Our First Demo!!!

Today there was a small demo for Parelli at the Ocala Equestrian Centre and seven of us got to go be part of the Savvy Team!! I was really excited about the chance to actually be part of a real live Savvy Team, that there wasnt much sleep last night. Between last minute scrambling to try and keep Mo's white *white* and trying to find me a white shirt, since I dont own one [thanks B!] and getting tack clean and in the right spot.. and everything else that happened, it was just one happy excited blur!

The morning started out early, which reminded me of my horse show days, but it had a compeletely different feel. Mo was full of herself this morning, prancing about and running around the intern tack room. When she was all cleaned up I packed up some last brushes and my very favorite Green Spot Remover [cowboy magic is GOD] I brushed up Hank since the every popular daylight saving messed with everyones alarms and M was running behind. He was a super star and didnt roll last night [grey/white horsey!] so it was pretty easy. M showed up and we started on the ever popular hike up the Secret Hill to Pat's Barn, where we were meeting the trailer.

We had a quick meeting and set about the last minute tasks before getting all the horses set up with their shiny 'show' 12' leads. It was pretty fun to play with a new rope. Even if it was only for a day. When it came time to load into the huge 8 horse trailer, pulled by the big sport chassis truck Mo was a really super tropper. She was the first one to load and she went right on! It was her first time ever in a slant load trailer, and she was perfect.... Once, I head this saying.... something about prior and proper preparation... I think that guy was on to something!

When we got to the venue we had some good yo-yo game practice with the trailer since the parking guys didnt really know where to send us. P did a great job navigating some interesting squeezes though. We finally got parked by the door to unload all the toys and M and I took off with our table goods and some giveaways to get to the organizer while the others unloaded the horses and got the first team ready for their demo. We had to two time slots - 11:15 and 1pm. Me and Mo were in the 1pm go.


For the first go-round I got to play sound-girl up in the sound booth, changing songs as needed, since the sound had a malfunction and our ipod was a failure. It worked out ok. For the second demo we had our music, which was much better. Though I dont really recall all of the songs....

The first demo went great, all the people in it did a fantastic job, and so did their horses! We broke for lunch, and after that it was our turn! It was time for me and Mo to head into the arena with our friends a co-savvy-teamers... is that a word? It is now...

There were six of us in this part, and R got us to go through all seven games to show them to the crowd. We all went through them, showing them as we could at what level we were at. I was proud of my porcupine game - I showed lead by the ear, and Mo was perfect, forwards and backwards! YEY! Our circle still needs some help, but she wasnt very motivated yet inside the arena, we had had some cool stuff going on in the practice ring though. Our sideways went awesome. Away and towards from zone one! Our squeeze went super well to, started off over the tarp and then R 'can you'd' me into squeezing her under it, so Mo got to go under the tarp like a little super star.

We had then a few songs in each savvy of online, liberty and freestyle then, so we went to play around. Online was great, we played on a 22', roaming around the arena doing little things like follow the rail and back by the tail from zone five, get on the pedestal all four feet, figure eight, weave and jumping over the barrels then stopping halfway.

When it came time for Liberty, I was a little nervous, because I had no idea what kind of things Mo would do! I took the halter off while she was halfway over the barrels and started with a sideways towards and walked over to drop off our halter. Mo was right with me! It was a pretty great feeling. We did some litle walk trot halt backup transitions running around the arena. Mo was still right with me! I sent her sideways around me in a circle, and she was a pro. I sent her sideways away from me about 20' and she came right back! Then the coolest thing happened, I went over to the weave, intending just to ask for a little figure eight, but Mo saw it, picked up the trot and completely trotted a whole weave pattern for me! WOW!!!

It was finally time to ride, and Mo felt really good to me, so I jumped on bridless with a string around her neck and carrot stick at hand. By jumped on, I mean I got on the pedestal and Mo came to me sideways and I mounted how I usually do. Ill leave the fancy run-from-behind mounting to P and J! I dont think Im that athletic. I started off our ride with some trotting follow the rail, to help Mo get a feel for the arena with me above Zone three. She was a star. We went around once, came back over the barrel jump, did some circles and then when I was thinking that I should turn to the left so I could canter [ since our right leads are dicey, I didnt want to show anything bad] she got this lovely bend to the right and went into the nicest right lead canter ever! All slow and collected and thinking with me, it was wonderful.

We cantered around on that lead a little, then dropped to a trot and picked up the left lead on a figure eight pattern. We cantered around just a little on the left before R said it was time to leave, so we stopped and all backed out of the arena! It was a total success, and I couldnt be more proud of Mo!!

She re-loaded on the big rig like a super pro and made it home happily.

Our first Savvy Team experience went amazingly. I couldnt be happier with Mo, she is a total rock star!!!!

:-D
S

What a Great Day!!

Today was a lot of fun!

We got to have a bareback lesson with Berin, riding in the halter with one rein - which is something I am really confident about, so I was primed to have loads of fun.

Me and Mo warmed up online in a 50' round pen, playing with our new maintain gait program and fixing our broken change of direction - which wasnt broken today! She was a superstar, really getting into the game and playing around with her posture and things while maintaining her cantering. From there we went into our lesson, which turned out to be a great time.

We were playing with throwing the rope over our horses heads [which was challengingly fun due to some high winds!] at a walk and a trot, and then doing so on a weave pattern! Cool! It was really fun, and Mo was great at allowing me to occasionally bonk her or catch her ears when the wind took the rope or I just threw awkwardly... Poor Mo, she is such a trooper, she just kept on keeping on for me. She sure spoils me sometimes!

When we finished weaving through cones, it was time to weave through each other! That was sure a fun challenge! I wish I had 20 people to play that with at home! Mo did great, and she is really getting good at allowing other horses in to her personal bubble without trying to eat them, I am really proud of her for that, since it makes pre and post lesson horse shoes oh so much less eventful!

After weaving around we lined up two by two at the cones, and played with crossing our arms and going sideways to the next cone, about fifty feet away! Mo did really well and tried really hard for this. The really cool thing was that she really allowed me to direct her - when something was lagging I could isolate it and say 'hey, hindquarters, you should catch up' and she wouldnt take offense, just move that part and keep going. When we would get to the next cone, you would back up to the fence line, about 150 feet away. Mo was really solid in her backup, again allowing me to direct her when she drifted from straight, but it was a little slow, so we are going to play with speeding it up a bit in the future.

When the lesson was done we had our own personal horsemanship time until lunch time, so Mo and I headed out into her pasture area, since it is a big-ish open area that ISNT sand! Since the footing is more solid, that means Mo has more go! To be fair, I am not a fan of slogging through sand either, and the arena at the Foundation Station is DEEP, so it makes Mo more introverted feeling than usual. Anyways, out in her pasture she was happy to move about, so we started with some nice follow the rail at a trot, just to get used to the new situation. Even though she lives there, I didnt want to make assumptions that she would be calm there. Ive been wrong that way before!

She was a superstar, and relaxed at the trot almost imediately. When we started to pick up the canter she offered me the left lead, as usual, even though I asked for the right. The transitions were really nice and easy though, so she gets credit for that! Each time she would pick up the wrong lead I would softly bend her to the rail back to a trot and ask again. It took a few times, but eventually she got the right answer and I let her canter off on a casual rein for a little bit around the rail. We continued this pattern for a bit, until my brain couldnt *not* jump the log sitting there anymore!

There is a log in Mo's pasture, and I have wanted to jump it since I got here, so do dee doo, off on our right lead we aimed and popped over... waaay over jumping because Mo missed a stride somewhere, but it was awesome and we stopped right after! GO EVEN IMPULSION!

We played on a circle after that, on a bit more of a concentrated rein. I was trying to help Mo find the right bend in her body to get the right lead, it seemed to help. The number of left lead departs before finding a right lead depart went down. So yey! We jumped a few more times, which was super fun, and Mo started finding her distances, which was delightful!

When our circles got pretty good I turned it into a figure eight, so she could pick up the left lead without feeling wrong. That went pretty well, and on the last round she got the right lead from a halt!

It was a really fun session because I could feel her collection herself, sitting on her hind end, and the lightness in the bridle was just unbelievable! She was actually carrying herself properly and not asking me to hold her up! So cool! YEY canter -walk/halt transitions!!!!

After finishing up with that, after lots of cantering and STILL finishing with motivation and an effective gas pedal still in place, we moseyed around, I took her bridle off and we rode back to the tack room. Mo got a drink and I unsaddled her. She got a well needed bath and we went to hang out in the sunshine to dry [both of us... Mo tends to share baths] and eat some grass [just Mo]

The best part was, when I went to feed Mo her dinner tonight, they already had their hay and she left her hay to come hang out with me - AGAIN! All I did was brush her and feed her, but still, thats such a nice feeling, and it tells me that I didnt cross the line into a bad place today. I didnt feel like I did at all, but it was a lot of cantering for Mo!

I am actually really proud of how things went today. I was so calm and relaxed and having fun, that a situation that could have been in the past, really frustrating, was just a fun puzzle to solve. Maybe I should have POTC 3 music in my head everyday! I dont know why, but it was running through my head over and over.... Like Pat always says, I would have been proud to have Mo's and my mom watching! I kind of wish my mom *had* been watching... then I might have some pictures of Mo looking all amazing!  Oh well... I will just have to live with FEELING the amazing that she was today!

:-)
S