What a Great Day!!

Today was a lot of fun!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

:-)
S

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

She CANTERED To Me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was finally a sunny day today. I woke up this morning and was perplexed by the shiny yellow orb in the sky, as I have not seen it in so long! Heartened by the sunshinyness of the day, I bundled up in a zillion layers - it was chilly and windy - and headed out to visit my ponies!

Once again they were all in the way far corner, but today they were sun bathing and dozing so I wasnt to offended when no one came over. Technically I didnt even call them, since I didnt want to distrub anyones precious naptime. I wandered over, got about three quarters of the way there before Mo saw me. When she did she started walking over, which was really nice. Tripp and Trixie also came with her, which was cute to, she has a posse.

When she came over we snuggled a little bit, I grifted her body heat and she frisked me for cookies. It was a great trade off. After the usual look over, trying to peer through her mud caked fur, I halter m'dear and plunked my self in zone three and off we went to the barn me-and-my-shadow style. It was good fun.

In the barn I spiffed her up, back to her regular shiny self, braided her forelock so she could SEE [I am sure she can, but I wonder sometimes] and off we went out to play. I just kept my 12' on, because I wanted to play some more at Liberty, to see if we can amp it up even more. I also grabbed the bridle, as I planned to ride bareback after, due to some girth rubs on poor Mo.

Our ring is ... well, about half of it is a lake. So that limited our play area, but we still had a ball. Mo was in great form, squeeing and pretending to take off but only galavanting a step before checking in and seeing what the next game was. It was adorable. We even did a little cutting game and Mo was right into it, throwing her front end up and over, jumping around and having a ball.

At one point she even offered me several half circles really close to me, which was amazingly fabulous! Her sideways away was SUPER soft and collected, it was gorgeous. AND HER DRAW!! OMG WOW! The whole title of this blog entry is based on her INCREDIBLE draw today! Everytime she came back to me it was at a trot. One time she was coming I asked for a little extra oomph and there it was... CANTER DRAW!!! HOLY COW!! I about had an aneurysm I was so excited and proud of Mo. [insert lots of cookies here]

She was just so ON today. It was ridiculous! Anything I asked her, there it was. Back by the tail? No problem. Circles, done. Sideways, total pro. CANTER DRAW - ACCOMPLISHED!!! That has always been one of the things I see other people doing and wish I could have that kind of draw... liberty has always been my weakest Savvy I think, and now things are just coming together!!

At one point Mo got a little to "I like my idea better" so I just went back online, did a little more online and swithced back to liberty and everything was fabulous again! YEY MO!!!!

We rode a little bit, a little finesse practice. Transitions, lightness and sideways. It went great. Very proud of Mo. I wasnt being very good at being creative though and Mo was getting bored, and so was I so I jumped off again and we played some more at liberty... which was crazy fun! At one point I sent Mo on a circle around me and she went on a BIG circle of the whole arena and stopped at the gate. I kind of thought I had lost her, but she looked at me when I called her name and then SHE CANTERED TO ME ALL THE WAY ACROSS THE RING!!! *squees*

Needless to say, on that fabulous note, I stopped and let her graze for a good long while in the back yard. WHAT A STAR!!! And she loved every second of it!

I cant believe how fast and how well our liberty is coming. I cant remember why I put off playing with it now!
Mo rocks my socks.

:-)
S

FINALLY!

SHEESH! Well finally after nigh on a week without so much as SEEING my ponies I made the rain stop for ten seconds so I could get the gumption to go out in the cold and actually lay eyes on my lovlies. It has been raining basically non stop since Sunday, and since I am a wuss about cold, I wasnt to sorely tempted to go play in the rain and the cold. Until today.

You see, I have been suffering from withdrawl, and today I finally broke and decided I would go see Mo and Indy no matter if it was a freaking Ice Storm the second! I went straight from work becuase I knew if I so much as sat down in my warm cozy house I would never leave. Plus, once you already have a zillion layers on, taking them off and re-donning them is really a pain in the bum.

I wouldnt say my horsey withrawl has been completely sated, but enough that I was able to come home tonight! It is so not the same seeing other peoples horses [namely the ones at work] compared to my own. I loves mine the best... obviously. And they are MINE. ALL MINE MUAHAHHAHHA. Erm. Ignore that. My brain still tends towards that of ten year old me who owned no ponies and wanted one desperately. NOW I HAVE TWO! BWAHAHAH.... *cough*

SO ANYWAYS!

I went out today. It was raining. It stopped for two minutes for me to call and badger and knock gae chains enough to get the horses attention and have them come over from waaaaaayyyy in the very farthest corner from the barn. YEY. Saves me a gazillion steps! It was so cute because Mo didnt really realize it was me calling them all in [usually its Aunty] and so she was just poking along, "Yep, Im coming" and when I noticed that I called her name and her head just went ZING up and her ears perked forwards and she just power trotted all the way over to me, through the other horses [big deal for her] and just gave me the best OH BOY YOU ARE HERE LETS PLAY look. Priceless! Love Mo!

I opened the gate right quick because Indy was hot on her trail and the two together make lots of nice kicking fights... better to get Mo out of the way! With Mo in the barn safely, the drizzle re-started and I went on with loving on my Mo. Who I adore. Did I mention that? We played with some bowing things, I am trying to get her to understand it without me leading her nose down and it is *almost* at the point where I can just point at either front leg and she at least thinks down and back, which is cool. She usually half does it and goes "See?? I did it! Cookies?" Which I can assure you is super adorable.

I started grooming her, since all those zillions of hairs take uber upkeep or turn into dreads, and her *sniffle* winter coat is coming in and shedding out her summer one.. *cries*  At one point one of the lights flickered and snapped and scared poor Mo who turned tail for the gate, but I turned of the line of lights it was in and she came back and relaxed right away.

I saddled her up with out new shim set up - I havent ridden her since I put the biggest gullet in the saddle. We played some more little fun things in the barn and then headed out the back. This is my new brilliant plan you see. Stealing from the racetrack training! When I have ridden we do jog laps. 2 in each direction. Well, I figure that the pasture is roughly the same circumfrence as the track [verrry roughly] so me and Mo, and eventually Indy to, can do trotting laps. This A] works on maintain gait, B] Follow the rail pattern and C] WORKS OFF FLUBBER from both of us! HAHA My ponies both had ... good summers. Neither are hurting for food going into winter. So with my new plan, we headed out and right at the beginning of my track there is a gate that goes out onto the laneway. Well darn if Mo doesnt just go crazy and freak out! One rein stop time!

I waited and waited with her until she actually checked in and licked my boot - thats pretty key with Mo, wait until she comes back to being curious and playful, not just stopped. Otherwise she just spins off again... We played some squeeze game with the spooksyness and moved on to our laps. Interestingly, keeping her trotting was not an issue. At all. Way to go responsibility number two! WHOO! She just trotted and trotted like a little energizer bunny. She sped up and slowed down a lot at first, and I also had to put her back on the rail a whole bunch, but by the second lap she was really getting the picture.

We changed direction after two laps and went two in the other direction, a lot less corrections! Still some, but she was really figuring out the pattern, which is what I wanted to see. It was also a lot easier to put her back on the rail, much more soft and supple instead of bracy and confused. After two trotting laps in the second way [this makes four total] I asked for a canter and we did 3/4 of a lap cantering. This was a little trickier, but not by much. We had pretty much established the Follow the Rail concept, so it was just gait I was being picky with now. Maintain the canter is usually a little less reliable with Mo because she likes stopping AND she is a trotting breed mix. So even though she has a loverly canter, its not so much her thing. She is comfy in the trot and can trot up a storm! You should see her play out in the feild! WHOA! GO PONY! Her "I think I am a hackney" days are a hoot!

Point being, the maintain gait responsibilty became a little fuzzy a few times. I think it was about four.. ish. I didnt count exactly. I should, I will next time. She always picked it right back up though AND the last time she dropped to a trot for two strides and checked herself back into a canter which was fabulous!

On the last line back to the barn we dropped to a walk, kept following the rail and walked right past the scary place with barely a glance. JOY!

Back into the barn, I untacked Mo and under her saddle was hardly even damp. HA. Have to wonder how much of the sweat off the thoroughbreds is from effort and how much is from being held back and them pulling so strongly.... I did my ride completely freestyle in the hackamore...  how interesting.

Anywyas, Mo and I played some more in the barn, I stretched her out on both sides bowing and then said goodnight and thank you. Indy was actually at the back gate too when I turned Mo out, which was nice.  I hope I can be brave enough tomorrow to go out in the yuck again, I want to experiment more with my plan!

:-)
S

Mo Makes Me Smile

Plain and simple, there it is. Mo just makes me smile. She makes me so happy pretty much all the time. Just watching her graze, munching away happily rarely fails to produce a smile tugging at the corners of my mouth. Today was no different. In fact, today was rather exactly what I needed.

I wasnt having the greatest morning, for other reasons [although I DID find out I could get my most favorite riding boots re-sewn for incredibly cheap!] and I just wanted to have some nice horsey time. Mo time actually. I love Indy just as much but today I wanted to have Mo. Dont ask, it just happens. Luckily for me, when I pulled up to the barn Mo was in the shed AND [adorably] watching my truck very intently, as if she was waiting for me. It could have been curiosity about the rather loud music emanating from said truck, but I like to think she knows its my vehicle.

I went into the barn, got my halter, filled up my pocket with a couple cookies and then crawled through the fence to go see my horsey. And then I promptly, irritatingly, burst into tears. Go figure. Good thing Mo is the perfect shoulder to cry on. Once that was out of the way, Mo was looking at me pretty concerned. She hadnt moved and inch while I hugged her, and I love that about her. After apologizing for my outburst I went on with scratching Mo, doing my usual check over for new cuts or bruises, sadly noting the amount of winter fur already growing in, and finally putting the halter on my wonderful ami.

Lately I have been playing with mounting bareback. It is one of those things I see people do and really really want to be able to do. I am not [and have never been] the most nimble athletic person. I am an active person, I am just not one of those people who can do any sport they try the first time out. Sports and I dont like each other very much. Coordination isnt my best friend either, so trying to finagle myself into being able to swing up onto my horse is an interesting experiment. The other day, I positioned Mo on the down slant of the run in shelter and during the process of my various attempts she moved a couple inches around so that her shoulder was near one of the beams holding the roof up. On that particular try I swung up high enough, but needed a little more leverage to get all the way up. Conviently there was a beam to grab! Success achieved! 

Noting my previous methods, I tried that again today and voila, mounting accomplished. I figure once I get the muscle memory I can A] leave out the beam and B] work towards flat ground without a downslant!

For a while I just sat on Mo, just enjoying the feeling of sitting on a horse. It is my favorite thing in the whole entire world. I go into withdrawl if I cant just SIT on a horse on a regular basis. If you see me in the dead of winter, you will see me just sitting on my horse because, lets face it, in four feet of snow and ice, you cant do much more! But I just cant give up riding for the whole winter! So I just modify it :-) Its more sitting than riding when the snow flies, but its enough until spring.

Anyways, after sitting for a while I saw Trixie looking mischevious and harassing Crystal who was just innocently trying to lick the salt lick. Mo and I moseyed over and I started using what I know of moving-cow-psychology on Trixie. AND IT WORKED! I thought that was cool. I was able to move Trixie without moving Crystal. Last summer we had this grand Trixie-Tag game day, and I tried to re-create it, but she just got annoyed and hid in the shed. Oh well! It works better when you have a partner, but C was still at school.

After that I brought Mo into the barn to detangle her many, many hairs. Luckily she hasnt gotten into the burrs or devil things yet. Everyone else seems to have! Once she was all shiny we got our 22' line and went to play in the ring. Last night I was watching this lovely L3 liberty audition, so I was all inspired to practice my liberty. The problem with that is we dont have a roundpen where Mo lives, and also, there are other horses who have access to the ring when we play because it doubles as a paddock. Sometimes Mo likes to ditch me to go play with them, and thats not the best because of fights ensuing and whatnot. So I took a precaution. I had my 22' line on her, but I wrapped it around her neck so it was out of the way, but easily within reach if I needed it. It seemed like a viable plan to me :-)

And so our play began. We started just walking around, checking out our stick to me, and feeling out the mood. Mo was in SUCH a good mood! We did a few transitions, walk to halt to back up, for which I gave Mo cookies when she got it right. That REALLY perked her up. It was an introvert day today. She started to offer me little trots to keep up and even jumped the barrels in a squeeze game without even thinking about leaving! I am so proud of her! We played around with the barrels, went over to the mini barrels I have set up laying down and a wider jump and Mo popped over those to, just like a pro and stopped with me on the other side. I adore that feeling. You know the one where you stop and your horse is just so in sync with you that they stop right with you, right beside you and then turn their head and look at you to ask whats next... that one.. I live for that as much as riding.

After playing with the jumping thing we tried some sideways away and towards and that was pretty solid. Away needs so refinement, she drifts a little in front, but towards was spot on! With things going so well I decided to be brave and try things at higher gaits. Usually this is when Mo says SEE YA and goes to visit the others. NOT TODAY! OH BOY! I cant even express what this means to me. Mo stuck to me and did little circles at the trot, doing rollbacks when I changed direction, allowed me to direct her with the stick WITHOUT taking offense or getting snotty. AND THEN. Let me be 10 for a second.. OMGOMG.... AND THEN WE DID CANTER STICK TO ME ALL OVER!! For the first time in my life and Mo's we did GORGEOUS canter stick to me, with change of direction and transitions and just ... wow... I love Mo.

And then I ran into a barrel. I have to say, I really did laugh at myself. Just so we are clear, I can definately laugh at myself. I was so into watching my gorgeous pony canter around with me I completely forgot to look where I was going and ran smack into one of the metal barrels I had set up as a jump standard. I went barrel surfing for a second before hitting the dirt laughing. It was like slow motion! It was the funniest fall I ever had, for sure. On the up side, Mo didnt even spook, she came right over to ask what I was doing on the ground laughing. HA.

Back to play time! We played and played, even got some spins and some wonderfully soft backing by the tail! Mo never even tried to leave once. That is a new record. Did I mention I love Mo?

After playing with that for a while, I decided to ride again and got on bareback [I cheated and used the water trough as a mounting block though] and went out the gate and onto the trails. We rode the trails a couple o times, splashed in the water and then came back. I let Mo graze in the back yard while I layed in the grass just enjoying looking at her. She is so pretty... but perhaps I am biased..

Such are the events of my day today. Mo the awesome Liberty Star has arrived. And I loves her.

:-)
S

Oops...

Interesting observation today.

I changed the gullet in my saddle - a Wintec Wide - to be the medium sized one. The saddle comes with three, all extra wide, but a small medium and large extra wide, so I guess 1x, 2x and 3x [or some such] Today I put the 2x gullet into the saddle, after having been using the 1x one for the last... ever. The idea was initially for Indy, as her muscle is building up so much that the saddle is really getting to small for her. I thought I would have to shim like crazy to get it to fit Mo now!

Apparently I was wrong!! Mo was the close one after I did the re-adjusting so I brought her into the barn to do a shimming session with the new set up. Upon really looking at her and feeling around the saddle, I think she could actually even maybe use the biggest gullet! YIKES! I will have to check it out with Indy and maybe just go right to that one. For now this one suffices, and with two thick shims and a thin one it seems really good, has great clearance in the scapula and actually put me on my balance point!

ANYWAYS! The point is that when I took her out to move around to see what she thought, I got some fun reactions. Her first thing when I asked her to move out was head up brace for half a second followed by head on the ground blowing and trotting like that. Hmmm. Both directions that happened for, AND she offered me some super soft CANTER circles on the 12' line, which is a first [in a left brain state!] So that was uber cool. We played with that for fie minutes and then I mounted up to test it out with my influence [ostensiably for just a few minutes... ]

HOLY CRAP! Mo was just sooo flowy. This gorgeous slow smooth trot, head on the ground and this AMAZING slow cadenced canter. She was light, she was supple, she was paying attention and she was HAPPY!! She was offering me the canter and we just did all kinds of cantering. I couldnt believe the totall turn around. This complete reversion to MY Mo leads me to believe that it may have been a pinchy saddle contributing to the snarky Mo I have been around for the last little while. Mo never has been one to suck it up and be good anyways, I am just not always so clever at finding out what it is thats bothering her!!

Now I know that at least the saddle was part of it! What I wouldnt give for a Parelli saddle... ! Maybe in a few paycheques... hahaha! It was just so nice to be able to have a nice connected ride with Mo without her being bracy and concerned about everything. I forgot what a treat that is. It will be very interesting to see how m'dear Indy likes it tomorrow!!

I am happy now that Mo is happy. I was getting very concerned! Should have clued in when bareback riding was still going well... DOI. Oh well! Hindsight 20/20 right? At least I figured it out now :-)

:-)
S

Crystal Tries Out Reins!

I played with Crystal today, after playing back hoe driver in the morning and early afternoon. I cut out a little early to get to the farm before a thunderstorm rolled in - luckily I beat it!

We played on the ground with her wearing the bridle, which went well. We worked on cater transitions online because she was swishing her tail undersaddle - interestingly she did it with NOTHING on her back to, so I am wondering if its just an introvert "I dont wanna go" thing. She stopped it after about three transitions. Interesting. I wonder if its related to the bridle?

I re-visited our figure eights, and our circles over two sets of barrel jumps, both are solidly coming along. Crystal's juping for is MUCH improved from the laughable state it was when we started! She is doing so well!

When I saddled her she took a few steps while I was girthing up, so we played with some approach and retreat until she was ok with that again. I think she just wanted to play. She was as playful as I have ever seen her today, offering canter through the figure eight, asking loads of questions about which direction to go and such! Cool stuff!

When I went to ride I put the 12' line as reins AND the finesse reins on the confidence snaffle on the bridle. My logic being that I could direct in a sort of double bridle sense to help transfer follow a feel from the halter to the bit. She did great with it! I am really proud of her! We worked on our cloverleaf pattern in both directions at the trot, and canter transitions -which are getting better and better each time! She even offered it a couple of times when I didnt ask for it! Not sure if thats the greatest yet, but its a nice offer, and it wasnt a bolt, it was an honest offer for what she thought I was asking. I just polietly re-phrased my request and we trotted on.

After the ride we went to play with the trailer. Getting ocnfidence to put her feet on the ramp and then in. Interesting observation - she hasnt been on a trailer since she came to us as a yearling [she is 6 now] BUT she would FOLLOW me into the trailer willingly after her confidence got high with the ramp. She would not be brave enough to go in on her own yet though. I thought that was interesting. "OTs ok if my leader goes in, but if she is outside I should be to" is so far her opinion. We got as far as nose-neck-two front feet on the very edge of the inside confidently beforr I quit for the day. I thought it was a good stop point. She DID put all fours inside, just not on a send, on a yo-yo game instead.

Someone is coming to see Crystal tomorrow, so I hope what we played with today shines through and someone will fall in love with her!!

:-)
S

YEYYY

TODAY CRYSTAL AND I CANTERED FOR THE FIRST TIME!!!!!!

Thats all :-)

S

Great Afternoon

This afternoon I finally dredged up some time for MY ponies! I have not really done anything much since before I left for Michigan, so it was a nice treat to have A) daylight and B) the time!

As I walked out to the barn I saw Mo in the middle of the feild and whistled [and was graced with not even so much as a lifting of the head] but then I saw Indy in the shed with every horse EXCEPT Mo, so that was good. When I went to the back door and whistled she came over and I was able to halter her and bring her into the barn.

I brushed her and made her gorgeous [not hard to do] and then brought out my saddle and shims. The last time I had her saddled she bucked and acted generally uncomfortable, so I thought it was time to re-assess my shim pattern. That, and the fact that she has beefed up CONSIDERABLY since coming home! She has a NECK and a CHEST and her back is spreading with muscle like nobodys business! She is just flowering into this gorgeous phenomenol horse. I cant get enough of her.

Shim pattern re-done, I put my saddle and pad outside and grabbed my 45'. We went into the arena and started to play. Firstly I moved some barrels into a row so that we could have them for a jump. To begin with I ended up testing our yo-yo, because she was slacking a bit while I was moving barrels around so we played with "How little can I do while you back up quickly and straight" - now THAT was fun! She really got into it and tried and really got backing with very little more than an energy burst from me!

From there we went into some circles all the way out on the end of the 45' and I got a really nice surprise! ALLLLL the way out there I took two steps back for a change of direction and POOF there it was! WOWWWWYYY!!! I was so thrilled!!!

On that high note our ground play just progressed and was fantastic. We moved on from circles to do a really fun playful squeeze over the barrels that inolved Indy playing Cow pony when I disengaged her as she would cut down low on the re-send. It was hysterical! She also offered some BEAUTIFUL collection on the circle, bending her body perfectly. I will admit I was asking for sideways at the time, but I will take what I can get!!

We went on to do some falling leaf through the small pasture and generally just played around with some high energy things until I got "the look" and had permission to saddle. Saddling was a snap and we went back out to play some more for girth tightening. My pony is getting chubby... the girth only goes up three holes currently! Used to go five or six... oopsy..!

When she was ready to ride I unsnapped the 45 and coiled it up - during which time Indy didnt move at all, which was a real treat and testament to our friendly game progression - and we walked over at liberty to the fence to get the 12' to make into reins. I also put my savvy string around her neck to see how that would work out. Me being me, I just clambered up onto the ledge of the water trough for a mounting block, and Indy being Indy was a doll and just sidled right over to help me on! What a sweetie! Of all things, helping with mounting is one of my very favorite things!

Once mounted I got myself arranged and then set to the task of getting Candy out of the ring because she likes to be a nuisance. Indy LOVED that task! I focused on the pony and she was right there with me! I hardly had to do anything, she walked when Candy walked, and trotted when Candy trotted. Apparently my cow practice paid off! I wish I had a cow here to play with... must ask neighbours.... [more on cows later..good times!]

After Candy kindly vaccated the area we wlaked around, testing our pseudo-bridless brakes and turning and what not. Everything went very well. As per usual, a little more go than whoa, but getting more centered every time. When we picked up the trot Indy was a little impuslsive and trotting around very fast so that was interesting. I offered her some circles and those seemed to help a little bit. She ran into the stick once from trying to get behind the shed, and I have to say that was kind of funny. I put the stick down in a phase on position, and she just turned her head wrong and went THWACK and consequently spun herself in a circle, stopped, licked and chewed. What a dork. Love her!

So on we went. My self-disiplining pony was slightly more compliant now and amenable to my ideas for direction at the trot. She was still impuslive though, which was kind of fun. She kept offering the canter, which I allowed because the last time we rode in the ring her attitude was very much the " I am to BIG I cant canter in here!" so I was just happy she wanted to canter at all.

We played around in the ring area for a bit but really she was just feeling good so I directed her out to the pasture area and she saw it and went OH BOY and just galloped down the length of it. Good thing I am ok with that... I didnt precisely ASK for it, but neither did I suggest she slowed down, so long as I chose the direction. After joyously cavorting all the way down and allllll the way back she was happier to relax and pay attention. And I think I was better off for a good gallop to - lets face it, I really do have a need for speed! Speedy cars, speedy ponies... either, or, preferably both!

From there we did some sideways stuff - which is getting REALLY soft [so is her general response to my leg which is SO delightful!] and then went out the gate because I heard a something-mechanical start up and was hoping it was a dirt bike or four wheeler I could follow, but it was the motorcycle and it was leaving. Poopy. Oh well, I went on a trail ride anyways.

Funny thing happened on the very first stretch of the trail though! We were cantering happily along and then I look down to check for pot holes and such, and make sure the ground is actually dry enough to support us and I see HERMIONE! [the cat, well A cat] Right underfoot [or about to be] and sleeping. Gack. I sort of probably created a tiny brace in my body, expecting Indy to go AHHH but I was SO PROUD when all she did was a sort of mini jump over the cat, and keep cantering happily. NO SPOOKING!!! Not even when the poor kitty jumped up, freaking out and ran away! YEY INDY!

*so proud*

We cantered most of the trail, trotting where appropriate and snacking along the way [her, not me] When we got to the top of the hill at the end we did some circles around the tree waiting for the motorcycle to leave and playing Follow Fritz [the dog] Of course, being me, I had this grand idea to race the motorcyle down the laneway on the galloping stretch, and that started out well enough.... until the bazzilion cows in the pasture bordering the stretch decided to race ME! AHH! Indy was sooo not impressed with cows racing her and bolted a teensy bit... just a teensy bit though. I bent her to a stop and then all was fine, we played more tackle Fritz and then cantered back down the trail.

We walked and moseyed and stopped with snacking most of the way in order to 'cool out' but as often happens to my attention span, I got distracted when I saw C and C biking off down the laneway. Indy is a bit sketchy on bikes and moving things like that so I thought it would be a perfect chance to build some confidence. They had a pretty food head start on me so we trotted and cantered after them to catch up and then follwed at a walk for the rest of the way up the laneway. It was really good! C and C stopped at the end to pick some flowers, so Indy got to graze beside the pony-eating-cycles and wasnt really bothered by them anymore when they took off again, so JOY! Mission accomplished!

Funny thing about that though, is about a third of the way down the laneway I hear this quiet thunder and then I look over into the pasture... and there is Mo... looking all dejected following us down the road on her side of the fence! She ran up and down the whole way we walked and when the trees were to thick to see us, she would whinny. How adorable! So when we got to the barn, she was waiting all anxious at the gate.

I brought Indy into the barn and put her in 'The Spot' where she waits. I got her some crunch and then got Mo some and ran down the aisle to give it to her. I figure its good friendly game to hurtle myself at her and then give her cookies... it makes her confident about me running to her. Incedentally, it makes Indy confident about me running behind her, because she gets treats on my return! How handy!

After untacking Indy and giving her TONS of love and treats I backed her down the aisle and squeezed her out the gate where she disengaged happily to come in for some more Apple Snacks. She kind of wanted to chase Mo away, and with Mo trying so hard to be nice and come say hi, I sort of pushed Indy away a little and called Mo's name while *trying* to disengage her. Lo and behold, IT WORKED! She turned and faced and walked up all enthused! Good thing I saved her some snacks.....

When I turned to walk into the barn [ostensiably for the night] she followed me so happily that I just couldnt ignore her! She walked with me into the barn, although instead of sticking with me she wandered over to Delilah's stall to investigate for left overs... its always that stall though, so thats interesting. As soon as I walked by though she came right out to see me. I loaded on the yummies for my little food oriented monster and then yo-yo'ed her ALL the way out of the barn... thats right! Riht up and over the large step out of the back of that barn, and she did it with out even pausing [other than to let me open the gate] AND she offered to come back in and do it again! What a doll! She got me to run back for more crunch something like three times. She knows EXACTLY how to get me! Little monster!

Just when I thought she got bored of me and walked away [and so I did to] she came back with water dripping from her muzzle begging for more hugs! She really has me in her back pocket, because I definately went back to hug her some more. How I loves my ponies <3

Such was my amazing evening.

:-)
S

Mo Is All Grown Up!

I cant believe its happened already. She will forever be the tiny little two week old filly hiding behind her mom in the box stall. Mo isnt just a baby anymore, she is all grown up and I am so proud of her!

Today, she gave her first ever pony rides to a crew of ten/eleven year olds for my cousins Eleventh Birthday Shindig. Before the event I went out to bring her in because she was in the run in shed and close. I just called her name and she walked over to me, which was nice. Indy said hi to, which was also nice and Mo proceded to follow me into the barn sans halter AND disengage and wait for me while I closed the gate which was an extra treat.

Once in the barn we played with our new thing - bowing. I accidentally taught Mo to bow last night when I dropped a cookie and she dove for it, performing an awesome bow. Anything for cookies that one! She cracks me up, really. After that she got all fancied up, brushed and lovely [have to look nice for the young'uns right!] and we went out to play.

Online was fun, she was in a really good mood, being really sesitive and I was testing out how little I could do to still be effective. It turned out to be a *very* little, which pleasantly surprised me. We have been having some minor issues with her being obstinate lately, since being home, and I thought it was maybe just because she was rusty after being left alone so long, but I think now maybe its because I was YELLING at her! I would be offended to if everyone YELLED at me instead of talking and asking politely!

So with that now in my perspective, things went a lot better. Until saddling! Mo has NEVER been a complainy horse about having a saddle on. She bucked one time with a new western saddle I was trying on her, but it was sitting waaay to long on her back so she was completley entitled. Today, she really didnt have a reason that I could see, I re-checked everything after she started hopping around and there wasnt anything physically wrong with the setup.

She wasnt outright bucking. More just hunching her back and crow hopping a little. Generally looking uncomfortable/having an attitude outburst. Given that we were supposed to be giving pony rides to complete novice children in the next hour, I was pretty concerned with her behaviour. I asked her out on the circle and asked for speed, since you cant really buck and gallop at the same time [I hoped] This seemed to help, and she started blowing and relaxing and getting some SHARP change of direction. I am still perplexed as to why she bucked in the first place, but she seemed to come out of it fine so I decided to mount and see how she was feeling that way to, just ot be ultra sure!

When I got on I just made my 22' into reins and had my carrot stick for support. Going freestyle around the ring doing walk/back transitions and troting with her head down went great. Mo eventually got bored of that [in about two minutes] and started cantering. Now THAT was different. Mo isnt usually an overly go-y horse, she is more extroverted on the ground and tends towards introvert in the saddle. So to have her offering a canter was definatly different! To boot, she was offering almost perfect canter CIRCLES! MY INTROVERT! Circling! HA!

I even have witnesses! My aunty was there to see the whole thing! Me and Mo cantered for a good while [and it was nice uphill slow flowy canter to.. mmm] before finally stopping [on energy!] and feeling ready for pony rides. Mo did GREAT at pony rides. Her whole attitude shifted really dramatically and she stepped more carefully and slowed right down. What a change in her!

Mo has grown up so much over the years. Mostly in the last year or two really. I really do love the horse she has become ....

:-)
S

Just Ride As Fast As They Run!

That is really what riding is, is it not? Just riding as fast as they go, and not falling off....

Anyways. I got a nice lesson in just that today from my delightful pony Indy. Also earlier this week, but I cant go into that because it wasnt my horse. The point was reinforced this evening though with Indy.

She is an interesting combination of Right Brain Extrover and Left Brain Introvert. Yes. Seriously. It is really difficult to play appropriately and effectively with her because strategies for both horsenalities are so different. B and I took our ponies over the the clover leaf arena to let them run around. Chance ran around like his usual Arab-y self and Indy gave a good account of herself, but pretty quickly turned to grazing. We played some catching game for a while. She kind of didnt want to hang out with me but eventually came in and we walked and grazed for a while.

We played around with a little bit of liberty for a while but I haltered after she left me once or twice because she was nervous that she couldnt see Chance anymore. We played around some more online outside the arena. Circling was the game, no matter where I moved, I wanted her to circle me at a trot. It took her a while, she thought the game was falling leaf, but she finally got it so we paused over a jump and I had her jump the tree a bunch of times until she relaxed with it.

We ran around playing a little more until my addiction kicked in and I just *had* to get on...

I tied up our 12' into reins and mounted her bareback. We trotted around for a bit, point to point and over some small logs. She kind of just takes an extra big step over small ones because shes tall. Around this point I am realizing an interesting phenomenon. On Indy, bareback, I am super ultra confident to point her at jumps. On the other hand, I am as yet a smidge leery to let her run. Or at least I was. Hence todays title. We trotted around for ages, over things, point to point and she was very go-ey so finally I just let her canter places. We did more point to points and I pointed her over more jumps and she kept wanting to go faster and faster. At first I interrupted a bit, and she owuld slow down to a respectable canter, so I knew at least she was listening to me. So I let her go. And we blasted around point to point galloping and jumping, bareback in the Enchanted forrest - the only people out there by that point because all the students have left and B was elsewhere with Chance.

We had an amazing time just going around. I was humming different tunes for different gaits and generally just giving her her head as long as she was going where I wanted to go and stopping when I wanted to stop - her stops are getting really good to!! But as we are galloping around I realized that I could just relax, since I knew she could stop. She is really actually quite smooth so it got really fun when I got confident.

Today was a really good learning experience. Just go with her instead of trying to hold her back. Funny that I could do it on a horse not my own earlier this week, but then with Indy I was reluctant... Well not anymore!! We busted around and it was wonderful and happy and smooth and FAST. So jumping AND galloping are now on the OK list with her bareback.

Funny side note though - because of her dual horsenality, canter circle are basically non existant, but straight lines are a go... I am still working on figuring that one out... she flips so fast!

:-)
S

Oh Boy.. I think

So I dont really know what happened today. I think Mo maybe woke up on the wrong side of the bed today because everything just seemed to go wrong. I just sort of took a step back and ended up letting her go after I unwound a little. I have to admit it was frustrating. I tried not to let it get that way, but I did get frustrated because things have been going SO WELL, that I just didnt know why today had to be different. In the end I picked my favorite song on my iPod [The Kracken, POTC 2] and just stood there and listened to the entire seven minutes of it while Mo licked and chewed and just chilled beside me and then I let her go and walked away. She followed me a little while but then walked back the other way back to the herd. At least she didnt gallop off right?

So instead of playing with Mo, who is probably tired anyways, I went to play with Indy. We played online a little, doing change of direction and maintain gait, but when I found my line crawling with fire ants I decided to tack up.... Indy has gained some weight... so girthing was a bit of an adventure. Indy was good though.

When I mounted, I had her in the confidence snaffle so we did fluid rein and I was pleasantly surprised to see that she remembered it from our ONE session before I left originally in September! So we did some of that at the walk and then at the trot and had some good stretching! After uber loads of suuper nice Indy flowy trot I went into a figure eight around trees trying to do carrot stick riding, but I dont know if Miss RBE is ready for that so I went back to concentrated rein and fluid rein.

We also worked on canter transitions.. because with Indy they are basically non-existant. Working on picking up the canter on the long part of the eight. It ws a bit tricksy at first because she did NOT want to canter but then we got it three good times in a row and I jumped off and called it quits! Poor Indy actually worked up a tiny bit of a sweat, so I untacked her and walked her out.

Pretty weird/interesting/good day. Hopefully Mo is in a better mood tomorrow.

Good Fridays

Yesterday was a good day to. It rained and we played a little in the rain, but nothing serious. Just little liberty things.

Today was a really good day though. It was cloudyish this morning, but it cleared up really nice. It has been a long sleeve day, and I think Mo was glad for the reprieve from the clasting warm weather we have had. I have no complaints either way. If it is above zero, I am good with it!!

Mo was in a good mood. She walked up to me happily. And stuck with me for the whole walk to the trailer across the pasture. She ended up running away from me later though because I was talking to someone without keeping her entertained. It wasnt hard to go get her though. We played a little on the 45' and in the round pen at liberty, working on our liberty figure eights at a trot. Our draw is getting pretty good! I can get her to trot to me most times even!

I practiced a little bit of trying to mount from the neck but it didnt go so well so I am not sure how I am going to procede with that. Mo acts like I am to much weight for her to move around, which I very well may be. I really dont know. I am going to experiment some more with it another day.

I took Mo out on the 45 again, trying to break it in and we had some adrenaline which was fun to deal with. I like it when Mo has days like this because it is hard to motivate her when she is hot! I saddled her up and took out to play some more online, we worked on our changes of direction and maintaing gait.

I decided to ride in the Cradle bridle today to do some more exprimenting, and I think it went prett well. Me and Mo played around with changes within gait and our freestyle in my made up 'arena' around the logs. Mo is finally figuring out that she cant go faster under saddle. I am happy for that because her cute little hunter canter isnt good for everything! We did some trotting over the logs, the single ones and the medium pile. We *almost* went over the big pile, but then I had a threshold because I wasnt sure if she was going to do a deer jump and throw me off, so I dismounted. I attached my rein to her throatlatch and sent her over the big jump by herself. She did it three times and each time I was thinking to myself "Yea, I could ride that" so I remounted and came around at it again. This time WE JUMPED IT!!! YEY!!!

B told me later that it was three feet high! GO MO!!! That was REALLY cool! The jumping day session in ..Fluidity 1? really helped Mo figure out her jumping ability! We went around some more, not over the big one, but the other ones, cantering over them and helping Mo find her distance. That was really cool.

Mo had some more adrenaline after a rest break so we did some canter laps around the lower pasture. When we came back over to the round pen we experimented with the exercise Linda demo'ed in a recent Savvy Club dvd about moving the haunches in a disengage vs engagement exercises. Our disengage is pretty goo dso we tried working on the engagemnt exercise which involves bending the head in the direction of travel and moving just the hindquarters over. Mo was pretty confused about it, and I am sure it was because of me not knowing quite where to be, but we got a few steps in both directions eventually and I left it at that.

After walking around some more I brought Mo over to the trailer to untack. B had vaccated the round pen so I put Mo back on the 45 and went in the to practice our change of direction and change of gait in simulating liberty. That went really well so after a bit I ditched the halter and went to sit on the fence just to relax for a minute, but Mo offered her back so I mounted her backwards and used her bum as my pillow and afterwards practiced our backing by the tail while riding. That cracks me up. I love it.

Eventually I let us out of the round pen and we rode around bareback and bridless around the pasture at all gaits. THAT was really fun. Really confidence inspiring! After bombing around for a while we went to stand by the round pen and I took a mini nap lying on Mo's back. She was a doll and just stood there.

B and I did a little mini cool off 'trail' ride around the pasture to finish and then called it a day.

Four and a half hours later, that seems like a fair enough assessment! I LOVE having nothing better to do for a day than to play with my horses!!! Mo is doing great!

Last Update...Probably...

This will probably be my last entry until I get TO Florida. Laptop is coming with, so I can blog my experience while I am there! I just dont know if I will have webz at the two places I am stopping at overnight on the way down. If I can update, you can bet I will, because I will want to share the awesomeness that will be this trip!

Before I ramble some more about travel plans I just wanted to go WHOO about my Sunday ride [when I should have probly been packing/doing laundry] Mo and I practed brdless and bareback some more, and it was awesome. We practiced canter departs and coming back down to the walk or trot - she goes... "slow? STOP!" There wasnt any middle ground.. until now!! That was fairly completely spectacular in my books. I also got some super cute pictures of Indy snoozing and my aunts horse Pride sleeping in an awkward position.

Mo is now officially ready to go! She has all papers, I just have to call the USDA vet tomorrow to book a meeting on Thursday for our crossing. Health papers got signed yesterday, no problems and everything is ready for Mo!!!! Truck is shiny and ready, trailer is healthy and red and awesomely ready, all thats left is to load up our things and go... after I pack my things of course.

My travel companions [besides my human father] will be Jack and Fillipé. Look for their adventures to be posted soon. They are adorable, if I do say so myself. This shall be an adventure titled : Jack and Fillipé Do Florida. Well, PA first, the NC, and THEN Florida :-)

I think that about covers it..... We are taking off at 7am on Thursday, and I have to remember to call my dad to remind him about his obligatory Tim's run because otherwise I might cry...[its mandatory road trip treats] I also have to hitch up and LOAD UP everything tomorrow night so I can just pull out Thursday morning without going OMG I FORGOT THE KITCHEN SINK!

I think I have labelled everything I own... I hope so? I am bringing my ribbon with me anyways in case I forgot... Not that theres a theft problem there, just with 25 12' ropes on the ground.. how do you tell which is which??? I CANT WAIT TO BE WARM!!! I am sooo excited to be there! I am going to be like the paparazzi the first days!!! I think I might just post an album link or something.... hmm... I shall ponder that.

GOTTA WORK! ACK! bwahahahhaa 1 1/2 hours left today then 8 hours tomorrow then IM DONE !!! No more works til DECEMBER WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

I cant believe I get 6 straight weeks of Mo time.... she is going to LOOOVVEEE all the attention!!!

Ok, back to work!

I will post as soon as I can :-)

S

She CANTERED to Me!!

*squee*
firstly, I wasnt even supposed to go home last night because it was my birthday and I was going to hang out with my sister and cousin so they could give me the present they got me [ a portable dvd player for my trip OMG!] but I ended up having to deke home to meet the vet for Mo's health certificate.

I wasnt the most excited about that, but it had to be done and I couldnt find anyone else to stay. So anyways, the vet was due between 5 and six so I was going to bring Mo into the barn hoping she would get there right at 5 so I could skedadle! No dice, she got caught in traffic and wasnt there til 6:30 but thats ok, she is awesome and I love her anyways.

The whole point though, is that when I was walking up to the barn, I called to Dakota and Mo, they both looked up and Mo started following me with her eyes, Dakota to. I forgot something in the car so had to go back and get it, so removing myself from their sightline, but as soon as they could see me again they were both looking at me.

Neither moved a muscle the whole time, just watched me, Mo had that "OMG Its YOU!" happy look that she gets when I bring her treats so that was so cute. When I got a halter and got to the gate and was *just* about to take a step out to get Mo, she BLASTS off into a canter and cantered all the way over to me from the gate into the pasture. EEE!!!

Seeing Mo gallavant off, Kota also did some showing off and cantered over to!! Mo had come right up to my nose for her hugs, and Dakota was actually respectful about 'our' space so I haltered Mo and made her stay while I hugged Kota. What cool ponies I have! It was so cute!

After putting Mo in a stall for a while, brushing her, tidying things up, killing time basically... I went out and Kota was still right at the gate and he actually nickered at me so I took pity on him and let him graze in the back yard while we waited. Mo had finished her 'keep busy' hay so I let her out in the yard to. Such a pretty picture!

So, thats my story. My horseys ran to greet me on my birthday. It was awesome. The End. [for today]

:-)
S

Ground Play

Sunday was a good session on the ground. Riding was a bit of a joke so I just wont go there. On the ground though it was fabulous! Me and Mo did the weave pattern, where I found a rather gaping hole in our driving from zone three on the right. It didnt take long for Mo to get over her "OH NO I dont get it!" thing that she has been doing lately and lower head and lick and chew and try her heart out. So that was nice

ALSO! We did cantering stick to me again!!! It was so exciting! We played on the ground with lots of energy and adrenaline. We ran around, played with some stick to me, falling leaf and high energy stuff.


It was really great.

When I saddled and mouted things started off ok, but went really down hill so I ended up getting off more than on.. but Oh well!

:-)
S

Bareback Balance

I worked on my balance bareback with Mo yesterday. Interestingly enough, it was Indy who met me at the gate though. That was a nice treat so I just gave her a hug and some scratches and left her on her way. Mo was in the shed so I went over to say hi. She looked happy and walked over to me. After I haltered her I did a few little porcupine games including asking her to 'park out' like a hackney to lower her back for my less than profiecient bareback mounting attempts. I didnt actually get all the way on today, just swung up and managed to hook my leg on her hip. Thank you Mo for just standing there gawking at me.

When I brought her over to a post for me to stand on she siddled right up to me, so I took that as a good sign. When I sat down she walked off. Ugh. I should have gotten off right then, becuase that is a Mo telltale bad sign, but I didnt, I just thought.. I dont know what. So we walked off and Mo was either super impulsive or super trying to get back to the barn. Joy. Bareback on her when she is impulsive and all over the place is not a confidence inspiring thing so I got off [ finally] and went into a big focus debate with her.

She was thinking all towards the barn to I said let me help you, think about the barn, and back in that direction as fast as you can. Her speedy backing really has no sense of direction [we are working on that generally, when focused more] so she went wiggley and got turned around and headed over to the barrels I have in the feild. At the barrels I turned our game into a fast squeeze over, back and forth, back and forth, until she *finally* checked in with me and went "What?! Why am I so energetic??" When she could think I changed the game to circle over the barrels, which was actually pretty successful.

When we were both happy I remounted and we went after Legend who was patrolling the frog population near the road. Mo locked her target on him and when he started racing back to the barn I had to remind her to listen to me, not just follow blindly. We started some trotting circles around the telephone pole for balance and maintain gait, that went well. Both directions. Then what seemed like forever later we played with transitions within gait, fast trot slow trot, which was surprisingly good. I was surprised anyways.

Finally I asked for a canter and got a lovely slow collected UPHILL canter, which I stopped after half a circle before it could degrade [and Im PROUD of that] So we continued our pattern of half circles then trot and then canter transitions. Even some sideways trotting, which was really neat. Our cicles eventually moved from the semi weedy telephone pole area to a flat grassy spot near there. We proceded with more canter transitions and stopping until we changed directions and I realized I wasnt getting my right lead.

I tried a zillion and one different things from all the new things I have seen to try and help her, even a few things from 'normal' books once or twice just to see. In the end, of course, [srsly it makes me ache inside that this is what worked.. ache from laughing I mean] what worked was the very first thing I should have tried. You know in the old Level 2 when Pat asks for canter leads, he sticks on hand out and one hand back? Yeah, that. THAT is what helped Mo get it right. I tapped her bum on the outside to get her to think back there at the trot and then when I asked for a canter, she counter bent her body [ to the outside] in a gigantic effort[it was really REALLY weird] and launched herself into the right lead canter. Hmmm. Ok. I let her canter out to the telephone pole before stopping her.

We got it three times before I called it quits. When we got to the barn I let Mo go in the backyard to graze, a treat for her efforts...

So another weird ride. Interesting and prodictive for sure, but weird. I think Mo has spring fever, except its fall...?

:-)
S

Awesome Indy

Sunday afternoon was just as, if not more, spectacular than Sunday morning. Dakota was amazing, but I know what he can do. Indy still surprises me at every turn. When I caught Indy and brought her in, she stood tied no problem while I went back to fetch annoying Ivy. I tied Ivy further away this time for practice and didnt worry about her at all. The occaisional pebble thrown her way alleviated the pawing thing.

Indy is just honestly the prettyest horse I have ever met. She STILL makes me stop and go wow. I have had/known her for a year and still. Kota and Mo do it to me to, but in different ways. Dakota in spring full golden is just plain gorgeous - but not like Indy, he is more in the magnificent category, noble and strong. Mo is only pretty to me I think. Just because I love her so much. Indy though... is just stunning. And thus, everytime I play with her I feel obligated to help her look her best. I brushed her to a high shine, show sheened her mane and tail and then braided her mane in a nice running braid - oestentiabbly to help keep her cool, since her mane is so long, but really she just looks so pretty all fancied up!

When I came back with the saddle I had to wait EXTRA long before she looked at me. All the way from the tack room door - and she was near the end of the aisle. It was really interesting! When she finally did acknowledge that I was bringing that thing her way again, but that I had waited for her to accept it, she was really happy, so I know it was the right thing to do.

Once she was saddled I changed to a 22' and brought Ivy and a piece of baler twine. I tied Ivy to a sturdy post with the baler twine and proceded to squeeze Indy to and from her. *Usually* Ivy is totally ok with Indy leaving her, as long as she can see her. Ivy acted up a little, but nothing major so I felt ok to walk away. We stayed still close, so that WHEN the little stinker did act up I was close enough to be able to drop Indy and rescue her. *sigh* It happened twice before I just gave up and threw her in the big feild away from us in the ring.

Apparently Baby is ready for weaning, as she was perfectly content to stand in the shed with all the other horses, not worried at all about her mom. Indy was even happier to be rid of the suckling spawn. I am three months to late as far as she is concerned! I was really proud though of Indy for not fretting. I definately think having someone in leadership position helped her.

We played with getting our transitions snappy, and then stopping and putting her nose on the barrel. When she got that she was super excited! Looked at me like "Did you see?? I put my NOSE on it!" Shes so cute. I forget sometimes that shes Mo's age, she 'seems' much older sometimes. Motherhood did that to her. I hate that. I hope now she can rediscover her inner youth. Her eyes just light up with such happiness when she figures stuff out. SUCH a clever horse! So we carreened around, putting our nose on things and taking off in a good working trot instead of the shuffle she sometimes tries to pass off as a trot.

When she was ready, and the girth was tightened I hopped aboard in an almost nimble fahsion, mostly just proud I CAN get on from the ground since the stirrup is waaay up there. Indy walked off a bit, so we will have to work on that. It was the only thing so far she had done to draw towards Ivy, so I couldnt really fault her. I had a hackamore on her, and my carrot stick in my hand. Goal is still to move off of my leg, so minimal reins!

We played with walk follow the rail which was SUPER hard for Indy at first! A million "back at the rail please"s she caught on and walked happily on the rail. Every other lap or so I let her go behind the shed and stop so she could see Ivy through the fence. She licked and chewed each time, so I guess it was good! Helps her know I wont push her to far I guess :-)

When we picked up the trot it was that trot I dream about... the trot that I couldnt post to save my life when I got her. Mo has done WONDERS for my adaptability. I must admit, I was very spoiled by Mr Comfypants Dakota. He is so smooth and slow and comfortable, trying to get in sync with Mo is STILL problematic sometimes. BUT now my muscle memory has in stock all the bazillion different speeds Miss Mo comes up with so now when Indy picks up her gorgeous trot, I can trot WITH her! Yey!

Before I go further I have to reitterate just HOW comfy Indy is to ride. O.M.G. SO smooth, and flowy and just..... drool worthy. You feel like you are just floating around. It is beyond wonderful. I love it. So much!

So anyway...
We trotted around, and then one circuit she seemed to just have extra go to get back to Ivy, so I took advantage, set us up for success, sat back and sent a tad more energy her way and VOILA WE CANTERED!!!!!!!!!!!! For the whole second time in my Indy-career, I cantered her! And this time for more than three strides! [More uber ultra comfyness, just btw]

We cantered all the way down the long side of the ring and stopped [no problem] behind the shed so she could see Ivy. She was licking up a storm! Smart cookie that Indy, for the rest of the session when I asked for a canter it was right there, no questions asked, no fault no fowl, just poof, canter. WOW!

Now Indy is an extrovert, and so a long horse, so eventually all these straight lines got to be a little much and her impulsion got higher as she tried to canter more when I asked for a trot. How interesting! To 'counteract', as it were, the over impulsion, I changed to a concentrated rein [for accuracy] switched my stick down to a more 'crop' position, just so it was out of the way, and went into a million transitions. Trot to walk to back up. Until she was completely with me again.

AND! BONUS! By the end of the session, after doing transitions around barrels in circles, she was STARTING TO MOVE OFF MY LEG!!! WHOOO!!! We will have lightness yet!!!

When doing the transitions I made sure I tried the suspension rein, because Indy likes to dump forwards on the downwards transtitions, this really just helped her pick her self up and come to a stop instead of clunking to a stop.

Walking out went super great to, we went around corners on mostly leg, only some stick to block zone one from veering around in a complete circle. VERY cool!

I am so so so so PROUD of Indy! She was AMAZING! And it looks like Ivy dearest will be departing soon [yey!] so I can get even more quality time with my favorite paint. I am so excited to be able to help Indy develop into the super horse I know she can be!!

:-)
S