YEYYY

TODAY CRYSTAL AND I CANTERED FOR THE FIRST TIME!!!!!!

Thats all :-)

S

Thunderstorms Get In The Way...

I know this is Canada, and as such I should be used to inclimate weather and such, but really, it has rained basically every day this summer so far. Even the great sunshiny days, it rains at some point. I am sure there are statistics about it somewhere!

When I got out to the barn today it was SUNNY. So I thought *yey* I can finally play with Crystal again, since the eons of rain have prevented to much play, when I do get out to it, I want to play with my ponies! They were all in "The Spot" when I went out. Everyone sort of waltzed over slowly, faster after the first to arrive got a small cookie! Crystal seemed pretty pleased to be chosen, but Mo was rather put out. She cracks me up that one!

As soon as Mo saw me halter Crystal she marched her butt right up to the gate and basically intimated that she got to come in to or else. Realistically, I could have made her move, but I was feeling generous so I let her into her stall for some nap time. Goober pony.

Crystal and I had some really nice online play time! She is improving every time. She goes out into the pasture when I dont play with her and just soaks on what she knows. Thats what it feels like. She just gets better and better. Her figure eight today was practically flawless. Trotting calmly and just flowing. So responsive and sensitive to what direction I was asking her. Love it!

I also made a circling game out of two sets of barrel jumps, one of the big barrels lying down and one of the small barrels lying down. She had to circle jumping both of those each round. That was cool. Her squeeze game over barrels was so good now, but she would turn face and wait after each time she jumped, if I asked her to or not - hence the new game! Fixing the assumption! She picked it up right quick and was really starting to jump nicely!

When she first started actually jumping instead of just pushing through, I have to say, I didnt know if she would ever figure it out. Lo an dBehold though, she has the makings of an adorable hunter in her! Even a jumper maybe! She sure has the legs for it! Just needs that summer belly worked off a little bit...

I rearranged the ring to make it suitable for a cloverleaf game. During that time I parked Crystal at a barrel, which was cool. She just hung out and waited. Investigated the barrel and such. No fear in that one anymore! I love it. I *adore* seeing her confidence blossom. It is my favorite thing about playing with her. She was such a little skittish thing, and has been since ever, but really she just needed to know HOW to be confident. Even the boarders are commenting on how much more friendly she is in the pasture - like she is a different horse! GO CRYSTAL!

When I sent her to the saddle she went right to it, sniffed it and was content. I saddled her up and off we went again, this time negotiating the assumption that yo-yo means take off on a circle. She is pretty clever though and got it after two tries.

Pretty much as soon as I mounted it started thundering. Yep, seriously. I didnt really think anything of it, not much will get me off a pony weather-wise save lightning or walls of water. So Crystal and I walked a couple of laps and trotted a couple of laps and got ONE cloverleaf pattern in before the drops hit. I thought it might just sprinkle so stayed out...

Enter WALL OF WATER.

Yep, wall of water. Talk about moisture! *insert running for the barn here* I even hung out in the entrance for a while thinking it could rain this hard for long... turns out it can. 40 minutes later, it was still raining. So I gave in and unsaddled Crystal, gave her her treats and grain and put her out. HUGE compliment here -HUGE - Crystal STAYED at the back door for something like 20 minutes. I am not kidding! FIRST ever! Not because of the weather, because its not sheltered back there, just because. She was looking in the barn, watching me hang with Mo, generally just relaxing by herself. That is a total first for Miss Herdbound. JOY!!!!! I am SO proud of her!!!!

On to Mo! Of course, my dear napsalot was fresh up from a snooze, shavings decorating her everywhere. So cute. I didnt really do to much with Mo other than practice our mounting thing in her stall - her stall is the foaling stall [for no reason other than she likes luxury and it was the only one left] so its practically 10 x 20 giving us lots of room! I played from a bucket and that went well so then I practiced getting her to keep her head low enough for me to swing over from the ground and getting her confidence with that. In the end I got up three times, which was cool. Not sure it was entirely left brain though, so I am not celebrating yet! Going to let her simmer on it for a bit before asking again. Definate improvement though!

Oh, and Mo also is figuring out that if she bows, she gets a cookie, so when I ask her now, I dont always have to show her nose where to go, which is really cool. She is starting to ask her own body questions and try to figure out where it is supposed to go in order to win a treat. Such a doll! After all that I spent some time attacking the millions of hairs on her head that are soooo long, making her look like some acient flowy goddess pony.

I loves my Mo :-)

:-)
S

What Happens When Then SUN Comes Out!

FINALLY! A long awaited visit from Mr. Sun, and I sure made use of this fabulous sun-shiny day!

First things first, I went on a bike ride with my Aunty, and that was super fun. Havent biked in ..ever [since florida, surely] but, its like... riding a bike... [haha] not something you forget at least :-)

After a nice bike ride we actually opted to saddle up and go for a ride! I chose Mo, because Indy and I were slated for a play-day later in the afternoon. Mo was good coming in from the pasture, they were all at The Spot, so I didnt have far to go and she came and met me part way. I groomed and saddled her in the barn and then went ot the ring to play some ground games. We did just little focusy things and played with her helping me mount again, culminating in her actually helping me mount! YEY! That was cool. Pretty much by the time I got on Aunty was done schooling in the ring, so we hit the trail.

We went down the galloping track as a short cut to avoid the laneyway due to bugs, but were thwarted when some 'vicious' cows ran at the fence scaring our ponies terribly. Lucky for me, a one rein stop is really sinking into my muscle memory and Mo and I both survived. Aunty and Candy did to! We backtracked our way back down the galloping trail and went down the laneway instead. Luckily the bugs werent to bad yet and we werent swarmed.

Slowly but surely we made our way down the dirt-dead-end road and onto the trail that connects to it. We moseyed a bit there and up into the forrest where we WERE swarmed by deer flies and that was no fun so we opted out of the forrest! Someone has been back there with a bush hog trimming cute little trails so we toured those for a while before heading back home. Mo was really good. She was a bit skeptical of a couple of rocks, but we did well.

Back at the barn I untacked Mo and let her graze while I loaded up the trailer for Indy's adventure. It was really nice that when I went to get Mo off of the lawn she actually came over to me, instead of waiting for me to come tell her to stop stuffing her face! That was a good feeling. After turning her out and giving her the sufficient quota of cookies, I went to hitch up the trusty trailer.

I have to say, my trailer is among my most favorite possesions in the world. I LOVE my trailer. It is perfect. Anyways! Once that was all done [thanks Aunty, it always goes better when I have help!] I went to fetch the Diva Queen, aka Indy. She was cute and coy as per usual. I usually go out with some crunch in my hand and she has gotten into this routine of waiting to see if I am coming for her or someone else. She sends her lackeys over to check me out first before coming over herself. Trixie is always first, then Tripp and then Crystal. Once they all pass free and clear she comes right over and everything goes great. Silly horsey.

I brushed Indy in the barn and then off we went to visit our new amis. Luckily they only live about 10 minutes away! That is SO nice! When we got there I left Indy loaded to go say hello and such. That kind of thing is good for her because every time she sees the trailer she goes "OH NO Not another 26 hour trip to florida!" so just waiting, relaxing and getting off after a ten minute trip is perfect right now.

When she did finally come off, she came off super quietly and most of all, CALMLY! I cant even express how proud I am of Indy for this whole day. She did FABULOUSLY! For a previously extreme RBE, she was just super! We hung out chatting with S and D by the trailer for a little while and then I went to set my stuff on the fence and play in the ring while they got their ponies.

Since I had the ring to myself I opted for the 45' line and went out to play! We had some cones set up as a question box, some barrels on a weave and a trampoline! COOL STUFF! I tried to start out with some nice relaxing friendly game but Indy wanted to move her feet. When I remembered that extroverts need to move their feet before they can move their brains, I relized that I should allow her to move out instead of trying to shut her down. Duh... Slow brain!

After a nice travelling circle across the ring, we settled in the back half where there were no obstacles to catch the rope on. Indy mostly wanted to trot, so we played with some transitions and change of direction until I felt like she was focusing more on me and more willing to stop/slow down. We played a little bit of sideways and yo-yo and a little bit of yo-yo on the fenceline with canter departs to back up. That was pretty cool to see the power come through.

On to the TRAMPOLINE! S set the challenge when she brought it out - mounting via bouncing - and I was really curious to see what Indy would do! Sure I have jumped all around her on the ground and such, because I am a lunatic like that, but a trampoline? Who knows... Indy gets skeptical of some things I wouldnt expect her to, so I had no idea what her reaction was going to be!

Turns out I had nothing to worry about. I sent her over to investigate, she did, no problem. I stood on it, no problem. I sat on it, no problem. I started bouncing... NO PROBLEM! HA! Go extreme friendly game! So I bounced away until she was calm, approaching and retreating as needed. The first time I launched myself at her, I wasnt the most graceful in doing so and she sort of shivered in her skin a bit, but didnt move. Lots of rubbing and scratches to make up for that! I continued though, to jump and lean over her and *try* to mount. The thing about Indy though, is she is TALL. And I am not! So even with the trampoline and bouncing, I just wasnt making it high enough.

S, though, is my good luck charm! She came out with her pony and saw what I was doing and encouraged me and VOILA the first time I try as she came out I made it up! That was a cool feeling!!! I hugged Indy and jumped down and did it again! Cool horse :-)

We went back to playing around then. Some circles and figure eights and such before saddling up. When I was ready to mount I thought it would be fun to still use the trampoline as a mounting block, but I had to be creative because now I had a saddle in the way. So... I mounted *behind* the saddle. I was midly concerned that Indy may not appreciate that, so I did some test half-mounts, but she passed the tests and didnt move an inch while I clambered up behind the saddle and scooted forwards to the right place! Yey!

Once settled we went out on the rail and played a little bit there but she got really impulsive so I put her on about a 22' circle. She tried to canter it but soon got herself under control enough to trot the circle calmly. Even going so far as to experiment with putting her head down! That was nice. What felt like a gazzillion circles later, she offered a stop so I took it and relaxed with her until she offered more go and we changed directions. Much less time to stop this go-round.

Feeling like our impulsion was pretty happy, we went over to the weave and did some of that at a walk and a trot. She really picked up the idea and tried really hard at that. It was a real treat today, to ride with her in such a partnership frame of mind. We also played a little cloverleaf uding the question box setup before SPARKY came in!

Now, Sparky is this super-awesome-uber-cool ROBOTIC roping cow thing that L has. Its kind of like Pat's except you dont have a remote control steering, it just staying straighish. I am pretty sure Indy never got to see Pat's while we were in Florida, so this was a first. I dismounted for this, just in case and went over after it stopped to say hello. We played with some squeeze games first, then when she got brave we moved up to touch-it and sideways around it. She got confident with it standing still pretty fast so we moved on and I remounted - again with the trampoline! I need to get me one of those!

When L was ready we played with Sparky. Well, we all followed while he roped it. It would go off on its line, he would chase it to rope, and the rest of us would follow and go touch it when it stopped. Indy was a little hesitant at first but she got into it really fast! I think she had fun with it.

Oh! Before we played cow ponies, we had some fun on a circle - all four of us! Two of us went one way and two the other way, with one way being spinning in the middle. We alternated which ring of the circle we played according to horsenality [Indy never made it to the middle] and trotted and cantered circles that way! It was really fun. Indy started on the second ring from the middle trotting and then as her impulsion stayed under control I moved her to the outer most ring and we did CALM FOCUSED canter circles. RHYTHMIC and RELAXED. It felt fabulous. Casual rein, happy pony, good fun! So that was really cool. We did LOTS of circles to. It was a game, so it worked for all of us.

We played a lot with the cow. That was really really cool. Indy was pretty fascinated by it, and at the end, she got confident enough to play control-holder pony, which involves standing beside the cow and keeping beside it as it runs [so as to be able to invoke the stop button in case a fence looms near] It was such a treat to see her go from afraid to confident in the span of about an hour. She is getting so... I dont know, she is just wowing me so much.

*Then* came nemesis numero deux de la jour. Im am fairly certain Indy has seen a giant green ball before, I am just not terribly sure if she has *met* said giant green ball before. From the look on her face, I am going to vote no. Her head went waay up and she got all frozen and wide eyed. Luckily I was on the ground because I volunteered to hold L's horse while he put away Sparky and fetched out said ball.

Interestingly, it really didnt take much to get her focus back, she kind of relaxed all on her own and I felt good to mount again [used the fence since the trampoline got kicked out of the ring!] The trick to the ball confidence thing for Indy was not to follow the ball, but to follow the HORSE following the ball! S's horse is SUPER confident with the ball, loves it and loves pushing it around so we opted to follow him for a while first. When Indy felt ok we approached the ball and she had no idea what to do. It was so cute. She kind of just stopped in front of it and sort of asked "What now?" I suggested she kick it, which she did, sort of, and so began our ball playing fun!

We progressed from "OMG WASSAT!?" to being able to trot and play pony soccer in one go! I really think being around the other horses that were confident with it played a huge role in Indy's success though. So that is something to remember for the future. We played ball for a while, even scored a few goals!

Eventually though we all got tired and it was time to go home! Indy got to load up and hang out some more in the trailer while I chatted and said my goodbyes [and THANKS for an awesome day] before we headed homeward bound.

What an awesome spectacular day! Good things happen with its SUNNY!!! Hopefully the sun will stick around for a little while!

:-)
S

Mounting Fun With Mo

In the onslaught of crap-tastic weather up here in the great white north, I really havent had much oppurtunity to do anything for the last little while. It feels like it has been raining non stop! Everything is under water or so muddy/moist its dangerous, so doing anything big is RIGHT OUT! [obviously, intoned with the tone of Mr. Counts to Three for the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch a la Monty Python..]

Today, there was a little break in the near-constant waterfall, so I took the chance to go out to visit my poor Mo, who, when I pulled up was in the shed and looked happily at my truck when it pulled in. By the time I went out to the barn though, after seeing my cousins and Aunty, she was, of course, out in the middle of the pasture. I called her name and she looked at me at least, but didnt come over, of course. Lazy lazy pony :-)

As I walked over to her though she started to come over, so that was a nice thing. Trixie came over to, so I got to play with protecting my little herd of two, which was nice. I mostly just loved on Mo, scratching her, rubbing her, just hanging out with her. Some how I got the great idea to play with leading by the lip.. I cant remember why it came up, but it did, and it worked out rather fabulously. I am pretty proud of the way Mo plays her porcupine games! I even tried spontaneously leading her backwards by the tail and she responded perfectly! I was surprised by that a bit, because usually I really have to get her thinking 'backwards' before that comes to easily. We must be making progress!

After playing around a little bit with all these things and little other things to like leading by the mane and holding her tongue and such, I thought it would be a fabulous idea to see if I could teach Mo how to help me mount bareback. I am honestly not sure if this was the most clever idea, seeing as we were at liberty in a 25 acre pasture, but it worked out ok, so ... thats just how it went.

I started asking Mo to put her head down and keep it there. Our head down is usually really soft, but the 'keep it there' is not awesome, so we played with that a lot. It got pretty ok, so I started playing a friendly game with my foot and leg coming up around her head. My goal is to be able to swing my leg over her neck and then have her boost me up onto her back, then to sit proper I would have to turn around, but thats ok.

Mo was having a hard time with the friendly with my leg because when it was coming up I think I had my energy wrong or something, and I wasnt athletic enough to make it smooth and be able to follow with her right until she relaxed. It also looked a lot like a block to keep her head up. So I changed tactics. I went over to a fallen tree that I could stand on that puts me at a height where I could play friendly games without having to worry about her keeping her head down. Isolate, Separate, Recombine, right?

That helped things A LOT! Once she figured out it was just another crazy friendly thing I was doing she relaxed right away. Since she figured that out I went to a lower tree, about six inches off the ground and attempted to combine the head down with me swinging my leg over. It went beautifully! Our friendly game paid off. I started asking her to bring her head up a little at a time until she felt my leg over her neck. The first time or two she thought it was a porcupine thing and put her head back down but then figured out I was asking and would just sort of hold and push a little into me. That was cool.

I finally got my courage up to just try it. I felt like Mo was confident enough and I was going to survive in case I was misreading her and I swung my leg over her neck, grabbed mane and asked her head up. And just like that I was sitting on Mo!!! WHOO!! Without a single issue I was sitting on Mo [backwards, mind you] it was perfect! And, with no further issues, I just put all that friendly game on her back to good use and turned myself around. Voila! All done!

I jumped off and tried again, with the same result! How cool! Go prior and proper preparation!! Now I just have to take it to the next level and do it from the ground... will work on that! I thought that was pretty cool, doing it all at liberty, no halter, rope or string or anything. Pretty proud of my pony! I brought Mo back to the barn after that, backed her into the gate and gave her some treats in the barn before backing her out once more and giving her even more cookies :-)

Gotta Love Mo!

:-)
S

The Difference Between Left Brain and Right Brain

I just had a rather important BFO I think.

Lying in bed, on my way to dream land I was contemplating my two ponies, as I am wont to do, thinking what I can do next to improve my savvy and theirs. I was thinking about what a cool session me and Mo had yesterday [that I forgot to blog about, but it was awesome] and that she jumped the upright barrels with a pole across them [two as standards plus pole] I couldnt beilieve she jumped it, right off, with no inspection or anything, just complete responsibility number four: Watch where you are going. She did, and cleared the jump easy. Pretty cool for a not so enthusiastic jumping pony. Whoo. Mo is a Left Brain Extrovert, some times introvert, she is right on that cusp.

Contrast that with Indy, who I know is a fabulous spectacular can-jump-paige-wire-fencing jumper. In our play today I just wanted to see what would happen if I pointed her at the same jump. Three times, she knocked it down, only noticing it was there at the very last second. After the first time I sent her to it to investigate it, but she still knocked it down. Indy is a Right Brain Extrovert. Getting very confident mind you, so she is starting to *look* left brain....

Hmmm....

So. A left brain horse will be aware of where they are going and make an effort to clear the obstacle. A right brain horse will be aware of the obstacle but only inso much as to see it at the last second and lose the oppurtunity of a good clearance. How interesting!!! Its funny to, because its not like Indy was tuned out today, she was right with me. Just clearly unaware of where her feet were going.

This may or may not make sense come morning, but it just hit me and Iwanted to note it before I forgot.

:-)
S

Just Little Things :-)

Today my plans got a little distracted, but good things happened anyways.

I was planning on playing with at least Indy and Crystal today, but only got to Indy because friends called me to come out and play since we all finally had a day off on the SAME day [thats a big deal around here andunheard of!]

Firstly, when I first got to Aunty's house in the morning to let Pride into the barn, Indy, Mo AND Pride were all waiting for me at the gate. I cant tell you what an amazing wonderful glowing awesome beautiful feeling that is. Pride was there because she wanted in obviously, but BOTH my ponies were happily waiting for me at the gate, begging to play! WOW!!!!!

I opened the gate to let Pride in ad she went on into her stall. I invited Indy into the barn at liberty and she came in very politely and stopped when I asked her in front of her stall so I could halter her. While this was going on Mo was waiting politely at the gate behind Indy. I sent Indy further into the barn and dropped the rope to leave her be while I got Mo in and put her in her stall for her naps. Silly Mo, every time she comes in she naps ...litterally, flat out, sleeping, snoring sometimes even. She is so cute.

Once I got Mo settled, I groomed Indy and we went out to play. We played online some, with circles and transitions and figure eight and then tried our weave. Everything went really well. eaving needed some clarification but Indy was having a blast. We also played some more with backing by the tail, which I started teaching her last session, and she was right there! It was very cool, she is super clever.

Around there A called me and said lets go see Transformers 2 ... again. How could I resist? Optimus... big screen... Im there! So I finished up with Indy online and proceded to complete the coolest thing with her.... I gave her a bath, from the hose, with shampoo, AT LIBERTY. OMG WOW!

This might not sound so awesome to most people, but let me explain. Before my sojourn to Florida, I could not get ANYWHERE near Indy with a hose, with the water off, let alone running water and actually let the water TOUCH her. So, to have her stand calmly while the water runs over her head and neck while I suds up her mane. What a cool horsey!! I am so proud of her!!

So much hugs and cookies later, Indy went back out into the pasture and I went to giggle at Mo, who was indeed sleeping! Such an adorable little girl! I hugged her and gave her some cookies then asked her to please get up and go outside. All at liberty, she went out and disengaged while I protected her space from Indy who was hoarding the entrance looking for cookies. It was very cool to be able to do that for Mo. I think she rather enjoyed it.

With that, I had to run so I could have time to shower before visiting mes amis, so as not to offend them with my [lovely, I think] eau de barn. They cant seem to find the appreciation for it that I have. Oh well!

So bath time with Indy, and cool naps and herds of two stuff with Mo, even if it was brief. Coolest stuff happens with my girls :-)

:-)
S

So Many Things!

What a cool day today was. Figuratively and literally. Great great things happened today, and it was also not so very warm!! Apparently, Mother Nature lost the memo that said "BTW, its JULY!" *sigh* Moving on...

This morning I had to go over to Auntys house to let Pridey in because they are being lucky and off on a massive road trip and such. So ponies are my responsibility for the next however many days. Cool beans. I went out to fetch Pride and technically Crystal, to play with but its funny how things dont always work out how we plan them!

Pride completely ignored me, and since it was cold and there werent any bugs, I ignored her to, to let her graze until she wanted to come in. She really only comes in to get away from the bugs anyways. INDY on the other hand, saw me coming, watched me for a while then walked 1/3 of the way across the pasture of to me. OVER TO ME! She didnt run, no, but she walked, steadily, in my direction, a rather long distance to come check me out, say hi and ask to play. How cool is that?!?! I was super excited! Since Crystal wasnt exactly offering herself in Indy's place, I haltered Indy instead and we went on our way back to the barn, playing little stick to me games on the way.

Inside the barn I shined her up, and made her look her most gorgeous. I really need to get some new clipper blades so I can re-clip her legs, but other than that she looked fabulous as per usual. Going out into the ring I grabbed the 45' and off we went. Usually things go really well on the 45' with Indy but I guess her adrenaline was way high because she was completely out in left feild and I just couldnt get the attention of my beautiful, rather large, kite flying 45' away from me! Doing what I hope was the savvy thing, I swapped for my 22' and moved on. OH BOY

Things completely turned around! Our session turned into the most fabulous thing! She was so attentive and wonderful. We played with transitions on the circle, being more particular about fast trot and slow trot, that got her licking a LOT even while she was out on the circle. Also, since her adrenaline was up, she was pulling on the line. Funny little habit that comes up only when she gets hyper and disconnected now. So we played with that, transitions and dont pull on the line and she gave me some of the most fabulous relaxed, rhythmic and connected circles on a loose line. The funniest thing happened with one of the transitions, she got confused and started to brace to pull away off the circle and then just stopped, and backed up six steps. Fast! So random! But I think it is from all the times we did backing circles and backing ransitions in her pen in flroida! It was an awesome self-check on her part. She really was going to pull away from me to, so fabulous timing on her part.

We also played with some squeeze games over jumps of barrels and sideways and things, but the circling was the biggest thing. I couldnt really think of anything to *do* while riding today, so I just opted to sit on her for a passenger lap of the ring then sit on her while she grazed in the back yard. Turns out that was a really fun plan! While my dear is grazing to her hearts content, I am sitting on her back playing away! I layed back, using her bum as a pillow, I did around-the-world- several times, sometimes lying on my stomach from sitting backwards, sat side saddle, kneeled on her back, sat on her bum and finally slid off of her from her bum. Super cool stuff. I wouldnt have guessed she would be so calm about all that, but she was perfect. I love my pony!

The only minor grey spot came when I went to put some things away and left Indy grazing and Candy came running in from her pasture screaming like a moron. Apparently she just noticed Indy was here. She scared Indy into walking away, and then Indy scared herself by having the 12' trailing her and she trotted off down the trail. *sigh* I hate that feeling, as you watch your beloved run in a direction you know isnt fenced and you cant run faster than them... Since I was close to the barn I grabbed a bucket with some crunches and shook them hoping for a good response. I got something, she looked at me, but then kept going. Dang, so I started walking.

She was grazing in the tall grass and wandering around, stepping on the rope every so often. I was *almost* to her when Candy comes pounding hellbent down her pasture still screaching and freaking Indy out AGAIN. Cursing the pony as Indy runs into the bushes leading to the neighbours yard I start jogging after her when I hear hoofbeats coming back my way. I stopped and waited and out bursts Indy from the tall grass. She stops, looks at me and then turns to walk away...what an opinion!... I lean down hoping to disengage her hindquarters and VOILA disengage AND she walked over to me! THANK GOODNESS! Lesson number one... make sure your bring back is JUST as good as your send!! Sheesh!

Candy was still doing her song and dance, so Indy wasnt to pumped about grass so I brought her into the barn and rasped her feet by myself for the first time [on her I mean]. She was fabulous, I am really proud of her! After that I turned her out accompanied by many crunches. By this point the weather looked threatening, as if it would storm again, so I decided to get Mo instead of Crystal, incase it did get bad, I knew at least I could for sure trust Mo not to freak out. Weather turned out fine later. Crazy clouds. But I had Mo anywyas, so we played.

Coming in from the field we did little trot-halt stick to me things, and as a change, I got her to back INTO the barn, up the step, instead of just squeezing in. That was fun. Interestingly enough, while she will back out with just one of the gates open, it took having both gates open for her to consider backing in. She had a lot of unconfidence with it and licked and chewed a LOT when she finally went in the first time. The second time she licked as she backed and went right in. Smart pony!

I prettied Mo up, brushing her many many hairs, and making her shiny before taking her out to the ring. I put Mo on a 22' based on Indy's fun, plus, the ring really isnt enough room for the 45'.

Right off Mo was uber tuned in. Like, UBER tuned in. It was fascinating! I turned and looked at her and she shot of sideways with a squeal. SERIOUSLY! I wasnt even trying to ask her anything. Hmmmm... So I used it. We sidewaysed over all the way to the barrel line of jumps and I suggested she jump it. She offered to try and sideways over it. I said thanks, but back up and jump it, so she did and I disengaged her a la squeeze after. I had planned to go on to something else from there, but she turned and jumped it again, so obviously, given Ms. Horrible Jumper was offering to jump, I took it and hugged her! Cool stuff.

We played with yo-yo on energy and got some really cool fast back ups without even having the rope moving! Wherever my introvert went, it sure isnt here at the moment! She was all motion today! But it was all GOOD positve motion, that was the cool thing. She was trying everything for me! On the travelling circle, she jumped the little upright barrels on a SUGGESTION! She easily could have gone around them, but she AIMED for them! How cool is that? Upright those barrels are easily 3 feet, and the jump she took even looked rideable!! Which, I have to say was part of the coolness.

We played some with transitions on the circle again, she was offering a lot more canter today so I took it and did fast canter/slow canter/how slow can you go without breaking gait. Apparently REALLY slow. It was very cool. You could distinctively hear each beat and the pause. One...two...three. She was really thinking about what I was asking and maintaining her responsibility to not change gait! It was really cool to feel her take part and be a partner so much!

We played with trot transitions to, and those went really well too. Then I thought, since I really should be getting to filming my L3, maybe I should *actually* remember to work on my patterns... I am great for playing, then getting home and reading the assessment thing and going DOH patterns dorkball! SoI was proud for remembering.

I set myself up a weave with the little barrels standing up, and let the fun begin. Mo completely remembered the figure eight [which I started with] and offered it right off at the trot. She did it pretty well but drifted out a bit far on the right barrel so we played with that until she got the point. *Then*, oh yes, then, when she got the pattern, it went *click* and she started offering me COOL THINGS. She went, "oh yea, figure eight, no problem, how about I do the figure eight, and jump this single upright barrel on my way by, would that be good?" SERIOUSLY! I love my horse!

She just started offering me these fabulous little tid bits, like cantering, and jumping the barrels, and sidepassing over them, away AND towards me! Very cool stuff!! For me though, the highlight was when we were playing with some more sideways, I just got my "go sideways' ENERGY up and pointed it at her and she flew off sideways [straight to, no leaking forwards!] and licked and chewed and relaxed. THEN from the end of my 22' line I asked her to COME to me sideways AND SHE DID!!!!!!! Like.. four times!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I called it quits then.

What a fabulous HIGH note to end on! It was by far the coolest thing ever. GO MO! I just need a personal videographer/photographer at all times apparently, because of course, the day we do some of the coolest things ever, no one is even home. Oh well...

So I didnt even ride Mo, becuase that was such a highlight. I let her graze in the yard though while I put some stuff away and then backed her out the door giving her lots of crunches and hugs. I also got her to bow accidentally while itching her belly, which was kind of cute. I was standing at her withers hugging her whole body and scratching her belly and she started bowing looking for something yummy - her bow suggestion is my tickling her belly lightly. Funny horsey..

*insert lunch break here*

I came back after lunch to play with Crystal. Today was my first time ever riding her sans supervision, so it was going to be exciting!

For the first time ever, while we played online she jumped the barrels calmly! That was a big deal!! And then one random time in the middle she circus ponied it and just got all four feet tangled up close to the barrels, which was really funny before finally popping over it. Silly horse.

We played with lots of squeeze games online today. That was sort of our theme - and the firgure eight pattern. Interestingly, she went a bit right brain in the beginning of the pattern, so I just stuck with it and when she finally calmed down it was just so soft and fluid, it was beautiful! What a cool horse... She just needed to find that confidence with the new task!

When I saddled her up, an interesting thing happened. I backed her up after saddling and getting the girth up, and that was fine. Then she spontaneously jumped forwards two steps half bucked and then I stopped her myself and she stood looking at me licking all innocently " I dont know what just happened there, I think I was possessed..." Strangest thing! She showed no inclination whatsoever to do anything else the rest of the ground session or ride! I even tried to provoke her after that, pushing her into a fast canter, over jumps and things. Nothing! Hmm..

When I finally mounted, I rode with a carrot stick for the first time. Now THAT has to be the best idea Ive had in a while! She went from having no clear idea what leg = turn meant, to having a pretty good semblance of steering on her in one session! YEY! We were also able to maintain a trot for 3 laps or so! WHoo! Go Crystal! No canter yet, but I am working on refining that cue online still, so it will come!

OH! And also, she had the bridle on today to! Not in use, just in a friendly game way. She takes the bit fabulously, lowers her head and opens her mouth and lets it go so gently when it comes off to! All it took was a minor suggestion to look in my palm for a cookie!! Everything about her is so soft and willing... I love it. Shows what you can do when there is no previous baggage!! And of course, when you know what to look for and how to be particular about it... Crystal is teaching me so much! We had a faulous ride, I survived, so did she, and we both came away knowing several new things!

And so concluded my awesome horsey day! I got to play with all of "my" girls and we all did some fabulous things!! I couldnt be more proud of all my pony partners!

:-)
S

The Perfect Summer Day!

Today, as my title indicates, was my perfect summer day. The sun finally made a re-appearance after what seems like a month long hiatus. It was warm, sunny, and generally fabulous.

The morning started things off right, by being able to wake up on my own time. That is always a good thing. I went over to Aunty's to play with Crystal. I had meant to play with her yesterday night, but I ended up getting home way to late and was exhausted. Especially with Crystal right now I want to make sure I am there 100% for her mentally, so I didnt think it would be fair to her last night.

Out in the pasture she walked over to me which was really nice. She haltered nicely and came right with me to the gate to the barn. Mo was also at the gate asking very politely to get in. Things havent been so hot with Mo lately [more later] so I let her into the barn and put her in her stall to nap until I was done with Crystal. Yes, she litterally naps, flat out and all.

Crystal and I proceded out to the ring to change to the 22', grab the saddle and pad and carrot stick. Things went fabulously. She was right on. We played some really nice yo-yo and she finally offered me some ultra soft beautiful relaxed squeeze game over a jump! That was a first! I am really proud of her for that. I asked for a little feet-moving in a circle game before bringing her over to the saddle set up on the mounting block for investigation. She did a good job investigating to. Our Touch It is pretty great! 22' away ... put your nose on the saddle... OKY! Done and done. What a cool horse.

After thoroughly nibbling, sniffing and otherwise curiosing her way about the saddle I walked over and offered to lift the pad for her to check out further. She was thrilled with that! Ears all perked and happy, she sniffed it all over both sides and moved on to the saddle while I threw the pad all over her. This is old news to her, I do this with the bareback pad each time we play. PERFECT!

Next came the saddle. She was pretty interested in that. I dont think she could figure it out. Its synthetic and smells like other ponies but it jingles and is shaped funny... Hmmm! I swung it around a couple times, letting her check it out completely and threw it on and off of her back before finally just leaving it up there. She didnt even flinch. Blinking, licking, and thinking, she was right with me.

I let the girth down and did it up enough so that if she chose to go nuts it would stick with her without being dangerous. Again, perfect. As I stepped back to pick up the stick and ask her something she kinda of tensed and looked a teensy bit tight and concerned. On a 50/50 chance of either letting her wait it out, or explode on the spot, I gave her something to think about [based on previous experience last time she got that look] and asked her for a fast backup NOW.

That did the trick! She tuned right back into me and stepped back nicely and when she relaxed I allowed her to stop. From there we went into a nice soft circling game at all three gaits with transitions and some relaly great disengages and draw. We played some more with the squeeze over the jump, which interestingly, was harder now, so I waited for the relaxation.

When I felt like she was ready I brought her over to the mounting block and did my run-through of pre-riding checks and then.... mounted! TADA. Just like every other time, she just stood still, and offered me lateral flexion. What a doll.

The ride went like a dream, everything I asked, she did. Without hesitation and to the best of her understanding. She tries so hard! Our last ride was out first trotting ride, so we played more with the go button and transitions, doing walkl halt and trot transitions all over the place. She was fabulous. What a clever horse!!!

So Crystals ride went perfectly. YEY! I am so happy with how she is coming along. Aunty is to, and thats my basic goal. Really, owner of horse = second priority after making sure pony is happy. Much happiness all around, on to Mo.

In between Crystal and Mo I went into the house to get a beverage because it was le warm and beautiful out. It would be a shame to waste such a nice day sick due to dehydration!

When I left the barn Mo was covered in shavings, having actually had her nap, but she was up. When I got back, she was snoozing again! Gotta love Mo. She is so cute! The best part about the napping-ness is that she lets me come over to her when shes sleeping and clobber her. Ok, clobber isnt the right word, but I hug her and sit on her and generally adore her.

Such is exactly what I did. Quietly walk over to visit my snoozing Mo and say hi, hug her giant cranium and start rubbing her. Eventually I somehow end up sitting on her..[oops] ... We hang out like that for a while, shes dozing and I am sitting on her hugging her neck, relaxing myself. Now that is NICE. I love that relaxing feeling. It just makes you feel super close to your horse when they let you do that.

After hanging out that way for a bit I went back to kneeling by her head and rubbing her face and such. She then proceded to let out this huge sigh and relax even more. I decided to see what would happen if I tried to suggest lying flat out to her.... MUCH to my surprise Mo promptly groans happily and lies flat out. Like a giant doggie I go and scratch her belly and she luxuriously stretches out her legs and neck like an actual puppy, loving every minute of it. To conclude this lovely session, EXACTLY like I would with my *actual* doggie, I got up and said "Ok, lets go" and *poof* up she gets. HA! My goodness I love my pony.

I walked out of the stall and Mo followed me over to where I usually brush and such. I got my brushes and cowboy magic and started tackling *all* Mo's hairs... and she has many. I promise. Stock in Cowboy Magic, I should buy.

When she was all shiny and beautiful I took a few pictures of my efforts while she harassed the bin she knows the grain lives in. Then I braided her hair up so it would be out of the way and mounted bareback for a brief trail ride. We had played some little games on the lawn and in the barn [Mo bows now! Total accident, she dove for a dropped cookie once so I took it and shaped it!] and off we went on a mini trail ride. We rode through the trails, in the river some and back to the barn. Mo was in a weird mood, but handle-able.

She has kind of been off the last little while and I havent figured out why, so I wasnt going to push her, I wanted this to be a really good session for her, so I got off and snapped on my 22' and started playing on the ground in the ring. We played some really cool sideways from long distances with sideways towards and then played with some rather awesome transitions on the circle. I was *this* close to getting passage!! My focus was transitions within the trot, so slow, medium and fast and then as slow as you can to as fast as you can. Her as-slow-you-can was SO close to passage! I couldnt believe it. I was so proud. We played lots with energy up and down and how little could I do to get a response, send off at a slow trot or send off at a gallop... VERY cool stuff!

We stopped there and I took Mo to graze in the yard while I put things away. She was pretty impressed with that I think. Its only her favorite thing ever :-)

I had originally planned to also play with Indy, but I was super toasty and wanting to swim, so I just took some treats out to her instead - good for the relationship points. Before turning Mo out I also rasped her feet a little and she was a star! I dont have a stand so I had to use a bucket over turned and she was peachy with that. She was actually better today than ever before with letting me do her feet, held them up all on her own and everything. *duh... play with her FIRST!* Why dont I understand that yet?!?!

Either way, Mo had a fabulous session and I am so so proud of her. She was even collecting herself on the circle, tucking her head and stretching alternately. Beautiful! Transitions really do work... !

To complete the perfect summer day, I went to my "cottage" [aka grandparents in suburbia who have a pool] swam for several consecutive hours, had Dairy Queen ice cream, swam some more, then had pizza with the Grammie and cousins. Awesome day. Super worn out now, but awesome day. I love my life :-)

:-)
S