Last Day of Week One :-(

One whole week has already flown by. How sad :-( I have learned so much and it is slowly sinking into my brain.... slowly. I will have to read all of this again when I get home to remind myself of several things.

Today was Leadership day. Kathy gave us an excellent presentation on leadership and what it means in each different horsenality AND we charted ourselves for personality to compare to what our horses are. Me and Mo are both LBE with a few LBI tendencies - AND I found out I am imulsive so that might be a lead on some of our ocaisional impulsion issues... how interesting! [oh boy!]

During remuda today we were with our LBE group again - what a fun crew! I am so proud to have actually had the confidence to jump into the extrovert group, and BE an extrovert. I love it. We talked about mirroring and energy and about Linda's lesson yesterday with the energy holding in the core and then we did simulations with a partner to mirror. I partnered with Iris and off we went - I got to lead first. Being me, I took off at a 'canter' and played with flying lead changes and canter/halt transitions - at first my partner was ehind but then she kept up really well - reading and mirroring me as I did what I did. Then it was her turn and I think I did a poorer job of keeping up with her - how interesting! So when I did finally get out with Mo I was really conscious of staying WITH her and not a step ahead or behind when I was trying to mirror her.

I was able to get my hands on some Sneak E Snacks today for Mo. She is very much a food monger and would be very easy to turn into a cookie monster, in fact I almost did today before I got it through my head that licking my pockets wasnt the best plan, no matter how funny/cute it was. She asked politely after that and started trying things to win a cookie instead of demanding one.

We also got to watch a trailer loading demo today by Kathy and a students horse named Shannon - a RBI. I dont know what the full story on her was, but we were asked for a non-extreme horse volunteer who just didnt consistently go into the trailer. We got to see just HOW MUCH waiting is needed for an introvert - and how much safety/comfort matters to a right brain horse - vs yesterdays demo with an left brain introvert. She was very much an obediant horse, a lot like Dakota on some days, and just sort of did things because she thought that was the right thing to do instead of actually wanting to do them. After Kathy played she offered a few really nice things and quit there - not even doing more than giving a really good confident lok into the trailer because ... guess what... ITS NOT ABOUT THE TRAILER!

After that Avery and her two horses Ahug and Akiss gave an inspirational trailer loading demo. These two huge belgain crosses [bakshir curly and paint respectively] went into the tiny two horse straight load in tandem. How cool!

And so my playtime begins.....

Mo met me at the gate, she usually does, and if she doesnt its because shes unsticking her head from out the window to get around the corner to come greet me. She has nickered at me every day for the last three days, almost every time I get up to her pen. SO COOL!! So haltered and armed with cookies, we took off down then lane and into the Enchanted Forest. I experimented with driving from zone four and five the whole way and learned a lot because one of the things that is hard for a left brain extrovert horse is giving up control of zone one [their nose, my dear C and T <3] SO being able to direct Mo's nose from allll the way back behind her was a fairly cool achievement since I couldnt do that a week ago!

Once inside the allocated area we pit stoppd at the first pond to see what would happen and I found out Mo wasnt really about offering things, and was really more interested in having her cookies. Hmm. Oky, well we moved on because she was getting unconfident about the whole water thing and I really dont want a horse afraid of water.

When we got to the bridge that crosses the creek I thought about needing a plan for oday and needing to engage my LBE horsey... well... one of the 'solutions' on my horsenality card for LBE's is backing! So I felt brilliant and decided to back Mo across the bridge. I found a rather large amount of hesitation and lack of confidence with things is zone five...[behind her] so that was really interesting to me, since I have no problems *personally* flopping all over her no matter the zone. I guess thats the difference between *things* and ..well, me! So there we are, zone five facing the incline [mild] for the bridge and Mo looking at me like " Are you crazy?! I cant back up this!" I took a second and actually thought about it to make sure I was reading her right, and that it was a mild unconfidence thing and not a snotty "yea right" thing. But nope, it was her not being ok [in a really mild manner] with things behind her, so I took a page from Kathy and WAITED. OMG do you know how hard it is for an extrovert to WAIT?? They have actually suggested a stop watch to time it - and I know I am guilty of the wait 5 seconds OK we're good, so I had my ipod and I listened to a song and waited for Mo to relax.

Lo and Behold, 3/4 of the way through the song Mo lowers her head and relaxes and licks and chews ultra over time. HOW INTERESTING! And then we back up another three steps and lather rinse repeat [ I swear I WAITED every single time and I am SO proud!] This went on until I got all four feet on the bridge [ that she has no problem crossing going forwards] and thats where I quit. Mo looked delighted and empowered and totally like "OH HEY thanks for waiting!" Which Ithought was really neat given her *usual* confidence with everything - which I now know is everything in FRONT of her.

By this point I am debating asking a faculty member about how to build confidence in zone 5 and as I am thinking it my brain is coming up with plans on its own so I didnt ask. I decided to devote today to mostly gaining that confidence by back and sidepassing up to things and wokring on backing up - since it was and has been sticky since I got here [dominance thing]

After crossing the bridge we went over to the honey comb in a sort of zig zag and appropriated the giant log to use as a confidence builder #1. Sidepassing Mo up against the log I found a big, ok well not big, but issue getting zone four to line up! How interesting. So I stop and think about this again. I realize [ok, admited] that in my sideways game zone 4 lags and I have not really ever addressed it, so now it is showing up here and it is unconfidence to go some where with zone four without leading with zone one first... hmm....

We worked with that for a bit until she was ok touching the log with her whole body and then went into an open round corral in the honeycomb. I set up two barrels in the figure eight pattern and thought about how to get creative and use backing so I went back to my attempt to back through the pattern. Hmm... V e r y s l o w l y things went at first, and I backed with her the whole time until I thought "I wonder if I can do this from farther away" and that went... well.. interestingly. I could get so far through the pattern and then she would get stuck and turn and face. SO then I went to our sadly underused backing by the tail. Mo picked THAT up in a *snap* and then we went ok through the pattern one and a hlaf times before she got bored and made up her own games.

*will finish later, have to catch my rid ein ten minutes!*

Morning with Linda Parelli!

Dearest C! And T! I am so very proud of your shiny new blog! <3

My adventures recently follow thusly:

Well this morning we got our very own up close and personal time with Linda Parelli. How very very cool. As an entire class [80 some odd people] we got to sit out in the [chilly] morning and watch a new savvy club dvd segment being filmed. With Linda. And two students with mismatched horsenality/personality problems. There was an extroverted person with an introvert horse and and introvert person with an extrovert horse. Very cool. I took a LOT [srsly, a TON] of things away that I can use with Dakota AND Indy.

For Dakota : I need to do less than him, I need to bring my energy waaaay down, I need to engage his mind with subtlety and intrigue instead on just slamming him with a phase four.. and lots of other things I need to soak on.

For Indy: I need to also bring my energy waaaay down. I need to be particular and make her feel SAFE so she doesnt have to go to the blowing up place. Because that is never fun. Safety is a very big thing with her. So I need to make very sure to deal with that.

Today I realised how very much Mo needs to move her feet. As an extrovert she likes to move [sometimes!] and as a left brain horse she is innately very very confident. We have been discussing the ways a horse can be confident and there are five areas : As a Learner, in Themselves, in a Herd, in their Environment, and in me as a Leader. In herself as a horse she is innately incredibly confident. In a herd she is also very very confident – enough so that it makes her a loner by choice on most occasions. In her environment she is most often pretty confident, as shown by the way she walks off a trailer acting like she owns the new place. That leaves her confidence as a learner and in me as a leader. Hmm. I would say that as a learner she is mostly confident but is peppered with mild unconfidence if she doesn’t get it right away. In me as a leader Mo is petty happy. She likes to test me every day, but not to hard, most days we have a working partnership.

SO! As an essentially 98% confident horse, she is happy to move around and explore everything – not run around scared out of her wits! Indy would be the run around scared out of her wits, and I am learning a ton about how to help her and redirect her. Mo needs direction though to. Creative and constructive direction that doesn’t hold criticism for her and her flamboyant self.

If you know Mo, you know she is a total goober and likes to run around flailing happily and hopefully not tripping over her own four feet. On several separate occasions she has so far [in four days] tripped over her own feet, on FLAT ground and almost fallen flat on her face. One time she almost did a nose dive off of a bridge. Hysterical laughter ensued. Sorry Mo.

So today I was making a big effort to observe her since I have sort of gotten the OMG PARELLI LAND LETS PLAY out of my system and I can focus now *coughextrovertcough* I was watching her, and waiting for any lacking in confidence in her part, and I really didn’t see any outside of the pond. She was happy to walk everywhere and even offered up a trot regularly. So we played and I tried different things and I changed it up. We went first into a round corral in the honey comb of the enchanted forest playground to practice our sadly lacking liberty skills. A friend had just shared some horsey cookies with me so Mo was uber enthusiastic!

We played at liberty for a good while, working on yo-yo, sends on the circle, trying a squeeze over barrels [not so good] backing by the tail [SUCCESS!] and sideways – which is getting better! I am getting better at regulating my energy so its not a SEND but a sideways… you know? It was really cool at one point I was standing in front of her and making the sideways motions in my body, crossing my legs over and things and then Mo started MIRRORING my legs with her front legs! How cool!

After that we clipped a line on and went out.. OH WAIT I FORGOT THE COOLEST THING!!

Going into the honey comb, there is a gate obviously, but also, sporadically around the biggest ring there are tree logs of varying sizes that you can opt to jump… WELL!! Mo JUMPED the BIGGEST one SEVERAL times!!! This tree was BIG !!!! maybe up to my waist or so. And she did it.. I was soooo floored… so proud. I couldn’t believe it! And she did it more than once with a very tiny send, it was like she offered it at the lightest suggestion!

My darling darling amazing cool horse jumped this monster log again on our way out and patiently waited for me and my uncoordinated self to clamber over the giant log. Finishing with the round pen we headed over to the different logs, jumping our way over to the back pond where we played squeeze game until we got two feet just barely into the water and I left it at that. From there we went over to a large log circling our way there. When we got there we found a cool set of logs in a semi L shape. The long wide of the L was a short log and the short side was a tall log. I started circling and squeezing Mo over the different logs and then thought it would be cool to stand on the tall log that had a flat space to play. Well! As soon as I got up there Mo sidles up like “do you want to get on?” And it was so cute! I am not supposed to ride for these to weeks so I had to politely decline, but it was so sweet that she asked.

So we played circling and squeeze and tested our lightness and change of direction – because lets face it, there isn’t much room to maneuver on top of a log! Mo did me proud and was excellent. Maybe could have been a little lighter in the canter, but otherwise super great. So I walked around on my loggy loft and Mo kept playing around me until she got the point and we moved on again. Extroverts you know.

On our way we just happened by another side of the pond so we played more with the water and this time Mo went in!! She went all the way in and came back out, got a cookie and we moved on! Its not about the water!

Our next stop was two tractor sized tires lodged upright in the ground with a horse width between them as a squeeze set up. Being the maniac I am, after letting Mo investigate them, I climbed up onto one and got her circling around me. That was all well and good, until I decided to up the ante and get a change of direction from my seat. Shouldn’t be to hard right? Given that I was just working on that? It wasn’t, not technically, but I wanted the change to run through between the tires. Hmmm!!! Mo thought that was really interesting! AND it took her more that five seconds to understand the game! Whoo!

After she figured it out – not to much longer- I realized it was time for the seven games workshop in the honey comb and went back over there to watch and listen. There were bunches of horses inside so Mo and I just watched outside. They were working on friendly game when I got there, so we watched that … er, I watched that and Mo grazed! Then porcupine game, where Avery talked about moving the front and hind end etc.. so when experiment time came I decided to see how my lead by the leg was. Well darnit if it wasn’t really light!! I was so proud of Mo! I tried her back legs then, with my carrot stick/savvy string around her back legs to test that one. She was distracted eating so at first it was not so good but then I got her attention and she did it amazingly – and THEN when I stopped she didn’t even want to start grazing again because I had been INTERESTING!!

When they got into driving game I was noticing how I was really really thirsty and how Mo kept licking me [srsly, constantly!] so I moseyed my way back over to the lodge ish area. On the way there was a bridge traffic jam so while I waited my turn I went over and played follow the weird white birdies. Hopefully such exercises will prevent them “ OMG KILLER BIRDS” issue while riding! Crossing the bridge has never been as issue with Mo, and when I get the chance I want to play with backing over it.

At the lodge area, still on the playground side I realized I had a problem.. no hitching rail and Mo isn’t allowed indoors. Hmm… luckily there is a round corral right there, and since they don’t want us leaving horses unattended, there was thankfully a few people there that I asked if they could watch Mo for me and they agreed. It was only a few minutes while I grabbed a cup of water, but I appreciate it none the less!

Mo is so adorable, she watched and followed me when I left and then through the big windows, and then got all happy looking when I came back out. Awwww!!

Once I finished my water, I noticed the big green ball in this particular round corral, so I went over to get it [Mo at liberty] Mo came about halfway then found some interesting sand and ignored me so I just started bouncing the ball around her doing approach and retreat etc.. Another horse who was scared of the ball came in and her owner took advantage of my bouncing to help her horse approach and retreat enough to get her nose on the ball! How awesome! After enough retreating for Mo, I decided that her look wasn’t an “umm Im not sure” look but a “ Pfft… I do do balls” I walked right up to her with it and started bouncing right next to her. That didn’t bother her so I bounced it high and sat it on her back for about ten seconds before I couldn’t contain my self any longer I had to hug her and tell her how awesome she was!

After that grand finale with the ball we moseyed out of the playground to get Mo a drink – she has finally found the world of molasses water, and it took her literally seeing another horse drinking out of it right in front of her to convince her it wasn’t a poison attempt! What a goofball. Now she [well today] only drinks the molasses water.

After getting a drink we moseyed back around and encountered Carmen and the Killer Golf Cart! Mo’s reaction isn’t your typical OMG reaction when you think of a horse being afraid, but it was an OMG for her so we went over to visit Carmen and investigate the cart and convince Mo it wouldn’t eat her. In fact she tried to eat it. Whoo! Even when Carmen drove away we were able to follow her, with me driving from zone 4/5. Cool stuff. I have been practicing my driving a lot more now I find, and we are getting pretty good!

We tried the pond one more time, making it more of a circling game and Mo went in awesome and pretty deep to, playing and splashing around. After that it was pretty late so we walked around, met up with Iris and dried up our horses in the sun and then brought them back to their pens and went for supper before going home to J’s for the evening.

Hopefully more tomorrow!

:-)
S

Days One and Two

And so it begins...
My course in Liberty and Horse Behaviour has begun!

Yesterday was all about reading the horse and the nature of the horse. We played with a game called me and my shadow. Well now! If I didnt discover that I personally own a green bucket fiend [thats what all the grain and cubes are fed in] While playing Me and My Sahdow the whole point of the game is to be able to hand over the 51% leadership to the horse and take the 49% for yourself, and just go with the flow and see what they do.

Mo took me on quite the adventure! We power walked everywhere for starters. And I mean POWER walked! We sped around, bucket to bucket up and down the lane of pens. At one point, one of the girls offered to go around and start blocking all the food buckets... well if Mo doesnt start RACING her to get to the buckets before her. It was HYSTERICAL!

Interesting to note that Once Mo got the idea that Her Supreme Highness was in charge, she WENT and was curious and a few times I had to say GAME OVER and get my leadership back up. That was interesting to note because I never realized how close to the surface her dominance was! So that was cool to learn. And her curiosity! About EVERYTHING! There are some shelter things the size of about a bigish standing stall and they are raised and she walked right into and out of several just exploring! Not so much for the claustrophobia that one!

So that was pretty much our day yesterday - Pat came to talk to us in the afternoon so we had less horsey time, but that was TOTALLY OK! He was explaining to us about the new intern/extern program and such that you can apply for. John gave another Q&A Session on it this afternoon which was really interesting.

So today was Horsenality day. We went into all the dfferent horsenalities and then were sent out armed to see what kind of horse had showed up today. So I went up to my pen to see which Mo I had to visit with today. Well, first she nickered at me, which is always a good Mo-sign. She also basically thrust her head into the halter so off we went. I sort of drove from zone three and sort of shadowed her out to the Enchanted Forrest.

Once there we went into one of the round corrals and I let her go to see what she would do. She sort of stuck by me so I experimented with what we could do. We can do sideways towards, yo-yo, driving and porcupine. I forgot to try squeeze - my bad. Then I tried our sideaways circle which went pretty well to!! Out on the circle she was really good, yesterday we got a canter/trot transition with just a minor finger point, and we were pretty much on the same page today. That was neat. And she kept LOOKING at me! Like "OH BOY! What are we doing now??" she trotted to me a bunch of times which was super awesome.

When we had the circling thing and bring back down ok we attempted sideways. And I say attempted because thats just what it was. It wasnt to pretty but I was able to get about four good steps each way and be really pleased with that and walk away. I learned that my send was to strong for sideways. I need to be more sublte and not yell so that she leaves completley. Very neat to play with that - her leaving flight line got smaller and smaller... very cool. So I snapped my 22' back on and we went out exploring in the playground.

There was supposed to be a workshop on a few things in different areas but I missed them because Mo went on adrenaline adventures! We cruised around and she went LBE adrenalized for a bit so we squeezed over a line of logs that made her think about her feet, then moved to a box jump, which she actually jumped, and I promise you it came to her chest! I was so proud! When we got off of that we went to a big tire filled with sand and Mo promptly put four feet on - nothing new for her really. OH! And also, there is a bridge - a real one made of wood - that you have to cross to get to this part of the playground and she crossed it like nothing the first time I asked. To cool.

So after the tire we went to a little bridgy thing on the ground, more like a plank type deal and she semi jumped it and stepped over it and across it again no problem, but a little adrenalized still, and not really coming down because horses around us were going right brain. There is a little round corral up in that corner so I decided to head in there. In there I took off my lead to see what she would do and started on a vircle. Well,real fast I got worried about Mo jumping the little panels because she kept looking at the other horses. So I strarted mirroring her again. And she did a total 180 and went ... what ARE you doing?>? And then she was with me and we walked out of the roundpen [online] and went around, still a little adrenalized, but now responding so we did grass point to points.

Eat some grass, trot or canter to here, eat some more grass. I usually put some logs in her way or something. Big ones. It was awesome watching her jump the giant logs at a tiny send and at a trot. Sometimes even a walk! So she was more in control of herself and reading my energy down part to go for grass so we headed back over the big round pen where the ball workshop was. They were playing ball soccer with the horses and people, the poeple having to stand still!

So when that semi ended I went in and got to play and that was cool. Mo was in a good mood. Then we went over to the hill playground just a little to two cavellti on the ground and played with energy up and down with grazing point to point over the caveletti. She got to where she would slide to a halt when my nergy went down and dive for grass! How cool!

Finally we had to go in for the night because it was dinner time. Then I ate dinner and now I sit here :-)

Will hopefully post some more tomorrow,
Gotta Run!
:-)
S

The beginning

Dearest C! I hope this finds you well,

Here I sit, in my new room for the six weeks, Pirates of the Caribbean playing in the back ground, contemplating how my journey has gone this far.

We left Russell on Thursday morning fairly early. [And I shall need to know your name…] The first hour and a half went great, then we hit the Canadian border. That was a little nerve wracking! My coggins test semi-technically expired on the 24th, since for travelling they are only good for six months – which I didn’t know until the day before I left practically, but my vet took another before I left, so its coming in the mail. Anyways, we thankfully got through, squeaked through really, and were on our way after about an hour.

Day one was good. We stopped and did the bathroom thing, the Arby’s thing and finally made it to our stop for the night. We stayed the night in Elizabethtown Pennsylvania. It was a great place and we met great people. Day two we were scheduled to meet another travelling companion so we got to dawdle around in the morning having breakfast and such before hitting the road. We didn’t get on the road until nearer to ten thirty. This turned to be a sort of negative thing because the mileage between PA and our stop on the NC/SC border was the longest leg of the trip. We didn’t pull in there until near to TEN PM!!! YIKES! To top that off we were having transmission problems to we had to go slow. The hills in PA/NY are killer!

So we made it to Sally’s Ark, which was fabulous [and then they made me their chief] Mo had a great snooze that night and was fair coated in shavings come morning. When it came time to leave, we left early for the last day of travel, and Mo loaded up like a complete champ. I adore my horsey.

The last day of travel went well, we made it in fourth gear all the way here, if a little slowly. At least we made it!! Mo unloaded here great and has been in a great paddock stretching her legs and napping alternately ever since.

Horse country around her is simply stunning. STUNNING I tell you. If I get a chance I will photograph it all! We saw palm trees on the roads on the drive down, that was fairly awesome to. I found Waldo! He is in fact a town in Florida! And I saw a town called Dumfries, and I found the original Brunswick [vs NEW Brunswick LOL] Also saw New Carolton, which made me giggle and think of Tanya.

My hostess is amazing, and I cant wait to be able to talk more with her! She is so so so nice, and [I think] we get along great. Dad and I took her and her husband Ralph out to dinner last night, it was a really good time! So, anyone looking to come down for a course here, I HIGHLY recommend staying at J’s Place – contact me if you need contact info! I obviously cant guarantee she will have space, but you can try! J

Dad and I did some grocery shopping this morning – after accidentally getting lost down the road with some of the most beautiful horse places I have ever seen – so my fridge/cupboard space here now looks exactly like it does at home – Poptarts [my sundae ones!] orange juice, and milk. Joy!

There are TONS of tack stores around here, and the mercantile at the Parelli centre [ you seem somewhat familiar, have I threatened you before?] so I am so totally pumped to go SHOPPING!!!

Hmm… what else…. [hows your footwork?] OH! At the Florida Ag stop [which I was also panicking about] I made friends! ME! Who never talks to anyone I don’t know, who is SHY – but I saw rope halters on the horses in the trailer so I got brave and asked if they were headed to the ISC and they were! So that was awesome and we got to follow them most of the way through Florida, so that was spectacular. [Or, perhaps the reason you practice three hours a day is that you have already found one, but are otherwise incapable of WOOING said strumpet…. You’re not a eunuch are you?]

So now I am just waiting for my AMAZINGLY GRACIOUS hostess to get back from an errand she had this morning because she said she could trailer Mo over to the centre for me since my truck is sort of done being usefull until I can get it to a garage and get it fixes [PIRATE] So that is so nice of her.

I cant think of anything else to add right now so I will add later!
:-)
S

Last Update...Probably...

This will probably be my last entry until I get TO Florida. Laptop is coming with, so I can blog my experience while I am there! I just dont know if I will have webz at the two places I am stopping at overnight on the way down. If I can update, you can bet I will, because I will want to share the awesomeness that will be this trip!

Before I ramble some more about travel plans I just wanted to go WHOO about my Sunday ride [when I should have probly been packing/doing laundry] Mo and I practed brdless and bareback some more, and it was awesome. We practiced canter departs and coming back down to the walk or trot - she goes... "slow? STOP!" There wasnt any middle ground.. until now!! That was fairly completely spectacular in my books. I also got some super cute pictures of Indy snoozing and my aunts horse Pride sleeping in an awkward position.

Mo is now officially ready to go! She has all papers, I just have to call the USDA vet tomorrow to book a meeting on Thursday for our crossing. Health papers got signed yesterday, no problems and everything is ready for Mo!!!! Truck is shiny and ready, trailer is healthy and red and awesomely ready, all thats left is to load up our things and go... after I pack my things of course.

My travel companions [besides my human father] will be Jack and Fillipé. Look for their adventures to be posted soon. They are adorable, if I do say so myself. This shall be an adventure titled : Jack and Fillipé Do Florida. Well, PA first, the NC, and THEN Florida :-)

I think that about covers it..... We are taking off at 7am on Thursday, and I have to remember to call my dad to remind him about his obligatory Tim's run because otherwise I might cry...[its mandatory road trip treats] I also have to hitch up and LOAD UP everything tomorrow night so I can just pull out Thursday morning without going OMG I FORGOT THE KITCHEN SINK!

I think I have labelled everything I own... I hope so? I am bringing my ribbon with me anyways in case I forgot... Not that theres a theft problem there, just with 25 12' ropes on the ground.. how do you tell which is which??? I CANT WAIT TO BE WARM!!! I am sooo excited to be there! I am going to be like the paparazzi the first days!!! I think I might just post an album link or something.... hmm... I shall ponder that.

GOTTA WORK! ACK! bwahahahhaa 1 1/2 hours left today then 8 hours tomorrow then IM DONE !!! No more works til DECEMBER WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

I cant believe I get 6 straight weeks of Mo time.... she is going to LOOOVVEEE all the attention!!!

Ok, back to work!

I will post as soon as I can :-)

S

She CANTERED to Me!!

*squee*
firstly, I wasnt even supposed to go home last night because it was my birthday and I was going to hang out with my sister and cousin so they could give me the present they got me [ a portable dvd player for my trip OMG!] but I ended up having to deke home to meet the vet for Mo's health certificate.

I wasnt the most excited about that, but it had to be done and I couldnt find anyone else to stay. So anyways, the vet was due between 5 and six so I was going to bring Mo into the barn hoping she would get there right at 5 so I could skedadle! No dice, she got caught in traffic and wasnt there til 6:30 but thats ok, she is awesome and I love her anyways.

The whole point though, is that when I was walking up to the barn, I called to Dakota and Mo, they both looked up and Mo started following me with her eyes, Dakota to. I forgot something in the car so had to go back and get it, so removing myself from their sightline, but as soon as they could see me again they were both looking at me.

Neither moved a muscle the whole time, just watched me, Mo had that "OMG Its YOU!" happy look that she gets when I bring her treats so that was so cute. When I got a halter and got to the gate and was *just* about to take a step out to get Mo, she BLASTS off into a canter and cantered all the way over to me from the gate into the pasture. EEE!!!

Seeing Mo gallavant off, Kota also did some showing off and cantered over to!! Mo had come right up to my nose for her hugs, and Dakota was actually respectful about 'our' space so I haltered Mo and made her stay while I hugged Kota. What cool ponies I have! It was so cute!

After putting Mo in a stall for a while, brushing her, tidying things up, killing time basically... I went out and Kota was still right at the gate and he actually nickered at me so I took pity on him and let him graze in the back yard while we waited. Mo had finished her 'keep busy' hay so I let her out in the yard to. Such a pretty picture!

So, thats my story. My horseys ran to greet me on my birthday. It was awesome. The End. [for today]

:-)
S

*Happy Birthday To Me*

Its my birthday today and its been a total rollercoaster week! In a really awesomely good way!

NEWS #1: CANADIAN BORDER BAN ON FLORIDA HORSES IS LIFTED!!! MO IS GOING TO FLORIDA WITH ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now the rush is on to get all paperwork accomplished before next thursdays departure day!

NEWS # 2: My Cradle came last night! Perfect timing for my birthday present to me! And, in a delightful true LOL moment, when I tried it on Mo I realized just how LARGE her cuddley cranium is.... I had punched an extra hole in her headstall to prepare for the high cheek peices even though she was on the second hole from the top - from all accounts extra holes have been needed..... Well not for MO! Miss I Have A Giant Head fits the Cradle PERFECTLY on the top hole that was already there. New holes for nothing. Oh well! At least I did a good job on centreing them and they look good :) I only got to ride in it for twenty seconds bareback because I was late but Mo thought it was really cool and I got forehand isolation which never happens! Needless to say, I am ultra uber excited to play with this in the next WEEK [omg] before I leave and then again down in Ocala!

So that was my thirty second last night, the night before was awesome to! I played with Mo on the ground, trying to maintain high engery without going to the right-brain place and was pretty successfull! I tried to look at my obstacles in new ways, and be as soft as possible and try new things... it all went really well! When I mounted, I was just sitting on her bareback because I had been circling her from standing on a barrel and she offered to sidepass over. I decided to see how my bridless was going and unclipped my 22' and we proceded to wander all over the ring!

I tried to emulate what I did last weekend at Shirley's weaving around and through and over everything to keep Mo interested and it really worked! We even cantered around, which is something we have been having trouble with only at home in the front ring because of scary trees. So that was a big deal!

Even cooler, it was the first time I could tell my aunt about being able to take Mo afterall, so when she got home and I was riding, me and Mo went over to the gate, opened the gate [still bridless!] closed the gate and TROTTED over to the house, onto the patio and up to my aunt so I could tackle her with the great news! AND Mo was totally with me when I dismounted and stuck right by me the whole time at liberty!! YEYYYY

That was the first time we were outside of a fenced area bridless. Unless you count being in the 25 acre pasture, which I dont since thats Mo's home turf as it were, and is not potentially scary. The whole escapade felt completely safe and controlled and was wonderful! I was so proud!!!

SO! RECAP!

1. Mo IS going to Florida
2. My Cradle came in! [C3 for m'dear Mo if you are curious]
3. Bridless gate opening!
4. Its my birthday and Im watching Greys with my sister T and cousin C tonight! Yey!
5. Mo and I are going to another playday at Shirley's on Sunday with Suzie and Blue! And hopefully Shirley and Jeanette to!
6. Hopefully going to tape some of my Level 2 on Sunday!
7. I am NOT panicing to get everything ready for leacing in a week... NOT....promise
8. Stay tuned for Mo's adventures in Florida! I can guarantee she will ham it up!

Cant wait to be there!!!! Our Liberty needs serious help, thank goodness for LIBERTY & Horse Behaviour!

:-D
S

Oh Right Brain Extroverts.....

Yesterday was by far Indy's worst day.. *sigh*

We played for a while. I got to the barn early because some other plans fell through. Indy caught me just fine, and was great while I brushed her and we practiced trailer loading for the first time with the new trailer. All of that went grandly. I was impressed, honestly. She had one OMG moment, but nothing really.

So I was completely surprised when we moved into the ring and she went..... mental! Complete RBE freakout. I tried stopping her, no dice, I tried adding energy and she just went faster and checkout even more, I tried everything I could think of and she just got worse. UGH.

I literally broke mentally, and just sat down on some barrels scanning my mind over and over and over looking for something to help Indy. She just sort of stood out of my way - where I made her stay because she kept thinking about running me OVER! - and just huffed and puffed over her exertion. She was getting drenched in emotional sweat. She was a wreck and I didnt know how to help her!

I decided to just go with slow. Now that she was stopped, maybe I could keep her slow... maybe... We headed over to the weave cones and WALKED through them. She tried to trot and freak off a few times, but I was able to shut her down. After walking the pattern a few times she seemed to clue in and be ok and I thought I might be able to help her work off something riding so I mountedbareback. And was shocked by how much her back moves! Mo's stride might not be the most comfortable, but its more jarring than anything. Indy is just .... flowy! Her whole body moves and after attempting a trot, I just sort of internally added that to the checklist of things to practice and saddle up.

We walked around and everything seemed great. Relaxed, flowy and I could stay with her better. It was like a switch flipped and she was suddenly with me. We picked up the trot though and she checked out again so we trotted... and trotted and trotted. Around and around, weaving through every obstacle in the ring, popping over the jumps [more shame for Mo lol] going forever and a day [seriously, forty five minutes at least] before she FINALLY started to blow. A tiny tiny bit. So I called it quits, unsaddled and walked her up and down the laneway.

It was a weird and interesting sort of day.... I dont really know what to think of it, or if I handled it right.....

Either way Mo about tackled when I finished with Indy so I put a savvy string around her neck and hopped up. We jsut walked to the end of the pasture and back, because she was all sluggish and tired from the day before [I would be to if I werent the crazy ovsessed freak I am...ha!] When we got back from visiting with Dakota we maneuvered the ate [cool!] and went to graze on the lawn. I promptly turned around and made myself comfortable lying on Mo's back for the next forty minutes while she grazed. She grazed, I dozed, it felt like perfection.

So a happy ending at least to my ... eventful day. I so wish I could bring Mo to Florida with me. It really kills me that I will have to leave her behind. I know every accomplishment I have with my lease horse, no matter how amazing, will be underscored with "I wish this was Mo". *Sigh* I am so grateful to at least be able to still attend though... its just hard to know my best friend will be at home.

I am hoping that we might at least get accepted to the tour stop....

:-)
S

New Friends and Great Adventures!

Saturday was an absolutely PERFECT day. It reall couldnt have been any better. The sun was shining, it was warm, not a cloud in the sky, and Mo and I headed off to meet some new friends we met on the Savvy Club!

Turns out there are some more local Parelli students!! I LOVE finding out about other students!! There are three wonderful girls playing at a famr a half hour from me and they invited me over to play! Given Mo's proclivity to mischief in the recent past, I wasnt to sure how she would act, but I really didnt have to worry even a little bit.

She loaded up like an angel on the first try, and unloaded just as easy when we got there. We hung out and talked with our new friends and when we started to play Mo was just... right there. We played on the ground with everything I could think of, running and cavorting and weaving and figure eighting and standing on the pedestal and jumping barrels until I somehow ended up on her back. I really dont know what happened. One minute I was standing on a stump with her circling me and the next I was sitting on her... go figure?

So there we were, I was sitting on Mo, she had her halter on but her 22' was dragging in the ground. I had my carrot stick, and Mo was in a GREAT mood and we were in a good sized arena so I thought 'Hey why not?' and unclipped the 22' line - leaving me and Mo essentially bareback and bridless! Mo and I then proceded to have the best ride ever!! We walk trotted and cantered all around, completely in control and doing canter halt departs like we did it everyday... which we haent been since Mo has been on her crazy rampage.

I was BEYOND thrilled. Beyond coherent emotion, I was just so so very overwhelmed by Mo's awesomeness.

Then we had a little break for a drink and bathroom while the horses grazed and we talked. When we caught our ponies from their grazing heaven in the yard again, we saddled up and went to ride in another part of the property that had the coolest rock ledges that can be used for jumps! We played around in there for a while until it was pizza time and then broke for food!

For part three of our adventure I saddled up again, but ended up jumping off and unsaddling again to play bareback - I was feeling really in balance with Mo!! It felt wonderful to be so in tune with her.

Mo and I were bombing around doing all kinds of things essentially naked - her not me! We eventually went out again on a 'cool' down trail ride out in the pasture where the rocks were. I put Mo's hackamore back on for that, just in case.

Over all, it was SUCH a fantastic day. And what a WHOLE day to! We didnt go inside once [other than to answer natures call of course] and I was there from about 9:40am to 6:20 pm!! I LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT!!!!!

FABULOUS!

:-)
S

Progress and Experiments

I decided to play with Indy last night. She was already walking in from the big pasture to converse with her new bf Kota, so when I called her name she actually came over to me, which was nice! After checking me out to see if I brought cookies [bad me, I forgot] she allowed me to halter her. I had to protect our space a little bit from Crystal, who thought resting her head on my elbow while I haltered Indy was just the coolest thing ever. BOY is she sensitive though! I just looked at her with a "GO AWAY!" look and she trotted away! I will have to remember that in the spring... since I am supposed to start her!

Indy and I moseyed back to the gate, had an interesting conversation about going THROUGH the gate, and into the barn. Getting through the gate was fun because I was testing how light we could be and she kept offering to put one foot up on the ledge that separates the barn from the yard. Her: "Put my foot up here? Ok" Me: "Can you go all the way through?" Her: "How about the other foot?" And then look at me with a goofy expression... It was really quite funny so we played with it until she caught my drift and went all the way into the barn and disengaged.

Down the aisle we practiced with backing by porcupining the chest - which is something I have neglected with her and everytime I try to move her I grind my teeth internally and remmeber I should work on that... so we did. And we were successful! Went from needing phase four to phase two in just on backwards aisleway trip! Whoo! Smart horsey!

I brought her right out to the backyard so she could graze while I brushed her. What was an incredibally nice surprise was that every time I wanted her head up, it would just take phase one to bring it up! I have actually no clue where that came from because in the summer she was a grass monger...? It was a nice treat though! After getting all prettified I got out all of our tack, deciding to try out Mo's saddle on Indy, just to see. I put out the hackamore to, in case I rode, and grabbed a 22' for our ground play.

Getting through the gate was fun. Dakota thought I was in charge of his personal amusement and wanted to see what new toy I brought him. Protecting our space wasnt hard, never really is with my three since they are all pretty aware of what I am asking. Mo got all huffy about me picking Indy though, so she squealed and cantered off. I dont know what I would do without Mo to make me laugh every day.... For the record, Mo watched us avidly for the rest of the session, like she was waiting for Indy to screw up so she could rush in and be the super horse. Orrrr I am just making things up, but I think thats what goes on in Mo's head. :-)

First things first, friendly game with the string! Not Indy's favorite thing, and last time I tried it she went bonkers, so I was happy when she kept her feet still, even if she flinched the first time. I just went slow and rhythmically, giving her a treat when she looked confident, and that helped a lot. For the rest of the sesison she would stop dead when I flung the string over her back - so we will have to work on moving friendly to, but its a start!

I put the barrels into a jump line to practice our squeeze game with, since Indy adores jumping. I groaned inside for Mo when Indy floated effortlessly over the barrels. Mo is just SO not a jumper!! Mo looks like a clumsy oaf next to Indy when she jumps... at least Mo is good at ... everything else?

It took a while for Indy to understand the squeeze then turn, face, WAIT part. The RBE part of her just kept wanting to blast off into a circle. There was lots of licking and blinking and ears trained on me going on though, she was trying her darndest to figure out the puzzle! AND [big and for dearheart here] I never had to really go to phase four because she never really blasted off like she can on a circle! So YEY Indy! Eventually she really did get the pattern and I was proud of her for that.

We moved on to a circling game over the barrels and transitions on the circle. I was proud that she remembered from the last session and so that was pretty much a non event. For the next part I had to re-arrange the cones, because Mo keeps taking off with them. I set them up into a weave pattern and started sending Indy through. Well damned if she doesnt do it perfect on the first try.............! SERIOUSLY! Apparently we are doing something right together....

We went throught the weave a few times until I was sure she had it, and she offered a few trots for good measure, that was cool, and then we went over to the fence to saddle up. Indy was all over the theraflex today. She is funny about that - some days she could care less about it and other days it just ends up in her mouth and I get the innocent look saying "Oh.. saddle pad? How did... I have NO idea how it got in my mouth" *said in mumbly tones around said pad* Gotta love Indy. She even snuffled the saddle, making sure she sniffed every inch, right down to under the little flap where the stirrup bars are. That was funny watching her flip up that part with her nose and shove her nose in to see.

In an impressive interesting moment, Mo's girth fit Indy again - on the regular Wintec 500. Soooo... either Indy is just unnaturally tiny in the barrel, or [likely] Mo is just indredibly wide and round. HA. I can tell you from experience, Mo is just ridiculously round. Though I was still surprised that the girth fit Indy. I do apreciate it though, as it saves me from buying another girth - at least until she fills out next summer when she doesnt have to get drained from a baby! I think when all is said and done, Indy will be quite the tank.

Anyways, we fiddled around some more, going through the girth tightenings and such. I got a few "Hey, whats going on back there" looks from Indy so I gave her a treat and that made her happy. Changing out of her halter to the hackamore went great. Though just as I went to mount my aunt came out to say hi, so we chatted a while and Indy just stood quietly waiting while I rubbed her.

When I finally mounted we went off to following the rail at a walk, doing walk-halt transitions. I am ridiculously proud to say that by the end of the ride [and it was short] Indy was stopping of body language! We played with some backing to, which is getting sooooo much better! Now she tucks and lowers her nose and backs quietly and phase two tops. Compared to her protesting nose digging phase four and WAIT refusal style before, this is like driving a Cadilac!

As we walked around, just focusing on stay at the rail, Indy did something she has never done that I remember under saddle before... she started snorting and blowing! OH WOW! YEY!! So we walked, and relaxed, and did the weave pattern, and stopped, and backed up and repeated these things in various orders for a little bit. I tried trotting once, but her head still came up so I stopped and we just walked around all super relaxed. I will have to think more on the trotting thing... do a little research. Some more fluid rein next time I ride to I think. That was helping. I dont think you are supposed to do it in a hackamore though, so I didnt push the trot thing.

Quality at a walk was the focus. Goal attained! It was a really great session with Indy.

When we finished I let her graze some more in the back yard and went to visit my forlorn ponies at the gate armed with reparation treats. Forgiveness doesnt come any faster than when approach two food oriented horses with treats! Kota and Mo were both delighted. Kota showed off his spanish walking skills to Aunty, who thought he was the cutes thing ever [and he is] and Mo just gobbled up treats... I will have to pick a skill for her to. Maybe spanish walk to... I dont know though because she is the type to go *spanish walk when you arent looking* Can I have a treat now?? Dakota is really good about only doing things when asked, which is why I though to teach him in the first place anywyas!

After doling out copious amounts of treats and putting away my tack I went to fetch the princess and attempt to keep her on the right side of the fence again... I put her in with Kota and Mo last night.. we will see if she is there when I go over tonight! Even if she isnt, it was an aweseom session and I am really proud of her!

:-)
S

Liberty Attemps, Fun and Spanish Walk Finale!

Fabulous night last night! Tons of fun, lots of laughing and copious amouts of genius ponies! When I first got there Kota and Mo were both over by the shed so I went into the tackroom to fill my pocket with apple snacks and grab my carrot stick. I had a mild liberty plan forming in my head, just to see what would happen. Mostly I wanted to see if I could play with Dakota at all, to improve his spanish walking-ness.

Betweent he time it took me to fill my pockets and get back to the gate, both ponies were there! How nice! I gave them both some treats through the fence and then went into the ring. Kota was a bit standoffish but Mo was all over me - which brought up Kota's enthusiasm when he saw she was getting munchies! I let them swarm me and get their hugs for a bit and then tried to ask Dakota to lift a leg. He did - YEY- got his treat and walked away... hmm. I think Mo was making dirty faces at him behind my back because when I turned to look at her, her ears were mid flick and she was trying mighty hard to look innocent!

Oh well! Mo time! I friendlied her with the stick and string then threw the string over her withers and asked her to walk with me. It was kind of funny at first because she tried to yeild her hindquarters to me, since thats what I usually ask for with a string-over-back type thing, so I had to go back to L1 style driving, which was neat that it worked! We walked and trotted around a bit, lots of treats, lots of licking and chewing. Some sideways towards, and around. I tried to do a complete yeild/slowspin thing but Mo got confused and went "nanner nanner!" and canter pranced off. I had to laugh. She is such a goober.

She went over to Dakota so I headed in a vauge that direction until they both looked at me. Neato. Then I walked closer and Mo went "Oh you cant catch me yet" and went to leave soI altered course and went to the fenceline to chat and give treats to Crystal. Mo *hated* that and stormed right over demanding her treats and attention. *snicker* I love Mo....

This time I threw the string over her neck and played with yeilding around that way and walked over to the gate. Everything went shiny until we got to the gate and I paused to open it. Mo saw her opening and gave me the "nanner nanner" look again and she spun and cantered off - now she wasnt bolting off, she was daintily prancing her way slowly away from me, clearly playing catch me if you can. It was quite hysterical.

She went to the shed this time so we played some hide and seek around it, which was hugely fun. Until Mo caught me again and we tried the gate again, this time doing lots of Focus-Please transitions on the way, hoping I wouldnt lose her at the gate again. Success! We got through the gate no problem and moseyed right into the tackroom again - Mo is quite proud of herself now.

I saddled her, grabbed the hackamore and put a 22' line on, and back out we went. On the way back to the gate we had some grass snatching issues so we played with that a bit, making me realize I wasnt being soft enough! When she jamme don the breaks to stop, I was asking her to go again, but she would always JUMP forwards, how interesting. I slowed down and realized maybe thats why Mo has been so spastic lately - as she gets more sensitive to my requests, I havent really been altering myself to measure up to her. WHOA!

SO! With that new BFO in mind, we got into the ring and I started asking Mo to do things at the lightest possible phase. WOW. I got a nice slow straight yo-yo all the way to 22', ten questions before going out on the circle [usually she tears out before asking if I might have meant sideways or back] super soft gait transitions, EVEN halt! Gorgeous change of direction to! WOWY! Even when I brought my energy up for canter stick to me, she was right with me and completely came back down again afterwards [that has been a problem, she stays adrenalized] She was licking and chewing a TON and thinking about everything and trying her heart out! She looked so happy!!

We played with the weave pattern to, and Mo offered it at a trot! Good mood much? When I finally mounted up I was really excited to see how this ride would pan out... Mo's good mood had even held over through a quick bathroom break where we ran up to the house and she tried to climb the porch :-)

So I mounted, and Mo waited and asked for a treat [which she got] and I settled into the saddle, feeling out the new shim pattern, and it still felt good. Off we walked on a casual rein. We practiced our follow the rail and stopping in the corners. Mo has a habit of sweeping by corners! I knew it was working for her when we were trotting and I wanted to pass a corner and I felt her almost deke into the corner anyway - cool feeling, smart horse.

We went around doing walk trot transitions, she was super low and stretchy on the far side, but still getting tense on the spooksy tree side. Thank you Legend. *sigh* Eventually I felt good to pick up the canter so we did canter halt transitions for the long side - pick it up, canter the long side, stop in the corner. Trot to the next corner, canter to the long side. Lather rinse repeat. That seemed to help Mo calm down about the scary side because I had a fixed point and she got a treat every time she made it there.

I decided to step it up then and work on cantering a whole lap. Going to the left it worked out ok just because of where the scary place is in the ring. Going to the right she broke to a trot because of the scary place but didnt spook, so I am proud of her for that. It is so weird being concerned about her spooking.. this is a total first!

After cantering laps we walked around to cool off - had a time limit last night unfortunately - and practiced stopping off my body. Ok, you might say ew gross or yuck, but it worked like a charm anyways - I picked poo piles as our stop points because the ring is also a paddock and there is poop in various places - like the rail. By the end, even on the scary side, Mo was stopping off my body, exactly at whatever poo pile I picked. I was thrilled!

When I jumped off Mo looked around at me all proud, that was nice. I untacked her and put her in the back yard to graze. Dakota had moseyed over while I was putting away Mo's things so I grabbed some more treats and went to say hi. He is such a happy camper. We played with more spanish walk leg lifts and that got really good. Kota will do anything for food sometimes! Then I thought whay the hay and grabbed the hackamore for Kota to see if maybe I could get him to leg lift while I was sitting on him.

Turns out no, but I did get to canter around on him and ride his ultra uber super smooth trot that I love :-) S o that was rather delightful.

After I finished with Kota, I put Mo back in her feild, gave them both lots more love hugs and treats and finally had to leave. They both got dinner and were pleased with that though. A very good afternoons work I think. My weather goddess alter ego showed up to, just as I got into my truck it started to rain, so I am thankful I didnt have to get moist.

:-)
S

PS: I have been able to secure myself a lease horse! A wonderfully kind lady has agreed to let me lease her horse, a 16 year old Arab x Quarter Horse! That should be different from my usual drafty crossess....!

Saddle Woes Solved.. I hope!

I think I have solved my recent riding woes. Mo has been really really strange and different in a negative way under saddle since I have been trying the Wintec Wide with her again. I think it is because it puts to much pressure on her shoulders. Always under the area where the shims are is a dry spot no matter how sweaty she is otherwise. So tonight after visiting my friends new horse [gorgeous] I ran over to test out my latest theory - new shim pattern, regular Wintec saddle.

I whistled when I got there and both Mo and Kota came over going "FOOD" so that was nice. I quickly haltered Mo and started getting out my shims and theraflex. Mo kept wandering away into the impending gloom of evening so I changed tactics and led her right into the tack room. That fascinated her and kept her amused while I fidgeted.

I deduced a new shim pattern for us. One thick shim in the regular vertical position, one thin shim horizontally and back a little, and then one thick on top of that horizontally back a little more. When I put the saddle on it looked really good so I girthed up and off we went into the ring.

I played a few little games on the ground then mounted up and wlaked off. Mo felt really good and started blowing and putting her head down right away. WHOO!! We trotted around and more stretching and blowing and happiness. Walk trot and canter, all stretchy and blowing! I got a canter to halt INSIDE my hula hoop on try one and basically threw myself from the saddle to hug Mo. MY Mo is back! The Mo I know and love has made a triumphant comeback!! HOORAAYYY!!!!!!

:-)
S

Ground Play

Sunday was a good session on the ground. Riding was a bit of a joke so I just wont go there. On the ground though it was fabulous! Me and Mo did the weave pattern, where I found a rather gaping hole in our driving from zone three on the right. It didnt take long for Mo to get over her "OH NO I dont get it!" thing that she has been doing lately and lower head and lick and chew and try her heart out. So that was nice

ALSO! We did cantering stick to me again!!! It was so exciting! We played on the ground with lots of energy and adrenaline. We ran around, played with some stick to me, falling leaf and high energy stuff.


It was really great.

When I saddled and mouted things started off ok, but went really down hill so I ended up getting off more than on.. but Oh well!

:-)
S

Kota!!

After my depression yesterday of finding out that Mo wont be accompanying me on my galavanting adventure to Florida, I went home to find some peace with the ponies. I brought out Mo's C1 style Myler bit to put on a bridle for Dakota. He really liked it last time he wore it, and I wanted to find out if it still applied.

I pulled up to the barn, whistled and headed into the tackroom to make up my bridle. When I came out armed with said bridle and some apple snacks I had two very enthused ponies awating me. How delightful! I went into the ring and pieced out my apple snacks, making sure Dakota shared with Mo [Indy is still in the big feild post gate-jumping incident] and then asked Dakota how he would feel about a little ride, because I had a fierce and unyeilding need to just sit on a horse. He said nifty, so I bridled him no problem and off we went ot the barrel so I could climb up.

We walked and trotted around a little until we passed the killer barrel at the end of the ring, and Dakota did an itty bitty spook. I kid you not. He just jumped sideways three inches. BUT. *sigh* I was not paying attention to him, but thinking and rethinking trip things, and so I slipped. Guh. How embarassing. So there I am, hanging off my horse like a monkey, with my one leg still hooked over his withers, and Dakota looking at me the way a parent looks at a child who did something foolish. Nice. At least he stood still. I just slipped to the ground - landing on my feet at least - and went over to make nice with the barrel before climbing back on.

We went around some more, played some sideways over some poles and trotted a figure eight through the barrels. Then we went over to Mo to visit. We mirrored her a bit until it lined up right and then I hopped over to Mo. I unbridled Dakota and bridled Mo and we just sat for a while, Dakota resting his head in my lap, it was so sweet. Then Miss Energy and I went and power walked around before trotting the figure eight so she would focus and calm down. Well, no, not calm down, just focus. Mo is just energetic apparently now. Go figure.

Just short little blurbs of riding, but you know what? They were so positive and fun, that I dont really care that it only lasted a half hour. As a side bonus, I got to christen my new jeans to bareback riding. Thats always *such* an integral part of breaking in new jeans ya know....

:-)
S

Roadblocks

So CRAP.

I know. Delightful way to start a blog. BUT. Apparently I probably wont be able to take Mo to florida with me because of an EP breakout there that has the Canadian border absolutely CLOSED to horses returning from there. Sure they will let you leave, but as soon as you set foot in Florida, no dice, no second chance, you arent coming back. At least not until they revoke the ban, which could be god knows when and possibly NEVER. You hear me? NEVER!! There is no way in hades that I am chancing never being able to bring Mo home. Sure there is an off chance I might be able to beg and plead my way to a job on the ranch [plan A] but incase that falls through... I would be without my most beloved escapde crusader companion. I shudder just to think of life without her. Cant be done.

So what now? I dont know. I have an email in to Renee, my much abused email contact for the course. I am sure she thinks I am nuts with the amount of stressed emails she gets from me... *sigh* I am trying to be positive, but this is a kick in the teeth because I was under the impression that the ban was already reduced to a 21 day quarentine, which while sucky, I could live with. Now I dont know what to do. Total loss. I hate this. I am SO geared up to go. EVERYTHING is in order, ready to take off and now I hit the roadblock I thought I found a way around.

CRAP

S