Awesome ride!

Rode bareback and dropped my reins and rode with the carrot stick on Ladee. She has the most trouble with freestyle because it puts a lot of responsibility on her quick little feet. Well we had the nicest ride! Barely had to pick up my reins and carrot stick use was minimal :)

Amazing day with Star!

Great horse day! I felt my nerves come up when I went out to catch her so I sttod to chill for a little bit and she came over to me :) That calmed me down. We moseyed to the pole barn and once inside did the figure 8 pattern and pushed the ball. She had a RBE/LBE horsenality today so it really challenged me to think quickly about how to adapt for her. Lots of lip licking and lots of blowing through her nose. When She looked calm I brushed and saddled. Saddling went well :) only had to put the saddle on twice and then the third time she was good. Played a lot once the saddle was on. Then we rode! Good ride. Focusing on teaching her to move her hind and front end with lightness. I ended by allowing her to play with and push the ball around! She got so into it that she would push it and trot after it! Hmmm I'm already dreaming up new ways for her to play with it :)

Fabulous lesson

So had a lesson today with Parelli Pro Kresney Craft. She helped me saddle and ride my youngster who I've only been on a few times.
We saddled and worked out some LBI 'I'm not standing there' issues. She has me back up or disengage Star everytime she walked off. Worked beautifully! Played online with the green ball for the first time ever and Star LOVED it! She pushed it all over the place!!
Once I mounted Kresney had me ride in a circle using "Look, leg, stick, rein" and it was super effective! By the end I was riding with just a look :) super happy with how my lesson went!

Take aways- Make sure I make standing still for saddling/mounting very important
Have less rest/pause time inbetween so my horse doesnt get bored and do something else.

Today was really cool!

Also watched her give a lesson to two other girls and went over some different rein positions. Really awesome! Can't wait until the workshop she's doing next weekend!!

Been a Long time!

So I have been making a ton of Progress with my mare Ladee. I can ride her pretty confidently walk/trot. Even out in a field. Our trouble comes on a a casual rein; because I'm not "holding her hand" she falls apart. Working on riding with a carrot stick. Also working on getting our friendly game a lot better. We are still working on a lot of level 2 tasks and some level 3.

Twister- This horse makes my day. We are in level 3 together and he is such a doll. Finesse is the part that will be hard for us because he'd rather I leave him alone. Played at liberty yesterday and had fun! Also doing carrot stick riding with him :)

Finesse

Played with the fluid rein and finesse today!

Long time!

Finally made it to the barn yesterday. I rode my mare Ladee and hehe what a ride! Everything started out well and she was very good. I rode her with a snaffle for the first time in probably two years and she was getting a little fussy with her head so I figured we'd switch to a halter. Remount, ride off. So I can tell she was about to have a problem so I give her head back to her(Mistake should have one rein stopped) and she kicks out her heels and rears a bit. Ok nothing new (Just bigger then usual) when she gets nervous or mixed up she has a little hissy fit. Well I figured I should get off before I fall off. Did groundwork. She went up in the air, bucked, kicked, reared, raced around. Good thing I got off!! Then she decided it wasnt worth the energy to be right brain and came over to me. We finished by having her walk over some poles and bridges, which is huge because she does not like to walk on or over things. All in all good day.

Now most people would look at it as a failure. The ride went badly, my horse freaked out, my horse bucked/reared ect ect. Well no it did not go as planned BUT I left with a left brain horse and I did not lose my temper. That in itself is huge!! To not lose your cool in a stressful and possibly embarassing situation is key. So what if my horse had a problem. Help her through it and MOVE ON. I havn't figured out what sets her off so we just experiment. And for me, not losing my temper is huge. Fantastic day!

All the Talented Instructors!!!

I just finished scanning through most of the Parelli Pros website! One of them attained her level 3 when she was 15 and brought multiple horse with her to level 3 and then was given a 2 year scholarship to study with Pat and Linda! Too Cool!! If I get everything together I will probably graduate level 3 with Twister when I am 17. And then with star when I'm about 19. Some of the Instructors I'm pretty familiar with and others I didn't even know they existed! Just goes to show you "you don't know what you don't know until you know!" I really and truly want to be an instructor! I want to be at least a 3 star and have stars in dressage, jumping, cows, starting, fondation and difficult horses! Hey they say to dream big!

June 08 Dvd- Pat and Beni parts 1-3~My take

WOW!!! I absolutely love watching Pat work with a horse! He just knows so much! I'm glad he is not only a learnaholic but a shareaholic and able to give all the Savvy club members monthly support.
What an Exrtoverted horse Beni was. I really like how Pat changed equipment very quickly and didn't stay up near him very long!! I remember Linda working with a Demo horse(not sure where or which one) and remembering she took so long to change halters..... well now I realize that her horse was left brain and confident and she could spend time doing that(he was mothing the halter and sticking it in his mouth ect) while Pat had this dragon of a RBE down his neck and he needed quality equipment quickly hmmm how interesting! Then also he just directed the horses energy in a semicircle pattern untill he stoped and then he waited. What really Impressed me was when he said something to the effect of ~yes there is Love, language and leadership but I may need to show him some leadership before love and language kick in!~ I've always had a bit of trouble knowing whether I should try to keep Stars feet still and rub her or give her more line and say "let me help you with the adrenaline!!" Now I know I should just cut to the chase and give her some "thanks I needed that" and then when she is ready we can do friendly. Also a prey animal needs to move their feet!! so I need to allow her drift! I can read and Diagnose other peoples horses so well but when it comes to my own either I hesitate a bit or just don't want to hurt/ruin them so maybe I second guess myself??? Well what ever it is I'll learn from it and get on with it. hmmm how interesting!! Oh Boy another Puzzle to solve!!!!!!

First Blog!

Wohoo! I have just set up my very first blog and I'm posting for the first time! :) I will try to have every post deal with an aspect of the Parelli Natural horsemanship program