Cramming for L2 clinic!

Boy I really am getting lazy at this blogging. Sorry to those who check this frequently. Or am I being optimistic? :-)

I am now done with the conference I've been working on for the last year (YAY!), and no more gymnastics competitions for my son until next year (double-YAY!). So now it's CRAM CRAM CRAM for the Parelli L2 clinic in 3 weeks.

I worked with Gypsy yesterday for an hour or so. When I went to go get her she saw me go into the shed to get a halter and when I came out she was at the gate. Very cool! :-) I took her out and let her graze for about 15 minutes while I groomed her. Then we went back into the paddock to start our session. I started with the 7 games, this time with the 22' line to see if she'd be as responsive further away than 12'. I haven't used the 22' line since last fall. She did everything really well. Even sideways without a fence. It took us quite a few tries to keep her from moving forward (she's a forward-aholic), but after about 6 tries, she did pretty well. Only moved forward a couple steps. Here she is (above) looking at me after the last really good sideways -- waiting for her "atta girl!".

We also worked on the squeeze over a cavaletti. She did really well with that too. But when I got 22' away, she tended to go around the jump rather than over it. I'll stick to working a bit closer for a while on that one and move further away slower until she's got it.

Then we did some sideways over a rail. She had a pretty tough time with that one. She's uncomfortable with straddling a pole. I think my initial mistake was trying to ask her sideways from too far away and once she stepped forward over the pole, she couldn't back up. So I slowed it down and held her head while asking for the sideways. She leaned on me a fair bit as she wanted to push forward, but with the closer communication, she managed to figure out what I wanted and stayed over the rail while going sideways. A few tries later, I was barely touching her halter, but just had my hand there to correct if she needed it. And when I did correct her, it was with a much softer touch. She's doing so well! I find each time I work with her, she's really paying attention and really trying hard. It's amazing, and an amazing feeling to see her so focused.

Then we got to the transitions online. Last time we did this, she was pretty right-brained and whether I asked her to transition up or down she just got faster. This time, probably because we had done so much playing already, she was very left-brained and attentive that nearly all of my cues were phase 1. Well, actually all of my cues for her to transition up were phase 1. To transition down were about phase 2-3 (forward-aholic). I never did get a tranisition up to a canter, just a really fast trot (which I accepted as good enough for today). And as she speeds up she really leans on the line. So she doesn't seem confident enough to try the canter online yet. I may move her into the round pen next time and see if that helps. She stumbles a lot at the canter, so that may have something to do with her confidence. I've always wondered about that, actually... what do you do with a horse that stumbles a lot??

We also did some very nice changes of direction. Again, last time - change of direction meant speed up to her. This time, she was way more relaxed and I got some very nice steady changes at the walk and the trot.

Every time I disengaged her she came right in and buried her head in my chest. I completely melt when she does that (picture left is her coming in for her snuggle) :-)

Then I let her out with all the other horses to mow my lawn (below).