Keri and Prince - My Parelli Journey

A Video Update:

2012-01-26T08:23:00.001-05:00

Here is a video of what Prince and I were up to in early December, before all the snow got here ;)

Naturally,
~Keri-Lynn

The Game of Contact - Day Three

2012-01-24T14:44:00.000-05:00

Today was day three. I was only able to do bridling and bit isolations as circumstances didn't allow me to do anything else.

Bridling was good. Prince is starting to go directly for the bit instead of exploring most of the bridle looking for a treat. That is an improvement. Prince didn't mouth the bit as much as I was doing everything up either. Another improvement. Bit isolations were amazing! Prince was light and was stretching even more!

I also tried using the reins. Just to get a feel for what that would be like. At first Prince assumed lateral flexion but with some patient persistence he got it and would stretch nice and low. After I played with getting Prince to seek the bit even more and actually take it all by himself. He caught on fairly quickly. I did have to raise it a little once he had taken it as he kept dropping it but after a few tries he was able to take it all by himself and keep it. Also Prince had learned in the past to invade me space, with his head and neck, a little while I unbridled him so we played with him keeping his head/ neck straight and still low. He figured it out and so we ended with a really nice bridling and unbridling.

I started playing with bridling with Twosox as he was curious about it all. It took a few times before he figured out how to get the treat, and it was not by pushing the bit away and taking it ;) The last one was really nice and smooth! So we ended on that one.

Anyways, tomorrow is my last full day at home before back to work I go for the rest of the week. So I am really hoping to be able to ride! I want to play with some Game of Contact stuff with Prince, and Lord willing ride Twosox and maybe Knightly. My plan is to focus on their freestyle for the next few months and get that going well and build on their foundation.

Until tomorrow!

Naturally,
~Keri-Lynn

The Game of Contact - The beginning of the journey.

2012-01-23T15:32:00.001-05:00

Hello all! I know, it has been a while!

Fall 2011 ~ Dabbling in finesse

I have decided to start blogging a little more regularly. Mainly regarding my journey with the Game of Contact. Having no traditional background before Parelli Finesse is my weakest savvy. I know that just like the other three savvies this one will be just as much as a learning experience and that is why I am so thankful for the Game of Contact home study program that will be walking me through it. Needless to say, I am very excited and looking forward to taking this next step in my horsemanship journey.

Prince and I have just started as the DVD's just arrived the other day. We are still playing with getting him to want to be bridled and also bit isolations. We had been playing previously with bridling so we already had that going well. Prince was putting effort into taking the bit so that he could get the treat.

Sept~ Fawn Anderson clinic

As for the bit isolation, they are going well. Day one was good. Outwardly Prince seemed to be ignoring me but I know that on the inside he wasn't, his wheels were turning no doubt. Mrs. Parelli's line of "It is not 'if' but 'when' " kept running through my mind. I knew that it was doing to work and it was just going to take time. I was playing for tomorrow. After about fifteen minutes of slowly putting on the pressure and then releasing the instant Prince thought about moving his head down he started putting a little bit more effort into trying and we ended when he was responded at a much lighter phase. I would have kept going but I was frozen as it was -25 (Celsius).

Today was Day Two and although it was pouring rain we still had a great session. It was proven that Prince was thinking last day although on the outside it looked like paint drying, it was very interesting paint drying though I must add. I loved every minute of it! Being an introvert myself I can identify with my introverted horses.

September ~ Level 3/4 Clinic ~ Playing with some finesse

So today Prince was eager to see the bridle and enthusiastic about taking it. Bit Isolations were instant! All I had to do was put the slightest bit of pressure on the bit and his head when down! Perfect! To advance it I looked for Prince to put a little bit more effort into really putting his head down instead of just a little tiny bit down. Prince caught on really fast and so we ended and played a little bit with getting more understanding in regards to bridling. Prince is eager to get the treat but isn't quite going straight for the bit, he is more going for the bridle, verses the bit. We played with that and after a couple times Prince was actually picking up the bit by himself with softness and understanding.

There you have it, day one and two of playing with some of the beginning stages of stage one in the Game of Contact!

Naturally,
~Keri-Lynn

Ruffian and Twosox - Together Online

2011-11-03T11:53:00.000-04:00

Here is a video of my second session of playing with Ruffian and Twosox:

Naturally,
~Keri-Lynn

Hello!

2011-10-31T08:24:00.000-04:00

Hello all! Some exciting things are quite possibly on there way but I shall let you all know when things become more definite!

I have been quite busy lately and just now enjoying having three weeks off from work as the restuarant if closed for hunting season! I knew there was a reason I liked hunting season ;)

Anyways, in my spare time I put together a video with some footage from this fall. It highlights some of the things we have been playing with recently...

The weather is getting colder and with it comes the expectation of snow, I am looking forward to it but at the same time I know certain things that can be so easily taken for granted shall be revealed... such as warm toes :)

Nevertheless November shall be upon us very shortly and so with all do regard, let us wish it in well and enjoy the prospect of Christmas and all that snow soon upon us.

Have a wonderful November!
Naturally,
~Keri-Lynn

Putting our principles to a purpose, and having FUN!

2011-08-23T06:34:00.000-04:00

Firstly, I must apologize for the lack of updates. Life has been a roller-coaster of events and so much has happened of late that it would be hard to even begin to write it down. Prince and I are preparing for the clinic that is approaching at a very very quick pace and along with that, a wide range of emotions.

For the past two weeks Prince and Twosox have been staying at a friends place. I am overwhelmed by how well Twosox is doing and how far he has come in the past two weeks having had the consistency of being played with and ridden almost everyday. He truly is a special horse with a lot of potential.

I will leave you with this short video taken on Saturday of Prince and I playing with something very exciting and fun, this is day one of putting some principles to a purpose and let me say this, we both had a lot of fun doing so!

Naturally,
~Keri-Lynn

Approach and Retreat

2011-07-23T13:33:00.002-04:00

When you hear the term "Approach and Retreat" in Parelli Land we normally think about taking a scary ball away from the horse and then bringing it toward him then retreating with it, walking away before walking toward, finding the threshold and then moving back, etc which are all correct and properly used. But recently I have learned to apply that same term in a slightly different way while playing with Prince.

It is amazing the impact it makes for Prince when we play with something, then leave it and go play with something else, then come back to it a while later and play with it again, normally on the opposite side as the first time. Doing this has made a huge difference in each of our patterns especially if Prince has a hard time getting it one way and neither him or I really want to attempt it on the other side right after. So I have adopted the strategy and what a difference!

As an example, recently Prince and I were playing with bridling. We started our session with this and at first although Prince wasn't really resisting it, he wasn't to thrilled about it either. So I would ask him to take the bit and then give him treats, thus giving him incentive to take the bit with a little more effort and enthusiasm the next time, and also giving him a good impression of it over all. The next time around he was a little bit better and slightly more willing to participate with the whole process. I decided that it was a good time to leave it and go play with something else. Then after we had finished playing with another pattern we came back to bridling and Prince was much more willing to take the bit, to the extent that he was reaching for it and asking for the bit even before I had everything in the proper place, he wasn't being rude but you could tell that he was definitely interested in having it in his mouth.

It just confirmed in my mind that this
is a great way for me to approach advancing things with Prince because it keeps things interesting and fun! Even more so when it comes to riding. Neither Prince or myself find cantering Follow the rail to the left and then having to do it to the right directly after that very interesting, although it is important build to being able to do that eventually. But this way Prince stays interested and offers way more on the second try.

So maybe give it a try the next time you go out and play! We want our horses to be equal on both sides but that doesn't mean we have to do each side directly after the other, especially for those Left brain horses that like variety ;) Keep things interesting, give yourself and your horse some time to lick and chew over it and chances are, he will have a better understanding of the pattern when you come back to it, if you have ended on a good note the first time, make sure to get that some sort of improvement before leaving it.

Naturally,
~Keri-Lynn

2011-07-11T15:37:00.002-04:00

So much learning!

2011-07-10T21:19:00.000-04:00

Okay so I guess it is time for an update! There has been so much happening here that I am kind of glad that I decided not to blog every session...

Prince is home now. It is bittersweet. I am glad that he is just outside my bedroom window but I am really going to miss having the space to advance on the larger scale. Prince and I can do little things here but we really make progress when we have the room to ride and play the patterns properly. So I am really going to miss that aspect but I have September to look forward too :)

So let see... the most important thing I learned? I would have to say that it would be this, to maintain high standards! Keep reaching, searching, digging, for more lightness, speed and distance! Don't get stuck in a rut and then go backwards.

Prince and I learned a big lesson when it came to connection on the circle at the canter. Last fall when we spent two weeks here we had the rhythm, relaxation and connection at the canter, the connection being the biggest and hardest one to get solved. Then when we returned here I found that we had lost that lightness. Prince was pulling again. I had lowered my expectation of what I was going to accept and so we had to redo that lesson, although this time I was more prepared.

So I think over all what I learned over the last 10 days was that, even though hard, don't sink back into doing what is easy. Take the time it takes to get it right and it will take way less time in the long run.

Prince and I got to play with some really amazing things also. We accomplished flying lead changes at Liberty and Online on the 45ft line, five laps, at the canter, at the end of the 45ft line, in each direction with rhythm, relaxation and connection, 180's, sideways box, circles at the canter (Freestyle), we cantered one and a half laps in each direction a long the rail with no corrections, jumping with fluidity, we went on some amazing trail ride (galloping up hills is a rush but very fun), opening and closing gates with Prince being a partner and not trying to do it himself, learned about focus, and last but not least had a lot of fun despite the bugs and heat :) Prince lost a lot of weight also!!

On Thursday as we were riding the weave at the trot I had a major BFO (blinding flash of the obvious) I felt that I was using my legs to much so I isolated different things and really made sure I was going through my phases properly and I found that I wasn't focusing enough. As soon as I started really focusing guess what? Prince instantly started following my focus and our weave got a million times better. Prince did most of it, including the ends where we circled once or twice, with just my focus. Wow! I remember when I was blown away when Prince would respond with my legs but now we are reaching yet another level of understanding and conscious incompetence.

So now Prince has gotten a couple days off and will probably get a few more off as I have to be away Tuesday. I have been thinking of ways to get more time spent with Twosox and Ruffian and hopefully advance with them also. They each have so much potential and it is just a matter of my finding enough time and mental and emotional energy to play with three horses on a regular basis.

Also on a slightly different note, I am contemplating purchasing the Horsenality/Huminality Match report. I have been working a few extra shifts at work here and there recently and so I am tossing around the idea of getting that soon. I have no doubt in my mind that it is simply amazing so that is not the issue. It is mainly whether or not I can justify the money at this point in time. It definitely would be worth it though :) So we shall see. Hopefully I can get it though.

There are some many things that I have been learning and thinking about recently. To think that it is just over a year until I can attend the Fast Track course and start my journey to becoming a Parelli Professional, that is very exciting! But until then I am going to enjoy the journey and wait and see what God has in store for me in this next year.

Naturally,
~Keri-Lynn

Doing things a little differently...

2011-07-04T15:13:00.000-04:00

So I have decided to change the way I blog for now. This summer is set to be a busy one and I have decided that since I really don't enjoying blogging all that much I am going to change the way I do it... so I am thinking that I shall just do an over all review every week instead of typing each individual session. If there is a specific session that was challenging or I learned something really excited, or if I feel the desire to type about it, I will do so... but for now I am going to spend more time doing other things instead of getting a weeks worth of blogging piled up and then having to spend hours catching up :)

I might change back to the old way but I need to try something a little different. If I do the same thing the same way I will get the same results so somethings got to change :)

I will be posting more frequent updates on Parelli Connect on each of my horse's walls. They might end up being more of a list of what we did, it depends on how much time I have :)

So until next time,

Naturally,
~Keri-Lynn

Prince: A weeks worth of updating...

2011-07-03T21:38:00.000-04:00

June 26-July 3, 2011

This past week has been a big week! Prince has been out at a friends place since last Sunday and we have been playing and riding every day. To say that I am learning a lot would be an understatement! Prince is getting fit and not even the hot weather can stop us. We are playing with so many different things and trying to take advantage of the open spaces, big arena and round corral but there just isn't enough time to get everything in and not overload either of us! We have done a couple demos and Prince was fabulous!

It has been fun (and very challenging) over the last seven days. Prince has really tested my mental and emotional fitness... and there has been times he has succeeded! But I think the biggest lesson I have learned is to maintain high standards! Still reward the slightest try but don't forget the other two, expect a lot and accept a little :)

Wednesday we went for an amazing trail ride! Talk about putting your principles to a purpose!! We rode for about an hour and a half out and then back again. Cantering up hills, working our way through rocks, boulders, trees, creeks, and then had a blast galloping part way home. Poor Prince, he couldn't compete with that Arab though ;) He tried :) Although in Prince's defense, it didn't take him as long to come down to the halt ;) That is my LBI boy! He gave me a beautiful canter across the field and home and we had so much fun! The only kind of scary part was the wet rock we had to climb up, Prince kept slipping on the way up and a little on the way down. But other than that it was lots of fun! We were both very tired afterward :)

We have also been having fun playing at Liberty in the arena. We have some really cool canter stick to me!!! Also we are getting flying lead changes on the 45ft line, rhythm, relaxation and connection at the canter, follow the rail (getting more laps at the canter), some cool 180's, circles on the outside of the round corral at the canter, sideways box (I love that pattern!!), opening and closing gates, sideways at a trot at the end of the 45ft line, jumping Freestyle (my fluidity), puzzling solving with the ball (Prince is so clever! He figured out how to get the ball unstuck by nudging it with his nose and then moving it a long with his leg before it got stuck again!!) and loads of other fun stuff!

We haven't had much of a chance to play in the round corral but we did get to do some stuff and got some nice circles at the trot with canter transitions along with changes of directions. I shall have to find more time to play in there and find some imagination! I am booooooooooring when I get into a round corral and Prince lets me know pretty quickly ;)

Today I gave Prince a bath after our sweaty ride. Fortunately the purpose of the bath was to cool him off, not to get him clean, because he was instantly on the ground rolling when we got to a nice dirt patch ;-)

This horse is teaching me so much and I am really looking forward to the five day Level 3/4 clinic with Fawn Anderson is the fall! Hoping to be that much closer to filming some of my Level 4 Auditions afterward.

Until then Prince and I shall keep on keeping on and see where we are in the fall. Then the count down shall begin until September of 2012!

Naturally,
~Keri

Prince: New things.

2011-07-03T21:11:00.000-04:00

June 24, 2011

Prince and I had a great session today. I had to trim Ruffian but I had enough time to play with Prince Online. We played mainly with sideways towards me at the trot. We had some heavy rain recently so the riding ring was slippery, all but one side by the fence. So it worked out okay.

We started out with testing out our sideways towards me. There were a couple little things that I needed to get a little bit better, such as Prince was lagging his hindquarters a little bit. So we played with that but Prince picked it up really quickly so we moved on.

While going in one direction Prince was able to get it pretty quickly. It was great.In the other direction Prince had more of a hard time though. After a while of trying different things and not really making any progress I decided to make a big change and try something totally different.

Really want I needed to play with was our draw. Prince has a great draw on the yo-yo so I knew that wasn't the issue so here is what I did, I asked Prince to walk toward me along the fence and then I brought my carrot stick in and asked him to bring his hindquarters over to toward me. This worked really well and after a couple times of repeating this at the walk we went into the trot. The first time Prince did pretty good. He brought his hindquarters over slightly as he was trotting so I rewarded that try. The next time I was a little to far away to influence his hindquarters properly so we stopped and tried again and this time Prince brought his hindquarters over even more and it was smooth!

I learned about thinking outside the box and not getting direct line. After trying the same thing for a while and not much progress was happening plus Prince was just getting confused it was time to think of a different strategy and it worked very well. Prince understood what I was asking and it was so much easier!!

Naturally,
~Keri

Prince: Amazing circles!

2011-06-27T15:03:00.000-04:00

June 22, 2011

Prince and I focused on circles today. I was going to play with Changes of directions so we first tested our circles at the trot. Ten each way with only one send, with a change of direction in the middle. They went so well and the change of direction was so smooth that I decided to play with our circles at the canter.

Prince went into the canter smoothly and cantered eleven circles to the right with rhythm, relaxation and connection and around nineteen circles to the left. The reason there were more to the left was because Prince wasn't on the correct lead. He was trying really hard but just couldn't get it so I helped him find the correct lead and then he cantered easily eleven to the left also. I was so proud of Prince and couldn't believe how much effort he put into cantering that many circles with out breaking gait!!

We also did the same jumping task that we did with Twosox, standing on the pedestal with all four feet and then jumping off the pedestal, over the barrel and trotting to me. It took Prince three tries and then he got it and cleared the jump. On the first try the barrel was to far away from the pedestal so he stepped down and then jumped it. Which was still nice but not quite what I was looking for. So we tried until Prince nailed it, which was on the third try.

It was a short but sweet session and it was so much fun to play Online and not be preparing to ride, although both are great :)

Naturally,

~Keri-Lynn

Twosox: Figure eights and jumping with creativity!

2011-06-27T14:49:00.000-04:00

June 22, 2011

Twosox and I had a fun little session this morning. Mom and I were heading out for a play day at a friend house (we weren't taking the horses) but I wanted to play with Twosox and Prince first so I got up early and went out and played.

When we got up to the riding ring Twosox was looking around and really rather worried about something. So I had two options, we could stand there and wait until he relaxed or I could try and continue playing and get his mind off of what ever was seeming to bother him, I decided to wait until he relaxed. Really either would have worked most likely but I thought about what I would want if I was really bothered by something, since Twosox and I are really rather a like I figured it would be a safe bet to go with what I would appreciate, and that would just to be left a lone or at least not talked too.

So we waited.... and waited. Finally Twosox looked at me, licked and chewed, yawned and completely relaxed. Then we proceeded and Twosox was relaxed and was able to pay attention to me. We did Figure eights at the walk and trot. Once those were going smoothly and Twosox was light while going around the ends, the spot that he has the hardest time, we ended.

The barrels were set up right beside the pedestal. Two were on end and the one in the middle was laying down, so I decided to try something different and ask Twosox to stand on the pedestal and then jump off of the pedestal, over the barrel and trot to me. The first time Twosox tried really hard but his back feet were not on the pedestal so he had to stretch really far. So the next time I asked for him to put all four feet on the pedestal and then jump the barrel and he did it! It was really fun and added just a little bit more of a challenge to the Touch it pattern :)

Then I unhaltered and we went down to the corral and then I played with Prince!

Naturally

~Keri-Lynn

Prince: Being patient.

2011-06-27T14:39:00.000-04:00

June 21, 2011

"Ninety nine percent of horse development is having patience" Mrs. Parelli. That is what I learned today. Things go smoother, even if they don't physically go smoother, mentally and emotionally they will and in turn that will help things go better physically... more on that later.

Today Prince and I actually started with riding bareback and bridleless in the corral then after we tested our indirect rein, direct rein and sideways we trotted up the hill and into the riding ring and rode a long the rail. We did this at the trot and played with getting a nice slow jog then once we found that we rode around the rail jogging a long... it was very comfortable!

Then we rode Figure eights and the Weave at the trot. I practiced staying on and being fluid while riding close, fast circles around the ends ;) In the end we got both the Figure eight and Weave really nice and Prince relaxed into a slower and more rhythmic trot and was much lighter.

After that we rode down the hill, dismounted, saddled and went back up to the riding ring. There we did Circles at the canter, again looking for rhythm, relaxation and connection at the canter. Prince did very well and found it quickly and was able to canter quite a few laps in each direction on the correct lead.

Next we did sideways to the end of the 45ft line. This is getting really good. I am doing less and less and Prince is doing more and more. We also played with jumping single barrels. Prince read my mind and knew exactly what I wanted and didn't try to dodge around the barrel. It really comes down to my focus and being really focused on Prince jumping the barrel.

After I mounted up we rode along the rail a little and then rode circles on each end (going in different directions on either side) which is setting us up for the Figure eights. Prince got the right lead on the first try with hardly any issues but the left lead this time was the hard side. I made sure to stay calm and did this by singing softly or humming a tune. That really helped me stay relaxed and not get direct line. It took a while but in the end Prince cantered a full lap on the left lead and then we stopped.

What really helped was when Prince started having a hard time cantering or picking up the correct lead we would switch to Follow the rail, pick up the correct lead, canter a lap back to the end where we were circling and then softly switched into a circle again. This really helped Prince stay focused and if he got confused than we went back to something he knew and he was able to recollect himself. It was really worked well.

So I learned that if I stay patient, give Prince the benefit of the of the doubt and treat it like he just doesn't understand, I am more inclined to want to treat it like dominance but time and time again it is that he just doesn't understand what I want, he is trying but just isn't getting it. So when I slow down and give him more support, he gets it really quickly.

I dismounted and Prince and I hung out for a bit before heading down to the corral.

Naturally,

~Keri-Lynn

Prince: Combing to patterns...

2011-06-25T11:09:00.000-04:00

June 20, 2011

So today Prince and I played with the different patterns and tasks that we are doing as patterns, 4-7 days, the main ones being circles at a canter and sideways to the end of the 45ft line while I stand still. While circling we continued to play with Prince maintaining the correct lead for more than just 3/4 of a lap. This time what I did was place a barrel standing up on the fence to help Prince learn to turn there instead of going farther and then loosing the circle. If Prince cantered a circle, and I mean a circle, then he can stay on the correct lead but when he makes part of it bigger or small that is when he looses the lead. So there was one part of the circle where the fence ends (the only place we can do circles in our riding rind is at the end so Prince is going a long the fence for part of the circle) that he was going straight for a stride or two and getting messed up.

Having the barrel there made a huge difference and Prince was able to canter to the left, his hard side, and maintain the correct lead much easier! It is all about doing less sooner rather then more later ;)

Going sideways to the end of the 45ft line is going really well. Prince will usually go sideways to the end at a phase one but sometimes he still gets a little stuck so we played with that and ended when he went sideways to the end, both ways, at a phase one or two, mainly phase one.

We also did a little bit of leading by the tail and Prince was very light! We backed about 20ft or so and Prince put not only lightness but a lot of speed into backing up. It was great!

I decided to do something a little differently while riding today. I set up two barrels about 20ft apart and the plan was to ride a big figure eight around them, starting at the trot and then eventually going into the canter and doing a simple lead change in the middle. Now how I combined the Figure eight pattern and Follow the rail was that our riding ring is small so we would go through the middle of the riding ring, pick up the canter, canter around the round (the riding ring has rounded ends because of the limited space we had when building it), and then come down to the trot while riding between the barrels and pick up the canter again in the other direction. So basically we were riding a figure eight the size of our riding ring.

We started at the trot and then once Prince picked up on the patten and we went into the canter. I decided pretty quickly though that to have success we would need to ride circles on each side of the riding ring and Prince be able to do that before doing the bigger pattern. So we set of doing that instead. Prince got the lead to the left easily and the circle was great but while going to the right Prince had a much harder time. I had to get off a couple times and reiterate what I wanted as Prince was starting to buck when I asked him into the canter. So we would switch it up a little and Follow a long the rail when Prince was having a hard time getting the correct lead, going back to something he knew well helped him quite a bit, and then switching into the circle. It took a while but in the end Prince was able to canter a lap and a half and then we stopped in the middle. I gave him a long rest, dismounted, unsaddled and let Prince out to graze on the side strip of grass for a little while as I picked up everything and took stuff down to the corral.

Then I brought Prince back into the riding ring and let him out the gate so he could go down to the corral and get relief from the bugs in the shelter.

Naturally,

~Keri-Lynn

Ruffian: Online and Freestyle

2011-06-25T10:49:00.000-04:00

June 20, 2011

Okay so I am yet again a week behind in my updates... I have been to busy playing with the horses and enjoying life to bother with blogging :)

So now I have to play catch up. Ruffian and I had a really wonderful session this morning. I was going to play with and ride Prince first but Ruffian came over and really looked like he wanted to be played with so I decided to saddle him up and play with him.

Ruffian was fine being saddled. I allowed him to check everything out (but not with his teeth) and then saddled up. I moved him around a little and did some hindquarter and forequarter yields getting a full pivot each side with lightness and speed. Then we did some yo-yo's just on the 12ft line. Next we played with squeezing between myself and the fence where the electric fence box is (it is mounted on the other side of the fence) Ruffian had never liked going on that side and I think it is because of the ticking that the box makes but at the same time there is nothing that is going to happen to him so it is a matter of him trusting me as his leader because I know that everything is okay.

So we played with this for a while and eventually Ruffian was able to walk calmly from one side to the other and back again through a 7ft gap or so. This was a huge improvement from when we started so we ended there. Ruffian had a bit lick and chew and then we headed up to the riding ring.

We played on the 22ft line and did some traveling circles falling lead, and jumping. Ruffian bucked some going into the canter on the circle but once he was able to canter almost a full circle each way and not buck or show any signs of being bothered by the saddle I brought him in for a rest.

We played with jumping single barrels as well as a line of barrels. Ruffian had not issues with jumping with the saddle so I mounted up after checking our lateral flexions. We were in the middle of the riding ring when I mounted and I only had my halter and lead rope on so after we checked out our lateral flexions and indirect rein we went over to the rail and rode the rail until we got to where my hackamore was and I put that on while mounted. Ruffian was great and stood still and knew exactly what I was asking of him even though it was the first time we have every done something like that, it was fun :)

Then we did more Follow the rail at the walk and trot. We were able to get a full lap at the trot in each direction which was really amazing! I love Ruffian's trot, it is so smooth! Then we played with our 9 step back-up and getting that straight. I wasn't to particular about speed but I didn't want Ruffian to learn to back up in a zig-zag :)

Ruffian was great the whole ride and I was really pleased with how well he responded and I think that the main thing I learned was not to be to particular at this stage, yes I am not letting Ruffian get away with things but if it doesn't get something right away or if he doesn't do it perfectly that it okay. If he is trying then reward that try. He is just learning!

After I unsaddled we headed over to the sandy part of the riding ring and Ruffian got down and rolled. Hopefully he will learn that he can roll after we ride, and not during our ride :) So far so good ;)

Naturally,

~Keri-Lynn

Prince: Patterns, Day 3.

2011-06-21T15:40:00.000-04:00

June 16, 2011

Today was day three of most of the patterns Prince and I had been playing with recently.

Circles ~ These went really well. Prince was light and he was able to find each lead easily while maintaining rhythm, relaxation and connection.

Yo-Yo's ~ Prince was light and put speed into backing to the end of the 45ft line! We are getting really close to it being all at phase one!!

Porcupine ~ We did hindquarter and forequarter yields. Four complete pivots each way with lightness and speed. We are playing with distance, hence the four pivots each way, and Prince is doing really well!

Our Freestyle patterns were great today!

Follow the Rail ~ Walk - Trot- Canter ~ Prince got it today on the first try each direction. We cantered three laps each way with no corrections. It was amazing!! His canter was so soft and relaxed! No matter what people say I love trotting. Even after I have been cantering almost a year I love trotting! There is something so relaxing about it. Anyway... that was kind of a bunny trail... :)

Opening/Closing Gates ~ This went exceptionally well. Prince was right where I needed him to be when I needed it but he didn't try pushing on the gate or being to helpful. We worked as a team and we got the job done.

Circles/Bullseye ~ This was an interesting pattern. Over all it went well but Prince had a really hard time getting the left lead. It took us a long time but in the end he was able to get it and we cantered a full lap before stopping. To the right was easy and it came quickly. We got two laps or so and then stopped. Prince was very sweaty by the time we finished so we headed into the garage to get relief from the bugs and played with bridling!

Bridling ~ This was great. I took off my hackamore because it was wet and dirty so I just had the bridle on and Prince looked smashing wearing it! He had no problem taking the bit and hardly mouthed it at all! It was really nice to see the progress! We did some lateral flexions and such and then I scratched all his itchy spots for a long time before we headed back to the corral.

Prince is getting in shape with all this cantering we have been doing which is great because I want him in shape mentally, emotionally and physically for September when we are riding in a five day Level 3/4 clinic. Should be fun!

Naturally,

~Keri-Lynn

Twosox: Waiting for the lick and chew makes a difference.

2011-06-21T15:04:00.000-04:00

June 16, 2011

As I mentioned in my last post about Twosox's and my most recent session I wished I had of given Twosox more time to process what I was asking of him. So today I made sure to do that in our session.

We had a pretty short session over all but a really good one from start to finish. We played mostly the same things as last session and Twosox did very well. His hindquarter yields were a little sticky on the one side. He seemed to be a little stiff or something because he wasn't crossing over as well or as smoothly. So we kept playing with it and I watched to see if he was sore but he didn't seem to be so maybe that is just a harder side for him. He was light though which was really nice!

The forequarter yields were amazing. We got one complete pivot each direction and Twosox only moved his hind feet when he had too. I waited a long time for Twosox to process each task and it made a big difference. He stayed calm and could think his way through everything I asked.

We ended with a big scratching session and Twosox followed me around everywhere afterward asking for more scratches! It was great!! So I scratched him for a little while longer before getting my saddle and everything out to play with Prince.

Naturally,

~Keri-Lynn

Prince: Sideways, yo-yo's and grooming...

2011-06-21T14:48:00.000-04:00

June 15, 2011

Prince and I had a short but good session this morning. The horseflies and deerflies were already out by the time we started so we only did sideways up in the riding ring. Prince is getting better and better each time with going sideways to the end of the 45ft line while I stand still. There was a few times I had to come off of my spot but in the end Prince went sideways in each direction with my standing still!

Then we went down to the front yard, back through the gate to the end of the 45ft line which went really well and Prince was definitely better than last time. He was light and put quite a bit of effort into backing out.

Next we went into the garage and I was going to play with bridling but Myles want to do something with Ruffian also so we took both horses to the garage to groomed them, scratched itchy spots and etc so I didn't end up bridling Prince but that is okay! We had a great time handing out together anyway!

Naturally,

~Keri-Lynn

Ruffian: Playing!

2011-06-21T14:39:00.000-04:00

June 15, 2011

This morning I played with Ruffian first. Ruffian had lots of energy so first we played with circles with obstacles and changes of directions and then we played with jumping single barrels at different speeds, walk, trot, stand still etc. Ruffian did really well and seeks the barrels with lots of enthusiasm!

I wanted to teach something new to Ruffian so I decided to try sideways at a trot. Ruffian did well and I had to make sure not to put to much pressure on him because he can loose confidence very easily when learning new things. So we took our time and slowly but surely Ruffian started to get the idea. After a couple tries Ruffian trotted sideways a few feet so we ended there.

Ruffian hung around for a little while before heading down to the corral. The horseflies were already starting to get bad so I didn't have a lot of time to play with Prince but we had a little bit of time :)

Naturally,

~Keri-Lynn

Prince: Patterns!

2011-06-21T14:26:00.000-04:00

June 14, 2011

Prince and I continued on with our Freestyle patterns today but did a few new things Online. We did leading by the ear, which we have played with in the past but not recently, we did that all the way up to the riding ring and then did some back-up's, turns, and close range circles at the walk, all by the ear. We kept it simple and had fun playing with responding appropriately to pressure in a semi-new area.

We also played with a weave on a circle. This was fun but we had to change strategies a little because Prince was relying to much on the rope and not really listening to my body so we switched to to doing Figure eights around each cone so that Prince would start to understand what to do. We kept doing this until the belly of the rope was on the ground through out each Change of direction/Figure eight.

This made a huge improvement on the Weave but and Prince kept the slack on the ground 90% of the time. We also played with changes of directions at the canter with flying lead changes. Prince got most of them but missed a couple. He still tried really hard and we ended on a good one. We also played with circles at the canter. I was looking for Prince to get the correct lead and be able to maintain it for more than just 3/4 of a lap. Soon Prince was able to canter in both directions for 3-4 laps so I rewarded that and brought him in for a rest.

Then I mounted and rode. We started with Follow the rail at the walk, trot and canter. Prince did well. At the canter Prince was able to pick up the correct lead much easier than last day and so we didn't stay at it as long. We got about 3-4 laps each direction on the correct lead and then stopped.

Next we made our way down to the corral, opened and closed the gate, and then rode the Bullseye pattern at the trot and canter. The trot was easy as we have done that a lot before so we went into the canter. Prince still had a hard time picking up the correct lead and so the first little while was a lot of attempting to pick up the correct lead. Once Prince got it though we were able to canter a few good laps and then stop for a rest. Prince picked up the left lead better than the right lead which was interesting because normally it is the other way around.

We ended with doing a little bit of bridling. Prince took the bit well and lateral flexions were really good so I unbridled and we headed back to the corral. I haven't been doing as much bridling and such recently because there has been so many other things we have been playing with, sometimes it is a little overwhelming when you want to play with and advance different things but just run out of time!!

Naturally,
~Keri-Lynn

Twosox: Playing with the basics

2011-06-20T13:13:00.000-04:00

June 14, 2011

This morning Twosox and I focused the Porcupine game, Driving game and some Yo-yo's. I wanted to test then mainly but at the same time advance them some.

We started with the Porcupine game and did back-up's, hindquarter and forequarter yields. I was mainly looking for lightness with some speed. One thing for which I was looking was for Twosox to actually pivot. This has been something that we have played with a lot in the past but I couldn't help Twosox find it the answer, as I was still trying to figure out how to help him figure it out ;) So today we spent a lot of time playing with this especially while moving the forequarters. I found that if I backed Twosox up a step and then moved him over a step this taught him to shift his weight to his hindquarters and he was then able to pivot properly. It was that easy.

Twosox got it and even though one side was a little harder than the other pretty soon we were getting one complete pivot with Twosox keeping his weight back and truly pivoting!!

We then played with doing the same thing in the hula hoop. Twosox did really well on his easier side but his hard side was more challenging. He had a harder time keeping his one back foot in the hoop so we played with causing it to be a game and we also played some other games around the hoop. We did circling games over the hoop, sideways to it, yo-yo's to and from the hoop and squeeze games over the hoop. It was great fun!

One thing that I didn't to that I wish I had of done was given Twosox more of a chance to lick and chew. I didn't wait long enough and so there were times when things would have been a lot easier and smoother if I had of given Twosox just a little more time to think about what we had just done and process it. Next time!!

Naturally,
~Keri-Lynn

Prince: Getting effective.

2011-06-15T16:55:00.000-04:00

June 10 , 2011

Prince and I had an great session. I saddled him up at Liberty and then we headed up to the riding ring. We started off with some Touch it on the 45ft line and then moved fairly quickly into circles at the canter. Prince was motivated to move so I wanted to play with that while he was offering it. What we played with mainly was getting quicker responses the moment I asked, not second afterward. Now of course Prince being a LBI has come a long way and is responding with way more effort than he has even given me but I want to raise the bar.

So we played with this concept for a while. All it really took was a long phase one, quick two, three, four. Prince got it. At a phase one Prince gave me six laps each direction at the canter. First send and with effort!!

We applied the same concept to our yo-yo's and got some very nice yo-yo's to the end of the 45ft line. Now you may be thinking "How does she know her horse is ready for that?" Well there was something in me that just knew it was time to raise the bar and ask for more, and hey, if you don't try how will you know? I tried and it worked, Prince and I were both ready. But I have tried many other things and they haven't worked so I have gone back to where we were and carried on from there.

After we were finished that I mounted up. Prince and I did Follow the rail at the walk, trot and canter. Prince had a hard time picking up the correct leads so we cantered and cantered and cantered, with lots of partial disengagements and patience, and slowly but surely Prince got it and was able to canter a complete lap each way on the correct lead. The ends were the hardest because Prince couldn't canter a curve on the wrong lead so he would break gait and then we were start again. He tried and tried and got a long rest at the end that is for sure.

I wanted to ride the Bowtie pattern and we did a little of that but because Prince was having a hard with basic leads I decided to leave that for another day.

Then we headed down the hill and out the corral gate where we rode circles! Before I played with Prince to hooked up the chain on the gate so that I could undo it while mounted so that Prince and I could continue to play with opening and closing gates. It isn't the best gate to open while mounted because it gets caught on the grass a little bit it is still lots of fun!

We rode some circles at the trot first and then went into the canter. It took Prince a while to figure out what he was supposed to do and how it was supposed to do it but in the end we got a couple beautiful circles in each direction at the canter, and on the correct leads :) I wasn't being to particular about the shape of the circle because I want to reward the maintain gait first. Prince was really sweaty by the time we finished so I allowed him to graze in the shape for a little while (a very little while because he is supposed to be loosing weight) and then brushed him off and went and trimmed Twosox :)

Naturally,

~Keri-Lynn

Ruffian: Playing.

2011-06-15T12:06:00.000-04:00

June 10, 2011

Well, today promised to be a busy day. My schedule was packed full but I loved every minute! I planned on playing with all three horses this morning. Ruffian was first. The only problem was that the horses weren't in... so Mom and I went out to find them. They were in the field so we played there. Ruffian and I had lots of fun and he was very energetic.

I started with asking him to put his back feet in a tire. He was doing it but his mind wasn't there. He looked exactly like my little Left Brain Extrovert brother when we were doing simulations the other day :) So we switched to some circles just to allow Ruffian to move his feet! Ruffian liked this very much and so we played with traveling circles, I put different natural obstacles in his way to cause him to think about where he was putting his feet. We did this mostly at the trot and then we played around with cantering.

Even since Ruffian hurt himself he seems to have a bit harder of the time cantering. So we played with it for a while and eventually Ruffian was able to canter smoothly for about half a lap before I brought him in for a rest.

I wanted to play with Changes of directions and advance them so we played with those next. Ruffian has a habit of coming on to close when changing direction so I mainly focused on getting zone one and two away from me on the change. This worked well and Ruffian caught on so quickly that there was no need to drill it into him. Once he got it we quit.

Then we went over to a log and played with jumping it. Ruffian will jump it no problem so we played with jumping it, disengage, snappy send, jump the log again and repeat. At the end Ruffian really got into the pattern and put lots of energy into it! We ended with me asking Ruffian to straddle it on the last time over, which he did on the first try :)

Next we played with spinning and going. Where you put the rope on the other side of your horse, ask him to follow the feel around (spin) and then send on the circle. Ruffian loved this and in the end we got a really fast spin and a canter send! Ruffian was light and was having fun!

Then we hung out for a while until Mom was ready to leave and then we unhaltered the horses (Prince and Twosox had already left and went home) and then followed the horses back to the corral. It was so much fun playing with Ruffian and it was great to see him being energetic yet obedient :)

Naturally,

~Keri-Lynn

Twosox: Amazed!

2011-06-13T11:44:00.001-04:00

June 8 2011

Wow! I am simply amazed by how well Twosox did today! A friend of ours called to say that she was able to trailer the horses out to her place for a play day so I decided to see if I could take Twosox. I haven't trailered him anywhere in the three years that I have owned him but we have done lots of simulations and once two falls ago we had the chance to play with a trailer for a couple days. So in three years Twosox and I have only played with a trailer once.

I got out extra early to play with Twosox before our friend arrived. My plan was to get him confident being in the garage with the big door closed. First we started with playing squeeze games between the fence and the gate. It is one of those normal green gates with a chain on it so it banged around and made lots of noise like the divider in the trailer would do. Twosox stood still and relaxed as I moved it around and made lots of noise. He was a little unsure what to do when I brought the gate up to touch his side but once he knew that it was a friendly game and not a porcupine game he stood still.

Twosox walked right in to the garage through the man door no problem. He was a little unsure but not right brain. There was hay on the floor from where some bales of hay had been so he started eating and was fine. I did lots of simulations with tarps, bags, doors opening and closing, different "scary" noises, you name it we probably did it.

Twosox was so confident it was really amazing! Then I asked my mom to open and close the big door and get Twosox used to having something big (and noisy) moving behind him. This was the big test and Twosox passed it with flying colours! He was alert but not bothered by it at all!!

We also played with me standing outside the garage door and sending Twosox in and getting him to stand straight and not turn around. Twosox did very well with that and was able to confidently, at phase one, go into the garage by himself with the big door closed.

So then he just followed me around as I carried stuff out and then the trailer arrived! Twosox wasn't bothered by the trailer backing down the road and so we just stood by it for a little while as Mom was playing with Knightly and Twosox was calm. I scratched some itchy spots and made him feel really comfortable being around it.

When it was our turn I decided to climb in the trailer and ask Twosox in that way. Not that I was going to end there but just to get him used to it. Twosox put zone one, two and part of three in and checked out the trailer then I backed him out and we started again. In no time at all Twosox was all the way in the trailer and standing confidently. Once we were sure it was okay I stood up front and our friend did some approach and retreat with the bar at the back. Twosox did so well and didn't have any issues with it being back there.

Just to make sure he wasn't going to push on it we waited to see how he would respond once he felt it. He shifted his weight back, felt the bar and came off the pressure confidently and relaxed. It was great!! So then the next step was to see what he was like with the ramp coming up. Just like with the garage door he was alert but not scared. Everything progressed so smoothly that thirty minutes after the trailer pulled in the driveway both horses were loaded and Twosox was actually asleep in the trailer :)

I walked beside the trailer for the first hundred feet or so just to make sure that Twosox was okay, he was just fine. The whole trip when smoothly and without any problems.

Twosox slipped a little on the ramp while we were unloading the horses but other than that it was a breeze. He looked around a little and then started grazing completely calm and relaxed! I couldn't believe it! Here is my RBI in a totally new environment for the first time in three years and he is calm, cool and collected. It was really amazing! I was shocked!

After grazing a little we went into the arena and explored it. Nothing bothered Twosox. He offered to jump the big log, check out the barrels, walk to between the standing up tires and check out the pedestal. We did falling leaf and traveling circles to the other end and back again and Twosox trotted nicely around. He was calm and curios.

We played on the 22ft line a bit and got a beautiful three quarters of a lap at a canter!! Our changes of directions and transitions were smooth, sideways was soft and responsive, yo-yo's were light, everything was great and we were both having lot of fun!

Next I decided to saddle up. I was prepared not to ride as I wasn't sure how Twosox would handle the new environment but he was so relaxed that I decided to take it one step at a time and just see what happened.

Since Twosox hasn't been saddled in a while I was pretty sure he would buck so we started off at the walk and trot, which were both fine until he went over the small log and he started bucking I wasn't quite prepared for it so I ended up letting go of the rope. Twosox came back to me afterward so we carried on and he didn't buck again. He just has to get used to the back cinch again and then he is fine.

We did some circles and changes of directions, jumping the small and big log and then headed into the round corral so play with cantering. I felt that the big arena was to big for us to successfully get the canter on the circle so the round corral was a great option. Twosox didn't canter a lot but enough for me to know that he wasn't going to buck.

Then we played with the green ball. I made sure to make it a game and Twosox caught on quickly and we even got up into the trot! He was asking loads of questions!

Then I took the halter off and we played at Liberty. We haven't play in a round corral at Liberty in..... well... a long time! So we had a lot of fun and Twosox was amazing! He was so connected! We started off doing Stick to me a long the fence. Twosox did really well, going when I went, stopping when I stopped etc. The trot was a little harder. I wanted to let him figure out what I was asking and not put to much pressure on him because he was trying. So we played with walk - trot transitions until Twosox knew what I wanted and was confident.

After that we played with pushing the ball a little. Twosox didn't put a whole lot of effort into pushing it so I would allow him to go past the ball but then either ask him to trot a circle around the round corral and come back to it or I would disengage his hindquarters quickly and resend him with a playful tag and then relax when he was at the ball. Both strategies worked well and Twosox figured out what to do and pushed the ball around the round corral with effort!

We got some really nice draw on the yo-yo at the trot, sideways, bouncing the ball in all five zones and on Twosox, and then we did some circles. Twosox was really connected, I was surprised! It truly is amazing how having a strong Online can really effect Liberty! Really this was our first Liberty session in a round corral. We have played at Liberty in our riding ring at home but it is to big and Twosox gets lost.

After that we took a rest and allowed Twosox to graze a little then I mounted up. We started in the round corral and checked our lateral flexions, direct and indirect rein and then followed the rail at the walk and trot. Then we opened the gate and went into the big arena, opening and closing that gate as well. We did some follow the rail at the walk and trot and then I decided to ride the Cloverleaf pattern. At first it wasn't very good at all. Twosox could trot a fairly straight line so that was encouraging but we had to play a lot with it until he was starting to get the pattern. Then we rested in the middle, at X.

After a rest we went in the other direction. This time Twosox understood the pattern better so it didn't take as long. Our turns got better and we went deeper into the corners, and our lines got straighter. I dismounted after we finished riding this pattern, unsaddled and went and got the horses some water. We (Twosox and I) had to walk up to the house to find out where to get it. Twosox saw the cows and stopped in his tracks. He stared at them for the longest time, and that was when they were on the other side of the field! On out way back one was getting a drink of water at the trough and we walked right past it... maybe Twosox has some cow in him? ;)

Then after I ate lunch (as Twosox grazed) we played with the trailer. Twosox was confident going in but after a couple minutes he would back out. So we played with that and with in a couple minutes I could stand outside the trailer and send him in and he would go in all the way and stand there for a long time. The bugs were not as bad in there so that helped also. He had a nice nap while I watched Mom ride Knightly. Twosox stayed in the trailer for at least 20 minutes completely loose, he wasn't tied or shut in and he was comfortable :)

Loading up to go home went smoothly. Twosox loaded up no problem he was giving green lights right, left and center. So it only took us about 10 minutes to max to load both horses, load the tack and be driving out.

I am so proud of Twosox and it is really nice knowing that he can be trailered and is confident about it all.

Naturally,
~Keri-Lynn

Prince: Sideways on the 45ft line and Bridling: Day Five

2011-06-12T19:35:00.000-04:00

June 6, 2011

Prince and I had a really great session this morning. We played on the 45ft line again and mainly played with getting sideways to the end of the line while I kept my feet still. This was a lot of fun. Prince and I are playing with getting snappier responses from farther distances, so case in point, while going sideways Prince will get about 22ft and then start slowing down and at about 25ft he stops. Normally I would just go up my phases until he moved off again but today I decided to try something a little more fun and provocative and something that would really get Prince to want me to stay at phase one.

So with Prince starting in front of me I asked him to go sideways. He started off really nicely and put great speed into it, but like usual his speed slowly faded until he stopped this time though I got a sneaky look on my face got really mentally intense and then ran towards Prince's zone three twirling my carrot stick and savvy string... Prince got out of there pretty quick. He didn't go sideways exactly but he moved over with effort so I rewarded that and then we went again.

It took only two times and then all I had to do was get that look on my face when Prince started slowing down and he would pick up speed again and go sideways to the end of the 45ft line at phase one, while I kept my feet still the whole while. Prince is so clever ;)

By this time the bugs where getting bad so we ended with a beautiful yo-yo to the end of the 45ft line. I used the same strategy as with the sideways and Prince knew what to do :) The look on his face while he was backing out was great! He was interested!

We then headed down to the garage where we bridled. Like last day I didn't have to use any honey on the bit. Prince saw me holding the bridle and getting it ready and he started reaching for it and stretching to get the bit in his mouth! It was really cool! I did the bridle up and then scratched his itchy spots and did some lateral flexions which we very light. I decided to switch the reins from the small rings to the big rings and see how Prince did with those. He was fine and seemed to like them also.

The bugs were to bad to ride so we finished shortly after that and went back to the corral. It was a fun, but short, session but definitely let us with lots of licking and chewing to be done :)

Naturally,

~Keri-Lynn

Twosox: Finding relaxation in zone five.

2011-06-09T09:41:00.000-04:00

June 6, 2011

Twosox and I had a really revealing session this morning. We ended up focusing our whole session on zone five driving with one rein. We started with this as we entered the riding ring and right away I noticed that (1) Twosox wasn't really relaxed and (2) because he wasn't relaxed he wasn't in tune with me and connected. So I basically did a passenger lesson from zone five. I matched Twosox's energy and walked with him because he need to move his feet (being a Right Brain Introvert he doesn't need to move fast, just move) I didn't want to shut him down because that wouldn't help, it would only cause him to get confused because he wasn't connected in the first place.

It took a while before I felt that Twosox was gaining more relaxation so I would just put a slight amount of pressure on the rope suggesting that Twosox stop. The first couple times he didn't understand what that pressure meant so we played with it until he started thinking "slow down" and then I would release and start over again. This took quite a bit of time but in the end it was completely worth it because Twosox started gaining more and more confidence and relaxation and by the time we ended we were able to do halt - walk - halt - back up transitions with one rein and Twosox was relaxed and left brain.

Part way through I started to guide him just a little here and there and getting him more confident about being guided and keeping me in zone five. This went really well so we ended and both had a bit lick and chew!

One thought that crossed my mind was how similar Twosox and I are personality/horsenality wise. It is almost scary! But at the same time it is fascinating because when I think about how I feel and would like to be treated when I am unconfident or worried, that is how I should most likely treat Twosox! It is really cool!

Twosox had a huge lick and chew afterward and let go of a lot of adrenaline. Then I unhaltered and we spend some undemanding time before heading over to the gate at liberty and then I let him out. But he stayed at the gate with me for a little longer before we went down the hill together and I got ready to play with Prince.

Naturally,

~Keri

Prince: Bridling: Day Three & Four

2011-06-05T11:40:00.000-04:00

Day 3 ~ June 1, 2011

Today went very well! Prince is really starting to get this pattern, and like it! We yo-yo'ed to the end of the forty-five foot line and I only had to go to a higher phase (higher than phase one) about three times. I really made sure that I had my phases clear and always went back to phase one when Prince tried. Rewarding the slightest try!

Then to change things up a little we circles at the trot with changes of directions. Prince found the rhythm, relaxation and connection really quickly and offered a nice, slow trot.

Than we did a traveling circle over to the drive way and did Figure eights around the basketball net (it had fallen over with the high winds) and the hockey net, yes we are a family that likes our sports :), that went well. At first I allowed Prince to check the two objects out and then we started the Figure eight. It was a little messy at first but then Prince figured out what we were doing and you could tell that it "clicked" because the Figure eight got smooth, Prince maintained gait around both ends, and he was asking loads of questions! We ended with a long trot draw across the yard and then we went and played with bridling.

I bridled and unbridled two time and on the third time Prince reached for the bit and picked it up almost by himself! I love patterns! Horses get them so quickly! I found some big itchy spots and we had a huge scratching session :) Then we did the lateral flexions which went better than expected! Prince was light and had positive reflexes right from the start. He wasn't mouthing the bit at all!

Since those went so well I decided to mount up and check them Freestyle. I had my halter on and looped my lead rope through my belt so that I could use that if I needed to and only use the bridle for lateral flexions. Prince was light and everything from the ground carried over to the riding. After we got a few really soft lateral flexions on both sides, and with Prince having no opposition reflex, I dismounted and allowed Prince to graze for a while. Then we headed back into the corral and got some relief from the bugs :)

Day 4 ~ June 2, 2011

Today was definitely the best day yet. Day four!! Prince backed out the gate and all the way to the end of the forty-five foot line and I only had to get to phase four once, which was a fairly light phase four, he got a little stuck at about the thirty foot mark as he still is not one hundred percent sure if he is supposed to stop or continue backing up. But then he figured it out and backed up to the end with lightness!

Then we went and played with circles at the canter. I was just looking for a couple with rhythm, relaxation and connection. It took a while because we haven't done them in quite some time but eventually Prince found all three aspects that I was waiting for and I brought him in for a rest. What really helped in the end was making sure that I was focused and at first I was trying different things that have helped in the past, to help Prince find that connection, but in doing that I wasn't sticking to one long enough for Prince to really find it. So when I determined the length of rope that I was going to give Prince and then waited he found the connected almost immediately. It was eye opening!

Prince had the rhythm ninety-five% of the time which was really amazing for him! He cantered at least fifteen laps straight without breaking gait, he just didn't have that last one quarter of the circle connected. We also got some really nice flying lead changes in both directions with which I was really pleased.

After that we went and played with bridling. The really cool part is that I didn't even need to put any honey on the bit for Prince to pick it up! I was going to but right after I put the reins over Prince's head to keep them out of the way he was looking at the bit and reaching for it so I figured why not?!? If he really wants it so I offered it to him and sure enough, Prince took the bit right away and of course, got lots of treats afterward :) Sometimes we can make things so much harder and more complicated than they should be!!

I bridled Prince one more time after that and again Prince took the bit with no honey and this time it was really smooth! He lowered his head and softly took the bit into his mouth and then turned to me for his treat :) He is so clever! Then I did everything up. Prince hardly seemed bothered by the bit at all! Then we played with lateral flexions and holding them for longer. We got up to forty-five seconds on each side which was really amazing! A couple times hear the beginning Prince would go to move his head back but then feel the pressure from the bit and yield to it, which is exactly what I am looking for when he feels that pressure. I made sure to keep my hand steady and consistent to that he knew I wasn't pulling but it was him that "ran into" the pressure.

That all went well so I mounted up and we did the same thing. Prince was just as good as he was Online so after we got a couple lateral flexions I tried some indirect rein, which went really well!! Prince was fantastic and knew exactly what to do, thanks to them being really soft Freestyle and without a bit. I rewarded the first step that was soft and with no brace (it was the first step Prince gave me!!) and then after a lick and chew I decided to see if we could walk around and do a porcupine game and gently guide zone one around. This went marvelously well and Prince was soft and yielded to the bit with positive reflex verses the opposition reflex we have had so much of before. We did not do a whole lot as I just want to test it and see where it was at and I want to feed Prince with spoonfuls not shovelfuls :)

After that we checked out our lateral flexions again and did a couple more indirect rein (rewarding the slightest try) and then I dismounted. What a wonderful ride! It was simple yet so good!!

I allowed Prince to graze for a little while and then we headed back to the corral. We ended with a good scratching session and then I headed inside.

Onto day five!

Naturally,
~Keri

Prince: Bridling: Day One & Two

2011-06-01T20:48:00.000-04:00

Okay so for the last two days I have done basically the same pattern with Prince in each session (adding a little bit of variety each time of course) but the basic pattern looks something like this:

- Halter, scratch itchy spots etc

- Back out the gate (first day on the 12ft line second on the 45ft line) to the end of the rope and then I allowed Prince to graze for a little bit. Then we went over to the drive way (Yesterday, day two, was in the garage because of the bugs) and we played with creating positive patterns regarding the bridle. After that we went out, I allowed Prince to eat a little bit more and then headed back to the corral.

That is the overview, each day looked something like this :)

Day 1, May 30, 2011

This, being day one, I decided to keep things fairly short bridling wise and not do a whole lot other than the basic. Prince came over to me and so after I haltered him and scratched him for a while we backed out the gate (like I mentioned above) and we played the game, you back out to the end of the rope and then you can graze, Prince put a lot of effort into backing up and we ended up backing up all the way across the from yard (about 80ft), after some shorter yo-yo's of course.

Here is my new strategy for bridle, I talked to a three star Parelli instructor yesterday and got some great advice, after guide the bit into Prince's mouth give him lots of cookies or treats, one or two isn't enough for some horses, some will need ten or maybe even more until they start seeing the bit and being bridled as a good thing. Also it will help counter-balance Prince not liking me asking him to yield to the pressure of the bit, even the slightest amount the next time he will want nothing to do with the bit. Since I didn't have cookies (planning on making some soon) I cut up some carrots and used them, Prince isn't used to getting carrots for a treat so it was extra special!

Today all I did was bridle Prince four times, each time I did the same thing, guided the bit in, put it on loosely and then gave Prince lots of treats than unbridled. On the forth time Prince knew what was going to happen (he likes those carrots!) and he reached right for the bit and took it right in his mouth right away, didn't even bother to lick the little bit of honey off of it, so I gave him extra carrots, scratched some more itchy spots and then unbridled and allowed Prince to graze for a little bit before going back to the corral.

Once Prince is more accepting of the bit going in and all I will start just doing lateral flexions and getting those really good. Once that is going well... well I am not exactly sure what I am going to do next. I will figure that out then :) But for now I know what my goal is and I want each session to end with both Prince and I feeling like winners!

Day 2, May 31, 2011

Day two!! Today was interesting because the horseflies where out in full force (they about 10x bigger this year also) and it was 35 C. (95 F.) at 8:00pm... so it was hot!! I was hoping to ride Prince a little and play with opening and closing the gate (my youngest brother and I fixed it yesterday evening so it now can swing) but since the horseflies where biting something fierce we were fortunate enough to even be able to play with bridling!

We were able to back all the way out to the end of the 45ft line and Prince grazed for a couple seconds before we made a V-line for the garage where the bugs wouldn't be so bad. We only had about 4ft (if that) of space because we have hay in there right now but Prince was a champ and we got relief from the bugs!

Bridling went fairly well. On the third bridle I decided to do the bridle up. As soon as I did the chin strap up Prince's mouth went completely quiet! Hmmm.... that is interesting! Prince was still a little bothered by the bit though so I found a really, I repeat REALLY big itchy spot and scratched, and scratched and scratched! Prince was enjoying that so much that he completely forgot about mouthing the bit and lifted his hind leg up way high and completely enjoyed it.

Then what I did next was I would lift up the reins and run my hand down it (like in level one you start your lateral flexions) and I kept doing that until Prince tipped his nose (or even ear) towards me. I rewarded the slightest try and then I would drop the reins (like they were hot) and then scratch the itchy spot again. Pretty soon Prince figured out what to do and I would pick the reins up and run my hand down the rein once and Prince would bring his head around the whole way.

We ended there are it was getting windy and it looked like it might rain plus it was getting late and I needed to get some other chores done before going inside. I decided to do the other side tomorrow.

Prince grazed for a little bit before we went back to the corral, the other horses had left so we didn't spend to long grazing. I unhaltered Prince and he stayed with me for a little while before heading off to find the other horses.

I was really pleased with how session two went and hopefully tomorrow we can build on today. I am thinking about purchasing a snaffle bit and bridle from Parelli.com, another thing that the Parelli instructor I talked to suggested. But I am going to give this a little longer to see if I can save $200 and just use my Cradle Bridle. But I am willing to do what Prince needs, we shall see :)

Naturally,

~Keri

Prince: Having fun on the 45ft line and trail riding!

2011-05-30T08:52:00.001-04:00

May 25, 2011

Today was such a nice day so Mom and I decided to head out for a trail ride. First we played in the riding ring though. Prince and I saddled up and then played with the Weave at the walk and trot from about 40ft away, pushing the ball at the trot from 45ft away, yo-yo's to the end of the 45ft line (these are getting better and better. Right now we are playing with just getting the lightness all the way out to the end, speed will come later), can you tell we are trying to get more and more distance? ;)

Then we played with circles at the canter. Prince cantered six laps each direction with rhythm, relaxation and connection. It took a little while to get it to the left but in the end Prince got it and then we stopped. We also played with jumping barrels on the circle. Prince maintained gait and direction really well so we didn't stay at that long.

When Prince was ready to ride I mounted. We rode Follow the rail bridleless. There were two barrels placed a long the fence about 30ft from each other so we would canter a long the rail and stop at the barrels, I didn't care much for jumping barrels bridleless today :) So after a rest we would pivot on the hindquarters (direct rein) and canter off the other way to the other barrel. I guess we were kind of doing 180's :)

Prince picked up on this really quickly so once we got a few good ones in each direction we stopped that pattern. It was so much fun and Prince was so connected! We went into the canter at a phase one and Prince maintained gait and direction so well!

We also played with pushing the ball. At first Prince would only push it when it was a long the fence and then trot past it when it left so we played with following it and tracking it. I was looking for Prince to put effort into following it no matter where it went.

After a couple minutes it caught on and figured out that it was the same as we do Online and at Liberty and we trotted everywhere following the ball. It was a lot of fun to say the least!

When Mom was ready we headed down to the front yard. Prince and I rode down the hill and backed out the gate then I allowed Prince to graze for a few minutes and then we rode some circles!! I really wanted to canter them because our circles are getting kind of boring at the trot as they are going so well. So after testing the trot first I asked Prince into the canter.

At first he was confused and didn't quite know what to do as we have only walk and trotted circles before. But once he figured out what to do he seemed to just "get" it and we cantered a lap and a half in each direction with only two corrections each way!! It helped that we have certain boundaries such as the house, the rose garden, the apple tree and the swing set by the corral, so we have four things on each side that we can't exactly ride through, although Prince has tried in the past riding under the apple tree while I was riding... but that was some time ago ;)

It was such an amazing and wonderful feeling to finally be cantering circles!! It was wonderful! Needless to say, Prince got a long rest and got to each lots of grass before we headed out for our trail ride :)

We rode through town today and I was so proud of Prince! Even when vehicles came up behind him and in front of him, he took it all in stride and trusted me as his leader. Even going between the two tall buildings that normally he doesn't like a whole lot Prince was confident. I was way more confident also, which I am sure made a huge difference for Prince.

I was in the moment and knew that if in the next moment Prince got worried I would handle that then, but for that moment he was confident.

We had a great trail ride. We did lots of cantering, which is always fun. Prince and I played with trotting really slow, a very slow jog. Prince was fabulous and I didn't need to use my reins at all! It was all though my body!! This horse is incredible!! We have been playing with this concept for three days now and already we can do it on the trail and for long distances! It is so much fun!!

On the way home we cantered a long ways and cantered up the hill. I am not sure if we made it to a gallop, as I have never galloped before so I don't know what that feels like but I think we got pretty close as it was as really fast canter. Then when I asked Prince relaxed into a nice lovely canter. It was soft and slow and we cantered like that for a little ways and then when I relaxed my body we came down into that beautiful, slow jog. It was instantly also, none of that really fast trot and then a slow trot. It was the most beautiful canter - trot transitions we have ever gotten!!

One thing that I did differently today verses other days out on the trail was if Prince broke gait or I asked him to come down to the trot, walk or halt, I made sure that he was relaxed mentally and emotionally before asking him into the canter again. I think this was what made for that beautiful transition into the jog from the canter at the end. Also through out the whole time I would go with stopping in mind, stop with backing in mind and back with the quality of respond in mind. This made a huge difference because when I stopped I was thinking back up so Prince could feel that I meant stop, not like previously when I had a really hard time completely relaxing on our canter - halt transitions.

Oh and on that note! Bareback riding has completely changed, for the better, my fluidity! I can now ride canter - halt transitions with fluidity and not bounce, thanks to focus and riding canter - halt transitions bareback ;)

We rode back home through town and again the horses did beautifully we allowed them to graze for a while and I brushed Prince off and once he was dry we headed back into the corral and I fed the horses.

It was a great session and I think both Prince and I had a lot of fun!

Here are a few pictures from our ride...

Naturally,

~Keri

Ruffian: So smooth!

2011-05-30T08:03:00.000-04:00

May 25, 2011

This morning Ruffian and I had a wonderful session. He was playful but at the same time very obedient, not in a dull way but in a more centered Left Brain Extrovert way. It was so much fun! He was asking loads of questions and we were having a great conversation!

We started with the Falling Leaf pattern to test and see where he was at this morning. He was energetic yet did the pattern very well. Then we did the Figure eight pattern around two barrels... wow!!! Talk about smooth as silk! Ruffian trotted the whole thing and was so soft! He was engaged and asking lots of questions! I didn't over do it though and brought him after about six or seven Figure eights. I want to slowly build up the amount we can do but at the same time not do so many that it is boring.

Then we trotted the Weave. We haven't done this pattern in ages but Ruffian knew and didn't miss a beat the whole time. He trotted softly around each marker and we did one complete weave at a trot then stopped!! I was having hard time figuring out what to do because Ruffian was doing everything I asked so well! I had to stop and think of something new to do because I didn't want to bore Ruffian, or myself for that matter :)

So we played with pushing the ball at a trot. Ruffian will push it at the walk so the trot was a little challenging but after a matter of seconds Ruffian figured it out. We trotted the ball from one end of the riding ring to the other and then we positioned it between two barrels and my goal was to get Ruffian to back up to it. I know that Ruffian can had confidence issues with things in zone five so we took our time and I respected his thresholds and pretty soon, even though it felt like a long time, he was able to back straight, 20ft to the ball and touch it with his back legs!! Touch down! He had a bit lick and chew after that and so we stood still and I let him process that for a while.

Then we played with needle simulations and also getting tension out of zone one, his mouth. Even since Ruffian got all those porcupine quills in his nose/mouth last spring he has always been a little bit tense about people touching that area. This were getting a lot better but then Ruffian can have static electricity and a couple times of being shocked... well that didn't help thins much :) So I just massaged it and then when he started to release I would quit. Pretty soon he was getting more and more relaxed. So I unhaltered him and allowed him to roll, which was what I was pretty sure he wanted to do.

It was a great session all around and I am do pleased with how well Ruffian was progressed! We have had a lot of ups and downs in our journey over the past year and a half but I think we are heading up for now :)

Naturally,

~Keri

Twosox: Releasing Brace

2011-05-30T07:42:00.000-04:00

May 24, 2011

After I played with Prince I played with Twosox. We had a great session and we were able to play with quite a bit actually. My main goal was to continue helping Twosox have no brace, which means me having no brace either.

We did Figure eights, circles, jumping a single barrel towards me from a stand still, transitions, changes of directions, backing by the tail, jumping barrels that were standing on end, stick to me, and playing with the ball.

Twosox offered to put a lot of energy into what I asked and it was great! While doing Figure eights I changed strategies a little bit because Twosox was bracing as much anymore. He was only breaking gait around the one end at which he used to brace, so I would bring him into me at the trot and give him a treat then send him back out again. Pretty soon he got it and trotted the whole Figure eight and we got a few really nice, soft, figure eights at the trot.

I asked Twosox to jump one single barrel that was laying down on a yo-yo, from a stand still. Twosox got it right away and jumped it and cane trotting into me. This horse is such a fast learner!

Next we played with circles. First I asked Twosox to trot 4 laps each way with out breaking gait and then we played with upward transitions into the canter and also changes of directions. Twosox is started to canter more and more and actually canter not just something that isn't a trot but isn't a gallop ;) He has a nice canter also! It looks like it shall be nice to ride once we get it solid Online. Slow and right beats fast and wrong!

We ended with jumping the barrels that were standing on end. Twosox jumped them but he wasn't putting a lot of effort into it so we kept playing with it until he was able to clear the barrels. My job was to cause it to be a game and not tell him the answer, his job was to discover the answer and try ;) In the end he figured out the puzzle and jumped the barrels, clearing them no problem.

Then we hung out for a little bit at Liberty spending a few moments of undemanding time before we went down to the corral.

Naturally,

~Keri

Prince: This is just to much fun!

2011-05-26T13:30:00.001-04:00

May 24, 2011

You may have noticed a gap between today and the last session but that can be explained in the simple fact that I was sick and the weather was uncooperative. Today it was cloudy and looked like rain but we went out and played anyway. The sky cleared up in the end and it was even more beautiful outside!

Prince and I had so much fun today it was unbelievable! We played on the 45ft line like planned and we backed up the hill and into the riding ring. We got a little stuck at the gate because there is a rock wall there to --try-- and stop the riding ring dirt from washing down the hill. But in the end we made it over the wall and continued to back to the end of the 45ft line.

Then we went sideways without a fence to the end of the 45ft line and then I asked Prince to touch the barrel with his nose. Then we turn and went sideways over the another barrel and back over it the other way, then I asked Prince to back up to the rope gate and touch it with his tail, all at the end of the 45ft line and with me keeping my feet still 90% of the time.

It was really fun to be able to challenge our communication at 45ft away, something we haven't been able to do in a long time. We finished with Prince jumping a single barrel on a yo-yo and trotting towards me. It was really cool especially because of the distance we were doing it.

Then we played with some circles. Getting more and more circles at the canter with rhythm, relaxation and connection. Prince really put a lot of effort into it and we got some nice traveling circles at the canter as well as normal ones. While going to the left Prince had a harder time maintaining gait so we played the game "Don't make me come out of neutral" This worked really well and after a couple times Prince had it figured out and cantered without breaking gait.

We played at Liberty a little bit also and did some traveling circles at the trot, stick to me, and jumping barrels that are on end. Prince did really well and was so connected! So we didn't play long because I wanted to end when Prince was really connected.

Mounting from the ground went really well. It was easy and I got it on the first try. I felt even more stable and confident, so much so that we even tried the canter. I rode around bridleless for a while. Doing Follow the rail, circles off of the rail, sideways, backing up refined, indirect and direct rein.

We also played with speeds within gaits. We focused on the trot mostly and got a really slow jog all by my energy. It was incredible!! I put my hackamore on for the canter. Prince did so well! He went into the canter smoothly and we cantered around half of the riding ring. It wasn't actually that bad. The hardest part was the canter transition downwards but then I realized that it was because I wasn't focusing up when I went to stop, as soon as I did that I was able to ride the transition to the walk (or halt) well and it was so much more comfortable.

I couldn't get over how well Prince went into the canter, at a phase one consistently, and he maintained gait so well, not like before when if he went into the canter softly he couldn't maintain it for very long. Then I realized that it was because Online we have been playing with the exact same thing, getting more and more circles from a phase one. It has paid off!!

We finished shortly after that and then went over to the pedestal and hung out there for a while. It was a lot of fun and I can see how bareback riding will definitely improve my fluidity :)

Naturally
~Keri

Twosox: Figure eights and jumping

2011-05-24T20:26:00.001-04:00

May 17, 2011

After I played with and rode Prince I had a little bit of time left so I played with Twosox. The blackflies were getting worse by the minute so we kept it short and... well short. We started with Figure eights. Twosox was not connected at first and was bracing a lot. So we played with that and eventually his bracing got less and less, but he was looking out on the one end of the Figure eight so I decided to give him a reason to look to me... food! I brought him in, gave him some sunflower seeds and then sent him back out again. This worked very well and after a few times of doing this we got two beautiful Figure eights at the trot and Twosox was willing and motivated!

Then I set the barrels up on end and asked Twosox to trot out onto the circle then I set it up so that Twosox could have a choice of whether to jump the barrels or not. He picked to jump them. He trotted up nicely, having a great rhythm and relaxed trot and jumped over the barrels to problem. I asked for a change of direction which we got and then we went the other way. The first time I allowed Twosox to come between myself and the barrels because we had done the change of direction a little to close to the barrels for him to comfortably, at this stage, jump the barrels. He could have done it but I wanted it to be relaxed and not rushed.

He trotted a full circle, came up to the barrels and jumped it no if, buts, or maybes :) Then I brought him in and gave him a rest. After a little while we walked over and I let Twosox lick honey off of the bit and also bridled him for a short amount of time. I didn't leave it in his mouth long because I was getting pretty bothered by the blackflies so I unhaltered Twosox and went down to the house.

Naturally,

~Keri

Prince: Challenging ourselves

2011-05-24T20:26:00.000-04:00

May 17, 2011

Prince and I had a wonderful session. It was a lot of fun and it was great to be able to play on the 45ft line. I didn't want to go to quickly with it and then run into a lot of issues because Prince wasn't ready so we stayed at around 35ft for the majority of the time that we were doing longer distance things. It was so nice to be able to play and advance our distance especially in the circle game!

We started however with picking up all four feet, massaging the legs, getting some very nice, light, fast hindquarter disengagements using the porcupine game, as well as forequarter yields. Then we played with some Falling Leaf and then circles. Prince did well at the trot so we didn't stay there long. We went into the canter and played with maintaining gait. Pretty soon Prince's mind was engaged and he was cantering around and putting a lot of effort into it!!

Changes of directions were interesting as Prince would brace and go faster and faster in the canter. It was very similar to what he used to do at the canter so I knew what to do and eventually, after a lot of consistency we were able to get a couple nice change of directions at the trot and canter (with flying lead changes) and we ended with a beautiful canter draw!

Mom was ready so we headed back to the riding ring. I led Prince most of the way and didn't do a whole lot. When we got back I put the bareback pad on Prince and off we went. I have also given myself a little challenge that I want to ride only bareback, or with the bareback pad, for the next while. I want to improve my bareback riding and so this is an active step towards that goal.

We played more with changes of directions because Prince was still bracing and didn't know how to respond to that pressure. It took quite some time but in the end we were able to get the changes of directions at the canter (where Prince was having the hard time) in both directions and Prince was also able to get the flying lead changes.

Then we played with bridling. Prince was okay with licking the honey off but not completely comfortable with it. So I decided that I wasn't going to bridle him because he wasn't truly accepting of it. I could have gotten it in there but our relationship is more important to me than getting Prince bridled. So until Prince is accepting of it and can take it in his mouth willingly, I will not put it in. I can guide it but Prince has to be okay with it.

So then we went over to a rock that is sticking out of the ground (it is a big rock) and I mounted from there. It is about 2-3 inches off of the ground so it was a little easier to mount than the last day but that was okay. I am pleased with how well this little task has come along and how well it is going considering I only start a couple days ago :) But then Prince isn't very tall ;)

After I mounted we stood still for a little while doing nothing while I helped Mom and Knightly out. Then we did some forequarter disengagements. These were super light and Prince put a lot of effort and energy into them plus it was at a phase two! I was really impressed. Hindquarter yields were a little more interesting as I could tell Prince the answer but if I asked him and stayed at a phase one or two he would try everything else, trying to figure out what I wanted. So if I gave him the answer he would willingly do it, how fast how far kind of thing, but when I don't tell him the answer he gets lost and confused.

We played with this for quite some time before Prince started getting it. It was difficult balancing supporting Prince, helping him so he wouldn't get stuck, and giving him the answer. But in the end things started going really smoothly and we were able to get about half a circle with just my body, no leg. So we ended there.

Then we rode the rail! We started at the walk and put full and half circles off the rail and back to the rail here and there. This went well and when Prince could walk the circle and just my body and no stick or reins we went up into the trot. Prince offered me a nice, very soft trot which was so comfortable!! We trotted a long for a couple laps changed direction and trotted a couple in the other direction. Then we played with circles, like at the walk. Prince wasn't as light as at the walk so we kept playing with it until he started recognizing when I changed my focus and when put my leg on, which by this time he would be turning. We did big circles and small circles, full circles and half circles. It was great fun and all bareback!!

I wanted to find a good place to end so I decided that I wanted to trot a long the rail then turn off of the fence and trot in a straight line over to the pedestal where we were end... but I wanted Prince to figure that out. I didn't go past phase two and if we missed the pedestal we trotted in a full circle and came around again. Eventually we figured it out and Prince climbed on the pedestal thinking that it couldn't have been that easy!

It was such a great ride and I am looking forward to improving my independent seat through riding bareback. Hopefully soon we shall be able to start cantering... that shall be fun! I have cantered once bareback and the transition into it was the hardest part... so we shall see how that goes :)

We ended by spending undemanding time, Prince just didn't want to leave. So as long as he hung around I stayed and then eventually we both left :) I love being able to spend time with my horse :)

Naturally,
~Keri

Ruffian: Playing on the 45ft line...

2011-05-23T12:45:00.000-04:00

May 17, 2011

Today the horses left before Mom and I got out so we went out to the back field to find them. Ruffian was the easiest horse to catch -- "Catch the easiest horse first" as Mr. Parelli says -- so I haltered Ruffian and we played. I had the 45ft line because for the next while I want play only on the 45ft line. Ruffian was so connected and kept the slack in the line the whole time. It was really amazing.

Everything was going well and we were getting some really nice circles but when I asked Ruffian for a change of direction he stepped over the rope (my fault for not managing the rope better) I decided just to let go of the rope and then catch Ruffian again. Ruffian would have been fine except the other horses started running around and since the rope started dragging Ruffian got scared. But eventually I was able to catch Ruffian again and my 45ft got a nice trip through the bush, mud, water, grass, and etc :)

Then we played our way back to the field and then did a lot of approach and retreat with my coat that I had taken off and left on the grass before. Ruffian thought it was really scary so we would do squeeze games, circles to the threshold and then stop, backup and go the other way, and kept doing this until he was able to walk up to it and sniff it. After this he was convinced that it was safe and commenced to eat it in a typical Left Brain Extrovert fashion.

Mom had put her coat on a log so we then went and checked that out, Ruffian had by this time figured out that coats where not scary and could be eaten. So we checked that out then we did some yo-yo's, sideways and lots of traveling circles! Ruffian loved the extra room but still kept the slack in the line, which was great!

Then we finished by checking out a big rock and pawing it then I sat down and unhaltered Ruffian. He stayed with me for a little while and then he moseyed off and I went and played with Prince.

Naturally,

~Keri

Prince: Long rein driving

2011-05-22T20:04:00.000-04:00

May 16, 2011

Because Prince still seems to be having a hard time accepting the bit I decided to try doing long rein driving that way I could fully concentrate on it and not have to think about much else, verses riding where I have to think about more at once. Bridling was easy. Prince didn't have any hesitation about taking the bit in his mouth. Since I do not have the Featherlight lines I tied a few savvy strings together and that did a good enough job for now. Hopefully I will be able to get the real Featherlight lines eventually.

Prince was very light in turning, going and stopping but he constantly had his mouth open. So I am not sure what to do. I am out of strategies. So we ended when he was doing better though and was able to do lateral flexions from zone five on both sides, turn at the walk, stop and back up with his mouth being open less. Than I let him graze for a couple minutes and then I unbridled. Now this is where the truth hurts... I wanted to let Prince lick the honey off of the bit before putting it away but Prince wanted nothing to do with it. This is definitely an "Oh Boy" situation :) So we played with it until he would lick the bit clean and then we went onto other things.

Prince was now at Liberty because I didn't have a halter on so we walked around and went up to the garage to see Mom and Knightly. I looped a savvy string around his neck and then we practiced our ground tying while I went and picked up all four of Knightly's feet. Mom has been getting him more comfortable in the garage so that I can trim Knightly in there through the bug season but she asked me to come in and pick up his feet and see how it was doing with that now. He did great and was way more confident and comfortable in there than I have ever seen him.

Prince stood where I put him the whole time and then I went and picked up all four of his feet, I think that kind of blew his mind because normally I don't do much with his feet unless I am trimming them or just massaging them (which I am doing a lot more of recently). Prince stood very well and only had a little trouble with one back foot when he spooked at a tree that was being cut down and moved by my brothers, it was a small tree :)

Then we went over to the other side of the yard and did some mounting from almost the ground. When I say almost I mean I was about 1 1/2 - 2 inches off the ground, just standing on a thin rock. It took a couple tries at first but Prince stood well and in the end I was able to mount from both sides!! I am making sure to be able to do it from both sides and I want to building my muscles evenly and not be one sided ;)

After that I dismounted and then backed Prince through the gate and into the corral where we spent some time scratching itchy spots and hanging out together before I headed inside.

It was cooler today so the blackflies were in hiding! Hooray ;) It was a nice treat.

Naturally,

~Keri

Twosox: Respect while eating...

2011-05-22T12:52:00.000-04:00

May 16, 2011

It looked like rain this morning and afternoon but we never got more than a few drops here and there. Twosox and I had a great little session today that mainly had to do with respect while grazing. I had taken Twosox out to the back yard to graze as the grass in getting rather long. He would wait until I gave him permission and then start eating but after I had given him that permission he sort of "forgot" about me, pulling on the rope when ever he wanted to reach for different grass etc.

So I would allow him to eat for a couple minutes and then ask him to move around and do something and then allow him to eat again. This took a little while I seeing as I also wanted to play with him and not just let him eat it worked out very well. We did things like sideways from zone three from 22ft away, which at first didn't go very well because Twosox wasn't seeing me as someone to listen to more than absolutely necessary. After we got a few good, soft steps sideways I would give him permission to eat again and go back to neutral.

Some other things that we did were circles. There is a slight hill in our back yard so it was perfect for doing a little bit of Hill Therapy while we were there. Twosox by this time was responding better and better and so we did two or three circles in each direction with a nice, soft, very smooth and light change of direction between them. At first he was a little unsure about going until a tree branch that was hanging low but by the end he could trot under it with no issues.

Then I gave Twosox a longer break while still requiring him to maintain the slack in the rope. He did much better. We ended with doing zone five driving with one line from the back yard to the corral. Twosox was so much more confident and relaxed about it this time as compared to last day. Then we went into the corral and I unhaltered and then hung out with all three horses for a little while before going to get some things ready to play with Prince.

Naturally,

~Keri

Ruffian: A little delay...

2011-05-17T19:50:00.001-04:00

May 11, 2011

This afternoon Myles played with Ruffian. I was going to hop on him bareback afterward and after I played with him a little but as I was playing with him he tripped and stumbled a bit. I didn't think much of it at the moment as he seemed to be okay but then I noticed that at the canter on the circle it was more of a two beat canter... he was limping :( So I brought him in and checked his wound and low and behold he had managed to re-open his wound. Thankfully it wasn't bleeding and I was able to take care of it and let him graze for a little while before we headed back to the corral.

So Ruffian shall get a couple more days off until his wound completely heals but hopefully we shall be able to still play a little Online and such.

We did get some nice Figure eights and circles. Ruffian was so light and connected! He was asking loads of questions and we also got some nice cantering on the circle. It was great! Hopefully we can pick up where we left off once he heals again.

Naturally,

~Keri

Prince: So much learning!!

2011-05-17T17:07:00.000-04:00

May 11, 2011

Prince and I had a great session today. I have been licking and chewing over some of the major things that I have learned from the colt start over the weekend. Most of them aren't exactly from the colt start specifically but things that triggered other things a couple are...

- Put the relationship first in everything, think about what it means to put the relationship first with your horse, what is in it for him? Safety? Comfort? Food? Play? How can you make it more interesting and fun for him?

- Offer lightness but be firm if necessary. Also offer the best deal first.

- How can I set Prince up for success so that he gets it and it makes sense?

- Patience! When things don't go right keep on going and give it time and stay calm, cool and collected.

- Go at Prince's pace at first but don't stay there.

I read this blog recently: http://parellioz.blogspot.com/ and two things jumped out at me. Haltering! I don't think I normally do it rudely but am I making a effort to cause it to be enjoyable for Prince? I am not putting a whole lot more time and making how I halter more important. Even if it is just spending a little bit of time afterward scratching Prince and hanging out before we continue on with our session.

I got to thinking about how I would like it if someone, one of my parents or siblings, came into my room while I was doing something I enjoyed, such as watching a movie, and came in, said hi, then grabbed my by the arm and told me that we had to go do something. Even if I enjoyed and liked what we were about to do I would be a bit flustered or upset that they didn't care enough to ask me. Now if somebody came in, sat down, said hi asked what I was up to and then asked if I wanted to go do something than I would most likely be more than happy to join in and do something together. It sets us up for success.

So then I though to myself, do I do that with my horse? Even if I go through the motions of seeing where he is at when I get there do I truly mean it?

Another thing I have been thinking about was giving my horse my undivided attention while we play. When we are playing I want to treat him like the most important person with whom I could be having a conversation.

One more thing! Many times when Prince would bring his head around to me for a rub I would rub it but he would turn it away half way through the rub. I thought that maybe it was that he didn't necessary want to be rubbed but that he was just checking in with me. Well today the thought crossed my mind that it was probably my energy. Even though I wasn't rubbing him with a lot of energy before I was still to much for Prince. So the next time Prince brought his head around I rubbed it really slowly, still with feel but with very little energy. It worked better but Prince still turned his head away, be he kept it there longer. The next time I did it even slower and Prince kept his head there the whole time.... How interesting!! It was really cool to see the feedback!!

There were many more things but these were some things that I have knew but they are meaning new things.

Prince and I started with mounting from almost the ground. We were up in the riding ring so I picked a rock that is sticking out of the ground. Now I was thinking, how can I put the relationship first and put something in it for Prince because really there is nothing in it for him. Me being able to mount from the ground is for me, my physical fitness and never ending self improvement. So Prince being a LBI likes food, scratches etc... so I made sure to give him lots of scratches on some big itchy spots as I lay across him. He was already much better from last day and had a more positive attitude about it which was great to see.

Then I saddled. But as I saddled I realized that yes I was doing everything politely but I was doing it all subconsciously as I was talking to Mom about something. Sure Prince was standing still and wasn't bothered by it but I wasn't there with him mentally, what if for some reason he was bothered by something and I missed it? So from this point on in the session I made sure to give Prince my attention and if I needed to talk to somebody or they wanted to talk to me I made sure to finish up with Prince, even if just for a short amount of time, so that I could be fair to both Prince and to whom ever I was talking.

After we saddled we did some Figure eights at the trot and Prince was had the rhythm, relaxation and connection right away so we did three complete Figure eights and then ended. No need overdoing it right?

This went really well and by the end Prince was able to canter a complete lap in each direction from a walk-canter transition. Each time Prince would break gait I would ask him to walk for a couple steps and then ask him to canter. It took a while because Prince would either go into the canter for a few strides and then break gait into a really fast trot, or he would just trot really fast and not canter, in which case I would bring him back down to the walk and start again.

I think the consistency of the pattern really helped Prince and he had a big lick and chew afterward. Then I put my hackamore on and mounted!

I only had one pattern that I wanted to play with this ride and that was the Bowtie pattern. We haven't ridden that pattern in a while and the last time we did it Prince had other ideas... he thought we should be playing Point to point and that he should get a rest at each barrel and not have to be picking up the canter ;) So we left that for a while and concentrated on getting the correct leads on Follow the rail.

That is going well now so I want to play with the Bowtie patten, and quite frankly, I think it looks really fun! I went out purposed to put the relationship first and taking the time it was going to take.

We started the patten at the trot and walked the ends. This took very little time to get it going well. I had to remind myself to stop. Things were going very well and Prince was getting it even though it wasn't perfect. I could have kept going but then I was like "What am I doing??" It is fine! Prince is going to get bored if I keep doing this pattern, and I don't want a bored LBI trying to the Bowtie pattern ;)

So we left that and did some Follow the rail at the canter just to make sure that Prince could pick up the correct leads going in both directions and then we came back to the Bowtie pattern and cantered it, getting Simple lead changes so we would trot the ends.

By this time I was falling in love with this pattern because if Prince wasn't completely relaxed when we came down to the trot to go around the barrel we would trot in circles around it until he relaxed and then we picked up the canter, with relaxation and off we went on the correct lead.

It was a lot of fun and I think Prince had fun too. He caught on really quickly and our lead changes were so easy and simple!!

We also pushed the ball around a bit at the walk and trot. Prince offered me such a nice, soft trot and put a lot of effort into trotting after the ball even when it went off the fence.

We had a really short ride but it was so much fun!! We ended an amazing session by spending over an hour of undemanding time. Prince just wouldn't leave me!! Even after we left the riding ring he stayed with me outside the gate and so we spent even more time just hanging out. I guess we did have a good session!!

Eventually I had to leave because it was getting late. Prince followed me over as far as he could and watched me leave... I strongly dislike when that happens... I feel so bad for leaving him ;)

I was very pleased with our session and the progress that we made and the best part was that we were learning and at the same time having so much fun!!

Naturally,
~Keri

Ruffian: Day Two.

2011-05-15T11:45:00.001-04:00

May 10, 2011

Today Myles and I played with Ruffian and I rode. We decided to just put the saddle on Ruffian instead of the bareback pad and then the saddle. Ruffian wasn't bothered by the bareback pad yesterday and he was fine with the saddle so we didn't feel that it was necessary.

After Myles finished playing I played with got Ruffian cantering and moving around a little bit more. Mom suggested that we move all four horses around the riding ring at Liberty and that way get Ruffian and Knightly canter.

I brought Twosox and Prince up and gave them the responsibility to stand still on their "spot" while I let Ruffian and Knightly loose. The look on their faces was priceless!! Twosox and Prince stood side by side and looked at me with two ears and two eyes the whole time.

At first Prince, Twosox and Ruffian were trotting around nicely but Knightly decided that he wasn't going to go with them and he would turn and change direction when ever he wanted. So I focused on getting him going with the other horses. Once that happened everything went fairly smoothly. Ruffian and Knightly were saddled but weren't bothered by the saddles when they were cantering and jumping.

Myles was there helping me and our goal was to get all four horses to jump the barrels. We got it really close one time but one of the horses dogged around the barrels but the next time we got it and then we had to bring them in... Prince came in to me really quickly... introvert much? Then Twosox stopped and faced me but didn't come in... another introvert? Ruffian and Knightly kept on going for a little while longer but finally Ruffian realized that I was asking him to come in and then Knightly followed soon after.

It was a really amazing feeling to have all four horses one on each side of me and asking to be rubbed. Since Ruffian was giving green lights all around I mounted. The blackflies where really bothersome this morning and Ruffian was itchy all over so I wasn't sure if he was going to roll. He looked like he wanted to so I dismounted and moved him around a little bit and then mounted again. We did a little bit at the walk and then trotted. Ruffian picked it up a lot faster today and we almost trotted a full lap around the riding ring without any breakages of gait.

We also played around with riding a Figure eight. Ruffian started to get it but I didn't want to push it to much. We also played with the ball and I bounced it while I sat on him. Ruffian was calm and confident the whole time.

After he licked and chewed I dismounted and we went down to the front yard and I let Ruffian graze for a while on the 45ft line. I am always amazed by how willing Ruffian is and how he tries so hard to do what is asked of him. He is such a cool horse!!

Naturally,

~Keri

Prince: Mounting from the ground...

2011-05-14T11:46:00.000-04:00

May 9, 2011

After I played with Twosox I played with Prince. Before we went out onto the front yard I wanted to bridle and unbridle Prince just to do something different than last time. He came to meet me at the gate and stayed there while I put the honey on the bit but then left shortly after. So instead of doing what he expected me to do, which was get him and bridle him, I bridled Twosox, who was more than happy to be bridled. Then after I bridled Twosox I let Ruffian lick some honey off of it and play with it for a while. The whole time Prince was standing right behind me, getting interested as to why he wasn't being bridled.

When Prince's turn came he really wanted to be bridled. So I bridled him and then after a couple minutes unbridled and then we headed out to the front yard. We played with a couple small things and then I wanted to start getting more athletic and be able to mount bareback from the ground. I started from a log but that was to easy so I went to a tire which was a little more challenging but not really that hard so I had to find something that was between the tire and the ground. I ended up getting two boards and then putting something on top of them. It was about three inches from the ground which was the perfect size.

We played with it for a while and finally I was able to jump up and get half way on Prince, which was the hardest part. Prince wasn't to sure about it at first so I made it good for him by scratching his itchy spots while I was laying on him.... he soon really liked it :)

I mounted a couple times and then I got off and I wanted to try twirling the rope from zone one like a jump rope. Something I have always wanted to try but never remembered when I was actually out with Prince. At first Prince thought it meant come forward but soon he figured out that it was a friendly game and he was able to stand still. Than Mom and I took turns skipping. I always wanted to have someone else to skip with when I was little.... :) It was fun. The look on Prince's face was priceless. It was so much fun.

We let the horses graze for a little longer and then we went back to the corral and took refuge inside the house from the blackflies :)

Naturally,

~Keri

Twosox: Helping Twosox find the answer

2011-05-14T09:56:00.000-04:00

May 9, 2011

I brought Twosox out onto the front yard to graze for a little while and the we did some zone five driving with one rein. I didn't want to just tell him the answer but help him find the answer. So we went back and forth up and down the street until Twosox could put me in zone five and keep me there. If he moved me out of zone five I would just turn him around in a full circle and start again.

Once this was going well we then played with walk-halt transitions. Twosox wasn't able to stop without turning. Again I didn't walk to just tell him the answer to the puzzle so we would walk a long and if he didn't stop we would "run into" the fence which would stop him. Then we would carry on.

This took some time but in the end Twosox started to figure it out and we got some nice walk to stop transitions. So we ended and I let Twosox eat more.

Then I mounted him and at first I just allowed him to graze but then we rode Figure eights around two marks which went really well actually. Twosox had a hard time finding the rhythm because there was a slight hill and Twosox would speed up going down the hill. So it was actually helpful to his conformation also.

After I don't know how many Figure eights Twosox was able to adjust himself to be able to walk down the hill at the same speed as the rest of the Figure eight and we also started getting some really nice circles around each marker, resulting in a beautiful Figure eight.

I was bareback so that made things a little more interesting as it was the first time in a while that I have ridden bareback. It is definitely something I need to get better this year. I can walk and trot bareback for the most part with fluidity but the canter... not so much :) So I am going to ride bareback more often this summer.

We finished with giving my youngest brother a little ride and then I let Twosox graze some more and then we went back to the corral.

Naturally,

~Keri

Ruffian: New confidence.

2011-05-14T09:55:00.000-04:00

May 9, 2011

What a session Ruffian and I had this morning! Since watching the Colt Start Naturally over the weekend (or as much as I could watch between work and other chores) I was given so much confidence and strategies that could help Ruffian in the area of his Freestyle. He was "green broke" when we bought him but we soon found some issues that were more than we could handle. Than through a series of events Ruffian's journey became my responsibility but I only had time to play Online and not really do any riding. I did a little bit here and there but nothing much.

Since Myles has started playing with Ruffian he has gained so much confidence and so since I gained some really great strategies from watching the colt start we decided to give it another try and just take it a step at a time. I have saddled Ruffian recently but I wanted to do it fairly similar to what they did just to do it right. So this morning Myles and I went out to see what we got and what we would get.

Ruffian did fine with the bareback pad so we left it on while Myles played and then switched to the saddle and I played. Now since Ruffian is doing some Level 3 things there were hardly any confident issues but I made sure to look for green lights and everything went really smoothly.

We started off at the walk doing some touch it, sideways, hindquarter and forequarter yields and then we did some circles at the walk and trot. Ruffian didn't have any problem at the trot so after it was tightened enough we switched onto the 22ft line and did some cantering. Ruffian bucked once and then just tossed his head a bit looking like he might buck but he didn't. I set the barrels up in his way so that he had something to thing about and pretty soon he was cantering nicely with rhythm, relaxation and connection. He jumped quite a few times from the canter and wasn't bother at all by the saddle.

So then we tested the stirrups to see whether or not I could move them with my savvy string while we walked around. Both sides were great. Next we played with the ball. Ruffian only had a little bit of trouble with the ball on his back but with with some approach and retreat on the second try he was fine with the ball being on his back.

Everything looked great and I was seeing loads of green lights so I got ready to mount. Lateral flexions were great. I mounted from the ground on both sides and Ruffian stood still the whole time.

We started with a passenger lesson at the walk to let Ruffian get used to me being up there. Then he ended up wanting to stick closer to the rail so we did some Follow the rail at the walk. I was a little cautious about riding near the sandy end of the riding ring because I didn't want Ruffian to lay down. But I decided that if I was going to do this properly I would have to know if that was what Ruffian was thinking. We did one lap of Follow the rail in each direction and since everything was going so well we did some trotting.

This was the first time in at least two years that Ruffian has been ridden at a trot but he took it like a pro and even though he wasn't to sure at first what I wanted he soon figured it out. We trotted in both directions and I was reminded yet again how lovely Ruffian's trot really is to ride. Then we pushed the ball around the hung out for a while before I dismounted.

While I was riding I made sure to "push" Ruffian with the carrot stick rather than "pull" him with the reins. That seemed to work really well and Ruffian understood what I wanted a lot sooner.

I was really pleased with how well it went and Myles was also :)

Naturally,
~Keri

Prince: Two more things...

2011-05-10T09:12:00.002-04:00

May 4, 2011

I forgot to put in my last post about Prince and my session that we also pushed the ball while riding at the walk and trot. We were follow the rail at the trot and the ball got pushed onto the fence so we pushed it from one end of the arena to the other at the trot and then it got into the corner so together Prince and I had to figure out how to get it out. Prince figured it out and decided that the best way would be to knock it out of the way with his head. And then I bounced it a bit and then we carried on. Prince was pretty sure that it was way more fun than following the rail because he followed it and wanted to push it some more :) Prince really likes his ball :)

We also did skipping. Prince had a hard time understanding that it was a friendly game and not a driving game so we walked around and I swung my carrot sticks around lightly until Prince was able to relax. Prince was fine at the stand still because that is normally when we do extreme friendly games and such but as soon as it was different and we were walking Prince wasn't reading my body language.

Pretty soon we was able to walk around and I could swing both carrot sticks together, rotate one at a time and do lots of other things. Then we were able to skip :) Prince still had a little bit of a problem accepting it but he was much better so we kept going until Prince could walk around and know when I was asking him something and when I wasn't asking anything and it was a friendly game.

Prince did really well though and did very well at listening to my body, not running into anyone and following my focus so I didn't have to use my reins. It was very interesting.

Naturally,

~Keri

Prince: A big day out!

2011-05-07T09:48:00.000-04:00

May 4, 2011

Where do I start? There is so much to tell!! I guess this would be a good time to say "Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start..."

Seeing as our friend was delivering hay in her trailer anyway she offered to trailer Knightly and Prince to her place for the day. So even though it was threatening to rain we headed out and it only sprinkled a little bit in the end.

Before she arrived I let Prince lick the honey off of the bridle because I forgot to do that last time when we ended. Prince had no hesitation to lick it all off. I guided it into his mouth for a couple seconds and then out again. Prince had no brace and was very soft and light.

Trailer loading went well. The first time Prince walked in fine but I decided to back him out and send him back in again just for good measure. Prince did fine yet again so this time I tied Prince and then it was Knightly's turn.

When we got to where we were going we left the horses in the trailer for a little bit while we got our tack unloaded and ready. Then we unloaded and I let Prince graze for a little while before heading into the arena to saddle and then we started with played Touch it. There were a couple new things in the arena since the last time we were here. The ball and a barrel with some plastic. Of course Prince has seen the ball before and the plastic and the flag where no issue. But I wanted to what sure Prince was okay with them anyway.

Then we got a little creative and played Touch it with zone five. So Prince had to back into different things. We started with a barrel and then the ball. Then I asked Prince to push the ball with his back legs. He did this very well and we backed quite a ways down the fence. Then we turned around and played with pushing the ball at the walk and trot. Prince did really well at the trot and we followed it even when it went away from the fence. Prince trotted past it a couple times but I made sure not to tell Prince the answer but helped him find it instead.

After that we blacked between two logs, stopped halfway and then went sideways over the one log. It was so light!! Prince and I were having a lot of fun by this point and I was really happy that I was able to get things interesting and start off the session at a pace that we both really enjoyed.

Then we played with sideways at a trot. Something that last fall when we were here for two and half weeks Prince and I had a really hard time doing. Well I am so pleased to report that this is no longer a hard task. We still have to get sideways at a trot when using the porcupine game but that will come. Prince picked up the trot on both sides from a sideways at a walk and we trotted about 75ft sideways!! It wasn't a fast trot but Prince was going sideways and trotting so I was more than happy!!

Next we did some stick to me in small circles at the walk, trot and canter. Prince had a way better expression on his face this time and even offered to canter closer to me with the same positive expression!! It was really cool to see the progress to quickly.

Then we switched to the 22ft line and did traveling circles at the canter to the other end of the arena so that we could do other circles. I couldn't believe how light Prince was while cantering!! He definitely had the rhythm, relaxation and connection! Prince only took the slack out of the rope once or twice and the arena is 200ft long. It was amazing!!

We did three laps each direction with a flying lead change in between. I couldn't believe the change of directions with the flying lead change. It was so smooth and soft! Prince didn't miss a beat the whole time.

Since that was so amazing and our first attempt at a traveling circle at a canter we headed out to graze for a bit. I definitely wanted to reward Prince for the effort!!

Next I bridled Prince and rode! We started with Follow the rail at the walk with my arms folded. My goal was to be able to walk and trot with my arms folded and then canter with a casual rein. We haven't done enough canter Follow the rail to be able to fold my arms.... yet :)

The walk went great and Prince did well going in both directions. The trot was 90% good but there was one side where Prince would want to go towards the two other mares that were in the arena. So we played with this for a while until Prince was able to trot along the rail and not move off of it.

We also played the corners game. At first Prince wasn't really sure what to do but really quickly he started walk, trot and cantering into the corners with really seeking them. But not making assumptions that we were going to stop there.

Canter follow the rail was interesting. Prince had a hard time picking up the left lead so we played with that, doing partial disengagements down to the walk to get his ribs and mind in the right place. If he broke gait we would go back down to the walk and then to a canter transition from there. If I didn't Prince would just rush into the canter from the trot again and we wouldn't be a head any.

Recently Prince has found another gear at the canter and his canter has become huge and that is an understatement. Some one commented on it and said that it looked and sounded like a big draft horse canter.... so needless to say I have been trying to gain new fluidity at the canter. My back has been hurting after I ride so I know that I am not moving my back enough. It was been interesting!!

We also played with jumping... very badly :) Prince did well but I wasn't the most fluid jumper to say the least. But considering I haven't jumped since November I guess I did alright. Next we did opening and closing gates. Prince gets a little to ambitious and wants to help before I need it. So we played with doing one step and then waiting, the next step, wait, next, wait and so on. He soon figured out that even though I needed his help he had to wait until I asked for it :)

The last thing we did was sideways on the outside of the arena down the fence. We went sideways at a phase one for 150ft!!! Prince put a lot of effort into it and we were going sideways !!!!

We rode down to the round corral and dismounted then we went into the round corral and I let Prince eat for a while. I mentioned this in a earlier post that the next time I had the chance to play in a round corral I wanted to just hang out and to very little. That way helping Prince to see that it isn't all about circles and pressure.

So with that in mind after Prince ate some grass for a while we played with some small things. We did do circles but they were very low key and they weren't just "circles" There were two small barrels lying on the ground by the rail with a narrow gap between them. So my goal was to have Prince maintain gait while either going over the barrels or through the gap. We did this at the trot and at first Prince would break gait down to the walk while going through the barrels.

So I would playfully tag behind him when he got through the barrels and pretty soon he trotted through the barrels so I brought him in for a rest. This really got Prince's mind engaged, which was my goal also. Which is something that I wasn't able to do before. After a rest we did it in the other direction and Prince caught on really quickly.

We also got two beautiful changes of directions at the trot. The whole time I made sure to be as light as possible (lighter than I would ever have imagined) but also being ready to be firm if necessary. I kept it really short because we had already had a huge ride but I just wanted to play with a little bit and take advantage of the round corral.

Prince grazed for the next 30-45minutes or so until it was time to leave and then we walked, at Liberty, from the round corral all the way to the trailer which was on the other side of the arena. We went and got some water at the stream, Online, and then loaded up and went home. I loaded Prince all by myself which was really fun. He stood so well. Before we closed the trailer door just before we left both horses were sleeping while munching on some hay :)

Naturally,
~Keri

Prince: Matching energy.

2011-05-03T17:25:00.001-04:00

May 3, 2011

This morning was kind of an odd morning. The internet has been out since Friday, coming on just yesterday, explaining why all of a sudden there were many posts on here :) so this morning I was still getting caught up on some stuff and also it was such a gray, gloomy day outside that neither Mom or I were very interested in going out to play. But eventually we got out.

It was an amazing session in the sense that I learned how Prince and I are so similar when we are both sleepy and not really altogether wanting to play. Our energy matched almost exactly. So it really was a great learning experience. Although it would have been nice to just go slow for the whole session we were planning on going for a trail ride before the rain came so since I was the leader it was my responsibility to cause us both to want to be more active.

We started off with some stick to me with Prince behind me and Prince had to keep the same distance no matter what we were doing, whether walking, trotting, stopping, or backing-up. Then after that we played with some sideways at a trot but instead of sending Prince around in a half circle then push him down the fence we started off walking sideways and then going up into the trot. This was the first time that we have tried this as Prince had a really hard time doing it but slow and rights beats fast and wrong because we took the time it took and now Prince understands what I want and how he can move his body in that way.

We got some beautiful sideways at a trot and most of the time the transitions into the trot were at a phase two or less! It was really amazing!

Then I decided to ask Prince to back all the way to the other side of the riding ring at Liberty because that was where the saddle was. I stood by the fence and just looped the lead rope over Prince's back and Prince backed all the way, very straight, with a lot of effort, at a phase 1 (just my energy) about 50ft!!! Twice he got a little bit stuck but it was only for a moment and then he carried on. I couldn't get over how light and connected Prince was and how many questions he was asking also! When he got to the other side I ran straight towards him, something that really used to bother Prince, and Prince just stood there giving me two ears and two eyes and was fine!!

After that I groomed Prince and saddled. Prince was very relaxed and I realized that Prince still holds a bit of tension when I saddle because today since Prince was so relaxed I was able to get my back cinch up an extra hole right away and there was still extra room, and as much as I would like to say it, Prince hasn't lost that much weight even though he has lost quite a bit :)

Then we played with backing by the tail and making small turns. This went way better than I expected and Prince caught on really quickly. We have played with it before but Prince has never really "got it" but today he did. On the first try Prince figured it out and so we would back up, turn a step, back up, turn another step or two and so on, rewarding the slightest try of course, but Prince had it figured out :)

After that we played with stick to me with myself in zone 2/3 at the walk, trot and canter. At the trot we played with Prince matching me so we would trot slow, very slow, fast and even faster and so on. Prince picked up on it so quickly and we were able to get a really fast trot and then immediately afterward a very slow trot. Up next was the canter. We played with two main things. Balance, Prince getting the correct lead and maintaining it which if he brought gait we would go down to the walk and go into the canter from there, and secondly attitude. Prince will pin his ears when go into the canter unless he is about 5ft away. Which is fine except I want to build it to him being able to happily canter with my hand on his neck. So we would continue to canter until Prince put his ears forward and then we would stop.

The first thing really helped the second as it got Prince's mind engaged and asking loads of questions so really the second thing didn't take long at all because the first helped it immensely. Then we did some circles with Mom and Knightly. The only problem was that Knightly has long legs and Prince has short legs. So Knightly trots was a lot fast than Prince's ... we got into a couple messes but in the end we did get 10 circles each direction both horses trotting fairly nicely :) It was fun nonetheless :)

Then Prince and I did some canter circles Online. Prince picked up the cantering to the right no problem and cantered 6 laps. But to the left he had a harder time. He was trying really hard but was cross-firing. He cantered almost 4 laps like that and then did a lead change to the right lead and then a flying lead change to the left so that he was on the correct lead... all by himself!! He is so clever!! He brought gait a couple more times before getting a really good circle with rhythm, relaxation and connection so I brought him in for a rest. I could tel that he was trying very hard so I wanted to reward that even though we didn't get the 6 laps he got 5 with a couple breakages of gait and ended with a full lap on the correct lead.

Then we headed out for our trail ride! We were hoping to get back before the rain came but it started raining part way through so we decided to come back home. We did get to do a little bit of stuff such as some leg yields at a walk, walk-canter transitions, and some other small things but I didn't want to do a whole lot of things today as the last five or six rides Prince and I have done a lot so it was time to just have a simple trail ride :)

One thing I found very interesting was I had brought a long one of my brother's kidz carrot sticks and was playing around with that, it is such an amazing different riding with that verses the normal ones. I love it!! One thing I really liked that was I was able to use it to support my phases for asking Prince to canter on a specific lead and it was a million times easier than using my savvy string. I could be much more effective and it was so much easier to maintain my fluidity if Prince had a bit of trouble getting into the canter, which he normally doesn't on the trail but today he did so it was very helpful. I think I shall be riding with this little carrot stick a lot more :)

It was raining pretty hard by the time we got home so it was a good thing we came back when we did but it was kind of fun riding in the rain considering I hardly noticed it :)

Naturally,
~Keri

Prince: A Great Session!!

2011-05-02T18:31:00.003-04:00

April 30, 2011

After I trimmed Twosox this morning I played with Prince. He was out grazing on the front yard while I trimmed (and might I add quite enjoying the freedom, he was King of the grass for an hour) so after I took Twosox back to the corral and picked up and brought my saddle out and brushed and saddle Prince. We practiced ground tying and also not eating the grass unless I gave him permission. All that went extremely well and Prince did stood perfectly still while I saddled.

Then we played on the front yard for a little while. I tested our porcupine games, hindquarters, forequarters, backing up by the chest and nose, and sideways. All that went well and I was happy fairly happy with how light Prince was although the forequarters were a little sticky. Then for the second stag of saddling we did 8 laps at a trot, on the circle, 12ft line, each direction, one send (no carrot stick), with my in complete neutral. Prince did very well and did it beautifully!! To the right he found the connection very quickly. He kept the belly of the rope on the ground after the second circle. While going to the right even though there was slack in the rope it wasn't on the ground but on the sixth circle he found the connection. It was great!!

We then headed up to the riding ring and played with Figure eights at the walk, trot and canter, but mainly the trot. As soon as we got into the riding ring Prince was disinterested and 100% unmotivated. He would do what I ask but he wasn't asking questions or anything. So instead of making him move I asked him to go slower. I wanted to play with Figure eights at the canter yet I knew that Prince wouldn't be very motivated if I just went in there and did them right away. So we started at the walk... which was painfully slow yet fascinating!! After a couple Figure eights at the walk Prince was getting more and more interested so I asked him to trot. Like I expected he trotted the one end beautifully yet the other end he drifted, while maintaining gait though which was interesting. I decided to change strategies from what I was using, because it wasn't helping Prince put more effort into coming around that barrel. Even though there was some improvement I wanted to see if I could get him more interested and connected.

So instead of sending Prince through the barrels again I brought him into me at the trot and gave him a treat. Then backed him out and sent him on the Figure eight again. I did this twice Prince started to figure it out really quickly. On the third time he came trotting around the barrel with effort and he didn't drift. I brought him in and gave him another treat and repeated the process. The next time Prince did exactly the same at the previous time and put even more effort into trotting around the barrel so I gently redirected him between myself and the barrels and we did two complete Figure eights at the trot with rhythm, relaxation and connection. Then I disengaged Prince and brought him in for a rest!! It was so fascinating!!

Up next was circles! We mainly focused on the canter. My goal was six laps each direction. If Prince broke gait I would change direction. He caught on really quickly and it took fewer changes of directions before Prince cantering six laps with rhythm, relaxation and connection to the right. Going to the left was a bit harder as that is Prince's harder side but in the end we got it. Prince was sweating quite and bit so I gave him a long rest until he was able to catch his breath and cool off a bit. It was warm but it also shows... how shall I say, out of shape Prince is ;) But he is in way better shape than last year and we are going to continue to build on it and get Prince in great shape for September.

Then I mounted. We started with played with indirect rein and getting it even lighter, Prince responding to just my weight shift. This went really well and Prince remembered from the fall when we were getting it back then. Then we played with forequarter pivots/direct rein, getting them light, more speed and being a little bit more particular about how Prince was doing it. Once we had those going well we did what Mr. Parelli showed in the second last Savvy club DVD where you move the hindquarters an 1/8 of the turn and then the forequarter the same, building to true sideways. Prince did well moving each zone but when I went to switch to the other one he didn't understand and would go sideways, which was what my end goal was but not what I was asking fore in that particular moment. I didn't want to make him feel wrong yet at the same time I needed to support what I was really asking. We played with this for quite a while and eventually we got it and Prince started understanding what I was looking for and also I had to change a few things in my body to help it me more clear for him.

Once Prince got it though he did it really, really well and it was smooth and accurate. It was a lot of fun and I love being able to play with small but important things like that and getting more lightness, speed and distance.

Then we did Follow the rail. Repeating last days session only I didn't have to stay as long at the walk and trot as Prince did really well. I added in a little variety though and did a circle to change direction and so the other way. At first Prince didn't respond with lightness at all and so we would ride a circle until he figured it out and then continued on following the rail, either in the same direction or in the opposite direction.

At the trot Prince offered the canter a couple times but I maintained the trot in my body and asked for a trot again and he came back down. At the trot I was really looking for rhythm. At first Prince would trot faster on the downhills and slower around the sides etc so we continued until he found a good rhythm. Doing the circle to change direction took a little while and we had to ride on that circle for a while until Prince started responding to my body more and reins less.

The canter was a bit harder than last day. I lost my focus a couple times and that put us back a bit so we stopped (later than what I should have) and went in the other direction, which was Prince's harder side, and but picked that up quickly and so after we got one complete lap to the left we rested and then went back to the right. Prince got it on the first try and so we ended there.

After I had unsaddled and everything I took Prince over to the sandy area in the riding ring and sat on a rock. I was hoping that he would roll but seeing as this is still one area that Prince holds back I wasn't expecting him too. I thought that I would offer it though and see as he was very sweaty.

To my surprise after a couple minutes Prince went and rolled! I was so happy! Of course I kept it inside and matched Prince's energy. Prince will let me walk up to him if he is lying down but for him to lay with me there is a rare occasion.

All in all it was a great session, I learned a lot and I am looking forward to our next ride knowing how I can set Prince and myself up for even better success.

Naturally,

~Keri

Twosox: Extreme Friendly Game... In a different way.

2011-05-02T18:27:00.002-04:00

April 28, 2011

This morning I played with Twosox. It was very windy so that in and of itself was an extreme friendly game. Part way through our session the other horses left so I had to help Twosox find relaxation before I finished. We started with some circles as Twosox wanted to move his feet, not in a right brain way though, so we did some traveling circles and falling leaf. Each of these went well and I played with putting more feel on the rope and that really helped Twosox to want to follow the feel instead of fight it.

The last thing I wanted to do was continue with day two of jumping the barrels standing on end. As I was setting them up was then the horses left and so I only had them part up set up when I had to get Twosox left brain again. It turned out good though because we did some squeeze games over the barrels and at first Twosox would jump them in an unconfident state but as he relaxed he found the space between two of the barrels and trotted through instead.

So then I set the barrels up like last time, two standing up and on in the middle but on the other side of the two barrels standing up, so the gap was only about one foot wide. Twosox jumped this no problem and actually jumped the one standing on its end. So I stood all three up and sent Twosox out on the circle. The first two times he jumped them but wasn't completely left brain so he knocked them a bit. The second time he knocked the barrel closest to the fence down but I decided to leave it and see if I could set it up so he jumped the remaining two. And he did! He even though he could have easily jumped the one that was knocked over by the fence he jumped the other two and cleared it no problem.

So I brought Twoosx in and gave him a long rest. He was way more relaxed and confident now so I unhaltered him and he stayed with me for a while before following me over to the gate where I let him out but he stayed with me for a bit. Then I sent him out and he trotted off to find the other horses.

It was so windy so the horses stayed out all day and so I didn't get a chance to play with any of the other horses but I was glad to have the chance to play with Twosox at least.

Prince: Follow the rail!!

2011-05-02T18:26:00.000-04:00

April 25, 2011

Prince and I had a big session today. We started by played at Liberty a bit and played with close range circles at the walk and trot. The walk and really great but the trot Prince will loose connection and leave. So I decided to cause his idea to be my idea and when Prince started to leave I would send him. He would canter around the area and then come back. We did this a couple times and Prince was started to get it but then he figured out that he could still not do what I wanted by leaving. I realize now, looking back, when I should have stopped, which was when Prince thought about leaving but decided to trot past that spot. But hindsight is 20/20 right :)

I decided to go Online and play with it there so we did and then once that was going well we played with cantering on the circle. Six laps each direction. Going to the right was the easiest but the left was a bit harder but in the end we got it and so I brought Prince in for a rest. I know that Prince can do to and I don't want to make the body do it, I want Prince's mind to be engaged! So that is the challenge but it is fun and I can see we are getting it more and more each day.

I then saddled and played with some Figure eights, changes of directions, jumping, sideways towards and away and a few other things just to move Prince around in with the saddle. Then I bridled and mounted up. I decided to ride with just my bridle and but I had a carrot stick and also a savvy string around Prince's neck. We started with the lateral flexions and indirect rein and Prince did a beautiful job and was very light. He wasn't bothered by the bit at all.

Then we set out to ride the rail! We started at the walk and did it in both directions with my arms folded. Once that was going well we went into the trot. The walk and trot were fairly easy, there were just a couple small things that we had to play with but all in all I only had to pick up my reins once or twice. I did both the walk and trot with my arms folded and went in both directions. I was looking for Prince to really understand the pattern and find the rhythm, relaxation and connection.

Then I decided to try the canter! We haven't cantered in the riding ring in some time because we have been mostly cantering on the trail because there is more room. But I wanted to give it a try. So off we went. Prince did so well!! At first I wasn't sure what to expect but pretty soon my goal was for one lap. Prince would canter three-quarters of a lap but then at one spot consistently have a hard time maintaining the correct lead. So we cantered about five laps 90% of which were on the correct lead but I was looking for that complete lap. On sixth lap Prince got it and we cantered a complete lap.

One thing that I really had to get right was mental focus and keeping the energy in my body correct for what I was asking of Prince, especially in the spots where he had a hard time maintaining the canter.

Going to the left Prince had a bit harder of the time getting the correct left lead but pretty soon he was cantering three-quarters of a lap and just breaking gait at one spot at the one end. Again we cantered five almost complete laps before Prince was able to canter a complete lap. But in the end it was completely worth it. I can understand now how you can easily spend forty-five minutes doing just Follow the rail!! I love it :)

The best part was that the whole time we were cantering those laps I only had to make one correction each lap, which was asking Prince to pick up the canter again. He knew that he was supposed to stay on the rail :) That was something about which I was really happy.

After Prince got that one complete lap to the left I dismounted, unbridled and let him out to eat on the side patch of grass beside the riding ring. I was so happy about how the whole ride went and Prince blew my socks off with how much he tried!!

Naturally,

~Keri

Twosox: Time to advance.

2011-05-02T18:21:00.000-04:00

April 22, 2011

This morning Twosox and I had a great session. It was kind of unexpected as I was planning on playing with Prince first and then Twosox but Twosox came over to me and I had to give him his supplements anyway so I played with him first. And then Prince and Ruffian left so I didn't actually get to play with Prince after all. But Twosox and I had a amazing session and had so much fun!

We played with Figure eights and those went really well. Twosox had the rhythm, relaxation and connection and maintained gait around the ends also. I was really impressed! Then we played with cantering on the circle and got some incredible canter transitions and Twosox cantered almost a complete circle more than once! It was a relaxed canter, the best that I have ever seen!!

I soon realized that Twosox was definitely in a learning frame of mind and if I didn't teach him something new he would loose interest and motivation. So I decided to try jumping barrels there where standing on end. We have done this before but Twosox wasn't mentally connected and it would just keep getting worse because Twosox felt way to much pressure. I didn't set it up and wait and I didn't set things up for success.

This time I was going to set it up for success. I started with two barrels standing up and one laying down in the middle. Twosox jumped that no problem so then I moved the two barrels that were standing up closer together and put the other barrel, still on its side, in front of them so there was a smaller gap but still a barrel there. Twosox jumped it so problem and actually jumped higher than the standing up barrels. I wanted to make sure that Twosox was truly confident jumping these barrels though so I set it up so that the barrels were in his way a couple more times and he jumped it each time.

So then I set up all three barrels standing up and off we went. Because I didn't want Twosox to think it was about the barrels I sent him on the circle and walked away from the barrel then slowly walked back towards them. Twosox calmly trotted up to the barrel and jumped over them with not even the slightest amount of hesitation! Of course Twosox got a long rest afterward :)

We basically ended there but we played with some ground tying and Twosox caught on really quickly. I had to go down to the house to get the camera and he stayed exactly where I left him and didn't move the whole time. He learns so quickly!!

Prince and Ruffian did end up coming back but I didn't have enough time to play with Prince as I had to get ready for work but it was really nice to be able to have a longer session with Twosox and we both had so much fun!!

It really is an amazing feeling when you set your horse up for success!!

Naturally,
~Keri

Prince: Trail riding fun and learning

2011-05-02T18:10:00.000-04:00

April 19, 2011

First Prince and I played on the 12ft line and played with circles at the trot and jumping a single barrel, the same as we played with yesterday with Twosox. Getting Prince lined up and square, teaching him that being there is where the comfort is before asking him to jump the barrel. It worked really well and Prince caught on really quickly resulting in a beautiful jump from the stand still on a yo-yo (drawing towards me). Prince had a big lick and chew over it afterward.

After I saddled we did some zone 5 driving with two 12ft lines. This went really well and we played with walk - trot transitions, sideways and Figure eights at the trot which went very well. Prince was a million times lighter than last day and I really felt that he "got" it. It was really an amazing feeling.

Then we played with cantering on the circle, changing directions every time Prince broke gait. This worked so well that pretty soon we got 6 laps each direction NO corrections!! It was mind blowing!! Prince put so much effort into it and his mind was definitely engaged!!

I didn't bridle today but rode in my hackamore. This went very well and Prince and I hurried up and did nothing, something of which Prince is very fond :) I was helping Mom with some something with Knightly so Prince got a nice nap in the mean time.

Then we rode down the hill, out the gate and headed out for our trail ride!!

We actually did a lot on this trail ride as right now this is the main place that Prince and I canter so we played with that a lot. We also played with lead changes, cantering at different speeds, canter-halt transitions, leg yields at walk and trot, sideways, and towards the end (when going up hills and such) lead changes for fatigue purposes because we cantered a long way none stop and going up the hill at the end Prince was started to get fatigued so we switched leads and cantered the rest of the way to the top.

It was a great ride but towards the end I could tell that Prince was a bit tired. I think the next trail ride we go on will be for purely relaxing, enjoyment purposes and we won't focus on lead changes or anything... just have a fun, relaxing ride :)

We dismounted in a parking lot and I played with the man hole of which Prince is still scared. It took a while but in the end Prince was able to stand beside it calmly. We basically did squeeze games back and forth gradually making the gap smaller and smaller until Prince was okay with going between myself and the grate.

It was a great play session and ride for sure and the weather was beautiful!!

Naturally,
~Keri

Prince: Online and Liberty

2011-04-26T12:01:00.001-04:00

April 18, 2011

This afternoon Prince and I started with Liberty. We high a couple really high points and a rather how interesting moment. We got some amazing circles at the trot and canter. Prince cantered about 20ft away from me and stayed connected. About half of the circle the fence was there but the other half there was no fence so Prince was fairly connected.

We also played with sideways towards me and away from me and close range circles at the trot. I was looking for Prince to put more effort into turning and into the circle. He did well and when we got a couple nice, close range, circles at the trot we ended.

While we were doing circles (long range) I had asked Prince to circle to the left but he changed direction and went to the right. He left at the canter so I asked for a transition to the trot before I was going to ask for a change of direction. Prince must have gotten confused and he ran into and through the fence. Fortunately he came away with nothing more than a small scrape on his side. I think what happened was that Prince felt the pressure of me asking for the downward transition and because he wasn't thinking "downward transition" it was pressure that caused him to jump sideways and go through the fence. Liberty in a round corral is hard for us because Prince feels pressure, even if it is as simple as walking circles, but because we do not have a round corral I can't help him through that. Next time I have the opportunity to play in a round corral I think we are just going to do undemanding time :)

Then we went Online and played with cantering on the circle and getting the rhythm, relaxation and connection, flying lead changes, jumping barrels while circling at the canter, and then we played with cantering up to the barrel and straddling them. This was a lot of fun because I didn't want to tell Prince the answer yet I had to support him and help him solve the puzzle. So there were a couple times where Prince would jump the barrels and then slow down, which was progress in the direction I wanted so we kept on going and eventually we got it. Prince cantered up on the end of the 22ft line and did it perfectly, all at a phase one!! It was amazing and the look on Prince's face when he did it was priceless!! He looked at me and ask a beautiful question :)

We also played a bit with Figure eights at the trot and canter and Prince is starting to getting more even on both sides. Which is really great because he still has a hard time cantering on the right side. We are getting there :)

Then we hung out for a bit, licking and chewing over our session :)

Naturally,
~Keri

Twosox: From problem solving to progressing!

2011-04-25T09:55:00.000-04:00

April 18, 2011

We started out with doing figure eights around everything, tires, pedestal, barrels. We played it like a traveling figure eight which was really fun because Twosox found the rhythm, relaxation and connection so quickly and he was trotting around both ends beautifully!! He had a huge lick and chew afterward and then we

We are really moving from problem solving to progressing. I feel that I am starting to understand what he needs from me and things are coming together very nicely!!

Next we played with jumping a single barrel in the middle of the riding ring. I played around with waiting for Twosox to become straight/square in front of the barrel and being able to wait. We went back and forth from one barrel to the next until Twosox could line up square with the barrel and then I asked him to jump the barrel coming toward me, on a yo-yo draw, and he jumped, cleared it, from a stand still on the first try!!! I was blown away with how well it worked!! It seemed to make so much more sense to Twosox and he was willing to do it after he learned he had to stay square and straight. This is definitely a strategy that I am going to try with Prince!!

Up next we played with spinning and go on the circle. At first Twosox wasn't putting much effort into it but once he figured out the pattern he started putting lots of effort and we ended when they got really smooth and quick!!

It really was an amazing session and Twosox was so willing to try and I felt that we really had zero brace. Now I need to start teaching him new things so that he doesn't get bored :)

Naturally,
~Keri

2011-04-24T12:52:00.000-04:00

Parelli Core Values

Put the Relationship First
*whether with your horse, spouse, family, co-workers, customers...
*use open, honest & respectful language (non-violent communication)

Be the Best Me That I Can Be
*pursue a positive perspective
*be impeccable with your word
*be solutionary
*don't take things personally

Get it Done, with a Little Fun ~ Create Fun with Individuality
*celebrate individuality - you are free to be yourself
*have fun activities outside of work without horses sometimes

Exceed Expectations
*aim to deliver more than the student or customer expects

Embrace Never Ending Self-Improvement
*for us individually, as a team and as a family
*nurture learning & change
*embrace imagination & creativity
*create support & promote opportunities for personal & professional growth

Do More Wish Less
*how can we be more efficient & effective
*work smarter not harder
*how can we best utilize the resources we have

Be Humble
*service above self
*values before our egos
*being authentic about helping the world from the 'spirit' of humility

Truth, Transparency & Trust
*honesty
*zero gossip

Keep it Natural
*it's a lifestyle choice

Five years and counting...

2011-04-22T10:37:00.001-04:00

Yesterday, April 21, 2011, marked exactly five years since Prince came into my life. He was abused, neglected, and terribly underweight. He didn't see any reason to trust, love, or be with people.... and I don't blame him.

Five years later we are official Level 3 Graduates (aiming for Level 4), he is fat (trying to stay fit), and tries his heart out.

Here is a short video capturing just a short amount of our journey...

Naturally,
~Keri

Prince: More flying lead changes... these are fun!

2011-04-20T19:00:00.002-04:00

April 15, 2011

So Prince and I kept things short today as I was looking after Ruffian plus I had to go to work. All morning I didn't feel emotionally prepared enough to play with the horses so I spent the time with Ruffian and we worked our way from where he was in the bush to the riding ring. Ruffian can't walk forward but he can backup, and move both his hindquarters and forequarters fairly easily. So we ended up backing 90% of the way to the riding ring and then Ruffian was able to walk forward the rest as it was mostly down hill.

Thanks to Parelli we had no problems navigating our way through the many rocks, trees and hills. Ruffian took it all in stride and we made it to the riding ring alright. I was so proud of how well Ruffian handled it all and how he trusted me to guide him. I love this horse so much!

Being able to do that with Ruffian and seeing that at least he could walk a little ways helped me to feel better and be able to play with Prince, who had been following me everywhere when I was up there, then look at me with his head hanging over the fence when ever I walked away :)

So I ended up playing with him before I went to work. We had a lot of fun and played a bit with rhythm, relaxation and connection at the canter on the circle and then did some Figure eights at the trot and seeing as they went so well we took it up to the canter. Prince was still having a hard time getting that one lead so I decided to do circles and see if he would have an easier time getting the leads that way. He did. The first couple times he would canter through the change but he wasn't able to maintain the canter on the other lead so we kept playing with it and after a couple tries Prince got two beautiful flying lead changes in both directions!!!

We took a long rest and then called it a day. Prince is trying so hard and I think he actually likes it just as much as I do!! I am also excited because this means we are one step closer to being able to do our Level 4 Auditions!!! Flying lead changes were really the last major thing that we need to accomplish. The rest is just refining the stuff we can already do, which we have been playing with already. It is all so exciting!!!

Naturally,

~Keri

Prince: Getting even better!

2011-04-20T15:43:00.001-04:00

April 14, 2011

Today Prince and I had another great session this morning. We played again with Figure eights and I wanted to see if I could help Prince get the flying lead change on his hard side. We played with it on the Figure eights. Prince got the flying lead change on his easy side no problems but he was having a really hard time getting it on the other side.

So we continued to play with it for a while and then I decided that I needed to help Prince bend more around the barrel on his hard side because he wasn't able to bend and come around that barrel with the same easy as the other one, and so creating the issues with Prince not being able to canter around that barrel. The thing that I found extremely helpful was really focusing on my draw. I had to really pay attention to matching Prince's energy and also, after I thought about it, I figured out that there was also a slight hesitation between the draw and the drive. For a while it was a quick draw and then drive. But that caused Prince to pay more attention to the drive than the draw, and so our draw got less and less.

At the trot Prince still had a hard time trotting around the one barrel so concentrating on the draw made a HUGE different. Prince got it right away. He started trotting around both barrels no problem and we got a few really nice, smooth figure eights at the trot, which will lead to better Figure eights at the canter.

The next thing we did was zone 5 driving with two lines. I put the two 22ft lines through the stirrups, first time for us as I wanted to make sure that our zone 5 driving was solid and going very well before we tried that. It went so well and it was so much easier to not have to worry about the lines getting caught under Prince's feet :) We did yo-yo's, circles, sideways, touch it, and Figure eights!! It took a while before Prince found the rhythm, relaxation and connection on the figure eight and then we stopped. It was tiring running behind Prince for that amount of time :) But fun, very fun.

We also played at Liberty for a little while. We played with sideways without a fence while I stood in the center of the riding ring. Prince got it really quickly and put so much effort and energy into the sideways. So we played with that and then did some circles at the walk and trot then we got some really nice canter stick to me with my hand on Prince's neck. It was really nice! I especially because Prince will pin his ears when we do close range tasks at higher speeds, i.e. the trot and canter. We kept cantering until Prince put his ears forward and then we stopped.

We also played a bit with zone 4/5 driving at Liberty and just kept things simple with easy transitions, turns and such. Then I bridled, mounted and rode! I didn't do a whole lot in the riding ring before I rode down the hill and rode circles. I did do lateral flexions, indirect rein and some sideways. I am really pleased at how well Prince did in responding to the bit and not reacting.

Then we rode down the hill, opened the gate and rode out onto the front yard to ride circles. Opening the gate went so much better than I ever would have imagined!!! Prince was such a partner!! We went sideways over to the gate, hesitated, opened it, rode through and turned and came sideways back over and closed it. It was an incredible feeling.

Circles went very well. Prince knew exactly what to do and we got them done really quickly. We both picked up the circle size quickly, it helped that Mom and I had measured out a proper circle before ;), we only had to do a couple circles each way and then we stopped because Prince did it so well.

Then we finished with sideways and it was even better than last day! Prince was light in the mouth and went true sideways! I really felt his hindquarters coming under me instead of lagging behind. I unbridled from Prince's back and then let him graze for awhile before dismounting and we went back up to the riding ring.

Again I finished with Prince licking off the bit and that really seems to be making a difference when I come back next session.

Naturally,
~Keri

Ruffian: A lesson in dealing with the unexpected, mentally, emotionally and physical.

2011-04-20T13:48:00.000-04:00

April 14, 2011

Sometime between feeding the horses last night and feeding them this morning it happened... let me explain.

When I went outside this morning to feed the horses with Myles I heard a horse nicker but didn't think much of it as Prince often nickers when he sees me coming with the hay so I carried on as normal.

The horses were just coming in, or at least it looked like that, so I didn't think anything of it that Ruffian was standing at the bottom of the hill as the horses were scattered all over at the time. He didn't come up when we got there with the hay so I told Myles just to keep an eye on him and make sure that he didn't try get to the closer piles of hay while I was setting them all out. Ruffian didn't move so I brought each horse over to their pile of hay, he still hadn't moved.

As I was taking Knightly over I suggested that Myles go bring Ruffian up so Myles went down and a couple seconds later Myles says in a rather excited voice "Keri!!! Ruffian nickered at me!!" I replied with something to the effect that that was really sweet of him!! Ruffian really loves Myles so I wasn't to surprised that Ruffian was glad to see him.

I still didn't suspect anything when I went down to see if Myles needed any help as it appeared that Ruffian was not going to move, this was a little unusual as Ruffian is really light and responds very well, even to Myles.

I looped my carrot stick and savvy string around Ruffian's neck and asked him to follow me but he wasn't going to move. This was when I noticed blood on Ruffian socks. It was under some mud and dirt so I couldn't be sure but I thought that he probably cut himself and that was why he wasn't moving.

We managed to bring him up to the riding ring and Myles brought Ruffian his pile of hay as the other horses were out on the hill eating. Ruffian was eating alright so I went and got a cloth and some water and started wiping the blood and dirt off. But I was surprised to not see any cut at all. I am not sure how I noticed it but that was when I saw it, Ruffian managed to puncture himself on his left hind leg just above and to the left of his sheath and the swelling was something fierce.

At that point in time I couldn't tell if it was a puncture or a gash because of the swelling. All I knew that was Ruffian couldn't walk and he was bleeding. We got him water, which he drank, and drank, and drank. I was glad to see that he was drinking alright or else we would have had a whole new set of problems but I didn't like the look of that swelling.

We put ice on the swelling, made sure Ruffian had hay and water and he stayed in the riding ring all day, moving very little as could be expected. We just had to keep an eye on it for now. Ruffian was in otherwise good spirits so we just made sure to keep ice on the swelling as much as possible and drank lots of water :)

This is just one more way that God is testing my mental and emotional fitness... and physical because I have to carry buckets of water ;)

Naturally,
~Keri

Ruffian: So close to Liberty, but still holding his hand

2011-04-19T19:57:00.000-04:00

April 12, 2011

After I played with Prince and I played with Ruffian. He was standing at the gate looking in and looking a lot like he wanted to be played with, so much so that he left the other horses who were sleeping in the sun... yep he wanted to be played with ;) I walked over to the gate and invited him in, well he didn't need much inviting. He was ready to come in as soon as the gate was open. He is such a cool horse!

I didn't have my halter with me as I had put it away so I decided to just loop the 22ft line around his neck and play that way. I was prepared that he might pull, or at least try and possibly get away from me in the end so I was only planning on doing little things so that Ruffian would stay confident.

Well, it was beyond incredible!! I was so shocked!! Ruffian did so well that we ended up playing with the ball (He even brought it to me!!), traveling circles at the trot, sideways, jumping a single barrel in the middle of the riding ring, figure eights at the trot (even around the ends completely with confidence, which is huge for Ruffian at the best of times) yo-yo's and draw at the trot, leading by the tail, and touch it!!! Like I said, I was shocked!

Ruffian was so light he only pulled once but the rest of the time he kept slack in the rope and/or the belly of the rope on the ground!! This horse is amazing!!

Ruffian looses confident quickly at Liberty so this was a great way to get him more used to the idea of Liberty and yet I was still there for him if he got confused or lost. It was great and we both had a lot of fun so say the least!

Then since Ruffian was in such a great mood I haltered him (I borrowed Knightly's halter since he was grazing outside the riding ring) and climbed up and rode. Ruffian again did so well and was very confident. We did Follow the rail, played with the ball, indirect and direct rein, and point to point. Then I waited for Ruffian to lick and chew and then dismounted and we hung out together for a while and then I let him go, which was more like just opening the gate because he didn't want to leave. He followed me back to the other side of the riding ring :)

I love this horse!! He is so willing and hardly has any baggage. He is so much fun to play with and be around!!

Naturally,

~Keri

Prince: Circles, Figure eights, Flying lead changes and more!

2011-04-19T11:49:00.001-04:00

April 12, 2011

Today Prince and I had an amazing session. We played with circles at the walk, trot and canter, Figure eights at the trot and canter doing simple lead changes and then flying lead changes on one side. Prince still has a hard time cantering around the right barrel so we are playing with getting more flexible!!

I couldn't believe Prince was giving be all these flying lead changes. They were incredible! The really cool thing is that I played with the ingredients and when they got good enough the whole thing came together and we are getting flying lead changes right left and center!!

After the Figure eights we played with some sideways where I stood in the middle of the riding ring and sent Prince sideways to the fence, while I kept my feet still. Prince had a bit of trouble with this the last day. He wanted to drift forward but today he was straight for 99% of the time and I only needed to correct him once or twice. Then we played with sideways towards me building to getting it with more distance, where I am farther away. It is coming along nicely!!

I then bridled Prince which hardly took any time at all and then I mounted. I checked out our lateral flexions, direct and indirect rein and Prince was so light on the bit! He kept his mouth still most of the time which was great! I am learning a whole new meaning of lightness!!! Also when Prince starts leaning on the bit, mainly because he doesn't understand, I will support with something other than the reins, such as my legs, carrot stick etc this has really helped Prince to understand what I want without me having to go up my phases with my reins and because we already have that foundation Prince understands.

We played with some follow the rail and then I just wanted to do a couple Figure eights at the trot before we went down to the front yard to ride circles, it is the only place we have which is almost flat, open and big enough to ride circles.

But Prince had other ideas, He was quite resistant when it came to riding the Figure eights. So we played with trotting circles around one barrel and then when we got a nice one we would go trot circles around the other one. This worked fairly well and we stopped when Prince was light and we were in harmony.

Then we rode down the hill and proceeded to open the gate but we had some complications. Part way through the process when I had the gate part way open and we were standing still resting, so that Prince wouldn't learn to just hurry up and go through the gate, I discovered that top hinge had turned and the gate slid off... so there we stood, if I let of the gate to get off the gate would fall over if I just stood there holding it we wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon. Fortunately Mom was just up in the riding ring and she was able to come and assist us. Prince had a good chance to practice his ground tying (and not eating grass at the same time) while Mom and I fixed the gate. It was a how interesting moment!!

Once the gate back in place I remounted and Prince and I rode circles!! As I have stated before I love circles!! It took me a couple circles to get a proper circle and yet again I learned that Prince really knows what a circle is, he will find a good circle way faster than I :) But once we got into the swing of things we got it going really well. We did circles both directions and stopped in the center once and out on the edge once because I have to keep the resting spots balanced or else Prince will either cut into the middle with great confidence or want to go to the outside of the circle. Gotta love Left Brain ponies!!!

After the circles we played with some sideways and Prince was AMAZING!!! He we true sideways !!! We went from the well to the apple tree, which was about 25ft or so, and back a couple times and it was such a great feeling!!

I unbridled Prince while mounted and then dismounted after allowing him to eat for awhile. Then I put a bit of honey on the bit and let Prince lick it off with out putting it in his mouth that way we stay balanced and he doesn't just see it as something to go in his mouth... :)

Needless to say we had a blast and learned a lot!!

Naturally,

~Keri

Twosox: Progressing from last session

2011-04-15T11:07:00.001-04:00

April 12, 2011

Twosox came over to me this morning when I went out to play with Prince so I decided to play with him first seeing as he wasn't going to leave me anytime soon. He practically put his head in the halter... I guess he wanted to be played with :)

So off we went! We started with traveling circles on the 12ft line. I was looking for him to find the rhythm, relaxation and connection. He didn't have any of them. It didn't take long before he was searching for the answer to the puzzle and when he maintained gait, relaxed, and connected I brought him in for a rest.

Figure eights were much better today. The first three times Twosox came around the right barrel he wanted to go the opposite direction so we went in that direction but made it my idea. Ruffian was lying down again but we just played around him. I have learned to treat him like a obstacle such as a barrel or pedestal, and just go around him. A couple times we literally did circles around him, Twosox was on one side trotting around and I was on the other. Ruffian just slept on.

On the forth time coming to the right hand barrel Twosox was light and connected and softly came around the barrel and we continued on with the Figure eight pattern. Once Twosox was able to walk around the end without stopping and then trot through the middle we stopped. It took way less time this time and it was really amazing to see the change!!

We played with the ball next. At first Twosox did exactly what he did last day and just walked right past it, so I did exactly the same thing as I did last day and allowed him to go past it, then I asked for a change of direction, tagged behind him and each time he got to the ball I would relax, offering to him the chance to stop. If he went right past it I would to the same thing as before. This took some time before Twosox started to play the game and search the the answer but pretty soon he would trot up to the ball and stop, look at me and then I would ask him to push it forward.

He picked up on it really quickly and pretty soon he followed the ball where ever it went and then I asked him to bring it to me, and he did!!! It was amazing!!! We had a long rest and lick and chew over that and then I un-haltered him but he stayed with me for a long time, yawning, licking and chewing and then I scratched some itchy spots and then Twosox moseyed over to some hay and I went to play with Prince!

Naturally,

~Keri

Prince: Unexpected Liberty Session

2011-04-15T11:07:00.000-04:00

April 11, 2011

This morning when my brother and I went out to feed the horses Prince wasn't so sure he wanted me to be his boss so he tested me in a couple ways... one was that he didn't not want to ask permission to come in and eat his hay. So after waiting for a long while I decided to take the other horses over first and then do Prince afterward, it wasn't really fair to make all the others wait for Prince. So I brought Prince back to the riding ring and after the other three were eating happily I decided to play with Prince a little before taking him back over to his hay.

We played at Liberty and did Figure eights at the walk first. Prince was so connected... which was weird considering his attitude previously. I think part of it was that I wasn't worried about him leaving because I would have expected it. After that we played with jumping a single barrel.

I wanted to make sure I was making it a game so I didn't tell Prince the answer by continuing to line him up with the barrel and etc I allowed him to go past the barrel but sent him with more energy. It took a while but I would just keep re-suggesting it and finally he offered to put his foot on it, which I rewarded because he was starting to think "barrel". Then I backed him up and asked him to jump the barrel and he did and he didn't just jump it but he put effort into jumping it. We ended there and went and this time Prince was more eager to ask permission to come in to his hay. I think I came out the leader with both of our dignity intact :)

Naturally,

~Keri

Prince: Little Liberty Demo

2011-04-13T20:07:00.000-04:00

April 9, 2011

This afternoon a friend of ours came over with her daughter and grandchildren to see the horses. I was getting ready to leave for work but I had about ten minutes until I had to leave so I played at Liberty with Prince.

We did close range stick to me at the walk and trot, sideways towards and away from me, jumping a single barrel, Touch it from 15ft away, straddling a barrel, pushing the ball, leading by the tail, and extreme friendly game.

The whole time I was thinking of what Mr. Parelli says about impressing them when what you know, not what you don't know (very loosely quoted) and it worked :) I kept it simple and short (because I didn't have a lot of time anyway) and I think they were impressed :) I was really proud of Prince and how well he did, especially the fact that the other horses were eating and I took him away from his food!! Well, not exactly because he did come over to me when he saw me but he was eating. That in and of itself would have been enough, my LBI left his food to come see me!!!

I love Prince so much! I am so blessed to have him on this amazing journey!

Naturally,

~Keri

Prince: An Amazing Session

2011-04-13T19:59:00.000-04:00

April 8, 2011

After haltering Prince we headed into the riding ring. Prince was... how shall I say this.... being very much a Left Brain Introvert. He would do what I asked but only put enough effort in to get it done. Nothing more. So we played with motivational strategies while doing a fun little task. The task we were playing with was where you put the rope on the other side of the horse and then ask your horse to follow the feel, turn and then head off on the circle.

Well at first Prince was like molasses in December.... very, very slow but that was okay! I love a good challenge! So I allowed (I almost said "let"!!) him to go slowly for the first one but then I decided on which strategy I would use so get his mind engaged!! After he had come off of the feel I tagged behind him as he left this worked well and Prince started getting more and more interested.

Prince started getting his mind engaged but I wanted to also advance the task I was looking for a bit more speed in the spin stage, Prince was putting a lot of effort into moving off onto the circle by now so that wasn't an issue but Prince wasn't as light as I was looking for when following the feel. So as I asked Prince to follow the feel I used my carrot stick to support his front end moving over. This worked very well and Prince got very snappy!! He put energy into it and on the last one it worked like clockwork so we ended!

Up next was circles!! We did these at the canter mainly but started with some beautiful walk - trot - canter transitions!! I mean these were the best we have ever gotten Prince went into the canter at a phase one and maintained gait for 4 laps to the right like it was no problem at all!! I love how light our transitions are now!! To the left it was the same light phase but Prince had a bit of a hard time maintaining gait because he had a hard time getting on the correct lead. Once he found it though he had to problems maintaining gait and cantered for about 2 laps before I brought him in for a rest... and a long rest it was indeed!

Then we played with sideways at a trot!! Prince totally blew my mind away with how well he did with this today. We trotted sideways for at least 30ft all at a phase one!!! Both directions were amazing and the last one we did Prince trotted sideways with out the fence!! Our fence is not straight, that is another story but it is what you get when you live here in Canada, but it was really amazing because I sent Prince around in a half circle but before he got to the fence I asked him to go sideways, like I normally do, but this time we ended up about 3ft from the fence... and Prince didn't go backwards ;) we went totally straight sideways at a trot :) I was so proud of Prince and so totally happy!!! It was amazing beyond words.

Up next I bridled Prince which took a matter of seconds and then I mounted up bareback to ride. Today I wanted to focus on teaching Prince to follow the feel from the bit. My strategy was to put the slightest amount of pressure on with the reins, attached to the bit, and then support with the carrot stick instead of getting harder with the bit because Prince didn't know what that pressure meant and how to respond to it.

The only problem was that Prince has gotten so light that he responded to everything I asked with out me even having to touch my reins. It was all body.... hmmm I had to change the strategy seeing as this one wasn't working... although I was really glad that Prince was so light ;)

I decided to do some indirect rein and lateral flexions seeing as I could do though with my reins and it not be a phase four. This worked really well and we got some really nice lateral flexions with Prince's mouth totally quiet. Indirect rein was pretty good also. Then we moved onto the nine step back up. Prince opened his mouth and wasn't to sure how to respond to that pressure so I used my legs to help him instead of increasing the phases with the bit. This all seemed to work well so we did some follow the rail and transitions and then ended.

I was really pleased with how well Prince did responding to the bit and afterward I let him lick some more honey off of it so that he wouldn't just see it as a thing to go into his mouth. It was really an amazing session and I went away feeling very happy with the progress we made and things we learned!!

Naturally,
~Keri

Twosox: Learning about "Zero Brace"

2011-04-12T10:03:00.000-04:00

April 8, 2011

Twosox and I had a fabulous session today. We started off with some zone 5 driving with one rein then played with the green ball. Twosox would show a little bit of interest and then walk right past it, not really putting any effort into actually pushing it or doing anything regarding it. So I made it a game. I knew that if I "made" him do it he wouldn't get it and I didn't want to tell him the answer because he wouldn't become a puzzle solver. It is amazing how easy it is to just tell you horse the answer... or you give him very specific hints until he stumbles across the answer.

Like I said earlier, Twosox wasn't putting any effort into it really and so we played the game, you can go past the ball anytime you want but I will just change direction and resend you to it, while playfully tagging behind you. We did this about 4 times and at first it didn't really look like it was working. Twosox would just put his nose on the ball, and then walk around it. But slowly he started getting more interested and so we kept with it and then he started asking questions (very small, quick questions) I knew he had gotten it when he pushed the ball about 20ft, he was light on the rope (not pulling like he was before), asking questions, connected and when the ball left the fence he followed it and brought it to me.

We had a long rest and time to lick and chew over that for a while. I felt like I am really starting to understand how to motivate this horse, and that is to not tell him the answers. He is really good at doing what he is told but his mind is not in it at all. I believe that this is could be the missing key that I have been looking for over the past year and a half!!

After that we did Figure eights. I had a pretty good idea what Twosox was going to do so I had time to plan ahead and know what I was going to do if he braced. This is anther area I have been discovering with Twosox, no brace. What does that mean? How does it apply? What do I have to do to get zero brace? These were all questions that I had to figure out and just recently I have had the opportunity to see how they actually work!!

It was always easy to get in a argument with Twosox. He knew how to push my buttons. So when I recently started playing with Twosox more, and wanting to progress, I knew that this would be more issue I would need to address in myself if we were really going to progress.

So off we went. The left barrel was great, nice and light Twosox was connected, soft and didn't brace. The right barrel on the other hand was where Twosox has always had a problem and today was no different, expect I was prepared to respond differently. He came around that right hand barrel and when I asked him to come between myself and it he said "no" and started heading in the other direction. So I said.... "let me help you!!" and we went trotting sideways across the riding ring then did a traveling circle right back to the barrels and continued.

This happened about ten times. Twosox said "No" and I said "Okay, let me help you" I was having fun! Twosox about the third time in Twosox started going less and less sideways and more and more forward so I paid extra special attention to that the next time.

After about the tenth time Twosox started to think about not bracing and he started to come around the barrel and stop. So I would lightly ask him to continue on, he would have a little bit of opposition reflex to the pressure on his head but then move forward. The whole time I made sure that I was offering the lightness that I wanted to have in the end. It was all so fascinating!! When Twosox walk around the ends, not stopping, we ended. Both sides were light and Twosox stayed connected.

The best part was that Twosox didn't snort afterward. Quite often he will snort but right after he will lick and chew, all the while blinking and having his head really low. So I am not sure if it is a right brain thing or left brain but either way he didn't do it. He had a huge lick and chew and yawned for about 10 minutes then I took the halter off but he stayed with me so we just sat there for a while thinking :)

So I don't know if that is exactly what Mrs. Parelli talks about when she talks about "No Brace" or "Zero Brace" but this is what it means for me and Twosox. Not getting a argument with him, taking his idea, "helping" him it and then bringing it back to my idea.

One really cool thing also is was I was having fun the whole time! I had a smile on my face and it had changed from a frustration into a fascination!!

Naturally,

~Keri

Prince: Circles!

2011-04-10T15:28:00.000-04:00

April 7, 2011

Today Prince and I did a little bit of one line zone 5 driving but mainly focused on circles. We started with a really nice, straight, phase one Yo-yo to the end of the 22ft line (something that has taken us a long time to accomplish) and then we focused on canter sends and maintaining gait at the canter for four laps in each direction.

Prince did it very easily to the right he cantered the four laps only breaking gait one or twice but picked up the canter again without me having to ask. To the left Prince had a little bit more trouble getting the correct lead but once he got that he maintained gait no problem. So after four laps each direction I brought him in and we had a nice rest.

We haven't done circles in a long time because this winter was extraordinarily icy so it was really nice to have a chance to focus on them and I was really pleased with how well Prince found the rhythm, relaxation and connection quickly and he remembered it all so well!!

We then spent some time hanging out together and then I helped Mom with Knightly plus played with and rode Knightly myself.

Naturally,

~Keri

Prince: Zone 5 driving.

2011-04-09T10:17:00.000-04:00

April 6, 2011

Prince and I focused on zone 5 driving this morning. We haven't done this in a while so we started off simple with some transitions, yo-yo's and touch it, then we did circles at the walk, trot and a little bit of canter. My rope handling skills left a lot to be desired and so the rope kept getting under Prince's legs but I was able to figure that out eventually and then I was able to keep the ropes in the proper position!!

At first Prince wasn't yielding to the pressure from the lines or the halter so I made sure to reward the lightness, especially on the circles, where Prince was having a hard time. With in a couple minutes though he found a nice circle and we got some beautiful circles at the trot with lightness!! Then we added in a couple changes of directions and then I brought him in for a rest.

After that we played with sideways. Something that has always puzzled me but I let Prince be my guide and depending on what feedback he gave me I tried to respond appropriately. At first both he and I were not getting it but after a lot of trial and error I finally started getting something. I was playing with were my lines had to be for me to influence the proper zones in the direction I wanted and eventually we started getting things figured out!

Prince picked up on his right away and it seemed so easy once I figured it out! We ended when we got some nice steps sideways in each direction. I sat down on a tire and both of us had a big lick and chew. Then I let Prince go but he stayed with me so I stayed a little bit longer before heading down to go inside.

Naturally,

~Keri

Ruffian: Trimming and Liberty.

2011-04-09T09:38:00.000-04:00

April 2, 2011

Trimming. Ever since Myles has been playing with Ruffian I have noticed a HUGE change in Ruffian! He is 100% more confident and when I ask him something he doesn’t freeze up and go internal because of the pressure! It was amazing trimming him today he was so confident and relaxed!! I was so happy!!!

Ruffian and I had a short but fun Liberty session this afternoon. He wandered into the riding ring as I was letting one of the other horses out so we started playing. Ruffian can, and does, loose confidence really quickly at Liberty and it has happened where he was broken through rails because he gets that scared.

So we have slowly been building his confidence and now he is so much more confident. We were able to do stick to me at the walk, sideways, lead by the chin (!!!!), jumping a single barrel on a squeeze game, and we finished with some undemanding time. He only left once and got a little bit worried but I was able to very, very, very slowly and with just the slightest amount of pressure, get him back to me.

I was really proud of how well he did and how we both were able to have fun :)

Naturally,
~Keri

Twosox: March 30 - April 5, 2011

2011-04-09T09:35:00.000-04:00

March 30, 2011

I scratched some itchy spots, gave him his supplements and hung out for a bit. We have been having a lot of fun lately since I have been playing with him more!!

March 31, 2011

Today Twosox and I played Online for a short while and then moved onto Liberty! While we played Online we played with some circles on the 12ft line, changes of directions, sideways over poles, Touch it, leading by the hocks and some other small things. Then I took the halter off and we played at Liberty.

We didn’t do a whole lot at Liberty but played with stick to me with my hand on Twosox’s neck, Touch it, leading by the mane and some other small things and then we spent some undemanding time and I brushed Twosox… man can he shed a lot of hair! :)

April 3, 2011

Undemanding time.

April 2, 2011

Twosox and I played at Liberty today. We had a lot of fun playing Stick to me, leading by the mane, pushing/pawing and kicking the ball, Touch it, and jumping single barrels!! At first Twosox wasn’t to sure about jumping the barrel but after a couple tries he jumped over it no problem!! It was really fun! Then we hung out for a bit and I groomed Twosox again. He is shedding so much!

We had so much fun and were able to give Mom some pointers on leading by the mane. Twosox is so much fun!! He left a couple times but came back quickly. Our Liberty is getting so much better!!

When he did leave I took it and used it and asked him to canter around. He had an easier time getting into the canter at Liberty than Online… Hmmm… how interesting. I am going to play with that more. The weather has been so nice that I have been spending so much more time just hanging out with the horses which is really nice!!

April 5, 2011

I was away all day but when I got back I needed some time with my horses so I hung out with them, scratched itchy spots and breathed the fresh air. Being in the city gives me a headache I was born to live outside :) But it was a productive day nonetheless :) I just appreciate my horses so much more when I return :)

--------------------------------

Last week I have played with Twosox a lot (and I loved every minute!!) The best part is that Twosox has become a different horse when I walk into that herd. Instead of just carrying on with his own thing, he will come over to me and want to be with me. Even if the two boss horses are with me he is right behind them waiting for his turn :) What a change!! I am loving it!

Naturally,

~Keri

Prince: March 30 - April 5, 2011

2011-04-09T09:30:00.000-04:00

March 30, 2011

Today I was away all day so I took the opportunity to spent some undemanding time with Prince and Twosox after supper. Prince kept hanging around for the longest and then I realized that he was trying to show me an itchy spot. We had a great time together and I got a lot of horse hair on me to say the least :) Gotta love shedding season!!

March 31, 2011

Today we did some small things at Liberty as Prince was still coughing when he moved to much. So we did some stick to me at the walk getting everything with more speed within the walk and also testing our back-ups. We also did some sideways towards me, circles at the walk and trot (close range) and then we just hung out for the rest of the time and watched Mom play with Knightly.

April 2, 2011

Yeah I know I am very behind here :) My priorities are not blogging… which you probably could easily figure out ;) So Prince and I had another Liberty session today. We did some walk/trot/canter stick to me with my hand on Prince’s neck, then we did some circles, backing up onto the pedestal from 15ft away, leading by the hocks, spins, and then we ended with me sitting on the pedestal and asking Prince to jump a single barrel on the other side of the riding ring. It took two tries but Prince figured it out in the end and the look on his face was priceless!!

April 5, 2011

Naturally,

~Keri

Prince: Hanging out with my boy!

2011-04-04T12:12:00.000-04:00

March 29, 2011

Prince is still showing signs of not feeling well so when we got home from our trail ride this afternoon I took him out to eat some grass on the front yard. Not a lot because I didn't want to him eat to much grass but I also wanted to hang out with him. We went out at Liberty, as per my Mom's suggestion ;) Prince had come over to me by the gate and didn't want to leave me so I allowed him to go out onto the front yard then I haltered him after I unhaltered Twosox.

Then I climbed up on Prince bareback and let him eat for a little while longer. It was just to tempting to get up on Prince. It was so much more comfortable than having to stay on the ground :)

After about 45 minutes we went back to the corral, I fed the horse and then headed in for supper :)

Naturally,

~Keri

Twosox: Trail riding

2011-04-03T15:03:00.001-04:00

March 29, 2011

Twosox and I went on a trail ride with Mom and Knightly today. Before we went I had a lot of preparing to do. I saddled up first. That went well like normal. Twosox didn't have any issues with the saddle today which was good. We did however have some issues with cantering.

I was (and still am) not sure if his behaviour is left brain or right brain and that is the challenging part. It looks left brain/dominate but at times it feels like right brain/ lack of confidence/ scared. What ended up happening was that when ever I would ask Twosox to go out on the circle he would toss his head, and back up, pulling. A lot of opposition reflex there!! So after a lot of trial and error the phrase "zero brace" came into my head. So I decided to try instead of stopping Twosox from backing up, which wasn't working, I took his idea, went with it, made it my idea and then came back to the circle. This worked really well!!

Twosox stopped pulling back and got light and connected again. Now this didn't help the cantering issue but at least we got our circles back to normal.

Twosox was 100% more confident jumping today. He jumped the single barrel that way by the fence no problem. Just another reminder to take the time it takes and it will take less time!!

Once I felt that Twosox was ready to ride I mounted up. We did lateral flexions which were fairly good then we moved on to the 9 step back up... which was broken. After playing around with it and not getting anywhere I dismounted and played with the porcupine game in zone one, backing up. Then I remounted and tried it again. This time it was much better. Twosox wasn't trying to escape and but at the same time he wasn't bracing. He was light and his head was lower.

I felt that Twosox was not in tune with me and he was distracted. At this point I was thinking that a trail ride was definitely out of the question unless I was able to help Twosox get focused and listening to me. I picked circles so help get the rhythm, relaxation and connection that I was looking for and it worked very well!

I LOVE riding circles. I could do them all day... RBI much? But of course I have been blessed with a LBI and a RBI/LBI so I have to make sure not to over do the pattern that I love so much!

Today our center was Mom and Knightly as they had just done circles and so there was a nice track in the dirt. Twosox needed many corrections at first but made sure to stay as consistent as possible and pretty soon we started getting really nice results. Twosox relaxed, he started getting straight on the circle and not looking out. We both gained a lot more focus.

We stayed at the walk and kept it simple by meaningful and ended when I only had to make two corrections. Doing this pattern really made the difference in Twosox's mental, emotional and physical state. Things were looking up!

Twosox and I took a lot rest and then played with sideways. Which in the end went well and Twosox gave me some nice, soft sideways in both directions. Then we played with all 8 of our responsibilities at the halt for about 30 minutes as we waited for Mom to be ready and then we headed out!

I was ready and prepared not to get on Twosox until he was ready and not before. He was definitely more confident and I felt that we could at least have success Online. We stopped at the end of our road for a while to talk to someone so I was able to see how Twosox handled the traffic, he was fine. We have ridden through town twice before (Twosox and I) but I wasn't going to make any assumptions!!

Twosox was fine walking through town and the only little hiccup was when we came across a man whole... the exact same one that Prince spooked at last time we were out that way. So we did some squeeze games until Twosox was more calm about it and wasn't so scared. Then we carried on. The last time Mom and I rode out there were piles of wood chips on the side of the road and so I wanted to see what Twosox thought about those before I mounted. Things were looking up!!

There were no issues with the wood chips. Twosox walked right up and started eating them :) So I mounted up and we continued on. Twosox was very relaxed and we were able to do lots of walking and trotting. Twosox took it all in stride and was calm, cool and collected! Again I was reminded of how smooth this horse is to ride!! His trot is to die for... but I guess that means a rough canter? Hehe we shall see.

On the way home we trotted most of the way and this was when I saw Twosox start to totally relaxed and he started stretching, blowing, licking and chewing and etc. His head was almost on the ground!! At one point I felt something different happening under my saddle but quickly realized, to my complete joy, that Twosox was lifting his back up!! It was amazing!!

We dismounted and walked through town and home again! It was such a great ride!! Twosox was a champ and we both had fun!!

Naturally,

~Keri

Twosox: Determined to progress.

2011-04-01T11:42:00.000-04:00

March 28, 2011

Today I played with and rode Twosox for the first time in a long while. Yesterday, Sunday, was exactly three years since I bought Twosox. This got me thinking a lot about how far we have come but how over the last 6 months or so I really haven't progressed a lot with Twosox. Progressing is challenging with his horse and most of the time it felt like we were solving problems every session and never progressing. I had a hard time staying emotionally calm, cool and collected and so Twosox knew how to push my buttons, whether he knew it or not.

Then since Twosox had this eye issue it was pretty easy for me to just give him time off and not do a whole lot with him other than what was needed for his eye. So with all these thoughts going through my head I got very motivated to play with him more and get through our problems and start progressing!!

Twosox has a lot of potential and I know that with consistency we can progress. His eye seems to be healing well and since it doesn't seem to be bothering him I felt it was an okay time to start up his advancement once again.

I hadn't put my Natural Performer on Twosox yet so I thought it would be a great time to do that plus depending on how everything went I might ride. My goal is to get Twosox well rounded in all four savvies, just like I am aiming to do with Prince.

Twosox did well with saddling. He stood well well and didn't have any issues with it at the walk and trot. We did some Touch it, pushing the ball, sideways, 12ft circles at the walk, and some other low key things then we moved on to circles on the 22ft line and other things from farther away. We did Figure eights at the walk and trot which went really well!! Then we did circles at the trot with changes of directions while I stood on the pedestal. Twosox was so connected and relaxed!! It was really, really amazing!!

Then we played with getting the canter on the circle by changing direction. This is one thing that has always been hard for Twosox and it used to get me frustrated. The cool thing today is that I was able to stay totally calm, cool and collected, even though things didn't away go smoothly!!

Twosox did have some buck in him when he got into the canter but after a couple really strong, high, bucks (I was glad I was not right those!) he did buck any more. Some we had some fairly nice cantering off of a change of direction we moved onto jumping. At first Twosox was avoiding it because jumping to him equals stressful so I just went with it, letting him come between me and the barrel if he needed. Stopping when he was able to walk or trot up to the barrel. Pretty soon he was able to jump it confidently and so I brought him in to me for a rest.

When I felt that Twosox was ready to ride I checked our lateral flexions and then mounted up. We stood still for a long time, we hurried up to do nothing. Twosox had a major lick and chew and was yawning. After a while I did a passenger lesson just letting Twosox walk where ever he wanted so that he would get a feel for the new saddle. This worked really well and his head was so low!!

I had forgotten what a comfortable horse Twosox was to ride!! He is so smooth! We finished up shortly after that, Twosox was very relaxed and calm. It was a great way to end! Tomorrow we are hoping to go on a trail ride depending on how Twosox does Online and while riding in the riding ring. We shall see!

Naturally,
~Keri

Prince: A glimpse of true lightness...

2011-03-29T10:33:00.000-04:00

March 28, 2011

Today Prince and I had an interesting session. We started off with bridling... with was definitely an "oh boy". Prince didn't want anything to do with the bit or bridle. I am not sure if it had do to with the fact that last session to started guiding him a little with my fingers in the rings of the bit, while Online, or it is had to do with the fact that Prince wasn't feeling to well. He had a cough and other signs of indigestion. I am hoping that it is the latter and that he just wasn't feeling well. We were basically back to square one again so first we played with getting Prince not to resist or try to avoid it and then once that was going well I held the bit and let Prince lick the honey off of it, which he wasn't interested in doing at all at first.

After that we ended and went up to the riding ring to play. I didn't want to do a whole lot because I wasn't sure how Prince was feeling but he did okay at the walk and trot and only had a little bit pf breathing trouble at the canter. So we kept things short and fairly simple.

We started off with a little obstacle course. We went sideways for about 15ft to a tire, then went sideways over the tire, changed direction and backed all the way to the end of the 22ft line, did Touch it over to the pedestal, asked for just his two back legs, then flowed into Figure eights at the trot. The two markers that we were using for Figure eights were really far a part but they were perfect because Prince liked a lot! We got some beautiful Figure eights at the trot and then stopped.

Prince seemed a little disconnected though so I waited until he asked a question before we moved on. Then we did some circles. We started at the walk after two circles at the walk we did a upward transition to the trot, two circles at the trot, upward transition to the canter, where we had a bit of trouble. Prince had a hard time getting the correct lead and maintaining the canter so after he cantered about 1/4 of the lap on the correct lead I brought him in.

I knew exactly what I needed to fix... the send. All I had to do was have that intention and Prince cantered off on the circle from the send at a phase one and cantered one and a half laps to the right with rhythm, relaxation and connection.

Going to the left was a little harder. Prince was able to pick up the correct lead but he wasn't able to maintain the canter. So we played with that and the really amazing part was that when I asked him to pick up the canter again it was the lightest transition into the canter that I have ever experienced!!! Prince maintained the canter along with the relaxation and connection for a whole lap and I brought him in for a rest. It was such an amazing feeling, one I didn't think I would experience for a long time!!

We ended there and after a long rest we went down to the corral. I am not sure what I wrong with Prince but it could have been that the last couple bales of hay from our last load were a bit wet (it was a rainy day when they were delivered) and so I am hoping that is the reason and soon Prince shall be back to normal. Otherwise though he seems normal, he is still moving around a lot, playing with Ruffian and being his normal self. So hopefully it is a minor issue.

Until he 100% again though I won't ride him but just play Online a bit. It will give me sometime to focus on Twosox's Freestyle!! Maybe a trail ride is in order :)

Naturally,

~Keri

Prince: Trimming and Yo-yo's

2011-03-28T20:55:00.000-04:00

March 25, 2011

Today I trimmed Prince and also playing with getting our yo-yo's straighter. I made it a game where if Prince pulled his foot away I would ask him to back up until he got light and straight. This worked really well and he stopped pulling his foot away pretty quickly ;)

This really is one of our last areas that we have can still have bigger dominance issues so I think this shall help. Prince taught me how to not stop trimming ;) Our yo-yo's are getting so much better and way straighter! We are going to nail it on the 12ft before we try it on the 22ft line though.

Naturally,
~Keri

Prince: Open spaces!!

2011-03-27T19:58:00.000-04:00

March 24, 2011

Today Prince and I played with sideways at a trot, cantering on the 12ft line and getting rhythm, relaxation and connection, jumping with effort (Prince will jump and clear the barrels but not all the time with effort so we had fun making that a game and getting him to want to jump higher and completely clear the barrels). We also played with Stick to me and getting Prince more flexible on the right side. Then we played with some yo-yo's, porcupine games and driving games. This spring weather makes me want to get all these back up to where they should be and getting more lightness, speed and distance. I was really pleased with where we ended with them. Prince was putting a lot of effort into moving his hindquarters and forequarters. I was especially happy with our forequarter yields at they have always been a little bit harder but today we got lightness, SPEED and distance. Speed has been the hardest one of the three.

Then we played with ground tying as I had to go get my hackamore and bridle. I sent Prince over to the pedestal and he climbed up and stayed there the whole time. I bridled while sitting down and Prince did really well. He kept his head nice and low and was really soft!

Then we played with yielding to pressure from his mouth and doing lateral flexions, turns, stopping, backwards, and going forward with the bit. I had my fingers on the rings to guide him and that was going well but I felt that I wasn't being light enough so I attached my savvy string to the rings and that worked much better. Prince was super light and we got some really nice things going for us. It will still take some time but things are progressing really nicely!

Then we had a chance to really test our ground tying because I had to help Mom with something and so Prince had to stand on the pedestal while I played with Knightly, trying to help him understand cantering on the circle.

Prince only got off twice. The first time he backed off so I just send him back up lightly, reminding him where he was supposed to be. But the next time when I sent him back up he trotted off. So I kept the pressure on and he went around the end of the riding ring and trotted right up to the pedestal and climbed back up on it. He knew exactly where he was supposed to be ;) It looked like he was going to trot right past it but he turned and went straight to it... what a smart horse ;) It was really kind of funny to see Prince make a V line for the pedestal ;)

After I finished playing with Knightly and when Mom was ready we headed down to the corral, out the gate and mounted up for our trail ride!!

What can I say? This trail riding thing is really growing on me!! Yes, I still LOVE arena riding... RBI much? But I do not like being confined... claustrophobic maybe? ;) So since the only place Prince and I can ride where we actually have space to do anything at the canter is on the trail! So I have learned to LOVE trail riding pretty fast :) Today Mom and I rode the horses through town (we normally walk them Online) we met with a couple vehicles but the horses did well. We had to walk between two buildings, Prince has never liked going between them so I wasn't sure if he would go between them while riding. It was such an amazing feeling though when I asked him to go through and even though he wasn't 100% confident he walked on through the squeeze. He trusted me enough to go through it even though he didn't like it :) I made sure that I didn't force him, I asked and he decided to go because I asked.

We had to stop and play the friendly game with a man hole in the ground. Prince and Knightly both spooked at it, I think Knightly spooked first and then Prince but I am not sure it happened quickly, but I couldn't just leave it ;) So we did circles around it until Prince was able to walk up to it and sniff it. He definitely thought it was a horse eating man hole!!

Then we cantered up the hill (super amazing feeling!!!) then rode down the road all the way to the water treatment plant. We did some cantering on the way down and got some nice lead changes. They weren't as nice as the last time, our transitions down to the trot were a little rough, but Prince got the correct leads each time no problem.

We trotted for a long time and set up for success by continuing to trot until I felt that Prince was slowing down a bit then when I asked for the transition to the walk Prince responded with lightness and it was all at phase one, my energy. I applied this strategy to when we transitioned out of the canter also and so when we came down to the trot from the canter I didn't ask Prince to stop right away but we trotted for a little bit and then stopped. I realized that I have to let Prince have more time to get his mind around what I am asking, so in this case instead of requiring a quick, light, snappy transition (which we will get to soon I know) we will trot for a bit after we come out of the canter that way Prince has time to think about it and I am not overloading him.

We stopped and then the horses eat for a bit on the side of the road and then carried on. We got a series of incredible lead changes on the way back. They were beyond amazing. Prince was even lighter, more in tune with me... it was just amazing. Then had a long rest then walked for a while before trotting the rest of the way home. I wanted to make sure that Prince didn't think that every time we went into the trot on the way home we were going to canter. We trotted a LONG way. Prince started blowing out and lowering his head also. I love that sound!!

Then stopped and dismounted shortly after because there was a person and dog walking up a head. We decided just to get off because we weren't sure how the horses would do. A few times ago we were walking home through town and a dog lounged at the horses, fortunately it was tied but it was pretty close. So we weren't sure if the horses would be bothered by this dog.

We let the horses stand and look at the person and dog for a little while before and then when they relaxed we walked on. They didn't have any issues after that which was nice :)

There were no ruffled hairs when I took the saddle off, very encouraging :) I think both Prince and I had a blast. Each time it just gets better and better!!! It was so much fun!!

Naturally,
~Keri

2011-03-27T15:24:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to say that if anyone would like to get an email (with the post) in their inbox whenever I publish a new post I can have up to ten people on my list. So let me know and I will be happy to add your email address to the list :)

Naturally,
~Keri

Prince: Yielding to pressure.

2011-03-26T14:24:00.000-04:00

March 23, 2011

Prince and I played with just the 45ft line looped around his neck. The last time we did this it went really well and Prince responded to the pressure very well. Today though he had more trouble doing that so we slowed it down and played with some changes of directions to help Prince learn to come off that pressure, he was leaning on it while circling. This worked a little but I still felt that Prince wasn’t really getting it yet as he was still leaning quite a bit.

So I decided to do the Backward "S" pattern. I moved the rope a little farther back towards his withers also and then we started. At first, like before, Prince was leaning and didn’t know what to do with the pressure and who to respond. He tried several different things until he figured it out. I kept it slow and simple and I knew Prince got it when we got the nicest, lightest, backward "S" pattern, I had my hand open the whole time and Prince was coming off of the slightest pressure.

Prince did really well with bridling today also. He took the bit nicely again and he didn’t try to get it out or even chew at it nearly as much. After he got the honey off of it he kept his mouth quiet and didn’t seemed at all bothered by it!! Which was really great progress!

Then I climbed up bareback and rode around a little. I can’t say it was bridleless because I had the bridle on… but there were no reins attached ;) I had my savvy string around his neck and a carrot stick and off we went! First we played with refining out indirect and direct rein, backing up, and sideways and then we played with backing up between the tire (which is planted standing up) and the fence and then touching, without knocking down, a pole that was set up from the fence to the tire. Prince did well but first we had to play with backing up with straightness, something that Prince and I have always had a hard time doing.

Prince was SUPER light though and once we got he straightness we got everything else quickly. The first two tries we knocked the pole down but then the next try we got it and Prince got so in tune with me that when I relaxed and stopped asking for he back up he stopped immediately, before he would back up one more step which caused us to knock the pole down. It was pretty fun!!

Unbridling Prince was a breeze. Prince lowered his head, kept it nice and low while I took it off and then I just slid the bit out of his mouth and Prince didn’t even raise his head! It was the best one yet!! After a little UDT we went down to the corral.

Naturally,
~Keri

Prince: Online, Liberty and Bridling.

2011-03-22T21:08:00.000-04:00

March 17, 2011

We started with bridling, which went really well. Prince took the bit beautifully, kept his head nice and low while I adjusted everything and once we started playing he didn't even seem to notice it! I kept the bridle on for the whole session as I want to build the amount of time that Prince is okay with wearing it and as I wasn't planning on playing long I figured that it would be a great session to start.

It was to wet/icy (snow on top of water which was on top on ice) in the riding ring to do any cantering, which was a little disappointing because I had planned on playing with our circles but I was able to adjust to fit the situation and Prince and I played with circles on the 12ft line with two barrels. We started with doing trot to halt transitions right in front of the barrel that was lying down and then once that was going really smoothly we changed it up a bit and I asked Prince to squeeze between the barrels while maintaining gait, all things that we had done before so it was nothing new but it is always good to check things out again.

Prince knocked the barrel a couple times (I wonder where his mind really was? Obviously it wasn't totally on me :) So we then switched to Figure eights. Of course Prince was even less motivated to do these so I had to make it a fun game. After a couple figure eights Prince started getting more and more interested and he stopped hitting the barrels and started asking questions and everything for lighter and it felt way more smooth!

After those were going well and we found rhythm, relaxation and connection on the Figure eight we played at Liberty.

In our Liberty session we did Touch it, sideways, close range circles at the walk and trot, and stick to me (with my hand on Prince's). Stick to me went really well and Prince is starting to get a great bend in his body on the right side. Which is great to see. We played a kind of Tit for Tat game because I can't force him to bend or to stay connected with me so what we did was started on a straight line and trotted forwards then did really big circles, which will eventually build to small circles like we have on the other side. Then we would gradually get the circles smaller but when I felt that Prince wanted to go more straight again I would flow with him and then bring him back to the circle again. Once we got a 1/2 a circle with Prince bending really nicely and I really felt that he was connected we stopped. It really worked well and this way we didn't loose the connection. I just went with Prince for a couple feet and then brought him back to where I wanted to go. We both won in the end.

We ended with standing on the pedestal where I unbridled Prince and we hung out for a while. Then I brought Ruffian and Twosox in for my two little brothers to play with. While they played I thought it would be a great opportunity to teach Prince to stay on his "spot" or ground tie, at Liberty. So since he was on the pedestal I figured I would make that his "spot". I had to send him back about 4 times when he got off. The last time I sent him back at the trot (because I knew that he knew where he was supposed to be) and he trotted right over to the pedestal climbed back up.

When he was on the pedestal I left him alone. Left brain introverts like to show how smart they are and this gave Prince a chance to do that because once he figured it out, and after he tested to see if I was going to hold my end of it, he stood there for about 20 minutes and didn't move off of the pedestal again.

Prince started licking and chewing, yawning and blowing out so I figured that it was a great time to let him go so I walked over to him and we walked over to the gate together and I let him out. It was really cool to see him finally get it and uphold each of his responsibilities so well!!

Naturally,
~Keri

Prince: Bridling with savvy!

2011-03-20T14:28:00.000-04:00

March 16, 2011

Today it was rainy but I still played with Prince a little bit. We mainly did bridling. Prince was superb and he is getting a lot softer about me taking the bridle off and taking the bit out of his mouth. He used to toss his head and try to get it out when I went to un-bridle but today I played with getting Prince to lower his head, keep it low and then I would take the bridle off. Hopefully I will be able to let Prince wear it for longer periods of time and then progress slow to riding with it. A great summer project!

After that we hung out for a while at Liberty while I watched Myles play with Ruffian.

Naturally,

~Keri

Ruffian: Changes.

2011-03-20T14:25:00.000-04:00

My younger brother, (known as M1 here on my blog) has taken "active ownership" over Ruffian now and is playing with him almost everyday. In the last week Ruffian has gotten more attention, love and play time from my brother than I have been able to give him in over a month!! I am really happy about this and am looking forward to helping M1 and Ruffian in their journey.

Yes, Ruffian will not be played with at first to the level that we were playing at but I think this will be better because Ruffian can regain his confidence where he had lost a lot of it before I started playing with him and in the end I think it will be better for him. M1 and Ruffian have been doing so well and M1 has been learning very quickly. Each session has ended with Ruffian 100% confident and M1 happy with how it all went. M1 has also set a goal to pass his Level 1 by the fall! He is positive, progressive and natural!

M1 has also been helping me feed the horses so he can have even more interaction with them and even though things got a little messy for a couple days (the horses weren't sure what to do because of the extra person feeding) and they broke through our "line" a couple times things are getting better and the horses are learning what to do :)

I will still be playing with Ruffian a little and of course helping M1 with their journey but most of the play will be done by M1. This has really freed me up to focus on Prince (and Twosox with he gets better). It is so wonderful and I am really happy that Ruffian has someone who will give him a lot of one on one attention!!

Naturally,
~Keri

Ruffian: Saddling.

2011-03-20T14:10:00.000-04:00

March 14, 2011

Yeah I know, this is out of order but I forgot to type about the play time Ruffian and I had! It as amazing! I saddled Ruffian and played in the corral for a bit. We didn't do anything major, just some porcupine games, yo-yo's, and driving games. Ruffian exceeded my expectations with how well he did with the saddle. He was calm and confident the whole time! We ended with played with tying where I looped the rope to the rail a couple times and let Ruffian stand there tied. I was right there the whole time but he did really well with all the other things that were happening and stood there calmly :)

Naturally,

~Keri

Twosox: Ponying Twosox off of Prince.

2011-03-20T14:03:00.000-04:00

March 15, 2011

I decided to give this a try just to see how it things had gotten better from the last time we tried this... a long time ago. I was really happy with how it all went, how well Prince responded to my body and how well Twosox did listening to what I asked! It was far from perfect but it was definitely much better than before.

Prince, Twosox and I started out with just doing basic walk-halt transitions and trying to get Twosox to lead off the feel of the halter with more lightness. Twosox was leading on it quite a bit. After that was going better we moved up into the trot. I wrapped the lead rope around the saddle horn so that it would be a more solid feel for Twosox and more quicker release when he came off the the pressure. That seemed to work really well and Twosox started walking and trotting beside Prince and I instead of lagging behind.

Just as this was going really well I noticed that Prince was starting to pin his ears at Twosox, which he wasn’t doing before at first I just thought that it could have been because he didn’t like Twosox being so close but then I just happened to look at Twosox as we were trotting a long the rail and he was biting at Prince! So I had to promptly attend to that and as soon as Twosox stopped trying to bite Prince, Prince stopped pinning his ears.

We did some more Follow the rail with walk, trot, halt, back up transitions and then we ended. To take the halter off I asked Twosox to put his head on Prince’s neck and then even after I took the halter off Twosox just left his head there for me to rub it. So we spent some time just hanging out together, all three of us, before Prince and I walked off, but to mu surprise Twosox followed us!! It was really cool!! We walked around the end of the riding ring and then stopped.

It really as a whole lot of fun and I want to continue advancing it more this spring and summer. Plus the better Twosox's and my Liberty gets, the better our Liberty while I ride Prince with get :) But never despise small beginnings!

Naturally,
~Keri

Prince: Another amazing trail ride!

2011-03-20T13:55:00.000-04:00

March 15 2011

Mom and I decided to go for another trail ride today. First though Prince and I played in the riding ring on the 12ft line. We played with walk, trot, and canter stick to me with my hand on his neck, this went really well and Prince was very connected. The canter was a little rough to start but by the end Prince was light and the transition to the canter from the trot was very smooth! We also played with circles at the at the walk, trot and canter while I sat on a barrel. Prince took all the slack out of the rope at the canter but then was able to find the connection again and adjust his body to canter a smaller circle. Once we got a couple strides of connected canter I brought him in.

Then we did some jumping, sideways and then leading by the tail. Then just for fun I decided to see if Prince would back up with me in zone 5 if I just lightly pulled his a couple pieces of the hair on his legs, he did!! And it wasn't just a slow, not-much-effort back up but he put lightness and speed into it!! It was really cool!! I then decided to play with Twosox while I rode Prince so I went over and haltered Twosox, who was standing just outside the riding ring then I mounted up!

Prince, Twosox and I started out with just doing basic walk-halt transitions and trying to get Twosox to lead off the feel of the halter with more lightness. Twosox was leading on it quite a bit. After that was going better we moved up into the trot. I wrapped the lead rope around the saddle horn so that it would be a more solid feel for Twosox and more quicker release when he came off the the pressure. That seemed to work really well and Twosox started walking and trotting beside Prince and I instead of lagging behind.

Just as this was going really well I noticed that Prince was starting to pin his ears at Twosox, which he wasn't doing before at first I just thought that it could have been because he didn't like Twosox being so close but then I just happened to look at Twosox as we were trotting a long the rail and he was biting at Prince! So I had to promptly attend to that and as soon as Twosox stopped trying to bite Prince, Prince stopped pinning his ears.

We did some more Follow the rail with walk, trot, halt, back up transitions and then we ended. To take the halter off I asked Twosox to put his head on Prince's neck and then even after I took the halter off Twosox just left his head there for me to rub it. So we spent some time just hanging out together, all three of us, before Prince and I walked off, but to mu surprise Twosox followed us!! It was really cool!! We walked around the end of the riding ring and then stopped.

It was such a great day for a trail ride. The sun was shining, the temperature was perfect and both horses and riders were happy! It was muckier than yesterday because things were melting but we still had fun. Prince and I played with walk trot transitions and we played with getting a slower trot. I still had to use my reins a lot so we are going to have to play with that one until Prince responds to my body more and my reins less.

We tried some cantering but the footing was really bad. On the way home though Prince and I rode up on the packed snow where the snowmobiles go and it was much better. Prince and I got some amazing cantering transitions on both leads. Prince totally blew my mind away with how he actually picked up the leads that I was asking for and when I asked! Up until now when we have been on the trail I have just been happy with which ever lead Prince cantered on (normally the right lead) so for Prince to be that in tune with me was totally incredible! I just couldn't believe it!

Then we got the coolest simple lead changes ever!! They went like this, right lead canter - two strides trot - left lead canter -two strides trot - right lead canter - two strides trot - left lead canter - transition to stop. I got off right away, loosened the saddle and walked the rest of the way home. We have never gotten lead changes like that before and to top it all off it was all at a phase one!!! The lead changes that Prince and I have done before were just on Follow the rail where we drop to trot turn and pick up the canter again so for Prince to get those, that quickly, first try, on a straight line.... well it was 100% incredible!!

When we got home and I took my saddle off there were no rub marks, ruffled hair, nothing! All Prince's hair was smooth!! It was encouraging to see that :)

What a great ride!! I think it is safe to say that it was a fun for Prince as it was for me :)

Naturally,

~Keri

Prince: Trail riding!

2011-03-16T19:13:00.000-04:00

March 14 2011

Online: Preparing for a trail ride. We played with jumping a single barrel from a stand still, sideways at a trot, circles at the trot (with changes of directions) while I sat on a barrel, zone 5 driving with one rein, and then we ended with circles at the canter maintaining rhythm, relaxation and connection with a phase one canter send!!

Prince really got the sent at the canter today. He leaped into the canter on the correct lead and cantered a complete lap before I brought him in. I am still playing with the send so that is why I didn't leave him out there longer. It was such an amazing send and Prince put so much effort into it that I wanted to reward that. It was really cool! Our bring back still needs some help but at least Prince is disengaging now instead of spiraling in to me. It will get there. One thing at a time :)

Freestyle: Trail ride was great. We didn’t do any cantering because it was very mucky. But we played with lots of trotting. Prince offered me the most amazing, soft, slow and relaxed trot…. it was more of a slow jog actually. Very comfortable! Both Prince and Knightly were wearing Parelli saddles and pad (this makes me very happy) and they both had their heads on the ground at the beginning! It was so amazing to see!! They were so comfortable!

On the way home we played with standing up in the stirrups while walking and trotting. Of course I tried the trot first, found out it was harder than Mr. Parelli makes it look :) Then realized that I should have tried the walk first ;) It was so much fun though! The walk was definitely easier so we didn't stay there long. Towards the end Prince and I play a game "don't make me sit back down in the saddle" because he would go off the track every now and then by just a little bit so if I had to sit back down he knew I would correct him. It was fun! I love a good challenge and this was just that. After a couple tries though I had it and was able to stand up at the walk and trot and not have to hold onto anything.

Knightly was crowding Prince so I took the end of my rope and started swinging it around, this led to me trying other things like extreme friendly game at the walk, tossing the rope over Prince’s head, standing up in my stirrups and doing other things also, and many other things all the while not holding the reins. Prince kept on a straight line and maintained rhythm perfectly! It was a really cool test and Prince definitely past!

When I took the saddle off there were no rub marks or anything. All of Prince's hair was smooth and flat :) That makes me really happy!!

Naturally,
~Keri

Prince: Saddling, shimming, and snow!

2011-03-15T21:12:00.000-04:00

March 13 2011

Today I just had to play with Prince! I normally do not play on Sunday's, other than feeding and maybe some undemanding time. But usually I take the day off to rest and get some other stuff done inside (normally things like catching up on emails and blog posts) but today I didn't have any of those to do and the sun was shining, it was warm out, I just had to go out and play with Prince!

It took me a little while to actually get out but I finally got out at about 4:30pm. I really, really wanted to see how Prince would do up in the riding ring with the saddle on and being able to move him around more than what I was able to do on Friday. I saddled in the riding ring and then we were off! We did some porcupine games, things like hindquarter yields and forequarter yields then I noticed that Prince was avoiding my hand when I went to touch him on his face I soon found out that there definitely was a broken Friendly game there so for the next little while we played with that, I would bring my hand with energy towards Prince's face but then just rub him. We kept doing this until Prince was able to keep his head still and not feel the need to move away.

Then after that we did some circles! These were fun because the snow was really deep. I sent Prince off on the circle to the left and after a couple laps at the trot he started blowing out and stretching!! He only stretched a very little bit but it was still a stretch!! It was so wonderful to hear him trotting around blowing and blowing and blowing!! Then to the right he did the same thing.

After that we played with our changes of directions. These needed some help, serious help. We haven't played with them in a while (okay a long while, but winter is like that here in Canada) After three changes of directions Prince started to get snappier and more responsive. The last two where much better. All I had to do was turn and back up a step and Prince turned and changed direction.

We also did some cantering on the circle. Prince had a bit of a hard time cantering in the deep snow but over all he did really well. He kept the rhythm, relaxation and connection for the majority of the time.

After that we ended because it was getting late. So we went down to the corral, out the gate and over to the garage to unsaddle. Monday and Tuesday are supposed to be really nice out so Mom and I are hoping and planning on trail riding both days, Lord willing. It should be a whole lot of fun!!

Naturally,

~Keri

Natural Performer!!

2011-03-11T21:42:00.000-05:00

My Natural Performer arrived this morning. Here are some pictures. I will post about my playtime and ride with Prince later :) I wanted to get theses pics posted.

Any wonder I need a superwide? ;)

This one is one of my favourites!

My handsome pony!!

I will post more pictures with I get some more. These were my favourites from this afternoon though :)

Naturally,
~Keri

Twosox: Not a mystery any more.

2011-03-11T21:19:00.000-05:00

March 8 2011

This morning the vet came out to see what was up with Twosox's eye. It turns out that he has a tumor on his third eyelid and it is most likely cancerous. The vet believes that it is Squamous Cell Carcinoma. He suggests surgery but Mom and I were in contact with a lady out west and she believes that it can be healed naturally. So we are going that route first. The vet wanted to wait three weeks anyway so that it would be warmer.

Twosox did really well for the most part. He didn't like the vet looking in his nose so I have something to play with. Some people say that this particular vet can get rough with the horses so I was prepared to stand up for my horses, respectfully of course, but I didn't need too. He seemed pretty understanding. There was one time that he used his voice to correct Twosox when Twosox was backing up but other than that everything was fine.

At one point Twosox was tossing his head so the vet asked me to hold Twosox's head up a bit so he could see inside his nose and put something in Twosox's eye. I took Twosox's nose and just started to massage it (Twosox loves when I do that) and Twosox stood still for the rest of the time.

I will be sure to keep you all updated on how Twosox does. He doesn't seemed to be in much pain. He is still playing and running around with the other horses. He just has a hard time opening his eye and all. I am praying that we can find a way to heal it naturally. I don't want to have to do surgery.

Naturally,

~Keri

Prince: The Circling Game - Isolate, separate and recombine.

2011-03-11T21:10:00.000-05:00

March 7 2011

Prince and I had a really interesting session this afternoon. We got a big dump of snow again so the riding ring was safe to play in once again. It has been a while since we played up there!!

We started with some liberty in the corral. We played with stick to me with my hand on Prince's mane. We started at the walk and then moved on to the trot when the walk was going well. We did about 9ft circles at first then we got smaller and smaller. Prince did really well. Once the walk and trot were going well we tried the canter! We got 1/2 a lap at the canter!!!! It was so incredible!! Prince was connected and I could feel that he wasn't thinking about leaving or drifting away. He was with me!!

I went out planning to play with our Figure eights but pretty quickly I found out that we needed to play with our circles first. I knew that it wouldn't be setting up for success to try and fix everything at once so we started with the send. At the walk and trot it was okay, though not great, and since I wanted to play with Figure eights at the canter I knew that we would need to get our send on the circle at the canter better... much better. So off we went.

First was the back up. That part was definitely broken. Well maybe not broken because Prince would back up but it wasn't to the standard that we were playing at, Prince was putting just enough effort in to make it look like he was putting effort, which he really wasn't.

So after our yo-yo's was better we went onto the next part of the send. It only took a couple sends and re-sends before Prince cantered off at a phase one and maintained gait at the canter for a whole lap so I brought him in. We weren't playing with the allow but I knew that the allow would show how good the send was.

We then moved on to the left. This way was harder for Prince he would canter off okay but then he would break gait. So we played with this for a while trying different things. We played the game "Don't make me pick up the stick" and that got Prince more interested but he was still having a hard time maintaining the canter. Then I remembered something Mr. Pyne said at the lesson I had with him back in November. He said that I was putting to much pressure on Prince at the send.

Now as I thought about this I think the thing is this, I needed to put more pressure on Prince when he wasn't trying very hard so that he would try something but once he started getting more interested and engaged, though still not getting it quite yet, I needed to give him a longer chance to figure it out without having as much pressure on him. So the next time I sent Prince I didn't "tag" behind him when he went off on the circle. I still wanted the canter and asked for it through the energy in my body but I didn't have to use my carrot stick.

This time Prince went off at the canter and cantered a whole lap, then I brought him in. It was great!! The look on Prince's face was incredible! He was engaged!!

So in playing with our send our allow and bring back got better. We did play with our bring back a little because Prince wasn't actually disengaging. So we got that snappier and Prince was disengaging at the end.

We never did get to play with Figure eights but I know that this was a major ingredient to having better Figure eights. One other thing we played with earlier in the session, and through out the whole session was that I waited until Prince asked me a question before I asked him to go out on the circle. This way I could tell (1) if he was interested (2) if he was still processing (3) if he was ready to take new instructions. At the end he was asking loads of questions because I waited in the beginning.

It was a really great session and I learned a lot. Hopefully once spring gets here and everything is less icy and wet we can really get progressing again.

Naturally,

~Keri

Parelli Cake

2011-03-09T17:43:00.000-05:00

Here is a picture of the cake that I made to celebrate our Parelli play group 2 year anniversary! Each of the horses represent our main horses and the one with the question mark is for the the people who have come every once in a while, plus it is for a new lady who just joined and I didn’t have a picture of her horse :)

Oh and the main cake is a carrot cake and the individual cakes are chocolate :)

Naturally,
~Keri

Prince: When in doubt do porcupine games!

2011-03-06T19:54:00.000-05:00

March 2 2011

Prince and I had a great Online session this morning. It was to icy in the corral yet to do much unless we stayed at the walk. So we started with backing up unto the pedestal, stopping when all four feet where up then backing down and onto the other one. That got Prince's mind really engaged! He was asking so many questions!! It was great fun!

Then we did backing up by the hocks and tail. Prince is getting really like at backing by the hocks which is great. It took a while for him to be really confident backing up and not having to stop every couple steps. I had to keep reassuring him that he was doing the right thing :) But now he is way more confident and we can now play with more lightness!

The last thing we played with was lateral flexions from zone 5! These were so much fun! Prince caught on really quickly. One thing I had to play with was how I was asking Prince because at first I would just comb the rope three times and ask Prince to bend, really softly of course so that Prince wouldn't think I wanted him to move his feet. But then I realized that when Prince and I are doing zone 5 driving when I want him to turn it looks quite similar and even more similar to how I ask him to stop. Because Prince would feel that pressure on the halter in basically the same spot.

So what I did was after I when through my phases I would move my hand up and over a big. Like I would be moving it to my knee if I was riding. This also made a big difference in how far Prince brought his head around! It was really cool!! We did this on both sides and Prince did so well. He kept his feet still and brought his head right around and would hold it there softly.

We ended there and just spent some undemanding time together before I left to go get warmed up! It was really cold out this morning, -19 C. Brrrr....

Naturally,

~Keri

Ruffian: Covering a lot of ground.

2011-03-06T13:25:00.000-05:00

March 1 2011

Ruffian and I had a good Online session today. We played with a lot. We started with yo-yo's and circles in the corral. I was really impressed with how well Ruffian did on the circles. He was very relaxed and connected. He was cutting in a little bit on the one side so I made sure to pay extra attention to that through out our session. I asked Ruffian to trot 4 laps each direction and we played with game "Don't make me pick up the stick" he really started getting snappier on his departures after a couple sends :)

Then we headed up to the riding ring. It was still icy, even under all the snow we got yesterday, so we stayed at the walk and trot. We did traveling circles and then played with getting a real circle. This took a while but once Ruffian got it figured out he was able to catch on quickly on the other side also.

Up next we did backing up by the nose. Ruffian was looking at something over in the bushes so he wasn't thinking at all about me and what I was asking. So it took a while to get him thinking "back up" but eventually he started paying more attention to what I was asking and that was when we got more lightness, speed and distance in our porcupine back up.

We then went over to a barrel and I got on it and played some friendly game from up there. After that I got down we and did some lateral flexions on both sides getting Ruffian to be able to hold them longer.

After that we ended and just hung out for a bit before we headed down to the corral. I definitely see how playing with Ruffian more often, even if in shorter sessions, will really help.

Naturally,

~Keri

Boy am I excited!

2011-03-02T16:06:00.000-05:00

After saving all possible money for months and months (somewhere around a year or so I believe) I finally have enough money to purchases *drum roll please* a Natural Performer!! I am so excited. I am buying it used (only a year old) from a lady in the States and it should be here sometime early next week.

The great thing about it is that it is a superwide which is exactly what Prince and Twosox need plus my Mom doesn't have a good saddle for Knightly, until now. She will be able to use my Fusion saddle for Knightly and when ever she isn't using it and I want to ride Ruffian I will use my Fusion because I think the superwide would be to big.

So yeah... I am really looking forward to next week ;) I will have to buy another theraflex pad but that is doable and hopefully I will be able to get one shortly after I get the saddle. Most likely with in a month or two. I am also really excited because that means that Mom and I can go trail riding together without one of us being bareback.

Also it will be exciting to see how Twosox's conformation improves as I ride him in an even better saddle. Plus with the improved design on the NP verses the Fusion it will allow both Prince and I to go deeper into Freestyle but especially Finesse because there will be no restrictions and it will encourage Prince to use his body, something that my little Haflinger doesn't always have an easy time doing :)

Oh and I will definitely post pictures when it arrives :)

Naturally,
~Keri

Prince: Liberty out in the open... literally.

2011-03-01T13:32:00.000-05:00

February 25 2011

Well Prince and I had a lot of fun today. I decided to really test our liberty and go onto the front yard and play! We had a blast and Prince only left once when he got a bit confused when we were doing sideways and he was about 22ft away from me.

First though we did bridling and yet again Prince did splendidly well. The first time I got the bridle right on him and all done up!! Success!!! Prince took the bit no problem. He is already reaching for the bit even before I am ready!! Then since the first one went so well we just played with getting Prince a little more soft about taking the bit out. He will still toss his head a bit so we played with that and on the last one Prince lowered his head and I took the bit out nicely while Prince kept his head low. It was really nice!!

After that we headed out and played on the front yard. At first I didn't have my carrot stick so we walked across the front yard and over to the garage to get that. Then I let Prince graze for a couple minutes, the snow is melting a little on the paths that we have kept shoveled so there is some grass exposed.

Then after a couple minutes of grazing we did yo-yo's down the many paths my little brothers made, squeeze games between the snow banks and hockey nets, we played with the big green ball rolling it and bouncing it a little, then we spent some time playing with going sideways from one hockey net to the other which were about 25ft apart. My goal was to get it so that I could stand at one net and send Prince sideways to the other net.

Over all Prince did well but we had to break it down a little and I had to stand halfway between the nets and we started there. Prince did really well at this distance and started to get the pattern of going sideways to the net (but not through it!), stopping, sniffing it, having a rest and then going sideways to the other one.

The thing that I was most impressed about was how light Prince was when I asked him to go sideways. All I did was use my core energy and off he went. It wasn't just a slow, not-much-effort sideways. It was a fairly fast sideways. We ended when Prince was able to go sideways while I stood about 2ft from the net. So almost there!!!

After this we backed to the manger door and I climbed on Prince bareback and bridleless from the fence. Then we played with lateral flexions with the carrot stick, transitions, sideways, yo-yo's, indirect rein, direct rein/pivoting on the hindquarters, and some other things. Refining them and testing others that we haven't played with in a while because we haven't ridden in a while due to the ice.

I had to get off once because Prince was decided that he was going to go in the direction that he wanted, which I allowed him to do but then he started getting a bit pushy on the savvy string around his neck so I slid off did some porcupine games on the hindquarters, forequarters, chest and nose and then mounted back up.

A couple times Prince got a little bit confused about what I was asking so we played with those things and then we rode up and down our neighbour's drive way, which she doesn't mind us doing ;), and because it is small gravel and I want to get Prince used to and more comfortable walking on gravel so that when all the snow melts we can still go trail riding down the old railroad track (which is gravel).

We ended on a good note and then I got off and we walked back over to the corral. It was really fun and it was really cool to see how much our Liberty has improved over the last couple months :)

Naturally,
~Keri

Twosox: Getting used to eagles.

2011-03-01T11:09:00.000-05:00

Twosox has some sort of an eye infection and so I have to spray antibiotic in his eye. It seems to be working and just for the record, he doesn't appear to be in any pain what so ever. So for almost a week now, two times a day I have to spray this stuff into his eye. Now even humans don't like having stuff put in their eyes so I knew that I had to find a way to do this while not expecting Twosox to just stand there and take it.

I have been trying lots of different things and finally today, after praying about it a lot and trying to figure out the best way to help Twosox I found a way that I think will work. It was totally God because I was out of arrows :) The phrase "If you want then used to blackbirds, get them used to eagles" came to mind and that made a world of difference.

What I was doing was simulating the sound and such, like you would do with fly spray, and then when I actually did spray the stuff I would keep going with just the sound afterward until Twosox lowered his head and stopped moving. That was working but it wasn't working well enough I guess because Twosox was getting worse (behaviour wise).

Today what I discovered was that when I was making the noise it was quieter than the actual noise when it sprayed so Twosox knew the difference. So this morning I took about 25 minutes and got Twosox used to an even louder sound than what the actual sound would be.

This worked wonders and when I did actually spray Twosox gently in the eye his reaction wasn't nearly as extreme and I was actually able to keep the rhythm and he lowered his head a lot sooner. Afterward I did it a couple more times without actually spraying anything just until Twosox was able to stand still and be somewhat relaxed.

So the proof will be in when I do it again this afternoon. Needless to say I have been spending a lot of time with Twosox :) But unfortunately less time with the other horses.

Naturally,
~Keri

Prince: Small things at Liberty

2011-03-01T10:59:00.000-05:00

February 24 2011

I didn't have much time to do a whole lot with Prince today so we kept thing simple and played at Liberty. We did smelling the tail on both sides for 10 seconds. Prince did really well considering we haven't done this in a long time. He was so soft and flexible!

After that we played with him accepting my fingers in his mouth and touching his tongue. Since we have been bridling a lot and that is going well this task has been much easier. My goal is to be able to hold his tongue so I have to be able to touch his tongue and play with it a little with Prince being okay with that and not moving his mouth around to much :) Sound be fun!!

That was all I had time for but I was happy to be able to do anything!!

Naturally,

~Keri

Twosox: Lots of new experiences...

2011-02-27T19:40:00.000-05:00

February 21 2011

Twosox and I went on a trail ride with Mom and Knightly today. We definitely had lots of new experiences. A couple were, riding across the bridge (the water was running really quickly today also... very noisy!!), riding through town, having a minor spook at a truck that came over the hill way to quickly (I thought one was supposed to go 50km/h in towns??), riding past the skating rink, crossing the road, up and down hills, and riding past man holes (we past three in total, the first two Twosox shied away from but the last one he stopped and sniffed it!! Touch down!!

All in all it was great. I wasn't sure how everything would go considering we only played on the front yard because the riding ring is very icy. But Twosox was a champ and was really relaxed, excluding the one spook with the truck :) One thing that I noticed with out mistake was the fact that Twosox drags himself up hills. It is a huge difference compared to Prince who pushes himself with his hindquarters up hills. So I know what we need to play with come spring and summer!! (1) Hill Therapy and (2) well I shall leave you in suspense for that one ;) More to come in a later post, can't get to far a head of myself here :)

I dismounted and walked Twosox home because we went to see a friend of my Mom's so I was already off so I decided just to walk him home. It was so much fun! I couldn't get over how relaxed Twosox was! He seems to really love being out on the trail! Maybe I have stumbled across the key to what motivates Twosox?!? Maybe... just maybe :)

Naturally,

~Keri