Saturday, December 18, 2010

Twosox: Loss of connection.... and Figure eights.

December 14 2010

Well Twosox and I had a "Oh Boy" play time today. We hadn't played for over a week and it showed. Our connection was gone... the main pattern we played with was Figure eights. That pattern is very revealing! Ever since the Parelli Ohio Celebration I have realized that no wonder people just skip that pattern or try it but then thing it is boring! It is a challenging little pattern to master.... or even get good at :) But on the flip side it is a great pattern once we get it!

Today the challenge was that Twosox would break gait and pull as he was going around each barrel. Now that I think back I think I know how I could have solved the pulling... maybe. But hindsight is 20/20 right? ;) So we played with it for a long time and both of us got into a sweat! In the end though we were able to end on a good note and then go into the garage to cool off. I wanted to make sure that Twosox was fairly dry before I took him back out into the cold.

One lesson I have learned is that I need to play with Twosox more than once a week and that Figure eights is a patten that needs to be used regularly and can't be ignored... or they do fall apart :) Or at least with my horses they do!! I find them fascinating but I know that some people find them frustrating.... all I can say is that in my experience, that pattern is extremely revealing! You will find out a lot by doing that pattern!!

Naturally,
~Keri

2 comments:

  1. Ideally, I pattern should be repeated at least 4 to 7 times in a row... Good for you to notice how powerful the figure 8 can be!

    Petra Christensen
    Parelli 2Star Junior Instructor
    Parelli Central

    ReplyDelete
  2. We did them 4-7 days in a row back in the summer and got them really nice and then we did them every other day, and then every third day etc but we haven't done a lot of them since then so I think that was were it went wrong :)

    They are definitely a powerful pattern!

    Thanks for your comment!
    ~Keri

    ReplyDelete