An "Oh boy" play time with Twosox

Twosox and I had an "Oh boy" play time this afternoon. I am not sure why but he was right brain and unconfident but to put the interesting twist on it he was half internal and half not. So it was kind of confusing. Maybe it was the wind.... I really don't know but what ever the reason I don't think I did as well as I could have.

Thinks started off okay. We did some Figure eights and some circles [with Transitions and Change of directions] we did close range circles, backing through a gate, and we kind of did a trailer simulation with the pedestal, I asked Twosox to climb up [he offered all four feet which was a big thing for Twosox] then I asked him to back off with me in zone 4/5. He did really well with that. On Friday we are planning on taking Prince to a friends farm to play on Friday and I am trying to decided whether or not to take Twosox. I am not sure. I was planning on it but then after today...... I don't know. We shall see how tomorrow goes, I don't want to push Twosox to far out of his comfort zone.

I had put the 45ft line on Twosox's halter and tied them into two reins. When Twosox felt the rope on his back he froze. So I stopped and waited. He calmed down a little bit but not a whole lot. So I untied the reins and just did some friendly game. Twosox got a little bit more Left brain. So then I switched back to the 22ft line and we went and did some falling leaf, backwards S pattern, figure eights, backing up by the nose, lots of friendly game, Touch it, and anything else that came up. Twosox slowly started relaxing. I wanted to make sure that we ended on a really good note. So after Twosox gave me a nice soft, slow and left brain back up we stopped there. I waited till Twosox licked and chewed then I let him go. It was definitely an interesting play time :)

~K

We are all proud of you Hannah!!!! It looks like you had a lot of fun!!!!

 

~K

Let it snow, let it snow, let is snow......

So this morning I woke up to see it was snowing!!! I guess it was snowing for a while because there was quite a collection out there. I like snow but I want it in December!! It is all melted now so I am happy!!! hehe :)

It doesn't help the corral any though..... just adds to the already to mucky ground. Oh well. Hopefully things will dry up.....I can hope right??? And now it is raining so there is a slight chance of that happening :(

Saturday, Sunday and Monday there is a Fawn Anderson clinic. I am at least going [Lord willing] Saturday and Sunday but I am not sure about Monday, I hope I can go for all three. It is a Level 2 Online and Freestyle Pattern Clinic. It should be good!! I really wish that it was a Level 3 clinic, that would be more helpful but I am sure I will still learn something. I am sure I could even learn bucket loads if it was a Level 1 clinic ;) This will make the second one this year!! I record for the most amount of Parelli clinics I have went to in one year.

Anyways. I will be sure to let you all know how it goes!! :)

~K

Fun fun fun!!

Monday Oct 12 2009

I had a shorter play time with Prince today. It was still really good though. We played with some Figure eights. Prince was having trouble going around the one side so we played with that. He finally figured it out and our figure eights were so soft!!!

We also did some sideways towards me, leading by the tail [we backed up about 10ft with just a few hairs!!!!!] We did Change of directions, transitions, and spinning. At first Prince was having a hard time getting his forequarters over but  once he got it he did REALLY well. We also played around with jumping one barrel. Prince jumped it the first time but didn't really put a lot of effort into it so we played with it until he jumped it the whole way [not just jumping half and walk over the other half]. Prince started asking questions and then finally he figured it out and jumped it. We After we had played for a bit I got on and rode. I put the bareback pad on Prince for the first time in a long time!! It was soooooo comfy!!! I hardly knew I wasn't riding a saddle!!! I will be using that a lot this winter that is for sure!!!

Prince did so well at Follow the rail. We did quite a bit of trotting too. As long as I stayed focused I was fine and could ride his trot no problem. Prince stayed right on the rail and I hardly needed to correct him. Our indirect and direct rein has gotten a million times better. Prince is soft and very responsive now. It was amazing!!! One thing that has really helped is that I put what Mr. Parelli calls a "California roll" in my reins so they are still casual but are shorter. That seems to be working really well because I can be more effective soon.... "Do less sooner rather than more later" right? ;)

Since it was going so well I decided to change things up a little. We did sideways over a two tires [even that was better!!! Prince followed my focus and I didn't even need to use my carrot stick!!!] Then we started the Figure eight pattern. This pattern has always been hard for both Prince and I. So it will be interesting to see how it progresses. It wasn't to bad though. I had a harder time focusing and I think that was part of the problem but we will play with it and see how it goes.

Prince and I walked over to the fence and I asked Prince to go sideways right over to it so I could get off. Prince did really well with that. So all in all our ride was really good. Ever ride I have a plan and I know what to do so that really really helps. I love the Patterns!!

~K

More horse play!

Saturday Oct 10 2009

Today I played with both Twosox and Prince. It was SO beautiful outside. Only Prince and Ruffy were in the corral when my mom and I went out to play. So we went out and found Twosox and Knightly in the field. It was really rather weird for Twosox [being a RBI] to be away from the herd.

We [mom and I] decided to play with the horses out in the field. Twosox and I did some stick to me to start with. Then we went to some traveling circles. Then Twosox decided that he didn't really want to be circling so he tossed his head, bucked and took off running. I wasn't prepared for it so I decided to let go of the rope. Twosox took off running through the bush. Since I didn't want to scare him I took another path through the woods. I found Twosox calmly drinking some water from a puddle. When he saw me he came walking right up to me. We went back to the field. Twosox wasn't scared so we went back to our traveling circles. He tried one more time to get away but I held on this time. Twosox started relaxing and his trot softened. It was really good. I love playing in the field because there are a lot of dips and hills. I walked over to the hill that leads down to the lower part of the field and stood there and Twosox circled around me, going up the hill and down the hill. It was really interesting to see how he moved up and down the hill.

After that we took a rest and then I massaged his legs. Twosox really liked that. Then I asked him to pick up his feet. Twosox did SO well!!! I am really proud of how far he has come!! I was able to take a really good look at his feet and since we had been playing on grass they weren't muddy or anything ;) When I asked Twosox to pick up his back feet he was SO soft!!!! He let me hold them, pick them out, move them around etc and he was fine. What I had to do though was not hold his feet so high. Twosox is more comfortable with his feet lower. So that was great!!

Then we went over to a big rock and I sat on it and helped my mom with her traveling circles with Knightly..... while Twosox took a really good long nap ;) My three brothers [my oldest brother and two younger once] came to see us. Twosox spotted them and was worried. But once he saw them he relaxed.

My mom let Knightly go before I had let Twosox go so I wasn't sure how Twosox would do [if he would get worried or not] but after I let him go he stayed with me!!! He couldn't see Knightly but he was totally calm and relaxed. What a special horse!!!!!!!! I love him so much!!

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All the horses were in the turn around when we got there. Prince came right up to see me!! Rubbed him then haltered him. We then walked back to the corral. The rest of the horses followed a little bit behind. Prince did so well while I saddled him. I felt kind of bad because I am sure he would have much rather been out in the bush with the other horses. But we had fun playing so I guess that was good.

We played up on the riding ring. Prince trotted 7 circles with only 2 corrections!!! Hooray!!!! It was so cool!!! Plus he cantered 4 laps!! After we had played for a while I asked Prince to pick up his feet. It is amazing how something as small as a different hoof pick [with a brush on it] can make Prince not trust you as much. I was using a new hoof pick I bought with a brush on the one side so that you can brush the dirt out of the foot and Prince wasn't sure about it. Poor guy! Like they say "Horses never forget but they will always forgive" So lots of friendly game and rewarding the slightest try. By the end Prince was doing a lot better and was more trusting but he still wasn't totally sure.

Then I got on and rode. Prince did so well. We did our second day of Follow the rail. I am not sure if I mentioned this before but Prince and I have gone back to the beginning of the Level 2 Freestyle patterns and have started them again. When we were first doing them I wasn't consistent enough and so Prince didn't really know the pattern. So when I wanted to advance it he didn't know what I wanted. Just another lesson in "Taking the time it takes so it takes less time" :) I think that is my biggest challenge! Sticking with the task until I Prince starts asking questions and then stopping when it is better then it was when we started.

So we did Follow the rail. It was only our second day but Prince caught on so quickly. We did a lot more trotting today because I am a lot more fluid riding his big bouncy trot in a saddle. I made sure to have a really strong focus and that REALLY helped. I mean it make the world of difference when I was riding Prince's trot. Prince was a lot more in tune with me also. I can tell that our Transitions, indirect rein and direct rein are getting a lot softer also.

Near the end of our ride we were trotting a long and instead of going in between the barrels and the fence Prince went around them. Now a couple weeks ago I would have just said okay, it is to much effort to go all the way back and do it right so I will just take that but not today. We were still trotting and I just softly asked Prince to turn and go back through. To my surprise Prince stayed trotting and we turned and went back through the squeeze. When we were right in between the barrels and the fence I relaxed and Prince stopped. Then that is where we ended. Prince had a big lick and chew then I got off.

It felt really good to be persistent and go back and do it the right way. Plus Prince didn't feel wrong because I did it softly and politely. It was really cool!! When I took the saddle off Prince there were only really, really really small rub marks so I was even more happy!!!! Prince even stayed with me for a little while after I had let him go so that was really cool too!!!

It was really peaceful out side while I was riding. I haven't ridden that late into the afternoon in a long time so it was really nice. It was the perfect fall day!!! :)

~K

My second ride on Knightly.....

Thursday Oct 8 2009

Well today I offically rode Knightly for the second time! He did very well, took it all in stride and was calm the whole time. We started off my playing in the ground. We did Circles, Figure eights, Touch it, Transitions, Sideways towards me [we just started that], the begining stages of backing up by the tail, then we switched over to the 45ft line. Knightly didn't know what to do with all the extra line. So for the most part we just played on 22ft-25ft. Knightly didn't know what to do with all the extra room!!!

After we were done playing I climbed up on the fence and asked Knightly to come sideways over to me. He did really well. I did some approach and retreat, putting my leg over then taking it off, rubbing him all over etc. He stood there perfectly the whole time!!! After a couple minutes I got on. We just did some pushing passenger lesson, just letting Knightly go where ever he wanted. He did really well. I asked him to go and stop. Both were really light.

After a little while I got off. Even though it was going really well I decided to end on a good note. Knightly is so skinny!!! Big difference from riding Prince ;) I was really proud of Knightly. He is willing to try as long as you don't push him and as long as you go through your phases right.  

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After I had let Knightly go I played with Ruffy. We had so much fun!!!! He has so much energy and play drive!!! We did some really cool change of directions, transitions, jumping, sideways, touch it, and leading by the tail. Then I played with picking up his feet. Ruffy has gotten a lot better with me holding his feet. He is gaining patience!!! :)

When we were done that we just spent some time hanging out together. Then I un-haltered him while I was still sitting on the ground. What a special horse!

~K

Playing with Prince....

Wednesday Oct 7 2009

Today was FUN!!! My mom, two little brothers and I went out to get the horses. I caught Prince and played with him a little bit before we left. He was actually playful!!! It was so funny!!! We did some change of directions, some totally AMAZING transitions.... like one time Prince was cantering around and all I did was relax and he stopped right then and there!!! It was incredible!!!! One really neat thing was that Prince was cantering and there was slack in the rope!!!! Normally when Prince and I are playing in the field and Prince is cantering on the circle there isn't any slack in the rope at all. So that was really nice!!! We did a little bit of traveling circles too.

Then we started home. We played Stick to me on the way home and then every once and a while I would stop and ask Prince to pick up one of his feet. He did really well at that. The other horses didn't follow us home. Prince did really well though and wasn't bothered by that.

When we got up to the riding ring we did some Figure eights, Touch it, jumping a single barrel, sideways, leading by the tail, and then we played with our change of directions. I had a big BFO this morning and realized that I am not being consistent enough when I play and ride. So today I made sure that I was!! So at first our Change of directions were really rather messed up so I started playing with different things and finally I got it!!!! I was passing the rope into my other hand instead of keeping it in the opposite hand. Hmmm how interesting!! Once I made sure I was doing that right Prince did 4 change of directions BEAUTIFULLY!!!! I mean they were so smooth!!!

So then I told my mom what I found out and we did a little simulation to find out the difference. There was a huge difference!!! To think that something as simple as what hand the rope is in..... but it makes all the difference!!

After we were done that I got on Prince BB and rode. For the most part we just did Follow the rail. Prince is SOOOOO comfy bareback!!!! He is the most comfortable horse I have ever ridden bareback!! At first Prince wasn't really following the pattern so I would just politely put him back onto the rail. After a couple minutes he figured it out. For pretty much the whole ride Prince had the best look on his face!! He was really interested!!! Over all Prince did really well. I had a lot of fun because I knew what we were doing and was able to focus. So that was good. We did a little bit of trotting. Not to much because I am not the most fluid rider when it comes to bareback riding ;)

When we were done playing let Prince go. He stayed with me for a little while. Then he slowly walked down the hill to the corral, when he saw that the other horses were there he started neighing. Poor guy :( So my mom and I decided to take him back to the herd. I was part way down the hill and Prince saw me and he nickered!!! Then he came right over to me. What a sweet horse!!

So we start walking back out to the field. We did stick to me on the way there. Just some walk, trot, back up. It was really fun!! Prince didn't even seem to be worried about the horses now. He was so in tune with me!! Once we got closer to the field Prince looked like he wanted to go ahead so I let him. He trotted to the field and when my mom and I got there he was happily reunited with his herd ;)

We then just spent some time hanging out with the horses, Prince and Ruffy started playing. It was really interesting to watch them play! I love it!!! Ruffy has so much play drive!!! At one point Prince told Ruffy off then comes walking over to me and looks at me like "Did you see that!?!" It was funny!!!

Anyways! It was a really good play time and ride!!

~K