To Infinity... and Beyond!

I don't normally go to the barn on the weekend. Since I work right across the street, and it's otherwise a very long drive from the house, I tend to stay home on the weekends and visit Gwen Mon-Fri after work. Since this past week was so terrible in terms of weather, and I only got to see her on Monday, I drove down yesterday to spend some quality time with Gwen, and play a few games.

After watching a few Savvy Club episodes (in particular, one on the figure 8) I decided it was high time we got good at that one. It's the only thing standing between us, and our first audition video.  Until yesterday, I didn't really play with the figure eight, mostly because I wasn't sure how to approach it. After watching the video, I had a much better idea of how to teach Gwen the pattern.

Since she's an RBI, I knew I would need to take it slow. Thankfully, Linda talked about what to do with an RBI + figure 8, what some common hang-ups might be, and how to move past them. I felt pretty informed and confident. Gwen and I had been having a few relationship issues which, after some deep thinking about it last Friday, I realized was all my fault (no surprise there!). I'd kinda forgotten the most important aspect of Parelli: Put the relationship first! So yesterday, I went to the barn with that in mind, with the idea that we would try out the figure 8, if everything else went well. 

To my surprise, she offered to talk back to the gate with me! Ever since the Neck Bite incident, she hasn't offered to meet me half way, or walk back without the halter (relationship issues). But, she offered to talk back with me on Saturday, which surprised and humbled me. So far so good!

We had our customary groom/graze session, and I noticed a couple other riders grooming and tacking up not far away. I didn't really want to try and play with Gwen when there were other horses in the ring, but after a quick inquiry, they told me they were going down the trails. Awesome! Ring to myself :) However, they took their sweet time mounting up and getting going. As a result, Gwen and I spent quite a bit of time just standing in the ring, as we waited for the trio to mount up (using the mounting block inside the riding ring, as it were) and get comfortable walking around. I didn't mind waiting at all, and used the time to love on Gwen, rubbing her neck/head/ears, and just being with her. In return, after about five minutes, Gwen gave me a huge sigh and just completely relaxed. From now on, I'm going to make it a point to make sure she gives me a sign of relaxation before we actually start playing.

After the other riders left, we played a little driving game, and then I set up the barrels under a shady tree so that we could start the figure eight. She happily followed me around as I set things up, and showed so much curiosity at the barrels (she even offered to push and roll one with her nose!) that I just played around with that for a while.

I decided not to use my stick/string, because sometimes she shows tension when I have it. We started slow, just backing between the barrels and then playing a circle game around them and me. After a turn or two, we tried a figure eight. I got one whole pattern before she started getting tense and anxious, and then shut down. I waited, and then put her back on a circle before trying again. She did really well for her first time, though she's not exactly sure what I want, and tends to start getting anxious about all the direction changes after about one/two figure 8's., but I think for our first day, it was a big success.

Hi pretty girl!

At the end of the day, I took her for a walk down the street to a patch of grass/trees on the side of the road. It's the same place I tried to take her a few months ago (back when I first started playing with her) where she got so upset and nervous about being away from her buddies, that she wouldn't even nibble. This time, though she had a few "What's that!?" moments, she walked along with me very easily (no tension in the rope, never needed to stop or wait) and got right down to the business of grazing. Yay! Happy horse :)

Our new grazing spot.

"What's that!?"

Tomorrow we'll try our figure 8 again.



J

Whee!!

Weather has been terrible. It's either sunny and 100+ degrees, or it's thunderstorming and raining! I haven't been to the barn since monday due to work and weather (:P) so I don't have anything to report on that front. But, I do have exciting news!  I went ahead and got two tickets to the Parelli Horse and Soul tour that's coming to Katy TX in October!!  Whee!! I've been debating about this for a while, since it's quite a long drive (159 miles, ouch!). But I really wanted to go, and seeing that members get FREE tickets?!  How could I NOT go!! I'm going to have to start stashing cash so that I have plenty of spending money. WHEEEE I'm so excited!!!

(and even better, the non-horsey boyfriend is going to come along too!)

Hiding behind a tree. Silly Gwen!

J

Long Overdue

Wow. I can't believe it's been over a MONTH since I last updated! I am a terrible blogger. At least I'm better at other things, right? Heehee :)

Anyways, here's a summary of what Gwen and I have been up to:

Lots of online games. Been focusing on Yo-yo /= circle. She likes to back up, and then go right into a circle, so I've been focusing on backing up, standing, and then giving her something to do (either moving into a circle, or coming back to me, mostly). There's been a lot of emphasis on standing patiently and waiting for me to ask her to do something. A lot of this had to do with ME, rather than Gwen. I got into a really bad habit of backing her up and then sending her off to do something else, without a lot of waiting. 

More recently, I've stopped using the yoyo as a preclude to the circle game entirly. Instead, I just porcupine her nose until she's about arms length from me, and then ask her to circle while I let the lead slide through my hands.

The Circling game is my favorite, and I've been trying really hard to stay concious of how many times I ask her to circle, so that it doesn't become boring for her. I try to mix it up, so that sometimes she circles once before I ask her to come in, sometimes it's twice, sometimes it's only half a circle. Sometimes we walk half, trot half, stop. Sometimes we walk a little, trot two steps and stop, etc.  I've been working on her canter, too, which she's not overly fond of.  I think it's a balance issue, though. When I ask her to canter, I know she understands what I want because she'll get a grumpy face, arch her neck/round her back, and kind of hop along at a really bouncy/weird trot for a stride or two, and then she'll either settle back into a trot (if I don't say anything) or "sorta" canter if I reinforce the request with another verbal "Canter!" And by sort of canter, I mean that it's not really a canter, but it's not really a kick/buck. As soon as she takes even half a stride of canter, I ask her to yield and slow down, so that she's rewarded as soon as she complies.

The reason I think it's a balance issue is because she has NO problem cantering when we're in the round pen, which has a bigger circumfrance than what the 12' line can give her. So I think she feels unconfident, and is worried she's on too tight a turn to canter without tripping. It's one of my biggest motivators for wanting a 22' line, so that we can practice cantering more. She's always had a small "issue" with cantering, even before I began playing Parelli. I remember riding her, and dreading the canter because she'd usually buck. Not a bronco-busting kind of buck, just a kick with both feet, but it was enough to throw me off balance and ruin our departure. As a result, I don't plan to ask for anything under saddle until she's comfortable on the line/ground, for obvious reasons.

We've also been "jumping"! Or, Gwen has. In an effort to spice up our circles and to introduce her to the concept of jumps, she's been going over poles and small caveletti-like jumps. She's not a big horse, so even the smaller stuff makes her hop over it like a real jump. She was very unsure of this game when we first played it, and there were a lot of trot circles that screeched to a halt before the jump so that she could investigate and walk gingerly over the pole. After the second day, she was actually hopping over the jump at a trot, both directions. She's not a huge fan of jumping, but her confidence has grown. Instead of worry, she's more apathetic towards the jump. Sort of an "Another jump? Mooooom, whyyyyyy? *pout*"

Our "jump" with barrels as standards.

We can confidently walk over the bridge now, too. And we've begun to practice with figure 8's around cones and barrels.

Last week we did absolutely nothing, mostly due to the fact that, a week ago last thursday, I brought Gwen out of the turn out with a huge bite on her neck (horse bite, not bug bite). Poor thing! It was very swollen on one side, and actually bleeding on the other. So she got a lot of down time as I waited for it to heal. Tomorrow will be our first day back in the arena.

Left side, first day she got bit. (this is after I washed it, so she's all wet)

Right side, all swollen. First day.

And that's it! 

-J

Little Maverick! So cute!