The Genius of Zephyr

This kid blows me away. Day after day after day, she just knocks my socks off. I have said it before, aand I will say it again, I cannot wait for this girly to grow up for riding!  I love her so much playing on the ground, but WOW she is gonna be a fun ride too!

Zephyrs latest moment of genius came via Mo. Of course. My little musketeers. I was playing with Mo at liverty just around the barn, asking her to circle a little, and as always, Zephyr had to be int he middle of things, so I started asking Mo to Spanish Walk across the paddock a little, after getting the little stinker out of the way. Mo rocked it and got facefulls of cookies. And then Zephyr came over. And demonstrated HER Spanish Walk to a step or two!!!

I about died laughing. What a GOOBER! This pony LOVES food. I was on the fence for a while on whether she was motivated/oriented, but I am going to sit with MOTIVATED for now. She saw Mo getting cookies for lifting her legs up high. Ergo, Zephyr walks over and lifts her legs up high and then looks at me all bright eyed and bushy-tailed 'Wheres MY cookie???" She was met with laughter though, and a cookie :D Cant make her feel bad for trying!

We spent the next little while playing with *asking* for this, since it could get dangerous pretty quick. But I did think it was hysterical that she taught herself, pretty much, to spanish walk via literal osmosis. Smart kid.

The next smartest thing she has learned is BRIDLING! I will never have to fight this horse to bridle, I am sure! She is to the point where I can pull out the bridle and walk AWAY and she follows me to get the bit and then of course the cookie. I LOVE IT! Patterns! I have done it maybe five times, just a few minutes, a few tries each time and poof. Insta-bridling-superstar. GO ZEPHYR!

Mo did some genius of her own last night, I must say. I have been toying with the idea of teaching her to bring me her bowl since last fall. At the time I had no idea how to even start teaching her because its not her inclincation to teeth on something, just lick it. So last night when she started nibbling on her food bowl, I got really excited and stuffed her fulll of cookies. She then stopped and I just left her bowl in front of her and left her alone. Every time she started nibbling on the bowl I gave her cookies. And then she handed me her bowl! HA! Go figure, Im not looking for it, Im not trying for it, and voila, it happens, all on her own... YEY!
... now how long until Zephyr walks over with HER bowl?! HAHA!
:D
S

The Whirlwind that was the last few days!

PHEW! So! The last few days have been a bucketload of fun! I learn a whole lot of interesting stuff, abotu me, about my horses, and about ... everything?!

How did this all start, you ask? Well, let me tell you! One phone call from one friend on Wednesday told me about a Radical Jumper competition going on this Sunday. Was I going/did I want to go/did I need a trailer buddy. Hadnt heard about it/YES!/Absolutely! So there you have it. My weekend was planned for me, by total fluke, on Wednesday and I was super excited. A local beautiful farm called Meadowvale was having a Radical Jumper on Sunday [the 13th of May] and me and [horsey] were goping to go.

This is where my brain went a little off kilter. I sort of immediately thought OH BOY! I can take Indy! She LOVES jumping stuff! To which I replied [ yep, to myself...] Well no, you should probably take Mo, since she is going to be doing a whole EVENT in a few weeks, and would do well with the exposure. Hmm. I warred with myself for a little, and then decided to come home and set up a mini course at the Novice requirement height [2'3] and see how it went with Mo. Of course, it rained all week long, and so this didnt actually happen until Saturday.

All week long I was kind of off and on about what horse to take, and I really didnt know what was going on in my head. I am training Mo right now for an event at the Horse Park in Ottawa on June 3rd. How could this not be perfect for her? Why did I have this 'yea but' about bringing her? Saturday gave me my answer.

We set up the jumps in the morning before I had to go to a lesson, and while that was going on, of course the whole herd had to come investigate! All four of them were all over the new stuff. Positively entranced. Darn you, confident, curious Parelli horses. Sheesh. :) It was great. The best part was when Mo offered to jump over the barrels towards me at liberty! I got really excited and stuffed her face full of cookies :D Then we trotted over to the next one where her halter was on the ground and she jumped that one at liberty too! It looked rideable even!

We played on the 45' over the jumps for a little, and then I had to go. She jumped each of the four jumps, and never hit a single one. She looked great. From the ground.

When I got back, D and I adventured stateside [ which was super fun] and so when we came back I went back to miss Mo. We had a nice warm up online again, and then I got on. We had a great warm up under saddle too. She was really responsive and offered to jump the barrels a whole bunch of times. Then I pointed her at one of the stadium style jumps.... and my brain went UMM THATS GIANT! Lets go AROUND! ...

HUH?! I was pretty confused. Mo was to, because she could feel my hesitation and so she was hesitating. At this point, I am thinking to myself, I can point Indy at ANYTHING, big, small, narrow, wide, bareback, with a saddle, whatever, and be confident to ride it. I point Mo at one straightforward 2'3 vertical and my heart get flustered? Really, me,.... really?!

Here is my theory. Indy is a GREAT jumper. I have seen her jump, from a standstill, out of her box stall. I have seen her jump pagewire fence, I have seen her jump green 4 1/2 foot tall farm gates. I have ridden her over tons of jumps, at all gaits, in a lot of places! She is an easy ride of fences. Smooth, not complicated, just gets over it. Even odd things, like last year at the hunter pace, what I thought was just a simple log with another log slightly in front of it turned out to be a rather large spread WITH a ditch under it, and she just cleared it like nothing [ I didnt realise what it was until to late... about halfway over] She is just pro at jumping everything.

Mo on the other hand, is bred to DRIVE. She *can* jump. She can jump the blue barrels standign on end. I have seen it. I havent seen her do it and make it look rideable. She isnt very big [15hh] and while she tries her heart out, jumping just really isnt her most athletic endeavor. She *can* do it, WE *can* do it, it just isnt always pretty. She is somewhat unreliable in her jumping style as well, so that throws me around a lot - ALTHOUGH! It does teach me to just get the heck out of her way and let her get over something. So thats good.

So my theory. I think my brain just overthinks and realizes that Mo is more sporadic and then tries to keep me 'safe' by telling me jumping her is a bad idea. Realistically, its a just fine idea. We just need more practice. My brain is just trying to keep me alive, I cant really hold that against it, I was just surprised to find this iffyness about jumping 'big' stuff with Mo, since I have never once had a second thought on Indy.

Once I figured this out, I just pointed Mo at the jump, gave her the best set up I could, and hung on for dear life. And guess what. We lived. There was only one jump that was dicey, and it was because she wayyy over jumped it and I got left behind [bad me] We still even lived through that one though.

Quite often I find the first time over something is the time thats 'scariest' for Mo, and therefore me as well, so once we get past that initial first time, everything is peachy. I just had to suck it up and get through those first times. Which I did. And you know what? She rocked them all. I have one brown jump that I thought was going to be the scariest one for her, and she jumped it like nothing, like she did it all the time. Rhythmically, confidently, and most importantly, RIDEABLY!

So there brain. I was iffy on the jumping-Mo-thing. I moved closer, stayed longer [ my mom says I Parelli myself into things] and did it. I felt good about bringing Mo to Meadowvale the next day.

Sunday, I got to wake up to a great downpour. UGH, It was raining at home but apparently not the hour or so away where the show was, so YEY! My brain tried again to persuade me I didnt need to go. Its raining, it said, what if your truck and trailer get stuck in the pasture where you park at the show? What will you do then? You have to be somewhere else this afternoon! Or, Its raining! Its going to be slippery for Mo! You dont want her first show experience jumping to be scary like that do you??

Despite this lovely inner monologue, I got Mo [was glad I didnt bother to give her a bath] loaded up and headed out. We stopped to pick up our super trailer buddy and then made it safe and sound to Meadowvale. Both ponies got left on the trailer while I got to do my course walk [twice] and then registration stuff.  By then I had only about fifteen mintues before my class was about to start. Dang. I tried to leave lots of time for warm up, but somehow it got away from me.

My online warm up was measly, just a basic check of can I saddle you please? Which was of course yes. Mo is such a star. We moved into the warmup ring for riding and Mo was scattered. Mostly because I was scattered. I didnt really know where I had to be, or what I had to do, so I was feeling a little lots. We rode around, did some transitions and tried not to get eaten by the Mo-eating-electric-but-not-on-tape that outlined the various areas.

Then my mom came, and gave me a good talking to. Which was great. I needed it. I wasnt worried about doing well for ME, but I was supremely concerned with this being a great experience for Mo, and what if she got scared of the jumps, and how would it effect her, and... and... and... At least, it wasnt about show-stress. I just wanted Mo to get the best out of the experience. By putting that kind of pressure on myself, I was setting up for the exact opposite of what I wanted. DOH

Some deep breathing and a morale boost from mom later, one of the lovely coaches from Oakhurst, an eventing barn nearby, gave me some great tips and advice, and helped set me up for success in my round. How nice is that? It really makes me happy when people are nice. She went out of her way to help me, at my first try in this genre of competition, when she had her own students there, just to be a nice person and make sure everything was successful. It totally made my day. Well, was part of the day-making. Mo made my day. She rocked. But thats beside the point.

When it was finally my turn, we trotted in, around all the scary jumps and over to the judges stand. Mo was very looky on that trot, and I could tell we would likely be doing a lot of trotting. And I was ok with it. I breathed, and finally relaxed, and got down to business.... the business of having fun I mean! After we got the whistle from the judge, we trotted off to the first fence. There were really only three whole fences I was concerned about [out of 13] - the first one, the last one, and a rolltop in the middle. The first/last were stadium jumps, which look scarier to ME, and the rolltop was one Mo never saw before, and I thought it might look scary to her.

Fears unfounded, Mo jumped the first fence like a pro. We just trotted, and I was just fine with that. The second fence, and this was a theme for a few of them, had some Mo-eating-flowers under it, so even though it was maybe a foot tall [MAYBE] she over jumped it a lot. But it was ok. SHE JUMPED IT! Fence three was a log, that went fine. Four was some laying down tires with more killer fleurs, beside a row of tires on end [which is a super cool idea that I want to make] Mo was pretty looky, but again, she rocked out and jumped it for me. Five and six were a sort of combination together, with five being white painted tires laying down with a log over top and six was just some small logs tied together. Five was scary [flowers] six was good, but there were about fifteen predators watching in that corner with umbrellas and chairs that were slightly concerning AND THEN A CLUSTER OF WATER TROUGHS TRIED TO EAT US!

... not really, but Mo thought it for a second, before continuing on. Seven was the rolltop. I pointed, she shot, and poof. Tralalala. Like nothing. What was I worried for? Oh yea, I dont know. Humph. Eight was a bigger log, that led out into a bigger feild, which was no problem. Nine was another log, again no problem. Give me logs! Mo likes logs! Ten was a little baby A-frame, that Mo rocked and even cantered out of! Eelven was another log cluster with some rocks in front, twelve was another plain log and thirteen was a BIG SCARY STADIUM OXER [for me] Mo rocked it. We trotted the whole thing, with a little canter in the outer feild and to the final jump.

I was SO HAPPY! We LIVED! And, the best part, for about the last five jumps, Mo was jumping and then blowing as she went, jumping, and blowing. She was RELAXING! It was so great! I was so pumped that I signed up to go again. I really wanted this to be a solid confident thing for BOTH of us!

While we waited our turn, I gushed about how awesome Mo was. I am sure my poor mom is sick of hearing about Mo. Oops.

Finally we get to go in again! Our trot in was MUCH more confident and connected. WAY better. After saying hello to the nice judges, we took off AT A CANTER! and SOARED over the first fence like a pro. And thats how it all went the second time around. Canter canter canter, jump, canter canter canter. It felt great. Mo was relaxed, she was connect, she was trying her heart out, and she was RIDEABLE over all those jumps!

What a great first outing it was for her! I was and am so so so so very proud of Mo!

Which brings me to this morning. I have been taking lessons to get ready for my first event, with Mo, each Mondy. Well now... since I took Mo to the radical jumper, I wasnt sure if I should take her to the lesson or not. We didnt really work *that* hard, but I figured I would see which horse showed up and go from there.

Well now. I pulled the trailer out to get it ready for loading, and who GALLOPS over.... well Indy. Thats who. I was flaberghasted. Really, spotty one, YOU!? But hey, that was cool, and I'll take that any day!  Such is the story of how Indy got to go to a lesson. My sort-of plan with her was to just get her fit at home first, but how could I refuse such an offer? She loaded great. We played load/unload a bit first, just for her, since we had lots of time.

When we got to the farm [five minutes away] she was a little up, and looky/snorty, but not screaming, and definately still paying attention. I went extra early beacuse I wants sure what kind of horse I would have on my hands, so we had lots of time to play online. We went and explored, touched EVERTYHING, played with some circles and figure eights, transtitions, yo-yos and sideways, and then fifteen minutes later, POOF. I had a rideable horse.

Pardon me? Fifteen minutes? This being the horse [previously] that a forty five minute online warm up just barely got focus and attention from..... wow. That hit me hard, how far she has come! I am so proud of her! We wandered back to the trailer to saddle up, then back to the arena, still online, to finalize things. Then on with the bridle and up I got. She was a total star. I was really impressed.

We warmed up freestyle until it was lesson time, and she was pro the whole time, really thinking and stretching into the walk. The great thing about Indy is that when she isnt relaxed, her stide is about two inches... so its really easy to tell when she isnt! She was great in the whole lesson, she taught me a whole lot about really having good hands for a good connection. Amy *did* say that resting hands are the hardest part.... guess what? Its true! Every time I got it right though, wow did Indy give me the green lights. We rode a whole dressage test after playing with some of the movements separately, and then got to play with some jumping. To cool out we walked in a hayfield, which was gorgeous. She was pro the whole time.

Even when we got home, she was still mellow, drank a bunch of water, wandered away to roll, and came back to check me out again. I love it!

This afternoon, I then had a great time with Mo and Zephyr. I ponies Zephyr off of Mo, and she was an angel. She is really learning how to mirror Mo's gait. We trot, she trots, we canter, she canters. She makes ponying so easy! And she loves to go out and see the world, so that helps :) Such a nice relaxing day for Mo :) And a good outing for Zephyr! We went through mud and water to her belly, and she just trooped right through. She is going to be pro when she is finally old enough to ride!

To finish with Zephyr, I was putting away Mo's bridle and she wanted it, so I got some cookies and played with bridling her. It was too cute. She figured out pretty quick that pushing the bit out of the way to steal the cookies wasnt the answer. She was scooping up the bit and cookies in about four tries. Smart kid that one! I didnt ask her to hold it or anything, just in and out, heres cookies. Just the idea of taking it was the goal. Boy did she get it!

I love my ponies :D

:D
S

Storm Rising!

Tonight I went out to see the horses after dinner. I had intended to have my first official session with Chance [first horse in for development!] but things went slightly different!

All day long the black clouds have been rolling in an out... pitch black and back to sunny again. Since about four pm it was consistently dark. The horses were feeling the electricity in the air! The weather man was calling for storms, and possibly thunder.

When I went out to the barn all four horses came racing up to me. Mo went by me, to energized to stop in time, so did Indy. Zephyr ended up right in front of me, bouncing to a stop for some scratches and love, while Indy came right back for a hug and Mo trotted over to find out what she was missing. Chance came cantering in too, but wisely kept her distance from potentially nasty hind feet!

I got everyone their dinner first - really just some vitamins and minerals - and they all lined up great and ate contentedly about two feet apart, side by side, which was great. The cows came by to find out where there dinner was, too, and that was funny. Browncow tried licking me to see if *I* was dinner, and I found that ironic.... given it will be *my* dinner in a year or two.

The ponies were riled, I could see that much. As I cleared away their bowls, Zephyr went off after poor Browncow, just kind of walking snaking her head after it. I grabbed a carrot stick to discourage chasing the poor little thing and everyone went bonkers. Its like they were just waiting for the signal to GOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BOY OH BOY did they go! Indy took off straight out into the field while the other three circled the small paddock. Blackcow went out to the field to, and cut left to the sad barn while Browncow headed for the trees. Indy got about 1/3 of the way down the pasture before noticing her herd didnt come with her, and extendo-trotted her gorgeous behind back over to us.

When they got all back together they collectively BOMBED all out the gate and into the little pasture, scaring the living daylights out of poor Browncow, who just ran and ran with her little tail sticking up. She then hid in the trees. Bombed down they did, and bombed right back to me. Too funny! In the little paddock again looking all wonderful and adrenalized, Mo power trotted right up to me to check in, got a go ahead, and they were all off like the forecasted lightning! They sure made their own thunder in the process.

Instead of allowing them back into the barnyard again I just barely directed them out into the big pasture, and off they all went, continuing on their bucking and squealing ways. Several laps of the pasture were made. I wish I had my camera handy! With the roiling clouds in the background, and beautiful ponies galloping around, it would have been wonderful to capture.

The poor skeerd cowcows came over with some grain bribery, and were none the worse for wear it seems.

Happy ponies playing in the storm energy sure makes for some fun!

:)
S

PS: I think Storm Rising would be an amazing show name for a fancy grey horse

Summer Jump Start Day!

Best day off in the history of days off? I THINK SO!

This morning started with a GREAT lesson for me and Mo, at a farm about five minutes away. We got to play with jumping and gymnastic lines to build both of our athletisism. The super plus of this was that our warm up online was AMAZING! Mo was just waaay more relaxed than the first time we were there to start. I think because Indy wasnt carrying on and screaming as we loaded, she was just generally in a better mind set. No poops in the trailer :D

Our warm up was just on a 22' in a grassy feild, so I got to play with being more interesting than lush beautiful tall green grass.... right. Somehow I managed, and we had a blast. We got some great circles at a canter, AND AND AND FLYING CHANGES CLEANLY!!!!!! Only probably 60% of them were clean, but STILL! I think my simple changes on the figure eight pattern are really helping her sort out her feet. We also did some awesome canter/halt transitions on the circle. Some super light great yo-yo and sideways later, I saddled up for my lesson.

We had a great starting warmup undersaddle, just freestyle, which was nice. Mo relaxed and felt confident moving forward, so that when I picked up the reins, there was no issues. She was great and feeling really uphill. She can really get some power when she wants to! It was so much fun being able to be the learner all about jumping. We learned all about position and takeoff points and stride lengths... and more I am sure... I just cant remember right now.

After the lesson, to cool out, we got to take a turn around a beautiful hayfield. As we went I played with picking up the contact and asking for a stretch, just to make sure it was still working, and it was, so yey! She also offered me a trot into contact, so that made me really happy to! Reins definately still mean go/dont stop :D

Loading up to go home was easy peasy, Mo was great, still no poops in the trailer! We got home and of course the whole gang was waiting for us at the gate. Silly Indy doesnt seem to realize she has two other buddies to play with when Mo leaves... oh well. Everybody was happy and back together now :) Mo unloaded like a superstar and got to eat some hay/grass while I brushed her, so she was a happy camper. After unloading the trailer and parking it, it was off to the store!

Fast forward the lunch and grocery store stuff, back to home! More play time! Zephyr was next on my to-hug list, so out I went to fetch her. They were in the swampy/watery part of the pasture where I couldnt see them so I kept whistling and calling. I could hear them splashing like they were swimming, but it turned out just to be them in the ankle deep water. Goofballs. No issues with water crossing here! When I got to the last little island I could walk to, before needing rubber boots, I called Zephyr again and she looked up like she hadnt seen me at all [silly goof] and promptly walked over to me really enthused. :D

After pretty much shoving her own nose in her halter, we wandered off to the barn to get spiffed up and also some fly spray. Suddenly the flies are out... though I rather flies that those little gnatty things... ! Once we were set Zephyr led the way back to the pedestal and showed off her genius by getting on it - smart kid! We played with backing up into the round pen a little and then onto the FIREWORKS!

All I did was gently suggest she go off to the right to start a figure eight and OFF SHE ROCKETED!! Full of buck and squeal and giggles. What a goof ball. She aimed to go out the gate that I didnt close [since we were just online anyways] and stopped short when she almost ran into it. It was pretty funny to see the look on her face.. "where on earth did this gate come from?!?!" Then she looked at me like I put it there... and off she darted in the other direction all full of beans. This continued on for a bit. I just tried to direct her gently and stay out of her way mostly..... but then I realised she was just getting bigger, and more explosive and checking out even more.

What on earth was I doing? Why was I trying to be so light and fluffy when obviously Zephyr wanted to PLAY PLAY PLAY!!! Finally I started to PLAY with my giant little kid... and she stopped. One turn around, she stopped, blinked hard, licked a ton and came in quietly and politely. Huh. Sheesh. I should know this stuff! I get so concerned some times, with not getting in her way, or making her feel wrong in any way that I just dont engage her or play the game. DOH! As soon as I started to really play the game she totally engaged and we had a great time. After a few relaxed turns I called it a day and we wandered back out to the herd.

From there I got a great catch from Indy. As I let Zephyr go, Indy asked if it was her turn and made a big effort to come over, which was a real treat coming from her. She haltered really lightly and tried really hard to get her own halter on. My plan had been to play first and groom later, but my poor girly was covered in flies and looking pretty unhappy. To the barn we headed, to fly sprays and brushings!

Sufficiently safe from flying insects, we headed out to the pedestal, which she jumped right up onto :) From there I set her up on a circle to navigate two of the log jumps. She went around but when she got to the first log, she stopped and looked at me, and then hopped her front feet over in a really big effort. Keep in mind this log is maybe a foot tall. It was pretty funny.

When she finally got all the way over the log [big effort there!] she promptly did the same thing at the next log. Silly pony! She managed to keep going a little a make it all the way over. From there we got a pretty good rhythmical trotting circles over the jumps. When that felt good we moved over to the flat space and played with maintain gait first at a trot and then when she offered me a canter [yeyy!] I took that too.

It was so nice and relaxed, so great to see her relaxing at higher gaits. She was even blowing out, which is HUGE for her. We even got to play with some change of direction and she gave me one or two clean flying changes! Yey!

With that, we went over to saddle and then come back to the logs. More relaxation over obstacles, and up I got. Indys bridling is getting really nice too. Soft, though more out of obedience than exuberence like Mo. Either way, better than before, and she reached for the bit on her own :D

After mounting, I set us up on the same circle we rode before over the jumps and she was great. Really relaxed and thinking. When I felt like we had a good round with that pattern, we headed out to the pasture. I have some jumps set up at different heights to play with, including one tiny one to play with flying lead changes. We just played with some trot to start, with steady rein and a tiny bit of asking her to stretch. I wasnt really thinking about contact today, just wanting to have some fun.

After a great trot warm up with lots of stretching and blowing, I asked for the canter and got this great slow balanced canter [compared to yesterdays racing almost-a-gallop] with even more blowing out. She was doing so great! Since she was doing so well, I decided to try a lead change over the tiny jump. I just thought about it, I didnt know if it would work or not, this was the first time we did this kind of pattern.

LO AND BEHOLD! 

LEAD CHANGE!

WHOO!!!1 I couldnt believe it! We took a great victory lap around our riding spot for that :) And then we did it AGAIN! I was so excited!  I kept just randomly throwing the jump in every now and again, and each time Indy got a clean change, or, if she missed behind, she fixed it within a stride or two. Hows that for amazing? Gotta love the spotty pony!!

When I asked for her to slow down, she was right there with me slowing down to a walk. We walked out and wandered for a while and Indy was great, really relaxed and stretching even.

I am on such a high from my spotty pony being so amazing!!!! I LOVE THIS STUFF!!!

So that was a my great start to summer today. It was warm, sunny, and full of ponies!!

:)
S