Skittles comes home for a week

Ken had to go out of town this week, so Skittles came home. She'll go back on Thursday. In the meantime, I get to play with her myself! It's not quite as nice as working in a covered arena, but we survived. As long as there's no wind, it's not too bad out here (now that winter has arrivved!). We got pretty spoiled with the nice fall weather, I'm turning into a bit of a wimp!

Skittles has been doing quite well at Ken's these past couple of weeks. He's worked more with her on the ground than from her back -- mostly because she still has a lot of fear issues that she needs to work through. She's definitely getting better each day. He generally does ride her for a few minutes each session, but nothing significant yet. She's really quite hilarious when he gets on her back. She's still trying to figure out how to carry the extra weight and stay balanced. And the whole time Ken is on her back, she groans and grunts. So funny! Sounds like she's going to collapse any minute.

Thankfully when I got on her today she didn't make a sound! Whew!

I started working with her on the ground to make sure I had her mind, had her relaxed and could do everything from both sides without any issues. This was about 30 minutes. Then I put the saddle on. Since Ken has been working her in a western saddle, I did the same -- just to be consistent. I don't want to introduce too many changes to her right off, but rather keep her comfortable with her existing routine. I started out by climbing up on the fence and asking her to come up beside me and see me from above. I swung the rope from side to side moved the stirrups back and forth, and then sat on her. She's done this tons at Ken's so she's pretty OK with it. He also throws his lariat out in front of her on the ground and then drags it back over her and coils it up. I don't have a lariat, so couldn't do that.

After that I got down off her and off the fence and led her to the middle of the round pen and mounted up. At first I just got on her left side and off her right side. Then moved her around again and mounted up again. Also, I didn't have her in a bridle --- just the halter and lead rope.

So I turned her right until she moved her feet. She pretty much kept going in circles by the gate. The other horses were hanging by the round pen too, so she kept turning back toward them. No big deal at this point. The idea is to create a pleasant experience for her. She tends not to walk too far before stopping, so I made it a goal to get her to walk once around the round pen without stopping. I'd only ask her to go (squeeze with my legs) when she stopped and as soon as she moved her feet, I'd release. Sometimes I only got 1 or 2 steps, but eventually she got most of the way around the pen. Keeping her to the outside of the pen was a challenge. She mostly used the bottom half closest to the gate and the other horses. I let her stay within her comfort zone for now. This was my first time riding her after all! Like Ken, I didn't try to micromanage her. She's still working out how to move her feet and maintain gait.

After about 20 minutes of riding, she managed to get around the pen without stopping (only cut off about the top third of the pen). So I worked on backing her up next and could do that almost with just shifting my weight! A couple times she needed the support from the lead line, but she's pretty sensitive and light! Cool!

I scared her once while flipping the rope over her head to change sides and she bucked a couple times, but didn't flip out like the old Skittles would have, and settled pretty quickly. After that I swung the rope a couple times beside her head before flipping it over! She was OK with that.

I had her stop in the middle of the pen away from the gate and got off. BIG sigh and lots of licking. I tied her up to the trailer and went to get my camera, so that's the only photo for today. A pretty good day in my books!!

Indy under saddle

After I worked with Jake yesterday, I also spent some time with IndyAnna. I wanted to try her in a saddle and see how she'd handle being mounted from the ground. After some ground work, friendly game, driving game and circling game again, I got the saddle. Immediately she started nosing and licking it like she does most everything. She didn't flinch at all when I put it on her back, but rather turned and sniffed the saddle and mouthed it a bit - definitely more curious than scared. I only have 2 girths - one is too small and the other is nearly too big. I used the bigger one, but it was on the last hole on both sides of the saddle. Even at that it wasn't as snug as it should have been because it slipped a bit when I was mounting up.

I mounted and dismounted several times on her left side and after each time I'd move her around just to make sure she wasn't freezing up and going introverted. Although all her other behaviour didn't suggest she was bothered in any way (blinking, head low, looking from side to side). I also worked on getting her to bend her head from side to side to make sure I could bend her to a stop once on her back. I then rode her around the round pen. Getting her to stop is not a problem! Getting her to go is a whole other story. For about half hour I would go from phase 1 to phase 4 in leg pressure to get her to move forward. Each time I'd have to go to phase 4 before she'd move, I'd release, and she would stop. It was quite a while before she'd move more than a couple of steps, but then finally she took 4 steps, then 6 and soon after that she made it once around the round pen before stopping. Yay! It'll be a while before we're trotting, but for now it's one step at a time, literally!

After we were all done I put Holly up on her back and led her around the pen. She was just like an old hand at this! I'm very pleased with her so far.

Jake - avoiding me

For about the last month or two Jake has been avoiding me. He is acting very unlike himself and I can't figure out why. Jake is my 11 year old ClydeX gelding who is the herd leader and who has always been solid as a rock: dependable, friendly and affectionate. For some reason though, the past several weeks he's been acting very afraid of me (or anyone for that matter) every time I walk up to him, he won't look at me, and turns his head completely away from me (like in the first photo) and if I continue to walk toward him he walks away. Jake has always been one of the first horses to come up to me and start nosing around my pockets for treats. So it's really strange for him to not only avoid me, but to be acting so afraid of me. Obviously I've done something that has scared him, but for the life of me, I can't think of what!

So today I started working with him in the round pen just to see if I could get him to first look at me; 2nd: not turn away from me when I walked up to him and 3rd: get him to follow me. I filled my pockets with crunchies to use as treats for when he either came up to me or turned toward me. Lately treats haven't inticed him to come up to me in the pasture (again, very strange since he always was the first one up to me), but maybe if he's alone with me it might help.

I started just moving him around the pen in different directions and allowing him to stop if he turned in to me. If he looked away or turned away, I'd push him away again. Then after a few times turning toward me, I would walk up to him and see how close he'd let me come before turning away and worked on getting that distance shorter and shorter until he'd reach out and touch my hand without turning away. Surprise! A treat! I backed away and then approached his left shoulder, he didnt' turn away, but neither did he turn toward me. I draped my arm over his head and asked him to lower his head and turn toward me. He's always responded well to this and today was no exception and when he turned his head toward me he got another treat! I went around to his right side and he immediately turned away from me. He's always been uncomfortable with me on his right side. But I stayed there and rubbed him all over until his head was facing forward. I then put my arm over his neck again and asked him to lower his head and turn toward me. Some resistance, but he did and got another treat.

We kept this up for a while working on reducing the resistance and then I moved away to see if he'd follow. He did, licking and chewing and he started acting like the old Jake I know and love. I decided to do a few of the Parelli games with him just to refresh his memory and he did great. So I thought I'd climb up on the fence and see if he would mind my getting up on his back. He moved along side me and didn't try to avoid me when I leaned over to mount up. He had a very positive look on his face, so I just did some pushing passenger in the round pen for a while and then opened the gate and continued pushing passenger into the paddocks with the other horses. He had his head low and was licking and chewing the whole time, so we called it a day and I let him out to graze on the lawn for a few minutes. Will see if his behaviour changes at all over the next few days when I come up to him. It was a pretty good day.

Catching up

It's been a while since I logged anything on this blog, but not because I haven't done anything, but because I've been too lazy to log it.

Indy has been coming along great. I haven't done much else besides sit on her and get her to move off my leg and turn and back up. I've done lots more ground work with her - working on the driving game and circling game. She's pretty good at yoyo now and with the porcupine game. But she was having trouble with yielding her hindquarters on her left side, so we worked on the driving game. When I asked her to yield on her left, she'd go forward rather than yield. She did great on her left, but it took some time before she'd yield on her left. But we made it. Will see the next time I work with her if it sticks.

We've worked quite a bit on the circling game because she tends to only move a few steps at a time before stopping. I probably played the circle game for 30-40 minutes before I could get 2 complete cirlces (let alone 4!) without her stopping before I asked her to stop. For the longest time, she'd stop as soon as I stopped asking. She couldn't quite figure out that if she kept going I'd leave her alone! But I'm hoping she'll catch on a bit quicker next time.

Skittles is now back at Ken's (the trainer's). Ken did a fair bit of ground work to see where her head is at since the last time he saw her, such as yielding and then leading from a rope around her foot. I've worked on this a fair bit with her, so she did quite well with this. Then he put the saddle on her. Once he got her moving, she bucked a bit, but settled quite quickly (from my perspective anyway). Since I've had the bareback pad on her several times with the girth done up, this was only slightly more scary with the additional weight and the stirrups hanging from it. After a while, she barely acknowledged it except to look back and sniff it once in a while (good sign -- shows she's more curious than scared!). The last thing Ken did was sit on her - he got on her from the fence, rather than mount up. He mostly just wanted to make sure she didn't object to having his leg swing over her, rub her side, bump her back etc. etc. He also threw the lariat out in front of her and dragged it back to see how she'd react to having it coiled up above her. She stood fairly quietly. She watched it with her head high, but didn't adversely react in any way. I expect he'll be riding her next session and the rest of the month will be building from there. She's been doing really well. I'm a bit slower, but I think I'm making pretty good progress with Indy too.

Indy's First Ride!

It's been a while since I've posted anything, not because I haven't done anything, but because I've just been too busy.

But today was awesome! I've been working with Indy this week - just lots of the 7 games - and today I introduced the bareback pad. It was such a non-event that it looked like someone had been working with her behind my back! There really hasn't been anything that has fazed Indy. She reminds me so much of what Gypsy was like at this age... everything is A-ok.

I put the bareback pad on her (note to self: get a smaller girth for these fillies... even with cinch tightened right to the buckle, it's only snug enough not to fall off, not enough to keep it from moving), and nothing happened. She always starts by wanting to chew everything I introduce to her, so obviously she's completely unconcerned. Then when she let go of the bareback pad, I threw that on her back as well and cinched it up. No reaction. So I asked her to move around me in the round pen. She'd take a few steps and stop and look at me or graze. So I added more pressure and she tossed her head and started trotting around. Nothing bothered her. So I asked her to keep trotting and turn into me to change direction a few times. She did everything perfectly.

After some yoyo, circle and driving game, I decided to sit on the fence above her and ask her to come closer. After lots of friendly game (and because she started ignoring me), I swung my leg over her back and settled my weight on her while still holding on to the fence. NO REACTION. Again, a complete non-event.

By this time, the kids were home from school, so Holly took a couple pictures of us while I had Indy walk around. She was more interested in grazing the grass than she was in me! Pretty cool! Next time I'll try the saddle. Since the bareback pad, girth or me riding her doesn't seem to faze her, I suspect the saddle won't be a problem. We'll practice mounting from both sides and see how she does. What a star! I was so proud of her!

She still has to work on moving forward more. Every time I picked up the lead line while on her back, she'd back up rather than turn or move forward. Maybe some more ground work using the driving game. She did move a couple steps forward when I squeezed her and held the squeeze for a few seconds, but not more than that. She's going to be the opposite of Skittles as far as her impulsion is concerned. Indy seems to have more whoa than go. I was pretty pleased with how everything went though. Very cool!

Skittles and the Trailer: Take 2!

Yesterday I spent time with Skittles and the trailer again, since it was still out and hooked up to the truck (and so didn't require moving). Skittles seemed anxious to come with me when I went to get her, almost as if she thought she could get in on some of the action that Gypsy had been in on the previous day! (They were all pretty excited to see her when she came home Sunday night).

Our last session with the trailer was cut short because I had to take Callum to gymnastics, so it was about time to try again. The last time we worked with the trailer she went in, but the turned right around and LEAPED out. So I wanted to make sure she would go in, stand quietly and then step out quietly.

Well, she only hesitated once (stepped in with her front and then backed out) before she stepped right in. She didn't come out too gracefully the first time, so I asked her back in again. This time she stayed in and sniffed around, turned around, pawed the floor, bumped the sides, backed up, and then came out forward.

I walked her away a few steps and she seemed to get all agitated. So I let her lead me to where she was comfortable and guess where she went? She went straight back into the trailer! Too funny! I asked her to come out again and she went right back in again! I didn't have my camera, so I took her out again and asked my son to hold her for me, but as soon as I left, she pulled Pearce back to the trailer and got back in again! What a cutie. So funny. Eventually I had to bribe her OUT of the trailer.

I started wondering if Gypsy was bragging about her prowess at the Parelli Games the previous night, and maybe Skittles thought if she stayed in the trailer she might get a chance to try it too!

I don't think I'll have any trouble trailering Skittles!

Parelli Fun Day!

Last Sunday, Gypsy and I attended an organized Parelli Fun Day, hosted by our much-loved and admired Parelli hostess - Amy (who is a Level 3 student). This was essentially a day for local Parelli students to get together and pit their Parelli skills against one another in friendly competitions of the "Parelli Games." I brought my camera, but after taking only the two photos attached, the batteries died, so this particular blog entry will have to wait until I get copies of Amy's pictures before I'll be able to post any of the actual "Games".

The first "Game" consisted of a line of pylons that our horses had to weave back and forth between, then at the end, turn and face, then back up 7 steps. The catch is that the human had to stand behind a line of poles that ran parallel to the pylons to guide the horse from (you can sort of see the pylons and poles behind Gypsy in the attached photos... you can see both the "easy" line and the "advanced" line of poles behind the first). If we stepped over the line, or if your horse knocked a pylon down or missed one, you would lose points. There was a second line even further from the first for advanced level 2 or level 3 students. I just stayed behind the first line. Gypsy did great (as expected) .... only knocked over 1 pylon.

The second game was sitting on a chair and asking your horse to back away from you between 2 barrels about 20 feet away. You weren't allowed to get off your seat to guide your horse. Once the horse's front feet were between the barrels, she had to stand for 7 seconds, then come back to you, then you had to back her up between the barrels one more time. This was Gypsy's best event. She was perfect!

The next event was the squeeze game over barrels. The trick though was that you had to stand behind some poles again (and for L3's, even further away in a hoola-hoop) and ask your horse to approach and jump the barrels, turn, stand for 7 seconds, and jump back over the barrels the other way. But since there was a good 6 or 8 feet between the pole we had to stand behind and the barrels, many horses opted to scootch around the barrels, rather than go over them. It took some patience and good communication skills to get them over. Gypsy and I haven't tried any of these things at home yet, so for this one, I ended up standing in front of the poles. She succeeded with me at a closer distance, but we only got half points for that one.

The last event was standing on the outside of a 20-foot circle and ask your horse to go into the circle and stand with all 4 feet on the blue tarp in the circle. Then count to 7. You could get extra points if you could get your horse to stand in the circle (with you outside) with the tarp on their back. Gypsy got the task points PLUS the bonus points. She did just awesome - especially considering we haven't done any of this at home yet.

Throughout these "Games", Gypsy was completely focussed on me and asked all kinds of questinos and tried so hard for me. I was so proud of her! The photos included here are of her stepping up on to one of those huge tractor tires. She wouldn't step up on her own, so I wrapped the lead line around her front hoof and helped her lift it up on the tire. Once we set one hoof on the tire, she stepped up with the other one too. After these photos were taken, she got up with all 4 feet on the tire. Very impressive! We tried it again after lunch and she stepped up without any help the second time. She's such a star!

Later in the afternoon, after the games, anyone who wanted to went on a trail ride. We rode for about an hour or hour & 1/2 give or take, climbed a few hills, went down some steep hills as well, and even galloped up one as well. In all the years I've had Gypsy we've always galloped through pastures and fields when we've gone on trail rides, so for her to stay at a walk (with this ride and with the Blackfoot ride a few weeks ago), she had a hard time staying to a walk. She almost seemed to say "THANK YOU!" when I let her gallop up one of the hills. She was definitely impatient, but she still listened and behaved. No pulling. We had a blast!

What a perfect day! The weather was beautiful, the company was great and we were surrounded by horses. Who could ask for anything more?

2 Steps forward, 1 Step back

Today I had all kinds of plans and ideas for Skittles thinking we'd move forward in leaps and bounds since our last session was so great. Well, there were lots of leaps and bounds, but not the kind I was hoping for! The old Skittles showed up today. So I worked with the horse that showed up!

She was very agitated throughout the session today. I started out just doing lots of friendly game with her mixed in with grooming her. I used the carrot stick, the lead line and the saddle pad, alternately swinging these around and grooming her. She was less concerned with the saddle pad than she was with either the carrot stick or rope. The rest of the horses in the pasture were starting to head to the back and away from her by this time and when I started losing her attention, I gathered everything up, including the bareback pad again and led her down to the round pen.

I took the halter off and let her drift for a bit, then asked her back in where I started swinging the saddle pad on her back again, followed by the bareback pad. Again, she was not too concerned. So I did up the girth, stepped back and asked her to move. She bucked again for a bit, but way less than she did last session. Throughout this session, the bareback pad did not bother her at all. I moved it around, I patted it, I leaned on it, but nothing seemed to bother her. The rope, on the other hand, was a python with 6" fangs to her today.

I did more of what I did last time: swing the rope around when she left and stop when she turned in or approached me. She's getting pretty good at coming back in, but is not doing so well with staying. We worked LOTS on rhythmic (non-threatening) movement of the rope. She started to get better: a couple times she thought about leaving (tensed up and stepped away), but didn't actually leave.

So next I put the halter back on and started doing some yoyo and circling game. Yoyo is excellent. But circling game needs more work. Last session I just had to point my finger to get her to move off around the circle and there was lots of licking and chewing with her head low. Today I had to use the carrot stick a couple times to put some pressure in zone 2 to turn her (which caused her to rear) and in zone 4-5 to get her to move off around the circle. She'd bolt more than trot, and as soon as she was behind me, she'd disengage and snort. I faced her and asked her into the circle again starting with phase 1, then lift the stick, then swing the string. We did this about 4 or 5 times before she managed to circle twice without stopping. The reason she couldn't get it today was because her head was high the entire time... she wasn't thinking at all. She had the same issues with the other direction, but we persevered. At one point she wheeled away from me, turning into the lead line which really startled her and made her bolt. I let the rope go rather than let her feel trapped, but then there was that 12-foot python with 6" fangs chasing her. After a few laps around the pen she eventually stopped and backed away from the rope and stood (left). I approached her and retreated. She tried to approach me, but the rope moved so she stopped and quivered, so I picked up the end of the rope and walked away and she followed.

I spent the next 30-40 minutes swinging the rope some more. I walked away from her swinging the rope, asking her to follow. Each time there was slack in the lead line (i.e. she released to the pressure -- toward the swinging rope), I stopped swinging. Eventually I was able to swing it closer to her and then over her and around her legs without her needing to leave.

I took the halter off again and did some more with the rope. She left a few more times, but kept returning. She started snorting at my carrot stick, so I started tapping it on the ground while walking around her, then retreated, approached tapping the ground, walked around her and retreated. She followed each time.

Next I tried getting a front end yield. I started by holding my carrot stick parallel to her neck and just moving it slightly (driving game). She left. Hmmm, Ok, next I just put my hand on her nose and my other one by her girth (porcupine game) and asked her to yield away. She backed up. I kept up, adding more pressure to her girth and eventually she stepped across in front. Yay! Release. I asked again but this time she moved away before I even touched her. Release. She stopped and faced me, licking and chewing. I stepped to her left side again and raised my left hand toward her head again and she yielded away a step again. Wow, she's sensitive! I repeated this a few more times until I was able to get 2 steps from her, then tried the right side. She's WAY more sensitive on her right side and she really doesn't like me there. I raised my right hand and she left. I stepped back as soon as she took one step, but she was already gone. She came back fairly quickly though and we tried again. It took a few tries before she'd only take one step away. It really only took me raising my index finger to drive her away ... that was enough pressure for her!

The last thing I did was go back to the halter and lead line. I swung the rope around her a few more times, then brought it around her haunches and asked her to yield her hind end from both directions. The first one was more of a jump than a calm step across, but the last 3 or 4 she was yielding quietly with her head down. We called it a day after that. Whew!

Skittles - Parelli L1 and the Bareback Pad

Skittles is a quick learner! Man she's quick and sensitive and so inquisitive once she gets past her habit of snorting at everything new. However, despite always snorting, she tends to come around fairly quickly, settles down and trusts me. She asks LOTS of questions and today, when I gave her answers she could understand, there was lots of licking and chewing. It was an awesome day.

I started by just swinging the savvy string around her just to get her back to where we left off last time. She twitched a few times, but didn't leave and we moved on to a saddle pad. She sniffed it then ignored it. So I swung rubbed her all over then swung it up on her back a few times. No problem. This was all up by the tack shed. So I just left the saddle pad on her back, grabbed the bareback pad, girth, my carrot stick & savvy string, and my red exercise ball and headed down to the round ring. I just kicked the ball ahead of me and she wasn't too sure about that at first, but followed a ways behind me.

In the round pen, I swung the saddle pad off and on her a few more times, then got the bareback pad. I let her sniff that a while, then moved it around her body, legs, and swung it up on her back as well. Then I pulled the girth up under her, and then let it down and repeated this several times - each time bringing it up a bit tighter. The first couple times she tensed up, but then relaxed and appeared OK with it. So I pulled the girth snug again and did it up to the bareback pad. It never got overly tight - just snug enough to keep the bareback pad from moving. Then once I stepped away from her, she jumped sideways and up at the same time and circled the pen a couple times bucking the whole time. After a couple times around she slowed to a trot and then stopped by the gate and looked at me. I approached her but didn't touch her until she came to me. Once she reached out to me, I took hold of her lead line and led her around the pen. She let out a big sigh and followed quietly.

The rest of the time we spent doing the Parelli friendly game with the savvy string, carrot stick, and red ball, the driving game, porcupine game, yoyo game and circle game. I am astounded at how sensitive she is and how quickly she has responded to the cues for the circle game and yoyo game. I never got past phase 2 for pressure on anything and she very quickly responded to phase 1. She's brilliant - so focussed and sensitive. She's really going to teach me to lower my phases and see just how little it takes. Very cool.

A few times when I had her at liberty, she would leave. Which is fine, she's allowed to do that! So when she left, I just would swing the string back and forth on the ground, and as soon as she turned back, I stopped swinging it. I think by the third time she left (I was sitting on the ball at this time), I just lifted the carrot stick slightly and she came back. What an amazing feeling to have her do that. At liberty!!

I did a few other things like jumping up and down beside her leaning my weight on her back by pulling on the saddle pad handle. She didn't flinch from either side. And I rolled the red exercise ball up both sides of her up to her back and let it drop, rolled it around her legs and under her belly. No significant reaction. She'd raise her head each time I rolled it up on her back, but didn't do anything else. I probably should have held it up there until she lowered her head. Maybe next time.

She was so awesome! I'm thrilled by how well she's coming along! So cool! This warm fuzzy feeling is what makes everything worth it! The last photo is Yarrow peering over the fence watching all the fun!

Skittles - back to basics

I took Skittles into the round pen today to start at the beginning with the Friendly game again. The horse that showed up was a high-headed skeptical Skittles, only slightly less scared than yesterday (left). I took the halter off and worked with her at liberty. So she chose when to come in and when to leave (tests my savvy!). I started with just the carrot stick, scratching her nose, neck and body as she let me. When she left I'd swing the carrot stick and when she stopped and looked at me or turned in to me, I lowered the stick and backed off. She came in, and I'd start to scratch her again and we continued this pattern until she stopped leaving. Then I dropped the string at the end of the carrot stick and we started the pattern again: she'd leave, I'd swing the string back and forth in rhythmic motion and keep it moving while she was moving, until she looked at me or turned toward me. As soon as she did, I stopped swinging the string. I kept this up until she could stand still and let me swing the string around her and over her back, neck and around her legs. I then did some more leading with the rope around her feet. She did great with this again, although I'm hoping eventually she'll give with less and less pressure (still a phase 4 at the moment before she'll lift her foot). This took about 30 minutes (so about half the time of yesterday, and the added bonus was this was at liberty!).

Next we did some friendly game with my jacket. It was pretty windy today, so it was blowing back and forth in my hand without any help from me. So we started the pattern again.... lots of approach and retreat, approach and retreat and eventually she let me swing it up over her back from both sides, on her neck and around her legs. This took about another 30 minutes (the wind kept making the jacket move and startle her enough to leave). Once she was relatively relaxed with the jacket swung multiple times on and around her, I dropped it and let her sniff, mouth and nose it around and I went back to the carrot stick and savvy string - just to make sure she didn't perceive it as a new threat. She didn't react and was consistently licking and chewing, so we called it a day. She's getting closer to the more confident filly she had become after her 2 weeks with the trainer last winter. I think (hope) the remaining sessions will get easier and easier as I try new things.

Back to the old Skittles

I worked with Skittles yesterday. It's been a while since I've done much with her and what I've learned is that she's the kind of horse who will forget everything you've accomplished unless you work with her regularly.

Rather than calling the horses up to the paddocks and then catching Skittles after she's come up, I decided to see how easy she would be to catch in the pasture. When she's up in the paddock, she's often one of the first to come and say hello. In the back of the pasture though, it's completely different. I think in her eyes I've grown fangs and horns or something when I walk to the back of the pasture. It took some convincing to get her to come to me (lots of approach and retreat). But I did, and eventually I got the halter on her. So I started to lead her back to the paddock. Soon the other horses started to follow (as expected) and then as we got around the trees, they all started to gallop past me (as expected). Skittles, being Skittles, jumped forward as well, reached the end of the lead line, panicked and pulled away from me (gave me a bit of rope burn in the process), then took off across the remainder of the pasture and then into the next bluff of trees trying to get away from the 12' line following after her.

She eventually charged into the paddock with the rest of the herd and galloped around the paddock as well trying to escape the lead line that magically kept pace with her. As the rest of the herd slowed and stopped, she eventually did as well, but stood there absolutely quivering. Poor girl! She let me approach and the look on her face was quite comical. She looked like she wanted to approach me, but every time she'd move her head, the line would move and startle her. The look on her face seemed to say, "You gotta help me! Every time I move, this rope keeps chasing me! Yikes! See?! There it goes again!"

So guess what we did for the next hour (give or take)? Yup: Friendly game with the rope. And it took that entire hour (+/-) to get her to relax. By the end of the session I was swinging the rope on either side of her, over her back, around her legs and over her head. And I started using the rope around her front and back legs to try to get her to give to the pressure and lead her by each foot. She did fantastic with that! Hopefully we'll be able to move past the rope today.

No photos of the rope chasing Skittles. I didn't have my camera with me. Today's pic is just a headshot of her from my "library".

Gypsy takes care of the girls

My daughter had another friend over last night and today; another friend who is also a horse nut! So this time I decided to use good ol' dependable Gypsy. She's such a star.

I caught her, or rather she caught me! She does that all the time now. I think if she had thumbs, she might actually put the halter on herself! That's how enthusiastic she is these days when I come and get her. It's such a pleasure to spend time with her!

After grooming her, I had to do quite a bit of friendly game with the bareback pad. She wasn't intersted in standing still for that, but we eventually got it all figured out she eventually relaxed about it. But because she was a bit uncertain about the bareback pad, I spent more time with the 7 games before I got on.

I had her move sideways toward me (another thing she couldn't do a year ago!) while I was standing on the trailer hitch so I could jump on. At the Parelli clinic this spring, Amy showed us how she gets on bareback by having her horse lower her head, then Amy jumped on her neck and when her horse raised her head, Amy slid down onto her back. Looked really slick! I'd like to start trying that with Gypsy, but not today. The girls were getting impatient!

So I took Gypsy for a bit of a test drive first to see what kind of horse showed up today (first photo). She was my golden girl again today, so after just trotting to the end of the subdivision road and back, I led her into the front paddock to give the girls a chance to ride her. Holly started and she just walked her around (second photo). At first Gypsy kind of stuck to me and wouldn't leave, but Holly finally got her attention (she's about the size of a peanut, so it took some convincing!) and she was off riding around the paddock.

Then it was Katie's turn. Katie even tried trotting (third photo). She did awesome. At one point she started slipping sideways and slowly fell off. In the past if this happened, Gypsy would spook and run off to the gate. Today though, she slowed as Katie started slipping, and then when Katie fell, she stopped completely and waited for Katie to get back up. Like I said: My Golden Girl! (And by that I mean she's pure gold, not that she's old!). And because of how good Gypsy was, Katie did not get scared, but got right back on and tried again. She trotted one more time and then both girls went around the paddock a couple times together (last photo). Smiles all around!

Poor little Yarrow gets some attention

My daughter has a friend visiting from out of town for the week this week. She's a HUGE horse fanatic, just like I was at her age. And she loves the little Arab we have boarding here named Yarrow. His owners haven't been to see him for over a year, so I always feel sorry for him. He is often the first one up to visit me when I go out to the pasture and always seems to be saying "Pick me! Pick me!" but because I have FOUR other horses to work with, I just can't find the time to do anything with him. The fact that he's not mine factors in as well. I know his owners are trying to sell him, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to get on his back a couple times just to remind him what it's like. Last time he was ridden was the last time I rode him last summer.

So I thought today would be a good time to get back on him and give Emily a chance to ride him as well. I got on him first (obviously... it's been more than a year since anyone did anything with him!). I started with some Parelli games before saddling him, but he was way more interesed in grazing the lawn! Saddling wasn't an issue, but he couldn't stand still for the girth. Took a while to settle him enough to get the girth done up. After that we only tightened it a notch at a time until it was tight enough. Then I just mounted and dismounted a few times and he was completely unconcerned. He did great! I let him wander wherever he wanted and only guided him when he'd stop in the corner by the gate. He tossed his head a couple times (well, he IS an Arab!), but other than that, he was completely A-OK.

So I rode him down the alleyway to the round pen to give my daughter's friend a try on him. She only stayed on for a few minutes before she thought she had enough, so then each of my kids asked for a turn. Callum started in the round pen, but quickly wanted to move to the bigger paddock and then Pearce and Holly each took their turn in the paddock. Holly had more difficulty steering him. But she did manage to do a couple of turns on him. Considering how little he's been ridden, I was impressed! What a great little pony.

1st Trail(er) Ride!

Today was our first trail ride and trailer ride with the new trailer. Yay!

Saturday Tania (a friend I met at the last Parelli clinic who, like me, is looking for like-minded people to do horse stuff with) trailered her horse over to my place and we did some work on trailer loading and unloading. With Gypsy I was just trying to get her to wait in the trailer until I asked her to back out. With Tania's horse Jack, we worked on unloading using the tail-pull. It started raining pretty hard, so we kind of gave it up after an hour or so, came in for coffee and then decided to haul Jack to an indoor arena so Tania could do some more work with him there. I followed her to the arena and gave her a few suggestions here and there on a couple things she was working on. Although she didn't need much help. Jack is an awesome horse. Only 4 years old, and from what I can see - rock solid. Really well trained.

Saturday was more or less a bit of preparation for trailering and trail riding for today. Each time I worked with Gypsy loading in the trailer, she would get better and better. On Saturday we had her in the trailer with the door closed a few times, so I was pretty confident by the time we quit that I'd have no trouble loading Gypsy for the trail ride today.

And of course, she did great. I didn't use the sway bar (still haven't quite got her to move up enough to close the sway bar), but just let Gypsy have the whole trailer to find a comfortable position for herself. We drove to Blackfoot Provincial Rec Area, unloaded and got saddled up for the trail. We stayed at a walk the whole time which is a bit of a challenge for Gypsy. She has a lot of go! She did manage to stay at a walk most of the time, but on the way back she got a bit impatient. Tania helped me with Gypsy's patience by being patient herself while I had Gypsy stop and stand quietly several times on the way back. We aslo got off after another couple riders passed us and walked a bit. I walked and worked on keeping Gypsy behind me rather than pulling ahead. She walked through my swinging string a couple times, getting whacked on the face in the process, before she settled in behind my shoulder. Tania was also very patient while I mounted and remounted Gypsy a couple times on the trail as well. Gypsy didn't stand as quietly with me today as she usually does at home. So it was great to have someone not only understand why I had to dismount and remount, but also ENCOURAGE me to do it. As we got closer to the staging area, we made Gypsy walk behind Jack and each time Gypsy tried to sneak by, Tania swung her reins in front of her face to keep her back (much like I was doing while walking with Gypsy). It was a great ride. Besides the couple who passed us, we also encountered a couple of men in a wagon being pulled by some big draught horses. Both Jack and Gypsy were pretty curious about that big noisy thing and all the paraphanalia jangling around the two horses. The men driving the wagon were great. They stopped to talk and let our horses have a good look and then when they went on ahead, Tania and I followed them a bit to help our horses relax a bit more. Very cool!

A perfect start to the big wide world opening up to me now that I have a trailer! And it was a gorgeous day too! Couldn't have been more perfect. I'm still grinning.

Parelli saddle fits Gypsy too!

Couple of weeks of 30+ temperatures, a week of camping and then post-holiday catch-up with work has kept me from spending any time with the horses. Today I finally got out with Gypsy.

I tried the new saddle on Gypsy just to see if it would fit and it does. I thought it would be too big, but with her broad QH chest, it fit quite well (photo). She's wearing her new hackamore as well. Looks pretty sharp with the nice clean white ropes, but that probably won't last long! :-)

Before we went riding though, I thought I'd try her in the trailer again too just to see if she'd be any better than the last time. She was about the same. She'd go in but she wouldn't stay. So we went in and out a few times, did some circle game transitions in between then I took her for a ride. We tried a new route this time: my brother-in-law next door cut some trails through his property recently (for his quad), so I took Gypsy through those (something a little scarier than usual). She did awesome. She did try to turn back a few times, but didn't object too much when I turned her back the way I wanted to go. She's such a great horse.

I only spent about an hour riding and an hour with the trailer total. When we finished riding, I got her in the trailer again. She'd stay in the trailer as long as I was in there with her. For a while again she'd just keep stepping in and then backing out immediately. This time I didn't give her any rest when she backed out, but asked her to step back in. Each time she stepped in, I'd leave her alone and give her lots of scratches and even a couple treats. If she stepped out, I'd let her, but then asked her to come right back in. The last one she stayed for several minutes while I scratched her neck and belly (which she loves). Trying to make being in the trailer a cool place to be! She did much better this time and seemed more relaxed standing in the trailer. However, she still hasn't been able to stand in there alone and I still haven't been able to close the divider.... Hopefully soon, since I'm planning on taking her out to either Fultonvale or Blackfoot to meet some other new Parelli friends this weekend!

Small observations

I haven't had time to do much with the horses this week (story of my life) - just the ride on Jake earlier, but I have spent time at the end of each day to just go visit and spend some undemanding time with them before I let them back in the pasture for the night. So I've just been going through the herd and just taking time to scratch them all one at a time. What usually happens is that Gypsy tends to chase everyone away (except Jake, of course) and position herself in front of me where she needs to be scratched. I oblige her because this is really building our relationship. When I first started doing Parelli (see earlier blogs), one of the things she would not do is choose to come up to me. But she does that all the time now which is a HUGE change. So I make sure whenever she does come up to me, it's a positive experience.

IndyAnna used to always come up to me - almost to the point of being pushy, but lately has not been coming up to me as much. I suspect it's because I've not spent as much time with her as the others. Funny how that has happened. When I first got the fillies, I spent way more time with Indy simply because she let me and Skittles wouldn't. But now that Skittles has been transformed from the wild thing she used to be into a much more trusting, curious and confident "people" horse, I've spent more time with her than Indy. I think I've been "leaving Indy until later" because part of me thought she would always be the easier horse. But the less I work with her, the more difficult she is becoming. Well, difficult probably isn't the right term. Maybe just less responsive.

Skittles, on the other hand, continues to impress me. And again, that's probably because I interact with her more, so she's more responsive. What pulls at my heartstrings most is when I turn the horses out to pasture at the end of the day Skittles consistently chooses to stay with me rather than follow the herd. And as with Gypsy, I reward that by making it a positive experience: lots of scratches and love. I am absolutely falling in love with this little horse (she's the one looking at the camera in the photo above). If I ever do sell her (which was the original plan when I bought the fillies), it will have to be to someone pretty special.