It's about the feet

My session this weekend consisted of going through the plan James Roberts gave us to see where the sticking points are.   When I was sitting at James’s I knew I had done it all before during the summer with her and we where working on the riding fine. But in the past couple of months the riding has changed so I thought it would be a good idea to start from scratch and see where we get stuck.

So here goes,
* Have your horse catch you - She trotted down the field to meet me 'tick'
* Halter with Savvy - when I stood next to her neck she brought her head round and put her nose in the halter before I asked, 'tick'.
* Touch all over - yes including mouth and 'private' areas - even got a blissful look on her face when I scratched her between her teats - 'tick'
* Place down the feet - not so hot, picked it up nice then tried to stamp it down when I went to place them, got there eventualtulay but not up to the usual.  Interestingly the back feet where 10 x's better then the frount feet.  During the summer I could pick up and place her feet were ever I wanted them, as many times as I liked, even while she was eating. Need to work on this.
*Standstill - perfect 'tick'


This was as far as I had planned to go today as the ground is to wet to play on, but I spent some time grooming and scratching her. Also did some lateral flexion on the ground, a bit sticky but not to bad.


All in all a good session. It what was interesting was how much has changed in the placing of her feet that I haven’t noticed until I really started thinking about it, no wonder our riding has been off! So my plan is the everyday I will pick up and place her feet until they are better than the day before.

Plan2Plan with James Roberts

On Sunday 9th January we braved the cold and did the 220 mile round trip to JRFS in Wiltshire for a horseless workshop with James Roberts.   The theme of the day was 'having a plan' here is the discription of the course:

'Plan your programme for the year in achievable steps. You will be taken through James’ Experience Plan to give you a programme to follow for the next 6 months! James’ plan is easy to follow, and realistic! It is used on a daily basis by James and his team, having been cultivated over the years by James in order to get the best out of his young horses, challenging horses and foundation horses. You can even watch James demonstrate areas of the plan with his young horses and foundation horses!'

As always with James this was a very beneficial and thought provoking day.  Although I had heard a lot of this when Bella was there being started it now makes more sense now that I am a little further down the road. 

We started the day with James saying I am going to ask you a simple question 'What do you want to do with your horses?' to which the normal answer is L3, L4, Instructor etc BUT on the grounds that Parelli is a training program for your horse 'What do you want to do with your horses?' .... after a few moments of silent processing people starting coming forward with things like dressage, endurance, riding club, having a horse my kids can ride safely ...  James point to this was that sometimes we get so stuck in the programme that we forget why we are doing it in the first place!  Which left me thinking, what do I really want to do with Bella??  Well I guess the answer to that is have fun, be safe, hack out and maybe get back into my dressage. 

James than went on to talk about leadership, the tools we need (not the halter/rope type tools but the tools of a horseman) and then onto the plan. 

Here are some photos of notes he made whilts talking including 'THE PLAN'

 The Plan!

By the end of the day we all had a plan of what we are doing, where we are heading and why we want to get there.  Thank you James for an amazing day.

 

Blue String Arrived!

On the 1st of November this arrived in the post!

Parelli Tumblr

I have had some of my photo put up on Parelli Tumblr! Check them out:


Me & Bella


Simmulation Day

Winter Workshop Series with 2* Terri Martinus

Over the winter I have been fortunate enough to be able to take part in a winter workshop series with Terri at Brinsbury College in Pulborough.  To enable me to learn better and not have to worry about emotions I borrowed a lovely mare called Kit that belongs to my friend Gill.  I have been riding and competing Kit on and off for the past 11 years so we know and trust each other well.  She was also Bella's 'nanny' when I first bought her.

Introducing Kit! 14.2hh Connemara x TB Mare 24 years young, RBI mainly, Still teaching us all a thing or two!

I had a few play session with Kit before the clinic to bring her up to speed (Gill has already got her through L1).

In the first Clinic we worked on doing the 7 Games but looking at them with 'Level 3 Eyes'.  Really working on refining and getting better quality in the movements.  We also did a lot of freestyle riding (which is why I brought Kit not Bella!).  It was great to be able to just get on and not have to think about her to much and focus on my body and getting things right so I can make them clearer to her.  We also got her first sideways when ridden which was really cool!

The second Clinic was all about focusing internally and being aware of out energy and how to control it to get the best out of our partners. I found this a challenge at first as Bella is a lot more 'tuned in' to my energy than Kit is but we soon got ourselves sorted and I found it was a great way to block out what was going on around me as I do tend to get distracted by spectators, what other horses are doing, saber tooth butterflies!

The third session was postponed due to snow but will be happening at the end of Jan so will blog about that separately.

Catch up .... opps been to long!

Ok Really SORRY! Just realized I haven't blogged since September!!! Bad bad me, but I have been busy so the next few blogs will be as a recap and then I will start again properly in 2011!

Were to start,

Horseless workshop - Run by me for the local Savvy Sussex Study Group.

In September I  held a horseless workshop for our small study group. The aim for the day was to be able to practice all those simulation that we have learnt over the past year in a fun and supportive environment where people can learn and not feel silly.  My field is quite isolated so it was the perfect venue. 

We started the day with some Carrot Stick Savvy!

For online:

·       Picking up the carrot stick (both hands):

1.     Using string ‘flick’ it up and toss it behind you

2.     ‘Flick’ it up and catch it  (can you get to the point where you can flick it up high enough that you can spin round and still catch it?)

3.     ‘Flick it up, catch it then hit a target WITH THE LEATHER POPPER!

4.     GAME of quick draw – Best of 3

·       Practicing an underhand flick, use a fence post

·       Pop a balloon – phase one then phase 4 =POP! Both over hand then underhand

·       Firm to friendly on a barrel – practice phase friendly and 4.  Then can you go to p4 and change it to a p1 mid way?

·       WACK A BARREL! P4 on a barrel then rub it – how quick does your energy come up and down?

For riding:

·       Tossing the carrot stick from hand to hand, can you do it walking, trotting, and cantering??

·       How to throw a carrot stick, in pairs throw it to each other … how far can you get from each other?

·       Throwing it on the move … figure of 8 every time you pass someone you have at swap carrot sticks, walk and trot!

Moving on to Online Skills

·       (halter and 12, 22 & 45 lines, working in pairs) how soon can you feel it and what does each phase ‘feel’ like on the different lengths of rope.  Blind folded – can you still tell now?

Conger Horses:

·       figure of 8

·       sideway with fence & with just a pole

·       circle – with change of direction

Then Parelli Puzzles!

5 tasks, 5 minutes!

Level 1/2 people: (Fran, Gill, Janie)

·       Squeeze between you and fence,

·        Z1 on pedestal,

·        figure of  8 – from 12’ft away

·       yo-yo over pole

·       sideway along the fence (1 gap distance)

Level 2/3 people: (Lynne, Jo & Liz)

·       Squeeze over a sml jump

·       Z1 & Z2 on pedestal THEN Z3 & Z4 on pedestal

·       Figure of 8 (from 12ft + away)

·       Sideways over a pole

·       Kick ball through two cones

Lunch !!!!!!!!!!

In the afternoon we did a bits & bridles simulation

Fluidity

Energy levels.  Walk , trot, canter then run as fast as you can then STOP!  How much energy did you put into it? What sort of walk trot canter did you do? How long did it take you to stop – no I mean stop! How quickly did you come of it?  

Balance point:

On a barrel with someone holding a SS, can they pull up of balance?

·       How you sit now (feet off the floor)

·       How you sit now (feet off the floor), but grip with your knees

·       On balance point

·       On BP but grip with your knees

·       On balance point and stick you chin out

·       On BP with arms bent

·       On BP with arms straight

·       On BP, chin normal, knees relaxed, arms bent = power position

·       Pedaling

·       Push passenger position

On a barrel on a slope, DOWN hill –

·       How you would expect to sit (trad taught)

·       Now on BP, weight back in seat, and pushing on hands (to simulate neck or saddle horn) – load the back end. 

·       Explain the ‘lockit and rockit’ concept

On a barrel on a slope, UP hill –

·       How you would expect to sit (trad taught)

·       Now on BP, weight back in seat, and pushing on hands (to simulate neck or saddle horn), but back almost upright so you load the back end

·       Bend their ribs to release a brace – go tight in your body, the bend your ribs until you CANT hold the brace anymore.

·       Stand on to blocks and try to pull each other off. Balance point

Freestyle Riding

Rein Positions:

·       Lateral flexion

·       Lateral flexion using CS

·       Indirect reins

·       Indirect  rein – backing up with CS on Z5!

·       Direct reins

·       9-step back-up

·       Sideways

·       pick up and drop reins with out looking

·       casual, bunny rabbit, butterfly, contact rein

·       suspension rein

·       California roll

In groups of 3 conga horses:

·       Stopping – just lift/pull back on both reins,  lift one rein, then one rein  but shift your weight onto your balance point 1^st – feel the difference.

·       Direct and indirect reins on the move

·       Cantering – correct leg (in pairs, focus)

·       Bowtie pattern

·       Sideways

Leadership

Blindfold in silence in pairs – follow my leader around an obstacle course, switch half way! 

Phew! What a day!! But loads learnt :)  Here are a few pics from Parelli Tumblr to give you a taste of the day

http://parellicentral.tumblr.com/post/1257402019/a-few-weeks-ago-our-local-savvy-sussex-group

Did it make a difference?

When I turned up at the field today I was intrigued to see whether or not my play session yesterday had made any impact on Bella.  Judging by the fact that she was at the field gate before I had even got the main gate open so I would say YES,  Good sign!

I started our session with a little online to get us both ready for our ridden session. Bella was doing great even if she was in a bit of a punkie mood (cheeky punk rather than the normal stroppy punk!).  

I started the freestyle session with a bit of circling round a barrel and touch it trying to use my body then backing up with my carrot stick.  The purpose of this was to try to get us in-tune a bit more.  Then I did a few halt, walk, trot transition and moved on to the 'Bowtie' pattern. 

My plan today was to work on the 'Bowtie' pattern with the aim to start cantering.  I started in walk just to get her established on the pattern, then started to ask for trot across the diaginal parts.  We have played with this pattern before so she soon remembered and was soon picking up the trot just from a slight shift in energy from me. 

Thing where going well so I up my energy and she shot forward into a few fast steps of trot, which was a nice offer, but next time I asked she got really stroppy, dropped her head a threatened to buck .... mmm, how interesting! I guess I over did it a bit so I backed off and she went back to happily offering a gentle trot so I left it there.

We stopped and had a graze for a bit then I asked her to do a few transitions. At first she was really grumpy so a went to point to point till I got a few nice transitions and quit there for the day.

When I untacked I noticed that there where some rubbing marks in the hair on her shoulders where the saddle was sitting. Her muscles are building up where she is using her back more now so her saddle is not fitting as well.  Need to see if I can pad or shim it differently and get it off her shoulder more, maybe this is causing some of her crankiness in going forward ....

Not the best riding session ever, but one to give me a few things to think about!

 

Flying visit? ... Make it count

After yet another 11hr day at work today my visit with Bella was somewhat brief tonight but I wanted to make it count particularly as it is Friday and we haven't done anything most of the week due to work commitments.  I didn't want to just turn up tomorrow and go 'ok Bella I know I've barely seen you all week but today we are going to play then ride and start work on cantering Freestyle!'  Hardly seams fair or very partner like does it??

So what did I want to get out of my 10 minute session?  Well I decided I was going to try to be provocative but without making her work hard. Just enough to spark her interest then quit so that when I see her in the morning she is in a curious mood to see what I am going to do this time.


I started the session with a good scratch - always a winner in her books, then it was straight on with the 45ft line, no messing today.  Instead of doing more friendly and checking her 1st 3 games out as I normally do, I caught her off guard by going straight into the 'sliding rock' pattern, then on one of the sideway kept her going out till she was about 20ft away from me, then instead of yeilding her hind end I sent her forwards into trot and begin driving her from z5 to play touch it with the pedistall where I let her stop.  Now being a LB horse that bounces between In & Ex I knew I could do this without worrying her.  


I certainly got her attention but only to the point that she was watching me a doing what I asked but she was still being a bit snotty about it (being the dominant mare that she is if I don't play with her for even one day she is snotty till she decides i've earnt the right to be incharge again).  


Now that she knew I was there it was time to prove my leadership and I started to play stick to me with a 12ft distance between us and every time her ears went back or she gave a brace (mental or physical) she got a firm shut down and backup FAST.  It only took three times before she decided it wasn't going to work and droped her head and licked her lips and we were ready to begin!


I was flicking through the SC vault the other day when I saw the SC dvd lesson that Linda did with Allure on moving sideway to mount from a fence. This was something I stated with Bella a while ago but got put on the back burner whilst I concentrated on getting my L2 Freestyle done.  Anyway, this is what I had decided would be my provicitve task for the day as it would make her think but not use up to much energy! I knew we wouldn't complete it due to our time restriction but I just wanted one step tonight, that was the goal. 


So over to the pedistall we went.  After a slight hitch of me trying to convice Bella to get off the pedistal and stand next to it we got started.  At first she did what I knew she would do and moved into the pressure, but once I continued to keep the pressure she figured that was wrong and steped back to where she started so I stopped and rubbed her.  Then asked again. This time she went to move away and hesitatied and shifted her weight to the inside so I stopped and rubbed her again. The next time I asked she shifted her weight towards me a took one step towards me! Yes! So I stopped, rubbed her and we left the pedistall for a scratch and end of session.


I then fed her and once she was eating her hay I went back into her padock to do her water and she left her hay (LBI/E remember) and came to see if we were starting to play again! I rewarded her with a sratch under her tummy and left her for the night.  Cant wait to see what the effect of tonight has when I turn up in the morning :)

Getting closer to my dreams one step at a time

Do you remember what first made you want to be with horses? What made you take this path? What gets you through the tough times?

Well for me I have loved horses from before I could remember.  It's not the riding, I mean it blows me away that we are allowed by these amazing creatures to be carried on their back, let alone jump, do dressage (my personal passion) etc, that's all just a bonus it's way more than that, its about the way they move, their beauty, athleticism and the passion, pure natural raw love, forgiveness and peace that they represent which is something we all strive to reach in our lives.

I remember the first time I really saw what Parelli was.  It was just after I had bought Bella as a 5 month old foal and I knew I didn't want to train her the traditional way ... but how?  I was looking on Ebay for 'natural horsmanship' and it pulled up the normal selection which I know about but non of them was quite 'right'. Then I saw an 'introduction to Parelli' dvd for 99p! The best 99p I have ever spent!  This dvd was about 10mins long I think and it showed you all the things you could do with your horse using the program: trailer loading, riding bridleless, liberty, jumping big logs etc, which blew me a way. 

But you know what? It wasn't all these fancy things that made me want to do Parelli.  It was this one lady playing a liberty with her horse in a huge field and she asked the horse to canter a circle around her so close that it was almost touching her and the horse was doing it willingly with its ears forward and looking at the lady with a look that still to this day blows me away.  I knew then, in that moment that this was the program for me.  I wanted THAT relationship with Bella.

Well, that was 5 years ago and to this day I still have that DVD and 4 days ago Bella offered me a taste of that dream.  We were having fun playing at liberty after a brilliant online session when I asked her to circle me. Now normally she would go a few steps then stop or just leave with a grumpy look on her face! But this day she put her ears forwards and walked a complete circle around me so close I could almost feel her breath as she went behind me, then she stopped back in the same place she started from still with her ears forward.  I was almost in bouncing up and down in excitement by this point! Ok, so it wasn't a canter but it was a taste of my dream and proof that I will get it one day.

So my question is to you, do you notice every baby step or only the big leaps?

Mind your head!

You know when you are having one of those days when everything is going perfect then BAM ... your in A&E and wondering what happened?  Well last Saturday that very thing happened to me. Here's what happened;

Lynne, my good friend and fellow L2 Parelli Student, came over for a playday as we haven't gotten together in ages.  We started the morning playing with our horses online with the plan in mind that we where going to ride after lunch.  The horses where all in great moods and offered us loads, including tackling the very scary Tyre Jump ... 

After a quick lunch and a chat (not quite so quick ;) ) we tacked up and began going though our pre-flight checks.  Bella was being amazing. She was so switched into me it reminded me of the film "AVATAR" when they plug into their dragons and they do everything just from a thought ... now of course i'm not saying that Bella is a dragon ... well not these days anyway, but it was the feeling of that kind of connection.  Every breath, thought, step was in harmony.  


That where is all when wrong!  I was letting Bella graze next to me as a reward for a big try she had just made when something made her jump and she stood on her rope, pulled back sharply and her head collided with mine! 


It was a accident pure and simple. But Owww it hurt! I leant up against a handy barrel and the world started to spin.  After a quick examination of my head and finding a large dent and sharp pain starting to spread in my head I handed Bella, who was standing where I had left her just watching me, to Lynne and mum wizzed me of to A&E. 


I ended up with concussion for a week and a dent that a week and a half on is fading slowly, but will probably always remain as a reminder to keep my head away from hers!

Now, I wanted to share something that blew me away about the partner my horse was that day.  After I was rushed off to the hospital Lynne and my dad put her horse and mums horse away, packed up all the toy, jumps etc and Bella just stood there, stock still where I had left her for a good half hour! It was only when dad decided she wasn't planning on moving and went to 'collect her' did she move.  She wasn't worried or introverted, she was just 'waiting' for me to come back for her!  I have been doing alot of 'leaving' her and going to the tack room, or to move a cone and having her 'stay put' as part of the training for things like Horseagility and it hadn't even crossed my mind to think that as she was tacked up she would think she was meant to wait there!  


Needless to say when I got out of A&E I insisted my fiancee drive me to see her and check that she was ok and tell her what a good partner she was. 

The other thing that was annoying and HUGE breakthrough was that I REALLY wanted to ride that day! If you read my blog on my Ride out course with Terri you will understand why this is so huge!  I put this completely down to that course so thank you again Terri!