Ahhhh!!!!

HORSE AND SOUL TOUR!!! TOMORROW!!!! AHHHHHHH!!!!!! How will I ever sleep? I am SOOOO excited! (as if you couldn't tell, from all the exclamation points and capitols! Lol!)

Anyways, Gwen and I have been having a BLAST lately! Monday and Tuesday we worked on our basics, things like porcupine/backing off the chest and nose, etc. After attempting to back her and getting zero results, I decided we needed to go back to basics until she got those good again, and THEN work on moving forward. My goal is to have our Level 1 online audition in by the end of November, which is totally workable. She's actually doing figure eights now (whoohoo!) and my only "problem" is the trot-backup, since she doesn't really know what I want when I try to back her with me beside her (rather, without pulling her back. She doesn't understand that she should back WITH me, not wait for me to pull her along) So that's what we're working on :)

Today we took it easy, and had some good ol' undemanding time. I gave her a seriously good grooming, and she was looking super pretty, all shiny and clean. Then I just let her graze on the patch of grass behind me while I watched the riding lessons in the ring. All in all, an awesome afternoon with my favorite girl :)

Picture from Monday :)

J

Milestone Moment

This has been a pretty good week, horse-wise. Although I didn't get down to the barn much (only tuesday and today), the time I spent with Gwen was very rewarding.

On Tuesday, she met me half way (she hasn't done that for a long time!) so I know we're getting back on track. We played with Yo-yo a lot, since she's been having difficulty backing straight and staying there. She wants to immediatly go into a circle, rather than listening to what I'm actually asking. So we spent Tuesday playing yo-yo, backing up and staying put, and then coming to me again. We took it slow, and things went very well.

Today, we played more with yo-yo, and did some circles, but we kept it very, very low key since the ring was full of other riders. And they weren't very perceptive riders... they kept cutting into my circle because they weren't paying attentiong :/  When they started jumping, I got the heck out of there because, frankly, I did not want to be run over.  But Gwen did SUPER good with all the chaos!  She was listening to me, stayed reasonably calm and focused, it was great!

But as good as our session in the ring went, what happened afterwards was even better, and is the reason for my Milestone title.  See, one of the girls at the barn has been having trouble with her horse, Cinch. I've watched them for a few weeks now, and my heart really goes out to both of them. Cinch because she's getting thumped and smacked and argued with, and her rider because she obviously wants to do well but hasn't got a clue how to get Cinch to understand her. I have been /dying/ to try some games on Cinch, and today I got my chance!!

Cinch was having an off day, and since the riding instructor was not there, her rider opted to graze her rather than ride her today, and we got to talking. See, she's a young girl, and she's having similar problems with Cinch that I had with Missy (manifesting in an argument over proper leads, and stopping at the gate) so I offered to talk with her if she wanted, confessing that I'd had a horse just like Cinch when I was younger. She's seen me work with Gwen, and was very eager. So we got to talking about the "root cause" of their problems which is, frankly, relationship and communication. Without actually talking about Parelli, we talked about Parelli! I explained how I built my relationship with Gwen based on love and understanding, and offered some tips on what she could do to help Cinch "like her" more (since she confessed that she doesn't think Cinch likes her). I had my carrot stick with me, and asked if I could try some things with Cinch. She said sure, so I got to playing the games with her mare.

I didn't do all of them, just friendly, porcupine and a very small bit of driving. But my point was to demonstrate to her rider that she could get Cinch to respond on light pressure, rather than relying on heavy pressure (like thumping with legs/crop). I got lots of licking and chewing, especially when I started playing porcupine on her nose and getting her to back up. And I think her rider was a bit impressed at how quickly I got Cinch to respond. At the end (and we only spent about five to ten minutes doing anything) she was coming in with perked ears and a happy expression, blowing out and licking/chewing. It was amazing! I am so thankful that I got a chance to work with Cinch, because I just KNEW she would benefit from some Parelli.

I offered to show her rider a couple games, and we practiced porcupine on her nose. I'm hoping that I get to work with her again some time, to see if I can help build a relationship between them. Cinch is a really awesome horse with a ton of potential, and if I can help them communicate and understand each other, I think they could have a really amazing time together.

Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of Cinch. I'll have to snap one next time!

On a funny side note, Cinch is Gwen's new best-buddy! Haha!!

My pretty Gwen!

J

Whoa, Nelly

Was watching some videos of me and Gwen that my boyfriend shot earlier this summer. I never posted them because I felt like they were a terrible demonstration of what Gwen and I could do. I remember being frustrated with almost every game we tried to play, and my overall feeling was that we could do so much better, and WERE doing so much better, when the camera wasn't rolling.

Well, I re-watched those videos tonight and... wow. I saw so much more than what I saw the first time I watched them, and what I saw/felt during the actual event. I saw so much that I needed to improve on. For instance, though I didn't feel like I was moving especially fast at the time, watching Gwen as she reacts to me, I realize I am moving very, very quickly from one request to the next. When doing hind/fore yeilds, there is very little pause between when I ask her to move her hind quarters, and when I ask her to move her shoulder/head. It's not super sonic speed, but I can't help to wonder how she would have done if I had gone just a little slower, took a little longer of a pause between requests.

At liberty in the round pen, there was a moment when she turns in off the circle, and I try to encourage her to come in/walk with me. I turn and start walking slowly and Gwen doesn't follow. During the actual event, I wasn't very surprised and turned around and came to her instead. Watching the video, I can see Gwen's reactions, and thought process, and she actually TRIED to come to me, but I just moved too fast for her; I was way too fast between the invite (turning and walking) and when I "gave up" and went to her instead. Her ears were on me, and she had that look on her face like "I might go stand with you... oh. You came here instead".

I remember feeling so disconnected, like she wasn't listening to me. Watching the video, I can totally see her /trying/ to get me to listen to her, but I'm the one who's deaf. Her body language is totally there, and I'm just  not seeing it, not responding... and we only get worse as the video goes on. 

Wow. Talk about eye-opening.  But I'm encouraged, because I feel like I am much better at reading Gwen now, than I was back when the video was taken. And now that I see how quickly I tend to move, without realizing it, I'm going to make it a priority to go slow, take long pauses between requests and long pauses between games, and see if I can read Gwen a bit better.  And I definitly want to have us video'd again, to see if I improved at all.

J

I've said it before...

And I'll say it again. I'm a terrible blogger! ;_; 

Not much to blog about, though. I feel like I'm caught in limbo with Gwen. And for the past week or so, I actually feel like we've gone backwards, rather than forwards with our relationship. I dunno. I'm finding it hard to be motivated because I'm not seeing the positive "return" so to speak. I'm also fighting general lethargy more related to long work hours, and really, really HOT weather, than to equine activities. Regardless of cause, or reason, the result is the same; my lack of motivation means ZERO progress has been made. Bleh. We still can't do a figure 8 to save my life, but hey.

I'm trying to find ways to motivate myself to go out and DO something with Gwen at least 4 days each week, because this lack of activity is killing us. My main enemies are: the weather; work stress, and confusion/lack of knowledge about how to proceed. So, how do I tackle these three problems? Hrm.

I can't do much about the weather; it is what it is. I can make sure to go later in the evening when it starts to cool down, but it's still a factor. It will start getting cooler in the fall, but that has it's own problem (like rain, and lack of indoor/covered areas).

As for work stress... well, that's always going to be there, and all I can really do is just... push through it. MAKE myself go to the barn, and MAKE myself at least bring Gwen out and do SOMETHING with her. Deadlines and quota's help with this. If I tell myself "Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, you will do XYZ with Gwen..." I usually follow through. I try to leave the exact task undefined, and see how Gwen's feeling... (but that can lead to the third problem; lack of knowledge/confusion about where to go from here).

As for that, well... I don't have an answer there. So moving on...

My next great adversary in the motivation-battle is harder to deal with. An Audience.

Since school is back in session, it means that riding lessons are now hosted in the evenings... which is when I go to the barn. I got super spoiled all summer because of summer-camp. No one rode in the evenings, and most of the time I was THE only person there! It's so much easier when no one is around to see me. Now that people are back, not only is space super limited, but now I have the added presser of an audience. And I do NOT do well with an audience. I get tense, Gwen starts reacting, which makes me MORE tense knowing someone is watching me look like a complete idiot, which  means Gwen acts up MORE... etc.

I don't want to be back in the round pen, especially in the blazing heat (it is called the 'hot box' for a reason...). Argh!

So I'm grumpy, and pout-y, and all-around full of self-pity lately, with no real idea how to snap out of it and get back in the groove of things. :/  At least I'm going to the Parelli Horse & Soul tour in October! Maybe that will help...

J

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!