Whoa!

Long time no post, I know. But OMG was last week crazy! A week ago last Saturday, I bought a new car. My old one was on it's last leg, so I decided to trade it in before it died completely and was worth even less. I now have a much younger, more dependable car WITH a warranty! Whoo!

Due to the car-trade-buying, I didn't get to see Gwen for a solid five days (SAD!) and when I finally got to see her last Monday, her wound was looking not so great. Instead of being completely healed, it was puffy and oozing puss. Very gross.  She wasn't limping, thank God, but I had to hose it down and poke at it to get most of the nasty stuff out (definitely didn't like that), and then hose it again before slathering ointment on it. After five days of the same routine, her leg is almost 100% healed! There's just a small scab where the wound was, but there's no swelling, and she doesn't seem to have any pain there at all, whoohoo!!

I didn't see her Saturday or Sunday. I'm not sure how she feels about those days that I don't go down. Is she glad for the break? Does she miss me? I'm not sure she would miss me in the same way that people miss each other, but since routine is such a big thing for horses, I wonder if she wonders where I am. But that's all philosophy. The cold hard truth is that... I know my horse loves me!

Whenever I go "catch" Gwen, I make sure that I rub all over her, both sides, before I ask her to wear the halter. This way, she doesn't feel like I just show up and nab her, and I get a chance to walk around her and look for any boo-boo's, etc. Today, she was picking at the leftover bits of hay on the ground, (which is pretty typical) as I walked around her, but when I came around her rear and up on her left side, her head was up and tilted toward me, and she was giving me her left eye and ear. This is new! Usually she will acknowledge me, but this was more than that. So I decided to see if she would walk with me a little bit without the halter. I've tried in the past with zero response, and she usually just goes back to picking at hay-bits. Today, she walked ALL THE WAY back to the gate with her head at my shoulder, no halter, no rope (I didn't even have to put my hand on her) and she looked happy and content to be there. I was completely and totally blown away. BEST DAY EVER!! I didn't care what we did after that, I was over the moon!

I am so completely thrilled that she wanted to be with me. True, it wasn't dinner time, but she still chose to walk with me to the gate, knowing we would be leaving the turnout, and she stuck to me like glue. <3

I repeat. Best. Day Ever!

"What's that!"

Yummy round-pen grass! Nom nom nom.

J

Two Days for the Price of One!

aka, Jackie is lazy and hasn't updated in two days, and now must put both days in one post! Haha!

Tuesday:
After what happened on Monday, insofar as Gwen's RBI moments, I was really curious how Tuesday would turn out. First of all, her leg is doing SO MUCH BETTER! The swelling is gone and though she still has a wound, it's not bleeding. I'm keeping a close eye on it, making sure it stays clean and that I keep Swat on it to make sure the flies don't bother her. Otherwise, she's right as rain :)

No more swelling!

 There were kids in the ring, so I couldn't play in there. But rather than use the round pen, I decided to work in the big open space between the Jump ring (aka the boys turnout) and the barn. I was pretty proud of myself because even though I'm usually shy about playing with Parelli when others can see me, I got out there and played in full view of everyone and it didn't bother me at all!! I was so confident in what I was doing that I wasn't the least bit concerned about criticism or observation. I was pretty pleased with myself. I don't think I'll have any problems playing around other people from now on, but more on that later.

We played with all our games except squeeze and sideways, mostly because there was no fence. After musing about how we both behave when working on her "off" side, and listening to some pretty good advice, I've decided to really try to nip it in the bud, and focused heavily on right-side activities. I'd never paid much attention to it before, but Gwen really goes to great lengths to keep me in her left eye. To the point that if I'm standing slightly to her off-side, she'll tip her neck around to have her left eye toward me. I always thought she was looking into the distance or something, but now I can really see that she does NOT like me on her right.


We did lots of circling-game with her going clockwise, and then lots and lots of driving-game with me on her right. She didn't care for that; lots of halting, freezing, head-in-the-air uncomfortable looks, (she's a wiz at the driving game when I'm on her left). But I tried to make it easy for us both, and we played the 'driving game on the right' towards a patch of grass, and her reward for getting there with me was a nice relaxing break, where she could pick at the grass while I rested. Very low-key.

Resting

Yummy!

 We rested for about a minute or two, and then went back to driving-game. I used a conveniently located trailer (not the ones in the pictures, but another one closer to the barn) to play touch-it with. She wasn't really keen on that, but I think she was a tad confused as to what I wanted her to touch. She kept going for a rubber bin that was on the ground, then looking at me like 'That was it, right? No? Are you sure?'.

After touch-it we played with yo-yo. She is getting so good at it! We had two 'backing' at phase one! Yay! Each time we play, she's getting better and better. Soon, I'll really start working on a snappy response and more than two steps at a time. Right now it's 'finger-wiggle, step, step, stop, phase-two, step step, stop, etc, and I have to keep asking. But she's getting better).

Wednesday:
Got super lucky on Wednesday; though there were people in the ring, there were only three so I took the opportunity to stake out a corner to work with Gwen. Everyone ended up leaving about five minutes after, just because it was getting late in the day, so I ended up having the place to myself! We did all the same things as Tuesday, but also some sideways and squeeze. And we played touch-it with a wooden bridge that one of the other riders had left out. Her yo-yo was awesome too! I'm consistently getting more and more backing off of phase one alone.

Things were going well enough that I decided to hop on bareback. She was OK with me riding her, but her attitude definitely changes. It's like... on the ground she's responsive and listening, but once I'm on her back, she reverts to her old ways, and I really don't want to get into a situation where we're both unhappy with the other one. After a trip or two around the arena, I called it quits on riding and went back to on-line stuff. Then, since we were alone, I turned her loose in the arena to see what she did. I thought she might wander off and roll, or go get a drink, but she stuck with me the whole time. If I sat on the mounting block, she'd only come within five feet of me, but if I got off and walked around, she'd follow me so close that either her nose would be at my shoulder, or her cheek would be. It was flattering, and very rewarding since we'd had a not-so-great experience with me on her back so recently.

Loose in the arena! Happy Gwen :)

Her mane is getting so long!

Clearly not thrilled with the hat-idea ;)

Since today was a day off work, I also made it a day off from the barn to recharge my batteries. Might go down tomorrow, otherwise I'll definitely be there Saturday!

J

What-A-Week!

First off, my post title is kind of a joke ;) We have a burger place down here called Whataburger, so I thought I'd be silly and use 'Whataweek' ;)

Secondly, WOW. What a week! And not in the good kind of way :/

I only got to see Gwen twice last week. I got down there last Monday, but we didn't do anything besides get a bath, and graze.  Sometimes at the same time.

Wet Gwen!

 Then we did a whole lotta grazing while she dried out. But of course, despite her being almost 100% dry, the first thing she did outside was... Roll!

Rolling...rolling...rolling...

But, thankfully, I had already loaded her up with conditioner, in anticipation of JUST such a thing, in hopes that it would help the dirt just slide right off rather than stick to her. Once she was finished rolling, she came back to say hi.

Hi Gwen!  That's Cool's tail...

And then... I wasn't able to get back to the barn until Saturday! :( Several things contributed to this, most significantly work. I had two days at work where I simply could not leave early enough to get there on time. And then there were errands and doctor appointments (btw, Tetanus shots HURT!!) and boyfriends who needed to be picked up from the airport... phew.  So it was Saturday before I actually got to see Gwen again.

And Saturday was a BIG day!  The people I lease Gwen from own a ranch (a real working cattle ranch) and Saturday was a big huge barn party. So Star, Cool, and Gwen all got loaded up, and I tagged along to be with Gwen and to help out with things. We spent the Whole. Day. There. From about 9am until 7:30 pm. Crazy. And we all worked our butts off, but the ranch owners were thrilled, and I think the party was a huge success, and I had a lot of fun with Gwen.  And.. Star and Cool did not come back with us. They stayed "home" at the Ranch.

I didn't get to see Gwen again until today, and I'd been a little concerned about how she was handling the loss of her two buddies. She seems to be OK. I think she's made friends with one of the mules.  Unfortunately, when I pulled her out of the turn-out, she had a boo-boo!

It looks like one of the other horses kicked her.  It's not bad, but it's definitely swollen and sensitive, and there was a bit of a puncture (a little blood, but nothing scary).  Barn owner said she should be just fine. I hosed her leg for ten minutes, then slathered the area with Swat to help keep the flies away, and then spent a TON of undemanding time just letting her graze.

Ouch! (the white stuff is Swat)

It was clearly tender, but she wasn't limping. I'm hoping by tomorrow it will look a lot better.

Nom nom nom. What boo-boo?

Boo-boo's and barn-parties aside... Something happened that weakened my relationship with Gwen. Not in a big way, and nothing that is irreparable, but she was regarding me a bit differently towards the end of our time together. I think I just pushed her a little too far today, asking for things a bit more firmly than usual. While we did spend a lot of undemanding time today, toward the end I played a little yo-yo and circle-game (well, I asked her for one circle, but that's it). I think I was a bit too aggressive with her. She takes things so calmly, and she catches on SO fast that I sometimes forget she's an RBI - it just hardly ever comes out! But today I saw a bit more of her RBI side.

While asking for Circle, she did a lot of stopping, tensing, looking unsure and unconfident, which is not how our circling usually goes. I abandoned the circle game after half a circle because I could tell her hesitation was not her asking 'what do I do now' but more of a 'I don't like this...' So I stopped, and did a lot of trying to entice her toward me. She was very resistant. She didn't want to move forward, and she had such a sullen expression it broke my heart! I crouched all the way down to the ground and just let my gaze go unfocused toward her feet/ground, and combed the lead until I got a step or two.

Her whole attitude was one of unconfidence and sadness. She just looked miserable. I did everything I could think of to try to repair the damage, mostly by just using the finger-comb method to bring her toward me a step at a time, and then spending a lot of time gently/slowly stroking her face and nose once she got there. Then I would ease back up, move off a bit, and see if she would come/follow me. If she didn't want to follow, I'd go back to the finger-comb/petting of before. After a few minutes, she would follow me willingly, and seemed to be a LOT happier (much happier expression, much more interested in what was going on around her, much more willing to move/follow me) so I did a bit more friendly-game/massaging her legs, touching her gently everywhere but around her injury, and then I turned her back out.

I think we're back on good terms, but I'm definitely using this as a reminder that she IS an RBI, and I need to remember not to push her just because she seems to catch on super fast.

J

Seven Games

Yesterday, for the first time, Gwen and I played all seven games online. It was amazing! I was so pleased to find out that our successful rope-wiggle yo-yo was, in fact, a real thing and not just a fluke or something I'd dreamed up. It might seem silly, but watching her back away from me as I wiggle my finger/rope is something I will never get tired of. From the beginning it was our "hardest" game, and for a few days I was absolutely convinced we wouldn't get it. I know that our success is due to the fact that I made sure to slow down and practice the very basic games, like Porcupine.

We're even doing really good forehand yielding, and she's getting better each time. She definitely has a preference for her left-side. When I'm standing on her left, she just seems to do better. It doesn't surprise me, because I feel more comfortable and manipulating the rope and carrot-stick are much easier for me from that side. It's something I've definitely got to work on, because I know if I don't make an effort to practice from the right, my tendency will be to work from the left, simply because working on the right is "hard" for me. And I'm a bit LBI when it comes to that sort of thing. I don't like to work ;)

Our Touch-it is getting really good. Things that are "tall", like upright barrels and jump-standards, are easy for her. She kinda gets lost when I direct her to things on the ground (like cones, or "fallen over" barrels) and she has a tendency to step over/around rather than clue in to the fact that I want her to touch it. We'll definitely work on it though.

We did the circling game at a trot yesterday, both ways. She really wants to move away from me when she's on the half-circle closest to the pasture (no surprise there), and she has a habit of hesitating/stopping when she's in front of me. I think it's anticipation, or uncertainty about what I want her to do, and I have a habit of looking up at her when she comes around, so I think I'm going to experiment with keeping my eyes on the ground as she circles and see if that helps her.

Yesterday was the first time we played the Sideways game, for two reasons. 1) We can't play this one in the round pen. And 2) I was kinda dreading it, because I thought it might be one of the more difficult games for us. Boy was I wrong about that! Her sideways just might be her best game yet! I was very impressed. She caught on extremely quickly. I decided to use her herd-bound buddies to help me out, and made sure our first attempt was a sideways toward the pasture. We had a bit of a wobble in the beginning, as she tried to figure out if I wanted her to lead the way, or back up, but she caught on pretty quickly that she was supposed to move shoulders/hind at the same time. And then we flew! Down the rail to the pasture, then a quick "squeeze" and a hindquarter yield to get her nose on the rail to go back the other direction (which was just as good) and then a bit of yo-yo for good measure.

She was fantastic! Only had two or three moments when she got a bit tense and concerned. For the most part, she's really listening and watching me, trying to figure out what I want and then doing it. What a fantastic horse! I feel so lucky :) I love my girl!

J

AWESOME Day!!

I had an absolutely amazing day with Gwen today!! The arena was empty, so we got to play out there under the big tree instead of in the round pen. A definitely plus, since the weather has been getting so hot lately! For the first time in forever, I brought out my carrot stick to play with. I'd been watching some old Savvy Site videos, especially the stuff where Linda and Pat are doing clinics, and working with lots of different horses, and it really got me thinking and inspired. We played the friendly game to reintroduce the carrot stick and savvy string, and then I used it to play some "porcupine from afar", and then start getting her to yield her hindquarters on intent rather than touch. We even got some really good forehand yields, in which she really turned on her haunches rather than just backing up.  We also practiced backing-up from the chest off the carrot stick/rhythmic pressure and then... we did a true Yo-Yo game!! For the first time, she backed off of the rope-wiggle! I never had to go to phase four, and once I only had to get to phase two for her to back! I didn't want to over do it so we soon moved on, but I was absolutely thrilled!

We played some circle-game, and then we tried Touch-It again. It was a total flop the first time I tried (a few weeks ago, I believe) but after some inspiration and instruction from the savvy-sight, I really had a plan. We started off with a plastic green barrel.  I just used the same concept from circle-game to direct her toward the barrel, changing direction each time she went past it, and slowly shortening the line so that she understood we weren't circling anymore. She wasn't too sure what was going on, but eventually she leaned over to give it a sniff. Lots of friendly game and a little rest, and then we went off to the "mail box" jump to try touch-it on that. Same concept of circle-direction change, and this time it took much less time. Last we tried the blue plastic barrel, and she really figured it out. Sniff-sniff, and then a HUGE sigh out. I was so happy!  We ended after some more friendly-game.

Over-all this has to be one of the best nights I've had with Gwen. We were totally in the zone, and she was really listening to me despite all the distraction that comes with being in the arena. Tomorrow, I'd like to work on more yo-yo, and then try some circle-game at the trot while in the arena. I've really lucked. There's a district show this weekend that one of the other riders is going too, and the barn-owner/riding instructor is going with him as a coach, which means there are no formal lessons the rest of the week/weekend, so chances are the arena will be EMPTY again!!  I'm even willing to try and play with her if it's not empty, so long as it's only one or two people (any more and it would be too crowded).

On a side note, I've gotten two fantastic compliments this week! Two different people, on two separate occasions, have remarked that Gwen really seems to like me, and that she's so calm and happy when we're together. I think that's the best compliment anyone can give me. Forget blue ribbons, I just want my horse to like me! XD

And now, a truly terrible picture of me, but Gwen looks pretty darn cute! She wanted to play touch-it with my camera, so only half her face got in the picture!

Adorable Gwen!

J

Month Two!

Monday marked the first day of my second month with Gwen. I can't believe it's already been a whole month! I think we're doing really well. I'm getting down to the barn between five and six times per week, which is right where I wanted to be. Though we started really slow, mostly due to my own laziness, we've really picked up speed now that I have more focus and more "plans" for what to do each day.

The past two days I've begun riding her, and it's something I'd like to keep up. I ride her bareback for now, as I like to feel the way she moves beneath  me, to see if she's tense or relaxed. In the saddle, she tends to be tense all the time, and I'm not sure if it is because of me, or because of the saddle (leaning toward the saddle idea, since she's been mostly relaxed when I ride bareback). I've stopped using a bridle with her, however. For the past two days, I've simply knotted my leadrope around to create a "parelli hackamore", or training bridle, for her instead. In the past, I've noted a bit of opposition to the bridle/bit. It's not outright fear or hate or anything like that, but I've noticed that she kinda shuts-down when I saddle and bridle her. I think the only thing going on is that she associates it with the "old way" of things, back when people just got on, rode, and then got off without really playing with her or engaging her in some way. Since I know exactly who trained her, I know for certain she was never abused or hurt with any of the equipment, but I do notice a signification attitude change between halter/online, and when I saddle her. So, in an effort to disconnect those things from me, I've chosen to do the bareback/halter thing for now :)

The first time I got on her (i.e. Monday) she had a small "shut down" moment where she kinda went robotic on me, rather than being her perky, happy self that she is when we're online. All I did was have her walk around, and I let her chose the direction we went so long as we were moving forward. We were alone in the ring, so I didn't mind if she did donuts or cut corners, since there was no one else to run into/cut off. Before I got on her, we did some on-line stuff in the round pen, which involved us doing the circle-game at a trot for the first time (and she did fabulous!) so the walk around the arena was our cool-down chill-out time before she went back outside.

Yesterday, I was very short on time, so I abbreviated our online time to some simple friendly-game and porcupine/back up. Then, I knotted my rope and hopped back up bareback. This time, we were not alone in the arena, so I had to have some say in the direction we went so that I didn't cut off the other girls. I'm happy to say that she did a lot better, attitude-wise, than she had on Monday. Yesterday she was interested, looking around, checking things out, and had a little pep in her walk. Again, we kept it to an easy walk, and I only guided her to keep her on the rail and out of everyone's way.

I'd like to keep up with riding her almost daily, even if all we do is walk around. On evenings when I've got enough time (which is usually the case) I'll try to do our online stuff for a bit first, and then hop up after.

J