Warmward Bound.. AGAIN!

OH BOY!!

Almost a year exactly since the last time I left for Parelli... a new adventure begins!

So there I am, innocently sitting at the kitchen table, eating my current favorite Mac and Cheese [home made] when my phone rings... with an Ocala area code. Why, who could that be? A few random stores seem to call me with specials, could it be one of them? I answer it, skeptically. IT WAS B! Calling in official Parelli capacity to invite me to come down to the 2* Instructor course that was [apparently] included in my Extern Program! *squeeeee*

This, coming hot on the heels of a few terribly depressingly cold days, coupled with little horsey time for me has just perked me RIGHT up! Christmas time really tends to wear me down, and its been to cold to do more than wave at the ponies as I drive by, so I have been a little drawn lately. This is EXACTLY what I need. I leave on Tuesday, and dont come back until next Thursday. How much better could it be, other than being able to stay down there of course.... but I am just grateful I can go at all! Its a good thing that I have reliable family to watch over mes animaux! All of them...

I love travelling!

:-)
S

Good Quote

I was just watching one of those ever present forward emails that produce a nice slide show with little notes on the pictures and found one that really resonates with me.

Dont Audit Life.

I love it. It shall be my new motto I think. My old one is pretty good too - Without dreams there is no future - but I really like this one. To me it just says dont sit back and watch other people do what you want to be doing-  go do it! Grab life and hang on for the ride! 

I audited life for a very long time. Too long actually, but I could never find the courage to take part in a larger role than auditor. Being able to step up and take part has changed things significantly for me. The old me never would have gone to Florida... TWICE! Let alone with ponies in tow!

I am very proud to say that I no longer just audit life, but take part whole heartedly!

:-)
S

What Can You Do At A Walk?

Being trapped at the walk sounds boring doesnt it? It is. Honestly. Usually. We have a few horses at work right now who are currently experiencing this unique brand of boredom. I feel bad for them, but do to injury/layups, they arent allowed to go play and kick up their heels as I am sure they would like to.

My current favorite is Sassy. She is on layup from a bowed tendon with an 11% tear... which doesnt mean a whole lot to me, but I know it isnt good, she may never race. Anyways! She is on stall rest.. and has been for the last.... long while. She gets bored, and has to be walked twice daily on conrete. That was all well and good when we had no snow, you could take her out around the property and go places and she was pretty happy. With our recent DUMP of snow that plan isnt viable, because having the extra cushion is exactly what she DOESNT need. The less stress on the tendon, the better - obviously !

As such, we are relagated to wandering up and down the barn aisle, luckily it is pretty long and if you do it right you can make a loop. Still, this was boring and Sassy was getting pushier and pushier and more and more rude. I have a big pet peeve about leading around pushing bullies, especially in a confined aislway, knowing we have to continue this for weeks, so I finally savvy'ed up and had a BFO. Did anyone say I couldnt play with her at a walk? NOPE!

And so we began!! We cant do much obviously, so I just make little games... can you walk this slow, can you walk this fast, can you STOP [OH BOY this one was hard for her to get!] can you BACK up [ EVEN HARDER! TB's dont have reverse....] and suddenly I had a curious inquisite, THINKING horsey on my hands. Most of all, a respectful one! I could take the chain away - without fear of death - and we could actually play. It was really fun teaching her to back up, I used my yo-yo game a little, and then because I was beside her and P4 yo-yo is the equivialnt to shanking [basically] in the normal world, which Sassy is immune to, I instead took the end of the lead and helicoptered it in front of zone one, backing it up slowly until she ran into it. She learned pretty quick to back up when P1 came around!

So now walking with Sassy is fun. We check things out, we sneak around slowly [she does a good impression of tip toeing] or we speed walk, do transitions, little baby stick to me things. For me, my big thing is I feel SAFE. Not like flying a crazy psycho kite anymore. It is one thing to handle that to and from a paddock, but to walk for 15 minutes twice a day in a confinced space, no thanks! Funny how little it took to change that... ONE WALK!  I got to start the same thing with B-sharp today. Good times!

Sometimes the answer is just so obvious, I just need to open my eyes and SEE it. Doi.

:-)
S 

BIG NEWS!!!

Sorry for the lack of updates lately, I really havent done ANYTHING because of the weather - rain, rain and more rain. That, coupled with several work roadtrips, means very little more than "Hi ponies" *brush brush brush* and leaving again.

IN OTHER NEWS!

From a WONDERFUL Savvy Club member one of my long standing dreams has finally come true!  I FINALLY OWN A FLUIDITY SADDLE!!! EEEEEEEEEEEEE

And of course, today is the first blizzard of the year so the odds of said saddle seeing a horse before spring... slim! Oh well! Until then, I get to polish it and drool near it and enjoy the smell of leather!

:-)
S

Why?

I would like to know why playin with leads and lead changes WORKS when I ride bareback.. with nothing between me and pony but a savvy string and carrot stick, but not when I have a saddle and bridle or hackamore. More experimenting to be had, but I am thinking that is not a good sign for my saddle? I dont really know. Orr maybe I am just on a massive learning cuve and it will transfer to when I can ride in a saddle again? Who knows!

Obviously Mo and I played again today. We were playing with freestyle because I want to be able to do a re-shoot for my L3 Audition and lead changes were the only thing I wasnt super pleased with in the last attempt. So we have been playing with that. Oh and jumping to. Mo doesnt like jumping, and doesnt do it well, so that makes me minorly hesitant to jump her over things like barrels because she spazzes and I get a little concerned about flying solo... Luckily, Mo seems to have figured herself out finally, and today we jumped the barrels from a walk and trot bareback :-) WHOO! [irony being I have no problem galloping Indy over jumps bareback or otherwise]

It was really interesting playing with leads with Mo. I was able to tell pretty easily when she was on the correct lead because the size of her circles would decrease dramatically [because she was on the right bend!] so that was pretty fun - ALSO! Every time she got the correct lead her head went down, she started blowing, she was just relaxing and balanced and flowy and wonderful!

So we were able to do some loverly flowy simple changes plus one accidental flying change for kicks because I forgot to wait for her to trot... how interesting! GO MO!

On an odd note, it was so surreal to be able to sort of finesse stuff and work on things that werent perfect while at the same time riding bareback and bridless... really really really cool!!

:-)
S

Dun Da Da DUNNNNN SUPERRRR MO!!!!!

Today was a great day.
A] It was sunny
B] It was warm
C] I got to play with Mo!

Not all day like I would have wanted, but after work, which is better than not at all!! Any is always better than none at all :-)

Lately C and I have been riding together in an attempt to get the ever pudgy pony back into some form of rideable shape. Candy is just ridiculousy overweight right now, to the point that two laps of the ring at a trot put her into a full sweat!  This summer wasnt exactly a riding summer for C & C so their ponies are all out of shape, Candy especially because she is always really prone to ... chunkiness... on a regular basis.

Today when I got there I found out I only had a half hour with C before they were leaving so with a mild timeline, we went out to fetch our ponies - all of who were refusing to come over to the barn, even with much pleading and grain shaking. Oh well. C had to go change for boots, but I started hiking out to get Mo, so that hopefully I could jump on and then go round up ze pony.

Luckily as I started walking Mo did to - she really has a fairness complex! We met at the fallen tree and I jumped on [with help from the tree... not literal jumping] and off we went to round up Candy, who had made it all the way to the back fenceline! Mo and I trotted and cantered our way back there and poor Candy saw us coming! We kind of played cow with her all summer so when she saw us heading her direction she opted to head for C who was calling her name  and offering cookies as a reward.  Candy happily trotted over and was summarily caught.

On our mosey back to the barn C and I talked and she opted to go bareback today, since we had a time limit, and tacking up takes to long. I thought that was really cool ! I took Mo out to the ring while Candy got bridled and played a little at liberty. Wasnt really that long before Candy came out and we both mounted up.

We played with the weave pattern I had set up, walking through it, doing transitions, and doing little bits of trot and helping C stay balanced. It really wasnt long though until she had to go :-( So I lost my riding buddy to there perils of Pork Tenderloin Dinner a La Grammie and Grampie. Cant really compete with that I guess!

Just because she left though didnt mean I was done! I kind of lost my train of thought for a while, and just moseyed around at a walk, but it didnt take long before I was back at the weave pattern trotting it and trying to refine our communication and then finally cantering little parts of it and then cantering the whoel length of it only slowing down on the one end because it was slippery mud.

I had to jump off to lengthen one section a bit though, but that was ok, Mo liked that. The last section was a little smaller than the rest and instead of arguing with Mo when she missed it, I just made it match the others. Easy peasy right? Silly logic.

Once that was done Mo had no problem cantering the whole line. We still had to stop at the end, because now the last one was really in the slippery part, but it was cool. Mo wasnt doing flying changes or anything, but she was cantering really nicely, smoothly and calmly!

Finally we got to the point where we could canter the whole thing, including the one dry turn, and slow down only at the wet end. That was really good for Mo because every time we turn Mo like to slow down. After a couple of really valient tries by Mo, and one slip that turned semi flying change [ and there was much rejoicing] I jumped off again to re-arrange my pattern. I moved it across the ring to the scary side and set it up there instead. Now I had dry turns at both ends!!

 We practiced at the trot again, and Mo was really good, not really thinking about the [non-existent] scary things.  When she started doing the whole pattern with her nose on the ground all flowy and calm I asked her for the canter again. She picked up a lovely slow almost collected canter and wove through the barrels like a pro, went around the turn like a superstar and came back up the line. On the last turn around guess what Mo did?? I asked her to turn around the last barrel and POOF  FLYING CHANGE!!! *squeee!!* Now THAT was a cool feeling! I let her go on a few strides before stopping her and giving her a cookie and letting her think. AND BOY DID SHE THINK! For something like six minutes, she just licked and chewed and yawned and blew out! WHOA!

When she finally came back to earth, we trotted the pattern again and cantered some more, and this time I actually thought about what leads I was getting. It is weird, but I am getting to where I can hear which lead she is on - her feet are oh so ..tiny.. so its easy that way once I figured out what to listen for! I found out we were pretty much always on the left lead. Thats pretty normal for Mo-sy, so I thought about really trying for the right lead instead. I picked up a cirle around the last barrel going to the right and did canter trot transitions until she picked up the right lead then we stopped and she got a cookie. It took a few transitions for her to try the other lead, but she got it and cantered a whole circle without changing back - thats one of her favorites, pick it up and then slip back. Silly girl. We did that a couple times before she got it really feelng good and I jumped off to hug her. She did amazing!

Funny thing I have been wondering for the last week - I hurt my knee somehow [and am relegated to bareback riding as such] and I am finding that I compensate more with my left leg when I am doing things day to day, that I wonder if it will help me get my body aligned for a right lead. Usually it is the oposite, I am compensating for my left foot [born with a clubbed foot, fixed now but still compensate somewhat for no reason] so I naturally get set up for a left lead. I am hoping that this 'injury' of sorts will help me be more balanced. At least thats what I am telling myself to make the best out of a ridiculous knee ouch that I just wish was GONE! 

But anyways, Mo was a superstar and when we went out the gate she was a true lady and waited for me to ask her to go graze please. I got all my grooming things and went out to shiny up my awesome pony. She was perfect about that to. Everytime I asked to see her nose to bush her hair or face she came right up and waited for me to say she could graze again. I love that about Mo!

Mostly, I love everything about Mo :-) She is my superstar! She is filling out all nicely to, getting her topline back [lost on holiday the last month of my externship] and looking super black with her [uhg] winter fluff coming in!

I just hope I can get my L3 auditions filmed before it snows or drowns me in rain... *coughiknowyoureadthismomwhereisyourcrazycamerathingercough*
I did film some earlier this summer, but I feel like we have come so far since then that I want to re-try, just to see what happens :-)

OH! The second best thing that happend today was done by Indy :-) She was standing at the fence watching us play so I rode over and gave her a cookie and went on with Mo. About five minutes later when we were on the other end of the ring she nickered at me, it was so cute! She keeps standing at the fence when me and Mo play, but Mo is always the first to come up, so Indy has to be quicker! She gets jealous, but only to late! HA! Silly pony :-)

:-)
S

Jockey In Training?

The other day I finally got this wonderful oppurtunity to gallop one of the horses at work. Boy was it FUN! And boy was I unimpressed when my body flipped me off and said "You arent fit enough to do this!". On galloping days [not to be confused with fast work days] they trot two laps and turn around and gallop two more. Well, after one lap my body summarily gave out and I had to stop. Well, my legs did anyways. I was so dissapointed in myself for that! Pretty much anything that I am physically incapable of doing with ponies frustrates me. Things that I know are relationship based etc, like awesome liberty, I know I just need to keep playing with, but when my body says no, then I look to what I can do to fix that.

I am not incredibly unfit or anything, I work on a horse farm every day all day and ride fairly regularly, so by default I am semi fit, Just not in top shape like I need to be for this particular endeavour. SO! My plan, is to practice and practice and practice standing and trotting or cantering or galloping - whatever my ponies choose to give me - on MY ponies around the pasture. I figure I pretty much have all winter to get this solid before spring, when race training really picks up again and the chance to be employed as a ride might come up again. The minor fault in this line of thinking, is that it is kind of hard to ride with short short stirrups in my regular saddle. Do-able, just not ideal. Oh well. I am doing it anyways!

Today was my first chance to practice, since Tuesday was the day I rode, and then I had things to do each night after that until today. It was really nice to be able to see both girls on my birthday! I played with Indy on the 22'for a bit, just checking out her mood and seeing what she was interested in doing today. She was pretty go-y but paying attention really nicely. She even stopped midway over the barrels the first time I asked - that was a treat!

She was great when I saddled her up, and stood nicely while I fussed with getting my stirrups to go short enough - accomplished with one wrap and the highest hole! When I finally climbed aboard - with help from the water trough, it was really .... odd.... feeling to have such short stirrups in a regualr saddle! A racing saddle has a long seat and not much else to it, so when your knees are up, you dont really notice that it is an otherwise awkward position in another saddle. Oh well, I am determined to practice this so off we went.

I am not really sure what Indy thought of it. Her ears were semi back at first, but when we got trotting she was pretty content. She trots with her head up, so that helped because I could stand and grab mane if I had to, to keep balance. Her follow the rail was pretty good, and she was still listening to my leg even though it was unusally high for her! So that was great :-)

My dearling extrovert soon caught on that I was experimenting with myself and just giving her a job to keep up and kept her job up admirably. She followed the rail, she trotted, or broke to a canter/gallop on occaision, but it wasnt so much about gait, so I wasnt overly worried. She stopped when I asked her to so I could take breaks and just let my feet down! We continued this pattern for a while I had enough for the day and then I put my stirrups down and we played cutting geese for a bit. I tried to convince Trixie to play, but she said no. Crystal was right out dead asleep with her nose resting on the ground so she didnt want to play either. That was ok though, we just walked around and then went back into the barn to unsaddle. Afterwards Indy got to hang out in the backyard and have grass.

While Indy got her fill of the last grasses of the year [tear!] I got Mo out of her stall [she insisted she come in to when I brought Indy in] and played around a little bit and went outside, although only on our 12'line. I really dont know what my intention was. I think it was to play liberty but then there were ponies in the ring and I *just in case* I didnt want her playing escapee and harassing anyone.  So instead, we had this really cool, pseudo liberty, ultra intense session on our 12'line! It was super neat!

We played with all of the same things that I have been doing at liberty, and just shining them up a little more. Getting out canter stick to me even closer, our trot/walk/halt/backing together even better, and going over jumps instead of *around* them - Mo's specialty! I even finally got her to understand the jump halfway over and stop idea that Indy picked up a while ago. Jumping really isnt Mo's thing, so anything to do with it and she kind of says "thanks, but no thanks"and moves on. She was really intrigued today though and that was just fabulous!

Mo was just ON today. She was a bit spooksy because it was windy and she is goofy that way, but she was really paying attention and really amping up her try and energy. She even trotted backwards once when I asked for more energy in a yo-yo! We also got trot and canter draw, and happy 12'canter circles! Mo was collecting ALL BY HERSELF! It was SO pretty! Just GOR-GY-OUS!  Loves my ponies! 

We only really played online, in that really ultra intense way. I didnt ride Mo today. Tomorrow probably though, since this semi-ever-present rain is supposed to be gone for a few days! It was really really cool to be able to turn up the intesity and be ever so subtle and get such dramatic things done! WAY TO GO MO!

I really do need to film my L3 stuff.... silly procrastinator!

:-)
S