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CONGRATULATIONS LEIGH ON PASSING LEVEL ONE!
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I am a learner. I love to know things. So I study everything I can get my hands on. And yes, a lot of it is above the level I am with my horse. However, one day I will be ready for this knowledge, or find myself in a situation where I know what to do because I've dedicated myself to the study. I just have to be careful and not try and MAKE my horse do things which she & I aren't ready for.
Leigh
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Hobby loves jumping! |
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The storm is here,
Love remains.
Release the fear,
Love remains.
Anger recedes,
Love remains.
Release expectations of NOW,
Perfection exists.
With our Parelli seven games,
Leadership exists.
After the preconceived,
Communication is built.
After tears and time,
Love remains.
After study and play,
Love remains.
Day by day, lessons ingrained,
Love remains.
Partnership, Harmony, then Refinement,
Unification, Honor, and Freedom.
In our shining now,
Something special is given and returned.
In our shining now,
Magic is born; not supernatural, yet something
So natural it is purely elemental and just is.
In our Love, Leadership, and Language,
Hearts and lives are healed
Our storm is gone.
Love Remains!
By Leigh Freeman 9-23-05
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Have a mouthful for the road. |
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Hobby as a young 4 year old. |
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Yesterday had a nice ground games play session with Hobby. Our focus was playing with transitions in the circling game (22’ line of course through mud and all. I was watching for the smallest cues that she is heading into right brained behavior. Had tons of hmm? how interesting moments. I can’t say that it was our best session ever -as I have lots of "Oh Boy what can I do to help?" moments that I’m still thinking and mulling over.
We are doing our homework. We did leading and driving with me in zone three shuffling along side of her so she’ll gait. I really think this will help with straigtening her in addition to advancing her thresholds and maintaining gait. Sometimes riding her is like riding a piece of spaghetti she wiggles/wriggles along.
Also with backing before driving zone one around making sure the inside foot sets down before I ask for the turn to the outside. I can really tell she is starting to associate backing the front feet with pivoting on the hindquarters rather than leaking forward. We’ve also been doing extreme friendly with the face and positioning. I am holding her face in place in preparation for vertical flexion.
However, I do think that we had our best ever sideways without a fence. I was at least 15’ back from her. I had strong focus at a point over her back and she moved off focus and energy alone both front and hinds crossing at the same time - woo hoo!
We did the joining up game in the round corral, and she’d hook up for a few minutes then the lure of the gait and other horses would pull her away. We did this several times, before I realized I didn’t know how to make her want to stay hooked up. Is this one of those things I should have persisted with moving around behind zone five and removing pressure when I get eyes then walking through as leader. Or perhaps I should have went on to more provocative things like asking for the seven games at liberty with an object? On the final time I had her hooked up we went to the gait (which made her happy) and I put her online, so it was sort of success for both of us. Yesterday I was limited on time but plan to experiment some more.
Leigh
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Going on a group trail ride. |
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"Here, do you need some help?" |
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Yesterday I had an awesome day with Hobby. Started with ground work and when the herd went off she got right brained. "OH BOY", I thought to myself, "now I have the opportunity to fix this." I know you aren’t supposed to do circling games when they get right brained but Hobby always gets short after a few laps. And she was doing them at a dead run on the 22’ line. I just kept drifting with her so there was no “fight” or tension on the lead rope. That included drifting sometimes toward the herd and drifting away from the herd. I asked for disengagement and then immediately a very fast sideways. When I stopped so did she, and kept her feet still! WOO HOO!
We went on with the 7 games very politely. I then took her out of the pasture moseying and eating grass. Played friendly with lots of objects, including just using the carrot stick and string as a cue to “unlax” and hold still. Talk about duh--I Had really forgot that this can be used as a signal to hurry up and relax?
We had hoola hoops hanging off our ears, around our rump, were doing squeezes and jumps. I really think jumping relaxes her because she has to focus where she is putting her feet, not just letting her feet run off with herself. Since we were having such a great day, we played all the games with the trailer as an object. And I was able to send her in from the side of the trailer and back her out probably with Phase 2 or so. Wow, I’m thinking this is so awesome it has to be a fluke. As I’m never one to leave a rock unturned, we try again. SUCCESS!
At this point she is so left brained I switch the 22’ line to the riding hackmore. We play 7 games over to the corral gate and politely mount bareback. We did lots of indirect reins getting close to phase 1 360 front quarter pivots. Also did some sideways and direct reins. Did point to point with grass clumps to snack on as our points. The grand finale was jumping the barrels bareback and since she’d preformed so well, I quit on a high note.
I can safely say we have the go button fixed. Now I need to go back and study everything on my horse won’t Whoa (I probably ignored most of it because she was so short to begin with). Or start working on cantering and loping skills while we are on the go side of things. Lol.
Oh yes, playing with baby mule Bunny the other day we were haltering and she was wanting to throw her head up and back. I’m thinking this is going to turn dangerous if she is allowed to continue with this behavior. Light bulb comes on. One of the best talks I ever had with you was when you were telling me that yes, horses can read our intentionsm but it is the release that rewards and teaches. So I used my hands to simulate the nose loop of the halter desensitizing up over her muzzle over and over again. I only released when she was calm and not moving. I Haven't had a lick of trouble since. How cool is this stuff anyway?
Leah
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