Saturday, December 5, 2009

Viewing the new Parelli levels, playing with Prince on the 45ft line and more!!

Yesterday we was our Parelli meet up and our friend brought the new Parelli Levels. We only watched the Level 1 DVD there but she lent us all four levels [If you read this Mrs. S. THANK YOU!!!!!!] We left the Level 3 Online and Liberty at our other friends house so she could watch them. I didn't have time last night to watch any more so I got up extra early this morning, did my Bible reading then started watching the Level 4 Online. It was AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was exactly what I needed. I will have to watch it again because there was so much info packed into that 2 hours and 8 minutes :)

After lunch I went out and played with Prince. He didn't want to be caught. So we played with that. Then I haltered him from my knees. That was interesting. We have done it before so Prince knew what to do but he was distracted. We got it done though. Then I put the 45ft line on him and we went out to the front yard. Normally Prince rushes out the gate as soon as it is opened but for the last couple times that I have let him out I made sure he stood still till I gave him permission to go through. I am doing the same thing when I open the other gate after we have finished cleaning the corral in the morning. The horses have to wait till I take the boards down and give them permission to come through. They have caught on REALLY quickly. I was surprised! Prince will now perfectly still and not move even when I am putting the boards on the other side of the fence. Then when I am finished he will look at me and ask a question then I let him in. It is cool!!!

Anyways.... Prince ate grass for a little bit then we went to the middle of the yard and we played with backing up to almost the end of the 45ft line. There wasn't quite enough room to back all the way. I had another arrow in my quiver that I learned from the Level 4 Online DVD this morning and that really helped. Prince would get about 35ft away and then stop, he knew I couldn't reach him from there. So that went really well. Then I sent him out on the circle. Prince could only be about 30ft away because the house, rose bush and well were in the way but I was really surprised at how well he did!! I put the slack in the rope and Prince kept it there the whole time!!! It was amazing!!! Considering we were out on the front yard and there was a lot of distractions he was wonderful!!! We also practiced out Change of directions and Transitions. Prince walked a full circle too!! Okay so all of you that know that Prince a LBI would be thinking "Yeah and so... what is so special about Prince walking a circle?" Well it is really special because Prince likes to trot when he is on the circle and even when I ask him to walk he will walk some then start trotting again. So when Prince walked a full circle and I didn't need to correct him once it was good!! Our Change of directions were REALLY good. Mr. Parelli showed two ways to do them, one was the way that I was doing them and the other way was a different way so I tried them the new way. They were SO much better!!! Prince was had rythym, relaxation and connection pretty much the whole time we were circling!! He normally trots with his head a little high and it is normally a faster trot. But today it was a soft jog [but it wasn't a lazy jog] he was relaxed. It probably helped that there was a hill that he had to go up and down.

We also did spirals on the circle [when you coil the rope in so the circle gets smaller and smaller] Prince didn't break gait once!!!! We only did it at the trot so it wasn't as hard as if we were doing it at the canter but still for the first time Prince was wonderful!!!!!! He still kept slack in the rope. It wasn't on the ground but it wasn't tight. I was really surprised at how good our porcupine game it!!! One thing that watching the Level 4 Online DVD has done is it has shown me that we are really playing in Level 4!!! I kind of had my doubts before because but when I was playing with Prince it was amazing!! I guess I just thought that a lot of the things we were doing weren't really Level 4 things. But I guess they are!!!

After that Prince and I played with some Sideways at longer distances. Prince went sideways almost the whole way to the end of the 45ft line!!! It wasn't totally straight but it is getting there. I was a lot better at coiling my rope today.Maybe it likes me better now!!! hehe ;) After that Prince and I went over to the trailer. I sent Prince to it from about 20ft away, Prince walked onto the ramp then wouldn't stop looking at me, he was kept asking me questions!!!! Finally he figured out that I wanted him to go into the trailer. I am really trying to make being inside the trailer a comfort spot. Prince did really well though. I loaded him a couple times. Some times I would back him out by the tail, other times I would leave him in there longer and then back him out. The first time his head was a little high. So I just rubbed him until he relaxed them he licked and chewed. That was good.

Since everything was going really well I climbed on Prince bareback. The whole time I was riding and playing it didn't even feel like I was out of a fenced area. Prince was wonderful and we both had SO MUCH FUN!!!! We rode around for a bit doing some sideways, 9 step back ups, pivots on Prince's hindquarters, we rode onto the trailer ramp, we did a little bit of trotting, then we rode up our road. Prince was AMAZING!!!!!!!!! He followed my focus almost perfectly and even though there was a lot of grass on either side of the road he didn't even try to go for it!!! We rode to the edge of town and then back again. I love Prince!!!!!!!!!!! I am so blessed to have him!!! Then I let Prince eat on the front yard for a bit before I got off. He was keeping me warm!!! hehe

It was so much fun!! Tomorrow I am hoping to play with Twosox again. I love my horses!!!!!!!

~K

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