Vices

So, for you T, I will devote this blog to vices. you said I cant claim horses as my vice, and thats shiny because I wouldnt consider my perfectly healthy addiction/passion for those glorious creatures a vice. Also, C, we totally miss you terribly, fix thy computer!!

My vice used to be biting my nails, luckily I managed to kick that habit, because it irritated me imensely even while I did it!! Currently my vice may be something like enjoying girly tv. I adore Gossip Girl. And ANTM when I can remember to watch it! GG is a really good calm down show because its brainless. I adore Grey's but I dont consider it a vice because I have to think and learn while I watch it. Although with that train of thought, does that make Danny Phantom and Fairly Odd Parents a vice to??

Perhaps speed talking could be a vice. S from Spain is always chiding me for speaking to fast since english is not her first language. I try, but I am not always successful - she makes me think of Dad when he gets giggles out of listening to the three of us [T, C and myself] get together and chat. Which made me miss you guys a lot!! We shall have to Skype soon!

On the vice topic, I am sooo glad that my ponies are vice free! Except Indy's penchant for jumping things, but I prefer to think of that as talent shining through?

OH! Vice: Addiction to Chocolate - literally I swear!

:-)
S

COWS!!

Today Indy and I played with COWS!!! It was so cool! She was a little concerned at first, but did really really well! I am SOOOOO proud of her!!!!!!!!!!

Thats all :-) I am just toally pumped about my pony being a cow girl. !

:-)
S

As a PS: in relation to the water play with Indy last week, On Saturday night I successfully bathed her in water and SOAP and she almost always tries to scuba dive in the water trough now... ? She dunks her head in up to her eyes, and if I dont watch her carefully enough, she tries to lift up a foot and dunk it to! So YEY water confidence - next stop - THE POND!!!

Indy the Greeter

Today Indy and I had my favorite job! We were the greeters at the front gate at Parelli to welcome all the new students!

I thought it would be a perfect job for Indy to desensitize her and get her out in the world. We had a great session yesterday and then today we saddled up and rode down the laneway and played out on the front area waiting for trailers. Even with the big rigs coming by, she was stellar! Traffic is not something that bothers this pony! Although golf carts took a couple of passes before she was ok with them, mostly she was a star.

While waiting we played with moving the front end vs hind end and that was fun. Indy learned a lot because her hind end is really mobile while her front is pretty heavy, so it was really nice that by the end of check in I could move her front end around much easier!

Very cool day!

:-)
S

Indy's Brain Esplodes...

So today was Indy's offical first day of pen life and being my partner at the Centre. It went REALLY well!! I am super proud of her!

I led her up to the barn on the Secret Hill today, becuase I wasnt sure how she would be ridden, so walking was better. She did really well on the walk, got only a little giraffey, which was good for her! When I first got her I think she owuld have gone AHHHH and run a few circles around me. She had a few thresholds, so I just waited with her and when she relaxed we walked on. She was really good all the time that she was on a high tie so that is GREAT because thats one of the things I wasnt sure about, but she was a star.

When I finally got to play with her we went into one of those Parelli Play pens that has the short panels [round pen, but short panels] to move her feet a bit because I tried to groom her and she was just prancy. On into the round pen, we had to go past a scary trailer loading simulator, so we went in and out of that gate a few times until she settled and started thinking. Entre brain esplosions! Lots of sploding today.... She honestly licked her lips almost the entire time we played.. and it was like an hour and a half.

Once in the round pen I put her on a 22; line because I know she likes to jump things for kicks... well I found that out again. Trotting around in a happy circle, we were doing trot canter transitions and then on one time asking up for the canter, my send must have been off because she checked in, went "oky, yep" and then jumped out of the pen, turned faced and gave me this "Is that it??" look. *sigh* *headdesk* SERIOUSLY. In my head as she did it [it was totally calm and slow mo] I am thinking *shit*, because I figured she would jump then brace and run. But no, my awesome pony turns and faces, thinking I *sent* her on this squeeze game. Entre my hysterical laughter. I honestly broke down laughing for five minutes because it was so well placed, such a good try, so CUTE I just couldnt think of anything else to do! So we played with some more sends, but on the side of the circle that was backed up to a post and rail fence... and then we went into a pasture that has some huge log jumps in it and I let Indy jump until she was happy not to. She jumped some huge stuff!! HOLY CRAP! And Im going to ride this?? She does it so smooth though, not like klutzy Mo, so I am not even worried about it!

The best part was even yet to come. I took her to the water trough, but she hadnt figured out molasses water yet, so she spashed around but didnt really drink. My next project was to start playing with the water because Indy is afraid of it. I want to eventually be able to hose her down and give her baths and such. So over to the wash rack we go. Firstly, moving the hose hanger spooks her a little, but thats ok, because she keeps wanting to put feet up on the cement pad, which is great. I start with apporach and reatreat with just the water on and off pointing away from her, only turning it off when she relaxes or stops trying to back away.

We progress pretty quick [I think] to the point where I could spray the ground in front of her, and this is where it got hilarious! She start to get really CURIOUS about the water, and what it was doing and started snuffling the puddles it was making and found out "OH HEY this is WATER" and starts trying to drink the puddles. That went on for a while, and I would spray around in front of her until she started to figure out where the puddles were coming from and starts investigating the spray nozzle! At first she got a little offeded that it sprayed her face when she got closer to the stream but it was like two seconds before she was trying to drink out of the nozzle itself. SO CUTE!

She went from OMG WATER SPRAY to Oh Hey! Yummy! In under twenty minutes. The only downfall of the whole situation was that she would move her head to intercept the nozzle each time I tried to spray down her front legs and chest. I did eventually get them, and then let her play again. It was so cute - it didnt even matter that I was now drenched in water. That it was 83F today was a nice helper to :-)

Of course through the whole water fiasco I am still laughing hysterically. I am sure everyone at the barn thinks I am nuts, but it was worth it. I love when Indy gets confidence about things - she completely reverts to happy go lucky curious two year old instead of her "I have to be mature and uppity because I had babies" thing. She is much more fun when I can encourage her to remember she is only FIVE!

As a bonus, at the very end of the day, I took Indy to water and she chugged Molasses water. So YEY she figured it out!

Although she isnt the biggest fan of peanut hay yet, I am sure she will be soon, Mo got into the habit of never leaving a stray leaf around - very helpful for pen cleaning purposes!

:-)

Ps: T - I found out that the first wave of externs is *probably* finishing around april 11th, so my finish date is approx two weeks after that - but nothing is set in stone yet, so if I find out something more solid, Iwill let you know asap! [you know I have Goliath here and not my truck with a backseat right?]

My Crazy Awesome Pony...

On my first official entire weekend off, I am taking my time getting around to doing things. I took my time this morning with Mo and reaped huge benefits. WhenI got to the ranch this morning, I got her morning hay, and dawdled about brushing her while she ate. I used the shedding blade forever and she is finally looking like her excellent summer self instead of the wooly mamoth I brought down here with me.

After she finished eating i put on a halter and my 45' and we went to water with me in zone five. From there we drove around behind the mercantile and passed her old pen [she tried to stop there, it was cute] and finally into the Enchanted Forrest and into the 50' round pen. I let her go at liberty right away, just to see what would happen, and to see how much energy I had to work with. I got some pretty enthusiastic trots right off the bat, but no AHHHHH CANTERRRRR circles, so that was a good sign.

After some miserable failure at maintain gait at a canter, I changed my game plan and did a gazillion transitions instead. That worked wonders! Suddenly I was being offered lovely canter departs and graceful halts and attention and connection HMMMMM. *headdesk* DUH I will get this eventually, I promise.

Mo was super cute and tried really uber hard. My draw was all at a trot, and even when I was aiming for sideways and she went off at a circle, she would trot back over all "oops, my bad, I thought you meant something else" and try again. So cute!

After a whole lot of transitions we went on to change of direction where something interesting happened. When I would ask for the change, Mo would go ultra introverted and just stand there... I am still thinking on that one, but ideas are welcome. She eventually came out of it and we got some good ones and I called it quits on that for now.

One thing that was really cute and funny and great was that there was a barrel in the middle of the pen, and it kept getting in my way so I eventually decided to move it and put it in line with the other barrel on the fenceline [not my setup, previously existing] The funny part is that when I went to move it, Mo was on one side of the barrel and I was on the other and when I started dragging it away Mo came with me... SIDEWAYS! It was to cute!!! I am dragging this barrel across the sand and shes keeping in line with it like "Is this what you want?" ... WHOA and I didnt even ask her or anything! Totally her idea!!! Completely won her a cookie! :-)

Eventually I ran out of ground ideas [I am working on that though] and I mounted Miss Mo. She had her halter on, but no line because I had only my 45', and bareback because I hadnt wanted to influence my ground play with my "lets ride" drive, because I am terrible like that. So I am bareback and bridless in the 50' pen, pretty normal for me and Mo on a good day. The COOL part came when we went over to the gate and opened it and walked through the playground a little ways to go hang out in the 100' pen. Confidently. ! I wasnt worried about her running off or anything! In the 100' pen we did a bunch of transitions and stood on the pedestal and did figure eight around some cones AND THEN [in my infinate tiny attention span] we went out INTO THE PLAYGROUND!

Bareback and bridless, there we were, moseying through the enitre enchanted forrest, moss point to moss point! COOL BEANS! And Mo was perfect. We alternated between passenger and my idea, and it was wonderful! On one of the passenger parts she started aiming for her pen so I said hey cool and we crossed the creek and went out the gate and walked all the way across the lower part of the hill playground to the water trough and then right into Mo's pen! It was perfect!!! Mo was a STAR!!!!

Later I went and brushed up Indy to get her ready for her ISC stint, and she was great to. She REALLY need to be brushed! I feel so bad ... but she looks shiny and happy and FAT! I hope Mo will enjoy her time off!!!

J invited me to bring Indy to a playday with her tomorrow, so that should be uber fun!!!

:-)
S

[better, T?]
PS: It was 80 something degrees today, so gorgeous and warm - not a cloud in the sky!!!

Time....

Time is such a precious thing. C, T, make sure you take your time with things you enjoy. Dont rush through them just to get through them. Really DO them, and enjoy them for what they are. In the grand race for the future, sometimes we need to understand the here and now before the soon can get to us.

Tonight was a prime example. I am so excited for the soon, for the future. I LOVE thinking about how this externship can and will affect my life from here on out. Great things are in the works and Future S looks so happy. Future T, Future C, I really hope your lives lead you happily to!!!!! The things that I learned about today completely have altered my perception of a lot of occurances. Today's events have also really solidified my desire to instruct and be an Ambassador for Parelli.

That has been one of the greatest ironies for me being here. I *always* thought I would want to interact on JUST the horse side of events. I love that part, but I have found my real passion in helping students and horses, and wanting to be involved in life the way the ISC faculty are. I want to be able to enable people to follow their dreams, and I want to be the person to inspire people to start progressing with their relationship.

I am pretty sure this is something I am allowed to share, so I will! Today, for the first time ever, I trimmed Mo's feet!! Mostly by myself, with some help and loads of patient coaching from P!!! How amazing is that!!!!!!!!!! I am so proud of myself! Mo was her usual dorky self, but tolerated me and my fumbling really super well.

It is supposed to finally be warm again tomorrow, which is super nice, because sub zero in the mornings in the damp is not super loads of fun. But 75 is REALLY nice!!! And it is supposed to be in the 80's after that!

So thats what happened today, sort of in a roundabout way. Without really telling anyone what really happened. Sorry T, I know this is epic fail.

:-)
S

Cake is so yummy.

To all who journey to the ISC - BE NICE TO BRETT - he makes the best chocolate cake/brownies/everything ever. The whole entire kitchen staff are amazing.

But anyways! Today I got to, for the first time, start trimming Mo's feet! It was super neato and I learned a gazillion things! Mo was a bit of a stinker, but it was ok. She tolerated me and my learning just fine. She just isnt the biggest fan of the shoeing shed, but once that was sorted it was peachy.

I am hoping this weekend I will be able to get my act together enough to get Indy over to the centre in Mo's place. I need to get her a new health certificate in order to get on to the Parelli property, which is a bit of a pain, but I understand it. I have to call the vet tomorrow to get them to come out for her at N's place. Indy will have a really great time at the centre I think. It will be lots of deposits into my relationship account!

So anyways T, I agree with you that C is terrible at blogging - worse than me even! And with no excuse! I will try my best to keep this better updated. I am hoping to be able to have some more tellable things to ..tell... so therefore have things to blog.

As is, the most exciting thing to happen to me will happen tomorro wnad I cant even say what it is!
Oh, and the Moonlight Marathon has almost come to an end :-( And that tears me up inside becuase I hate that its cancelled!
On the plus side, I FINALLY found a case for my ipod that has a belt cliip, and *tada* ITS PURPLE! Its all neopreny and loverly.
Bed time calls,
I will try to blog more just for you T.
Dont forget to be awesome C.
<3
:-)
S