Liberty and Horsenality Clinic

This weekend I had the immense pleasure of attending the very first Liberty and Horsenality clinic in Canada, put on by the one and only Fawn Anderson. Linda had taught this format before the Advanced GOC clinic in Zurich this spring/summer, and Fawn was there and brought us all the best parts that she learned! I will try to recreate the weekend as best I can :) It was fabulous and FULL FULL FULL of learning!

Saturday morning I went out to load up, I was feeding Mo and called all the other horses in - they were waaay out there, and somehow I got lucky enough that everyone thundered over :) Good start to the day! Since Mo is obviously not up to a whole weekend clinic, I took Indy with me. It was kind of a toss up. I thoguht about taking Zephyr, as a super start to Liberty with her, and Gambler to further our relationship and get Fawns help with, but I figured I would get the most out of the clinic if I took Spotty Pony, because other than Mo, she is my most advanced partner. Plus, she is so clever, she makes me look good ;) Or horrible... one of the two... Mostly, I just get distracted looking at her because shes so pretty and thats how it goes.

SO! We loaded up, headed out and arrived shortly at the clinic venue, which is only abotu a half hour away. Other than the ponies who arrived the night before, we were the first ones there. I unloaded Indy, handed her off to Laura - who was going to share the Indy for the weekend with me, and parked the trailer. Bless thy gooseneck, for it is back-able.

Laura played a little, while I sorted out paperwork, and then we swapped places and I got Indy settled in a stall while she did paperwork :) We had originally intended for one of us to to Saturday with Indy and the other play Sunday, but the way the clinic worked out, splitting up into two groups based on level, we both got to play both days! It was perfect!

The morning started out theory. YEY! I LOVE THEORY! I love knowing the whys and hows and whatsits that go into everything. Sure, I can go out and try it and feel it out for myself, but I LOVE having all the ammo in my brain to figure it out while Im out there without feeling like Im breaking new ground every time. Having only ever had a couple of clinics with Don Halladay, and one GOC clinic with Amy, I wasnt really sure what to expect. Fawn gave us an AMAZING theory session. Ask my notebook how many pages I scrawled out while she talked. Some of it just scribing what she said, other points just BFO's that I had as she spoke. I loved how it wasnt really "new" info, just more and more layers of filters to apply to what we already know about dealing with each horsenality.

OH! And also a new way to play stick to me, that doesnt involve micromanaging the horse to stay, or having everyone else chase the horse back to neutral[you] so that was super great. I felt really good as she was describing it, because I had sort of been experimenting with a very similar thing with Indy already, so it was cool to know that I was on the right track without knowing... if that makes sense?

So, super theory session under our belts, and divided into two groups of four, Group 1 went to get their horses! The goal was to warm up online, preparing for liberty, and using the model of Calm Connected, Responsive to give the horse what they needed so they could give us what we wanted. When the humans felt ready, they slipped off the halter and went to liberty. If the horse stayed, SUPER. The human would play some stick to me game and see what they could accomplish. If the horse left, then they would begin tracking their horse in Zone 5. Just following, tracking, not driving, not disengaging. It was Fawn and mines job to keep the horses trotting. Not cantering or galloping, fleeing pressure, just moving so the would look for an answer [and not turn and beat each other up]

Each time your respective horse would yeild you zone 1 a little, turn an ear, give you an eye, or make any kind of effort in your direction, you would arc away from them in a straighter line, when they werent, then you would arc in a more direct line behind zone 5. The horses were pretty fresh first thing on a chilly morning and galavanted for a while before starting to see a point to the humans following and reflecting their movements. Finally, each horses ended up following the appropriate human, and all was well! Debrief and LUNCH TIME!

Post lunch is was my turn to play with the spotty pony :D I was super excited. Laura and Indy did GREAT in the morning session, and I was really pumped to see what we could accomplish. We had a great warm up online, practiced our stick to me with a safety net, and practiced 'scooping' her up so she could keep up with me by her responsibility. *Scooping - when you turn to the outside, while maintaining your track, give them a moment to read the body language and intention for them to keep up and then 'scoop' them up with the stick and string by swining the stick back and having it come in to hug around the hock area*

Everything checked out online, so I went to liberty, and mostly things still went good. I was dull though, I wasnt engaging her, I had no plan and I lost her expression. This is typical for us. She will do stuff 'obediently' but her ears are back, shes doing it because I told her to, not because she wants to. I asked Fawn about this, how she was staying even though she looked lke she would rather be anywhere else, and Fawn suggested getting more provocative, pushing the boundaries, seeing if I could push enough that she finally 'had enough' and left on her own, without me sending her off, that way I could then track her, and have it be her idea to stick to me. Cool idea.

Off we went. As an afterthought now, I think I should have just gotten interesting with my energy and phases, but what I did was get interesting with my feet. I started moving faster. We ran around, well, I ran, she trotted, the arena, changing directions, stopping, backing up, a whole bunch of stuff! I was really actually quite surprised at how long it took her to leave. I asked a lot, she got interested. Hmm. she did leave though, and I got to tracking. She had played the game in the morning, and with me before too, so it didnt take that long, but it felt long? It felt long because I was feeling guilty about having MADE her stay. I want her to WANT to be beside me, not stnad beside while muttering grumpy curses under her breath.

When she connected, we just went right back about our business and she didnt leave again until I asked for a circle, then she left for half the arena and went "Oh wait, my human is over there" and came back to claim me, like some lost baggage on the carousel or something. Funny horse.

When everyone reconnected with their horse, Fawn had us halter up and show her our yo-yo game, so we could prepare for canter draw! Indy was sluggish. I knew she could do better, but thats what I got in the moment, because my energy was scattered. We played with refining our phases and using the PROMISE of pressure to motivate them, without actually having to go to the high phases hopefully. INTENSITY was the name of the game! Boy did Indy wake up! She didnt quite get to marching back the way I know she can, but she did scoot :D

Then we got taught a really cool drawing technique to encourage a speedy, exuberent draw. First, you yo-yo them out, then add a push to the shoulder and draw them on an arc while asking for speed through the shoulder. The idea is not to have them come to you on a straight line, but a slight curve so they can power up and use that curve to get the right placement for power.

When I think about it in my head, I get it. When I try it, Indy looks at me like Im a spaz, tries a canter, and I get so happy I release even though Im not sure what happened. Im still figuring out the execution, but I can definatley see how cool this could be!

Day one debrief after our session closes, and its home time for me and the Sportty face! It was so refreshing to be in the learning zone again! I LOVE LOVE LOVE to learn! Sometimes I wish I could just travel around to all the different clinics [or Florida, or Colorado] and go to them all, and just keep studying. When I win the lottery. :D

We came home, unloaded, cleaned up, turned out and called it a night. Morning came again and the routine repeated. I somehow got lucky again, when I called the ponies, maybe they were cold, but they all galloped in again! Poor Indy was all shivery because it was a whole 3 degrees or something and she didnt get the memo about needing a coat soon. I gave her a cooler for the drive and parked her tied in the sunshine when we arrived. She stopped shivering after that :) Poor sleek horsey!

For Sunday we had a shorter theory session, though no less packed with super information.Our focus of the day was "how are we going to be different after yesterday, and what is our plan" forming around the tasks of circles and figure eights. Cool. Once again, group 1 was first, and it was great to watch the strategies applies for those horses. I really liked being able to watch what was going on with everyone, and not just needing to focus on my own horse [I was also glad that my own horse wasnt a rafter monkey, since it was her first official clinic other than being in Florida!]

When it was our turn, we warmed up, looking for calm connected, responsive on a corners pattern. Like I said, my stick to me is wandering and doing transitions, so I set myself up on a corners pattern, and when we got to the corner, we stopped. This produced lots of licking and chewing and checking in [presumably to see where I found some leadership from] It was good though! When we went to liberty it was much of the same, and if she fell behind, I could scoop her up without her taking offence. The expression went a little bit, so then I started playing with more intensity, and I got her back, which was very cool.

Everyone went back online for the figure eight/circle part, and due to space,we went two at a time. The first two to go did their thing while I did little yo-yo plays with Indy in the corner and then it was our turn! First we played with having an effective send, using the promise of pressure and when that was good, we introduced the figure eight. I figured out a whole new level of refinement, and not doing more than she does. OH and also, not adding pressure accidentally but heading back to center before she crosses X. Lots of ear changes! Much less grumpy and micromanaged feeling pony I think :D

Once again, lunch and debrief and then we went into individual sessions in the round corral with Fawn, after some very cool change of direction simulations. Gotta love Conga Horses! Somehow I ended up going last. But thats ok. We went in and did our thing, halter off at the gate, walk across the centre to test connection and see if they are with you. Well, like almost every other horse, Indy stopped to smell the poops by the gate. POOP is more interesting than me.... ouch.  ;)

Off to tracking I went, and it wasnt long before she caught up with me, which was nice. When I was sure she was with me, we headed to the center of the corral to show seven games in three minutes or less [which she rocked at, and I felt great about her!] and then we went onto checking out our circle send and then the figure eight. She rocked it all :) I was so proud of her! Once she was connected and it was her idea, she was right there with me.

At the end, Fawn asked if there was anything else I wanted to do, so I asked about spins and how to know if you are ready. I have always kind of been confused about how those work at speed and just end up confusing my horse and breaking my change of direction. The answer was refine your change of direction until its so easy its basically a rollback, and then create a box-step to just keep talking to zone one all the way around. She also showed me a way to teach it online, which I cant think of how to descibe in words without showing? Anyway, she did a few simulations with me, to set me up for when I am ready, and it was great, really made sense and put into place those few things I was confused on.

Then it was over :( I was the last person to go, and after a debrief, we all went our separate ways. Two days just isnt long enough for me ! I want MORE! Hopefully when she comes back in the spring, there will be another topic clinic I can take! I just LOVED her teaching style. It really suits me and my unquenchable thirst for more knowledge. There were so many times where I was going to ask a question, but then on the next sentence, Fawn would already be answering them. She is just a fountain of information!

It always fascinates me how different everyones teaching style is. Having been mostly exposed to Don Halladay in a clinic situation [ok, twice] he is very much a "Heres the task, go play, come back with questions" kind of teacher, which works great for me on some subjects. Fawn was very individualized, with LOADS of info and tips and thoughts which I LOVED! Plus, it doesnt hurt that she was so recently so close to the source [Linda] so she had all the latest tips and thoughts Linda has been playing with!

Homeward bound we were, then. Indy loaded up a little snorty, so I have put her on a trailer loading programme again. Load, eat a snack, hang out, go back to pasture. Just to make sure that she doesnt revert to her trailer loading terror of her previous life. I decided to load Zephyr and Gambler today too. Both were super stars, though scared the crap out of me with mild choke cases [ I think] when they gobbled the cruch out of the bucket to fast. Some quick head down combined with water syringing ddown the throat and everything turned out alright, but jebus that was scary. Really now ponies, CHEW! Suffice to say, those two wont be finding crunches as a reward anymore... though Indy has never had any trouble? Go figure. The LBE's get over food enthusiastic.

To finish, here is a poem Fawn suggested we look up -

The Man In The Glass Peter Dale Wimbrow Sr.
	When you get what you want in your struggle for self And the world makes you king for a day Just go to the mirror and look at yourself And see what that man has to say. For it isn’t your father, or mother, or wife Whose judgment upon you must pass The fellow whose verdict counts most in your life Is the one staring back from the glass. He’s the fellow to please – never mind all the rest For he’s with you, clear to the end And you’ve passed your most difficult, dangerous test If the man in the glass is your friend. You may fool the whole world down the pathway of years And get pats on the back as you pass But your final reward will be heartache and tears If you’ve cheated the man in the glass.

:)
S

Mo Update

I got the call back from the vet today, the blood work came back extremely anemic. The plus side to this is that the blood work also came back good for the kidneys and liver and other internals.

Soooo.... this means we have a reason for all the symptoms but not the cause. For now she is sticking on supplements, and getting all the tasty thigns she wants until she is better. The best part is that she WILL get better.

In other news, today I made a new mini pasture in the back field where there used to be a beaver pond. We broke the dam and cleared out the beavers and thanks to the summers drought we now have clean dry land. That happens to be full of lucious grass! I would have liked to fence the whole area, but because I have only step in posts right now, I could only do a small area.

It took me a little longer than I planned to finish this little project - mostly because it took FOREVER to untangle all the wire I had, because it has been used over and over. When I put it away last time, I wasnt terribly neat about it and it bit me in the butt today. From now on, every time I put away fence wire, I will do it PROPERLY! I do not want to spend all that time again...

Anyways, the ponies were fairly pleased to go out in their new mini vcacation home. I only let them out for an hour, but they were happy none the less. They kept standing at the tallest grass and nibbling like it was some kind of buffet. Cute.

Mo got her own solo hour out there too, and she hardly made it past the gate by the time I came to retrieve her. Too funny! She just mowed her way, slowly out and out. She was even happy to come back in, which was nice. I came out and just stood at the gate and she marched over right away. That was a nice feeling.

Such was my day. That little feild took me way longer to build than I thought, but Im happy with it. The horses are too. A crazy thunderstorm rolled in for the afternoon. The temperature dropped like crazy, and there was quite a light show! Mo was happily tucked into her shed.

:)
S

Mo is Sick, Gambler is a Star

Firstly, Mo is sick :( I am super stressed about it, mostly because I dont know what it is, and neither does the vet, conclusively. She was sick on Friday last week, with a fever and slightly colicy symptoms but nothing typical, so when the vet came out Friday night, she said she didnt think it was impaction, but maybe just the fever that had caused her to be all lethargic and not wanting to eat/drink, and then since she wasnt eating and drinking, there obviously wasnt any poops or pees. She got better, from the fever, and is all about food again, but remained 'tucked-up' in her belly, which resulted in my calling my poor over-dialed vet again. This time, she came out again and saw what I was talking about more, the "shes just off" and not wanting to move, and lethargy more than just listless due to not eating.

Our kind of go-to at the moment is Anemia. [Says the vet: ] It would explain her low energy, unwillingness to move, and lack of tolerence for exercise. While checking her for lameness yesterday, when the vet was back again, she trotted a few circles [barely, she did NOT want to go, and in an 'I cant" way, not an "I wont"] and then later cantered maybe one, just to be sure she wasnt off, and she was breathing heavily and even a little damp from exertion! For a horse that was competition fit in July, that should have been nothing! Poor Mo!

So, until further notice, Mo is on iron and general supplements via a liquid called Red Power, which I guess is to super power up her red blood cells so they can do their thing with oxygen and whatnot. We have drawn blood, one sample to test her iron, I suppose and the other to see WHY. If her liver is unhappy, or kidneys or something else internal, or if its just her body not absorbing enough of what it needs from the pasture. Hoepfully I will hear those results tomorrow, so I can sleep a little easier, and know that my very special Mo will be ok. Right now I just feel like she has the plague, and Im just scared all the time. At least she seems happy, if not quite right. Shes perky, bright, nickering to me all the time and generally trying to eat everything, as per usual. So that makes me feel a bit better. I just wish she would stop making all those wierd grunty 'Im in pain somehow" noises and be able to just TELL me whats wrong.... Wheres Dr Dolittle when I need him??

Such is my journey with Mo right now, just a whole lot of GET BETTER PLEASE vibes going around. I sure hope she gets better soon :( In the mean time, I think she is enjoying the lawn-mowing priviledge.

On a much happier note, Gambler is a freakin rock star. We are FINALLY starting to connect on the same wavelength. It was like before, I could get to DO stuff. But it wasnt really his plan, and he kind of exploded most times. The last time we played, he didnt explode once, AND we cantered online in a big space without him leaving :D He is so smart. His figure eight in the round pen is amazing, he is offering me the whole pattern at a canter with a flying change, and lightness on the turns and just incredible engagement mentally. He also looks amazing when he does this...

Our riding is coming along finally too. In the beginning, I was being so careful with him, and treating him all right brain, but the other day I ponied Zephyr off of him just for something different, and a buddy for my want-to-be-trail-ride, that I had a PURPOSE [duh....] which kind of got me to get him to be where he needed to be for Zephyr, no matter what. We had some little conversations a few times, because he wanted to GO HERE, but Zephyr needed him to BE THERE, and we managed. That simple. He didnt blow up, he didnt freak out, nothing. Just kind of went " Oh, well, since you have an idea, I guess I will listen..." I facepalmed after this. Have a plan, work the plan. Follow through. He is left brain. Play to the left brain. DOI!

Our next ride was great. The ride with Zephyr, we almost died via KILLER GATE [not really, but Gambler thought the gate swinging toward him might eat him] so we played with being able and confident to move the round pen gate, which is much stickier and requires me to actually physically push it rather than just swinging away when unlatched. That went much better. We got some isolation in the front and hind end, and more move-off-of-not-into-pressure-please-and-thanks! It felt great. We also went in the round pen and played the GAZILLION and then some transitions game. walk-stop-walk-trot-slowtrot-fasttrot-stop-walk-backup and so on. Super fast, super precise, evil thought stealing transitions. And he was RIGHT ON!

It was so cool, as we were trotting, the first time I thought "and now, we shall SUPER TROT" and he just powered off into a super speedy trot, and then I thought "Feel the inner turtle" and we slowed down to the slowest moseyest trot any western horse would be jealous of. He was just so in tune! I thought canter once or twice, but when his back came up, I wasnt sure if it was power or buck, so I just left that one for now. Ill try it when Im not home alone! Safety first and whatnot.

That ride we just stayed inside of fencelines, played with gates that werent alive, and it was GREAT! The next ride we had a similarly super great warm up, that included SUPER play outside the round pen and over some log jumps. Then we went on our first SOLO trail ride, playing point to point with grassy spots and apple trees. Man oh man was that Gamblers most favoritest game EVER! You would think he was starving to death or something.... I say this while you try and find his ribs beneath that solid fat covering... He is misled on his fed-status! Thirty acres of food and youre hungry, my foot!

So that was just super super super! We even navigated the gate horseback, out and back in, NO PROBLEMO! Smart pony! And since that ride he has been stalking me like "When do we go out again??" and its adorable. He is such a goober.

NOTE TO MOM: Picture day? Soon please? Roni, and Indy and Phyr Phyr at least.... likely not Mo since she is not up to more than an 'every girl needs a fan' kind of picture. 

So Gambler is a pro at life now. Its awesome. He is just a dream cloud to ride. I thought Indy was nice. Really, I did. And now, when I get on her after Gambler, its a bit of a letdown.... sorry spotty pony.

 :)
S

Zephyr in a Year

About a year ago now, Zephyr came into my life. A little chubby dun ball of furry love. She was cuddley, she was friendly, she was PUSHY! Right from the get go, my first iniative was PERSONAL SPACE!!!!!!!! With all those exclamation points, because Miss Zephyr had no concept of getting out of the way and possibly not running me over. It was possibly one of the hardest things Ive ever done. It is still a work in progress! Her friendly game is just SO solid, that establishing a driving game or response to a porcupine game or even a yo-yo was just beyond her thoughts. She just thought it was all another way to be loved on! It was really quite funny. Unsafe. But funny.

Ever so very slowly, I somehow managed to convince her that it was way easier to get out of the way instead of coming on top of me. As we built our partnership, her seeming introversion adn lazyness started to reveal a way more fun loving playful trouble maker! Now that I had started asking her questions, she started giving me answers! Some of them werent quite what *I* thought they should be, but she usually made [and still makes] me laugh anyways. I think one of my favorites is our circling game.

If you have heard me tell the story of going to see Zephyr the first time, you know that I saw her get 'lunged'... and by that I mean, I watched her lunge her human. It was really funny, and well thought out on her part. The poor human would walk to her zone five and snap the whip to get her to go,a nd beacause of her super friendly game, Zephyr would kind of just mosey off a little, on an angle, forcing the human to walk out on a bigger circle that she herself was walking. Realistically, the person got more exercise than the pony...

The very first time I asked Zephyr to circle, she gave me this great blank look. Like she was calculating how many steps she could make me take. For the record, I took none. I would send her, she would take half a step, then turn and face. Lather, rinse, repeat. A lot. And then some. And then, the light bulb went off and she went the whole way around until I asked her to stop. She had a lot of thinking to do after that!

That is pretty much how most things have gone with Zephyr. She used to try just not doing things, now she just tries doing one hundred different things, and then she promptly does what I originally asked. Usually with some bucking, head tossing and/or squealing.

Our circling game today is great. Any gait, lots of maintain gait, complete with the occaisional buck and squeal for good measure. Her yo-yo game is rock solid. Porcupine game actually EXISTS! Which was huge when it first happened. Same thing with driving game. Sideways was really hard for her to sort out, coordination wise, but now shes a pro, with or without a fence, away and towards.

Basically all that to say FOUNDATION FIRST! I am so so so proud of Zephyr and how much she can do, but most of all I am SO FREAKING EXCITED about how its transfering into her colt start. When I got Zephyr, she was so mellow. Kudos to whoever brought her into this world, and the people who had her until she was one. They gave her such a great start to life, she has no fear of people [didnt have much respect either, but thats better now] and no fear of much else. Pretty much since I got her, I have been able to throw arms around her while she grazed or ate her grain. I could sit with her or on her while she was laying down, and she was peachy with that. Confidence was given to her at an early age for sure! And then never taken away :D

Through this spring and summer I  really put an emphasis on taking Zephyr out. Me and Mo would pony her everywhere, through water, in open fields, on closed trails, short grass, long grass, you name it, we went through it! Also, adding in the friendly game of doing it while wearing a bareback pad, and sometimes a bridle. Layering in the friendly things, to the exciting things like going out on adventures!

Eventually I couldnt resist and I had to sit on her! The first time was just up and over, a total non event. The few times after that [separate occasions] Is at on her for longer and longer times, just hanging out and loving on her, often times filling her face with cookies in return for lateral flexion. Then came the big day... ask for some steps. You can see how exciting that was below. Zephyr is a rock star. And if you didnt think so yet, let me tell you about today, and you will have to change your thinking!

Today, I took Zephyr and Gambler on a baby trail ride. Baby, because it was Gamblers first time outside the feild under saddle. I took him for a walk the other day on the ground, but it was mostly a grazing adventure, and ponied him off of Indy once. He wasnt worried. He wanted to graze, but he did have a little squeeze feel about opening the gate while I was on him. Zephyr was pro through all of his kerfuffle, and just did what she needed to do. We went on our ride, my little baby Phyr-Phyr giving the big guy confidence to be out on 'his own'... ironic much? Only a little.

We came back from our ride, Zephyr was still happy and ready to go. I let her go when we got back in the field and thanked her for her superstarness, and figured that was it with her for the day. Turns out I was wrong. I finished up with Gambler, untacked him, grazed with him, gave him some tasty grain and turned him loose too.

I wanted to go get Chance, to bring her to the barn for some grain without the rest of the herd noticing, but she was way at the bottom of the little field. Really not that far away, in the scheme of thirty acres, but far enough. Zephyr on the other hand, was about ten feet away, looking at me excitedly, and also conviently two feet away from a log-to-be-used-as-a-mounting-block. Hmm.

We walked once. I wondered if perhaps maybe, just maybe, Zephyr might possibly take me from point A [front of feild] to point B [ back of feild] just because I asked her nicely. I held out the halter to her, inviting her to come, but only if she really wanted, and of course she promptly comes and sticks her head in the hole I created for her - its very rare to walk out with a halter and not accidentally catch a Zephyr no matter who you aim for.

I tied my 12' into reins and took her to the log. She sidled right up so I could be int he right spot and up I got. Just like that. No fuss, no muss. Just poof. Mounted. On my superstar pony. WHOO! I checked my lateral flexion, or rather, Zephyr checked both sides for cookies, and then I asked a leading rein start and HOLY CRAP WE WALKED. JUST LIKE THAT.

It was a thought, inside my head, and then we did it. Um. Holy cow. I even had steering. Hows that for amazing? Zephyr, the super kid, with a super start foundation, can do anything. On the second try apparently. WOW. This was no little eight step walk like the first time. This was a commited, forward, with steering and brakes, walk over to Chance. I have used Mo as transpo countless times.... I am still in shock that I just did that same thing that I often do without a thought with Mo, with ZEPHYR!!!!

Once we got to Chance, we stopped, energy down and bend, hop off and HUGS AND SCRATCHES!!! BEST PONY EVER!!! In my head the whole time, I was just thinking how unbelievable the whole thing was... and how important a solid foundation is, how much impact everything we have done over the last year has had on her.

I almost wish I could remember better how things went with Mo. I know I was just sort of a beginner in Parelli at the time, but I dont remember the exact details of what I did. I will have to dig out old blogs.

Anyways. Thats my exciting super pony news :D Zephyr rocks my world!!!

:D
S