Knightly trim

November 26 2009

Well today was very successful. I trimmed Knightly this morning and it only took me 2 hours!!!! It helped that he stood very well and was a perfect gentleman plus there wasn't as much to trim on his feet as there was on Prince. So that helped. Just as I were finishing his last foot it started down pouring.... I guess we got that 40% of rain they were calling for ;) hehe

I was even more confident then I was yesterday. I knew what I needed to do and did it. I also knew how I could improve from what I did yesterday on Prince so that was good. I was relaly sore yesterday but  thanks to my mom's back rub last night I wasn't to sore. I am sore now but that is okay. Tomorrow we are taking the horses out to our friends farm again. I hope I am not to sore to play with Prince!!! I will make sure to get to bed on time tonight and get a good rest!!!

You can look on my other blog [thenaturalhoof.blogspot.com] for more about yesterday and today.

Well that is all for now!!

~K  

Prince trim

November 25 2009

Today I trimmed Prince for the very first time!!!!! It took me 4 1/2 hours. I started at 11:00 and finished at around 3:30. It was well worth the time though because I could see the change in Prince. He left side was the hardest but I figured it would be. The cool thing was that by the end of the trim Prince was offering to pick up feet up for me!!! Plus instead of just lifting his foot off the ground a little bit and then letting me pick it up the rest, Prince was handing me his feet softly. It was amazing!!!

I am not going to type about everything I did in the 4 hours because it would be boring.... but lets just say that it was a lot of fun and God gave me the patience and wisdom that I needed to not get frustrated or mad a Prince and to stay calm and think of it as a game!!!

I was really proud of Prince and it can only get better!!!! And the best things is I know that I will NOT need to put another 8 hours into handling Prince's feet before I trim him again ;) I was doing it all for tomorrow. So it might have taken longer today but next time, if I did it right, it shouldn't take as long.

Tomorrow I am hoping to trim Knightly and then on Saturday I am hoping to get Ruffy trimmed!!! I hope that goes well!!!

~K

November 23rd playtime

November 23 2009

Wow Twosox and I had an interesting playtime today. We started our in the corral and just did some Touch it then we went up the riding ring and did some circles up there. I wanted Twosox to trot 4 laps each way. It took a while but finally he did it. During the process he got a little worried but then calmed down. After that we played with driving the hind quarters. That was really interesting because I thought Twosox knew that..... maybe he forgot ;) Twosox will move his hind quarters away when I am farther away from him but when I am standing by his shoulder he would only take a couple steps then stop or walk forward. So we played with that until he could move his hind quarters in a full circle.

After that we went to Figure eights. I was planning on playing with getting Twosox to trot the whole figure eight... or at least more of it. But as soon as I asked Twosox to speed up he got worried, he started looking out as he was going around the barrels and he couldn't give me two eyes [sometimes he couldn't even look at me with one eye] so I tried different things, standing farther away from the barrels, standing closer, not using my carrot stick, and lots of other things. Nothing really seemed to help except this one thing..... we went back down to the walk and our figure eights were no better. So I figured that we should fix then again. So what I did was everything Twosox came around the barrel and was bracing I would bring him in all the way instead of sending him out again, rub him and then back up out and send him through the barrels. After a while of doing this Twosox started giving me one eye, then two eyes when he was walking around the barrels. So at least our Figure eights at the walk are back to where they were before the start of our play time. I think I will email the Savvy club member support and ask them because I am out of arrows. Everytime that I ask Twosox to pick up the pace a little he gets scarred and our Figure eights fall apart but there has to be a way to keep his confidence but still get the trot.

My mom asked me to show her something with Knightly. She was having trouble with getting him to move his forequarters over and not walking forward. So I left Twosox on his “spot” and started playing with Knightly. With in a couple minutes Knightly figured out exactly what I wanted but then there were some other things that needed to be solved.... aka yielding his hind quarters with out pinning his ears and tossing his nose at you. So we played with that. Pretty soon Knightly figured out that he couldn't do that!! So then we went and did some sideways with a fence and played around with Knightly not putting his head over the fence when he is going sideways [he figured out that if he put his head over the fence the rope would get caught and then he wouldn't have to go sideways.... clever LBI]. It was really fun!!! We pretty much did different forms of the Driving game the whole time. Knightly is really light when he wants to be but while he is being light he is also giving you other problems..... pinning his ears, swishing his tail etc etc.

All this time Twosox was standing where I left him. He had moved a little bit but other then that he stayed right where I left him. When I got back to Twosox we did a little bit more Figure eights at the walk. They were MUCH better. Twosox could look at me when he was coming around the barrels and was confident the whole time.

After that I let Twosox go. He followed me over to the gate at Liberty. It was definelty a play time that made me think!!!!

~K

November 22nd Playtime

November 22 2009

Wow. Prince and I had a wonderful play session today!!!! Plus an amazing ride!!! Prince, Ruffy and Twosox were up near the riding ring when I got out there. So I decided to take my equipment up there because there were a couple of things I wanted to do with Prince before I saddled him. I managed to get everything up in two trips. The first time Prince saw me he turned and went the other way and totally ignored me. How interesting!! I always love feedback!!! I didn't pay any attention to Prince and just continued up the hill. The second time I was going up the hill, this time with my saddle, Prince did the same thing. He turned his zone 5 to me and ignored me. I just walked right on past him. Ruffy on the other hand couldn't be any more curios!!!! He followed me right into the riding ring and was checking everything out. Since I wasn't paying any attention to Prince he suddenly got really interested in me. I decided to do something different and I closed the gate so that Ruffy and Prince were closed in the riding ring. They started playing so I just watched. It was SO cool!!! Ruffy can get Prince to canter 2 ½  laps in a circle just by chasing him and trying to bite his tail!!!! I love watching them play!!!!

I sent the horses around the riding ring. They cantered off and cantered about a lap then started trotting. I let then trot for a little while then I asked Prince to disengage and they stopped and looked at me. Prince didn't want to come to me but Ruffy came right over. I rubbed him and didn't pay any attention to Prince. Ruffy decided to take off again. He had SO much energy!!!! Prince went off after him. Ruffy tripped on something and was limping for a couple minutes. It is amazing how he went from galloping around one minute to peacefully sleeping in the sun the next. Since Ruffy was limping I decided to play with Prince a little bit at Liberty. We did Touch it from 30ft away, sideways over the barrel, Stick to me, I stood about 35ft away and send Prince over to the pedestal and asked him to put all four feet on it and he did!!! He knew exactly what I wanted!!!! Prince was now glued to me!!!! It was so cool!!!!

After that I went and got my halter and haltered Prince. Then we played around with bowing. We are just starting it but Prince is SO clever!!!! After that we did some Stick to me Online. We did walk, trot and canter. The first two time I asked Prince to canter with me I had to support it with my carrot stick a little but the third time when I started cantering in my body Prince did it at exactly at the same time!!! It was SOOOOO cool!!!!!! I didn't need to use my carrot stick at all!!! Then we went and I asked Prince to jump the single barrel that was lying down. At first he just trotted past it but finally he figure out what I was asking and he jumped right over it!!

Then I went and saddled Prince. He stood perfectly still while I got him ready then we went off and did some Porcupine games and some stick to me. Then after the saddle was tight enough I sent Prince out on the circle. I only asked him to trot. I gave him a long phase 1 and then a quick 2,3.4 and he was off. It took us a little while before Prince gave me 5 circles at the trot with out breaking gait but we got it. Prince even offered to canter a couple times and he cantered for 1 laps or so then went back down to the trot. I think he was expecting me to ask him to canter. Hehe I love doing the opposite of what my horse things I am going to do!!! :) We then went and played with sideways at a trot. I asked Prince into the trot and then sent him sideways. He went off at a really fast trot so we got a really fast sideways. It was cool!!!!!

Prince was ready to ride so I got on. I just tied my lead rope into two reins because my mom was going to use the hackamore. I actually like that better for some reason. Not sure why. Prince and I started off with some Follow the rail. We did a lot of trotting. One thing we have to play with is getting or Direct and Indirect reins tighter and not drift quite so far from the fence. We did the Follow the rail with a carrot stick this time. I don't really like trotting with a carrot stick yet but it was really nice today. My riding has come leaps and bounds in the past few months!!!

After we had finished doing Follow the rail we did some Sideways, 9 step back up, pivoting on the hind quarters and some point to point. Prince was SO light!!!! Our sideways was a MILLION times straight too!!!!

Now here is where it really gets fun!!!! Ever since I started riding the Patterns I have avoided Figure eights like a lot of people avoid the porcupine game and that is because I couldn't figure out how to get my body right so that Prince could do it right. So finally over the last couple rides I have been playing with it and just doing it!!! At the walk we got it figured out but once we went up to the trot everything fell apart again. Again I have been playing with it and we finally had some success and now I can't wait till we can ride Figure eights!! So today we played with them. I did the first couple at a walk just to make sure everything was smooth then I asked Prince to trot. He would trot through the middle then he would break gait when we were half way around the barrel. Since I didn't have my hackamore on I didn't have anything to get to a phase four with so once we got a fairly good Figure eight we stopped and I took my savvy string and put it on my wrist. That way I could get to a phase four if needed. That really helped Prince. At first he wasn't to happy about it and pinned his ears a little but after that he was very snappy!!! He went into the trot at a phase 1!!! We kept at it and finally we got almost a complete figure eight at a trot. So we took a LONG rest. Prince had a big lick and chew also. Then once we had our rest we started off again and we got a complete figure eight on the FIRST TRY!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was so proud of Prince!!!!!! It is interesting because when we are doing things like Weaving and the Figure eight Prince's trot is slower and a lot easier to ride but when we are doing some thing like Follow the rail his trot is faster. I like it though!!!!

After we had another long rest we went and did some Weave. We did both at the walk and at the trot. When we were doing the Weave at a trot Prince brought gait the first time but that was only because we had to go in bwteen Knightly and the tire but after that we trotted the whole Weave!!! After that I got off. All three of the Patterns that we did were so good!!!!! It was so much fun!!!

After I had gotten off and un-saddled Prince I picked up his feet. It wasn't perfect but it was so much better then it was yesterday!!!!! Prince's was REALLY good on his right side. He let me do almost everything with them!!!! I made sure to put his foot down before he started pulling and if he did pull I just went with him and didn't try to hold on or anything. That way I was able to have my hand on his foot but now act like a predator and get tight. Before I asked Prince to pick his foot back up again I would take a couple seconds and just rub massage his leg. It really made a difference. When I went to Prince's left side he was a little bit harder but he quickly figured it out and relaxed and let me hold his foot no problem!!!! His left hind foot was the hardest. I could feel that even though Prince was letting me hold his foot and he wasn't pulling he was still tense. So I just massaged it while I was holding it and when he relaxed I would put it down. That helped and in the end I was able to clean his foot out and he wasn't tense, not prefect yet but a lot better then what it was!!!

It was an amazing playtime from start to finish!!!!! Hopefully Wednesday I can trim Prince. It might take me a long time but if I do it right it will keep getting better!!!

~K

November 21st Playtime

November 21 2009

My sister and I went out this afternoon and played with Prince and Ruffy. It was reminded me of the days when it was just us four!!! It was fun!! Not that it isn't fun now though ;)

It was a gloomy day but we went out anyways. I love watching my sister and Ruffy play!!! I am positive that Ruffy would almost do anything for my sister!!!

Prince and I had a pretty good play time. It had it's “Oh boy” moments that is for sure. My plan was to play with Prince's feet. I didn't go to that first though. We did some circles, sideways, and leading by the tail. We played around with Don't change gait on the circle. Prince would canter about 2 ½ laps then break gait. I know how I could have done better now but I guess I will be prepared for next time!!

After we had played for a bit I then asked Prince to pick up his feet. Prince kept pulling back and did not want me to hold his feet. It felt like we were back to square one again. I took the end of my rope and wrapped it around Prince's leg that way I could go with him when he was pulling and not release on a brace. Today that didn't work as well as it did before. Prince just pulled harder and got worse. So I changed stratigies and so if Prince pulled his foot back and I couldn't hold it I just rubbed it and calmly picked back up again. I also noticed that if there was any tension in my arm when Prince pulled, he pulled harder. Hmmmm.... How interesting!! So I really hard to make sure that when Prince started pulling his foot I just calmly went with it and didn't act like a predator and get harder. That made a HUGE difference!!! At first Prince wouldn't even let me pick out his foot!!! But pretty soon he figured out that I wasn't going to get frustrated and I would just rub his leg and then pick his foot back up again. No big deal. So if Prince was trying to push my buttons and get my frustrated that wouldn't work or if it is a trust issue rubbing his foot then picking it back up again will help that. So either way it would help.

I was able to pick up all four of his feet and get a good idea of what I need to trim when I do trim him. So that was really good. His left hind foot was the hardest. So I will have to do a lot of friendly on that foot. All in all though Prince did really well. It will be interesting to see how he does the next time I pick up his feet. I really want to trim Prince's feet. Hopefully on Wednesday I can trim him.

Looking back I know I could have handled our play session a lot better but I know for next time and so I guess that it good.

I can't believe that it is almost December!! I hope I can get at least two more horses trimmed before the snow get here. I am praying!!! :)

~K

Hoof Trimning lesson

November 18 2009

Today was my hoof trimming lesson. All in all it went really well. We only got Twosox done but that is okay. I would have liked to get at least one more done but it got dark and so we couldn't. We have ordered a right handed knife and a blade sharpener so once they get here I will start trimming the others. Plus we did some shopping around for a hoof stand... or something that would work instead of one. I think we have found something that might work. When we go into town next we are going to get one and hopefully it will work. I am excited!!!!
That is all for now!
  
~K

November 17th playtime

November 17 2009

Oh man!!! I just had the most amazing time with Prince!!! I have been spending a lot more time riding lately, mostly bareback because I haven't felt like saddling Prince. I have to say though that since I have been riding bareback more the rest of our riding has gotten a lot better!!

Anyways back to our playtime today.....

Before I went out to play with Prince I thought of a couple things I wanted to play with during our playtime. I decided to try my Wintec Wide on Prince. Just for the fun of it. I wanted to ride in a saddle but since I am still trying to get over this cold and am a little tired I didn't feel like dragging my Fusion out. So this was a good alternative. After I had saddled Prince I moved him around some. We did some Stick to me. That was really cool! If I leaned forward Prince would lean forward if I leaned back a little Prince would shift his weight back. It was fun!!

We also did some circles. We were only on the 12ft line but that was fine because I have been trying to  ask Prince to circle on different lenghts of rope that way he can learn to use his body in different ways. It has really helped our Figure eights while riding also because Prince learned how to move on a tighter circle. So I asked Prince to trot 2 laps each way. Nothing to hard. He did that really well. Then I asked him to Change direction a couple times. We also played around with going faster and straighter when doing sideways with out a fence. At first Prince had a hard time getting straight, especially when we started going faster. Pretty soon he got it though and we got both the speed and straightness that I was looking for.

It was a lot of fun playing on a shorter rope. I had to unsaddle Prince, change the shims around then resaddle him again so I had to move him around again. I asked Prince to circle at a trot about 6ft away from me. This used to be REALLY challenging for him. At the walk he was fine but when I asked him to trot and leave slack in the rope that was a totally different story. Today though he was wonderful!! There was slack in the rope, he didn't break gait and we even did some Transtions and Change of directions!!! We also did Leading by the tail and extreme friendly game in all zones. Prince was SO light when I asked him to back up by the tail!!! Normally he will back up but it will be slow but today he was very responsive and we were able to pick up the pace a little bit and actually keep it up!!

Prince looked ready to ride by this time so I decided to get on him in the corral. The saddle was more comfortable then I thought it would be. I was able to fine my balance point way easier then when I was riding Twosox with that saddle. I had to play around with the stirrup length. Prince stood perfectly still while I fiddled around with it. Before when I have ridden him in the corral he has always gone straight from the manger but today he was much better!!! He didn't even try to go to the other horses or the hay.

We stood still for a while because I was helping my mom with something. Then when she was ready to go up I got the crazy idea that I wanted to ride up the hill to the riding ring. I have never ridden up it before because it is really steep but today I felt up to the task. So I got off, tied my 12ft line into two reins [I actually like riding with one rein now!! It is more of a challenge! :)] I had to change my boots also because I didn't have my proper riding boots on. Then we were off!! I wasn't quite sure how Prince would do, I knew he could make it up the hill no problem, but would he listen to me while we were going up the hill... there was no need to worry though because Prince was totally perfect in every way!!! ;) We walked up the hill with no problem at all. It was totally amazing to feel all that power under me. It was incrediable and totally undescribeable!!!

When we got up to the riding ring we took a little rest. While we were riding up the hill Prince listened to me so well. We didn't go up the hill in a straight line that way it would be easier for Prince but he listened to my body and reins and was SO light!! I hardly had to put any pressure on the reins and he would move. It was amazing!! Once we had taken a little rest we did soem Follow the rail, Transitions, Weave, and Point to Point. It was nice riding in an english saddle but I do like my Fusion better. Trotting english it a little bit more complicated but I got the hang of it pretty soon. Our Weave was AMAZING!!!! We only did it at the walk but Prince was SO light!!! He followed my focus and was perfect!!! We did one complete Weave then had a rest. Prince had a big lick and chew then we were off again. I had to do a one hand pushing passenger when we were trotted for the first little bit. I was okay if I could do a sitting trot but when Prince's trot got faster I went into a rising trot and that was harder. Put I think I got the hang of it in the end.

We did Figure eights also. PRINCE WAS INCREDIABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is amazing how good Prince is when I get it right in my body ;) hehe The barrels were on a little bit of a hill so that added a little extra challenge to our Figure eights but that was fine. Prince really arched his body around the barrels and he was so responsive!!! We did about 5 complete Figure eights and then we stopped in the middle. All I had to was relaxed and Prince stopped. One time when we were doing Follow the rail, we had been doing walk trot transitions also and we were walking a long and just as I was relaxing Prince started to trot, it all happened in a split second but Prince had just started trotting but when he felt that I relaxed he stopped right then and there. It was a good thing I was on my balance point or else I would have fallen off forsure. Prince stopped so fast. It was amazing though because he was so in tune with me that he felt me relax and stopped.

Then we played around with trotting departures. At first I thought that Prince wouldn't like them because I was asking him to go faster quicker but instead he did an AMAZING job!!!!  I think he liked them because we would trot about 5ft then stop, have a quick rest then trot off again and repeat the whole process. Everything that I asked Prince to do was so light!!! Even our sideways was soft and straight!!! We also practised our 9 step back ups. Prince is getting lighter each time!!

After I was finished riding I climbed off. I unsaddled Prince and since my mom wasn't on Knightly yet  I climbed on Prince bareback so we could ride together. Prince and I walked over to the pedestal and climbed up. I was helping my mom with something [I think it was circles] I kind of felt that Prince wanted to climb up on the pedestal with all four feet so I just waited and after a couple minutes he did!!! So we stood there for a long time while I was helping my mom.
My mom had just gotten up on Knightly and Ruffy and Twosox came up and of course Ruffy has to stand right at the gate and bother them. So Prince and I come over and send Ruffy off. Then Ruffy being the LBE he is sees my saddle on the fence and goes over to check it out. I didn't mind that but when he started biting it I got a little bit worried. Prince and I were on the other side of the riding ring so we trotted over to save my saddle. It was really cool because Prince and I had a purpose!!!! We trotted the whole way over to the saddle and Ruffy I picked my saddle and the theraflex up [good thing it was my english saddle!! hehe] and we rode over to the pedestal and half placed it half dropped it there. I was relaly proud of Prince because he did so well the whole time!!! He wasn't at all worried about me carrying my saddle while riding him. I love my horse!!!!

When my mom was ready we did some trail ride simulations. We did about one curcit around the riding ring then we stopped. By this time it was getting cold because the sun was going down. It was a lot of fun though!!! Prince did soooooooooooooooooooooo well!!!!!!

Tomorrow the Proffessional Barefoot trimmer is comming out for a full one on one lesson day!!! I am excited but nervous because I am not sure how the horses will do.  I just hope I can stick to my Parelli pinciples and put the relationship first. Should be fun though!!!

~K