Prince: Putting Prinicples to a Purpose!

December 10 2010

Prince and I had a lot of fun this morning! We played around with pulling the sled. Of course we took it in stages. This winter I want to play around more with getting Prince to pull me in a sled and such. So today we played with some of the ingredients.

First we started with doing some straight lines and circles with two 12ft lines dragging beside Prince (attached to the surcingle) he was okay with that so then I brought in the sled. Prince wasn't sure about it at first but after some approach and retreat it was able to be in all zones and Prince was confident with it being there. We were also able to do some walk trot transitions with the sled following in zone 5. 

Next I attached my savvy string to the 12ft line that was tied to the sled so I could put it through one of the rings that way Prince would feel some of the weight but if something went wrong I could just let go of the sled. That went well though and Prince didn't have any problems. 

So as the next step I attached the 12ft line to Prince so he was pulling it by himself. Again that went well and Prince didn't have any issues with that he was a little concerned going into the trot though so we had to play with that a little bit but pretty soon he relaxed and wasn't bothered by it at all. 

Next I attached the other 12 ft line to the sled and attached that to Prince so the weight would be even, not that there was much weight as it was only a plastic sled but there would be weight in it soon. Prince liked that better and was calm and confident pulling it at the walk and trot. 

About this time my test dummies.... oops....  I mean little brothers ;) came outside and the agreed quite willingly to try it out. Prince was perfect and we did both walk and trot! Both of my little brothers got a turn and then they both went. Prince was great and both my brothers enjoyed it a lot. 

Then my older brother, uncle and sister had a turn, one at a time of course. To keep it interesting for Prince though we went from grass patch to grass patch. He really enjoyed that :) I was able to go for a short ride myself while at the same time directing Prince. He got a little bit confused because he had to walk a couple feet forward before I would follow and normally once he starts walking I will start. So we played with that and we were able to walk from one side of the yard to the other. 

Prince got a long rest at the end and he got to graze for quite some time, until the hay delivery came and I had to go load it in the shed. But it was a whole lot of fun and I definitely want to play with it more this winter. 

Naturally,

~Keri

Ruffian: Playful!

December 10 2010

This morning I started with Ruffian. We had a good session over all. We played with some porcupine games first, getting the hindquarter, forequarter, and backup's light and with speed and distance. 

Then we moved on to Figure eights. Ruffian did really well but he would break gait while going around the one barrel so we played with that but then one time Ruffian decided he had enough and turned counterclockwise away from me and took off. Hmmm.... How interesting! I kind of thought that might happen. So once I had gotten him back we came back and carried on with our Figure eights. This time we were able to get the whole Figure eight at the trot then we ended. 

Next was circles. Ruffian did well and maintained gait well. So we played with some changes of directions and then I brought him in. We then hung out for a bit and then we ended. Ruffian is definitely an interesting horse and quite a challenge. He was really playful one minute and then introverted the next! But he is improving by leaps and bounds. At least he is showing signs of playfulness again! 

Naturally,

~Keri

Prince: Playing with a lot of things... and maybe to much for one session.

December 8 2010

I think the title pretty much sums up what I learned from this session. That it is very important to find a balance and not to to much is one session. Prince and I had a great session but at the end I really noticed that both him and I were de-motivated. Prince was doing what I asked but he wouldn't put much effort into it at all. 

Here is what we did...

We did some zone 5 driving with one line. This winter I want to play more with Prince pulling sleds and such. So today we played with maintaining gait at the trot for longer periods of time instead of doing transitions and such. Prince did well and we did big circles at the one end of the arena.

Next we played with our yo-yo's. My goal was lightness and speed to the end of the 22ft line. We took it in a couple stages but in the end Prince got it and it went really well. Prince backed up to the end of the 22ft line with lightness and speed, which was what I was aiming for. Now hopefully we shall be able to maintain that standard :)

We also did Figure eights at the trot from 22ft away, jumping a single barrel (we played clearing the jump which meant Prince putting more effort into jumping), and leading backing up by the tail, which was interesting because Prince will put a lot of effort into backing up when we are doing stick to me, yo-yo's etc but he will go rather slowly when I ask for him to back up by the tail. I just haven't required him to do it any faster... until now. I asked for more speed and at first he wasn't sure he wanted to but, thanks to the newer/cleaner ropes carrying a really good feel, I was able to reinforce what I was asking and he caught on pretty quickly ;)

The last thing we played with was friendly game in Prince's ears, he doesn't like me touching inside his ears, not deep of course. So we played with that because I know that it will effect our bridling if Prince resists the bridle going over his ears, which he doesn't mind the halter doing but it is something that I didn't want to just leave. So we played with that and got that going fairly well. I will keeping playing with it and hopefully, somehow get Prince to even enjoy me massaging his ears :)

Naturally,
~Keri

Review: The new Parelli 22ft line, with the handle.

I thought that I would just type a quick post about some of my thoughts about the new 22ft line that the Parelli's released with a handle on the end. Now before we start, just so that there is no confusion, here is a picture of what it looks like:

I have heard a lot of people complaining about it and many different reasons why they don't think it will be any good and how it could be dangerous, etc etc. From what I gathered these people do not have this particular rope and so are just making assumptions.

Principle #2 is "Don't make or teach assumptions". So I was prepared to give it my best shot and see how it worked. After all, if Mr. Parelli thinks it is a good idea and will be useful, I am not about to say that I don't like it until I have given it a fair trial.

The only concern I had about it going into the session, knowing how in our riding ring everything that can get caught on something will get caught, I wasn't sure if it would be a touch annoying if it kept getting caught on rocks and such. However that was not a problem because it really isn't big enough to get caught on anything, unless that particular thing is really small. I did not find that it was in the way or annoying when I was doing something at a closer range. So that wasn't an issue.

On Monday I set out to give it a try. I started playing with Ruffian and right from the start I could see that when we were doing some patterns I wasn't giving Ruffian the full length and when I did give him more I was able to see how we needed to improve!

With Twosox I really got to test out the handle part and I have to say, I really liked it! We were doing circles and he was at the end of the rope, while keeping slack in it though, and I was able to stand totally in neutral and just pass the loop/handle around very easily. With the other style of rope I found it harder to do this. Not saying that it couldn't be done but this was quite a bit easier because I didn't have to really grip it. Also when Twosox started pulling and leaning on the rope a little bit it was much easier to hold on until he released. I felt like it set me up for success because I didn't have to grip the rope and hang on really tight if Twosox started pulling.

Also when I asked for a change of direction I challenged myself to keep my hand at the end of the rope, hanging on to the handle. Twosox took a long time before he would change direction because he wasn't listening to my body, he was relying on the rope. So we were able to play with it and get it to where I could stay at the end of the 22ft line and get the change of direction with the belly of the rope on the ground. So I was able to see where I need to improve.

I played with all three of my horses using this rope and I found the handle really helpful. Now I am not saying that any of the points I made above about its good features couldn't be done with the older rope style rope but I was able to learn a whole lot in one afternoon, things that I didn't even know I was doing, or not doing, all because there was a little handle on the end.

One thing that some people have against this new style is that they said you could get a foot or hoof through the handle. I would just like to say that it would have to be a very small foot or hoof. My 6yr old little brother couldn't get his foot through it with a shoe or boot on even if he tried. It is small but not to small.

So I am very happy with it and I also like how they have the swivel snap on the other end. It is much safer and easier to put on and take off in freezing cold weather :) People may say what they will but for myself, I found it to be very useful. Plus it shall challenge me to get even better with managing my tools. I believe that it will be a very useful feature.

Naturally,
~Keri

Prince: Motivation.

December 6 2010

Prince and I had an amazing playtime this afternoon. I learned a whole lot about focus and motivation and lots of other things. We started by playing with our yo-yo's. It is amazing how new/newish ropes really carry an amazing feel! So much better than the older ones. I am going to try to keep these ones as new as possible. Maybe wash them more. Anyway, our yo-yo's is really starting to come a long and so we switched to the 22ft line. Prince was able to maintain the same speed in the back up all the way to the end of the 22ft line! Hooray! Progress! That used to be really hard for him.

Then we played with some Stick to me. We did halt to canter stick to me, and also canter to halt. It was really fun! Prince caught on really fast and we got some really snappy departures! Since Prince was listening to my energy so well I asked him to walk over to a barrel that was lying down, stop, sniff it and then I asked him to jump it from a stand still. He did and he cleared it! It was really cool!

After that we did a little bit of circles. We did a little bit of cantering but it felt that I was doing a lot more than Prince was. He looked unmotivated. So as he was circling I was thinking "What could I do to change things up a bit and motivate Prince?" There was a single barrel lying kind of in Prince's path but kind of not. So I turned to Prince as he was getting closer to it and focused right at the barrel, all eyes were on that barrel, and Prince jumped right over. I was amazed, though I really shouldn't have been but I was because Prince didn't try to go around it nor was he pulling on the rope. He kept the same rhythm the whole time and cleared it no problem.

Well after that Prince got really motivated and he cantered easily, while I was in neutral, a couple laps each way. While he was going to the right though he hit a patch of ice that was covered in snow and he slid and fell down. Thankfully he wasn't hurt and he got back up and kept on going, talk about don't change gait, don't change direction! I am just so thankful that Prince didn't hurt himself because he went down pretty hard. But he wasn't limping or showing any signs of being hurt. Praise the Lord!

I brought him in and gave him a rest though. I couldn't get over the look on his face, he was putting so much effort into everything!! The last thing we did in the riding ring was I stood at the end of the 22ft line and sent Prince over to the same barrel and to jump it. He did and the belly of the rope was on the ground! It was beautiful!

After that we went down to the corral and then I let Prince go but he stayed with me. So I scratched him for a while and hung out and then I went and gave the horses a bale of hay :)

It was a short but very successful and fun playtime. I ended when Prince was motivated and willing and I think that will make a big difference next time. I love playing with my horse's mind!

Naturally,

~Keri

Twosox: Learning to have no opposition relfex!

December 6 2010

Twosox and I played next. We started with playing friendly game with the plastic bag. He was pretty concerned about it so I decided to put my savvy string on the end and then play friendly with that and the bag would just be there, approaching and retreating. That worked really well and Twosox seemed to understand that it was just a friendly game. I am really trying to get my rhythm better. In everything that I do whether it is rubbing the horses, going through my phases, anything and everything. I want to get really good rhythm. I think it is getting better too!

Twosox was pulling quite a bit on the circle and he would keep breaking gait. So we did lots of transitions and then changes of direction... and I mean we did lots of changes of direction. Twosox would resist the pressure before responding, he had a lot of opposition reflex. We continued on until he was able to do several changes of directions with slack in the rope and he was responding with respect. Twosox had lots to lick and chew about after that.

We then played some more friendly game with the bag. He was a lot better already. Up next was Figure eights. The new 22ft line that I got has the handle/loop on the end and one thing that it has already shown me (which is what it was intended to do) is that with Ruffian and Twosox I don't give them the whole rope. Now part of that is because we haven't played on the 22ft line for a little while because of the ground being as it was, so hard and icy. So it just wasn't needed. But I do know that we hardly use the whole rope, especially with things like Figure eights, Touch it, sideways, etc. With circles it is easier but with other things is can be more challenging.

So I now know what my challenge is with Ruffian and Twosox, to get to the end of the rope!!

After we had played for a while we went down to the corral and I brushed Twosox also. He wasn't as dirty but I want to make sure they stay clean so that I can ride them this winter. Twosox stayed with me even after I let him go and so we hung out for a bit then I went and played with Prince!!

Naturally,

~Keri

Ruffian: Waiting for the relaxation.

December 6 2010

Ruffian and I had very good session, reviewed a lot, learned quite a bit, and over all had a very progressive session.

I brought out my new 22ft line because I want to play with more distance and also because the riding ring looked better than it has been for a long time. We start off on the 12ft line and did some Falling Leaf, jumping and sideways. It was really cool because Ruffian was standing by the a single barrel sniffing it and then all I did was softly send him and he jumped it and cleared it! It was really cool!

Part way through the session I looked at Ruffian and he was either bored, or he had gone introverted. To me it seemed like he had gone introverted but I wasn't sure so I decided to play with some circles and Figure eights next. That way he could get his feet moving and I could assess what was the issue. Ruffian had been doing everything that I had asked and was very light but he wasn't asking questions, which could have been a result of either of the two. So off we went. I put the 22ft line on and we did Figure eights at the trot. Ruffian was very light but the Figure eights needed a little polishing.

The good thing was that Ruffian stayed calm and fairly relaxed through out the whole pattern and didn't get worried because I was asking him to move faster. Once we got them a little better I stopped and let Ruffy have a little bit of time to think about it and then I sent him off again. This time they were much better, I didn't have to move my feet as much and Ruffian kept the belly of the rope on the ground the whole time, while also maintaining gait. When I disengaged him to bring him in his look had changed and he was asking questions!

Next was circles. I sent him off and we did transitions but mainly played with changes of direction. Ruffian wasn't breaking gait and I didn't want it to be boring and I also knew that Ruffian might want to crowd me a little bit so off we went!

I was right. Ruffy would change direction nicely but on his way through he would come in, not a whole lot but enough that I didn't want to leave it. So I really focused on getting his nose and neck over faster. Pretty soon Ruffian was keeping the slack on the ground and doing beautiful changes of directions, with out crowding me.

Ruffian was interested also and asking loads of questions. He was confident and relaxed, while also being light and responsive. What an improvement! He spent a long time licking and chewing afterward and also then fell asleep!

We then worked our way down to the riding ring and I brushed him, (1) because he was dirty and (2) because he had worked up a very little bit of a sweat and I wanted to him to cool down before I let him go. Plus it was a nice way to end the session :)

Naturally,

~Keri