Farewell to Indy and Jake

Indy and Jake went to their new home this week. :-(

I'm sad to say good bye but I've made some new friends, so I'm happy about that. Andrea and Doug and their girls are really nice people and will spoil "my babies" (now their babies!) shamelessly!

Originally the plan was to raise, train and sell both fillies. In the last few months though, I actually thought I would keep Indy, then sell Skittles and Jake instead. Not because I was less attached to either of those horses, but because poor Jake just wasn't getting the attention he deserved and because Skittles was more of a challenge than Indy (that's me wanting to take the path of least resistance). But Andrea and Doug fell in love with Indy (and Jake), so after some soul-searching and chats back and forth with my "sounding board", Tania, I made the decision to let Indy go. Tania more or less just listened to me figure it out and supported whatever decision I came to. Thank you Tania.

Anyway, Doug and Andrea recently joined the Parelli Savvy club and I've lent them my Level 1 DVDs, so we may see them at some Parelli clinic or function some day in the future. Indy and Jake are now living not far from here, so I may stop in and give them treats from time to time.

I miss them already... especially Indy who never failed to trot up to the gate whenever I came out to see them. I know they'll be loved and cared for a great deal, but it's hard to say good bye. I'm a big mush when it comes to my animals. I think I'd get attached to a fly if it hung around me long enough!

My husband said, "now we can go get two more weanlings and start all over!" I admit, I had to do a double-take, wondering who he was and what did he do with my husband! As tempting as that is, I think I need to focus on Skittles' training for a while and seeing how far I can go in the levels with Gypsy. Although.... I may consider breeding Gypsy next spring and raising my own foal .... hmmmm.....

Playing with Indy

I've been slack in my blogging, sorry folks! I've played with Indy and Jake (last couple weekends while a family came to "try them out") as well as Gypsy the other day and Indy today, but have been a lazy blogger. I guess that's better than not playing with the horses!

I've had a family interested in buying Indy. When they phoned to ask if they could come see her, I agreed, but qualified it by adding that I've been thinking I might keep her instead of sell her since she's been coming along so well. Well, that just made them want to see her more! Anyway, the family is extremely nice and I have no doubt they'd take great care of her (or Jake... they tried him out as well). They came two weekends ago as well as last weekend. So not sure where their heads are at, but if they decide to buy her or not to buy her, I won't be heartbroken either way. And I've probably made some new friends as well.

On Monday, I took Gypsy out for a short trail ride with my neighbour. I didn't do any ground work with her before heading out, and as a result, she was right-brained the whole time. Poor Gypsy. You'd think I'd learn. It was a beautiful day though, so even though Gypsy was all GO, and I had to do quite a few cirles with her, we still enjoyed it. That "pre-flight" check really is important... every time I skip it, the ride is more work than enjoyable. But when I do take the time to get her calm and trusting, the ride is calm and enjoyable.

Today, I took Indy over to my neighbours again (she has an arena and I don't) and played online and did some riding as well. I let her loose in the arena for a while to start and asked her to move out (she did, and seemed to really let loose!), then asked her to change directions a few times. She didn't always listen, but I eventually got her to respond and go the direction I wanted. She always came trotting back to me though, which is really nice. Then I put the 22' line on her and we did some squeeze, driving, sideways, circle and yoyo before getting on. Indy is so much different than Skittles. She always does what I ask, and she seems to do it fairly well, but I always get the sense she's only half paying attention, whereas Skittles is glued to me. Indy often objects at first when I ask her to do something (tossing head, little bucks), but will do it when I insist. Not sure if I'm handling that right or not. I guess time will tell. I'd like to eventually see more willingness (less testing). For the moment, all I've been doing is letting her have her little tantrum (basically ignoring it), but continue to ask until she does what I ask (patiently persistent). If any of you has an opinion about how to deal with that, I'd love to hear it. She's not being unmanageable, just constantly objecting or maybe testing me before complying. Maybe I'm not doing enough on the ground for her to believe I'm the leader before riding? Not sure.

Anyway, once I was riding her, we did lots of patterns around the barrels at the walk and trot, worked on straightness, moving off my leg... that was more difficult when I asked for sideways AWAY from the gate, then when I asked for sideways TOWARD the gate.... maybe I should use the gate to my advantage and worry about obedience later?? Anyway, I insisted she move off my leg even though we were moving away from the gate, and I got a couple tantrum bucks before she complied. I was aiming for a barrel going sideways and once we finally got there (kind of a wonky forward/back sideways), I rewarded her with some crunchies on the barrel.

Anyway, despite some questions, she's doing pretty well. I just need to figure out how to get through a ride without any "arguments"!

Skittles at Rafter XX

Today was a great day at Rafter XX ranch with Tamara and Tania. We need to do this more often! We met there at 9:00 this morning, took our time getting going which helped relax the horses, and let us chit-chat too! :-) I brought Skittles this time. I've been avoiding her. Well, not entirely, but I've definitely picked Gypsy or Indy way more than Skittles, simply because they're less challenging, so I can relax more around them and it feels less like work. I'm really glad I picked Skittles today though -- having Tamara and Tania provide feedback and advice was exactly what I needed with her because it really helped me improve my communication with her and consequently my confidence!

We spent 2 hours just on playing around on the ground... jumping barrels, weaving between pylons, trotting over poles, circling, changing direction and playing "stick to me". This was the first time I've played "stick to me" with Skittles and she figured it out pretty quick! Her tendency whenever I add pressure to her halter (pull on the leadrope) is to pull back and even back up sometimes. So I worked on getting her to move forward off that pressure by adding pressure behind her. Her first response was to scootch sideways around me, but eventually I got her moving forward and from there I got her to start trotting beside me, then stop and back up too. I think she had it mostly figured out after about 3 or 4 tries. Smart girl! (see video clip below). I do need to practice this more though, because I tried running beside her as she was trotting over the poles a little later, and she pulled away sideways again before moving forward. I guess it's really more "friendly game" and getting her to understand that me running beside her doesn't mean I'm chasing her! And I need to do it from both sides... she wants to keep me on her left all the time.

When I saddled her, I worked on keeping her head down like I did before and this worked great again. It took time, but each time I asked her to lower her head, she kept it there longer. Pretty soon I won't have to ask her at all.

Before I got on though, Tamara asked if I'm able to play the friendly game with Skittles (with stick and string) while she's moving. I've done it before, but she's phobic about strings and ropes, so it's worse when she's moving. Tamara suggested I work on that before getting on. So I did, and after several explosions from Skittles and with much guidance from Tamara, I eventually got her walking calmly in both directions while I swung the rope over and around her.

It's interesting that even though I KNOW I need to get firm with her at times, I still find myself tip-toeing around her when she goes right-brained. Having Tamara and Tania there to point it out and give me pointers (match her energy, don't let her pull/push me around, etc.) REALLY helped me and it really didn't take very long (definitely less than 2 days!) before she was walking calmly around me, licking and chewing with her head nice and low while I swung the string over her back. She was definitely more ready to ride after that!

We mostly walked once I got on her again (still a bit of the 'fraidy-cat in me worried about being dumped again), but after I told Tania I hadn't trotted her before (well, I did a bit at home in the round pen, but I don't count that because it was never more than a few steps in a row), she says, "well, why don't you? What are you waiting for?" So I did. And she did. Not for long, but we did it several times and she did some very smooth up and down transitions. What was I worried about anyway? So now we just have to work on maintaining gait and direction! But I was really pleased with how the day went.

Thank you Tamara and Tania!!

Skittles @ Fultonvale - take 2

Another spectacular fall day, so I didn't want it to go to waste. My original plan was to take both Indy and Skittles to Fultonvale and spend several hours working with both. But I ended up only taking Skittles because I couldn't get both in the trailer. I know Indy will load into the front with the divider closed, so I practiced loading Skittles without Indy there, but with the divider closed (less room for her to stand or turn around). She would stand in there with her front feet up, but would never step up with her hind. So then I loaded Indy to see if that would help Skittles. It didn't. So I took Indy out once more, then loaded Skittles a few more times into the whole trailer. Then tied Skittles and went back to Indy. In the end I just took Skittles because, well she needs the most work. And because she exploded while tied to the trailer (while I was working on loading Indy) and pulled herself right out of the halter. It was after that when I decided I should just take one -- and obviously it had to be Skittles... there was no way I was going to put her away after that incident. She needed to work through it.

She actually loaded just fine after I caught her again. And she let me catch her up pretty quickly too. So even though she can be explosive, once she comes down again, she's back to being "good" pretty quickly (looking for a silver lining!).

I invited Tania, but didn't know if she'd be there until I got there. And she was (yay!). I wouldn't have rode Skittles without Tania there. It makes such a difference to my confidence with Tania there. If for no other reason that I know I'm safer with someone around, so I'm less up-tight. So it also helps my horse!

Anyway, while Tania was riding, I worked with Skittles on line -- trying to get her attention and focus on me while playing the 7 games. One thing Tania noticed that I didn't was that when I stand in zone 3 and drive zone 1 away from me, whenever I stopped, Skittles would turn into me (drop her shoulder) and move her hind end away. I didn't notice, but Tania did, and told me not to let her do that because it's a dominance thing (and it's true, whenever she does that, I move away!). The next couple times she did that to me, I whacked her with the carrot stick to push her shoulder away again and it worked! Didn't happen again! AND she was way more respectful, with lots of bobbing her head as she approached, and lots of licking and chewing too. This also really helped me to build my confidence as the leader. The explosion with Skittles earlier made me apprehensive and afraid of her again, so naturally I'm more wary and tend to move out of her way when she moves into me... the opposite of what I should be doing. Having Tania there to point that out helped me immensely!

I had her jump some barrels -- both before and after I saddled her. I think she really enjoys jumping... she approaches the barrels with lots of energy and a positive look on her face... plus she gets lots of "GOOD GIRL" and scratches from me after :-) She really jumps them well too with plenty of room to spare.

Another thing she does really well is move up beside me when I'm sitting on a fence. We worked on this a lot in the round pen last year and she's remembering it really well... she never fails to position herself exactly right when I go sit on the fence. Makes mounting easy!

I took my time saddling her and again, Tania helped me with some suggestions while saddling. She suggested I work on lowering her head before, during and after saddling. Her tendency is always to pop her head up, so this was a great suggestion and it made a huge difference. I made some commotion with the saddle a few times on both sides of her before putting it on her back and every time she popped her head up, I asked her to lower it. By the time I put the saddle on, she was keeping her head pretty low. It was the best saddling session I've had with her yet. THANK YOU TANIA!

I mounted from the fence (since she's so good at that) and just let her walk around. I only used the halter and lead rope today, and practiced flipping the rope from side to side and even turning her without flipping the rope over (eg neck-reining). She did really well. I didn't bother her much at first... just let her drift around and check things out, but once she was settled and relaxed, I did some more with the steering with one rein. She did really well.

So despite the disastrous start, we ended on a pretty good note. I just need to do more with her more consistently (a common theme on this blog!).

Parelli Ride at Blackfoot

Yesterday was the last Parelli ride of the season, held at the Blackfoot. I decided to take IndyAnna rather than Gypsy. I already know Gypsy is good on the trail, plus Indy needs more miles and more experience.

I took lots of time to walk her around and play with her at the staging area before we started off. I arrived an hour before the scheduled departure time. So she was relatively settled once I got her saddled and ready to go. This time there were LOTS more horses around for her to watch and "talk" to, so she never really completely settled down, but enough to feel OK about getting on.

There were about a dozen or so riders in the group, so it was a good test to see how Indy would do in a large group. There were a few faces I recognized, but there were also quite a few new ones I hadn't met yet. To start with we all kind of rode grouped together on the first part of the trail before we got to the fields and so Indy had a group of horses in front of her as well as behind her. I could tell she didn't quite know how to handle that and she was feeling pretty uptight. She started prancing a bit and glancing backwards and side to side to look for an exit. Luckily the riders directly behind me backed off a bit and we got to the gate fairly quickly and were soon in the fields, so she was able to relax a bit and figure out where she was most comfortable in the group.

Several horses took the lead and I held Indy back in the middle group. She wasn't sure she liked that much as she seemed to want to catch up to the lead group, but at the same time kept checking back on the group behind us! So many choices! We stopped a few times while waiting for others to catch up, which Indy also didn't like. She crow-hopped a bit and gave me a couple of her "tantrum bucks" (kind of like a rocking horse) while I was trying to keep her still, so we did some circling and disengaging and she started to settle down. It took her about an hour or so before she was comfortable just walking. I never really felt -- even with her prancing and crow-hopping -- that she would do anything dangerous or unpredictable though. She was never afraid - just impatient. She was always responsive to my cues, she just didn't agree with me all the time! After a couple more stops to wait for others, she began to realize that stopping meant she could graze! And Indy isn't one to pass up on the opportunity for food! Once she settled into the group, and got comfortable with the other horses, she was perfect. I had absolutely no issues with her at all.

We mostly walked, but did some trotting while we were in the fields as well. We stopped at Running Dog picnic area for lunch at 1:30. We were all pretty hungry by then!

The pace on the way back was significantly faster. Mostly trotting. It's amazing to me how the horses all seem to know when they're headed home! We were in the lead group on the way back and Indy continuously seemed to want to take the lead. So I let her try a couple times and she'd get to the front only to back off as soon as she was even with the lead horse. So she wanted to be out front, but really wasn't QUITE ready to be the leader. She was happy to share the lead. I was thrilled with that -- It's pretty good when you consider she's only 3! Just before we got back into the fields, a few of the lead horses picked up a canter and Indy followed. I wasn't planning on cantering exactly, however since the opportunity presented itself, I just let her go to see how well she'd do, and she did great. We only cantered a half-dozen strides or so, but it was nice and even and controlled and balanced. Wow, our first canter! Granted, it was short-lived, but it was perfect! Again, I'm so impressed with this horse!

When we were heading back through the fields, I let her wander off the main trail and explore a bit to satisfy her seemingly unquenchable curiousity. She didn't seem the least bit concerned leaving the main group. She'd check back and see where they were headed, but didn't feel the need to be right close to them. Again, another great sign of her confidence.

We got back to Waskahegan at about 4:30 (5-1/2 hours later). Indy had barely broken a sweat all day, so another clear indication she was in no way stressed during the ride. She got lots of treats and lots of love. A really successful day. And what a pleasure it is to ride with Parelli people! So much good-will, helpfulness and calm patience. I really enjoyed it.

Indy & Gypsy get a "float"

Yesterday Indy and Gypsy got their teeth floated. This was new to me... I've never taken any of my horses to have their teeth floated. I know, my bad. In my defense, it was always my understanding that if a horse wasn't having trouble keeping weight on (which is true of ALL my horses), then not to worry about the teeth. However, I've recently been hearing more and more about the importance of equine dentistry and how -- even if they're eating OK -- it can affect how comfortable they are carrying a bit, or how easily they respond to pressure. So I decided to give it a try. Gypsy -- at 12 years old and never been done -- definitely needed to be looked at. And Skittles had her wolf teeth removed at a year old when she was sedated for a completely different reason, so that left Indy and Jake. Since I'm just starting Indy and hadn't put a bit in her mouth yet, I decided to have her teeth done. I'll definitely get Jake done as well, but need to spread out the expenses, so will get his done next spring.

So I loaded up Indy and Gypsy yesterday morning (first time I've taken two of my horses in the trailer!) and took them to the vet. Initially I was planning on having a well-known licensed equine dentist come to my place and do all 4 horses (as well as my boarders and a few others), but it turns out he needed a barn to work in (which I didn't know, having never done this before), so we ended up cancelling. So instead I made the appointment with my vet.

We got there a bit early so I could give both horses a chance to walk around and settle down (Indy, especially, was pretty wound-up). Gypsy went first since I felt Indy needed more time to settle. She never really did; when I put her in a stall while we worked on Gypsy, she neighed and pawed the whole time. In hindsight we probably should have done her first since she would have been sedated! Anyway, Gypsy - in true form - was great. She walked calmly into the stocks, took the needle like a true Parelli pro and stood quietly through the entire proceedure. Turns out -- despite never having her teeth floated -- her teeth are in excellent shape. The vet only had to grind off a couple sharp points and a "ramp" at the back and she was done. No wolf teeth to be removed.

Indy had wolf teeth, so she got the sedative as well as some novacaine (sp??) freezing around her teeth. Indy did extremely well considering how new this all was to her (trailering with another horse, being brought into a stall, then into the stocks and sedated, and having a grinder vibrating in her mouth!). She pulled back a bit and tossed her head a couple times, but really she accepted everything really well. I was so proud of her! Her wolf teeth were so tiny... it's hard to believe something so small should be a concern. But they're out now, so she's ready to try a bit once she's all healed up.

Indy's teeth -- like Gypsy's -- are in pretty good shape. A bit more of an overbite than Gypsy, but still working OK. Good to know! I guess, if my kids haven't inherited my good teeth, then at least my horses have! :-)

The vet's assistant assured me both horses did extremely well... I guess they've had some serious struggles with some horses and have needed multiple doses of sedative. The whole process was really low-key and calm. I was worried... as I always am with something I've never done before... but it all went really smoothly. I credit Parelli with that. I'm so glad I've learned to "take the time it takes". And my horses are so much better for it.

Christening my neighbour's arena

Sunday I rode Gypsy over to my neighbour's place to help "christen" her new arena. They built it last year, but only just got all the sand in and rocks removed recently, so I helped her break it in. It was fun. She's got barrels and cavalleti's, jump standards, and some solid jumps as well. Lots of stuff to play with.

For the first while, I just let Gypsy explore and relax about all the new stuff in the arena. She snorted and tried to run away from the barrels and jumps in a couple of the corners. We did the "squeeze game" back and forth by each of the corners until she was able to go up and put her nose on them. Once she decided there was nothing to be afraid of, I moved the barrels into the center of the arena and started riding the cloverleaf pattern. I've done some of this at home around my pylons, so she settled into it fairly quickly. She's starting to bend nicely around the corners and is actually starting to move off (turn with) leg pressure better and better. She really is starting to understand that leg pressure doesn't always mean go faster. She still does occasionally, but it's less and less, and I can tell she is really starting to think more now than just react, which I love. The Patterns really do work!

We also did some figure-8's and simple changes. Then we did some trot-poles and jumps as well. At home I've jumped her over the barrels plenty of times, but always at a trot. This time we approached the jumps a couple times at the canter, and WEEEEEE... she LEAPED over them. Wow... lots of air! Plus it's been about 20 years since I've actually "rode a course", so I was feeling pretty loose! She refused a few times coming off her right lead, but eventually made it with patience and persistence. After the first refusal, I went back to just trotting her up to it, then approached again at the canter. It took about 3 attempts, but she made it. Off her left lead, no problems.

She seemed to have fun too. She was nice and soft and was doing lots of blowing and licking and chewing. Plus her ears were forward most of the time. Something different! A good day (although quite chilly!).

Doin' my HAPPY DANCE!

I passed Level 2!!! Yay!!!

I sent in my DVD with the L2 tasks last week and Don phoned yesterday to let me know I passed all the tasks!!!! My husband took the message, so I didn't get a chance to talk with Don about it, but it sounds like I must have done OK. It was WAY quicker than thought it would take. I was expecting maybe a month or so before I'd hear back. So now I just wait until my shiny new blue savvy string and Level 2 certificate comes in the mail from the Parelli Center. I can't tell you how relieved, excited, thrilled, and HAPPY I am!!

Woohoo!! Doin' my happy dance! :-)

Indy's First Trail Ride!

Tania and I met at Blackfoot this morning for Indy's first trail ride. The day was gorgeous - bright and sunny and warm and the fall colors were spectacular!

When we arrived, I just wandered around the parking lot with Indy letting her sniff things and get a good look around. Then after I put her saddle on, I circled her a few times and then played "put your nose on it" around the parking lot, the picnic area and grassy area until she was calm and unconcerned. She's naturally a very curious horse, so it doesn't take much to get her to put her nose on stuff. I also yoyo'd her to the tie rails and up a grassy bank.

Eventually, I felt she was ready to ride and so I got on and walked her around the staging area. There were a few other horses arriving by this time, so Indy was calling out to all of them and had to watch them all. So much to see and smell!

We started down the trail with Jack in the lead (which Tania also wanted to work on -- Jack being the leader -- so this trail ride benefitted both of us!). For about the first 200 m or so, Indy was trying to look at everything at once with lots of weaving and snorting, but mostly in a curious "holy cow there's a lot of new stuff here" way, rather than fearful. In no time she settled into a nice steady walk. She tried to trot off a few times when we got to more open areas, but I checked her back to a walk and she listened.

We stopped to take pictures here and there and Indy managed to wait almost patiently and had no problem with being re-mounted the couple times I had to get off (I was expecting her to walk off like Gypsy always does when she's agitated). She listened to my leg and the reins really well. She also took the lead a few times and managed it like a pro.

A couple other horses passed us on the trail and Indy wanted to follow them and jigged a bit and tossed her head when I held her back, but other than that, she did amazing.

At the end of the ride just before we got off the trail, Jack spooked at a squirrel and wheeled around to go back down the trail. Indy, being right behind him, also had to turn quickly to avoid him, but she didn't get upset or take off down the trail, she just stopped as if she was just trying to get out of his way. I was so impressed!

What a spectacular day! Indy is impressing the socks off me. She did fantastic for her first time on the trail!

Skittles at Fultonvale

I loaded up Skittles this morning and took her to the Fultonvale arena to do some ground work. Long overdue. The last time I rode Skittles, I ended up on the ground, so I've been avoiding her since then! Time to get back in the saddle, so to speak.

I didn't go with anyone to Fultonvale this time, so I didn't plan to ride (I prefer to have someone there to pick up the pieces if need be). Safety first!

So once we got there, I let her explore a bit, then I turned her loose in the arena to sniff around. After a while I started playing the "catching game" with her: chase her until she turns to me, then retreat with the intent of drawing her to me (get her to catch me). She was still pretty right-brained, so it took a couple of attempts, but it wasn't long before she came up to me.

Then I spent the next half hour or so with her on the 22' line doing the 7 games. She's really lazy on the circle, so we spent the most time on that.... just getting her to keep going. Once she managed a few circles on her own, I started changing direction. That seemed to help keep her going as well as keep her attention on me a bit more.

Her sideways is pretty good - even without the fence and her yoyo is really nice; phase 1 or 2 consistently. And of course, as always, her porcupine and driving are also really nice. She's so sensitive.

After about 30 minutes or so, someone else showed up to ride in the arena, so I thought I'd take a chance and try getting on Skittles. I felt better having someone else there.

I took her back to the trailer to go put the saddle on. I tied her to the trailer and she stood fairly well when I saddled her, but kept trying to turn around to watch the other horse in the arena. At one point (maybe it was the stirrups? not sure), she jumped at something and had a little snit, rearing up a bit and pulling against her line tied to the trailer. It was short-lived, but dramatic! Once she stopped, she lowered her head and started licking and chewing. I suspect that was her test for today... once she got past it, she was calm, cool and collected.

I trotted her around in the saddle on the end of the line for a while, making sure the saddle and stirrups bumped her enough to get her used to it before I got on. She was fine the whole time, lots of licking and chewing (like I said I think she'd had her snit and got that out of her system). So then I went to get the bridle and got on.

The lady who was riding in the arena graciously took these few photos for me. The ride was uneventful. I got on and off a few times in different parts of the arena, and Skittles actually let me steer her away from the gate without too much fuss. She got a bit agitated when the other horse left and headed home, so I got off and walked her around from the ground until she re-focussed on me, then I got back on again. I didn't do more than just walk her around today. It's the first outing for her since March, it was a new place and I wanted to make sure we ended on a positive note: building confidence in BOTH of us! :-) Beautiful day too!

This and that

Today I decided to try to get 2 horses in the trailer. I've never trailered two at a time because I've never had to, but I figured I'd better work on getting two in the trailer before I HAVE to.

The last couple times I took Gypsy to Fultonvale, I managed to squeeze her behind the divider in the trailer (before that she always had the entire trailer to herself). So that was a start. She's still not relaxed in there, but she does go willingly. I hope with a little time and experience, she'll eventually relax.

So I started by putting Gypsy behind the divider a few times, let her out, repeat, etc. Then I took her out and went to catch Indy. Then I loaded Indy in and out a few times and then got her in behind the divider as well. She's a lot better than Gypsy. She's also still not comfortable, but probably more so than Gypsy. I repeated this a few times as well.

Then I loaded Gypsy in behind the divider, closed it, then loaded Indy. I could get Indy all the way in the trailer, but wasn't able to get my hand on the door before she'd back out, despite multiple attempts. So then I unloaded them both and tried again the other way: Load Indy behind the divider (photo), then Gypsy. That worked better and I was able to shut the door. I was tempted to drive to Fultonvale and work with them both, but then decided I should probably work on the 7-games at liberty with Gypsy in the round pen instead. I can try Fultonvale maybe tomorrow or Wednesday.

So I unloaded them both, let Indy back in the pasture, then took Gypsy down to the round pen.

I started with letting her wander around (no line) and just wait until she wanted to come to me. Once she did, I started with the carrot stick and string and the friendly game, followed by porcupine. She left. Hmmmm. This isn't starting out well... last time I at least got past the porcupine and to the driving before she left! OK, get the line back on and start over. I went through all the games on line with her with the goal of trying not to use the line to restrict her. But she still kept leaving and it was always the line that brought her back. Then I started thinking, ... I wonder if it's the carrot stick? Maybe I'm being too "loud"? So I dropped the carrot stick and just used my hands to signal her. And it worked!! She didn't leave. I took the line off and did ALL SEVEN GAMES at liberty!!! WAHHOOOOO!!! I'm doin' my happy dance! Unfortunately I was alone, so of course didn't get it on tape. But I did it! That's all she needed -- she wanted me to lower my phases.

After that I put the bareback pad and bridle on her and worked on the sideways without a fence some more. We've taped this one already, but because she still fights to go forward, I wanted to see if we could get it done with a little less head-tossing and rooting into the bit. I used the carrot stick this time to help drive her sideways, and that seemed to help. She did OK, not great, but I think it was better than before.

Then I asked her to go sideways to the gate so I could open it and try it in the larger paddock. I've never been able to get her close enough to a gate to open it while mounted, but after only a couple attempts this time, she actually did it!

In the paddock I sidepassed her over a pole and some barrels to help work on preventing her forward movement, but it didn't help much, she still always wants to go forward as her first answer to any leg cues. So then she always bumps into the rein, which is followed by head-tossing and rooting. Sigh....

Attached above is the best I could do for a photo of myself riding! :-)

I keep telling myself to be patient. We'll figure it out eventually. I've certainly made other progress with her, so we'll get there with this eventually too.

Then after a few walk/trot/stop transitions, I took her out on the road for a half hour or so and then called it a day. Maybe when my kids are home I'll see if I can get a repeat of the liberty session with her, but this time on tape! :-)

Almost done Level 2 tasks (I hope)

After my last 2 taping sessions I had about 6 tasks left to tape. Yesterday I taped 4 of them, so I'm nearly there!!

I'm not sure what will be good enough for a pass or if the quality of the taping will show enough for a pass ... or maybe I'm worrying too much. I'm a bit of a perfectionist!

The only tasks I have left to tape are the 7 games in 7 minutes at liberty and sending her into a trailer. The liberty one is going to be a challenge for us (so far Gypsy just leaves when I try doing sideways or a yoyo without a line on her), so I have to work on that one a bit. The sending Gypsy into a trailer isn't a problem, I just keep forgetting to tape that one! So I'm really close!! I just really hope they're all "savvy" enough for a pass.

Attached is my finesse task #2 (riding sideways without a fence). If anyone reading this with their L2 can comment on this, I'd appreciate it! Gypsy tosses her head a bit on this... is that considered a pre-L2 or would this be OK? I wish I could post all my tasks on this blog for my Parelli friends to comment on, but they take up a lot of space!

So close now I can almost taste it!

Fultonvale with Indy again

Tania and I met at Fultonvale again today. It was a fair bit cooler today than last time, but still sunny. I brought Indy again as I wanted to work on getting her to yield to my leg pressure better. Last time she moved into my leg as much as away and had a tendency to buck if I added pressure (hop and toss her head more like).

Anyway, after playing with her lots in the field in the last week doing just the porcupine game, today's leg yields were much better. Tania thought so too. She's still better at the walk than the trot, but she did start getting better at the trot as well at the end of our session.

Tania worked on more life in her backup with Jack. She's been coming along great with him. He's a gorgeous horse and he's really starting to come along well.

It's been great having Tania around. She sees a lot of stuff I'm missing. One of which is that Indy tosses her head a lot and it's because I'm blocking her too much with heavy hands on the reins. I left her head alone and her response to my leg got much better! Go figure hey?

Attached are some photos of Indy doing some side passes. Cues are really exaggerated (weight-shift, leg off on the side she's moving to, open direct rein ...). She's been such a great horse, I think I may reconsider selling her!!

After we finished working in the arena, I followed Tania and Jack outside for a wander through the trees, alongside the road and out on the grass around the arena. Indy was fantastic. Her first ride "outside" -- away from home and away from the arena. I think we're definitely ready to try some trail riding.

More L2 tasks with Gypsy

I met Tania at Fultonvale yesterday morning to tape some more Parelli Level 2 tasks. I'm getting close! Gypsy did phenomenally well on the nice level sand ring at Fultonvale. What a difference good footing makes!

About a week or so ago Gypsy cantered on line for me for the first time. Yesterday she did again and we got it on tape (along with the up/down transitions between walk and trot as well). Not real pretty (she leaned on the line a fair bit), but she maintained the canter until I asked for the trot, which was huge for her. She's better to the right than the left... her circle was about half the size to the right and so there was some slack in the line.

We also did the simple changes while riding. It was almost like someone has been working with her behind my back! She cantered around the whole arena no problem (at home she's frequently breaking to a trot because of the uneven surface). We cut through the middle and broke to a trot and I asked for the other lead and VOILA, she picked it up immediately. I couldn't believe it! Well, we HAVE been working on this for a while, so I guess it's not that much of a stretch, but seriously, she picked it up without hesitation. No trotting faster before picking up the canter, just boom - canter. She's such a superstar!

Then we re-taped my trotting around pylons (Freestyle: figure-8/change of direction) on a casual rein. Last time we taped that (Shirley taped it at my place right after the Martin Black clinic along with a bunch of other tasks) it was OK, but not great. So I retaped in case the second one was better. I think it was because Gypsy was slightly less forward, so she wasn't leaning on the rein into the turn as much. Not sure if it will pass, but I guess there's only one way to find out.

Anyway, another SPECTACULAR day. Really pleased with my girl! Gyspy's just the BEST horse ever! :-)

Indy's first road trip

Tania called me up first thing this morning and asked if I wanted to go to Fultonvale again. It IS September after all, so the weather we're having is definitely not going to last. So I agreed, hustled my butt and met her out there at just after 9:00. I didn't take Gypsy though... I decided to take Indy. She's the only horse I haven't taken anywhere yet, so it was definitely her turn.

I loaded and unloaded her a few times before shutting the trailer. No problem. She's done this lots before, so now it was time to actually TAKE her somewhere. Road trip! She actually moved around a lot less than Jake does, so she did really well.

Once we got there, I walked her all over the place and let her check everything out; she's so curious about everything. Then I turned her loose in the arena and just let her explore in there until Tania arrived.

We started with lots of circling, yoyo, squeeze and sideways. She did sideways really well this time and her squeeze was even better than Gypsy (nice disengagement and backup after). She was pretty low-key by this time and Tania was already riding, so I decided to get her saddled and get on.

She didn't stand all that well for the saddle, but it wasn't about the saddle, she was more distracted - trying to see around the trailer to where Jack was (Tania's horse). I had to reposition her several times to get her to stand while I did it up. Mounting was similar, she kept wanting to go toward Jack and check him out. I did eventually get her to stand for me.

Then for the next 45 minutes or so we did lots of walk/trot transitions, change of direction and disengaging. I tried some sideways with her as well, but she'd always give a mini-buck every time I bumped her side. So I did lots more of that until she stopped trying to buck (more like a kick and a head-toss than a buck, actually). She still objected to my heels on her side, but she was less demonstrative about it toward the end of the session. I guess I need to do lots more porcupine-game on the ground with her.

I was really impressed with her today though. Yes, she gave me some attitude here and there, but really, she showed me that she's actually a pretty solid horse. Nothing much fazed her at all. She almost cantered when we were following Jack when he was loping, but she didn't quite make it. I wasn't really aiming to canter though as I just wanted to work on refining some of her rein and leg responses, which is a lot easier at the walk/trot!

I'm still using just the hackamore halter on her. Once she's going well off my leg and turning and stopping well, etc., I'll introduce the bit again and start asking for some refinements.

Really pleased with how she's coming along! Another superstar in the making! :-)

Skittles bucks, but Gypsy canters on line!

For the first time in AGES, I actually rode two of my horses today: Skittles and Gypsy. Mind you, after Skittles, I wasn't sure I was going to attempt another horse.

Again, I just went to the field to see who wanted to come play. Skittles came up to me first, so I brought her out. I started doing tons of on-line work first, including lots of friendly game with the big green Parelli ball, which I just got. I've done stuff with my own smaller exercise ball with her and she did OK. Again, she eventually came around and I was soon rolling it up on to her back and dropping it off and bouncing it off her sides. Then we did some figure-8 and weave patterns... she's getting really good at these although she had trouble focusing on me when all the other horses headed to the back of the pasture. Then we did some more sideways and squeeze. Sideways is still kind of right-brained/reactive, but once I got a few good steps I stopped and she did tons of licking and chewing. Then we did some squeeze over the jumps, including the barrels which she hasn't done before. She jumped about twice as high as she needed to (impressive!), but not really any problem. A couple times she stopped and stuttered a bit. I backed her and let her approach again until she could make it. She was better going to the right than the left today.

Then I put the saddle on her. No issue with that. Then, because it's been a couple months since I've been on her back, I did more playing on the ground with her with the saddle on. On her first time back over the barrels with the saddle on, the stirrups slapped against the saddle which made her buck a couple times on the other side. A few more times back and forth and it was no problem.

So then I got on. She groaned and grunted (flattering!). She moved off my leg amazingly well today. I guess that porcupine game really does do the trick! I didn't go more than a walk as I just wanted to refresh her memory about moving off my leg and disengaging, etc. Plus I haven't trotted her outside the round pen, so wanted to see how she'd handle just walking around in the bigger paddock(yes, plus I'm a 'fraidy-cat too). I did some figure-8's on her back as well as some weaving and point to point between barrels. She was going pretty well, but was still somewhat distracted with trying to see where her field-mates were in the other field. Then out of the blue (yes, I know, it wasn't really out of the blue, there were probably signs, but obviously I didn't see them), she reared up and jumped sideways at the same time and I was on the ground. Really rang my bell. In hindsight, I think I may have startled her with bumping my heel on her side when her attention was in the opposite direction and not remotely on me. But I'm not completely sure. Anyway, it took me a moment to clear my head. I fell on my backside, but really jarred my spine. I'm gonna be sore tomorrow! Skittles didn't go anywhere or seem remotely upset once I came off. In fact, as I was gathering myself up and getting to my knees, she came over and nuzzled me as if to apologize.

Eventually I got back on and resumed walking her around. We did a few more figure-8's and point to point with the barrels at the walk and I left it alone soon after that.

I was going to go inside, but thought, no... I should spend a bit of time with Gypsy and work on her on-line transitions. I didn't think I'd ride, given that my back was pretty sore, but I figured I should still do some on-line stuff with her.

However, I did put the saddle on because I wanted to see if that made any difference to her behaviour on line. It did... way more "go" with the saddle on (just like when I'm riding her). At first I just let her trot around at the end of the 22' line until she started to settle into more of a rhythm (relax). She eventually did (her head came down a bit), but stayed at the trot. So we worked A LOT on her down transitions. I spent most of the time trying to get her to walk. She'd walk a few steps, then pick up the trot, I'd wiggle the rope and she'd slow, but then pick up speed again. After what seemed like an eternity of transitioning to the walk (probably about 15-20 minutes), she managed to walk one whole circle and I disengaged her. I gave her a fair bit of thinking time for that since it took her so long, then we did the same thing in the other direction. Not quite as long the second time, but almost!

Once she was finally maintaining a walk OK (i.e. managing a full circle without breaking into the trot), I asked for the up transition, which was pretty much instantaneous, like she was bursting to trot. I let her trot a couple circles, then I asked for the canter. Her trot got faster and faster, but lo and behold, she CANTERED!! Sure, she was pulling a fair bit on the line, but it wasn't a right-brained canter like it was in the round pen; she was just cantering and trying to stay on the circle. After one circle I disengaged her and gave her a great big hug. This is a FIRST! I was so thrilled!! We've been working on that for quite a while. We still need to work on it until she can do it without pulling to the outside as much, but wow, I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel!

We did the same in the other direction, and I transitioned her down and up a couple more times. The down transitions are still pretty fleeting, but she's trying!

Then we did go for a ride. I probably shouldn't have, and I'll probably regret it tomorrow, but I wanted to see if her simple changes were getting better. She's really starting to pick up the canter well now and gets the right lead almost all the time. If she doesn't, I know it's my fault for not setting her up right. The simple change is definitely there, but pretty rough (again, the down transition is difficult for her). REALLY pleased with her though. She's got so much try in her. We even jumped over the barrels a few times in both directions. Every time I've tried that in the past, she veers around them, but today I pointed her at them and she didn't veer!

So even though my experience with Skittles was less than perfect, Gypsy more than made up for it. I'm really glad I didn't pack it in after Skittles. Gypsy really turned my confidence around after being dumped by Skittles, which is what I needed.

Bareback on Gypsy

I had a cool "play" day with Gypsy yesterday. Nothing specifically planned, I just went out to the pasture to visit them all. I've been pretty lazy lately... enjoying time alone with a book now that the kids have started school!! The horses were all just lazing around; some grazing, some dozing. Gypsy came up to me with a nice positive look on her face (usually she ignores me or leaves), so I gave her lots of rubs and scratches. Then I decided to try jumping on her bareback. I've tried this before (last year I think), where you get your horse to lower their head and jump on to their neck, then swing over and onto their back from there. Last year it was a comedy of errors, but after MANY attempts and thankfully lots of patience from Gypsy, I did manage to jump on.

Luckily, AGAIN, Gypsy was in a patient mood yesterday, and lo and behold I managed to jump on. I just sat there laying on her neck for a while giving her lots of love. I didn't have a halter or anything on her, so I was completely at her mercy. She was inclined to just hang there with me.

So after rubbing her all over, leaning over her neck, then laying on her back, I decided to see if I could move her front or back with my heel (porcupine game). On the ground when I use my finger tips on her side, she moves away from me. But when I'm on her back, the same signal with my heel she generally interprets as "go forward" even if it's only one leg instead of two. I worked on this a fair bit when riding her before, but I always had the bridle to correct her with. Yesterday I didn't have any of that. Anyway, she went forward. I held my heel at her girth until she turned in the right direction. I'm sure it wasn't in response to my leg, just a random turn, but I released when she turned. I did this several times over and a couple times I'm sure she turned in response to my leg!! Very cool!! :-)

After a while all the other horses started to get bothered by me riding Gypsy through them and they eventually left and trotted out of the field and up to the waterer. Gypsy followed and I got off her at the waterer to let her get a drink.

While she was busy with that I decided to try the same thing with Skittles. I've never jumped on her bareback before, but wanted to see if she'd stand for that. Again, no halter or any restraints. She did pretty well actually. She lowered her head when I asked and let me jump up on her neck a few times, but I never managed to quite get up high enough to swing up on to her back. Then she'd had enough and left. I followed her until she turned back to me and then I gave her a hug and kiss, a few rubs, and walked away.

Gypsy was following me around at this point, so I decided to give it another try. This time every time I tried to jump up, I'd get almost there and then she'd lower her head to the ground! Hmmm, I'm going to have to work on a signal to get her to raise her head to help me out once I'm on her neck... how do you separate the cue to lower her head (putting pressure on her crest) from the cue to raise her head (because me pushing on her neck is also pressure on her crest/neck!)? Maybe the halter would help.... maybe next time. In the meantime I'm going to have to work on my vertical so Gypsy doesn't get so beat up!

Martin Black colt-start in Redwater

Last weekend I helped out with the public viewing days at the Martin Black colt start at Rocking G Ranch near Redwater. Mostly we looked after the admissions, parking and some clean-up, but we also managed to see quite a bit of the action in the round pen with Martin. Really interesting weekend. Plus I went back on Monday to watch as well. He's at Rocking G from the 15th to the 30th this month starting about 70 colts in that time. They saved 10 for the clinic last weekend. Most of the colts had never been haltered or handled much at all.

Martin uses the same basic concepts that Parelli is based on... make the right thing easy and the wrong thing difficult... but he turns up the volume quite a bit more than Parelli. In this case, because his time is limited, he has to push through faster than someone doing Parelli would do, but then the results are faster as well. A lot of horses struggled with the "wrong thing" before finding their release, but eventually they would find it. Even then, some would keep testing the boundaries. But consistenly, Martin would continue to make the wrong thing difficult.

That was one of the things that really stood out for me this weekend: CONSISTENCY. Martin never let the horses find release doing the wrong thing. Definitely a lot of cowboys got bucked off, but they always got back on and always the horse was worked through the tough spots, and the horses always found where the release was. Some took longer than others, but eventually they all found it.

There's no way I could do what he does. Mainly because I don't have the skill. Which is why I'm doing Parelli.... I like things slow and safe! But I also learned that you can push a lot harder and still come out the other side with success. That's probably something I don't do enough. And a lot of concepts were really underscored for me this weekend:

- Consistency

- Have a really clear picture of what you're asking

- Always release (provide relief) when they get it right.

- Accept the slightest try... Sometimes this was really small, but Martin always found it.

- If the horse can't find the answer, try a different approach (ask differently).

These are all concepts I'm plenty familiar with and use with my own horses, but were also strongly emphasized in this clinic.

I also fell in love with a nice 2-year-old blue roan colt I named "Socks"... really sweet disposition, nice mover, but more than I can afford. Not to mention that I already have too many horses! Really nice colt though (pictured right), ... I would love to take him home! :-)

(Post-clinic note: A week after writing this blog, I found out that Martin bought this colt! I guess I have a pretty good eye for horses! :-))

Thanks to Rocking G Ranch (Blair and Tami) for allowing us to come watch Martin Black. They didn't have to open this up to the public; they could have just quietly got their own colts started, but they opened their doors and I, for one, appreciated the opportunity to watch and learn from a Master.

Catching up again

Monday this week the temperature got to about 35C without a breath of wind. HOT man!! So I took the opportunity again to spray all the horses. This time the only snorting and backing up was from the movement of the hose as I approached. After the water started flowing, they all stood still with an "Ahhhhhhh" look on their faces! Even Indy who went kind of snakey last time. She flinched at first, but didn't move away and quickly settled once the water started flowing over her.

Tuesday was warm, but not hot (26-ish). I decided to try the 7 games in 7 minutes at liberty with Gypsy. Well, actually, I didn't time myself; I just wanted to see if I could do the 7 games at liberty. Most definitely, a liberty session gives you the TRUTH! AND, it teaches you when you need to back off. I DEFINITELY need to work on this one more. Friendly game went fine -- even the extreme friendly game with slapping the savvy string on the ground all around her. Porcupine was OK too, although she wasn't as responsive as I would like (phase 3). Driving game went OK too, front and back, although she walked off a couple times when I was trying to drive her hind end away. I guess she thought I meant "move forward" (which tends to be her answer to most things when she's not sure). But after a few more attempts I got my timing right (the release) when she got it right, so she didn't feel the need to leave. Yoyo was hilarious. She's always resisted backing up, so without the line shaking, she just tossed her head at me with her ears back (annoyance), so I flicked the carrot stick at her chest which got her attention, but then she just left. So I brought her back, tried again and took it one step at a time: Yoyo one step back, then bring her back, yoyo 2 steps back, then bring her back. The bring back is no problem, but she really hates backing up. So this will definitely need more work as well. Wow, liberty really does test your savvy!

Circling went OK, if you disregard the yoyo at the start. I more or less sent her on the circle from where I was standing beside her. She frequently asked to come in the first 4 or 5 circles, so I was constantly sending her, but eventually I got a couple good circles and her bring back was nice.

Sideways was equally as challenging as the yoyo. Once I started driving her sideways, she'd just leave. So again, I needed to break it down to one step at a time and reward for that. Squeeze: same thing: She'd squeeze just fine, but wouldn't turn and back up, she just kept going!

Wow, this really opened my eyes! And this was in the round corral too, so really even that wasn't the WHOLE truth! :-)

Then I decided to try getting her to canter again. She's never been able to canter online, and the last time I tried this, we did it in the round corral as well, but all I succeeded in doing was making her go right-brained and look for an escape. This time wasn't much better (I had to keep adding pressure to get her to canter a few strides and the added pressure had her looking for a way out of the round corral). However, once she did canter a few strides I immediately stopped the pressure and stood in the center, and she immediately broke to a trot. I asked again - first the pointing, then raising the carrot stick, then swinging the string in zone 5. Again, I had to repeat this several times to get her to canter a few strides, and when she did I stood at "neutral" again, and she immediately broke into a trot. We repeated this a couple times more, the last time I stayed facing her, but kept my stick low (after she started cantering), then after about 4 strides, I asked for a disengagement before she stopped on her own. I left it at that. She was still pretty right-brained, but she did come right in at the trot when I disengaged her and immediately started licking and chewing. Hopefully next time will go better and she can start to maintain the canter on her own -- a bit anyway!

Then I just went for a quick ride up and down the road and let my daughter and her friend have a ride as well.

Tuesday was humbling for me. Definitely, Gypsy has been great on line, and I've been pretty pleased with myself. But liberty really makes you pay attention to what you're doing and it's clear we (I) have work to do to get Gypsy to WANT to stay with me. It went OK, but I definitely thought it would go better than it did!

Revisiting L2 tasks with Gypsy

I finally got back to working on L2 tasks with Gypsy today. We had an awesome day! She behaved exactly the same as she did at the clinic. I started just by working on holding her tongue. Don had done this for me at the clinic as I hadn't had much success with that particular task. I tried again today and did fairly well! At first all I did was rub her nose and lips until she dropped her head, then stuck my fingers on her tongue and held them there until she stopped fussing and repeated this a few times. Eventually I did manage to sort of grab her tongue (slippery little sucker!) and pull it a bit out of the side of her mouth. Not as much as Don did, but I was pretty happy with it!

Then I did some extreme friendly game. Absolutely no problem. She moved her hind end over as I walked around behind her, but not from fear... I think she just thought she should move over for me. Then she did a lovely yoyo over a pole a couple times. I did 7 games with the barrels and she did awesome with all of it! I should have been taping!

We did sideways without a fence (toward and away)... she's pretty straight when she comes toward me, but always drifts forward still when going away from me, so I had to check her back a few times. Will have to keep working at that one. We did some transistions and change of direction on line which were great. The only thing I still can't do is get her to canter on line. I may save this one for an arena. Our ground is really uneven, so she's not comfortable cantering in our paddock (trips a lot).

After all that I went for a ride and walked some patterns around the barrels trying to get her to respond to my body movement rather than the rein. She's slowing starting to get there, but I still have to use the rein. Definitely better though.

I did try some cantering while riding her and she did pick up a canter in both directions, but just didn't maintain it for long. I didn't push it too much, just asked again, then transitioned down before she quit on her own. It's getting there!

Awesome day! :-)