Just Playin'

Whew! December already!!!

I had a friend (Sarah) visiting from England all week last week. She took hundreds of photos (mostly of the horses) while she was here. She's as crazy about horses as I am, but unfortunately doesn't have any of her own, so she spends a lot of time with mine when she's here.

We spent a lot of time just "hanging" with the horses, but also managed to ride a couple times. The first time she rode Roma (a friend's horse) while I rode Gypsy. We borrowed my neighbour's arena, then rode around the fields after that. I was trying to get Sarah to trot without letting her hair bounce (i.e. absorbing the movement through her pelvis).... I think she managed it a few times, but needs more practice! :-)

I rode Gypsy in the bareback pad and halter and asked for some lateral flexion, sidepasses, circles, etc. and she did them all nice and soft. She still is way more forward outside the arena. Not prancy like she used to be, but every time I stopped her to let Roma catch up, she got upset, and kept trying to leave without me, so I had to circle and make her stand until she could wait for me to ask. I probably should have kept at that until she blew or could stand still more relaxed, but I didn't.

The second time we rode, Sarah rode Gypsy and I rode Saphira. My neighbour and her friend also joined us on their "seasoned" horses. I rode Saphira in a bareback pad and halter (first time without a saddle). Gypsy and Saphira were awesome. The "seasoned" horses had trouble though... lots of spooking and jigging. And here's my little 2 year-old who's only been ridden outside an arena one other time, just walking along calm as can be! I was so proud of her! I don't think I'll ride her bareback again for a while though... she's so bum-high right now that I felt like I was sliding into her withers the whole time! :-) Growth spurt.

Below are some more photos of us just playing with the rest of the herd.

Updates for everyone

I've been playing a lot with all my horses in the past few weeks, so I'll see if I can provide an update on all of them:

Sherlock: Actually I haven't done much with him because he injured himself 10 days ago. He scared the crap out of me when I found him struggling to come up the hill (after all the other horses were up at the hay), dragging his front leg. In my panic, I was thinking he broke his leg (being a mom -- or is it just being female? -- I immediately feared the worst!). But after taking a few deep breaths, and upon closer examination, nothing seemed obviously injured. He had a bit of blood on his shoulder and some swelling, but no other marks. I thought he must have been kicked and he injured his shoulder. So I backed the trailer to the gate and managed to encourage him to hop on 3 legs up the hill to the gate and into the trailer. He's such a trooper. I was so amazed when he even hopped into the trailer on 3 legs! What a guy. The vet poked and prodded him, shaved his shoulder and revealed a puncture wound. She could not feel any damage to the shoulder at all and his range of motion seemed ok, despite the soreness. She figured that the punture probably jammed some nerves. So she put him on bute for 4 days and antibiotics for 10. After 3 days on bute, he was trotting around like his old self. Big relief.

Allegro: I took him to 3D a couple weeks ago to play with him online. He's starting to settle down a bit... less tail swishing and pulling away when he's asked to do something. He can circle both ways (better to the right) with slack in the line, yoyo is spectacular, driving is about 80% consistent and even sideways is getting better. He's really ticklish too, so porcupine tends to lead to friendly. But he does move away from the pressure pretty quickly.

He loves to play with the tarp, so I started putting it on his back. Really no big deal (see short video clip at the end). He's still pretty skeptical, but is starting to be more interested than upset when we try something new.

Saphira: I've probably done the most with her recently. She's going to be a nice horse (provided I don't screw up!). She's starting to learn to move off my leg pressure (forward as well as sideways). Sometimes I still have to go to phase 4, but I think that's more about her testing me rather than not understanding. However sideways off my leg still needs work. Her first instinct is to move into my leg. I've tried incorporating adding driving with the stick if she moves into my leg, and that has worked sort of, although I'm pretty uncoordinated with the stick while on her back, so I've abandoned that. She's starting to understand the different cues for moving her front feet vs her back feet. Although we've only worked on this at the standstill, not walk or trot yet. On the ground, her sideways is OK, but could use more work: I can drive the front end and the back end, but not both together yet. Yoyo is nice and light and the circle is wonderful to the left, but still a bit stiff to the right (she tends to stop and look at me a lot more going to the right).

We've started playing with obstacles too now. I tried sideways over a barrel last week. I had to take it really slow - I think she thought I was trying to drive her into a wall! She did eventually figure out that the barrel would fit under her and I let her stand there until she licked and chewed, then let her step out. Smart girl! I still can't get Skittles to do that! I'm still working on the pole with Skittles, not even close to a barrel yet!

Skittles: I haven't rode her in a couple of weeks, but I played at liberty with her last week which was kind of fun. I had her going sideways, yoyoing (although the bring-back was more like a catching game!) and even backing by pulling on her tail. She does all of it really well... although she did decide to leave a few times. I got her up on the pedestal at liberty too. Just the front though. I'm hoping to work with Tania to get her "bring-back" a little sharper. Even online, her first response to pressure on the halter is to pull back. It's only for a second, then she comes forward, but I'd like to fix that. Plus the bring-back is sluggish, so if I can get Tania to swing a savvy string behind her when she pulls back, maybe she'll come forward quicker.

Gypsy: Gypsy is pregnant now, so I will only have a few more months to ride her before she starts to get big and uncomfortable. I took her to 3D with Saphira last week so my daughter and her friend could ride her. She's my friend/kid-proof horse. Although she was a bit wingy when we got there, so I did some ground work and riding before I let the girls get on her. She's such a pleasure to work with. Sure we still have some things to work on (lots!), but she's so responsive and tries so much for me, I just love playing with her. We've really come a long way. She still struggles with cantering online. She - like Saphira - is much better to the left than the right. I know she can do this because we did it for the L2 tasks, but that was in a huge outdoor arena... I wonder if that has anything to do with it (perception of more space)??. Anyway, I did manage to get nearly a full circle of canter to the left, and about a half circle to the right. I was focusing more on her response to "the allow" than the actual distance she cantered. I just wanted her to pick it up. I left it at that, then got on and rode for a while.

She is so much softer than a year ago. Her rooting is almost gone and her sideways and lateral flexion are starting to get nice and soft. She's even starting to get some vertical flexion. I'm so pleased with that progress, because it's been a long time coming. I had a hard time relinquishing her to the girls! Next time I'd like to work more on sharper transitions. That's our next big obstacle.

Skittles + Tarp

I know it's been ages since I've blogged, and I apologize for those who've mentioned it :-).
I've been busy with the horses, I just haven't taken photos or blogged, and I apologize.

Saphira is coming along really well. She started out with sticky feet (didn't want to go) and wiggly lines (couldn't walk in a straight line), and was very stiff circling to the right -- which was more like a square actually. Left was nice and soft. However, now she's got lots of forward, is getting nice and straight, has maintained very quick, soft responses to cues and has even started softening on the circle to the right. I haven't done anything in about a week with her now because one hind leg was swollen the last time I took her out, so I've been leaving her to heal. She doesn't appear to be lame, so it could have just been a kick or a strain from slipping in the mud or something. She seems a lot better now, so will probably try to ride her again tomorrow.

I've also been working a lot with Skittles. She's also been doing well. She had about 2 months off after she dumped me back at the beginning of August. Did I ever mention that? We were walking along in the ditch near my house and she reached her nose down (I thought she was reaching for a bite of clover). She sniffed a scrap of newspaper, it fluttered, and she LAUNCHED into the stratosphere, striking at the killer piece of paper with her front feet, and lept sideways at the same time, leaving me hovering up in the clouds. I landed, as you can imagine, quite hard -- on my left cheek. Thankfully there's lots of padding there, but it still hurt like hell and required sitting on ice for several days, while it turned every possible shade of purple, black and blue. There's still a dent. After I was able to breathe again, I got up, picked up the offending piece of paper, put it in my pocket, got back on Skittles and walked her up and down the ditch again, got off at home and played friendly game with the paper. She got as far as sniffing it with her neck outstretched and I left it at that (she started with flying around me on the 12' line, so I felt that was pretty good progress).

Since then, I've mostly been focusing on the colts and Saphira (i.e. not sitting in a saddle for a while). So it was way past time to get back on Skittles... which I did early in Oct. and have been riding her every week since.

Last week - on Monday, I spent close to an hour with her and a tarp. Tarps are categorized in the same "killer" category as fluttery pieces of paper. I've been avoiding tarps - because they're difficult, and I'd rather work on things that are easy. Wrong approach, I know, but that's the way my brain works (and don't tell me yours doesn't either!). Anyway, long story short, we made a bit of a breakthrough.... she's still not entirely hunky dorey with the tarps, so we'll continue to work with it, but she's WAYYYYYY better than before. At the end of Monday, she was able to put one toe (if she had a toe) on the tarp, and I was able to rub her all over on both sides with it, walk away and she was licking and chewing.

The video clip below is last Wednesday -- session #2 with the tarp. She even stepped on it with a back foot! :-) I will continue to play with the tarp until it's as common as dirt for her. The difficult is starting to get easier.

More with Saphira

I had another session with Saphira the other day. She's improving with her driving and circle. I can't get a trot out of her in the circle yet... she'll trot as long as I keep pressure in zone 5, but as soon as I lower the stick, she goes back to a walk. I need to keep at it until she can trot long enough for me to ask for the walk before she does it herself. Then build on that. Maybe I'll try Linda's trick of changing direction each time she slows to a walk. But for now, I'll just work on getting the circle good at the walk -- see if she can stay on the circle without veering toward the gate (path first, then speed, right?)

I keep forgetting about squeeze for some reason... will try that next time! I also did more driving from zone 3. She's getting good at that. And we did more with the pedestal. There's no hesitation with stepping up with her front feet at all. I tried several times to get her to put a hind leg up, but as soon as one of the hind legs steps up, a front leg steps down. So I practiced getting more specific with where she puts her feet by asking her to step (and stand) into a small hoola hoop. She did this several times with her front feet without much trouble. I couldn't get her to do the same with a hind leg, however.... will have to keep working on that. She's less confident with her hind legs stepping on anything at the moment. Anyway, I did get her to let me lift one of her hind legs while her front legs were on the pedestal, but she wasn't able to set it down on the pedestal. But it's a start.

Then I saddled her up and rode for a while. I was hoping her walk/trot transitions would be a bit better this time, but they were actually worse this time! She really didn't want to move much. I didn't use treats this session... I was just planning to give her rest if she managed to trot across the paddock. Leg pressure meant nothing at all, so I continually had to use phase 4 (savvy string on the butt) to get her to trot... and even to walk when we were near the gate. Hmmmm.... not sure how to fix that. I get off her at a different place each time and I've even left from the gate at the other end of the paddock once. She continually drifts toward the side of the paddock where the other horses are. I guess it'll eventually get better, as long as I find places away from the gate to give her rest, but I have to get her there first! I wonder if it will help when I start trailering her to other locations. and get her away from the horses altogether. That seemed to help with Skittles: whenever we were alone in a strange location, she was much more connected to me. My "training" paddock is pretty small and boring... so maybe a new location will help. And I haven't tried any of the patterns yet either... now that she's better with the 7 games, maybe it's time to start some patterns... perhaps that will help as well.

It's definitely getting interesting! A new puzzle to solve... OH BOY! :-)

Saphira continuing training at home

I had a really cool session with Saphira today. Third ride since coming home last weekend. I haven't ridden too much because I want her girth sores to heal. They're scabbed over right now... nearly dried up, so we're close.

I started today's session with just some 7 games again. She's pretty sticky on the driving game and I had to stay at phase 4 a few times trying to drive her front end around (popping her on the side of the head with the stick). She would occasionally turn her head away (which I gave relief for, but only for a few seconds), but wouldn't move her feet. Eventually she moved her feet sideways and I released. We repeated a couple more times and then she got it. And when she got it, she virtually SPUN away. Very cool. I hope it comes easier next time. Driving her hind away is easier, but at the start I still had to get to phase 4.

Circle is still tough for her. We started out with a struggle going to the right again ... always as she's coming around and away from the gate. I know it wasn't a squeeze this time (I made sure of it), she just wanted to go toward the gate and not away from it. But I was patient and persistent in asking her to continue around and finally she did. The first few circles to the right I had to re-send just about every quarter turn, but I kept it up until she was able to do one full circle, then I asked her to disengage. I gave her lots of pats and rubs and let her stand there a while before asking for the other direction. Going left only took about 3 sends before she made it around once without help.

I didn't do any squeeze or sideways. After finishing circling, I took her around to various obstacles to get her to touch/push or put her foot on it. At the pedestal, she stepped up right away this time (remembering the treat she got last time). At the ball she put her nose on it, but didn't push it. She got a treat. So when the wind blew the ball down the slope, I asked her to follow it and she did with great focus and when she touched it, she immediately looked back at me for her treat! Smart cookie! I can see that treats are going to be a major motivator for her! At the hoola-hoop she nosed it, then pawed at it.

After all that, I went and put the saddle on her. She stands so well for saddling. I still can't get either Gypsy or Skittles to stand that well! Once in the saddle, I asked her to trot around me both directions a couple times. It takes a lot of encouragement to get her into a trot, but we're getting better. Then I hopped on. Steering is working great... I barely move the rein at all to get her to turn her head. It's really lovely! But staying straight in one direction is definitely a challenge. We weaved around quite a bit to get from one side to the other. But she's is definitely responding well to both rein and leg pressure, so I'm very confident that straightness will come.

I trotted her today too. She kept wanting to go back to the gate, so I used that to get the trot. She wouldn't trot past the gate though, so I had to use the treat strategy to get that to work. First to get her to trot away from the gate, I had to use phase 4 (savvy string on the butt). But then when we got to the other side of the paddock she got a treat! This time we walked back to the gate, then asked for the trot... she walked faster, but I still needed the savvy string to get the trot. And she got another treat on the other side again. She really liked that idea. Then she turned toward the pedestal and stepped up! And again, looked for the treat! She's such a smartie-pants. And offering so much. I did give her treats since she's trying so hard for me. I know I can't keep that up, but I also want to continue to make these early sessions with her as positive as possible. THEN she meandered over to the hoola hoop and picked it up! She's such a cool horse. I'm getting such a kick out of her. I got off after that and called it a day. What a sweetie.

MY first ride on Saphira

Saphira came home from Redwater on Sunday afternoon. I've left her alone for the last couple days to let the past few days sink in. Today we got back into the training again.

I was excited to get on her. I wanted to try before taking her to Redwater, but decided not to -- just in case she decided to object -- and I didn't want to mess with her head before Martin and his crew started her. So I didn't. But TODAY.... now I can continue what he started.

She didn't come out of the pasture too nicely. Lots of stopping and wanting to turn back because that's where her herd was. But we got there. Lots of waiting on thresholds, but also applying pressure. One of the other horses eventually decided to follow us and once there was another horse heading out with us, Saphira didn't object. No problem. As I do more and more with her, this will get better. Once out of the pasture I groomed her and picked her feet. For the first time she stood still when I picked up ALL FOUR feet. First time. I was ecstatic! Every time before, she had trouble with her hind feet and had to move away from me. Today she stood perfectly.

She still has sores under her girth from the clinic. Five days in a row with a saddle and girth on after having never had one before -- sores are inevitable. So I was very cautious and slow doing the girth up. She stood very nicely to be saddled. I noticed all of Martin's guys saddled from the left side. I generally saddle from the right, so I was interested to see if she'd react at all to the change. Nope. She moved a bit and pawed the ground when I did up the girth though. I expected that since I knew she'd be sore. But I did try to be as gentle as possible.

Once saddled, I let her loose in the paddock (my newly filled in paddock!) to explore and get a feel for the saddle. She trotted around sniffing this and that. I kept her moving until she slowed down and started blowing. Then I put the halter back on, led her around, tightened the girth a bit, then prepared to mount up. When I put my foot in the stirrup, she turned her head toward me and looked like she was asking what I was up to? I pulled down on the horn to ensure she was braced. She was ready and so I mounted up. She stayed in the same position the whole time, sniffing my foot as I mounted up. Then she sniffed my other foot. Then she decided to graze. I flipped the lead back and forth a few times and asked for lateral flexion. No problem. Then I asked her to move her feet. No problem, but mostly she went in circles. I just let her go where she wanted and just kept using the lead to change direction. I only stayed on for a few minutes - long enough to get a few turns and for her to move off my leg. Then I got off. Great start! I'm so pleased with how positive she is!

I spent the rest of the session working on the 7 games: porcupine, driving and circle. She knows yoyo really well. She still tends to move into pressure, so we worked on this quite a bit. As well as driving from zone 4/5. This is also a challenge. We had quite an argument at one point trying to get her to go around me to the right. She kept stopping and wheeling left. Then I FINALLY figured out it was because we were getting close to the fence and the pedestal was on the other side of the fence. She was feeling SQUEEZED! I backed further away from the fence and she was able move past me to the right. Duh. She's more of an introvert, so my read on her isn't as easy. I'm glad she's patient! I did finally get it. We tried a few more circles to the right, then switched to the left. She was licking and chewing by this time, so we called it quits.

She was pretty sweated up when I unsaddled her, so clearly the "arguing" was stressful for her (even if she's not as expressive as my extroverted Skittles or Allegro). I need to be more aware of that in future sessions. I need AMY here again! She's my local introvert specialist! :-)

I put some dermagel on her girth sores, let her wander and graze a bit, then let her back in with the others. She did great. She's going to be a cool horse to work with.

Saphira meets Martin Black

Saphira went back to Redwater last week to participate in the Martin Black colt start clinic held there from the 16th to the 20th. This was part of the very generous purchase agreement with Rocking G Ranch: the 2-year-old colts sold at the auction last spring were eligible to come back and get started by Martin Black for free. I wasn't overly concerned about how she'd handle it. She has such a lovely personality and positive attitude toward all the new things I've tried with her, that I didn't think being ridden would be any different. I was right. She took everything in stride. She was one of only a few horses that didn't buck even once during the whole clinic.

To start, Martin put a rope on each horse's hind leg while the cowboy on the ground held the halter. She was allowed to get used to the feel of the rope and to learn to give to it ... that is, to stop when there was pressure applied to it. She was more annoyed by it than anything, but quickly figured out how to accommodate it with the least fuss. Once she figured that out, she was saddled. She moved around a bit, but again, quickly figured out that standing still was the easiest path and in no time she was standing calmly licking and chewing while they did up the saddle, buckles, breast collar, etc. Then they put a snaffle bit in her mouth (attached by a string around her poll), to get her to learn to carry it; then removed the halter and let her move freely around the round pen with the saddle to get used to the feel of it. She was the second horse saddled, and once they had about 10 of them loose in the round pen, Martin started driving them around and asking them for the up/down transitions. He says it's the transitions that horses have the most trouble with at the beginning. Saphira handled it all really well and even figured out how to stay out of the way of the horses NOT having an easy time of it. Once Martin was satisfied that none of the horses was going to hurt itself, he let them run out in the large arena. The only thing Saphira did was to kick out a couple times - and that had more to do with keeping some of the horses from running up her backside than anything!

Then they were brought back into the round pen one at a time. The rope was put back on their hind leg and then the cowboy assigned to each horse mounted up. Cory had Saphira for the first day. He was one of the cowboys from last year, so I was pleased she was getting someone I knew. She didn't even bat an eye. He got on and started asking her to give to the lead rope by flipping it back and forth from side to side. She did wonderfully and was walking around responding to Cory as if she'd been doing it all her life.

The second day of the clinic was a replica of the first, but it went a bit faster for the horses that were OK with the saddle. Mounting was preceded by getting ahold of the hind leg with the rope again, just to be safe (sometimes the second or third ride is more difficult than the first one). But Saphira did just as well on day 2 as day 1. In fact, if anything she was impatient! She started pawing the ground after being stopped by the rope on her leg... I got the impression she was saying - "I'm good! I get it! Stop pulling on my leg!" So days 3 to 5 there was no rope. And by day 3, they introduced the bridle and started asking her to understand the rein pressure instead of the leadrope. As with everything else, she took this all in stride as well.

The horses that were still having trouble (bucking) on day 4 and 5 were ridden more than once each day. On the one hand I was a little disappointed that Saphira didn't get more than 5 rides. But on the other hand, this just meant that there were no issues with her that needed to be worked on, so that was a GOOD thing!
I was very pleased with the pace of this clinic and the softness of the riders. There was virtually no stress for Saphira at any time. Of course, I know if she had been more right-brained, there would have been more stress, but still. I was also pleased that the goal each day was to stop each day when the horse was soft, supple and relaxed, ending each day a positive experience. Some were done sooner than others because of this (like Saphira), but they made sure each horse got to that point. It was a great experience for her and it will subsequently make my job a LOT easier.

Creative trail ride

This past Monday (Labour Day), Maureen, Meaghan, Tania and I met at the Blackfoot's Central Staging area for a nice trail ride. Tania has become disenchanted with trail rides lately because there's no creativity in them, so we all agreed that this time we'd do some creative things on the trail and not just go from A to B. And Maureen and Meaghan are definitely the ones you want along if you want creativity! I brought Gypsy this time as she's been pretty neglected this summer while I've spent most of my time with Skittles.

Before we even got on the trail we started with going sideways over the logs bordering the parking lot! Khan (Maureen's horse) had absolutely no trouble with this, so she also jumped back and forth a few times as well as just had him stop over top of the log. Gypsy had trouble with sideways over the log while I was on her back, so I got off and asked her from the ground. She managed that OK, so when I got back on, she managed to work it out better and we went both ways over the log.

After we were on the trail a while, we played "leap-frog" where the last horse passes all the other horses and moves to the front to take the lead. When Gypsy was in the back, I asked her to stay behind while the other horses kept moving. She got really agitated when the other horses were out of sight - lots of jigging sideways, up and down, pawing the ground. I worked on asking her to stand until she was able to stay still long enough for me to ask her to go forward (rather than let her). After the first couple tries, I realized this was too far out of her comfort zone to start, and the next few tries, I asked her forward if she stood still while the other horses moved ahead, but before they were out of sight. That worked way better. We can build that threshold over time.

We also worked on sideways down the trail, backwards up hills, jumping logs, point to point (eg. allowing grazing only when they got to a chosen spot). And at a couple spots along the trail we had to go through gates. There was a bit of a squeeze between fences and then the gate just pushed open. Maureen had no trouble at all getting through the first gate (she really had no trouble with anything she asked of Kahn!). Gypsy had some trouble because I had to ask her forward enough to get her head and neck over the gate so I could reach it to push on it. And since the gate was in the way, she got confused. Eventually we figured it out, but then she squirted through the gate and ripped the leg on my riding pants (argh!). Meaghan just drove Reesa through from the ground (smart girl!). Tania and Jack also managed without any trouble at all.

At a similar gate on the way back, Gypsy managed it much better and came through the gate a little slower, but I had to let go once we were through because I couldn't get Gypsy to yield her hind end around so I could move sideways to close it. Oh well, baby steps right? I'd like to work on gates with her more at home so it'll get better the next time we're on the trail.

Maureen actually backed through the second gate! Woohoo! Very impressive. Good Better Best!

Back at the staging area, I asked Gypsy to go sideways over the log again and she did it without any trouble.

A really nice and very interesting trail ride! I hope we do it again soon.

Sherlock meets Amy

Amy came over on Monday to visit and play with my horses. Amy just recently finished her L3 and is working toward her L4 with her horse Sugar, so I was thrilled to have her come play with my horses. Amy has quite a few more "savvy arrows" than I have, so getting feedback from her was excellent. I hope she's able to come out again soon!

We brought both Sherlock and Allegro out of the pasture. They're the two that Amy hasn't met yet. She started with Allegro while I worked with Sherlock, then we switched. Immediately Amy realized she was going to need the 22' line on Allegro. Amy is used to working with an introvert, and Allegro is very much an extrovert. And right-brained to start. I think he's innately LBE, but frequently goes RB because he's young and still quite unconfident. Without pressure, he's really quite playful. Eventually Amy had Allegro settled and listening to her. His most obvious "tell" is his switching tail. Once that stopped whipping back and forth, he was able to come down and respond appropriately to her cues. I had the same problems with him when I played with him at RafterXX: Like a kite at the end of the line at first, but pretty soon he was getting it.

I had pegged Sherlock as a LBE. But Amy figures he's LBI. He's REALLY pushy. He tends to walk right through you (especially if you're on his right). I really enjoyed watching Amy work with him. While Allegro's "release" was being allowed to chew on the carrot stick, Sherlock's release was just being walked around. Several times when Amy asked him to come forward off pressure, he'd try to go through her and she rather vigorously had to defend her space (first photo). And a couple times when she ask him to circle - he waited until she used phase 4, then tried to leave rather emphatically. They had a few arguments like that, but Amy had a great attitude with lots of humour and pretty soon he was doing what she wanted with a good attitude as well. I can learn a lot from her. I tend to get frustrated easily. Less than I used to, but I still notice it. If I talk out loud to him like she does, maybe that'll help! She made me laugh at one point when she asked him to back up (after crowding her again) and showed me she was still grinning - and it was a very forced grin! :-) She was trying REALLY hard to stay positive! But sometimes I guess that's what it takes, right?

A few times he went introverted and she had to change the pattern quickly to break him out of it... he was having a hard time with the stick and string - differentiating between driving and friendly (not unusual) and he got into the pattern of just running around her. Instead of continuing to swing the string until he stopped his feet, she quickly changed direction over and over until he was able to stop. Then she re-introduced the friendly stick and string and he was able to stand still. There's those savvy arrows at work! Way to go Amy! I really enjoyed watching her work with both horses. I got a lot out of it and I hope she did as well!

Sherlock and the kids

Sherlock is turning into such a cool little horse. Well, he was always a cool little horse, actually, that's why I bought him! Callum has decided he wants to work with Sherlock, so I'm all for it. I've started teaching him the 7 games and how to reward the slightest try as well as making sure he has a plan each time he goes out to work with him. So he's gone out a few times now... he's tried the porcupine game, yoyo and circle game. Sherlock is a very left-brained horse (mostly extrovert), so there's a lot of playfulness. I showed Callum how to use phases and he had to use phase 4 a couple times to get Sherlock moving on the circle, which resulted in Sherlock going off around Callum with a few bucks and kicks thrown in for good measure. That gave me a good opportunity to show Callum how to stay safe! Just because Sherlock is small doesn't mean he can't still cause injury! Anyway, he got it all worked out and they did pretty well together!

A few days after that, Holly had a friend over and they went to get Sherlock to brush him and play with him and let him graze on the lawn. Kevin decided to try playing Friendly Game with him - with an obstacle.... our daughter! He picked her up and put her on his back (letting her hold on to him so he could lift her off if Sherlock objected). We've put lots of stuff on his back before without any adverse reaction, so this time was no different. He was perfectly content to carry Holly while he grazed. She's only about 50 lb, so I wasn't too concerned with causing him any harm if she just sat on him. Anyway, in no time, Holly and her friend were boosting each other up on him and jumping down from both sides several times and Sherlock just took it all in stride (see attached video clip). Way to go Sherlock! He's going to be a great little horse.

Sandbar Ranch on the McLeod River

Wow what an awesome weekend! Shirley hosted the (now) annual Sandbar Ranch Parelli trail ride. It's held at her sister and brother-in-law's ranch which is a spectacular piece of property on the McLeod River south of Whitecourt. I missed it last year, but am SO GLAD I made it this year. In fact, Shirley emailed me back in like February when she had to set the date for this year to make sure I'd be able to make it. I'm so grateful for that and thrilled that I made it. It also happened to fall on my birthday weekend, which was the absolute most perfect gift I could have given myself. It was probably the most fun I've ever had with my horse.

Well, except for the very beginning. Thankfully Louise was with me to help with the horses as well as maintain some good humour. I picked up Louise and her horse Rascal before heading out and everything was going great... horses loaded really well, the truck was packed and comfy, air conditioning on, we were laughing at our various adventures of late, then hmmmm all of the sudden there was a slight change in the vibration of the truck and trailer. I looked out my rear view mirror and it looked like there was mud or something flying off the trailer. Except there was no mud on the highway. Crap. I pulled over.... yup blew a tire. Crap crap crap! Oh well, it's 30+ degrees out, so we unloaded the horses so they wouldn't cook inside the trailer, and Louise led them into the ditch to graze. I got out the tire irons and jack to change the tire and a lovely man stopped right about then to give me a hand. We had no trouble getting the blown tire removed, but the bolt holding my spare tire on was so long my tire wrench couldn't reach the nut! Crap! And of course I didn't have any other tools. Neither did the lovely man who stopped for us. I called AMA, but they were going to charge me for the full service - even if all I wanted was to borrow a crescent wrench - because I didn't have RV coverage on my membership. The lovely man who stopped then offered to drive back to Stoney Plain to purchase a crescent wrench. What an amazingly generous thing to do! I gave him all my money (which was only $10) and we sat by the road and waited. Before said lovely man returned though, another man stopped who did happen to have a crescent wrench, so we were able to remove the spare tire and install it. Which was just as well, because Lovely Man #1 was unable to find a crescent wrench. I tried to get him to keep the $10 I gave him - for all his troubles -- but he was having none of it. After the tire was installed, I noticed it wasn't quite inflated enough, so I took it back to a gas station to inflate, then came back and parked in a nearby service road to load the horses up safely. And we were finally on our way again. We called Shirley to let them know we'd be late and to not hold anyone up waiting for us.

It was about 2:00 or so when we arrived. We found pens for the horses, pitched the tent, and grabbed a drink. I was going to head back to Whitecourt to replace the tire (I didn't want to return home without a spare), but Shirley's brother-in-law found one with exactly the same rim size and bolt pattern for me to borrow until I was able to replace the damaged tire back home. Another lovely man! So we were able to start playing with the horses and leave the stress of the blown tire behind us. Louise and I spent a few minutes in the arena with the various obstacles, then a bunch of people were heading to the river, so we grabbed our bareback pads and tagged along. I was thinking it might be too soon to ride Skittles (not enough ground work to get her mind settled), but didn't want to miss out on the river since I was a puddle of sweat by this time (really hot day). I rode her in just the bareback pad and halter (first time I've ever done that too!) and Skittles was amazing.

Her first exposure to water was a bit tentative, but after a few steps in, and pawing/frothing in the water, she got braver and braver (it helped that there were other horses there too!). That first day, she got in to just above her knees. I got off and also splashed water on her, which she really seemed to appreciate. After a while she was so relaxed, it almost looked like she was dozing. Maybe she was!

After the potluck dinner Saturday night (which was FABULOUS), most of us (about 15, I would say) got back on the horses for a nice long trail ride. This time I used my saddle. She was a bit more agitated in the larger group and I was grateful I put the saddle on as she was jigging a fair bit in the open fields ... I wasn't quite ready to let her canter and held her back in a trot. She probably would have been fine, but I'd rather try cantering her in a smaller group first. It was about 10:3o by the time we returned to the ranch and getting pretty close to dark. Amazing ride, wonderful scenic trails and even a couple challenging hills - which Skittles handled like a pro. Very proud of her.

Sunday was another scorcher day, although thankfully a bit more overcast. Louise and I started playing in the "playground" with the giant tires, bridge, log jump and "carwash." A year ago, I don't think Skittles would have gone into the same field as this scary fluttering carwash contraption, but last weekend, I was able to get her to walk calmly through it with about a third of the plastic strips tied back. I am continuously marvelling at her trust and confidence this year. A different horse! She also handled the bridge no problem and stood on the pedestal -first with just her front, then eventually with all 4 feet. No issues. And of course she jumped the log no problem (with about 3 feet to spare - as usual!).

Then we saw Shirley heading back to the river, and I shouted for her to wait and we tagged along. On Saturday, a couple of the guys were actually swimming with their horses, so I wanted to see how deep Skittles would go. I played circling game with her and each time around, I'd see if she'd go a bit deeper. Eventually she got deep enough so it was nearly to the top of her back, but didn't want to go any deeper. I didn't push it. I want this to be a positive and fun experience for her too. But while she was that deep, I was able to use the buoyancy of the water to jump up on her back. And she stood very politely and quietly while I flailed and splashed in the water and squirmed up on her back. Seriously - a different horse! We continued to play around in the water for a while, then eventually got back on and meandered through various trails back to the ranch. We gobbled up leftover potluck for a late lunch, then unfortunately had to pack up and head home.

I can't say enough how impressed I am with Skittles with every new thing I throw at her this year. She's turning into such a cool horse. I'm so glad I stuck with her. This weekend was amazing. I can't wait until next year! Thank you Shirley!!

Allegro goes to play @ Rafter XX

On Canada Day, I met Tamara and Toby (her little mini) over at Rafter XX. I decided to give Allegro some travel experience and start playing online with him. My daughter came with me and she absolutely fell in love with little Toby. Such a cutie! She had tons of fun playing with him and I think Tamara was happy to have someone to play with him (since her pregnancy limits her playing a fair bit these days!). Toby was really wary of Holly at first and vice versa. But within an hour or so, and with Tamara's guidance, Holly got more confident with him and he with her. It was pretty cute. Video clip of Holly and Toby at the end.

Allegro loaded and travelled really well. Once in the arena, we just walked around and investigated stuff at first. Then started playing the 7 games. Friendly was fine...we've done tons of that at home with just about everything. Porcupine was good as well... he's actually really ticklish in his side, so he was twitching, swishing his tail and swinging his head around to scratch his side every time I touched him there, but he soon figured out that just moving away would stop the tickle! Yo yo was no problem. Driving game was stronger on his left side than his right... which really became apparent when we tried sideways. He'd go sideways really well to the right (with me on his left), but couldn't figure out what I wanted going the other way. It was the same with circling as well. If I tried to send him to the right, and support with the carrot stick, he'd move in the opposite direction. So we had some fairly lengthy "discussions" and he eventually managed to figure out what I wanted. I quit as soon as I was able to get 3 good sends in that direction.

Squeeze also had some issues.... more with disengaging and stopping than anything. He kept wanting to continue in a circle, and especially going left, he'd pull against the line and run into the savvy string rather than come off that pressure and stop against the wall. Again, we had some lengthy discussions, but came through it out the other side with 2 or 3 very nice disengagements in each direction in the end.

Then we just went around and played with some obstacles... cavaletti, ball, cones and tarp. None of the obstacles caused him any grief. He's really quite confident with most things, which I love. Photo attached is of Allegro pawing the tarp. The first time he crossed it, he pawed it up under him, then stretched out and peed on it! Crazy horse.

We were there for nearly 3 hours. A really fun day, and Allegro made some great progress.

Robin's Misty Lady

Not sure how this happened, but I now have another horse! (But no, unfortunately not the guy in the first photo). I went to Rocking G Ranch's first production sale last weekend. I really only went to see how the horses were going to sell. I picked up an auction number -- mostly because I wanted a chance at Jae's Blue Shocker - the blue roan colt started last summer at the Martin Black clinic that I had named "Socks," and that I kind of bonded with(pictured left). Once I found out his registered name, I started calling him BlueJae. I really didn't think I'd be able to get him/afford him, but I got the number just in case. I ended up bidding about $2-300 more than the limit I set for myself, but still didn't get him. Sigh... I also bid on a really nice buckskin filly, but didn't win her either.

Toward the end of the auction, a couple other nice colts went through... I bid on a grade filly who was really sharp looking, but then Amy also bid on her, so I stopped. Amy ended up winning the bid, but it was challenged by someone else, so she let her go to the other guy. Then came this other nice blue roan filly that I hadn't really looked all that closely at. Kev encouraged me to bid on her (he figured she was as nice as BlueJae, plus I think Kev hates to leave any auction empty-handed!), so sure, what the heck? Somehow I ended up winning the bid! So I am now the proud owner of a cute 2-year-old blue roan filly named Robin's Misty Lady (pictured above, and she's the 2nd horse running past in the clip below). She's a lot lighter now than in the photo. Kind, friendly and easy-going. The best part is that the purchase price includes starting her at the Martin Black clinic this September at no additional cost. Woohoo! After the auction, I went out to have a closer look at her. I walked up to her and said, "well, I guess you're mine, little lady." She responded by nosing/nuzzling my shirt. So I guess that's a good sign, right?

I haven't given her a name yet. We've tried on "Robin," "Ladybird," "Bluebird," (all closely related to her registered name), as well as "Saphira". My daughter likes Saphira (or Sapphire). Another friend suggested simply "Misty" (or maybe Misty Blue?) ... it might grow on me.... I'm not completely sure yet. Shiloh is another possibility (that's the name of a Neil Diamond song I've always liked). Anyone out there have any suggestions/votes? :-)

Skittles' first trip to Blackfoot

Today was Skittles' first trip to the Blackfoot. I've been looking forward to this all spring. Last week I took Skittles to Sunset and rode with Amy through the fields. We started in the arena and because it was so windy, Skittles was a bit jumpy, but manageable, then we moved to the fields. She was pretty prancy, but again, relatively manageable and I was pleased with her. So even though it was kind of a trail ride, it wasn't really on a trail, so I'm going to call today her first official trail ride. :-)

Amy met me at Blackfoot this morning. We let the horses wander around the staging area for a bit first to get acquainted with the area, then headed onto the trail. Amy took the lead first. She started by walking Sugar for a bit, then eventually got on once Sugar relaxed. Skittles followed no problem. I asked Skittles to take the lead a few times, and she did, but reluctantly. We moved so slowly while Skittles was leading that Sugar got fed up and passed us, then gave Skittles "the look" every time she tried to pass, so Skittles stayed behind.

There was one point on the trail that was a bit washed out which neither of the horses wanted to cross. We let them come up, then retreat several times, but they really weren't too sure of it. So Amy got off and led Sugar over it. I stayed on at first to see if Skittles would follow, but she still wouldn't, so I also got off and lead her across. She still hesitated, but each time she tried, I backed her up and rubbed her face, then asked again. On the third attempt she LEAPED over it. And we continued the ride. Once we turned around to head back, Skittles had NO issue whatsoever with leading! And she started giving Sugar "the look" this time when she tried to pass! Too funny. Coming back over that washout, Skittles still hesitated, but only once and then leaped over. I didn't have to get off that time! The rest of the ride went really well. Skittles and Sugar took turns leading on the way back. We stopped lots to let the horses graze (what a nice change from dry hay!) and drank in the beautiful day!

Very successful ride with Skittles and I am once again thrilled with her confidence and her progress. Yay!

Last Week - Riding with Tania @ Fultonvale

Time to catch up on my blogging again. I've been riding Skittles tons lately, but just haven't blogged any of it. I do want to write about my ride last week at Fultonvale with Tania though. She came with Jack. I rode Skittles, but I also brought Sherlock. It was kind of last minute decision. He was standing at the gate and looked so eager to go do something, so I decided to load him up just so he could have some fun and associate the trailer with something other than a trip to the vet! So once we got there, I tied him up next to Skittles for a bit, groomed him along with her, picked his feet, etc., then turned him loose in the arena. It was interesting how protective of him Skittles was. She made a point of keeping herself between Sherlock and Jack as much as possible.

After riding around a bit and having Sherlock frolicking around, it became apparent that the little guy was going to be more trouble than he was worth! So we ended up moving him to the small corral at the end of the arena and let him trot around there (photo). At first Skittles didn't want to leave him and kept trying to turn back to that end of the arena. I let her circle at that end for a while and slowly built the circle until we were able to ride at the other end as well. She settled relatively OK. Although there was one point when I asked her to canter while we were turning away from Sherlock and she objected. I asked harder and she bucked and turned back at which point I found myself on my butt on the ground! After that Skittles got to canter online for a few minutes and once I got her back focussed on me, I got back on. After that, she didn't have any issue with riding away from Sherlock.

Tania - on the other hand - was spectacular! She impressed the socks off me by showing me how Jack could walk, trot, canter, turn and even spin with only a savvy string around his neck! I bow to the master! WOW! I took a couple photos with my phone, but it's a bit far, so you can't tell she's only using the string, but she was! I was SO IMPRESSED! What an inspiration.

Riding Skittles

Well, my camera is finally fixed! So I can post some photos of riding Skittles this morning. As I said in my previous post, she's been coming along wonderfully this month. So this is us from this morning at the Fultonvale arena. My son was home sick, so I asked him to come along and sleep in the truck (for safety reasons), and he ended up taking a few photos. We had a blast (me and Skittles, that is)! She started out snorty like she does in new situations, but after saddling her up and doing some ground work, she's settled down quickly. Then when I was riding her, she tended to want to avoid the corners, so we did the corners pattern (trotting/cantering up to the corners, then letting her stop). She wanted to go into the corners after that! However, we didn't stop in ALL the corners all the time, so she had to pay attention. I could tell she "asked" about stopping in the corners (by hesitating), but listened really well when I steered her to a different corner to rest.
After a while in the arena, we walked outside the arena because she seemed so curious about what was "out there". We walked around near the trees, around the arena and out onto the side road and back further down. We also tried jumping the loading ramp.... she did awesome! I'm having a blast with her this spring. She still has spooky moments, but I don't feel like she'll try to run away or buck anymore. She's definitely building curiousity and confidence. Looking forward to trying a trail ride with her soon!