Observations and Parelli-Lessons

I'm kind of... sad right now.

Between the show on Saturday, and how crazy the barn was yesterday, I was really debating about whether or not to even go today. But I decided to make the trip tonight, and give myself Friday off as a rest-day before the show.

The riding ring was even crazier than it was yesterday, unbelievably, but I had come to the barn with the intentions of doing some barn chores, and then just hanging out and watching the lessons. Due to technical issues (flat tire) the barn owner/riding instructor was unable to be there, as she had to go pick up a delayed hay delivery. So rather than a structured lesson, it ended up being "free time" for all the students (only two of which had actually had a /scheduled/ lesson today that had to be cancelled. Like I said, shows bring kids out of the woodwork around here!) There were 12 kids in the ring, ranging from ages 11 to 15 (mostly girls, one boy), and one adult riding, and their skills ranged from beginner, to intermediate/advanced. By "beginner" I simply mean someone who has not been riding very long, but their actual skill set allowed them to walk, trot and canter comfortably (if not beautifully) and hop confidently over small fences (about 1'5" or so). By intermediate/advanced, I mean that one rider (a 15 year old boy who regularly shows his quarter horse in western-type shows, and occasionally hunter-hack) knew enough to confidently direct and teach his horse, and the others could comfortably walk/trot/canter/jump and could do it with some style.

This is important for my observations, to note that none of these riders were professional by any means, but they also weren't flat-out beginners who don't know what they're doing.

So, as they rode, I watched. I also watched them interact with their horses on the ground, as they groomed, etc. I didn't mean for this to become a study of horsemanship behavior (I was really just hanging out killing time) but that's what it turned into. And honestly, the results both worried and saddened me. No one did anything that would be considered abusive by any means, but it was the small things that I saw that kinda broke my heart. Like the girl that swatted her horse on the shoulder (with her girth no less) to move him out of the way. She didn't hit him hard, and she didn't hit him angrily, but I have to wonder what the horse was thinking when she did it. Couldn't have been nice thoughts. Or the boy who yanked on the reins to backed his horse five steps, simply because when he'd "ground tied" him, the horse had dropped his head to snuffle at a stray piece of hay and the boy had mistakenly thought he was about to wander off. (seriously, I nearly cried at this).

I want to take a moment and remind: the barn owner is NOT here for this. She definitely doesn't teach this sort of "horsemanship" behavior, and probably would have had strong words for both situations. However, I was not in a position to give instruction or discipline, though I did speak on behalf of the ground-tied horse to point out he hadn't actually done something wrong.

There were a myriad of little things that I saw, none of them brutal, or harsh, or mean in intention, but all of them were things that impressed upon my mind how little these riders really understood their horses. And I know they are all horse-crazy as heck, and they all absolutely love their horses (lesson ponies and "private" ponies both) and would never dream of intentionally hurting them. I'm also sure they all think they know the horses they ride, but it just hasn't dawned on them that the horse might see things a bit differently than intended.

And what really, REALLY  broke my heart, is that I used to be one of them. I'm actually tearing up a bit as I write this, thinking about it. I loved my horse. I would have died for my horse, I loved her that much. But did I understand my horse? I thought I did. I thought I knew why she behaved the way she did, but I know now that I had the completely wrong idea about why Missy wouldn't jump when I wanted her to. About why she would get argumentative when I asked her to do things she didn't want to do. I used to say it was her "boss mare" attitude. Her stubbornness. Her bitchyness. That she was just mean, and wanted to fight with me. Maybe some of this was true, but I was clueless as to the motivation behind the behavior. It never dawned on me that I was the cause of her problems, because I couldn't be bothered to think from her point of view.

I will be forever in debt to Missy. She put up with me, and she taught me some very valuable lessons about being patient. She was no push over, and she wouldn't let me micro-manage or boss her around. If I was being a slave-master, she'd dump my butt on the ground. Eventually, after about a year, I finally got it. I learned to be patient, sit relaxed, and politely ask her to do things. I learned that I had to stop demanding she do everything /right now/, and to let her do things her way. I will never, ever, forget the last show we went to. It was a hunter schooling show. In the three years I owned her, I had never jumped a clean round without a refusal... until that day. I went into the ring knowing it would be our last show together, and wanting only to have fun... and she gave me the most beautiful performance I had gotten with her yet. We didn't win anything, but I didn't care. I cried into her neck and thanked her for being there for me.

Nine years later, I have the privilege of working with her daughter Gwen. I can't believe how much I love her already. And I am so, so unbelievably thankful for finding Natural Horsemanship, which has given me the chance to form an actually relationship with her, one built on mutual respect, trust, and love.

Interacting with a couple other horses today really opened my eyes to how much Gwen already trusts me, and responds to me. I knew she was getting better and more responsive to things like yielding, but it wasn't until I actually worked with two other horses today that I realized how she pays attention to ME. The other horses were dead in my hands, their attention only on me when I was asking for something, and I only got a response after I remained persistent. It's hard to explain, but I could just tell that they weren't used to being "talked" to.

Now, I feel the need to say a few Thank You's.  Thank you Emily, for introducing me to Parelli through writing your blog. You have no idea how it's changed my relationship with horses. Thank you to Missy, for putting up with my crap all those years ago. Thank you to Pat Parelli for making natural horsemanship so accessible and easy to follow. Thank you Gwen, for giving me the benefit of the doubt and letting me be your human.

Today it really clicked in me how much Parelli is teaching me to understand Gwen. It's not just me making myself understood, it's about being able to understand HER, and to anticipate her needs and wants, and then to fulfill them.

J

Those Darn "Best Laid Plans"...

I'm exhausted! This is day 4 of 6 in my work week, and I'm used to having every third day off, so I'm definitely feeling the strain. Spending time with Gwen has been a HUGE help in managing the stress, and I'm so grateful for my time with her. The reason for the intense work-week is simple: I've asked for both Sat and Sun off so that I could accompany my barn to a horse show this Saturday. I am going as a spectator/indentured servant for the day, but I don't mind! I love being able to give back to my barn and, especially, my barn owner/riding instructor, who has been more than awesome through the years.

Anyways, because there's a horse show coming up on Saturday, the barn has gotten progressively busier as the week has progressed, as students seem to come out of the woodwork to practice! Though I had the idea in my head of going on a nice, relaxing bare-back walk with Gwen, one look at the ring and I knew that was out. There were at least ten kids in the ring. And our ring is tiny! 

Cool and Star were using the "second" riding ring (which is usually a turn-out for the more rough and tumble geldings, who were subsequently relocated to the round-pen for the duration of the wagon-pulling lesson...) which left me with no where to practice. I wasn't upset though. Not at all actually! I was happy to turn my evening into nothing more than a grooming/grazing session with Gwen. We practiced standing still while grooming, and I got a nice good rub on her coat (I thought I'd gotten all that winter hair, but a huge cloud of it came off her butt today.)

We're still pretty terrible at the yo-yo game, because she hasn't quite gotten the idea of backing up off the rope-wiggle (still tends to walk toward me rather than away) but, the only time she does back off the wiggling rope is when I'm coming down from the tack room and asking her to back away from the door so I can get out. And today, I think I figured out why she gets it here, but not when I'm on the ground! Gwen is not a very tall horse, but I'm not a very tall girl, either. When I'm on the ground and I wiggle the rope, I usually have to get to phase four before she responds at all. At this point, with the rope swinging, it tends to really get wild and a couple times the buckle has popped her in the chin (and I feel just terrible about this!) which tends to ruin everything because a) I'll stop wiggling, and b) she'll just toss her head in the air to avoid it.  However, when I'm up three steps in the tack room, and she is "below" me, wiggling the rope seems to produce much more vibration than when I'm on the ground. It's hard to explain, but I'm going to experiment with keeping my hand lower when I try to yo-yo her from the ground. Otherwise, I see a lot of 'tack-room yo-yo' sessions in our future!

So basically, all we did today was some grooming, and then a lot of grazing, which I think she appreciated. I'm anticipating a "full" arena again tomorrow, and probably Friday as well, so it's unlikely I'll be able to really play with her until next week (unless I break my "Sunday is a rest day" rule, which is VERY tempting since I will be off work and the barn is likely to be empty...)

Everything else is going great, tho! :)

J

Quills and Wills (Willpower, that is!)

Today was all about the Porcupine game! Hence the "quills" part of the title. I've been a bit of a slacker lately, working on the things that are easy (like hindquarter yields) rather than the things we need to improve on. A lot of this was lack of planning on my part, and as of Saturday I've been going to the barn with a game-play, and a general outline of what I want to do/accomplish when I get there. These plans are meant to be a guideline and starting point, and are more to get me motivated than anything else. All plans are, of course, subject to change based on Gwen's attitude once I have her.

Before I get into the play session, a little highlight of my day: when I went to get Gwen, both Star and Cool were dragging the arena again. I ducked into the turn-out, and headed her way. When I got close, I called out my traditional greeting ("hey pretty girl!"). Usually this gets an ear twitch, or a quick glance, which is OK with me. I don't want to surprise her, or make her feel like I'm sneaking up. TODAY, however, I not only got an ear-twitch, I got a whole body-turn and even two steps forward! As soon as she turned toward me, I stopped and leaned against the fence all casual-like (like I had the day before when we just hung out and watched the arena dragging). She stood where she was for a few seconds, and then started heading my way. A couple super-friendly(and kinda nosy!) horses came up behind me to say hello, and totally spoiled it by making Gwen back away (I've come to realize that Gwen is really low on the barn totem pole) but I stuck it out and after they moved on, I continued to Gwen. Did a little rubbing, and then turned away. She followed me a few steps, and it was then that I decided to finally halter her, and off we went. :)

Yesterday I started leaving Gwen "loose" when grooming. I'll either loop the lead-rope over my arm, or over her neck, as I brush her. Today, I did the same thing and she did even better than yesterday! Not only did she stand where I put her, she didn't even try to eat the hay off the ground, and she let me pick her feet no-problem!  (on a side note: if you recall one of my earliest posts about Gwen and her feet, I mentioned that she didn't really want to let me pick them up. Well, I am happy to report that this is no longer a problem, and has not been a problem for over a week now. I've followed the pattern I laid out "left front-hind/right-front/hind, and she now shifts her weight in anticipation and lifts up her foot when I run my hand down her leg. Such a good girl!)

Since the arena was occupied, we used the round pen. There were really scary monsters in the woods behind the pen (or so Gwen tried to convince me), so her attention was a little split for the first five minutes or so. Once she was sure there were no boogie-men, we got down to business. I really wanted to work on forequarter yields and backing today. We ran through the Friendly-game real quick, and then got down to the porcupine.  She made some real progress with her forequarter yields, and I'm going to make it a point to practice them every day until they are as good as her hindquarter yields.

Backing was great, too. We did porcupine on her chest and nose, and I even got her to really back-up without hesitation at one point. I'm using every excuse to back her up (down the aisle of the barn, on the way out to the turn-out) so that she will confidently do this no matter where we're located.

Our circles are getting good as well! This time, I got two complete circles both clock-wise and counterclock-wise without hesitation/stopping. Yay!

Something I noticed/need to work on: Body posture.  Several times, while I was playing with Porcupine on her chest, I caught myself standing kind of lazily. My focus was on her chest, and my fingers, and I realized that I wasn't projecting the kind of energy I should be. She did remarkably better when I was aware of my energy/body posture, and it was focused on "back up" rather than just on what my fingers were doing. It's something I'm going to have to really work at, as I tend to zero-in on the details and forget the bigger picture. Gwen is definitely reading more than my finger-placement.

All in all, I'm super happy, and very excited to keep practicing tomorrow!!

And here's a picture of Gwen that I took from inside the tack room! Aww, so cute!

 

 

"Can I come in?"

J

Hanging Out

By the time I got to the barn today, the sun was already starting to set. Star and Cool were being used to drag the arena (they are being trained to pull, and have learned in leaps and bounds in only a few short weeks! Dragging the arena is prep for a bigger (and heavier) wagon to come). While I love a freshly dragged arena, it meant I couldn't really play until they were done. I headed out to get Gwen with the mind that I would just groom and love on her, and see how things turned out.

My poor little girl was hanging out against the fence rail that is shared between the riding arena and the turn-out, watching Star and Cool with a pitiful expression on her face. It nearly broke my  heart! So rather than drag her away, I rubbed on her a little, and then just hung out with her by the fence and watched Star and Cool work. She relaxed a lot while I was standing there. She went from "alert and attentive" watching her buddies, to dozing and half asleep with her head by my shoulder. Every now and then she'd peek over at Cool and Star, or brush her nose against the halter (I had it slung on my shoulder), but I think she really appreciated just having some company while her buddies were working.

When they were done in the arena, I brought Gwen out (she came very willingly) and we went "into" the barn for some grooming. I experimented with leaving her loose while I brushed her, and except a little backing while I was brushing her hindquarters, and sampling a bit of hay in another horses stall (thankfully, the horse was amiable and not at all upset with her for the theft) she did pretty good! Her winter coat is nearly all fallen out, and she's starting to get really glossy on her neck and shoulders! Can't wait for her summer coat to come in. I'm debating about splurging on some sunscreen spray to try and keep her from fading... I've never tried it before so I have no idea if it would work.

Tomorrow, I hope I can do a bit more with her. Maybe work on some forequarter yields since I've kinda been avoiding them O:) 

On a side note, I really need some fly spray! I've just been lazy in driving to the tack store to get some...

J

At the barn day ???

Updating from my phone. Had a great time with Gwen today! The barn was practically empty, considering it was a saturday. There were two girls just finishing their lesson when I arrived, but I had the ring all to myself! I tacked Gwen up, but instead of riding, I played online with her while she was saddled.

We played with the circle game both directions, and she did great. A little sticky when going clockwise, but counter she's awesome!! Tried to play touch-it but she had no interest in it, so we did a squeeze game instead. Again awesome. Did some backing up. I'm starting to get more insistent that she back up, since she tends to be a little sluggish. Second time she did great! Got lots of licking and chewing, and one big sigh. :)

Can't wait till monday!!

J

Great Day at the Barn!

We got a huge thunderstorm Monday night, so Tuesday the barn was a muddy mess. Wednesday, we had sunshine, but it was still kinda muddy so I just said a quick hi to Gwen and came home. I had dinner plans that night, so it turned out alright.

Today was absolutely beautiful! Clear blue skies, a light breeze, temperatures in the mid 80's. Fantastic barn weather! I rushed right over after work. I decided to do a little riding today, so I borrowed a saddle from the barn owner, and got Gwen all set. I even lucked out with the arena! There were only three people riding, and they all left as I was about to enter. Score! Since this is only the second time I've ridden her in a saddle, and the fourth time total, I really didn't want to do anything too demanding. So we worked on maintaining gait. I knotted my split reins and looped them casually over the saddlehorn so they wouldn't get lost (but they were lose enough Gwen could put her nose on the ground without any tension at all) and just asked her to walk around. As long as she was walking, I didn't care about where we went. She did a pretty good job, we only had two little "stops" right at the beginning, and then she got the idea. I experimented a little with shifting my weight and turning my upper body, to see if she'd listen or be influenced in some way to "go" that direction. Mostly, she wasn't paying much attention, but if I leaned a little, she'd kinda drift the direction I wanted her to go.

She did well enough that I decided we'd try a bit of trotting. She wasn't too thrilled at first. When I asked her, she'd turn her head and kind of scowl at my boot, as if to say "seriously? I don't wanna!" but I was persistent enough that she finally gave in and we did some trotting around. It was definitely speed trotting, and ended up posting like a crazy person, but as long as it was /trotting/ I didn't ask her to do anything else. I asked her to walk, and then surprised her by asking for a halt as soon as she gave me the walk. We took a little break under the big tree, and she gave a huge breath. A definitely "Phew. That wasn't so bad!" kind of sigh. After a little break, we did some backing. She really surprised me by backing at very light pressure, so after I got three steps out of her, I immediately hopped off and loosened her girth.

Did some grazing and then a little of the circle-game near the pasture fence, and then back out into the turnout. She seemed pretty pleased, and I was very proud of her! I'm so excited about going back on Saturday! Unfortunately, can't go tomorrow :(

 Grazing!  Awww, pretty girl!!

J

Updates

Wednesday I went to the barn, and worked with Gwen using the Carrot Stick. We did pretty good. She had no problems with it touching her all over, or the string zipping over her head or around her legs, etc. She took it all in stride. She got a little confused when I started "poking" her with it, to yield her hind quarter, but only in the sense that she thought she was meant to stand still, not move away from the pressure. But we got that sorted. Unfortunately, she was really not concentrating at all. Her attention was definitely outside the round pen. The weather was kinda nasty, and the wind was really shaking the trees, so she kept tensing up and looking out to the tree tops. We wrapped it up after some backing, and called it a day.

Thursday, I had big plans. I was going to really concentrate on forehand yields, as those are currently our weakest. However, my phone had other ideas. It decided to do weird things like lock up and stop working. So instead of going to the barn, I spent the evening after work getting it fixed. I'm happy to say that it is all better now, and the solution was simple, and did not involve losing all of my pictures, etc.  Friday was a late work day, so I wasn't able to get to the barn until today, Saturday!

It was threatening to rain all afternoon, but I pulled Gwen out, gave her a good brushing, and headed to the round pen. Since I want to get really good at the porcupine game with her, I left the carrot stick behind, and just worked with my fingers. Practiced on her hindquarters first, as she's really good about yielding those. So good, that often I don't need to touch her but once, and then she just goes off my hand lifting. Her forequarters, not so much. I stood quietly by her shoulder and "poked" with all my fingers lightly. If she thought about moving, or shifted a little, I kept the pressure light, but if she didn't seem to pay attention, I'd gradually increase. I could tell she was thinking about it, but wasn't really sure what to do. She did a lot of backing up instead of moving her shoulder over, but I did get a good one or two steps sideways toward the end. Throughout, she'd kinda blow out, and drop her head, and I could tell she was really thinking about what I was trying to ask her, but wasn't sure what to do. Something we'll definitely need to work on. I ended with backing her up off the halter, since it's something she knows and will do really well, so we ended on a very positive note :)  I'm very proud of her. I barely had to touch the lead and she'd back up without resistance.

Tomorrow's my "day off" from the barn, but I'm super excited to work more with yielding her forequarters. Can't wait till Monday!

Grooming time!

J

Time Out

First: I got my Carrot Stick and Savvy String today! Yay!! The blue is sooo pretty, I love it! I can't wait to put it into practice.

And speaking of...

I went straight to the barn after changing/grabbing my stick/string. No one else was around, it was great! The horses were still eating lunch, tho, and I didn't want to pull Gwen away from her meal (especially since the other horses would eat it all while she was gone). Instead, I did a couple barn chores as I waited for her to finish. When I got bored with that, I decided to just go hang out in the turn out with Gwen as she ate lunch. Naturally, this meant hanging out with Cool and Star as well. I've decided I don't like Cool, but that's another post.

Turns out they were finished eating, at least for the moment, but I just hung out and rubbed all over Gwen. Rubbed her shoulder, neck, belly, rump, rubbed down her legs to brush off the flies, etc. When I was standing by her belly/shoulder, sometimes she would swing her head around and check out what I was doing, so I'd rub on her forehead a little. I didn't put my arms around her, cause I didn't want her to feel trapped, and I didn't stop her from moving away. But actually, the only time she'd move away is when Cool would butt his big head in between, or shove her. Otherwise, she seemed pretty happy to stand there and let me scratch on her.

Since she wasn't eating, I figured I might as well catch and play with her for a bit. But, I hadn't brought the halter with me. Gwen actually followed me to the gate when I went to leave! It's the first time she's done that without a play session first. I felt so bad leaving her at the gate to go get my halter :(

When I came back, the trio had moved on to the water buckets, and I joined them there. Like before, I just walked over and started rubbing on her, letting her move if she wanted to. I could tell she wasn't digging the halter on my shoulder, and rather than just grab her and head out, I wanted to rub on her and wait, until she was ready to go. She relaxed after a little, but she was never really into the whole thing. I stood with her for a good five minutes or so before Cool and Star wandered back to the hay. Gwen went with them, and rather than catch her, I decided to just turn this into a "look, I don't always come out here to kidnap you," experience. I didn't follow them, but I did lean up against the fence post where I had been standing, and hung out for a bit to see if she'd come back to me. She was kinda keeping an eye on me, but I could tell she didn't have any intention of coming back. I walked over and said good-bye after a few more minutes, and left her with Cool and Star.

But I feel pretty good about it. I really don't want her to dread seeing me and the halter, and I think this was a really good experience to show her that I DO care about how she's feeling. Today, she didn't want to play. There might be times in the future when I'll have to ignore her desire to stay with the group, and catch her anyways, but today wasn't one of those days.

I hope she appreciates the time I spent with her, just giving her attention and affection without asking for anything in return. I've got plenty of time to teach her games. I could definitely afford to let her  decide how we spent this afternoon :)

J

Baby Steps

The weather is still wet and gross, but I went to the barn anyway. It rained a lot earlier, but by the time work was done, it had stopped. So I figured I might as well go down there and see her, even if it's too wet to do anything. Especially since tomorrow is my "official" rest day, I wanted to see her before Monday.

It was pretty nasty out there, but I managed to find a firm patch of ground on the side of the barn. I brought my dressage whip to use as make-shift carrot stick, to help with yielding her forequarters. She did pretty good, once she figured out what I wanted. We went in a full 180 each direction, though it was less than stellar looking. She's still great at yielding her hindquarters, though. We could go around and around for hours like that :).

Since I had a stick, I decided to try a little Driving Game, but... it didn't go as well as I'd hoped. She kinda caught on, but kept stopping and moving away from the whip instead of understanding that she was meant to walk beside me. All in all, I'm pleased enough with how today went, given the conditions.

I'm really crossing my fingers that my carrot stick and savvy string are here by Monday. I cannot wait to start utilizing them!  I think that a big reason why I'm not having as much luck with some of the games, is that I'm moving forward too quickly. In an effort to avoid doing the same thing over and over to the point of boring Gwen, I think I've really under-done it. So I'm going to go back and review games one, two and three, and then practice those exclusively. Once we're doing them easily and reliably, we'll try the next, and so on. I think that ought to work better. :)

Have I mentioned how much I loooooove my grooming mitt! I did a very light grooming on her, since it was damp out, and it still took off a ton of hair! Love it. It's gentle enough that Gwen enjoys it, even on her head/ears and under her neck and belly. She'll really lean in when I get going on her forehead and poll. So, I took a picture of it, just cause!

Grooming Mitt!

It looks way bigger in the picture, partly because my hand is actually behind it here, rather than inside of it. Love it :) I think I bought it for, like, two bucks or something ridiculously cheap like that.

Thanks for reading!

J

Rain

Well, the weather has definitely turned ugly. It's been raining non-stop all day today, sometimes pouring, sometimes drizzling. At least it was a work day, which meant I wasn't losing a free-day with Gwen because of the weather. But it did mean that I didn't have a chance to go to the barn tonight. No point, with the soppy weather. There's not even a really good place to groom her, and I didn't feel like slogging through the mud to catch her. So, today became a rest day, which is probably good for both of us.

So instead of horsing around with Gwen, I've opted to re-watch some Parelli Level One videos on the Connect site. Re-watching the porcupine/backing/driving/yo-yo parts has really helped me understand what I was doing wrong. Other than, you know, jumping the gun. I feel much more confident that we can get it right next time.

I absolutely cannot wait to get my carrot stick and savvy string!  I even checked the door today, just on the off-chance that it got in super-early and was already here (no such luck).  Maybe tomorrow!

In the mean time, here's a picture of Missy, Gwen's mama. I took this in 2003. It looks grainy because it's actually a picture that I took with my phone, of an actual photograph I have in a frame (no scanner).

Missy! Gwen's mama!

Toldja they look alike!

J

Halters, Crutch, Confidence.

As soon as I arrived home, I checked the mail box and there it was! The little slip letting me know that there was a package waiting for me at the office. I literally ran to the office to get it, and I practically ran the whole way home (except I was in nice shoes, and really didn't want to wipe out on the way back!).  I tore open the package without even leaving the hallway. My Halter! My lead! Woohoo!!! They're so beautiful!

I love it!  It's so soft and flexible, I'm really impressed!  I'd looked at some rope halters that were forsale at a local tack shop, but I was really displeased with how stiff and uncomfortable they were. I'm so, so glad that the Parelli halter is soft and flexible. And the lead is perfect too! And they look /great/ on Gwen!

It's going to take time to get used to how long the lead is, though. My other one was probably a six-foot lead, and it was super easy to just toss it over her back while she grazed. This one, however, will drag on the ground on BOTH sides if I just toss it over. And it doesn't like to double-back on her back either. Hmmm.

I was so excited to use it! After a very thorough grooming with the grooming mitt ( I love this thing! Gets so much hair off!) I took Gwen to the ground pen. There's only so much we can do without a carrot stick, especially since we haven't really finished the basics yet. But we did some Friendly game to introduce the longer lead and the rope halter. Did hind-quarter yields (and I even got her to do a full 180 without me actually touching her! Both ways!), practiced flexing and giving to pressure, and tried (<-- important word there) to do some Yo Yo. We really, really suck at that one. It probably has a lot to do with the fact that I've kinda... skipped the 'tap the lead' back up step (since I have no carrot stick).

She's really, really good at the 'come to me' part of that game! So good, in fact, that when I start wiggling the rope, she comes toward me, instead of away. With ears perked forward too! It's just way too cute. I tried to kinda "teach" her about finger-wag=back up by wiggling my finger/rope while I put pressure on her nose with my hand. It worked, in that she'd back up, but as soon as my hand was gone, nada. Ah well! Something to come back to once I have all the proper equipment and follow the previous steps.

I wanted to see if she'd follow me at a trot, since she follows real close at the walk. So, I "trotted" around the round pen, trailing the rope behind me. But my pretty mare (who's undoutably ten-times smarter than I am) tracked about three-feet closer to the center of the pen than I did, which meant she happily walked after me as I trotted along, and didn't even have to put tension in the rope to do it. She's so funny! I'll bet she thinks I'm just absolutely nuts. But I'm pleased to report that on our second attempt at trotting, she did trot after me! And I was so thrilled I immediately stopped and went kinda nuts with forehead rubbing and nose-kissing, which meant she only took about five trot steps total. Ah well!

I'm very pleased with her. There was a storm rolling in, and the wind was really shaking the trees. She was pretty tense toward the end of our session, but she still did everything I asked her to do, practically had her nose glued to my shoulder (which made me REALLY happy since her best-buddy Cool was just outside the round pen, learning out to pull).

Listening to the wind.

I'm pretty happy with the progress we're making in our friendship, but I've been kinda concerned that I'm using the Round Pen as a crutch. Not just because it keeps her separated from her distracting herd-buddies, but also because it isolates me from the other riders at the barn. The round pen is tucked into the very back corner of the property, so there's never anyone out there unless they're using it. This means I'm mostly free to do what I want with Gwen without the worry of criticism. But when Cool was being used right outside, my own confidence kinda faltered when I realized the girl working him could probably see me. Peer pressure is a mighty powerful thing, and I hate to admit that I sometimes worry about what others think of me. I'm confident in a lot of things, but in many, many ways, I am still a "new" horse person. When confronted with the opinions of riders at the barn who have owned horses their whole life/train horses themselves, it can be a little frightening.

I'll definitely have to think about this, because I don't want to be the kind of student who only plays with her horse when no one can see, or on Sunday when no one else is around.

Ah well. Here's another picture of my pretty little Gwen in her new halter! Awww

J

Horsenality!

Well, the good weather is gone. Today was cloudy and drizzly all day. But I went to the barn anyways!  I didn't actually do anything with Gwen, tho.  Cool, Star and Gwen were near the fence, so I came over and rubbed on some foreheads. I wanted to see how Gwen interacted with her buddies, so I hung out there for a little bit. It's really interesting to watch them. Cool was very interested in me, and would poke his head over and snuffle at my hand. He seems to be the most people-friendly of the trio. Gwen kinda hung back a little, but she had her ears pointed toward me, and eventually came up to say hi and get her nose tickled. Star gave me a little sniff, but once he realized I had no food (it was about lunch time for them) he got bored and ignored me.

Watching them, it was clear that Gwen was definitely not the leader of that little band. She looks so much like her mama, sometimes it's hard for me to remember that she's not Missy's carbon copy. Missy was definitely an LBI, and she was the dominate mare in the herd. She and another mare, Woodsprite, would boss everyone around. But that being said, Missy had no qualms about leaving the group. When I first met her, her daughter Rosie was being turned out with her. Rosie was already four or five years old, but she was obviously close to her mom still. Rosie would go nuts when I brought Missy out to ride (she'd pace back and forth and call for Missy) but my little mare didn't pay much attention to her at all.  Definitely not the same behavior as Gwen.

Even though I loved Missy, and she will always have a very special place in my heart, I think I'm having more fun with Gwen.  It took Missy and I a very long time to form a relationship. But with Gwen (and the use of natural horsemanship) I'm having a much easier time bonding with Gwen.

And, because it was asked of me (and because I'm darn curious myself!) here is Gwen's Horsenality chart so far.  I don't have a lot of information to go off of, only the three days I've spent with her and her behavior on the trail last night, but I think I can safely call her RBI now.

I also did one for the "positive traits" just to see if that matched up, and it does.

I love my little Gwen! I can't wait to really get going with her.  Still no Halter/Lead yet! Crossing my fingers that it will be in by Friday :)

Also, Carrot Stick and Savvy String are ordered!  I got a colored Carrot Stick in blue (I /aaalmost/ got pink, but since I have some blue stuff, I figured I'd at least match stick to brushes). It was really tempting to opt for the FedEx 2-day shipping, but I held back. So, hopefully that will be in by next Wed!

Until then!

J

Keeping Perspective

Using Parelli techniques is brand new for me. Gwen is also, essentially, brand new to me, and although my enthusiasm is through the roof, I've really got to make sure I keep things in perspective. And the most important thing I need to remember is that: I  am new to Gwen. I can't expect her to immediately form a strong bond with me. We've been doing great in the round pen, but the problem is that we won't always be in the round pen! There is a very big world outside of that little enclosed space.

Today, I really learned a lot about where Gwen and I stand right now. It was my day off work, so I headed out to the barn around noon. Very slow time of day, considering most of the riders here are kids/teens (i.e. in school during the day). So it was just me, the barn owner, and a guy around my age that helps out and rides a bit. My barn is a very close-knit group; more family than anything else. So we (guy and I) were encouraged to take a trail ride since the weather's been so cooperative, and I was agreeable since I thought it would be a nice, undemanding outting for Gwen and I (a little plodding down the trail, taking some time outside the round pen)... yeah. Maybe I was a little too quick with that "not really herd-bound" assumption.

I bare-backed around in the arena to see how she was feeling. The wind was starting to pick up a bit, and she was moving a bit faster than I'd like (considering we were about to go down a trail, which usually get's them much more hyped up). But I wasn't discouraged. I borrowed a western saddle from the lesson tack-room (with permission from the barn owner, of course!) so that I'd have something a little more solid beneath me (keep in mind I haven't really ridden a horse in.... oh, probably two or three years) in the event that Gwen went a little extroverted on me.

We started out well enough. I let Jake (aka, the guy) lead the way, and we headed down the road toward the trail entrance. Gwen really wasn't thrilled, right from the get-go. She kept looking back toward the barn, jigging into the street (toward the barn), and got all tense. She wasn't panicking, or fighting me, so I continued on with the hope that once we got out of eye-sight, she'd settle down a bit and follow the other horse (who is not exactly a stranger, just not one of her bestest-buddies). But she never really settled down, and it was clear that all she was really thinking about was going back to the stable.  We had our first real big issue when we got to the trail head.

The trail turns off the road, and immediately slants downwards. It's a narrow path, but not super steep, although the ground on each side also starts to rise. Gwen had no interest in walking on the path that went downwards, and actually hopped from one bank to the other to avoid it. I'm proud to say that I remained calm and relaxed through the whole thing, and I tried to work her through it, but after the third try it was clear that she was avoiding the path intentionally, rather than just being confused about where to go.

It became really clear that things were going to get out of hand, and I could only see two options: I could swat her butt with my split-reins and /make/ her go down that hill (and promptly ruin everything I've been trying to build with her)... or I could call it quits and head back to the barn. At this point, Jake was halfway down the hill, but he'd politely stopped and was waiting for me to get Gwen going.  I told him point blank that this just wasn't happening today. She wasn't ready. We had to go back. I would happily go down the trail on another horse (plenty of lesson horses I could take) but it just wasn't going to happen with Gwen.

We headed back. She was definitely eager to get back to the barn, so instead of fighting with her the whole way, I just dismounted and walked her back by hand (and she walked very nicely on a loose rein at that point). I apologized a half-dozen times to Jake (and I could tell he was disappointed not to be going on the trail) but felt absolutely no guilt about my decision.

When we got back to the barn, I told everyone I would be taking her in the round pen for a bit, which I did. Pivotal moment for me! Old me would have had her trotting and cantering around the round pen to work out her energy. New me left the saddle on, but took off her bridle, played a little Friendly Game with the reins, and then drove her away from me with body posture until she began turning toward me on direction changes (only took a lap or two around the pen, too). When she started following me, and giving me her attention again, I re-bridled her and got back on. There, I played a little more with the reins from on her back (which she is definitely not as comfortable with as when I do it on the ground) and then asked her to move forward. I didn't care what direction she went (we could do donuts for all I cared) but she had to at least be moving forward at a walk. Did this for a minute or two until she was dropping her head, and then we practice flexing toward my knee and giving to pressure (which she did beautifully). Hopped off, and took her out of the round pen.

I wasn't ready to let her go yet. The whole Trail Ride problem had me thinking about Round Pen vs The World, and I wanted to see how good we were when other horses/people/places were a distraction. I took her down the road again, this time just leading her on a loose rein. She obviously did not want to leave the stable, but her behavior was WAY better than it was when I was on her back. I kept the reins loose; she had the option to stop and go back if she really wanted to. But even though she was clearly not thrilled with leaving, she didn't fight me and she followed me on loose reins all the way down the rode.

Whenever we came across something that she was really looking at (barking dog in the yard across the street, shadows in the trees, etc) we stopped, and we stayed put until she got a nice long look at it. If I ever felt like she was getting a little wound up, I'd use the porcupine game on her nose to back her up and get her to refocus her attention elsewhere. The reins stayed loose, and she'd follow me when I started walking down the road again.

We didn't make it all the way to the trail head, like I'd initially wanted, but we did make it about halfway. At that point, the grass on the side of the road really opens up a little, and there's a couple trees that the path winds around. I thought it would be nice if I let her graze there, but she didn't have any interest in the grass at all. We spent a minute or two really checking the place out, and then I led her back to the barn.

When we got back, I untacked her and spent a lot of time rubbing/grooming on her. I used my grooming mitt, and I could practically hear her say "ohhhh yeah... that spot!" when I rubbed up by her ears. She even leaned in a little bit and really let me scrub at her forehead. I got gobs and gobs of hair off of her with that mitt. After grooming, we did some grazing. I intentionally kept her out of the turn-out area until her attention was entirely focused on something besides her buddies. Even though the grass patch is right by the turn out, she was pretty happy to focus on that instead. She kept an eye on Cool and Star, but she also kept an ear on me, and graze toward me (moving toward me as she grazed, if that makes sense), even if I was not near the turn out.

So, that was a very lengthy description, but I think it's pretty important for me to remember this day. It wasn't our best day together, but it was a very, very educational one. I learned a lot about Gwen. I learned that she trusts me enough to follow me down the road away from her buddies, but only if I'm leading her on the ground. I've learned not to try to push ourselves too far too soon, and that I'm willing to put my relationship with Gwen first, even if it means missing out on trail rides or disappointing other people. I've also learned that making my bond with Gwen stronger (or at least as strong as) her bond to her buddies, is something I'm going to have to really, really work at.

Plan for now is to continue round pen work, to act as a foundation for when I start taking her into the arena. The arena is definitely going to be challenging for me, since one side of it acts as the fence to the turn out area, where Cool and Star are. This means that any time we're in the ring, her attention is not going to be focused completely on me. Hopefully, that will change with time and patience. For now, it's something I have to accept.

This experience has also got me thinking a lot about what Gwen's horsenality might be. I'd really been thinking of her as an LBI, but now I'm reconsidering... she's definitely an introvert, just not sure if she's LB or RB.

No pictures today, unfortunately. Maybe tomorrow!

J

At the Barn: Day Two!

Today after work I rushed right home to change into jeans and tee, grab my Gatorade and a granola bar, and high tailed it to the barn. It was one of my later days at work, so I already knew that time was at a premium, and it didn't help that I hit a lot of traffic on the way. But I was determined to see Gwen tonight, if only for a few scratches and nose kisses. I am feeling so much better today, though my left shoulder is still a bit sore, and my back protests when I bend too far. All in all, feeling a lot better than yesterday! High hopes that tomorrow I'll be back to normal (just in time to do it all again, yay!).

But anyways! I got to the barn, got Gwen out of the turnout, and let her loose on a patch of grass while I groomed her (she's spoiled like that; as long as she behaves, she gets to graze while I groom her). She's shedding like there's no tomorrow, and since I wasn't going to be riding her, I concentrated less on hair-removal and more on dirt/mud removal. Still, it's a bit disheartening to run your brush over the horse and feel like nothing changed. I can't wait for her winter coat to be gone!

She was being a good girl (probably because grass is way more interesting than me) until I got to her feet. She's not bad about her feet, she's just lazy. She doesn't like to pick 'em up. I had this "problem" with Missy too, but eventually got her over it by being patient and persistent about it ("yes, Miss, we ARE going to clean your feet!"). With Gwen, I've adopted the same approach, only slightly less... ah.. time consuming. Where as with Missy, I would stand hunched over, tugging and pulling on her until she finally got bored and lifted, with Gwen, I'm going for the 'twist the chestnut' option. This approach mainly consists of these steps: I politely ask her to lift. If she ignores me, I pinch her chestnut gently until she shifts her weight and allows me to lift her foot. If she decides to ignore the gentle pinch, I pinch a little harder, and so on until she decides to shift her weight and give me her foot. As routine is important, I always clean her feet in the same order (left front, left hind, right front, right hind). I did this with Missy, and once she learned that I was way more stubborn than she was, she would anticipate me and shift her weight off the appropriate foot as soon as I put the previous one down.

So, today with Gwen, I got foot number one (left front) up with only a mild chestnut pinch. Left hind came up with a gentle pinch. Right front, however, decided to be testy. I don't like to wrestle with my horse (the horse tends to win) so after the second time she tried to jerk it out of my hand, I decided grass-time was over, and we headed for the sturdy post that serves as a grooming/tie/hitching rail. I tied her there, and proceeded to clean her feet. She did better when grass was not a distraction, and I got right front and right hind with minimal effort and only a little protest (she kept trying to pull her right hind out of my hands). I never, ever, drop my horses foot after I clean it. I always gently set it back on the ground, so that they learn that it's OK to shift their weight and let me hold their foot for them; that I would never drop it back on the ground. (I also insist that they allow me to carry the weight of their foot before I put it down. I don't want to encourage them to pull away from my hand). It worked wonders for Missy, and I'm pretty confident that Gwen will get the message and picking her feet will become just as easy in a few days.

After that, we headed over to the round pen for some very, very, very basic Parelli practice. In fact, I wouldn't even call it practice, as all I did was use the lead rope to "test" Gwen and see how she did. She was absolutely fantastic with all of it. I tossed that rope over, under, around and beside her, and she barely flicked her ears. I helicopter-ed it around my head and she had no issue (even when I accidentally clipped her ear with it - I'm so sorry Gwen! - She jerked a little, but didn't over react at all, and just kinda gave me the stink-eye for a moment). Left side, right side, she had no problem. The only time she got a little unsure was when I swung it over her head (But, given the whole ear-clip incident, who could blame her?) and she relaxed after the second pass and it became a non-issue.

This all took about two minutes, and I didn't really want to put her back in the turnout after only two minutes of time(!) so I turned her loose to see what she'd do. When she just stood there, I shrugged and figured "Why not?" and performed the same lead-rope tests with her standing loose. Again, absolutely no problems, even when I swung it behind her (like sometimes people will swing a rope to get a horse to move). She took a few steps when I tossed it over her back, but once she realized that I wasn't asking her to move, she just stood there and took it like a champ.

I practice backing her by using my hand on her chest (I've been trying a variety of "backing" methods lately), and she did really well with it. Only had to get insistent the first time, and she caught on to what I wanted when I tapped her chest. She's also really, really good about yielding her hindquarters when I touch her side/flank/haunches. The first time I tried it, I had to tap a little harder, but after that, I just had to barely tap the tips of my fingers against her and she would swing away from me (both sides! And I practiced this while she was grazing, i.e. distracted, and she still obliged by moving out of the way). I'm pretty confident at this point that someone else has been doing the same thing with her (moving her hidequarters, desensitizing with rope/etc) but it was great to see her respond to me (or in the case of the leadrope, not respond).

So after I did the back-up/yield stuff, I decided I'd just let her be loose in the round pen with me, and give her some time to do whatever she wanted. This is a pretty big thing, considering we actually have a patch of grass in our round-pen. I figured as soon as I left her alone, she'd head right over and ignore me. Nope! She actually followed me around when I went to put the halter/lead outside the pen. And then she followed me some more after that (I was testing to see if she would realize I wasn't demanding something of her and then go for the grass).

I was thrilled and, encouraged, tried to see if she'd follow at a trot. Nope! She'd walk, but she was definitely not gonna trot if she didn't have to. At this point, I just got downright silly, and started trotting/canter around the round pen while she stood toward the middle and stared at me. I got two eyes and two ears, so I must have been pretty entertaining, and even if my horse now things I'm nuts, it was totally worth it. I tried to entice her to chase me, by running half a circle, screeching to a halt and running the other way. She'd look at me with interest, but there was definitely no motivation to move. When I finally got tired of looking silly, I walked over and just rubbed on her a bit. It didn't take her long after that to figure out I wasn't going to ask her to do something, and she finally ambled over and started nibbling at that grass patch.

I was pretty darn pleased, considering this was only my second day really being with her. We left the round pen and went back to the grass-patch near the turnout area. I figured as soon as we got near, I wouldn't be so interesting any more. At the moment, she actually has two pasture mates that came from the same ranch as she did. The three of them are very close, but I'm happy to say that Gwen is not very herd-bound. She's not thrilled to leave them, but she doesn't protest or put up a struggle, or anything like that. The round pen is far enough away that she can't see them, but when we're closer, she does keep an eye on her two buddies (and they stand at the fence and STARE at her pleadingly).  I turned her "loose" on the grass, and decided to work on that shedding coat a bit more as she ate. We probably spent a good ten to fifteen minutes just grazing/grooming before I decided I'd gotten as much hair off of her as I possibly could, and went to lean against the fence. She ate a bit more, and then just picked her head up and walked to the gate. I took this as a sign that she was ready to go back with her buddies, and happily obliged her.

And this is when I got my next thrill! I took her out, turned her loose, and stood back to let her go on her merry way with her friends. Both Cool and Star (the buddies) were right there ready to greet her, and the whole gang stood around where I'd turned Gwen loose. Wasn't at all surprised that she didn't move away, really, since there was nothing Out There that was interesting either, but I walked a few feet down the fence line and she followed me!! She had the choice of hanging with her buddies, or being with me, and she chose me!!! I walked a little further to be sure I wasn't just making things up, but nope! She came right along with me, nose ears and eyes all pointed in my direction. Well, I absolutely, positively could NOT leave her after that! I chose a comfy spot on the fence, leaned up against it, and scratched/rubbed on her until she finally decided to move on. But I cannot express how over the moon I was that she would want to hang out with me even though her two bestest horse buddies were there too!!

Today was absolutely one of the most amazing days I have ever had with a horse!

Also... I found out that Gwen likes Granola Bars! Haha! I was eating a bit of the Nature Valley granola bars (the hard kind, not the chewy kind) and though 'Hrm. Wonder if she'd eat it? After all, it's mostly grain/oats/honey'. I broke off a small chunk, waved it in front of her nose, and offered it on my hand. She picked it up and started mouthing it. Her head was nodding up and down, and her mouth was opening so wide as she ate it that I couldn't figure out if she liked it, or if she was trying to spit it out. But after she swallowed it, she gave me a very interested look and poked her nose over to ask for more. So I shared what was left with her. I'm thrilled that I found something she can enjoy as a treat, but I don't want her to become greedy or expect treats each time she sees me. I'll definitely give her more in the future, but only randomly, for no reason at all, and not at all frequently. I want her "cookies" to be a special surprise, not something she comes to expect or demand.

And now, some pictures!!

Gwen face!! Awwww!!

Grass patch by turn-out. She's so fuzzy!

The buddies! Cool is the bay, the chestnut behind is Star.

A note: The first picture I posted of Gwen, in the previous post, was one I had taken last summer when I first saw her. She's really filled out since then, and gotten some muscles!

J

Parelli!

(A disclaimer: this post features some pretty powerful opinions, and mild language, as I explain the journey I took to reach an understanding about the Parelli Natural Horsemanship method, and why I want to explore it and put it into practice. Also, it's a really long post!)

First of all: Ouch! I was high on a cloud yesterday, having cleaned the entire barn in two hours (all 14 freakin' stalls of it!) and feeling pretty good about myself. And today? I woke up so body sore I could barely get out of bed! Now, something you should know to put this all into perspective, is that we don't use shavings in our stalls. Since it's an open-air pipe-barn, the shavings would just blow out all over the place. Instead, we use sand, which is actually more of a sand-clay mixture. This is the natural ground for the part of Texas that the barn is located at. This means our horses all get to go barefoot and natural, but it also means that cleaning up wet spots in a stall is... less than fun. It gets thick, and heavy, and moving a wheelbarrow full of sand/clay/poo and rocks (because, inevitably, there will be those two or three rocks that manage to roll into the stalls) gets very tiring very quickly. Plus, I'm just plain out of shape!

So, point of the story: I am sore. I feel it most in my arms (from lifting/dumping that pitchfork) and my back (lifting/dumping/hauling a wheelbarrow). And I can definitely tell what side of my body I use more than the other! (something to work on, perhaps? Hmmm). But I'm optimistic that if I do some manual labor more often, I'll stop feeling the ache and start seeing some tone and muscle. Whoohoo! Free workout, no gym required!

So, body sore + barn closed = no Gwen time today. Although, the barn is only "closed" in regards to lessons. I could go and hang out/ride/muck/etc. There just won't be any lessons, and probably not many people around. Either way, being so stiff and sore meant that it was way, way easier to stick to my "this is a rest day" plan (as my natural inclination at this point is to spend every waking moment(!!) with Gwen). So, instead of barn/horsey time, I stiffly and achingly made it through work (Thank GOD I have a desk job!) and then came home, sat down at my computer, and watched all the Parelli videos available on the Parelli Connect sight!

Which takes me to my subject: Parelli! At first, I was kinda on the fence about Parelli. I didn't know much about it, but I'd watched YouTube videos of people's auditions, of people playing the games, etc. I'd checked out the website, but there wasn't much to really see without purchasing the levels DVD's, and I wasn't ready for that (especially since I didn't have a horse to play with until, oh, yesterday!). And, as with most things, there were tons and tons of comments and opinions, some good, some not-so-good. It seems that Parelli is one of Those Things that people either love or hate. There's not much  middle ground. But I've always prided myself on being open-minded. I take all good and bad comments, think on them, and then see the thing for itself to form my own opinion. I value constructive criticism, but something I absolutely cannot stand, is when people form opinions and make comments about something of which they have no experience.

I'm getting really long-winded, so I will just say this: people who claim that Parelli is a gimmick or a sham, are full of shit. I read a comment on a blog somewhere that went something like this: "All the Parelli horses at my barn are pushy, rude, and aggressive." and went on to describe how the Parelli students attached to those horses were responsible for such behavior because they follow Pat Parelli's program.

BULL SHIT! From what I've see, and what I heard Pat say in the lessons, it was quite clear that he values control and leadership from the human, that pushy/rude/aggressive behavior is absolutely unacceptable, and that sometimes you need to get tough to stay safe. So maybe those horses the blogger was talking about /were/ displaying those behaviors. And maybe they just happen to be "Parelli" horses, but the fault of their bad behavior lies entirely on the rider for not listening to, and following closely, the lessons Pat was trying to teach in the very first lessons!!!

Everything I've seen and heard in the Parelli lessons were natural horsemanship techniques that are not unique to Pat Parelli. I've seen Clinton Anderson demonstrate the very same skills and lessons! What is unique about Parelli is how we're supposed to regard our horses (as partners) and how we build on that partnership. By calling his method's "games" instead of "training", it puts us, the human, in a mindset that allows us to be OK with not achieving perfection, and allows us to stay relaxed when things might get difficult. I love how he says to "get fascinated, not frustrated". When we have the mindset that we are "training" our horses, we get upset when things go awry. But, having the mindset of playing with our horses, it allows us to tackle problems with a level-head, to remain calm, and to remember that the results are not what is important. What's important is how the horse views us (are we a source of confidence and comfort, or are we being aggressive and scary?), and how we handle ourselves when the situation gets difficult.

The second unique thing I've seen from Parelli is how he teaches those games to us, the human. He's broken up natural horsemanship skills into seven distinct, but easy to understand principles, and called them Games! I love it! I feel like I can actually put those things into practice, and not feel stupid because I don't know what the next step is.

I will admit, somewhat ashamedly, that I had my doubts about Parelli. Especially when it started looking like a lot of purchases had to be made before you could do anything (Halter, rope, stick, string, DVD's, toys). But when I actually started looking at the prices, and comparing them to, oh, say, Clinton Anderson, I had a real shock. (btw: I mention Clinton a lot because I am actually able to watch some of his shows on TV. Not so with Parelli, or a lot of other Natural Horseman out there, so as a point of comparison, Clinton is the easiest for me to use). Parelli's prices are very competitive, and quite affordable for me. So I'm very happy in that regard as well. The DVD's seem a bit pricy (Gonna hafta check Ebay for those!) but having gotten a sneak peak thru Parelli Connect, I think they hold some quality material, and I will definitely be looking for a way to get hold of them.

I can't wait for my halter/lead to arrive! And now I'm seriously wishing I'd gone ahead and gotten the bundle that included stick/string. Would have come out to roughly the same price, but now I've got to acquire them separately. Oh well. Maybe after a few more paychecks. For now, I'll have to get creative with my dressage whip, and maybe a shoelace...

Thanks for reading through the rant! :)  Can't wait to put some Parelli principles to practice with Gwen!

J

At The Barn: Day One!

I feel like today was my first "official" day at the barn with Gwen. I had the day off work, so I went down as soon as I finished breakfast. The weather was ridiculously awesome! It was in the low 60's when I got there (which is downright chilly, considering this past week has been all mid-high 70's and yesterday it was 85! That's Texas for ya). It was cool all day, with a light breeze, but bright, clear blue skies all day! Frankly, it was perfect horsey weather!

I ride at a small barn, and there's only one riding ring. Saturdays are primo lesson days, which means the arena was packed with all the lesson kids. So I spent my first two hours mucking out the stable to give something back to Nora (my barn owner/riding instructor). The barn is actually an open-air pipe structure, which means I could muck out stalls while listening and watching the kids ride. It was great! I grabbed some lunch (Subway!) around noon, and when I came back the ring had cleared out and it was just a few barn rats like me still hanging around. I grabbed Gwen, gave her a good brushing (OMG that horse is shedding like a grizzly bear) and took her into the round pen for some very preliminary work. I don't really have a lot of tools and toys right now, so I turned her loose in the pen and we worked on facing toward me when changing directions, backing up at the slightest pressure, and generally just letting her get to know me and how I move/sound/feel. Gwen was a very good girl, tho she still likes to turn her butt towards me instead of her head when I ask her to change direction. But when she stops, she turns towards me, and will even follow me around a bit when I walk away. We only spent a total of ten minutes in there, so I'm really really pleased with her. And I got some licking and chewing, so I consider our first "date" a success!

Last night, I ordered a rope halter and a 12' lead from the Parelli website. I really lucked out with their "save some green!" promo going on! And, it just so happens that Hunter Green is the color I have for Gwen. Talk about awesome! I've got my fingers crossed that it shows up in the mail next week. I've always had web halters before, so I'm super excited to have a rope halter now.

Haven't had a chance to watch any of the Parelli videos on the Parelli Connect sight. Since the barn's closed on Sundays, I've made that my designated "rest" day, so hopefully I can catch a few videos before dinner with the family.

Have I mentioned how super stoked I am to have Gwen?! Cause seriously, I can't stop grinning and bouncing around like a crazy person!

J
Pic of Gwen:

Introductions

I haven't had a blog in forever! Seriously. I don't think I've had a blog since I was in high school.

Anyways. I created this blog for one purpose: to document my time with Gwen. So, it would probably be wise to introduce myself, and Gwen, just in case I have readers someday. So, without further ado...

My name is Jackie. I'm a recent College graduate with a passion for horses. I have always been horse crazy, and my parents have no idea where I got it from. I began riding when I was in fourth grade. At the time, my family and I were living in Germany, so I took lessons at a German riding stable. Naturally, I was taught English style, since no one over there rode Western (let alone taught it!) at this time. Suited me just fine! I wanted speed, and jumping. Well, I didn't really get either of those things, and thought I spent two years riding, I never progressed passed a trot. This was largely due to the fact that my riding instructor was European, and she had a much more fundamental approach to riding than my American instructors. Her philosophy was simple: master the basics and then you can move up. So, since I was still perfecting the trot, no canter.

It was a shock when, in sixth grade, we move to Texas and my riding instructor told me to canter my first day! And not on a lounge line???!!! I about went over the moon. Jumping began just a few weeks later (of course they were nothing more than cross rails) but it cemented my love of jumping and English riding in general.

I finally got my first horse when I was fifteen. Her name was Missy, and she was a pretty little sorrel Quarter Horse mare that had been a broodmare and a ranch horse until I got her. She thought I was absolutely out of my mind when I suggested we jump something. Her general response to anything, be it an 18" crossrail or even a pole on the ground was "Why don't you jump. I'll stand over here and watch, kay?"  But after two years, I had her (mostly) willing to jump over things, provided I was very insistent and there was the promise of a good rest afterwards. Knowing what I know now, I can confidently say that horse was LBI all the way. Way too smart for her own good, but she taught me a lot about being patient, and working with my horse rather than just expecting her to do what I say, when I say it.

When I turned 18, I sold Missy to my riding instructor and barn owner. It was the best decision at the time. I was going to be leaving for college, and I couldn't afford to bring her with me, and I couldn't expect my parents to pay for a horse that I wasn't going to be riding. She was later sold to another woman who rode at the same barn, and when I came back for breaks I was able to see her and even ride her a bit. Missy was not a young horse tho, and she developed arthritis that kept her from doing a lot.

Now, then history of my previous horse is very important when I get into Gwen. See, about a year ago, I graduated college and suddenly found myself with a lot more free time. So I started going back to the barn, and hanging around the horses. There, I met a pretty little sorrel mare named Gwen. She has four white feet, and a big ol' blaze down her face. And, darn it, if she isn't the spitting image of Missy just a little smaller and more compact! So, really, I wasn't at all surprised to learn she was one of Missy's daughters! I got to rubbing on her, and grooming her, and riding her a little bit, and sorta fell in love with her (Naturally!).

Well, life took me away from the barn for the past few months, but I headed back there this past week with an idea brewing in my head: I wonder if they'd let me lease Gwen? I figured there was no harm in asking, so I did. And they said: Yes!

And that's where I am today! Literally. Today was my first day at the barn with Gwen, as her new "leasee". I am so, so excited about getting to know Gwen better, getting a lot of play time and riding time in, and just getting to enjoy owning a horse without really owning a horse. And it's GWEN!! She's not quite as stubborn as Missy was, but she's definitely an LBI. Today I just showered her with lots of rubbing, and brought her out of the pasture to graze a bit (she lives full-time outside with a group of other horses). Tomorrow I think I'll work a bit in the round pen, try to build up a foundation for our relationship. One funny quirk tho: she doesn't eat treats! I've tried. She's turned down carrots, apples, and little horse cookies. Go figure!

J