stay butit is some thing that I am concerned about. When she does this she is not rushed or excited and I can gently ask her to move her head and she'll sigh or something but move it.
In the end I do not want to stop her from communicating to me, but I am also concerned about her dominant tendencies. I've worked Parelli with her less than Sun as Cayleigh is mostly rock stable and has been fairly well trained to saddle. She is also pretty content inside snoozing and eating or outside doing the same so seems to need less stimulus.
PeterC

Windy Excitement

2010-04-12T14:16:00.000-04:00

Sunrise, my pretty Morgan horse, has me gob-smacked with the potential inside her. I have not learned enough to be a good enough leader for her yet but I am definitely trying!
She is a LBE, who is playful and lippy when calm, but who goes all right brain and when not calm she crowds and moves.
The biggest problem I have with her as far as a good training session goes is to get her to recognize that I don’t need more movement than enough to get the job done.
For example, when playing touch it with your nose, she will almost always walk up, pause, touch, pause, then keep going no matter how much I relax. I do not want to discourage her from offering movement but it is something I’ve yet to figure out except to “make the wrong thing difficult” but shaking the rope.
Another example is the circling game: I send, allow, and disengage pretty good now with little to no carrot stick except for the disengaging. I’ll relax as completely as I know how and in about 15 seconds she is off on the circle again without me asking. Bored maybe but we really haven’t played this game enough and I’m starting to expect just a little more of her. As far as the disengaging and the carrot stick goes I think my phase one isn’t strong enough for her to pick up that I’m asking her for something so thinking about ways to change that.
This weekend was going to be the first big session after getting the new DVDs but I dropped a sash window on my hand Saturday night so Sunday was out except for undemanding time. Saturday was a little windy, hence the title of this post, but I checked out the arena and everything was pretty good, I set up some toys to try the “go touch it” my PP taught us way back.
Now, she has a thing for the savvy string and I’ve been doing a lot of friendly game with her because of it. I want to be able to whip that string around my feet and have her stand stock still. As it is I’ve taken to moving the savvy string and retreating as often as I can especially when standing and talking or getting lessons or whatever. So I tried to play some friendly with her to start and whoosh, up comes the wind. Everything starts creaking, banging and I try to get her to calm but of course every time she looks at me another bang happens. (Did I mention I went into the arena to make sure there wasn’t too much of this to start, I am not confidant enough in myself yet to work with her in really distracting circumstances.) Not wanting to quit while her emotions were high and getting crowded I do some forequarter and hindquarter yields. She Yo-yos and drives well but lateral movement was called for in this case, at least that is what I did with some instinct. So I managed to get three good hind quarter yields and three satisfactory forequarter yields. I think enough to let me break out of the training session with a success. I lead her to the arena door, reversing about half a dozen times so she could figure out she has to keep her distance. I’m still having trouble with hands that close slowly when leading. I’ll have to let this Parelli stuff sink into my skull as a matter of course.
Thinking on it now, she needed to move much more than I wanted her too. Lesson learned on my part; when she goes right brain move her feet. Being an introvert myself I tend to wait things out, and hopefully I now understand that this makes the wrong thing, getting emotional, easy for her.
Anyone have thoughts on good ways to get her to move when she is excited, keeping in mind that I’m really not far along into the program and need a safe way to do so?
PeterC

Burning Ears

2010-04-10T14:14:00.000-04:00

This started out as a comment but I thought I'd say more:
Heh, my ears were burning so I went over to see who was holding the candle.
One way to think about people is that whenever they say something they are in two modes. Either:

They are honestly trying to help, and you'll know it.

Just like your horses, they are telling you something about what is going on inside themselves.

The human example I like to use is the supervisor who always came in late or left for personal errands or whatever. When he got promoted to manager he had a witch hunt for people not being at their post. It wasn't that anything had changed at work, he was projecting his insides on everyone else.
As a side note, I'm a professional adult educator and there are a quite a few things in the Parelli program that I like because of that. I was particularly impressed with my 3 star PP, Ron Pyne. He has learned everything I know about teaching and also has the passion for it. There is a little bit of show-off in him which I'll discuss down below.
Being an adult educator also means that I've self-assessed and I know I need to become more flexible. My horses are going to be my trainers. They are going to let me know every time I'm not flexible enough. I am also a slow thinker and that is definitely not what a LBE like Sunrise needs. I respond way too slow to the point of sometimes I'm even confused as to the next thing I want to do. It frustrates her. Even Mr Pyne commented on it during the clinic. I was able to do much better with just a little guidance but alone I'm often back to where I was all along.
I am not being negative here, just realistically placing the things I have to work with on the table. I certainly do not think these things make me less of a person, if I let my modesty slip out the window I'm still likely to be smarter than you. :) School and thinking is what I'm innately good at, physical skills, not so much. Working with horses is very physical, you have to figure out where to place your hands, your body, the amount of force to use, and when to release: in these things I need serious practice and guidance.
Is everything in Parelli perfect? No. I do think that there is a fair amount of ego and showing off among the most outspoken supporters. It is not needed. You do not need to impress me by making the horse do something. You can impress me by making the horse want to do and enjoy some of the boring stuff.
PeterC

My Secret

2010-04-09T14:12:00.000-04:00

Now that you have read my introduction let me share with you a secret. I didn't have "No Problems" as I stated in my previous entry. I did not have any obvious problems or any problems I was aware of.
I found out differently on Christmas Day. It had been about 3 weeks in the new barn and everyone had settled fairly well. I was still taking the horses out and around to meet everyone, up and down all the pastureways on the farm, into and out of the wash stall and all the usual stuff to desensitize. I decided that it was time to start giving Sunrise a little exercise and I wanted to start training her up to be the gorgeous cart horse that I knew she could be. I had started to teach her to lunge gently walking around me calmly at about 20 feet. Pretty good success so I asked her for a little extra work and a trot. Well, that was Christmas day. She fought it and by the end of the session wasn't even walking nicely and finally cut in just close enough to fire a sideways kick at my gut. I saw it coming so backed up enough to only feel a light pressure on my belly button.
Realizing I had no control is what pushed me to get help. It was the sensible thing to do, and that is really what led me to Parelli.
My relationship with both girls went straight to heck with me, for the first time in my life, being scared? fearful? No, those words are too strong perhaps nervous around horses. To me, this is something I never thought I'd ever feel even around the most scared of horses. Sure, put me in a stall with a freaked out horse and I'll boogie to get my butt out of there with the adrenaline, but to have it continue on past the particular episode? Naw, I love them too much to be fearful. It was torture to me.
My primary purpose for Parelli is to re-train myself, and to learn how to respond rather than react to each horse as they need. It is going to be tough for me to work with the LB types as I tend to be a rote learner. Start at flap A then insert tab B every time.
Anyhow, that is my secret.
I did find a term for me, call me “a re-rider”, someone who was once confidant with horses at a younger age. I am in my late thirties now. My PP clinician tells me that “Pat” calls us something else. Anyone know what that is?

Introduction

2010-04-08T14:10:00.001-04:00

I would like to introduce myself to you and give you a little background on the start of my journey.
Some history on myself:
I used to work at a horse boarding stable in Alberta which did a bit of Morgan breeding. I had always been interested in horses even though I was a city kid, so when the chance came along to work with them I jumped at it. I don't ride and never did where I worked. There were several horses, some with vices, some with difficult personalities and all of whom I developed a nice relationship with and was able to work with in the usual daily chores of a hired hand. I never had a moment’s fear that I was doing the wrong thing. The horses responded well to me where they did not to others. Soon I was top boss and the farm was left in my care. This job lasted for approximately 4 years as I struggled with school and finally got my career launched.
The last day of the best time of my life ended 12 years ago and while I have a career and a family I always missed being around the horses. Well, a business trip took me back to Alberta and I looked up my old boss who is a very good friend. I met up with a few of the horses I once knew and realized I had a gapping hole in my life. Although I was rusty I decided to I had to have horses back in my life.
That was about 8 months ago and after a search I found Sunrise in November. She is a 5 year old Morgan mare with a fairly good start of training but has hardly had a saddle on her back. I want to teach her to drive and figured at 5 she has plenty of potential. She has a slight conformation problem with her left hind and so I got her at a bargain price. That’s fine, I’m not going to stress her and it was her personality that really caught my eye. She is a somewhat left brain extrovert. However I may not have challenged her enough to bring out her leftishness yet.
Standing beside her was another gorgeous girl, an Arab named Cayleigh and a good friend of Sun. Cayleigh has Sweeny shoulder due to a poorly placed kick but has the advantage of being sweet natured and been ridden by both experienced and green riders with no problems. I paid 50 bucks (at least that was her purchase price, as we all know that is a tiny fraction of a horse’s true price, HEH!) for Cayleigh and consider it a steal to save such a pretty and sweet horse from the meat market. Except for the few obvious imperfections the vet liked them too. I’m still working on figuring out Cayleigh’s horsinality, but I’m betting on RBI.
I’ve been getting along pretty well with both of them, but had to move them twice in a month to new stables. The first time was when I purchased them, and then about 28 days later I moved them again when the new barn did not work out (poor health and safety practices that were not immediately noticeable). My relationship with them was blooming very well at the first stable. They were outdoors 24 hours which is what they were used to and Cayleigh had learned to trust me enough to walk over puddles (which she simply refused to do the first day) and they both learned that jumping three foot ditches was safe if I asked them to. By the way, those ditch jumps were one of the reasons I moved after 28days. I was hosing off their legs every day after a brief introduction to the hose and while they were not settled into it yet they were acting reasonably well for me.
Moving to the new barn upset the apple cart somewhat. I also had a period of sickness and overtime which reduced the daily time I spent with them to once or twice a week for about a month around Christmas. The new barn has a rather inflexible policy of bringing all horses in at dusk and keeping them in until dawn. In January that means only about eight hours of outside time. They did not adjust to this quickly or very well. They did not give me any trouble but they developed crowding habits with the staff, and a short time later what they learned from the staff transferred to me.
The barn owner suggested Parelli as a way to solve some of her problems as the staff was complaining. I am always open to new things and really was looking at someway to get through to my girls as their training was just not progressing. So I watched her play with the horses and it was very effective and within the week everything had settled down again. That was back in January, and it wasn’t enough for me to really know what I was doing. I convinced the owner to bring a Parelli instructor for a weekend clinic and 16 hours later Sunrise was yo-yoing over poles on the ground, doing figure 8s and I was able to drive her with my energy in a slalom course the length of the barn at a quick walk all on a 12' rope.
It was the best time I’ve had with her. She wanted to be with me that entire 16 hours, was proud of herself as much as I was proud of her. That was the first week of March. Another bout of sickness and I did not get the chance to spend quality play time with them. I did do a lot of grooming and “being” time with them to keep them somewhat interested but it just wasn’t enough with 16-18 hour in stall times. I got stuck again.
Yesterday, I made the decision to become Savvy and also purchased the welcome and level 1 DVD packages. I suspect that I will also need the patterns package soon for Sunrise just to give her some purpose.
Cayleigh, on the other hand, has my number. Being a completely different horse she needs completely different handling. I’ve tried the first three games to see how she responds and she always takes it to level four. At first I went slower, letting her decide on what to do, but I think that I simply need to be firmer, while being fair. She always holds her feet still for everything. She has much less Parelli time than Sunrise simply because I am ineffective with her and am loath to teach bad habits. I need more training! As it is, I’ve come to realize my decision to purchase Cayleigh was a mistake. Don’t worry; she isn’t going anywhere unless it is to a great home. My commitment to her was for life. I also just like her personality as she is very human centric. However, I would like to concentrate on Sunrise and I am finding just taking basic care of two horses is eating into a lot of training time.
So that is where I am today. I’m waiting for my Parelli package to arrive and inspire me to greater things. I am also hoping to get that feeling I had with Sunrise back. It was such a connection that it made me extremely happy.
Each horse will teach me something different, new and wonderful. I had thought Sunrise would teach me more than Cayleigh, I think it is turning out to be the other way around!
PeterC

16 hours of love and fun.

2010-03-16T14:57:00.001-04:00

This weekend was the infamous Parelli clinic which I have spoken of anticipating for so long.

To say how surprisingly it met my expectations would be an understatement. I've never encountered such a professional educator before and I've found that I'm much more picky now that I'm also a professional adult educator. The biggest problem that I can identify with the Parelli training is the expense. After seeing it in first person, it is worth it, and truthfully for 16 hours of instruction with only four students it was so worth it.

So why do I say that the problem is that it is too expensive? People are cheap, they read a few blogs, maybe borrow a DVD and I can definitely see how following some of the advice and misunderstanding it can lead to the fabled "Parelli horse" who has to be rehabilitated.

So much for the thinking part of the weekend. My heart was actively engaged in the learning I was doing. Ms S was easily the least trained and most successful horse in the class. She has few of the vices that you'd usually expect in an untrained horse and is very willing to learn. The biggest problem for us this weekend was my own lack of focus, to be a leader you have to focus on what you are doing, what you want your horse to do and how to communicate that to your horse. I do not multi-task well, if I'm thinking I have to stop if I need to scratch my ass.

We met our instructor Saturday morning and he is a very likable person but actually extremely quiet in conversation. He keeps his own council and has his "best friend in the whole world" help him during the training. He always says please, and thanks her for each of the things she does for him.

Surprisingly, the first thing we did after introducing ourselves is get our horses. We spent the entire day, with a break for hay and lunch, with them as our companions on this journey. I'm not sure why but I had expected for each of us to work alone on and off all day. I did not expect the horses to be interested or patient with us all day long. I came to learn that, so long as the horse accepts you as thier leader, they are perfectly happy to wait on you. It was not something anyone told me, or even something anyone implied in conversation. Ms S let me know by her actions. Each time I was unsure or confused she "acted up" but when I was simply relaxed and confidant she took her own confidence from me and happily dozed as we discussed what we learned or what we were about to do. Sometimes I've have her stand at the end of a 12' lead as we discussed things, sometimes I brought her close so she had her nose on my back and played with me, but she never pushed, nipped or did more than nuzzle me.

Truthfully, that kick on Christmas day destroyed my confidence in many ways. This weekend has given me the tools to rebuild myself and help me understand Ms S.

So, what did we do, simply played seven games. Unfortunately it is late for me and I am unable to put the breadth of what we did into words that would do what happened justice. I hope to post again tomorrow.

A rescue, a vet visit and a horsey releationship!

2010-02-20T14:54:00.001-05:00

I just received the newsletter from the horse rescue that I've been trying to help out and I have to say that it is a sad sad world to see what goes on in it. I will definately help these people out more if I can ever get them to suggest what they need me to do. Obviously, cash is always welcome but since I got the horses it is of limited amount. I wanted to donate a few hours a week or a day or two a month of time for them I figure they are caring for 50 or more horses on their property alone and need that as much as anything. I'll send another e-mail reminding them I'm around and hope for the best.

The vet was out again this week to give the girls some jabs. I appreciate him as his calm demeanour and friendly attitude really make the girls at ease. I also know he works with many of the high priced horses in the area and is considered quite knowledgeable.

Of course, Ms S can be a little silly. She was happy to see me in the morning and was all attentive and up to the stall door with nostrils and ears focused on me. She is quite cute when she does that and it is actually really heartening how friendly she has become now that she has settled into the routine of the barn.

She did the same to the vet , at least she did until he put his fingers through the bars to let her smell him. Whump, ears out to the sides, her face dropped and she moved into the corner of her stall and tried to hide in plain sight. Oh my gosh she was so funny looking we both laughed but my heart really went out to her . The worst thing the vet has done to her is to hold her head up or give her three quick jabs with needles. I went in and comforted her. She was willing to accept that if I wanted it of her she'd give it a try. So the vet gave her the jabs for rabies, tetanus, and eastern and western equine encephalitis and with each needle she jumped and I comforted her. She actually took them much better this time as I distracted her by playing with her lips. It was over in a minute. She still gives the vet the hairy eyeball but does not seem to hide in the corner anymore.

Ms C. couldn't be more different. I think she flicked an ear but I'm not sure if it was because of the needle or something the vet said. She was so relaxed I wondered if she'd fall asleep. It makes me happy to know they both have started to trust me. I must admit that I'm going to have to blame part of it on the Parelli method. Ms S really was not happy, I think, because she was uncertain. Give her certainty and she'll do most anything. I can not wait until the snow lifts and I start trying to teach her to drive. It is going to be fun!

Last night the wife and I went out to the barn after shopping for 10-15 minutes on our way home. It was a nice visit just to make sure the girls were well taken care of and had a good snuggle before bedtime.

So, all in all I am happier now than I've been since the first month of having my own horses. The finances are hard and of course, the more money I make the less time I have for them. It seems like a never ending cycle. Truthfully, the whinnie I got last night as the wife and I entered the barn put a smile on my face. I know my wife thinks it is cute but silly of me to react so but it does make everything worth it in the end.

A cold February

2010-02-14T14:49:00.000-05:00

Ms. S has really warmed up as a friend lately. I'm not sure if it is because she is seeing me less and so enjoys me more or if it is just that life has finally settled into place for her at the new barn. My ground work with her has been put on hold because I seem to be having trouble figuring things out. I know I'm sending her mixed signals and I know what she needs is clear direction. She is willing.

I've been reading up on something call horsenalities. It has given me some new things to think about regarding how Ms S thinks and reacts. I know it seems that I've gone Parelli crazy but I assure you that I won't drink the cool-aid, but anything to help me figure out my beloveds and myself it going to be shoved into my head.
I have a clinic next month which will hopefully give me a better grounding and thereby let me give her less confusing signals. I also hope it will be fun for me and for her!

Speaking of Ms. S I've never had a horse that sheds SOOOOOO much. Sure, all my animals shed this time of year as their distant ancestors lived somewhere with a more reasonable spring!

The last time I brushed her I was left with about an inch of fluffy horse hair in a rind around her hooves! I had to use two hands on the brush to press as hard as she wanted me to and had to clear the brush almost every stroke! She still seems exceptionally shaggy compared to most horses at the barn so I'm sure she is still warm.

I've also found a new treat for them. Made by Masterfeeds it is a product called "Love Bites". A cherry flavoured horse crunchy that both the girls really love! If you recall I had to stop feeding them from my pockets and now throw their treats into their feed bins because Ms S was getting exceptionally pushy and nippy. Well, they love these treats so much that, even though I never put them in my pockets, they are back to searching me for treats! Ms C is particularly forceful but also listens when I correct her behaviour.

Can I say that I "love" my girls? I cannot say yet, things have not gone as well as I had thought they would based on past experiences. Each has her own personality and strangely enough they do not seem to be overly compatible with mine. Then again, it may just need time and some warm weather to really give me a chance to get to know them. I plan on taking them for walks in the back woods once I get to know the lay of the land. Some one on one time with interesting things to look at and do will likely draw us closer.

The sun is staying longer

2010-01-24T14:47:00.000-05:00

There has been lots of ice rain lately and as such I'm not seeing the girls again tonight. I have also been reminded that I've not posted since Dec 30, 2009. I've not actually done much of anything since then but exist.

My girls bring me up and bring me down. I think we are getting closer, getting along, at least starting to understand each other just a little. I never thought I'd say this but some nights I even dread going to the barn. Maybe I'm putting too much pressure on myself to "perform" and have that deep connection with them. I know I feel awkward in the barn and working with the horses. Then again I've always felt awkward in performing physical skills.

I'm finding it very difficult to not be able to just walk out the door and say hi to them in the course of a day. At best I see them once a day for a grooming session and often I choose one or the other to work with and, while I do not ignore the other, she does get left out of what we are doing.

I am hoping, because at the last barn it was not like this, that my confusion and consternation has more to do with the weather and the light than anything else.[-O<

I do have some good news, I hope, the barn is putting on a two day clinic with a local Parelli guru. He has been to the barn before and was well recieved so I think I will be signing up in order to get my skills a little closer to where they need to be to own these two beautiful girls.

Learning Upperdate

2009-12-31T14:45:00.000-05:00

In talking to the trainer I'm working with the both of us talked about what was inside Ms S's head in an attempt to help me communicate to her. I expressed the opinion that Ms S was actually bored most of the time. She has a nice paddock but is now being bedded in a stall for up to 14 hours a day. This will change in the summer, in for a max of 4-5 hours, but she is the kinda horse that is very smart. So, once she gets out into the arena one would expect she would be happy to have something to do! Well, she is also very stubborn. The games I was shown today, once she got used to the idea, did interest her and make her think. Nothing gets past her, she makes mental notes of all your weaknesses and will save it up to test you later. It is not malicious, just the way of the herd.

This brings me to another point that the trainer surprised me with. Ms S not a confidant horse. She is unsure of herself and those around her. She is very comfortable in ties, and in her stall. There she will listen to me very easily. Once she is in the riding arena, even though I've gone to some effort to make it a place of fun and not work or discomfort, she becomes unsure of herself, of me, and of the area. Looking back on my interaction I can kinda see this. She leaned to not be frightened of the overhead doors very quickly, leaned to lead at the trot very quickly again. These were in her comfort zone. Once I am away from her shoulder she is confused and annoyed.

I'll have to think on these things and try to work on a plan to make her know she is a good girl but not spoil or encourage bad behaviour. Like I've said before, she will teach me lots this one.

Oh, and another game that I'll be playing with Ms S is "give up your head". A gentle pressure on the back of her neck or head until she drops it. I'm told it is an extremely gentle way of expressing dominance and Ms S is responding well to it. I hope she learns that everything I've been doing to her is for her own good and that I do care for her a great deal even though she can frustrate me.

It is our two month anniversary today. It is still almost hard for me to believe it.

Learning.

2009-12-30T14:43:00.003-05:00

The vet was out today and I was late. His office was supposed to call me just before he went out so I'd know when to be there, it was their suggestion. Next time I'll tell them I'll be there at 8am and just wait.

Both girls did well even with the blood sample for the Coggins test. It scares me greatly as there is no telling how they were vaccinated before I got them. Much like in the US:

The control of the disease is based on surveillance testing, identification and destruction or life-long quarantine of infected animals, mandatory testing of imported horses, and efforts to prevent the spread of the virus by controlling insect and mechanical vectors.

No stable would have them and I couldn't transport them. Ms C was tested three years ago when she travelled. If you've been reading me, you know I worry...

The stable owner taught me a few things to work with Ms S. If you recall, she is a fan of Pat Parelli, and she showed me both the Friendly game and the Porcupine game. I can see that Ms S really wants to learn once she has been out dominated. The barn owner agrees that she is smart and stubborn. Definitely going to teach me a lot. For now I'm going to work on her with these two games in the arena.

Another trick she showed me was the shaking of the lead rope against Ms S's chest to get her to step back when she crowds. She explained that horses "play" at domination by fixing their front feet and trying to get the other one to move back. I've been fairly good at getting Ms S to move rather than moving myself but Ms S is smart and has started using obstacles like ice ridges covered in snow to push myself and one of the hired hands around.

The stable owner also asked me to work on making her keep my personal space clear. She showed me several methods including the "helicopter" which is twirling the end of the lead rope around your head. She says that horses, as long as it is a rhythmic movement and you are not staring at them, will not associate the possible smack with punishment. A few other things she showed me were raising your hand to wave quickly, lifting your boot heal and a wave of the "carrot" stick.

While I'm not really fond of this last method, ie. smacking horses "randomly/accidentally" if they get too close, I can see that this is not exciting Ms S and is actually working very well to keep her under control. At the end of the session what I saw was a relaxed, thinking Ms S waiting at a respectful distance. She was interested in us and not afraid at all.

I hope that I can learn this stuff. I've always been better at thinking and book learning than learning physical skills and reacting fast. One last note before I finish I will use these techniques so long as they work and understand that Parelli has his detractors. I'd love to hear comments from my horsey friends!

A Kick for Christmas

2009-12-26T14:40:00.000-05:00

Well, the ever delightful Ms. S gave me a kick for Christmas. It landed right around the belly button. I saw it coming but only just enough to get out of range of any damage, just a bit of pressure. She seemed surprised that the kick didn't phase me and more surprised when I closed up the distance between us and gave her a very stern talking to. I then changed up my lunging back to the first steps, walking by her shoulder and keeping a tight rein on her head. This was the first time I used the longer whip with her and as such I was actually able to pressure her to keep her distance for a change.

This doesn't really surprise me, unfortunately. She has always been pushy and if she doesn't get her way can be rude. I talked it over with the barn owner and found out that one of her horses is very similar in temperament constantly testing if you are paying enough attention. We are going to work on Ms S over the next week of holidays using some techniques she was taught by a local Pat Parelli aficionado. She will also arrange a private 2 day clinic for myself and a few of the others in the barn who missed the last one; hopefully early in the new year.

The thing I appreciated most about this was the complete lack of judgement from her. Actually, I think I upped my stock a little with her by asking for help. Ms. S graduates to basic foundation work again as I do not think she ever really had a solid foundation. Told you that she was going to teach me lots. It is not her fault by any stretch of the imagination but it is my fault for not understanding her better or figuring out what she needs.

I took Ms C out second today and she is doing very well. The proverbial day to Ms S's night. She is taking the training well and "in stride", so to speak. I'm still keeping my training sessions to 15 minutes or so and try to do something with them every day.

Unfortunately, today with the freezing rain I think that I will not drive out to the barn and see them. This is the second time in two months that I've not spent any time with them in 24 hours. I'm not sure how that makes me feel except to say that it isn't the greatest.

The Vet Came

2009-12-10T14:40:00.000-05:00

The vet recommended to me seems to be an exceptional vet. He really handled the girls well even when he had to do unpleasant things. The girls reacted to him pretty well.

The long and the short of it, all my little worries as a new horse daddy were overblown. He gave them a clean bill of health and not only that, complimented the both of them as fine horses. That last bit surprised me as vets usually do not say things like that. It makes me very happy to know they are not in any urgent needs.

We had a discussion about Ms C's shoulder and he recommended exercise as there is less muscle atrophy than is usual for a case like hers. He pointed out the two muscles affected and said that the one at the front of the shoulder blade seems to be quite well defined and as he drew my attention to it I thought it actually does look a little more filled out there. She probably will not gain back muscle just behind the shoulder blade. He will think about it some and give me some other recommendations. He did suggest that frequent exercise that doesn't develop any soreness in her could only help the muscles that compensate for the injury to strengthen.

They both got a nasal "strangles" vaccination today, it is a little expensive but they had a bad outbreak last summer apparently in the area.

I'm pretty relieved that everything is fine about them.

Round and round we go.

2009-12-06T14:36:00.000-05:00

Today was a brilliantly clear day. Which means, in this area, that is was not terribly warm out. I love these days with the air fresh and crisp. Apparently the girls do as well. They were in fine form and trotted excitedly around their pasture as I watched them.

Today was my first effort at a formal training program for the girls. I introduced them to the lunge line. Ms S went first and I brought her in, gave her a quick groom to get rid of the mud and introduced her to the tools of the trade. The lunge line and the whip(about 4' long). She had no fear of either and I rubbed the whip all over her to make sure she realized it was just a tool for communication and not for punishment.

We got into the indoor riding arena, and I walked, then trotted her around the entire arena twice in hand. She responded well, and obviously learned the trot command and that she gets to have a little "fun" when I do this with her. A good start for sure. She also "ha-alted" for me surprisingly well considering the troubles we have been having. She is very smart, that is for sure.

On to the lunging; I had her in front of me, facing me, and set up to start a left circle. As instructed I dropped my left shoulder, lifted the whip a bit and asked her to "wa-alk" and she started off. A light tap on her rump pushed her out from me to about 6 feet and I clucked at her and told her what a good girl she was. I have not had any experience with this but she did quite well for what was obviously her first time, and mine. She is a little "lazy," like me, and she likes to stop whenever the mood takes her, a shake of the whip and some vocal encouragement kept her from coming to a complete stop. When she came inside the circle a firm tap on the hind quarters to keep her going and out. Twice around and a "whoa" which was a mistaken command on my part, I want to use "whoa" in hand and a "ha-alt" on the circle. She turned to me and walked up. Not the best result but she focused on me and faced me, so that is half the battle. I'll probably need to get someone to hold her out on the circle to teach her to wait for me to come to her.

I switched hands and asked her to "re-verse" a walk in the other direction. This time was just as good. She did have trouble meeting the pressure from the lunge line she kept trying to come inside the circle. I think that I'll use a longer lunge whip next time as, as I expected, I think she needs more pressure to go forward than Ms C does. Nevertheless she pleased me and I let her know it. She seemed happy with that so I think she will come along very well as long as I can stay in charge! I did notice that with her on left track that her head and neck were well outside(to her right) and her butt well inside the circle. What little I've read is that this means she is supple on her right side but stiff on her left. This is a usual thing as we all tend to work horses from the left. I will have to make sure that she practices bending to make her stiff side more supple. This will make it more comfortable for her and prevent injury.

Truthfully, in re-reading the book on the subject that I like best I missed a step and should have walked her around the circle myself with her. I've always had trouble turning what I've read into physical action. I hope my cues are not confusing her. Speaking of that book it is called "Horse Training In-hand. A Modern Guide to Working from the Ground" by Ellen Schuthof-Lesmeister and Kip Mistral. (ISBN: 978-1-57076-409-7). I intend to take both girls as far as they can, and keeping it fun for both them and me. That's actually the point of this training is to give us something to do together.

Ms C preformed admirable despite her injury. The session went about the same except this time I also got a trot out of Ms. C in both directions on circle. She was too close to me to continue doing that for very long for risk of injury. I did not notice her stiff or supple side but then again I did have a little excitement. It seems that Ms S did not like being put back in her pasture! She pawed at the gate until she, somehow, managed to get the chain off! I heard her pawing as her gate as it is just outside the arena and suddenly I see horse hooves under the "garage" door that faces her paddock.

"Oh Oh," I think to myself and quickly put Ms C into her stall. Grabbing Ms S's halter I saunter out to see what is going on. I never rush in cases like this as it doesn't help. The stable hand that was on duty today had seen what happened but he cannot tell me how she got the chain off. He was a little worried Ms S would get a hoof caught the way she was pawing at that gate. Well, after Ms. S said "hi!" to every horse on the place and ran over all the dangerous spots she got down to the end of a long fenced corridor about 6 foot wide where the last of the horses she wanted to say hi too stood watching her. She came galloping back towards me so I just stretched out my arms wide and told her to be easy. She slowed and looked at me from 10 foot away, then turned to talk to her new found friends. I walked around her and put her halter on very easily. I was a little worried she'd charge over me as she usually doesn't pay any mind to my personal space.

Back inside I continue with Ms C and can definitely say that she does not need more pressure to go on the circle. For her we'll keep with the small carriage whip.

Overall, it was a very good day. Ms S was willing and Ms. C was willing and quite able. I think the only reason Ms. C didn't do better was because my inexperience. I also think she'll forgive me though.

A new stable

2009-12-02T14:29:00.000-05:00

Well, the wife bought me Story's guide to Training Horses and it seems pretty good. I'm going to post what has happened in the last week as quickly as possible so I can get back to reading.

The last you heard I was ramping up to get the girls moved to a new stale. Well, it has finally happened. This Sunday two workers from the new barn drove over with a great slant load trailer, which I now covet. H came out with me through the mud to collect the girls. I took Ms S and she took Ms C. It was a difficult trek back to the trailer as they seemed to be working on making it much worse at the old stable before it will ever get better. Anyhow, once I got Ms S going H could follow along with the pretty Ms C. We climbed through the thick mud over 3 foot piles of clay and rock and sloshing through 1.5 foot deep trenches.

I brought them up to the trailer and handed off Ms S because I wanted to load Ms C. She is the mature one of the pair. Ms. C made me proud with lots of snorting she trusted me and loaded up right away, we were able to close the middle divider shortly after and let her stick her neck out the side escape door and she was settled. Ms S was a significantly more difficult load. She was never afraid of the trailer at all, mind you. I brought her up to the trailer and stepped up pulling on her halter. One refusal to move onto the trailer. I took her around in a circle with the start and end on a tangent to the back of the trailer and success! She loaded up with some reservation and stood in the trailer with me.

The driver kept reminding me through this process that he has plenty of time to spend getting the horses familiar with the trailer and to not rush. It was a marked difference to the "farmer" mentality I had experienced before.

Anyhow, since this was something new for Ms. S and a lesson I off loaded her and spent the next 45 minutes trying to load her again. She is a very stubborn mare. Anyhow, by the end of it neither she nor Ms. C was concerned at all about the trailer. Ms S when we finally got her back up into the trailer snorted a little when the doors closed but was good for the trip back.

We arrived at the new barn and unloaded the girls onto the front lawn. Both the girls ate grass like they had not been fed for several days. It was quite amusing to watch. We got them settled in their new stalls and I went back to settle up with the old barn.

Over the last few days at the new barn I've noticed that I'm much more focused on the girls and their training rather than the conditions they are in. As a matter of fact I got Ms S to give me a trot in hand several times tonight. Not something that she has agreed to before and I'm told not something she had been trained for. She is still very stubborn and I've had to drastically increase the amount of, shall we say, encouragement and discipline in my working with her. I'm not exactly happy about it but, "it is what it is," a necessary step in her training. Ms. C remains responsive to my asking and I think will be a better partner for my personality. Perhaps Ms. S will make me grow in my understanding of horse management.

More on People

2009-11-28T14:28:00.000-05:00

Well, just an update on the barn situation. Finally got her talking and the upshot is she doesn't want me back at the barn. Not for lessons or anything.

Of course, she still can not tell me the real reason. She blames her strangles outbreak last year on "someone" from another barn showing up one day. So she doesn't want me to come from some other barn. Right, the 6 horses she bought at auction (3 with runny noses and 1 with a cough) since I've gotten there couldn't possibly be related to any disease spread. I've been talking to some of her lesson people and many people who left the barn and it has always been like this. She has no preventative measures in place for the spread of disease. It is like she never did any research on how it spreads. All the people in the barn use a common towel hanging beside the tap to wipe hands, bits or whatever.

Well, everyone but me.

I should have went with my gut and tried to make arrangements to delay the girls move until I had a really good barn. The problem is I'm not sure any other arrangement would have been better since I would have had NO access to check on the girls I had no idea what horse experience the guy who owned the property the girls were on had.

I am really thinking I should have waited to get my horses until I had my own property.

Of course, then I look into Ms. C's eyes and fall to pieces thinking about not having her. Or Ms. S puts her lips on my cheek and gives me a kiss. [sigh]