Got Savvy?

2009-08-04T10:44:00.000-07:00

Not much to report- weather seems to have got the nest of us the mo!

Here are some pics of me and Andy at our first show- he was a little star (no laughing at my crazy hair!!!)

And here's a photo of me and blaze at the start line of our first Endurance GB ride for a long while- we did 20 km- and i did it all bareback :D!!!

Shinobi's date with Lucy and Andys trailor loading

2009-07-13T12:50:00.000-07:00

Today me and Andy had a session with Arran and we were focusing on trailor loading. I havnt put Andy anywhere near a trailor since out tradgic car accident two years ago this Auguest so i had no idea how Andy would react, he might walk straight in or he might try to kill us all, i really didnt know.
Lucy had come up too, to observe the days event :)
Whils we were waiting for Arran to arrive i took Andy over to the trailor to see his reaction thinking it give me some idea of what i had instore. Snorting and all starry eyed, Andy wouldnt go near it. Hmmm this will be interesting i thought!

We started by playing the circling game, something Arran, there and then helped us fix in a matter of minuet- he's good! lol. When A dy showed us a sign ofrelaation ie a snort i took him over to the trailor, if his thoughts wondered over to me, which they did, and secretly i quite liked, he was actually tunning in to me lol!!!!!! if his thoughts woundered away from the trailor i redirected his nose to it and let him investigate, this wen really well, he had his head in the jocky door having a good niff around.
When he'd finished exploring we repeated this excersise but by starting off circling on the other rein.

Next we tried to get Andy up the ramp, so again we played the circle came till he was chilled then walked over to the trailor to see if he'd walk up the ramp, Arran was insistant then i keep a feel on the halter to direct Andys nose in, so his body would follow. Happy with all four feet on the ramp Andy needed a little encouragement to continue on into the trailo, but a repeat of this excersise soon fixed this and his threshold deisappeared.
Now able to get Andy in the trailor quite happily, we focused on making sure he was confident staying in. Arran said to keep a feel on the halter whist waving the carrot stick around, once his head lowerd, give with the halter and quite with the stick, andy caught on quick and was soon happy with me and Arran waving and banging our CS.
Everything followed nicely, putting up the ramp and partition Andy was a little worries with at first but soon relaxed and he was backing out the trailor nicley.

Andy was a very brave boy today an im so very proud of him. We even left him in the trailor whilst me and Arran sorted out our bext session and so on and i nerly forgot he was in there he was so quiet- oops :D Another couple of play times with this new toy and im sure Andy will be even more confident with the trailor. Arran gave me a whole range of different things to help with trailoring so i won be stuck for savvy arrows when we come to do this again next time.

Once Arran had left, Lucy was united with her 3rd favorite pony SHINOBI :D they had a wounderful play together and i was very glad i was there to watch, i learned alot, even in this short spcae of time, of how i could improve my session with him, and she gave me loads of pointers on working with the Introverted type. Thanks Lucy for upping my Savvy :)

All in all its been a great day, and my savvy levels have had a good boost :D

Ultimate friendly

2009-07-02T11:53:00.000-07:00

No much to report!!! I think the weather has got te best of us so me and the horses have spent the majority of our time sunbathing :D

With Andy' show coming up at the end of the month my plan of action between now and then is to help boost his self confidence. He is super in his feld with his pasture mates, but when you take him away he's alittle more alert (still a total Left Brainer tho) and when something scary happens his confidence hits the floor and it can be quite some time to get him calm again.

So we've been playing ultimate friendly :D Iv taken him around the winter fields, playing friendly on the move and the falling leaf pattern, this, he is doing really well with. Its only when we get futher down the field, surrounded by the scary wood, that he feels a threshold, but its coming.

Becuase the winter fields have been sprayed, Andy mus'nt eat the grass so we're limited to what we can do. The majority of Ultimate friendly, we're doing in his pasture. We're doing stuff like dragging tyres and logs, me jumping on big platic mesh type bags and waving them around, and wrapping him in tarps :D

We've had lots of licking and chewing over the past few days and he's relaxing more when he's away from the others so hopefully, come July 26th, he'll be super calm and parading around the winners circle :D

2009-06-28T10:32:00.000-07:00

The weather was beautiful today so i was determined to have a great play session with Andy, seeing as its been a very long while since our last!
I tried to be creative as i think Andys been getting bored sensless, so when playing the catching game when he started walking over i sat on the floor with my back to him, he came over and couldnt believe what his crzy human was doing, gave me push and a sniff then stood staring at me!
"Now that i have your attention" i thought, we'll see what we can do with the tarp, so i crawled on all fours over to the tarp, Andy followed-bemused! then i started to rub and wrap it round his legs- no problem.Then i sat on it and hide some treats on my shoes for him to find- Andy seemed impressed lol then hide them under the corners which kept him amused for aaagggess! Sniffing and pawing till he'd troffed the lot :)

Then i sat there, on the tarp, flapping it around, whilst he munched the grass, thinking.

Started rubing the tarp over his back and on his sides, *Lick and Chew* then the other.We've been playing with plastic bags and tarps for the past 2 or 3 session so they're no longer scary but actually quite fun! I waved it round in the air then pulled it over his head- every time he looked as if to say "Oh there you are!!" he didnt mind this, he got handfuls of grass after each time :) LBI!!!!!

Then i open it out and folded it over his back and pulled up and over his head- no problem :) He looked a little like a Super Andy wearing a cape :D Duh Duh Duh, Duuhhh, Duh Duh Duh, Duhhh!

Then the heat got the better of us and we fell asleep :) almost. I was stretched over his back and we both were just dosing off i think then it got too hot and so we ended our session there :)

Rode Blaze, went for a nice long one in the wood, through a stream and then galloped across the field- bareback :D

Shinobi is being sweet as ever and we've been having ago at playing with bags and the tarp also- He loved it :D as well as playing the driving game

2009-06-14T11:10:00.001-07:00

Not much to report this week, the ponies have been a bit neglected this week due to family matters. So iv been treasuring what little time i have been able to spend with them- lots of friendly and undemanding time.
Iv also managed (finaly!) to move all of our toys from the winter fields to the summer. How boring is pony time with no toys :D!!!!

2009-06-04T13:30:00.000-07:00

Oh my lordy i almost forgot!!!!!!

Me and my friend went to a local show, i entered the "thelwel look-a-like" class with her 28inch miniture, Wilba :D WE WON, or Wilba did rather lol

My friend also won her class too, with her 18 month old colt, he was good as gold :D

2009-06-04T12:41:00.000-07:00

Havnt been to much this week but thought it was bout time for a post :D

This past week iv been riding blaze as usual but have been ponying Andy along, and things have been going really well :) Iv only nearly rolled off over blazes bum a few times because Andy has stopped abruptly to eat some grass! Mmm those LBI!!!!!!! We've had ago at cantering around the field together- sooooo much fun and we ve even popped over a jump as a trio- even more fun :D

Blaze has been such a little star, she never sieses to make me proud, when riding her earlier this week i put on the polar heart monitor to see how fit she actually was. Now before i say anything else id like to share with you all that for the first 3 months or so of this year i didnt even sit on Blaze, it was all in hand pole work and gentle walks up the road, then slowly building it up to where we are now, longer walks, hill work and barley any trott and canter. (sorry im blabbing!)

Well it turns out that blazes heart rate was not far off, and at some places the same as what it was when she was at the top of her game when we were last competeing in Endurance in 2005 :D
Here recovery rate was super quick, it continued to go down even when we were going up hill!!! She was trotting on flat ground at a rate of 90-95 bpm (which was the same as when she was competing!) when trotting up hill her heart rate was in the 140's- again super and when we d finshed with the hill her heart rate dropped over 10 bpm when we continued trotting on the flat (extended trott!). When we got back i put her in her stall and checked what her heart rate was after a half hour (when competeing in Endurance you have a half hour from when you finish to present the horse to the vet for there heart rate to be recorded and be rewarded your grade :)) and by Joe it was 41, before we started the ride it was 40 so she was so very close to her resting pulse!!!!!!!!!!!!! i was so proud of her, parlty because we've had such an awful 3 years with injury after injury, now, she's fit and healthy and our dreams of progressing to intimidiate (sp?) standard in endurance are getting even closer :D

2009-05-28T13:41:00.000-07:00

Andy had a bath today, and he's not impressed, now he smells like a girl! :)

2009-05-23T13:42:00.000-07:00

its been a long while since iv last posted, so i think its time for an update :)

Me and Andy fell off the rails a bit a couple of weeks ago, and i felt like a complete faliure. Arran had not long been and i had a list as long as my arm of new things to learn, most 0f which was in the saddle and i dont know why, but i still cant seem to put my heart into riding at the moment, i guess i havn't reached that part in our jouney, but thats okay :)
When trying to teach Andy the new things Arran had left for us, it felt like all the sucsess and hardwork we've been putting into our groundwork was slipping away (it is at this point id like to add, Arran and I had a wonderful session (except when iding lol) my sudden change in attitude is all me lol)
At first Andy would not go near the carrot stick and i struggled to keep his attention and keep him calm, this happend the next time i set out to play with him.
Our following sessions Andy couldnt wait to finish, so he could go chill with his pasture mates, when trying to lead by the tail he kept swinging his butt round and round and i was flying all over the shot. Transitions on the cirlce is something we're also working on, well i couldnt even get andy to ciricle me let alone get picky about his pace!!!! The thought of mine and Andys relationship going down the drain, hit home, and i just didnt feel like playing at all!
A week past and all i could muster was UDT, i was still dredding our next play session. Lots and lots of UDT later i final plucked up the courage to play and im gald i did!!!!!

We started by going over and perfecting things we already know, mostly games 2 and 3, just to boost my confidece and Andy seemed to be a more "lets stand reletivly still" kinda mood. Then we did more UDT, then lots and lots of friendly in zone 5, hoping that, that would help solve our leading my the tail problem, i think it did as i managed to get a step with out being swug round :)

To cut a long story short, i think we're making a mends, Andys walking over to me when i have the halter in hand, leading by the tail is getting better, im no longer having to wiggle the rope, just a gentle tug on the tail and we're getting more steps, friendly in zones 3/4/5 are going great, lots of licking and chewing which it has helped out our transition on the corlce, atm we're only going from walk to halt to back up as we're still struggling with circling.
Today we'd finshed our session and id taken off his halter and walked off, and for the first time in ages Andy followed me every where :D

Ye-Hah!!!!!!

2009-04-12T10:08:00.000-07:00

Today was another awsome day with the ponies :D

Today was the first time me and blaze had a canter since...well before i can remember :D We've spend ages doing stuff on the ground, with poles and walking out, just building up her strength seeing as its been along time since iv been able to ride her properly, and today she gave me the green light and we hopped in to a canter, total bliss, no saddle, no bits, no problem :D

Me and Andy had a lovley day too. We started with friendly game on the move- something we're still sturggling with, he's not running round like a loony anymore and as time goes by his head lowers and his stride getts more even but you can still tell he's wishing your werent flicking the sring over him, its stil taking him an awfully long time for him ot sigh or lick his lips. We'll get there tho :)

Later i thought we play touch it- one of andy's favouirt games :D Just something that would be fun and stress free for the both of us. Andy had a great time and wouldnt stop showing me how clever he is that now he can put his feet on objects- not just his nose lol.
We threw in a few other games and most supprising was when he offered sideways :D No fences or poles or anything Awsome :D

Before i left i thought i hae a quick go at the catching game- something i dont play very often, but probably should. After such a lovley session i wanted to Andys feed back. Would he catch me or run away? Well quick as a flash he span his hind away and walked to catch me up :D YAY!!! He would no leave my side :D we were weaving, and back up :D great fun :D!!!

Iv been pretty down this week with he hole friendly game thing and even after 9 months of following the parelli programme i didnt think it showed in out relationship (this being my own fault) but today Andy proved me wrong :D He does like me.... sometimes ;) lol

Success!

2009-04-07T14:17:00.000-07:00

Believe it or not imma keep this one short lol!!!!!!

Me and Andy played the friendly game on th move today- the first time since our session with Arran. Andy did really well, the wind was aginst 8s so the savvyy string was flying every where but after what felt like a life time of flinging it over his back he finally licked his flips :D No Drama!

Our sideway is improving now, although we still have to use the fence to stop us going forwards and our falling leaf pattern is getting pretty groovy, im having to wiggle the rope less and less and sometimes not at all when disengaing his hind and he's always ready to send the toher way.

We finished with some sick to me that went really well, from trotts thorugho the back up :D then lots of cuddles :D

Tantrums Tantrums

2009-04-05T10:31:00.000-07:00

Today was mine and Andys first session with Arran, out natural horsemanship instructor. I was sooooooooo incredibley nervous it was all i could do to not throw up :S!!!!!!!!! Andy bless him, was able to keep it together for the both of us :)

Arran started by helping us to sort our sideway problem, before today me and Andy didnt have a sideway gear lol!!! Arran pointed out then my driving game on the front end was brooken an i wasnt using my phasing correctly :) I handed Andy over and Arran showed me exactly how to fix it :) I dont think Andy was very impressed that this human was trying to teach him new things lol and unlike me Arran's able to be firm and effective with out getting me or mad, im much more like "ahh shall we just have cuddles instead!" lol
Before long Andy was even offering us sidways :D

Next, i showed Arran mine and Andy's circle game- a game we've struggled with for what seems like forever and only this week Andy's been able to circle me confidently :) Me and Andy circled and changed direction flawlessly, Arran seemed quite impressed :) He asked if i there was anything i thought could have gome better and ponited out then when i got to tag Andy with the CS and SS he shys away from it and then speeds up which is when Arran mentioned about playing the firendly game on the move- this is where the fun really began lol

Standing still Andy was fine with me tossing the SS over him but when i sent him on the circle and tried the same thing Andy was nutts. He shot of nearly taking the rope clean out of my hands :S Needless to say i handed Andy straight over to Arran :D It took a while for Andy to chill out and be happy about us tossing the rope over him out on the circle, but we got there :D

Arran then asked if we had ever done the falling leaf pattern, then laugh when i replyed with "I looked at it and it scared me so no :S!" lol It was actually a lot easier than i thought and me and Andy were doing it in trott in no time- I have pretty awsome timing according to Arran :D- Finaly something im good at lol!!!!!!!!!

Our ground skills being good enough Arran suggested i hopped on him and we try some riding :) i had never Andy in the natural halter so Arran suggested we start with bending to a stop. Well it felt as if Andy had swallowed a piece of 2x4 lol it took ages to get him to bend him head round to touch my feet and even then we ony maneged it once or twice :)
Next we tried going sidways and this is when Andy had the "Great Mother of ALL Tantrums!" lol

Andy was getting a little bit confused which was then closley followed with aggitation and then tantrums lol Andy was going every direction but sideways we had forwards and very good back up, and even a buck and rear- just to say, i ride bareback lol and thankgod for Linda teaching all about our balance point because thanks to that i was anchored down deep in my seat and wasnt thrown off balance, not even by a milimeter- it was at this point i started laughing lol!!!!!!!
Many tantrums later we were going sideways with ease in both directions :D

Over all i think the session went pretty well, i have loads of things to work on with Andy i hope, Arrans looking forward to our next session just as much as i am :D:D:D

Friendly Friendly Friendly!!!

2009-03-19T13:15:00.000-07:00

Me and Andy had such a wonderful time together on Tueseday :) It was one of those days where just everything went right and we both had a blast :)

Recently iv been licking and chewing my way through the Liberty and Horse Behaviour Set and have been paying pretty close attention to the section on reading your horse, is he; Dominante, Confident, Unconfident, Right Brain, Catatonic. I thought i put my knowledge to the test and so decided that today's session would 99% be about the friendly game :)

I started with haltering Andy-obviously, but i sat in the floor this time, just to make it more interesting- not a problem, as soon as sat down Andy's nose followed me as if to say "Ooh, any cookies down here, what you doooooooing?" i slipped the halter on, then off, then on then of again, and then back on :) All whilst sat on the floor :)

Then..errm.. we started swinging the rope over him back, neck, bum and around his legs- not a problem. I backed him away a little and began swinging the rope over my head and he walked straight back over, not faized at all :)

Andy was obviously feeling pretty confident, i thought we'd go for something a little more challenging for the both of us, i went and got my 22 ft line and looped it through the tyre and began to drag it behind me , with Andy following, absolutly not fussed, in fact he was near draggin his nose on the floor wanting to sniff it, which i let him :) Then we did the same with the big traffic cone we have, also not a problm for Andy Pany, again he kept trying to catch up with to investigate :)

Through out our friendly game i constantly observed Andy body language and tried my harest to listen to what he was telling me, if he got unconfident (Hardly ;)) id retreat , id wait for him to lick his lips before moving on to the next thing, which is what i think made the most difference :)

Then i tried banging on the stable with the carrot stick, at first Andy went all starry eyes and took a few steps back so i started walking away and began rubbing the stable instead, waited for a lick of the lips then started tapping again and before long any walked over and stood with me whilst i carried on banging away like a crazy lady :) What Andy has to put up with, aye lol

I thought that was enough licking and chewing for the both of us so to put a great end to a great session, we spend the last 5 minuets or so UDT :) I sat on the floor again, very lazy me, and again Andy lowerd his head to get rubs and scratches :) i toyed with taking the halter on and off again, then just didnt bother putting it back on and he stood with me for ages :) Me, still sat of the floor and Andy's nose nearly in my lap, it was awsome :) For him to want to stay with me was such a blissfull feeling. THANKS PARELLI :)

As if today couldnt get any better, today was the first time id ever loose schooled blaze, she's got the idea of circling without changing gait or direction so i thougt it would be fun, I havnt taught blaze any of the seven games but i was able to draw her in to me at the end- which was just pure awsomeness :):):):):)

Driving from Zone 3

2009-03-15T11:18:00.000-07:00

This week as been a pretty awsome week for me and the ponies.
For the first time in, i cant remember how many months, i rode Andy Pandy, following a really succesful play session. We had began learning driving from zone 3, the best way, i thought, to teach this to Andy Pandy was to involve cookies. So i dotted them all around the play area, on fence posts, cones, hid them in tyres, i even chopped up some apples and put them in the bath tub we have in the corner of the field (we use it as a water feeder.) Andy has already gotten really good at the touch it game, i can lead him over to with in a couple of meters of an obstical, point to it and he'll go over and investigate it for treats :). Andy was a little uncondident with me being in zone 3 to begin with, but as the session went on the only thing he had on his mind was going to the next obstical in hope that there might me a treat hidden there, athough i noticed that when i tried to be more particualr about what it was i wanted him to touch, he felt the pressure and would back up untill i was in his zone 1. Great Feedback! So i tried to be less critical and just try to build up his confidence in zone 3.
I also found out this session how much Andy enjoys apple bobbing :)

By the end of the session Andy was totaly calm, confident, and curious :) and my yard friend had asked if id like to tagg along with her on a trail ride, this i thought is a good as time as ever.

Considering it was the first time he'd been out in probably a good 6 months he did perfectly :)

Come our next session Andy was reluctant to do anything, he hid behind Shinobi in his stable, i lurded him out in the open and played lots of friendly game, he seemed quite unconfident to want to leave his wooden house so, we took it real slow, i sat on the floor to make sure he didnt feel under any pressure at all and rubbed him with the CS, soon the tension left his body his head lowered and then he was asleep! Okay, so now i have a confident horse but not a very motivated one, so we started playing touch it again, i put the odd treat around the stables so he wouldnt have to leave the saftey of his heard, and i drove him from place to place whilst in zon3, being the clever little pony Andy is, he picked it up straight away :) To cut an already too longer a story short by the end of the session me and andy were trotting from place to place with me in zone 3. Thats what i call confidence :) I was even driving him through a set of very narrow, zig-zagged poles i had layed on the ground :) Cool!

We were also playing great porcupine games all at phases 1 and 2, squeeze games through the tighest of spaces, we even manged to get a whole circiut of the circle game without breaking gate or direction and we were doing all of this Calm, Confident and Willing :)

The following day, it took a matter of minuets, if that, for Andy to catch me, okay so i had already walked kind of close to him but he swang his hind away to face me, did this a few times then he walked right over :) and we went out for our second ride of the week, i must admitt i did skimp abit of the "Pre flight Checks" Andy was calm and confident but we were definalty not connected and this showed when we went out, as good as he was, he did get a little unconfident at times.

This the last bit i promise!

As if this week couldnt get any better after the 5 minuet treck up the drive to the ponies field when i got to the gate Andy said "Hello" YAY!!!!!!!!!!
I rode Blaze today too, which was wonderful, just around the field in walk, doing things like backing up, turn on the forhands and so on but even so just be sat on her is such a wonderful feeling :)

Peace out guys :)

Fun in the Snow.

2009-02-03T12:39:00.000-08:00

Playing with Andy can be sooooo much fun, but playing in the snow is far more amusing than I could of imagined :)
We played together yesterday in a heavy snow storm and it was the most fun we’ve both had in ages. We started be playing touch it with some cookies, Andy loves this game, anything for a cookie:)!!! Although this time Andy got more than he bargained for, not only did he have to rummage around in the snow looking for them, which gave him a very handsome Santa beard but when he found his cookie he had a mouthful of snow too, which led to lots of face pulling lol! To spice things up a bit, instead of driving Andy from zone 1 I though id have ago from zone 3 :) I applied rhythmic pressure to zone 4 and let the rope slide through my hands as he walked past me, not phased by this Andy preceded to the next obstacle in search of a cookie :)
We spent some time playing stick to me, and Andy did a great job :) Matching my paces perfectly. To shake things up a teeny bit I turned to face him and ran backwards to see if he’d follow, he did, at a trot, and with plenty of slack in the rope too, with a look on his face as if to say “Wahoo, it snowing” lol im assuming this is one of those moments when a pet looks like their owner coz that was exactly what I was thinking lol!
With things going so well I thought we’d have ago at the sideways game, something I normally bi pass, coz it seems every time we try it, the worst we seem to get at it. We go every direction except sideward and I end up getting wrapped up in the rope, all round it’s just not very fun! This time instead of applying pressure at zone 1 and then 4 with the carrot stick I help the rope taught, not so as I was pulling on it, but there was no slack either. I had heard Linda say if you can control and direct zone 1 then you have control over where the rest of the body goes, not only did I hold the rope taught but I applied rhythmic pressure in 3 and 4 if it was lagging behind a little. This worked a treat and going sideways didn’t seem a big a mission as what it had been previous :)
We ended our session with loads of cuddles, the snow and chilly breeze had made him all fuzzy and more huggable than ever :) He was enjoying all the attention, resting his nose in my hands, he began to fall asleep. By this point my face was beaming with joy, its been a long time since Andy has shown me any kind of affection, let alone all this, too long in fact :) It seems we’ve finally got out of the rut I’d got us stuck in to, and im eager to progress further in our Parelli journey :)

With the success of yesterdays play session still fresh in my mind, me and Andy set off up the field, trudging through the snow to work on our circle game, and, like always, just try and have some fun.
Like any other we started with some stick to me, just to get him paying attention to what I was asking, he did it perfectly :) Time to try the circle game. I wiggled the rope and he backed away, reluctant to leave, I upped my energy and he picked up the pace. I swung my arm round to the right and pointed, he followed not a problem but at a snails pace, so I picked up the carrot stick and tapped the floor, with a swish of the tail and a look that said “huff, okay!” he picked up his energy. Same as always he kept stopping out on the circle, 9 times out of 10 behind me, instead of just giving up, like I normally do, I got assertive!!! I flicked the Savvy String at his tail, it had no hope of catching him as it had twizzled its way round the stick but it was enough to send him back out round on the circle, he maintained gait and direction for whole circle, not wanting him to get bored, I lent my head to the one side and looked at his hind quarters, he turned them away quick as a flash, I began to walk backwards and combed the rope through my hands with that Andy took a few steps towards me, I swung my arm out to the left and guided his zone 1 with the carrot stick, he continued out on the circle not a problem :)
Next I wanted to try the sideways game again, to see if our new method still worked; only I thought of being a little more imaginative. Like I had done yesterday I began to drive Andy from zone 3 over to the fence, like yesterday there was no problem. Once I had lined him up against it and pulled the rope taught I began apply pressure to zone 3 again, Andy was a little confused at first but I just had to wave the carrot stick over the zone which was “Stuck” soon we very marching sideways along the fence with ease :)
I bought Andy back to the centre of the field. Whilst deciding what to do next, a tree not too far from where we were suddenly fell!!!!!! The loud cracking noise sounded like the quick snaps of a whip and then the sound of it crashing to the ground carried across the filed. Andy’s head was up, ears alert and eye on stalks, and began pacing a little side to side, I was able to read that Andy hadn’t gone right brain because he was looking over to where the noise had come from in a curious manner, rather than trying to run away, he was simply a left brain on adrenaline. Although I knew if I didn’t address this behaviour fast he’d soon loose all confidence and try to run back down to the stables in search for safety in his herd. I thought, I must direct his energy, get him thinking and concentrating on something and keep his feet moving. YOYO GAME!!! I began wiggling the rope but I didn’t get much of a response so, bringing out my assertiveness once again I threw a wave in the rope so as it would give a clunk on the head collar, it got his attention and he turned to face me, and he began backing up, I brought him in a little way, then backed him up, again and again he got more relaxed but I had noticed a pole lying on the ground right next to us so I flicked the rope at his hind quarters and he swung them away which meant he was lined up in front of the pole, we played the yoyo game over that next, putting one foot over then the next then backing one foot away, this calmed him even more, with this I thought Id call it a day and end on a good note. I brought him, I could see that he was still a little concerned with the commotion that had gone on with the tree so a I rubbed my hands all over his head quickly with lots of energy, waiting for that look that said “err, what was I thinking about?” Then we walked back to the stables with me in zone 3 once again, we’re getting pretty good at that :)

Riding Freestyle

2009-01-25T09:51:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was one of those days where just everything falls into place, and all those times i felt i had failed and like giving up were all forgotten.
Yesterday was the first time in well over 6 months that i had sat on, let alone even rode, my beautiful mare Blaze :)

It was one of those spontanious things, one of those "Flow with the go, and go with flow" type of moments, which personaly, i find to be the ones that achieve what you'd believe impossible and always feel the most special :)

I had taken blaze for a short walk in hand, as part of her rehabilitaion. The sun was high in the sky and the air crisp, perfect weather for a quiet stroll down the hill and through the neibourghing livery yard. Blaze seemed very happy to be out, investigating every hedge and fence, aknowlodging evey horse we pasted and stopping to graze when ever we passed a patch of grass. We were both enjoying our time out together :)

When we got back to the land Blazes field is right up the top of the drive, so still have few more minuets walk. Blaze stopped again to munch of some grass and it so happened she had parked herself right next to the mounting block, in the words of Linda Parelli "How Interesting." It was then my mind began to wonder and i thought about hopping on. Just the thought of it was sending the butterflies in my stomach crazy and the more i thought about it the more nervous i got. Before i had a chance to argue with myself, that it was too soon and we've done no where near enough work for me to starting riding, i had climbed on the the mountain block and swung my leg over Blazes back, and was perched upon her :)

She didnt even flinch, she continued to snatch at the grass along the fence line. I let her graze for a few more minuets and finaly worked up the courage to ask her to walk on. She did as i asked and began strolling up the drive :)

I was over the moon that finaly, after months and months of stretches and mundain pole work, i was once again riding out with my partner, and it has never felt so perfect :) May i add, that Baze had nought but her rope head collor on and her 12 ft rope that i had drapped over her neck. Just like the summers before, when we'd been out riding all day, Blaze was once again taking us home without me interfering with reins nor leg :)

Riding has never felt so blissfull, and in this moment i felt truley blessed that even after all this time me and Blaze still share the perfect partnership :)

He caught me :)

2009-01-17T10:00:00.000-08:00

This is a long one, but its been a while since iv been able to make a post :)

Lots been happening since my last post :) The last couple of weeks have been a bit of a roller coaster! One week me and Andy have been all most inseprable and the next he cant wait to get away from me quick enough :(

Our friendly and procupine games have come on leaps and bounds :) I can bounce all around him and swing the rope right above his head no problem :) He moves away from the lightest touch :)
It felt asthough me and Andy were finely thinking and acting as one and were enjoying our time spent together :)

But this past week its all gone a bit pair shaped :( When ever i approach with or without his head collor he's been pretty eager to get away, one quick sniff for treats then he'll sornter off :(
Just when i thought things were finaly working out this happens :( After lots of thinking i thought maybe i had become predictable and boring. My aim for next session is to try something different, and be more provocative :)

So after lots of undemanding time i thought we'd focus on the friendly game, but try and shake it up abit. I tried umping up and down ini the four zones, he looked at me as if to say "You've finaly gone mad!" but looked more interested none the less :) then tried swinging the rope above his head which proved to be no problem :)
The plan was to focus on the weave and igure of 8 patterns next but the weather had other idea's so i let him go, again, he had no interest in hanging around :(

It was back to the drawing bored, thats when i thought, "choice". If Andy chose to be with me, then he'd be alot happier about it, and be more willing to do things together :)
"Catching Game". Me and Andy have never really played the catching game before, when ever we have iv never been patient enough to let make his own way over to me. He'll have both eyes on me and ill walk away, but he wont ever budge, he'll continue to be watching me right from the other end of the field but without ever taking a step.

This time it was different. I had all the time in the world and was determined for this to work. Id walk over slowly slapping the halter against be boot, at first he walked off, i followed. I continued to apply the pressure untill he turned and faced me with both eyes, then id walk away, same as usual he'd keep his eyes fixed on me but refused to walk towards me. I began to walk in an arc around him and when ever his eye's wondered id be quick to apply the pressure, he then yeild his hind and faced me, with both eyes locked on me i swang round to take off the pressure and continued in the arch around him. This contniued for no longer than 10 minuets untill i turned away and out of the corner of my eye i could see Andy making is way over to me :) I was jumping with joy inside but remained cool as a cucumber :) for the first time ever Andy caught me :) He stayed with me for ages, whilst i petted him and fed him apple peices :) It worked Andy was wanting to stay beside me :)

I feel Savvy :):):):):)

I didnt have much time to spend with Andy today, but after yesterdays succsess Andy was much more tolllerent of me making a fuss of him and didnt try to walk away from me once, infact he seemed pretty happy to stay with me :)

2008-12-19T03:57:00.000-08:00

College drop out!!!
Was officialy my last day at college today!!!
Plan of Action:
Spend the next few years with the ponies, studing Parelli and becoming the best NATURAL horsewoman i can be :)

wish me luck ;)

2008-12-11T02:49:00.000-08:00

My First Post :)

Its my first post, and im hoping it’s a case of starting how I mean to go on :) Me and Andy are working in level one at the mo, and yesterday was a great session, we didn’t do much task wise but we defiantly were enjoying our time together- Main thing though, right!?!?!
We did a little on backing up in to, and through tight spaces, which he normally struggles with, I think it’s a confidence thing, but yesterday, he was licking and chewing his way between poles and fences, with a look on his face as if to say “this is fun, im being so clever :)”!!! Our “Stick to me” was good, he was matching my energy quite well, from trotting to slow, low energy walks, stop, and backwards our porcupine game went better too, thanks to Lucey’s advise :)
Andy was being very willing and eager to please and very loving, it was great to feel that little bit of a connection, like I was actually doing something right for a change!
Dare I say I felt a little bit savvy!!!
Not getting too ahead of myself though, as I wouldn’t be being totally honest if I said today went just as well. They do like to keep you on your toes don’t they!?!?!
Bearing our previous session in mind I tried again to get Andy to back up between the same pole he had yesterday, trying to get him going straight in and out proved difficult, more so than yesterday :S Our porcupine game- don’t even go there! We did manage to get down to a phase 2/3 but that was after lots of fun battling away at phase 4. Circling game- ha yeah, we just wont talk about it and Sideways game- well, we it seems we no longer have a sideways gear.
*ARGH* why must we always regress??!! Me and Andy are great at getting things right first time round and every time after that it just gets worse :(
On a brighter note however, today was the first time we played with the tarp, he had a sniff and paw at it, hovered up the pieces of apple I put on it. It seemed quite a nice a place, he was happy to stand on it and fall asleep lol. Our weave has improved too, our draw is much better, very light, although im thinking that might have something to do with the pieces of apple I had in my pocket ha!
We had a mixture of emotions today, the “Ahh, what do you want” huffy, “Cuddles please”, the look of “look at me, im soo clever”, “what we doing now!!!” and “Mmm, is that apple?”, finally “Slow down, I want to sleep”
Leaving Andy to catch up on his eating, I spend some undemanding time with Shinobi, he’s a LBI, I haven’t played with him at all so far, just taking my time with Andy. Shinobi is an odd one, doesn’t like it if you stroke, or stand with him so much, quite grumpy in that respect but will follow you everywhere and will lick everything, you included, that’s one of the only times you can stand next to him and he’s happy about it, if you let him lick your jacket, bless!
Today however was a little different, he was half asleep when I went and sat on the fence near to him, after a while he walked over of his own accord and stood next to me, resting his head in my lap and fell asleep :) I was most taken back and enjoyed the affection :)

My god I have rambled on an awful lot- oops! but I can’t finish the post without say a big thanks to Lucey, who was kind enough to set this whole thing up for me, allowing me to share with you all, every single last detail concerning the ponies and our Parelli journey :)