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
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Ruffian: Saddling.
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.
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!
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
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Prince: Trail riding!
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
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Prince: Saddling, shimming, and snow!
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
Friday, March 11, 2011
Natural Performer!!
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.
I will post more pictures with I get some more. These were my favourites from this afternoon though :)
Naturally,
~Keri
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| Any wonder I need a superwide? ;) |
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| This one is one of my favourites! |
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| My handsome pony!! |
I will post more pictures with I get some more. These were my favourites from this afternoon though :)
Naturally,
~Keri
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