Intern Life!!

So! Life is pretty awesome right now. Week one as an Intern is almost complete - tomorrow is Sunday, our day off. Today was pretty much a day off too, there were Parelli Games on campus this morning that I wanted to take Mo to, but since there were so many incoming students we opted out.

Instead we saddled up and moseyed around taking it easy and eating grass. This week has been fabulous. Check in was on Monday, which I was MAJORLY right brain about. I didnt even really realize just *how* right brain I was going, but it was pretty extreme, because the let down after I got here was huge. Giant adrenaline release to go with my extreme tension! Good thing I could recognize it for what it was, yey Parelli.

We got checkin in all great, Mo got her pen, next to Hank and Spalshy. She has turnout now, but was in a pen for the first few days. She has been a total rockstar, I am really proud of her. Coming from J's she loaded up perfectly. I couldnt have asked for better. Brought her out of the pasture and over to the trailer, intending to play a little but she opted right onto it, and looked at me all proud of herself, telling me to shut the door and hit the road already! Go Mo :-D


Monday was a settle in day, we just got our pen assignments and room locations and unpacked and such. I did some groceries and got myself fed and crashed pretty early! Day one started bright and shiny, we had horsemanship all morning after starting with a name game and a pretty fun game of soccer. Do keep in mind though that I have never in my life played team sports. Not a one. I even skipped out in gym class if in any way possible because my coordination is .... completely lacking in every way! Goodness only knows how I ride a horse... but I do. SO! Day one and team sports. I tried really hard, failed miserably, but had fun. We have played every day since then, and I think I have improved, I feel like I have anyways. I am definately more confident to go after the ball, and have the bruises to prove it. I try to remind people that soccer isnt a contact sport, but I am not sure they all believe me.... either way, its a lot of fun, and a great way to ramp up our energy in the mornings.

Generally we have morning meetings at 8:30, soccer time after that, then horsemanship with our ponies til lunch time. After lunch we have either done hay, auditions, or had horse development time with Kalley so far. Its been really great. Lots of learning and fun. We combine [or have so far] our horsemanship time with the Extern lessons, so that has been really good for Mo - learning how to be in a GIANT arena with about 25 other horses. She was quite emotional the first day, speeding around and glaring at everyone who dared come into her bubble. She is a bit more controlled now in her glaring, and her gait has evened out almost completely, depending on where we are. For the most part she has returned to her introverted self, though I had a few days of FUN extroversion!!

I have been having a blast being able to be here at Parelli Land, meeting new people, seeing old friends and learning new things. Its only the first week, so I cant wait to see what will come! ...Apparently we are going to be having a soccer game of Intern/Extern VS Apprentices/Protogees.... so that should be super fun!!

:-)
S

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

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

... or will eventually win the race. Same difference!

Last night I played with Indy because I 'missed' her. Seems silly, I see her every day, I bring her in with Ivy every day for dinner, but I still felt like I hadnt seen her in an eon! It was the most bizarre thing. So, my intention for the evening set, I was pleased to see every one in and around the shed.

When I went out the back gate I was confronted with Mo's bum, Tripp, Tucker and Crystal all looking at my from their tail swishy congregation. I was amused by the "OH HAI!" looks from all of them. Mo even turned around to come say hi when I got close enough to rub her bum. I could see Indy was just five steps past this little group so I waved at her and she looked at me all bright. Mo, in the mean time, moseyed herself over to the gate and looked at me like "Ok, Im ready!" I felt sort of bad that I wasnt there to play with her, so I gave her extra hugs and a treat later.

Indy sort of bodily shoved her way through the little herd blocking her path to come say hi. That was nice. Ivy came to of course. I used my body blocks to keep curious Ivy's out of my space [and out of the nibble zone!] and focused on Indy. She looked pleased with that as I rubbed her all over and said my hellos.

When I brought the halter up and grabbed the head piece over her neck she braced. Not huge, but enough that I felt it and saw it. And then when I tried to bring her head down and around to halter she just sort of went "Cant do it" and got all tense. How interesting. I just waited with her, doing little bits of head down, head over etc until she could move it. Last night was all about takng the time it takes with her. She flits so fast between introvert and extrovert that sometimes I miss it, but last night was DEFINATLEY an introverted day. And I made that extra super effort to g o s l o w l y for her. It was SUPER hard for me [used to Mo's demonic brain] to slow down and not push her. Great practice though!

About ten minutes passed before I had permission to halter her. For a while when I asked her head to move over she was like "Ok, I will move my whole front end over to you" but that was ok, because Dakota used to do that to, so I was able to refine my request to just tipping her nose my way. When she did finally understand that, or just acknowledge that she knew what I was asking - since we do this EVERY time and sometimes she 'plays dumb' and sometimes she doesnt - it still took more time for her to keep her nose there when I brought the halter up. Interesting! Mo went through a phase of that to - "Ok my nose is over here" "Thanks, heres the halter" "Oh no, I changed my mind, I dont want it" and turn the nose away, just a little.

I am not 100% sure what it was, if it was confidence or just playing with me, but I went even slower and just waited for her, and lo and behold, when she finally acceded my request to halter her, she licked and chewed!!! This, from a horse who I have been concerned that I never see her licking - even secretly! So it boded well for our session I think :-)

After haltering her I rubbed her a lot, letting her know that was an awesome thing for her and then bent down to check on some new scrapes on her leg. Indy is quite the klutz, new scrapes pretty often. I read today that emotional coordination = physical coordination, so it makes me wonder whats going on in her head.

Even getting from our spot outside the run in shed, 20 feet from the gate into the barn was a learning experience. I am discovering that Indy has very little self confidence. No, let me rephrase that, because some times she DOES have lots of confidence. Last night she had very little self confidence at the start. It was really interesting! Standing at her zone two ish, where I had been scratching her, I upped my life and asked her to move forwards [towards the barn gate] She turned and looked at me and then shifted her weight forwards and then looked at me again with a "thats as much as I can do" look.

I took that moment to do a big HOW INTERESTING in my head. I was asking her to go first, away from the herd and she could give me only a weight shift! WHOA! It wasnt a 'nanner nanner make me' type of thing either, it was an 'I cant go more than this without you in front' type of thing. So we played with that. It took us ten minutes for her to work up and over to the gate. She went from weight shifts to one step forwards [and then two back to come back to me] to finally trying three steps forwards and sufficing with me scratching and rubbing her backside. And then in one brilliant flash of self confidence, she walked herself over to the gate, lined up to go in, looked at me and licked and chewed, looking positively shining. She looked so PROUD of herself for figuring out the puzzle, and grateful that I hadnt pushed her. Whoo hoo for both of us!!

By that time I was sure that I was doing the right thing by going slow with her. She just looked so happy and thankful. I opened the gate and invited her into the barn and waited for Ivy to tag along. Ivy trotted along into their stall. I tried backing Indy down the aisle a bit to see what would happen and she went back on phase ONE! Yey! We backed down to their stall, where she tried to go in, so I had to gently dissuade her from that course. I tied her to the stall rails then ansd sort of just hoped she knew how to tie... I havent really tried tying her before now! But she was a star and I went into the stall to 'catch' Ivy - which realistically just involves me walking through the stall door - and halter her for HER first tying lesson. I tied her beside Indy, but far enough away that I would have room to groom that side of her without Ivy nibbling on me. VERY LBE that baby...

Ivy was a star and Indy looked thrilled that I was going to primp her. She loves being pretty. Such a diva. She relaxed right into the combing, while I detangled her mane, and when I brought out the body brush she was totally enthused with it when I let her check it out. She kept wuffleing her nose across it and nuzzling it, it was super cute that she was so interested in the brush! When she was all shiny clean I brought out the saddle and pad, just in case we got to riding and were waaay out in the new arena.

When I got ten feet from her she went from happy excited to dead. Umm... ??? So I stoped and backed up slowly until she looked at me. When she did she was all happy excited again and licking like crazy. HOW INTERESTING! This time when I approached she kept her happy look AND investigated everything [a first] up to and including taste testing the girth! Cool!!

When I saddled her she was a rock star, and when I tightened the girth she looked at me like "what do you need that for?" So I gave her a treat. Boy she liked that!! All finished up in the barn I switched to a 22', grabbed my carrot stick and we all trooped to the gate. I squeezed Ivy out first and let her go, shooing her away a bit so she wouldnt just barrel back into the barn, and then I squeezed Indy out, who was a total pro. I disengaged her super softly, and she looked at me with that bright eyed happy look again. I love that look. I would do anything to gget that look from her. Its just total trust and belief that I am doing right by her. [The whole time I was grooming Indy, Mo was sulking at the gate so I gave her some treats before asking her to move so I could get out]

Once outside I backed Indy away from the gate and through the minor mud puddle that collects there after rain. She got a little stuck at one point, so I did a loooooooooooooooooooooooong phase one and got to 3 before she was unstuck, but stayed at one for the rest of the backing. Insteresting! Once on dry ground I asked her to come in to me but she drifted towards the horses in the shed. Hmm.... I softly asked her to sideways back the other way but she got offended and sort of said NO and started a minor flight back and forth between where I wanted her to be and where she wanted to go.... how interesting. I finally changed tactics [was trying to interrupt] and backed up, trying to draw her in. WELL NOW!! If I didnt get that "You rang?" look that Casper give Pat and have her walk energetically right up to me...... HUH! So that left me standing there jaw hanging open for a while while I re-collected my thoughts and game plan.

I still dont know exactly what happened. Whatever it was, it was good! We just hung there a bit, Indy licked a lot, until I felt ready enough to continue. This time, when I backed her out and offered her forwards [out to the feild forwards, not to the shed] she walked off confidently and licking while she walked. How interesting! As she walked, I thought. I changed the game into a falling leaf game at the trot, keeping to phase one and two gently until she picked up the trot. When she had a fast walk and forward intention to trot I relaxed my ask and she picked up the most wonderful swinging trot!! OOooooOOHHHHH!!!! How interesting!!! My brain was on overload, and we hadnt even reached the play area yet!

I changed the game back to driving as we came up to the obstacles and asked Indy to go over the little pole on the ground between the barrels. Hmm... well, Ms. Klutz took out the barrel, nearly tripping and falling flat on her face instead. I retreated, and asked her to try again, and this time she tripped over the OTHER barrel... huh?!?! So I changed the game. I made it a figure eight around and between the barrels. WELL! That was even worse!!! She tripped, she ran into barrels, she got confused. So I stopped and thought. I thought I was going slow. I really was trying. But I stopped, and when I started again I went even slower. If thats possible. And THATS when we got two passably good, non life threatening figure eights. I was ecstatic. Indy was pleased with herself, and we chose that moment to hoof it back to the barn to dredge out the one thing I had forgotten - BUG SPRAY!! All the little black flies were swarming and driving me nuts.

I left Ivy outside while I rubbed Indy down with bug repellent - and myself - and then we were back 'on the road again' as it were. We played around in the dirt area just in front of the barn, past the muck a bit, the flies were less there. Indy offered me some amazing and soft sideways without a fence. When we both felt ready, I changed my 22' reins into a hackamore style and mounted up [from the ground! whoo me!] I just sat still for the longest time, waiting for a question from Indy. I must say, it is seriously the hardest thing for me to just hurry up and wait. I am 'used' to Mo, whose wait time is about thirty seconds on a bad day. Mo is always so ready for the next thing, that is a challenge to slow it way down for Indy. I have to remember that all through the winter I was doing little blurbs with Mo, nothing big and major like now, just little bits to help her grow to where she is now - thats what I need to do with Indy. So we sat.

She finally asked me a question, she turned her head and looked at me like 'Well? Arent you going to do anything?" So I gave her a treat. OH BOY! She liked that a LOT!! When she finished munching I upped my life and squeezed a little and we set off.... towards to shed... I had my carrot stick this time. Last time I rode, I found some brace when I directed her in the halter, so I brought the carrot stick this time to direct. MY oh my... if she didnt try to push right through that to! She nearly ran us into a pole before relenting and accepting that I might have a clue what I am asking for. Of course I was using my legs to turn to, but that seems to mean nothing to her yet, but no worries, it will. I still remember when Mo had no clue either... wasnt that long ago! [ I apologize for all the Mo references, but Mo is the only other young horse I have started... so shes my launch point]

When we finally got turned around in the right direction, I picked on of the paths the horses had worn in the yard to head out to the 'arena'. Really, I was aiming for the telephone pole that, to me, denotes the start of my play ground. Point to point style. I remember Linda saying one time it took Allure 200 some odd corrections to walk a straight line the first time, and I must say, I now know some of what she felt. Indy was just everywhere. I didnt pick up my reins to micromanage her, I just directed her with the carrot stick when my legs didnt work. You should have seen the crazy serpentine we had going. When we FINALLY got to the pole though she stopped on energy down, so that was fairly cool! I was pretty surprised about that.

Again more waiting. .... and waiting.... until she finally asked me a question and I gave her a treat again. When she was finished with that I picked a new point as the black barrel [there are three plastic blue ones and one black metal one] More winding paths, but we got there! More waiting and more treats. Her questions were coming quicker this time. Ivy was somewhere behind us, so instead of risking her getting worried about her, I turned her this time and picked Ivy as our point. That went great because Ivy was 'on the way to the barn'. I had to pick up my reins a little to stop at Ivy, so we worked on our 9-step backup at the same time.

And so my point to point went. We aimed back to the telephone pole, question came faster, as did the treat, and then I aimed for the other telephone pole which she *almost* trotted to. Even better time on questions for that one. And then, in a crowning Indy-moment, when we returned to our original telephone pole, she LICKED AND CHEWED right away! YEY! She was getting it!! we ran our course [and by ran, I mean walked] one more time, with lots more licking and thinking, before heading back to the barn. There is one random tire somehow in the front of the gate, off to the side, about fifteen feet from the gate.

Of course Indy wanted to charge right up to the gate, so I decided we needed to put a foot in the tire. What a challenge that was!! Indy finally got it, stomped on the tire proudly [close enough to in it] and I jumped of and have her a big hug while she thoughtfully licked and chewed while I ran up my stirrups.

When I got them both back into the barn, I tied Indy to the stall rail of her stall, but in the aisle and put Ivy inside the stall with the door closed. Last time I did this Ivy freaked out, but this time she was a trooper and was really good while I untacked Indy! Indy was awesome for untacking. I was surprised to see sweat under the girth on such a cool day when all we did was walk ... but that makes me think that maybe her emotions get up when she rides, and thats why it took so long to think about the point to point pattern. How interesting!!

After she was all untacked I put her in her stall to get her dinner and that was that. Leading her out after she ate went really well, and really softly, even for Ivy, so I was really happy with that.

Reading this you might think " well she didnt do anything? Just walked around" but you would be wrong. I DID SO MUCH!! Indy is such a challenge for me, in that I need to control ME more and s-l-o-w waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down for her. IF I can ever get it right for her, I can guarentee she will give me 150% of her heart. The onus is on me now to figure it out for her... I feel like I am on the right track for her after this session though.

:-)
S

Playing in the Storm

Like any sensible person during a highly humid day, when the rain began I headed out to play. The thunder only started later, and there was no lightning, so I wasnt to concerned! It was warm, it was dark[ish] and it was raining, not to hard and not to soft. Ironically, the 3.5 seconds I spent in the barn retrieving some treats, the rain tempo increased dramatically and poured buckets - until I was ready to step outside to go visit the horseys.

Mo was actually with the rest of the herd on the far side by the tree line that separates the pasture from the neighbours. I walked over there, amused by my dry foot-prints in the top-moist sand. I got about 20 feet away before she deigned to notice me and walk over. Mo was thrilled I had come all the way out to see her just to feed her! I scratched her some, rubbed her belly, swatted mosquitoes and then walked away. Behind me I hear a discreet "thud thud thud" and turned in time to see Mo [seeing me see her] try to look like she was just browsing grass. I kept walking a bit more and hear more footsteps, so I stop without looking back and all of a sudden there is a Mo at my shoulder! Cool!

I loved on her a bit more before walking away, and this time she realized I wasnt hoarding treats so she returned to finding her own. Crystal on the other hand approached me! She walked right up and stuck out her nose to smell me. I stuck out my hand to be sniffed and sniffed did I be! Her little [thoroughbred] nose scuttled all across my hand, by arm and up and down my body twice before her curiosity was satisfied. I thought it was pretty funny! I dont usually pay much attention to Crystal, because she is not my horse. I spent some time with her though. Finger combing some of the tangles in her mane and scratching some bug bites. She loved that!

I eventually walked away from her and she actually followed me a short distance where we stopped and made nice once more. Her head got lower and lower, until she was determined to investigate my boot. She snuffled it. She licked it. She pushed it. Then, in a really slow, methodical way, she opened her mouth and tried to bite it. At that point [while laughing in a mildly hysterical manner] I blocked her and asked her not to eat my shoes [please]

Some more scratching time later I walked away and said hi to King, the smallest pony in the field. He is so cute, I just cant resist his itty bitty little ears. Mo saw this though and came over to make him leave so I would scratch her instead. She gets jealous so easily! Once King had be removed though, she lost interest in me and walked away. I followed her lead and walked myself back into the barn.

My intention last night had been to play with Indy, and now that I was thoroughly moistened anyways, I figured why not. I grabbed her halter, but exchanged a 12' rope for a savvy string in case of lightning [so my twisted logic tells me] Indy was waaay at the bottom of the pasture with Ivy and Candy. When I was about 50 feet away she 'saw' me and actually came over to say hi, almost. About two feet away she went "Oh no.. cant do it.. sorry... "and dove right and went for grass. Ivy on the other hand pranced her midget bum right up to me all bright and shiny to say hi. She looks a bit daft right now all shedding out. Cant be helped!

I walked over to Indy and she looked up at me from her grazing, so thats a good sign. She also turned her head for haltering, so that was a real nice thing. From there I went into a porcupine challenge mode. Can your hindquarters move? Well.... sort of, but ONLY if you are really really sure.... and then I will take only two steps and then one back towards you. How interesting. Can your forehand move? Sort of... but 'over' gets mistaken for forwards... Can you move backwards off of halter and chest pressure? YES! YEY!

Some of this is Indy's horsenality going "Nanner nanner I'm bigger than you" but a lot of it is just that I tend to under play the porcupine game and havent done much with Indy since her pregnancy left her pretty uncomfortable as is. I plan to play with her a lot more as the summer wears on and Ivy grows up.

After porcupine 101 I went into Lateral Flexion 101. This was really interesting. Flexion came really easily with a lot of licking and chewing to the right. To the left it seemed like everything was a brace! No licking, just brace. I waited for one little try and then filed it away to play with another day.

I started to play a little game of stick to me after that. Just walking, stopping and backing. *Usually* when I try to back like that with Indy she tries to turn and face me. Not last night! We actually achieved moderate success at this activity! I was super proud of her! We moseyed in circles and straight lines all around until we ended up at some barrels nera the barn. I asked Indy to do something with them and she chose to put a foot on them after investigating with her nose. Pretty cool!

We played with that for a while, with her crawling all over the barrels several times before I set them up right into a figure 8 pattern and asked her to go through that way. The required a lot of thinking on her part, but she got it really fast and tried really hard! After accomplishing that pattern I changed it up and stood on a barrel asking for a circle. My goal was to get her to bend around the barrel. She didnt bend overmuch, but she did go around and she did offer herself for a ride. It was so sweet!

I couldnt say no, so I slid on with my one rein and off we went - two steps to practice our lateral flexion. A big surprise here was that lateral flexion mounted was SUPER EASY! How interesting!!! She flexed to both sides like she did it every day, and totally didnt care when I threw the string over her head. Whoo! We walked all the way to the end of the pasture and back to the gate, just getting in sync with each other. Ivy was carovting and cartwheeling circles around us the whole time.

At the gate I dismounted and unhaltered Indy. She was awesome and I am very proud of her. Just a small session, but you gotta start somewhere! Lots of hugs and scratches later, I got her dinner and everyone settled in for the night.

I am very glad I played in the rain!

:-)
S