Finding Fluidity....

Saturday dawned bright and shiny. Or at least I am sure dawn was fairly pretty, as I was asleep at the time. Personally didnt crawl out of bed until ten thirty or something. Even that late Cairo was sprawled ignomiously across the bed, enjoying his sleep. I love that cat.... sleep as much as I want and he's like "Hey cool.. SLEEP!" Not like Jones - aka the Demon Spawn, who got up at six and ran around "Are you up yet?...how bout now...*poke* Now?" *headdeskrepeat* So glad Davey Jones is a happy barn cat now.

Anyways! Saturday-day was a non event. Weddinged with mom, played the ever faithful photographers assstant, carrying things to and fro, holding flowers, picking up trains, etc.... was a short one at least - and there was NO first corintians!!! YAYAY! Srlsy, C, if/when you get married, if you put the First Corinthians speech [you know, the love is patient, love is kind BS] in your cermony, I will smack you upside the head. Instead there was a reading about marrying your best friend, which was the nicest thing I have heard at the forty some odd weddings I have been to!

So boringness aside, when we got home it was late-ish - 7 I think - so I didnt know what to do. I knew I wanted to play, but more than that I knew I wanted to work on ME. The evidence is in the pictures, two posts down - knees gripping and coming up making my seat unstable! OH NOES! Bless Mo forever more, she allowed me to just walk over, play some very minimal games and hop on bareback [..fourth try this time] My fluidity issue with her is at the trot. That sounds wrong, like its her fault somehow, but its all me, and I know it, so now you know it!

We set of at a trot, and of course Mo is Miss Energy going "OH BOY! Whats that over there? Oh AND THAT!" And so on. In addition to mastering [attempting] fluidity, my independant seat got a work out to boot. [Wii Fit says my balance is decent, so that was a surprise, I thought I was waaay off.... I credit Mo entirely with her wiggleyness for making me be balanced just to survive!]

I rode with just a halter and one rein and did a basica passenger lesson, messing with different things in my body, trying to move in harmony with her trot. I focused on keeping my weight back, but stretching my legs DOWN. There is an SC DVD somewhere with that on it... Yvonne and her balance point... I should find and watch that. Around and Around the pasture we went on our snaky trail. Mo played the extrovert being long and wanting to speed up - I had to remind her we were trotting a few times, but nothing major.

I found that if I have my hands in front of me, even if they arent on the reins, I have better balance, so I practiced with them up by my chest and back leaning on Mo's bum and everywhere else. I was really concious of MOVING my lower back and shoulders, because I think I tend to "get in the position' to ride, and then stay there trying not to move, even if it is subconcious because I sure dont do it on purpose!

Finally I felt something resembling fluidness and going in harmony. I wasnt bouncing like a maniac and my bum wasnt catching air at every stride [total plus!] and Mo was starting to stretch down and blow out [whoo!] So since I had things working fairly well at the trot I decided to move things up into a canter. WELL NOW! Mo thought it would be SUPER FUN to gallop around instead. Hang onto your hats ladies and gents because apparently when Mo wants to go Mo can GO!!!

I have to admit I sort of played daredevil teenager and just hung on for the wild ride for a bit before asking her back to a more respectable canter. It wasnt dangerous or out of control, just FAST, which for me, equals FUN. Plus it was SMOOTH. At the canter I found an interesting dilemma. When I stayed sitting where I was at the trot I ended up 'waxing the saddle' as it were, even though there was no saddle. For any one who has done that bareback, its not comfy... going the wrong way against the hair, so I knew something was wrong. I proceded to repeat my trotty exercises with substantialy faster success. The canter isnt really that hard with Mo, especially when she is willing to keep going forwards. I just thought it was interesting that where it worked for the trot, it was wrong for the canter. It makes sense of course because of the weight shift from 50/50 to 40/60, it was just fun to put it into practical experience.

Mo was being pretty go-y so I started doing some big canter circles using my focus. That was pretty cool. I had to support zone one a bit with my rein, but all the other zones followed my focus and the feel off of my legs - which was a weird experience, with her nose going the opposite way of the rest of her! We did that both ways for quite a while until she settled down into a nice easy cadenced canter. It was pretty much dark by now so we walked out then.

Pretty interesting stuff! Apparently I have been using a saddle to much and need to brush up on my bareback on more than just comfy Kota!

:-)
S

Liberty Attempt # 1

Sooooo today was day one in my new attempt to improve my Liberty Savvy with Mo. Oh Boy. She is home, round pen is up and we are ready to go! Except my LBE has taken a vaccation and left me with a LBI/RBI because of who knows what, new place, new things all that fun stuff. Thats totally ok, I understand and I made the extra efort to go slow - my recent Indy adventures are teaching me something!

Mo met me at the gate like she actually wanted to play with me! That was a big plus! I brought out lots of treats to give to her to help my draw later, so I gave her some right off for meeting me so nicely. Haltering went easy peasy just like usual, and then I played some friendly with the stick - which proved interesting because she kept trying to folow me when I went to zone 4/5. I played with that until she was ok with me moving around. I think it was more of a "Hey where are you going?" thing than a "Oh no! Not there!" thing.

We moseyed our way over to the pedestal, played on and off that, sideways forwards and backwards. Then into the round pen for some truth seeking.

The truth is a little ... interesting. Mo likes to be with me a lot doing close up things, but out on the rail in the 60' corral she gets lost feeling and then stands by the gate. If I draw her in she comes in looking happy. I dont think I am provocative enough without the confidence of a line on her yet. I will have to work on that. I had the four jumps set up and we played squeeze games over them with me running with her and stopping and backing up to them, that was good, squeeze game send style was good, but iffy. Circle was just sad - my send was totally ineffective. She kept getting confused about direction and heading to the gate - thats not encouraging!

On a really nice up note though, we got a few close range sideways circles really soft and nice. Our yo-yo was really supple to, which was a total surprise! So my far away-cant-hold-your-hand stuff isishy, but close up seems to work well - sideways towards went of without a hitch.

I felt bad for not being creative enough for Mo, so I decided to practice my bareback mounting. There is a little hill in the round pen, so I lined her up to it and to my infinate surprise, on my FIRST try, I swung neatly up onto Mo's back. WHOO! Now that was cool!

I tied my savvy string around her neck and had my carrot stick with me. We went around the round pen a bit but Mo kept avoiding the jumps - probably because she felt my hesitation - so we went over to the gate to leave. I love to jump, but I am not yet 100% confident in Mo's jumping ability enough to try it bareback I guess - although I did later and it was fine - go figure.

We dealt with the gate super easy, sidepassing it open and whatnot, Mo was a star. We walked around passenger style, trotted some figure eights around some trees and then my mom actually came out so I bribed her to take pictures for me. I have none of me and Mo save on show days, so it would be nice to have some just for fun stuff!

So we got some pictures quick, they arnet the greatest because it is overcast, but they are there and I am glad to have them. Mo was a doll and kept making funny faces, but we had a blast.

:-)

S

Mo Came Home!

My darling Mo has come home! The long trek took several minutes, lots of energy put forth and several laughs. I decided that instead of going through all the trouble of hitching up the trailer, driving over there and then coming back and parking the trailer in its tight spot, I would just bike over the four kilometers and bike with Mo back. Should be perfectly easy.

AND IT WAS! It went great! Mo trotted beside me like she did it every day! She is insanely smart. She trotted beside me on a loose lead. It was so amazing. I always wanted to do that, for whatever reason, I have no idea, but I did. And now I have!

Coming up in front of my house Dakota got so happy to see Mo! To get into the pasture I had to protect my herd of two pretty fiercely, but I did it pretty well. I played with Mo on the ground a little until Dakota left us alone. Mo stood on our new pedestal, she tried to stand on the tree, and she jumped our tree from a standstill!

When I let her go there were a few fireworks, not to many.

After everything settled down, Dakota AND Mo made my day by both walking up to me from their separate places. Love it.

:-)

S

They're HERE!

My NEW Parelli Patterns came last night!!! I am so excited to go through and watch them all!!

I obviously already watched the first one :-D The online DVD is really great! I loved seeing Pat play one the ground with Magic - since I dont see that all that often, and seeing Casper is ALWAYS a treat - I adore watching him, and Vanna is always cute to.

So many new ideas! AND a few really nice confidence boosters to! Things I have played with that a Level 4 - which I thought were just snazzy ideas, make me feel like a success-in-progress and that is always a complete plus!

Things in the L4 Section I have done/can do:

- Back the hind feet on to a pedestal

-Back into a trailer! [did this first day with new trailer because I thought it was neat]

Things in the L3 Section I have done/can do:

- travelling circling game

-trailer loading

-four feet on a pedestal

Of course I sneaked a peak ahead to the Freestyle dvd [well all of them actually!] because I love to ride more than almost anything, and I got another really nice you-are-on-the-right-track boost, because bridleless/neck rope riding which Mo and I are currently studying and playing with is a L4 skill! So I thought that was quite neat. An extra bonus for me, since for whatever reasons I usually feel that my riding is subpar. So it was nice to see in black and white that something I am doing is pretty darn cool.

Before I plunked down to watch the Online DVD last night I went out to arrange my roundpen to my satisfaction. Since setting it up I have been pretty enthused to use it, but want to make sure I have THINGS in it so I do just go "well, go in a circle". We are building a new porch, and under the porch a whole new log was found, so I appropriated that, as well as part of the old porch to use as a pedestal. Construction brings so many toys!

I have a bunch of tires as well, so I started carting them into the round pen in twos to make little jumps - two tires on each end + a log = a nice little jump. I set up three of those, since I had three logs, and then made a wider jump with the big truck tires as the spread. My plot involves pseudo hill therapy for Mo to help her carry herself. Since she has some hair rubs where the girth goes right now, I figure its the perfect time to bring her home and practice up on our Liberty!
Dakota was watching me this whole time. Even got in the way as I rolled the tires over - rolled them right between his legs! He just sort of went "OH BOY! a TIRE!" and looked at it roll, it was pretty funny.

When I was finally heading in after dragging my chunk-o-porch into the pasture [HEAVY] I noticed my reels sittting out - which I had FORGOTTEN about!! OH BOY!! I got two reels [from electrical wire] from work and forgotten about them!! They are smaller ones, but would make great toys none the less! AND I remembered about my balance beam that I got my dad to make ages ago and never used since I moved the horses. Really its just two 4x4's bolted together, but its a FOCUS point!

ALL OF A SUDDEN I HAVE SO MANY TOYS!!! And here I was bemoaning the fact that I had nothing at home because I took all my barrels to Aunty's house... DUH!!! Oh, and on the truck tire jump, I pulled a piece of wood out of the scrap pile from when my dad made my tree stand-on-able, wrapped a shower curtain loosley around it and layed it across the tires to make it 'scary'. I am pretty sure Mo will attempt to ingest it, but it should be fun anyways!

I am pretty excited to play with my 'new' toys. I cant believe I didnt think of this sooner...


:-D
S

Flying!

Summer is sadly coming to a close. Last night was only a measley 24 degrees out [celcius] Simply gorgeous riding weather, but in the grand scheme of summer-swimming-weather, its not all that toasty.

When I got to the barn I rounded up my cousin to ride with me. She starts highschool next week [nanner nanner.. butnotreallybecauseIloveschool] and she needs a good sendoff. When we got out to the barn her horse and every other horse except Mo, my darling loner was in the run in shed at the barn. While Chels caught Tripp I let Indy and Ivy in for their dinner. Once they were settled I went out to see about fetching Miss Mo, who was half way out.

The song on my ipod was sort of slow - Low Rider by Queen - so I switched to the next song which was [much to my ever-present amusement] Sexy Back by Justin Timberlake. My history with this song is such that every time I hear it, I giggle a little bit and it puts that extra bounce in my step. So, newly amused and energized I started jiving my way over to Mo, who until then had been ignoring me. Interestingly enough, when my happy attitude came up, my step became springyer and a smile worked its way across my face, Mo looked up and MATCHED my springy happy step to come over to me!!

I was so excited that I waved to Mo and continued on my way to meet her. We met halfway and I gave the obligatory hugs and scatches along with some bug swatting and then - at LIBERTY - we walked our way back to the barn! Mo was so enthused and happy!! I played with my stride on the way back and she mirrored me the whole time, and when we got close to the gate, I got her to put her foot in 'our' tire! It was so neat! We havent played that much with liberty due to lacking proper facilities, so to have that excellent display of relationship like that was a total unexpected JOY!

I finally haltered Mo at the gate, because Tripp was in the barn and I didnt want to risk upsetting him in the crossties. In the barn I brushed and saddled Mo - Chels and I decided on a trail ride. Based on Mo's pre-flight walk to the barn I deemed her ready to go and forwent any other ground play. I forgot my leather short girth at home, but I tried tacking up with Dakota's saddle anyways, with his girth. Ended up having to come back to the barn to change into her regular saddle as it just wasnt stable enough - kept riding up her withers!

Out on our ride Mo was a doll. Casual rein all the way. We played on the trails for a while then crossed the river and played in the long hayfield over there for a while. Then we decided to make our own trail in the forest-ish area .... THAT was fun. It was incredible. Mo had to play total bulldozer at times, with weeds as big as her! We stealthed through the foresty parts and wondered at the beauty in the glades. Eventually the skeeters came out and we had to turn back, but Mo had a blast across the river.

We crossed back to our property and went up the galloping trail where we saw the neighbouring hayfeild was cut and the hay was off. A significant glance in that direction from me was all it took for me and Chels to head that way!! We got to the end of the laneway and saw that the hayfield across the street was also cut, and baled in round bales [which make excellent point-to-points] and that field is actually three feilds all attached and with rolling hills... needless to say we changed tactics and went in that feild!!!

Mo thought that round bales might eat her, so we DID play point to point with four or so of them as we went, canter to each one, grab an [inconspicuous] bite and move on. In no time we were flying around the whole pasture..err... hay field. It was so much fun!

We cantered all the way to the other end and around and up the 'big' hill. On the plateaux we went around some more, weaving in and out of the bales and then got clever and decided to Man-From-Snowy-River it down the hill - which is not all that steep at all. Of course NOW is when I truly fly. Cantering down the hill, Mo sees her shadow and goes *oh no* and does her Mo-spook [patented] shifting to the right by a foot and a half without ever breaking stride. Me on the other hand, totally absorbed in enjoying the flight down the hill, forget to read my horse, missed the momentary *Oh no* and when she shifts [that delightful TEENY tiny spook that I adore about Mo because I CAN ride it] I end up in the dirt, on my ass. Nice!

Thanksfully, nothing broken, just a bruised bum, and I laughed while Chelsea caught Mo for me - who had taken in my WHOOHOO spirit and cantered to the end of the field. Mo came back happy as a clam and I mounted back up, carefull of my tender toushie... Oops. Bet I wont get that distracted again! ONE mistride to land in the dirt - ONE!

Of course none of that stopped me from continuing my canter journey all around and back to the starting point, back to the hill and all the way back again before cooling out. Mo was a TOTAL PRO at maintaing gait to!!! Something that I had HUGE problems with at the start of summer!! How cool!! I love having journals because then I can recognize PROGRESS rather than a vague "Oh this seems better?" kind of thing.

So, we flew together, I flew solo, and we flew together some more. I loved it, it was spectacular, and I was super high on happy endorphins all night and all day today :-)
Even though I had a really creepy vampire dream that I got turned and went against one of my best friends who was on the enemy Pirate team *sigh*


:-)
S

OH! AND MY PARELLI PATTERNS ARE SCHEDULED TO SHOW UP TOMORROW SAYS MY FEDEX TRACKING NUMBER! WHOOOO

How Interesting! Productive Saturdays!

It was SUCH a gorgeous day on Saturday. Hot and sunny, but with that nice breeze that makes everything perfect. All day long I just felt like I was radiating inner peace and gratitude for the day. I adore that feeling.

I slept late, needing to catch up after being up til midnight on Thursday from seeing Wicked and then having to work at 7 the next morning! Wicked was definately worth the lost sleep though!! So I slept in, then I got up, still lazed in bed with perfect kitty Cairo. When I finally got up, I ate breakfast then sat down to finish reading my Savvy Times magazine, which I have been putting off due to being absorbed in two really great books back to back. Really good Savvy Times though!

When I finally finished that, I got ready to go over to see Mo, and I brought Dakota's Wintec Wide saddle, just to test. I feel like Mo's regular Wintec with the white gullet fits her, but something is missing. I feel so disconnected at the canter, and I cant help but wonder if it is the saddle. The way the Wide is built, to me its closer to a Close Contact seat style, being more open, compared to the more cradled closed style of the regular Wintec. I like both, I think both are ultra comfortable. But the key is which does Mo like better.

So I brought Mo in, brushed her down, fly soaked her and tested the saddle. Hmm How Interesting! In the last year [I used to have a Wide for her to, but she just wasnt.. well... wide enough!] she has filled out enough to be able to 'support' the Wide decently well, without the theraflex. When I added the saddle pad, things actually looked doable! Some digging in the tack room produced an old cob-webby dressage girth [ that is leather and I have now drenched in neatsfoot oil and its super pretty] that actually fit Mo, so that was a plus.

Saddled up, I brought her out into the back yard to graze and watch what her back looked like in the saddle. I hadnt decided that I was going to ride yet. I just wanted to hang out with Mo, just to be with her. I let her graze while I soaked up some sun, lying in the grass. Then, me being the rider addict I am, got up and tightened the girth a little to test. Cob-webby girth has no elastics, so tightening is ... fun? I have top wonder though, is wearing a girth with no elastics like a person wearing a corset? Is it still comfortable for the horse? I will have to think on that.

Mo kept grazing this whole time, until I asked her to move around - which she did with astounding enthusiam [not] When I got the girth as tight as I thought I needed it - saddle wasnt moving when I pulled on it - I asked Mo to keep her head up and attempted to mount. I say attempted here because as soon as I put weight to jump up in the stirrup, the saddle slipped sideways. Doh! Mo had let out a big sigh because I wouldnt let her graze anymore, subsequently loosening the saddle! No big deal, I just reset it and tightened it again before trying again.

Success!! This time the saddle didnt shift an inch! Which is interesting, because when I used to have it on her it ALWAYS moved. Yet on Dakota [whose saddle this is] it never moves, its like its glued to his back. How interesting! So, I settled in and let some more air out of the pad since I felt perched still. It felt a little odd, being back in the wide saddle after so long in the 'skinny' saddle - not really all that skinny on Mo, but comaratively, in the twist its a big difference between ones legs...

I like this saddle, I really do. In the beginning, I found it sooo much more comfy than the regualr Wintec. Now I dont notice so much since I ride in the regular all the time. I remember now that I liked it a lot, a wide flat seat is super comfy! I shifted around for a while , just adjusting to the new feel, and letting Mo feel me before tying my 12' in reins and heading off down the trail.

I know, I know, I didnt do any ground play, but Mo was in a fabulous mood, and we played in the barn while I played with the saddle, and she just felt ready to ride. And I was right. We went off at a nice slow trot down the trail. We meandered around the trail at a trot, going up the hill and trotting down the galloping trail and back before trying the big test - the canter! This was a really interesting experience for me - and the whole basis for the title of this entry - the canter, that I usually have trouble being fluid with was gone... I was completely able to keep my butt in the saddle and be fluid and comfortable and have no issues with losing stirrups [newest delveopment] or gripping with my knees [which causes the stirrup losing] What a different experience!

Me, being me, I just had to test this out more. So Mo and I proceded to canter, gallop and trot everywhere, doing transitions to every gait and within gait to see if everything still worked. We even went halfway across the river for kicks. Everything felt great. Mo seemed happy, but nothing spectacularly more so than usual for her ' out on the trail' self. So I decided I would have to play with it some more. So the plan is to use that saddle in my next few rides to see how it goes.

While I was walking Mo out from our beautiful sunny ride - for which she behaved IMPECCABLY!- we ended up walking down the galloping trial and coming back down the laneway and passed the gate to the pasture. I dont usually use that gate, but I was feeling cramped on the trails [ crazy right?] so I jumped off Mo after ascertaining we couldnt possibly reach the rope tying the gate shut without my being on the ground, and let us into the pasture and remounted. We continued our walk around, doing the whole tour of the pasture, visiting the other horses and whatnot until we came to my tree... well not mine, but A tree. A fallen tree that online Mo loves to jump, and undersaddle I have always wanted to jump.

I thought why not, Mo is super confident today, and why not try jumping in the 'new' saddle. So we tried. We trotted up to it...and stopped. Hmm... the mind wasnt on the other side, so I backeed her up slowly and softly [phase two tops, and she was backing so steadily and straight!!] and we reapprached at a trot. Hmm... she stopped again, but her mind was considering going over this time. We repeated the exercise a few more times until her mind was DEFIANTLEY going over and she was leaning her head and neck over before stopping. On the last one she started to put a foot over so I just sent her a little more energy and she clambered over the tree, stopped and licked and chewed a TON! Hey, cool!

We just walked around some more after that, me trying to put the idea in her mind to pick up her head a little. On the trail her head is up - not UP right-brain-up, just up looking around, and she feels so much better to ride! So I am going to try to convince her that its a comfyer way to travel.. I hope. We shall see.

When I brought Mo up to the barn to dismount, I played with our new routine of put-your-foot-in-or-on-the-tire, which went well. When I jumped off and gave her a big hug Mo was licking and chewing a lot, which was neat. In the barn I just untacked pretty quick and brought her back to the yard to graze while I absorbed some more sun and thought about everything that just happened. Also, for whatever reason, I just felt amazing. Totally complete and happy and content with everything. Mo was perfect, the day was perfect, the weather was perfect, I was happy. It was such a wonderful feeling.

About forty sleepy minutes later the right ear bud in my headphones gave out [tear] so I went to my [messy] truck to try and locate the spare pair I got when I thought they died before - but revived! No dice, couldnt find them, but I DID clean out my truck - which needed it AND found my CAMERA CASE that I lost almost a year ago now when I went to pick up Indy! It was jammed under the passenger seat, between the centre console, chair and floor. Yea. Go figure. No headphones, but I was tickled pick to have finally found that case, so it doesnt really matter. I grabbed some new three dollar headphones at WallyWorld yesterday, so all is well.

After cleaning out my truck I put Mo back in the pasture and ran back to giver her more treats twice. Its really good practice for her!! She gets all excited and happy instead of afraid now when I run at her - I am just hurrying up to bring her tasty things!!!

At home I had decided to put my round pen back up. Last fall I moved it in an effore to make what would be a spring paddock to keep the horses off of the pasture come spring, but it ended up falling down and being knocked over by a rogue hayshed caught in a breeze. My horses all went to my aunts for the winter anyways, so no big deal. Since then all the panels have just been laying up against the fallen tree. So I set to lugging the panels over to the place where the round pen was last year. At least the circle was still in the ground, so I could guesstimate pretty well as to panel placement!

It was quite the endeavour to drag all the panels out - since they arent light! My dad made the pen home made from steel because he is a mechanic, so its extra tough. When I finally got all the panels over - even the HEAVY gate - I got to figure out how to put them up... with just me... The first panel has two 'feet' so it technically can stand on its own, but where I put it was bumpy so it kept falling down.... enter jumps standard - another dad special!- to hold it up by standing in the middle. So, by some small miracle I was able to get the first two panels up and together!

Of course that was when I realized I had layed the panels down all backwards and needed to flip them all before continuing... DOH! So I did that, by litteraly flipping them and somehow got the whole thing put up save the gate [got help with that later] The best thing about this whole shananagin though was Dakota. By panel #3 he was there, sniffling the ground in the 'ghostpen' and following me around, wanting his nose in everything. I just.. I couldnt stop hugging him! I am so beyond relieved that he is finally ok, finally back to normal that I cant even adequately express it. When he lost all that weight so fast in spring it scared the bejesus out of me, and it took him alllllll summer on tons of grain and pasture ornament status to get back to normal. I rode him bareback on Friday for ten minutes when I got home from riding Mo because I was so energized by her awesomeness and I almost cried because his back is all filled in at the appropriate couchy locations again finally. He doesnt look all wasted away anymore! Even though the weight loss wasnt anything I did via lack of feed - he basically wouldnt stop running and chasing horses, exhausting himself - I felt horrible and I am beyond relieved that he is better.

So me and my panel buddy put up the rest of the pen, Dakota didnt even leave when the panels were being flipped end over [12'] end and clanging on each other - which is a big deal for my big yellow chicken horse. I was so proud of him, and he was so happy and curious!! It was just... such a great addition to my perfect day.

When I was done outside I went in to get supper, watch Pirates of the Caribbean and upload music to my laptop. When I went out later to give Kota his supper he came running over to say hi. What a great great GREAT day!!

:-)
S

Fabulous Friday

Last night was simply amazing. It is finally warm and sunny out side and I am taking full advantage!!

Mo was in a fine mood last night. All the horses were in the run in shed so I crawled through the fence to go visit her. When I got there I wasnt sure if I was going to play with her or Indy, but she looked so happy to see me that I decided to pick Mo. I loved on her a bit [ok a lot] and practiced a little bareback mounting [almost made it!] and then led her at liberty into the barn. We had to wade through all the other horses, but I got to protect my herd of two and shoo them all a way. Mo was a trooper and just let me do my job.

In the barn Mo moseyed around cleaning up spare grain and whatnot before I haltered her. I brushed her down - shes so shiny right now! - and basically drenched her in bug spray. Just because the rain stopped, doesnt mean all the little bugs brought on by the mosture are gone yet!

Saddled and accoutred with a savvy string around her neck, we set out to our snazzy little [large] arena in the pasture. I played with some little games on the ground while we moseyed over. Moving circling game, falling leaf, sideways. Just little things. When we got to the barrels we practiced going over them, then one foot over the pole on the ground, sending over... and then, in a pure moment of brilliance for Mo, I asked her to step back over the pole by her tail and she DID IT!!!!! I litteraly squeeled and jumped for joy. I havent been working hardcore on that, but a little here and there because its not Mo's favorite thing to do. BUT SHE DID IT!!!!

When I mounted Mo she was in a really good mood so I took her halter off. I was left with a carrot stick, a string around her neck and the truth. The truth tunred out to be something I adore very very much. Mo was an angel!!!

We went around at a very slow sedate walk at first. Then I asked for a million walk/trot transitions to help get her impulsion up and that worked brilliantly. We proced to spend the rest of our session walking trotting and cantering at will around the entire pasture, completely bridleless. AND! everytime we came near them jumps Mo offered to take them. OFFERED!! She would alter her course and AIM for them!! What a great horse :-)

We did lots of figure eights around when she got TOO impulsive, and them cantered comfortably otherwise. It was such a wonderful feeling.

One of the boarders came out to catch their horse and when I went over to say hi I got called crazy and asked where my bridle was [to which I replied In the barn] It was sort of annoying, but whatever... I had an amazing ride. It is a really big boost to my confidence when I KNOW I am fenced in [even in twenty five acres]. I dont know why, but it helps me be confident, and do things. So it works :)

It was delightful! :-)
S