Elephant-manship!

Ok, so this is random, but it made me happy so I will post it!

Hot on the heels of Jesse's [Jesse Peters - 3* instructor] elephant adventure at the zoo, I had a unique experience today! It was the local [well, my hometown] fair this weekend, and, as per usual I was volunteering all weekend to help events run smoothly.

This morning, while waiting for our events to begin, we - myself, T, C and D - wandered over to the newest Fair attraction - AN ELEPHANT! Now, I *know* side shows like this arent probably the nicest life for this elephant, but I have to say, it was COOL seeing an elephant like that up close.

The coolest part? WE RODE IT! Elephant fluidity! It was very cool. An elephant would need a super-super-super wide saddle I think....

But anyways, I just wanted to share that. Today, I rode an elephant. And it was exciting. Yey.

Ps: Her name was Limba

:-)
S

Fun Stuff

A couple fun things lately.
Yesterday I took Mo over to D, L and S's place to play. K was there to, and we all had a blast. We played with Sparky again, which I always love! Mo loved it to! Instead of playing in the arena, we played in the straw field!! There were rows of cut straw so when the cow went out of the path, it had to jump over the rows which gave an extra little fun bit!

Me and Mo played with some contact with the Cradle bridle, and some bridless stuff too, which was a blast. S and D had set up an awesome obstacle course that we played online and the undersaddle as well, which was a super challenge and fun. Mo was really tuned in and I am super proud of her.

Today I went out to test out some new saddle fitting things on Indy.  OH WAIT! I forgot!! I changed the gullet again in my saddle! It is now on the uber widest one, and I am currently playing with shim patterns to figure that one out.... I havent found the perfect one for Mo yet, but B gave me some good ideas the other day via skype [which I adore] that I am playing with. I am not sure how well it works for Mo, but I tweaked it a bit today to fit Indy better and it really seemed to work. I think I could use one thin shim, just for me to get better back on my balance point, but other than that I was happy with it - and better, SHE was happy with it - she was actually OFFERING to put her head down at the trot after a while, and we were just in the halter and 12' - that is something she has never done without being prompted by a fluid rein! So joy for that!

I had some ruffles on the left side, but I think that might be from me re-adjusting the saddle because the girth wasnt tight enough in the beginning. I will keep an eye on it either way though, to make sure it isnt a fluidity issue in me! Interesting note to, she picked up both leads pretty easily. The last time we rode she could not for the life of her [OR ME!] get the right lead -which is interesting because Mo has a hard time with the left lead! So... what does that say about me? I havent quite figure that out yet either.... Lots of figuring going on currently!

Actually lately I have felt a bit stuck, so I have to keep reminding myself that when you feel stuck or like you are moving backwards, its just a new level of concious incompetence. Its a good thing. I just forget that sometimes... it is hard to feel stuck when you want to feel progressive all the time! Things ARE progressing though, I think sometimes though my expectations just get to high for what I am actually doing - in contrast, having high expectations is what has pushed me to get where I am now, so thats not a negative.

In a 'things are progressing' note, I am now consistently and confidently [and regularly!] riding Indy bridless around the pasture at a walk and trot and in to the barn. Little liberty things coming along nicely with her to, which is a nice treat. Mo is being her usual goobery self tonight. I just brought her in to brush her [all those hairs take a lot of upkeep!] but she was so cute and searching out treats that we played with practicing her bows on both sides. I am also trying to figure out how to turn that into lying down without ruining the bow. Yet more figuring! YIKES!!

Lots to think on!!

:-)
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

Filly Update

Nothing on my ponies today because its pouring buckets and COLD, but I got some fun news this morning when I got to work.

Remember that hard to catch filly? 45 minutes the first day, nine minutes the second day... well yesterday, when I wasnt there, they all had to come in for farrier work... guess who was the EASIEST one to catch!!!!! YEYYYYYYY!!! I am so happy!! PRIME example of taking the time it takes, so it takes less time.

Two days of a pattern and then POOF, anyone could and did catch her. LOVE IT. Perfect perfect perfect example of putting the relationship first!! YEYYYY FILLY!!

Its kind of fun working in a barn FULL of little [well not really little] Allures.... SO many of the horses are LBE to the max. Everything is a toy, everything deserves ALL their energy, EVERYTHING goes in their mouth!! Its like standard warning before taking a horse out "Oh, watch out, that one bites" and I will grant, two or three ARE biting, the rest are just playing. They are young, full of energy, and just want to have fun. I love it, it cracks me up. "I dont want my halter on my head, I want to chew on it" "Ok, that is perfectly acceptable, lets play with that" about half a minute of my version of 'play with that' and they are ready to just put their nose in the halter.  I, at least, feel like they appreciate not being smacked around to just 'behave' and be a perfect robot.

I found an itchy spot on one of the uber mouthy ones today, I really like him, he is a real character. Interestingly, I didnt get the warning about biting on him until AFTER having wrapped his legs and done a couple of things with him. It never occured to me that he would be a biter, he was just playful and super investigative with zone one, so I acted accordingly and we got along famously. I am really coming to realize JUST how much I have learned from my florida adventures. Its slowly leaking out my fingers and being ever so useful.

Now all I have to do is find a way to get back there and all will be well!!

:-)
S

OH BOY!!!!

I love my ponies. Just pont blank, I really really do. I love that I can lead them from point A to point B without a chain over their nose, withthem respecting my personal bubble AND my pace. I just adore them. Every time I see them, that thought just repeats over and over in my head. I LOVE my horses. I think thats what passion is all about. The thing that perks you up in the morning, what gets you going even after a long day at work, THAT is something worth having in your life. I cant even begin to contemplate what life without horses would look like for me. Even just the thought brings me near to tears. They are my life, passion and my everything.

Hmm... unintended gush aside, here is what awesomeness befell me this afternoon!

I went out to visit with Crystal after work today, to see how she was feeling. She got a stone bruise and has been tender the last few days. Someone was supposed to come look at her to buy tomorrow, but obviously we have postponed because the darling diva is still limping! I figure its about half real ouch half drama queen putting on a show. Crystal is a little like that. Adoreable with a tendancy towards the dramatic. Usually its a positive, in that she makes dramatic changes in her learning, but this is the other side of it I guess :-)

In case there was question, once I was in the pasture checking her out, I was reeled in like a fish on a line to MY ponies. Who I havent seen in, oh about a day and a half. GASP! I walked in their ish direction, and was surprised to see them grazing within twenty feet of one another WITHOUT trying to battle to the death, that was a nice touch. I whistled and called them and got graced with a Mo going 'OH HAI!" and going back to grazing and an Indy going " Oh boy! You are HERE!" and walking over to me! Whoo! One out of two aint bad!!

When Indy got over I just hugged her a lot, and scratched her and thanked her for being the awesome individual she is. If you know me at all, you know what comes next. My disease, otherwise known as Mustsitonhorse Syndrome kicked in and since I had no halter with me I tried to think of ways I could sit on Indy and still be confident I wouldnt die. Her and I have that little line sometimes, that she toes a little with us being a confident unit. Only sometimes though. And its getting less and less as we both get more comfortable and confident with each other.

My first thought was a Cherokee bridle. That failed epically. To be honest, Dakota is the only one who ever tolerated that. I never did anything with it and just tried it with him one day and he was just so ho-hum, he accepted it right off the bat.

AND THIS IS WHERE BLOGGER ATE THE REST OF MY POST!!!!

I am so sad, and I cant re-write the whole rest of the post, so I will just say that the whole thing went fabulously with Indy and that I adore her. Bareback and bridless with a neck string in a 25 acre pasture, walk and trot seamlessly.

Also, the filly it took 45 minutes to catch at work, took only 9 minutes to catch the second day and she followed me around like a puppy dog after.

Sorry guys.. it was a long post, and it is just to much to re-write espeically since it was very much a happy spew post.

S

UGH

I had this great huge long post about the awesomeness that happened today and then BLOGGER ATE IT.

I am so sad. Dont know if I can be bothered to re-write all that... it was rather emotion based! Gack. I hate it when the interwebs betray me like that!!!

:-(
S

Starts...

So I started my new job today. That was fun. I was pretty RBE all night last night [aka, zero sleep] and very much so again this morning. Not such good times. Starting things like jobs are a little nerve wracking for me, but when I pulled up I found out how much good my turn as an extern did me. I feel like I was really able to integrate well into the day, and perform things in an adequate manner, hustling without hot-rodding.

I am now a part time employee of a TB breeding/training facility, to fill in the time when I am not teaching, and to feed my ponies through winter when us Canadians go into hibernation!

I probably wont write to much about it, but I just wanted to highlight an extremely interesting scenario that happened to me today.

It started out as the afternoon feed run. Thats was cool, the facility is huge. Where we had golf carts in Fl, we had a whole TRUCK here. Cool stuff. When we got to the paddock where the yearling fillies were kept we had a mission - they all were getting needles for their boosters or some such, so all needed to be caught, one by one since there were only two of us, and injected and let go once more. It was like the ultimate direct line scenario. Yikes. Way to test my principles on DAY ONE!

Most were easy to catch and give the needle to - I was on needle duty, the other girl held the horse. Then were were down to three. One was a RBE chestnut, who was afraid, one was a LBI playful bay who was just having fun with me and the other I think was RBI, but I am not sure - which in and of itself makes me think RBI. The other girl was able to catch the RBE, I wasnt watching, I was playing the catching game with the LBI. So I diverted and went to give the needle and went back to my catching game. I was really having fun with seeing how I could get her attention, and when the pressure was to much or not enough - it was a really careful balance because even though I think the filly was innately left brain, she was skeptical about people, so that brought a little bit of right brain to play to. HMM!!!

On a random note, the RBI filly was semi playing along while I was playing with the LB one, and she just all of a sudden turned and faced me and started towards me. I was floored! Unfortunatley the other girl walked around a horse at the exact wrong second and she stopped her with the engergy, but the filly kept both eyes and ears on me and let me approach her and hold her halter for the other girl to clip a lead to. Cool stuff!!

Meanwhile, the LB filly was still playing with me. I could get close, have her be calm and then reach out to pet whatever zone she offered and at that exact point she would get RB claustrophobic shoot off two feet, turn LB playful and bounce around and strike out a little bit playing. Hmm. Cool horse, I thought. She was SMART! A little friendly game and she would be an amazing partner. Again though the other girl kept showing up in the wrong place at the wrong time pushing her away everytime she thought about me, so I opted to find another sense of motivation for this filly, since playing with me wasnt really going where I had to get it to go ... To bad I was having a blast and could have played it right until I could touch her. The calls of work I guess....

I grabbed a smaller bucket of grain and shook it until I had the attention of at least three of them. The filly I wanted was in that first group of three, how interesting! Food is a plus for her then, goody! Those three walked right up to me and asked for some grain, so I hand fed it to them all to have a reason to be close to the shy filly. One of the other two was dominant and kept trying to kick the others out of the way so I changed my tactic and protected my sudden herd of two. See why you always have a savvy string on you? Even working in the normal world!

That seemed to change the dynamics a little bit, she would walk off a little and then go "oh yea, you were interesting" and come back again for more handfulls. It took a while before she would let me pass her zone one though! She was perfectly content to have me stand in front of her and feed her, but as soon as I approached zone two, she would leave. So I worked it up until I could feed her from zone two, and then pet her neck from zone two. That was the really key thing. Every time I went to pet her neck, she would leave because thats where you put the halter on from - assumption built, not enough friendly! So more and more and MORe approach and retreat later I was finally able to get my savvy string around her neck, continue feeding her, get the other girl to hold her and give her the shot AND give her more grain after. Excellent.

Also, the other two in the hard to catch herd were now firmly planted near us cool people feeding them. Will be interesting to see how it goes tomorrow.... Wish I could be assigned to just play with them all the time, spend time with them and help them be more savvy about people!

It was really interesting though, the energy from the other girl and how it affected them all. She had a BIG energy, even though I dont think she was conciously projecting it, and she just waded through those horse like the red sea parting, and I dont think that helps very much when you are trying to catch them! Harnessing energy has been one of the biggest things I think I have learned with Parelli, how to send it out, when to send it out and how and when to cut it off!!

I really had a lot of fun with the yearlings, my brain working hard to read them all to assess horsenality and strategies to help everything go smoothly while still working on the timeline of the normal world. I would probably still be out there if it was my timeline!

I had another oh boy moment today when someone was telling me about this super calm horse that 'all of a sudden for no reason at all' spooks sometimes. Hmm. My brain instantly went "Well, he is probably a right brain introvert and got pushed through a zillion thresholds you missed" I was entertained by that, that my head goes into problem solving mode automatically. I think life will be fun in a barn full of LBE's, since that is what most of these horses are. A couple of RBE's, and at least one RBI. Havent met and LBI's yet though, but I havent met all the horses yet.

So far so good, lets hope it stays that way!!
:-)
S