Road to a Finesse Audition

Well, I finally did it. Me and Mo finally got ballsy enough to try filming out Finesse Audition. And we had fun doing it! We did it in one shot, we smiled, I laughed, and Mo jumped imaginary things, just for fun.

If you want to watch it - the link is here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUVdXpo25Z8&feature=youtu.be

Mo was wonderful. A little slow, but it was actually the first hot day in weeks, so I dont really blame her! From 15 degrees to 27, with her partially grown winter coat! POOR MO! Other than slow, she was perfect. PERFECT!

Attitude is the number one thing I can cite as why it went well. Taping previous auditions, I really had the attitude of "OMG GOTTA DO THIS OR ELSE" - because of the deadline and what not. Yesterday, I literally woke up and thought "Hey, today would be a great day to film my audition for Finesse I think". I still had to go to work and do all that business, so it even had to wait until I got home. And I still had a great thought about it. I was actually really excited to film! That never happened before!

So I came home from work and Mo was in the shed, hiding from the bugs and sunshine. She and Zephyr got their tiny portion of supplements, and then I spent a whole bunch of time making Mo pretty! I brushed her until she shined, put a gallon of show sheen in her mane and tail, and even braided her mane a little bit :) She looked so pretty!! No that she doesnt always look, pretty, but she sure looked extra pretty :)

After saddling, we slowly made our way out to the shifty dressage arena I made. D was coming in from cutting wood by now, right on time to video Mo in all her glory :)

We warmed up online as usual. I went really slow, waiting for her to put some try in. Mo went really slow at first and then came out squealing and goofy, trotting and cantering.  When I mounted we just played around freestyle first. She was even slow freestyle, so at least I know it wasnt about the bridle! For reference, it was hot enough for ME, the eternally cold one, to be wearing a tank top! Poor Mo in her half winter fluffies, she was a little toasty. She got a ton of apples for her effort though!

After testing out our follow the rail and a few flying changes [HA! Who knew I would ever say THAT semi-casually!] I checked my pre-laid pattern in my head and told D when to start filming.

Turns out my pre-planned route would only take three minutes. Oopsy! So we had to improvise a little at the end, but I had semi-accounted for that, and had a sort of idea what else I would like to do, at least :)

It all went great. Mo jumped the log twice on our left to right changes, because she is a goober like that. Then one time, when we stopped, when I tried to go again she was all "WAIT!!!! MY NOSE IS ITCHY!" and it was really funny because she is so dramatic. I just laughed and let her scratch her nose, and then we went on.

Overall, I think it went very well. I dont know if it will pass or not, but hopefully :) At least I had fun doing it. Getting to this point has been a hard road. To be able to just let go and have fun and let the Audition Gods play as they see fit was a very hard thing for my perfectionist personality!

Black string, here I come!!

:)
S

Dressage Practice

This past weekend me and Mo headed out the the local Hunter Pace, and we had an amazing time. It was by far the best most connect event of this sort I have had with Mo. She was far more connected to my body language than she has been in the past, and even with the record amount of mud, we had a super day.

Yesterday I decided to enter a small fun show at the barn where I have taken lessons in the past year and a half, on and off. It is a dressage/jumper show, so we have to ride a dressage test and then jump a stadium course. Sounds easy peasy huh? Well, I hope it will be. I am quite excited about taking Mo, since it is such an affordable event and a fun way to get out and practice what we have been playing with.

Obviously I cant compete in a halter, so that means I have to re-introduce the bridle again, which is what we did last night. It was a very very interesting session.

My afternoon started when I got home from teaching, and jumped on Google to tell me how to make a dressage ring, and which test I would need to ride. I found both, and headed out with my trusty sharpie and started to lay out my hastily planned dressage test practice zone! It actually turned out quite well, and I am fairly proud of it. I used jump standards as my corner points, with jump poles to mark the arena lines vaguely, and small white barrels with the letters markered onto them as my letters for the pattern. Then I mowed the  whole area with the lawn mower [dont tell D... he hates when I do that! ]

The best part of the whole endeavor, was that Mo hung out with me for basically the whole time! Except the mowing part, which I understand ! But while I was moving poles and standards and barrels, she was with me, checking things out, probably snickering to herself as Zephyr chased around the new cows.  I thought that was rather nice. Mo being with me, not Zephyr chasing cows [though that really is just funny]

Once it was all set up, I fetched myself a Mo, which was really easy because she was right at the barn. She haltered herself in a lovely fashion and I set about making her purtyfull :) I wasnt sure if we would have to go fully decked out in show gear this weekend, so I tested out if my white sheet will work over my Smart Pad, and it turned out ok. Saddling was good, so then it was time for the bridle. Despite our bridle hiatus, Mo was eager to take up the bit again [yey!] and so we were ready to go.

I had her on a 12' line, with reins in hand, and my dressage whip instead of a carrot stick. It is easier for me to listen to her and not 'make' her at phase one with the littler stick I think. We turned to go and got about five steps before Mo said "hang on a second" and paused. I waited a bit, she licked and we went on, but it was really one step at a time. I was really trying to mirror her, and not just step off without her. We made it just past the red gate before she got stuck again. This time I accidentally kept walking a bit, because I was distracted by squirrels.

Now Squirrels. This might not be a big deal to the rest of the world, but it is a fairly significant thing in my life. For the last 14 1/2 years of my life, there have been NO squirrels anywhere near any house I have lived in. Why, you ask? Well because of Sable and Ajax. Between the two of them, the doggies kept small game to a minimum because they are apparently very tasty. So, the fact that I uncovered a nest of at least two baby [well, youngish] and one grown up squirrels..... well thats a sad fact because it means my amazing fluffy dog is getting older and doesnt want to chase them any more :( I think Varo is to too engrossed with chasing Orange Cat to take up the reins eating squirrels, so who knows? Maybe I will be over run with the little critters soon! Maybe then Jax will notice, and resume his squirrel hunting prowess.....

So, squirrels. I was so astounded to see them, that when Mo stopped, I kept walking until the end of the line and then noticed she had stopped. Oops. So I waited. I watched squirrels and waited until it was her idea to come up to me. And WOW. When she came up to me, all on her own, she power walked! And was SUPER enthused to keep going out to the field! Thanks, Squirrels. My mistake turned out pretty alright after all!

Out in the field I took Mo over to check out our new play pen. We checked things out and played a little with circles, stick to me and sideways. It was just amazing. I allowed her to offer what she thought was right with the energy I directed to her, and released when she matched my picture. She did TONS of thinking! Her sideways was some of the best its ever been, cantering from a standstill with loads of happy exuberance! I released way more often and was rewarded with way more try. How interesting! Im not sure I can even clearly express the easy happy back-and-forth that went on in that session. It was just so light hearted and fun! I ended up playing online for much longer than I had planned to :)

When I finally did get on and ride, I started with my reins on the halter. We played with some connection there and tried out our test for Sunday. It went really really well. We were both just so focused and in tune, it felt easy! Then I switched to the reins and tried out a soft touch, and it was still wonderful, then a little more of a soft feel to her mouth,  and it was still there! She got a little bit iffy with more feel, really wanting to hide in a stretch, but I tried really hard to keep it light and fun and giver her a release often. I must have done something right, because by the time we were done, she had NO frothy green [from cookies] stuff at all! I am pretty sure that is a first EVER! SUCCESS!!!

After playing around with our test a few times, we tried some different things too. Sideways, haunches in, shoulders in, just different shaping the body things. I tried a few changes, but I didnt set her up right, so we just got the front end - ALTHOUGH! A few times when we missed the hind, she did get extra elevated behind and fix it herself. THAT was cool, and also a first :)

I am really really enjoying the feel of playing with this new filter I have given myself. It is making a world of difference to Mo and even to Zephyr. I think too, it is giving me permission more to be where I am, instead of wondering why I havent gotten to X point yet. I feel like I am putting way more layers on what Ive got, rather than needing to DO new tasks..... if that makes sense?

Hopefully today I will be able to sort out some kind of a video.... if Zephyr will leave an unattended  camera on a barrel alone! Darn curious children ;)

:)
S

Interesting Things Pt 2

As promised, here is Mo's story over the last few days.

I would have written it sooner, but I really needed some time to digest and think/feel on it, before sharing it. Hopefully, I can do the story justice, because it has been very powerful to me at this point in time.

Mo and I have come a long way together. Loooonnngggggggg....gggggggg. When I got her, she was just two weeks old, and I was 16. I knew nothing about Parelli [or very very little] and I was about to embark on a gigantic learning curve.

Most of my first Parelli greenhorn mistakes were made with Dakota, but I have had to do my fair share of apologizing to my sacrificial lamb of learning, Mo, as well. As we rise up the levels together, I see more and more how much she has filled in for me and I appreciate her ever-more. Lately, with my focus being on passing my L4 Finesse, I have been trying to shift my thoughts towards really having her WANT to be doing this with me - WANT to be there, holding my hand, not *just doing it* because I said so. She is very obedient by this point. Mo, for sure, has a billion opinions, and frequently voices them, but she is also very obedient, in that if I say "Hey, lets focus for a bit and play later", she generally replies in the affirmative and ceases whatever goofballness she was pursuing.

This week has been a realy eye opener for me, in seeing what Mo REALLY wants, and listening to her. I recently was FINALLY, after literal YEARS of wanting one, able to wrangle myself up my very own Photonic Red Light [and if I was tech savvy, I would know how to make their name a fancy link-y thing, but instead, you will just have to google them] A friend of mine has been really starting to look into the therapy and practicing on Mo a few times, as well as getting her treated by Brian [company founder] twice in London - really opened my eyes to the positive effects this kind of therapy can really have. Mo would be a different horse each time after treatments. Much more free moving forwards, and happier to go sideways and that kind of thing. Listening to her, it really showed me that she enjoyed that. So now, with my own, I have really tried hard to listen to her in respect to WHERE she would like me to place the light. The last two times I used it on her, she was quite obviously trying to put it in certain places for longer, or making sure I hit a particular spot I might have otherwise glossed over.

So step one in listening to Mo came from treating her with the Red Light. Step two really came the other day after the Zen Ride. So Tuesday I guess, if that was Monday? I went out, really trying to chanel my energy into re-creating that amazing ride. we warmed up in a very similar way, and then headed over to use a tree as a mounting block. Thats when things got educational!

Quite often when I snap my reins on and head to the mounting block, I will ask my horse to follow me at Liberty, hop up on my perch and then they sidle over to pick me up, of their own volution. Things were going as they usually do, reins snapped on, we were walking over to the tree, I stepped up onto the tree, Mo sidled up about halfway.... and then went "Actually, not ready for that yet" And walked away! She just turned hard right, and walked just to the outside of the gate for the bottom field, and stood there.

Well dang. I could totally feel in the moment that it wasnt an attitude thing. It wasnt a play - I dont want to - thing. It was a total I cant. I KNEw I could go get her, bring her back and get her to stand, just by picking up the rein - not even holding her there, but just by having contact with her - but I truly want it to be her idea to hang out with me, and do the things *I* love to do, because she loves them too. This might be a stretch, but it is my focus right now.

So I waited. She wasnt going any further. She was maybe 60-70 feet away from me. She was standing with her tail towards me, head low, really introverted and processing. Hmmm.... So I waited some more, and she finally did turn to face me. But she placed herself in a such a way that there was a t-post directly in front of her, between her and I. Like she was trying [unseccessfully] to hide behind the t-post. Her focus was still kind of soft and dreamy and introverted, but she was trying to connect. It was like she was kind of daring me "what are you going to do? Will you come get me and MAKE me? " So I waited some more. I really wanted to see if she would eventually just come back to me on the mounting block.

I feel like she would have. At one point though, she put her head down to rub and her reins fell up her neck into a dangerous position, so I had to go save her. I didnt just march up to her though. I still felt out her bubble, I got her to turn towards me, I just fixed her reins and stepped back. She was willing to turn towards me [I like to think that she knew why I was coming in] but not to move her feet with me. So I backed off some more and waited some more. She was doing a TON of processing on this.

So was I. Lets be honest. This was HARD for me. It was SO hard, just to NOT get emotional [upset, frustrated, confused] when she walked away in the first place, and just go "how Interesting" and try to see what would happen. If I wasnt trying so hard to listen to her, to see if she is feeling ok, if there is anything ouchy, or if she is feeling like a partner today, I could have easily just caught the rein and mounted anyways and avoided this whole kerfuffle. Instead I let me horse dictate the timeline, and tell me where she needed me to be - which was not on her back yet.

So we played with waiting game, a little approach and retreat, a little bit of friendly game when something made a big banging noise in the sad barn and spooked Mo. Interestingly, she wanted to go over and check it out, instead of leave. She went about half way over, then decided it was kosher and came back to her original spot.  She looked fascinated that I wasnt just coming to get her. I was just as fascinated with her thought process and feeling for her emotions.

Finally I felt her really connect to me. She felt like she really wanted to draw into me, but she kept looking concerned at the electric fence that makes that gate. I know she is nervous about that kind of thing, so I backed off, to allow her lots of space to make it through without feeling like she would get trapped in the squeeze with the shock-y stuff. Just like that, she walked all the way up to me and blew out with a big lick and chew and started yawning.

Well holy cow. We just stood and I rubbed on her a whole bunch for a while. I snuggled her while she sorted out her thoughts. Then we went TOGETHER, to the mounting tree, she came to me perfectly, and I mounted and off we went. Our ride was really basic - we just went out in the hayfield on apple tree point to point. Mostly inconsequential after that ground session.

All told, that liberty plot line ran about 35 minutes from the time she walked away to the time I stepped back in the saddle. Thats a lot of waiting! I kind of wish she hadnt gotten tangled with her reins, and I could have stayed on my block to see what would happen, but I think what happened anyways was a fairly clear vision of her emotions.

So that brings us to yesterdays Liberty session.The day I rode Zephyr, Mo was all over me, but I didnt have time to play with both, so I just hugged her, gave her some cookies and promised I would see her later. The next day I went out with the intention to play with Mo, but after a quick friendly game she squealed and left! Oky doky then....! I caught Zephyrs attention and we played [see previous post] and the whole time Mo was watching us. grazing, yes, but sneakily keeping an eye on what we were doing and ever so softly coming in closer.

I didnt even notice when suddenly she was behind me as I was asking Zephyr to do something, until I accidently bumped her nose with my elbow! Poor Mo! She stayed though, just long enough to get a cookie, before spinning and trotting about 20 feet away. Goof. She did that twice more, staying closer each time until she was basically my shadow while I did stuff with Zephyr. I didnt ask anything of her though. When I finished with Zephyr, Mo walked with me back out of the gate and then trotted off to the barn when I asked her to turn, and she looked funny at the trot. ONLY because she looked funny at the trot, I caught up with her at the barn and tossed my string around her neck to bring her to the round pen. She didnt protest or try to escape or anything - but it wasnt her idea totally, or she would have stayed with me in the first place. If I hadnt thought she looked off, I would have left her to keep figuring out her own thoughts.

In the round pen I had her trot for me so I could see. She looked fine in there, so I have no clue what she looked funny about before. BUT !! Once in the round pen, she have me amazing close circles AND change of direction softly. We did that for maybe five minutes [just enough for me to check out her gait, go WOW and remember to get out before it gets bad] and then she stuck with me on her own plan as I walked back to pick up something and back to the barn. Even when I did transitions, she was right there. How interesting!

Which brings us to today! I was very curious to see what yesterday's liberty escapades would brew for me this morning. Apparently really good stuff! I fed the girls their breakfasts, and then haltered Mo. She was ALL about getting her face in the halter!  I brushed her and saddled her and off we went. Our little ground warm up consisted of playing with drawing the forehand to me. Mo was a little confused [rightly so] but got it really quickly. From there I went over to the mounting tree, and just thought "today, I would like to try mounting from the right" Guess which side Mo presented for me? I DIDNT EVEN HAVE TO ASK! She just read my mind! I was flabberghasted!

The amount of times I get on from the left, or just clamber up onto something and hope Mo comes over, I get the left side automatically. Today, by some magic, I got her right side. Wow. It was so easy! Here I was, thinking that we would be playing with our sideways towards on the right today. Boy was I wrong! It was just all right there! How cool is that? I went to mount, and the saddle slipped, but Mo didnt even move. She let me fix her up and try again, successfully this time - but the pad had tried to escape when I fixed the saddle and I didnt notice, so I had to get off anyways to fix it. This time, remounting, I thought, "Well, I will just get on the left this time" and POOF, again, like magic, over came the left side. Scary, no? My pony the psychic.

I mounted once again, and off we went. Something still felt different though. I couldnt put my finger on it. She was calm, connected and responsive as we walked out, but her body just felt different. The saddle was right, though, so I attributed it to the fact that I was wearing rubber boots and jeans, and just got new stirrup leathers. Off we went. Practiced our HQ yields from the walk and used them to direct our path instead of direct rein. Out into the bottom field where they are turned out right now, we started trotting. At first she was a little tight and looky [it was cold and windy] but then she relaxed and started stretching on her own. I was riding her in just a halter and finesse reins.

I eventually asked for her to come up to me, to collect her body and give softly to the halter and she did, soooo easily! This was only the second or third time I have really asked her this question in this way, so I was pretty surprised with how easily she answered positively.

And then we cantered. And I thought she was going to buck. But she didnt.

I was so confused that I bent her to a stop. Her canter hadnt felt like her normal canter. It felt much more UP, and suspendy. I didnt know what it was. So I thought she was going to buck! My general response to a bucking horse is bend to a stop, so thats what I did! Mo looked confused though, so we went again, and again she like this great suspendy upitty dolphin! Instead of beding her, I just checked in with her, asked for a touch of flexion [got it on phase one] and kept going.

And then I figured it out!

Mo was USING HER BACK! She was ENGAGING! She was LIFTING from her abs through her back! She was CARRYING herself! When I checked in with her, she was in beautiful vertical flexion! She was still soft, and responsive and super connected. As soon as I thought walk, it was there. I didnt know what she was doing, because I have NEVER felt her do it before!!!

NOW I know what people mean when they talk about suspension in the canter, and the 'up jump'! Riding Mo this morning was like riding a collected dolphin! It was amazing! I didnt push her much more than to confirm that she wasnt bucking, because I didnt want to ruin it. Even as I was rewarding it, I was wondering if I just rewarded her for bucking, until I figured out what she actually did!

My theory in-progress is that with all the nice red light treatments Mo has been getting, combined with the new supplement she is on that makes her muscles feel good, plus me finally getting smart and really being aware of her wants and desires has caused Mo to feel good, and really reach for the next level when I ask for it, even if I dont really know what I am asking for, preciseley! Really, exactly what she offered me today, is what I have been asking for when I ask for her to use her body playing with finnesse, and when I ask for suspension in her canter to make those flying changes. It really is the very COOLEST thing that she just decided to try it out this morning and see how it went!

Thats where we are at for now. Pretty cool stuff happening this week. I will have to post again later on MY take aways from it all!

:)
S

Interesting Things....

Over the last few days I have had some really interesting experiences. Both with Zephyr and Mo. I feel like I have really grown in my understanding of both of them, just in the last few days. I want to try and write about them to digest and fully understand them - but it may not be completely coherent yet, so bear with me. [Also, my fingers are cold, so my typing may not be the best...!]

I will start with Zephyr, since her story is a single event at this time.[ I lied, I just remembered part 2, but its still shorter than Mo's, so Ill keep on it]  On Wednesday I went out to play and Mo didnt really feel like engaging, so I picked the ever present Phyr Child, because she ALWAYS wants to play. I love that about her, and I hope I never do anything to dissuade her from that opinion. We started out Online. It was VERY warm. 35-40 degrees Celcius in the humidity. For contrast, Mother Nature has shunned us now, and it is a balmy [reads: frigid] 10 degrees currently. From Heat warning to winter jackets in three days. Welcome to The Great White North!

Whether it was because of the heat, or just because its Zephyr and she is a goober, she didnt really want to go anywhere. Her expressino was really awful relating to anything like a send. Ok. So we played with yo-yo instead. Really tiny, miniscule yo-yo, unless she got crooked [her habit] and then I got much bigger. Her interest COMPLETELY perked up when I started being thoughtful in that direction! I was so surprised that she didnt take offence to me picking a direction for her feet! Every time she got straight on to me, I would release, and she would have a BIG lick and chew, and blink, with sometimes a yawn. This was HUGE stuff to her! I couldnt believe it. This is not to say that we didnt have a functional yo-yo game before this, it just wasnt functional at this level!

When that was feeling pretty good, I decided to visit sticky game numero deux - her sideways. For whatever reason, when I got Zephyr, sideways was THE hardest thing for her. She just could not sort out how her feet were supposed to move in tandem, sideways away from me! Poor kid. She is hugely improved now, but it still isnt cantering sideways or anything like that. So I isolated just turning her front end over, from a straight on position [conviently provided by my now-fixed yo-yo game!] On just phase 1 from about 17-20 feet away, I was able to direct her nose to turn so she would face side-on to me. COOL! From there I could raise my energy and ask her to take a step or two before she would think forward. Luckily, with my yo-yo being so recently empowered, when she leaked forward, I just changed my energy focus and used a phase on yo-yo to back her up! How cool is that? It was all so slow and subtle, but it felt so light and airy and interesting! Zephyr was having brain explosion after brain explosion! Licking a ton, blinking hugely and yawning over and over! I thought she was going to lay down at one point.

I thought about asking for a circle after, but her expression just so snarly I just changed my mind - because things had been going SO well, and I really wanted to put some thought into helping that before I ruined our great session. We played with back and sideways a bunch before heading back up to the barn to tack up. I figured a nice walking ride would be good for us both. I was able to keep her happy and motivated on a figure eight after saddling. Before mounting I put a savvy string around her neck and picked up a carrot stick. Never to soon to reach towards bridleless riding, right?

Mounting was great, as were Zephyrs lateral flexion checks - which means her looking for cookies! Ha! We walked forward a bit and I played with some lateral flexion with the stick for the second time ever. She is a little iffy about that - she wants to go forward through the pressure, but thats ok, she figured it out and we will continue to play with that. The coolest thing was the first time I asked her to back up with the neck string. I just asked for a backup in my body, and supported it with *maybe* a phase two on the string, and POOf there was my super nice backup! Thank you, understanding of porcupine game, you make my life so much easier!

We played with those things as we moseyed around. Really isolating those core basics of lateral flexion, stopping with out reins, backing without reins or with the neck string, HQ/FQ yields and forwards transitions from a stop. Zephyr really impressed me that day. She is SO light. Mostly because I have been SUPER vigilant on myself to not dull her - but it still surprises me when she responds just like Mo in some things. The bonus of having gone the long twisty way in developing Mo [still on that path!] means I can find the straighter path with Zephyr, which means I can set her up right, right from the start, to the best of how I know, right now.

After our mosey and checking things out, we headed up to the gate to ride out to the apple trees. This was only the second time I have ever tried to open a gate with Zephyr, and it went pretty well. Opening was good, closing got messy and I had to bail and just toss it closed because Mo was trying to escape. Coming back though, it was better and we did it two more times to get it really good, and she was perfect! Our ride out was nice and easy. We just walked around the edge of the hay field, kind of point to point to the apple trees.

That was that session, and then yesterday I played at liberty for a little bit with her, because Mo was playing another game with me. It was actually really really interesting to watch Mo get closer and closer and closer to us, as I played with Zephyr, and finally start playing with us too - all her idea! Since Zephyr was all about playing - I decided to ask her to squeeze over the little log. This is something she does all the time Online and on her own, so I figured it would be an easy start. Except it wasnt!

When I would send her, she would try to go around the log. Hmmm. Disengaging brought her right back, but she wasnt understanding the the job was to go OVER the log. Finally, I got brighter and tried to draw her to me over the log, instead of sending her. This still took a long time, and a lot of rewarding the slightest try, but she finally sorted it out and came over the log to me! Lots of cookies and rubs, licks and yawns later, we tried it again. Similar length of time, but mission still accomplished. Same after effects as well. We continued that pattern a few more times, until she really got it and I sent her over once and called it the end!

The best part was, she was engaged and trying and happy for the whole mini session! Very cool stuff, and she learned, without really feeling like she had been taught - I hope :)


Soooo... not quite as short of a story as I had thought, but there you have it. Zephyr in a few sessions. The big teller was this morning when I went to feed them, Zephyr didnt even try to crowd or come up and push in for her food. Hmmmmm!!!! Such a quick study, my Phyr. Everything I do right means so much to her. And everything I do wrong.... means ten times more!

Ill finish this post up and post it on its own so that there is a sort of organization here.... Mo's story to come !

;)
S

Zen Mo

I am not sure what my soul would do with horses. Or my idle hands and mind, really, if I didnt have horses to occupy myself. But my soul most of all, would suffer, I think.

I cam home from work today kind of stressed. Not about anything horse related, or really anything in my control right now. Just not knowing the details and ramifications it will have on my life has got me a little on edge today. Knowing this, I wasnt sure exactly what would happen when I went out to see the ponies.

Sometimes things go really really well and I get fixed, and sometimes I am stupid and things are a catastrophe. Today, things followed the first pattern, and went really REALLY well.

Mo is my soulmate. In every sense of the word. She is always there for me, always ready to keep me company through the lonelies, or push me that little bit extra to make sure I *really* learn that lesson I needed. Today, she was, once again, everything I needed.

When I got home both ponies and cows were up at the barn. I think they were trying to figure out what the big tarped lump was - the round bales we baled and piled there last night. When I went over, they both came over, as is typical [dinner time!]. I started brushing Mo, just at Liberty, to get a feel for her today. Sometimes, if I am not *there* she says she isnt ready to talk to me until I get my ducks in a row. Today, she was more than content to stand around while I doted on her, and kept a certain pesky Zephyr out of her tail.

I got her all shined up. I love doing that. There is something soothing about putting effort into making her look so pretty. Sometimes I see riders with half-turned out horses and I wonder if they love them as much as I love Mo. Making sure every hair is perfect and brushed and shiny is something that I love to spend time doing. Letting her know how loved she is and pretty she is just makes my heart happy. I think she enjoys it too - who doesnt love a good massage and visit to the hair salon?

After she was all shined up and looking wonderful, I brought out the saddle pad. Mo licked it thoroughly, but when I went to throw it up on her back she kind of went |"yeah, but". Hmmm, how interesting. It made it up to her back, but she had turned as if to leave after it landed. She didnt leave all the way, but it was definitely enough that I noticed. I stepped back and tossed some energy towards her hind quarters and waited..... and waited ... and waited.... then all of a sudden, she yielded herself back into proper position and started yawning and licking! Whoa!

Im not really sure what that was all about, but it sure was interesting to watch! I went up and rubbed her, rearranged my shims and watched her continue to process that whole event. How interesting. That really set the tone for the whole session. I went slowly and gave her lots of 'good girl' and rubs, and she was super engaged and full of try. This horse is SO my mirror, its beyond my belief. The days where I have high energy and am ready to go-go-go, so is Mo. The days where I need to take some time, process, and meander, Mo gives me the green lights to do just that. Man, I love this horse.

When I brought the saddle out, there was no sign of the squigglyness, or any kind of hesitation about being saddled. She actually yawned again when I set the saddle on her. Well dang, I wonder if there have been some tiny thresholds that I have missed or something? Mo is so tolerant....  Finally got the girth and fly spray and then the halter [ yea, a little backwards, but it worked out, right? and I learned stuff!] Mo was ALL OVER the halter - which was SO interesting! The last time I went to halter Mo, I offered it to her and she kind of half heartedly tried, but allowed Zephyr to push her away and then she left. This time, she was the bulldozer, getting that nose INTO the halter NOW! How cool is that?

Sometimes I drive Zephyr away when I want Mo, since she is so pushy and always wanting to play, but sometimes I just wait and see what Mo will do - if she will really make the choice to come play, or if Zephyr can talk her out of it - whats more fun? Me, or doing nothing in the field? It is an interesting conundrum.

So there we were, haltered, with finesse reins on the halter. I am experimenting with a new thing for us - Finesse in a halter. I am not to sure where we are headed with it yet, I just know its something I want to try. Both me and Mo get emotional sometimes with a bridle - I get so worried about being in the wrong place/feel for her, and it causes her to get emotional about the bit and contact. So with the halter, we can play with lightness, shaping her body and steady feel without leaning - because I know I can be hyper vigilant about having her not lean on the halter, where with the bit, I am not really sure what is her taking contact and what is her leaning and asking me to carry her gigantic head.

We wandered our way out to the back field, playing with matching my walking intention and scooping her up if she didnt quite follow. It was a really nifty experience though, because I didnt have a stick - I tossed my dressage whip during picture day and hadnt picked it up yet. Since that was the stick I wanted to ride with, I figured I would just go get it. Of course, on the way to go get it, I get distracted and play with my super-pony. Point of my stick-less side track, was that I was scooping her up with just my focus. I would just look over my shoulder with the intention of her needing to catch up, and she would - either a faster walk or a trot, as needed.

That went on for a little while, I played with bigger and smaller circles, asking for more bounce in the stride a few times - one time got me this really cool tiny tiny super uphill canter for four strides. That was cool! And then I fetched my stick from its forlornly tossed spot and went ahead and mounted up. We played a whole bunch with friendly game while moving with the stick, because Mo has been getting a bit worried about me carrying a stick down like a whip. She keeps thinging she needs to yield from it - which results in some fantastic sideways stuff, but not ideal when I would just like calm confident forwards :)

I cant remember the last time Mo blew out so much on one ride. On one *focused* ride, I should say. She blew out a TON at the last OVH Trail Ride, which was A++ for her!  Today though, was a whole 'nother plane! She started out a little unsure - with the stick and what not - we were heading to the bottom field to ride there for the first time too. I played lots of friendly with the stick all over the place and really rode forwards with my energy and thought about my body posture -engaging and core strength -  and she started to relax. We just walked all over to start, testing out brakes and turning via HQ yields. That is getting really nice! When I first picked up the reins on the halter, Mo wasnt really sure what to do. We had played with it one time before, just at the halt and a bit at the walk, just asking for flexion and relaxation. I just played with the feel until it was right for her and she softened, then released and rubbed her. She licked a TON!

We continued this pattern until it made sense to her [ she licked a million times!] and then I tried it at a trot. She was really experimenting in her body, playing with different neck positions, different flexions, raising and lowering her withers at different times. It was really cool to see and feel that. It was really rewarding to know she felt the freedom to try all those things too - because with the bridle, I think we both still feel blocked. Gotta work on the one. My sort-of-plot right now is to make a go of Finesse in a halter, then transfer everything back to the bridle.

Everything was going so well at the trot, I decided to play with the concept that Farrah Green gave us during our lesson - canter/walk transitions through sideways. I can honestly say, I have never ridden such light, uphill, beautiful canter transitions as the ones Mo gave me today. Holy. Cow. She was just effort less. I could FEEL the up-jump in the transition from walk to sit to canter off. It was AMAZING! Coming down to a walk was a whole other story, but the walk to canter was just JAW DROPPING. Literally, out in the field, by myself, I asked Mo to canter the first time and out loud I said WOW. Lots of rubs for Mo!!!

Up into canter is easier for Mo to balance, we have yet to master the canter to walk part. We played with it a bunch to. It is getting better! The last part we did was a big figure eight, with walk transitions in the middle was waaaaay better than the first super sloppy one, so that was great! It is hard for me to figure out the right energy to keep a forward-to-walk transition. We can get an "our life dies and we dribble into a walk" transition no problem - this Finesse stuff though, its supposed to be pretty! Mo was just so positive and soft and full of try the whole time though! Not emotional at all - which often she will get when I try to get particular about downwards transitions.

We finished off with a check in the trot, just to make sure that I wasnt building any assumptions that picking up the reins meant canter. Nope, check. I picked up the reins, we walked, I picked up my energy, we trotted, she relaxed, she offered flexion, she offered stretch, she blew out again, we played with trotting serpentine's using HQ turns, more blow outs, game over! BEAUTIFUL!

I am not sure I can even express the joyous serenity I felt coming out of that ride. It wasnt the exuberant over-joyed excitement that sometimes happens when things go well. It was just this quietly overflowing joy in my heart - exactly what I needed today.

I know horses are sensitive to people and their emotions to an extent. It is days like today that blow me away with exactly how attuned our partners can be to our emotional needs - as much as we try to be to theirs. Today, my soul NEEDED that quiet, calm, joyful, light and airy ride . Maybe tomorrow I will need a good gallop through the field. Who knows? What I do know, is that Mo will be there to support me though, and that means the whole world to me.

I've said it before, and I will say it again [and again...!] MY GOODNESS I LOVE MY HORSE!

 :D
S

Labor Day Weekend

This past Labor Day weekend was particularly great. Why? Well! Read on my friend, and you shall see!

Saturday started out a little sad, saying farewell to Stumpy, a very cool horse who was here for training, and now has gone home. He made me absolutely proud with his new found trailer loading confidence though, and I have since seen and heard from his owner that he has loaded a bunch of times, perfectly for her! YEY!

The day progressed from there to Stella coming over to drop off my shiny new Red Light from Photonic Health! It has been literally YEARS that I have wanted to get one of these. I finally managed to squirrel away enough money this summer to be able to order. And so, dream achieved, light arrived, and Stella was able to give me a super tutorial along with a great treatment for Mo!

Sunday morning was spent teaching a few lessons, and then loading up to head to Jeanette's place in Luskville with the girls - Zephyr's first field trip!! She is so great, she loaded like a pro, her and Mo both ready to go. When we arrived though, Zephyr was pretty sweaty. She wasnt worried or emotional, she was eating hay in the trailer happily, and was in no rush to get out. I think the very bumpy road on the last leg of the drive concerned her a bit. We were able to skip that on the way home, and she unloaded dry on Monday night!

After getting the girls settled in their pen for the time being, Jeanette and I got the farm ready for what was our first time co-teaching! When that was all settled we both go ponies and had a great time. Mo was FEELING GOOD!!!!!! Whether a by-product of her new supplements, her red light session or a long trailer ride [or all of the above!] she was ON! Holy cow!

We walked into the arena and before I even asked her anything, she was dancing, squealing and trying to run around. Oh boy! So off we went, we played with the energy! Backing up at the speed of light - practically trotting, cantering sideways all collected like it was the easiest thing, and flying changes of direction over a pole. Chock full of vocals with squeals and grunts all over the place. What a goofball.

Once she was connected, I saddled and we had a great ride. She felt really nice in a soft feel rein, and we had lots of go. We played with nice HQ yields, sideways, and about a billion flying changes! She got quite a few clean ones over a pole - when she wasnt trying to jump the pole LOL! Silly horsey. We also played with the 7 strides exercise from our lesson with Grits, and Mo nailed it!

Mo enjoyed a really nice roll in the fantastic sand/pea stone mix footing after our ride. It must feel like a nice back massage:) I did the post performance points on her with the red light after we rode, just to see if/how it would affect her.

It was dark/dinner time by the time I finished with Mo, so Phyr didnt get to play on Sunday. I dont think she minded to much, there was grass that needed eating!

Monday dawned bright and sunny, and we were up early to get everything harrowed and set up before the students showed up! We had six amazing students for an online and freestyle session. Everyone was so great! I was on foot for the Online portion, but come Freestyle time, Mo was my chosen mode of transportation. Zephyr wasnt terribly thrilled, but neither did she panic. She made amis with other ponies.

Mo was pro in helping me demonstrate the topics we had chosen to share that day. She even helped another horse with his back up by driving him! At the end of our ride, there was a thunder storm rolling in, so I just pulled off the bareback pad and let her roll again. As she paused before getting up, I climbed aboard just for fun! It is such a neat feeling, to be on her as she stands up from laying down. All the muscles that are needed and such. Plus the trust! Love it :)

I put Mo back in her pen, but Jeanette was still playing with Toby, so I decided Phyr needed an outing before we went home, and what better time than with thunder rolling, and a storm coming...! We made our way back to the arena, and Toby was at liberty, so I suggested allowing them to play together. They ran and goofed of so much, it wore out Zephyr! She stopped cantering and galloping everywhere and started trotting ! Not in such great shape afterall, are ya kid? There were a couple of times where she had SUPER draw to me, and came in at a power trot, but then would leave again to gallivant with Toby. Which was absolutely fine! For her first shot at any kind of liberty outside of home, with another horse around, AND in a giant arena, I think we did great! At the end, when she really connected with me it was solid :) She got two feet on the pedestal and we played some tag/stick to me at the trot. Such a super star kid :)

The storm was really coming by then, with some big lightnings starting, so I put Phyr away and we took cover in the house to wait out the storm. There was one GIANT crack that we think hit in the field next to the arena about half way through - we could smell the burnt smell, thats how close it was! 

Finally the storm passed and it was time to load up and head home. Both girls loaded up like the road warriors they are/will become and we headed out. I was able to take a different way home, and avoid the crazy bumps. Zephyr unloaded calm and dry when we got home :) Mo is of course, used to the whole rigamoroll and was fine going both ways.

GREAT weekend, really proud of both ponies. :D I played a little bit more with the red light today with Mo, she really seems to appreciate it. At the end when I was trying to stretch out her front leg, she went all the way down in to a cat stretch, stretching both shoulders and her belly almost to the floor! I guess it felt good :) When I did Zephyr, she stretched out both hind legs, one at a time, after I finished.  Im still learning, but with responses like that, I think I can feel confident that I am on the right track.

:)
S