Fun Times at the Intern Barn!

Week two as an Intern is coming to a close. Life has been pretty exciting this week. We had a lot of focus on driving, with Nate Bowers teaching us the fundamentals of harnessing and the systems that are involved in driving teams and singles. We mostly finished with our testing now, and are all eagerly awaiting our results! I feel like things mostly went well so far. It has been fun learning about driving, even if it isnt where I want my main focus to be.

During our horsemanship time we have played with a lot of different things, like bridless yeilds, fluid rein and cloverleaf patterns. During personal horsemanship time today I lost a bit of focus [oops] and wandered into the round pen to see what I could come up with. Well now! What my idle brain ended up coming up with was this... backwards riding! Waaaay back, years ago, when I first started Parelli, or shortly thereafter, I had a goal of backing my horse by the tail while riding. I decided that since I had addressed this quite a bit from the ground lately, now would be a fabulous time to readdress it under saddle. Well, bareback.

SO! I went around-the-world as it were and was sitting backwards on my ever wonderful and loving Mo. She really does make this whole being away from home at such important times thing bearable. Id be crazy[er] without her. Sitting backwards I lean down and gently tug a few hairs like I would on the ground and VOILA ! Insta backwards steps! How cool is that? To fun.

Of course, being me, I couldnt stop there. Nope. Then I started doing walk/stop/backup transitions while sitting backwards. SO much fun. I think I smiled and laughed the whole time. Im sure I got some silly looks, but I was to focused on my entertainment to notice. Then I got really brave.... I tried some trot steps! It felt so odd! But it was so fun! Mo was a complete rockstar super trooper and just toodled on, behaving perfectly. We even got some awesome direct/indirect rein once I figured out where I needed to arrange myself since I was backwards!

Hows that for a fluidity lesson?
Pretty fun I think. Maybe Ill do it again tomorrow.....

:-)
S

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

Made it to Ocala

The journey began on a dark and frigid morning, one blustery Tuesday in February. The sun hadnt woken yet, but Jack Frost was having far to much fun harassing us. I woke up warm in my bed, though at an insanely early hour.... only to be thrust out into the icy icy breeze whipping the snowfall around. -20something with the wind said the radio. Eep!

Saying goodbye is the hardest part of leaving, even though I know I am coming back. Snuggling one last time with Cario, as he squirms in protest, not really sure why I am squeezing him quite so tightly. I miss the little bugger already. He did make a valiant effort as a stow away, but I have confirmation that he remains at home. Goodbye hugs with Mom are so regular these days with all my travels, its almost routine. Yes Mom, Ill drive carefully, text you often and be good. Love you *hug*.  Generally how that rolls out. It works for us.

Figuring out how to say goodbye to D was a little harder and more stressful. Thats a whole new situation and leaving with the whole house-buying-thing going on really doesnt feel like the cleverest plan, but what else can I do? Just going to have to trust the people at home working on it. I know it will all work out fabulously, and then when I go home I get to pack some more because we will be moving to our very own house in July! Seventy acres to do anything I want with... hello HEAVEN!

I managed a high spirited goodbye to Aunty, C and C. My goodbye to Jax was a little more solemn. I always hate leaving him because he gets so depressed. I really hope he will be ok with Teddy around for company. My little/giant old-man-puppy isnt as young as he used to be, and I still need him around for many more years...

So then came the loading. Indy was pretty much her usual RBE self, determined that the wind was turning the trailer into a shadowy horse eating monster, and to be fair, it kinda looked like that anyways. She hopped about for five to ten minutes and then remembered, 'Oh, right, trailer, adventure time' and got on. Mo was her usual rockstar self and marched right on. Do I ever love that pony. SO reliable!

It wasnt snowing, no, but it was crazy windy. We decided to leave anyways. If it had been snowing at home, I likely would have waited out another day - but apparently it snowstormed the next day, so that would have been a bad plan to. Anyways. We left, and it was SLIPPERY. I was white-knuckling it the whole time. It is one thing to slip around when its just you and your lonely vehicle. But I had VERY precious cargo in the back - and I really dont think E would have appreciated a visit to the ditch either. As we wiggled our way down to the border things got a little better.

Crossing went extra smooth and off we went onto Highway 37. Now, let me advise you, if its blustery and winter, you likely dont want to take this road with a horse trailer. I didnt know this, but lesson learned. We lived through it, but we went veerrryyyy slowly. It wasnt great times. Several grey hairs from that experience Im sure. When we finally made it to I-81 this funny thing happened... we couldnt go. We had no speed pressure. Bugger. Call dad. He says he thinks the fuel lines are frozen so we limped to a truck stop and got some 911 stuff thats supposed to unfreeze things. We also were able to have the very nice lady at the truck stop call a little garage  down the road to have a look at our fuel filter. So we limped there.

That little event was an adventure in and of itself. Inside the garage bay was a firetruck. Inside the garage bay was also my truck and trailer wedged against a side, that we had to take a running start to get into because their lot wasnt plowed and it was on a little uphill that Goliath kept spinning out on going slow. Good times. Now, Mr Garage Man was very very nice, but I will say he had no idea what he was looking at because he couldnt even find our fuel filter and sent us off on our way again. Poop.

Back limping on I-81 for a little longer, going a grand total of 70km/hr. Whooooo we were flying! *sigh* It was so stressful not knowing what was wrong with the truck. AND not being more than three hours from home yet ! We got off at another little sketchy exit and found a whole bunch of garages. We went from one to the other to the other, all of them busy and unable to help until we got one call referal to the EVER SO WONDERFUL Skips Pit Stop. The one garage we were at called them, they said they would order the filter, it was there five minutes after we got there and changed and ready to roll out in less than half an hour. Talk about service! Now, could I find the place again if I had to ? No. I doub it. We were so re-routed by then, I was lost, and it was a blizzard. So bonus points. AND, AND, for a gold star, our GPS connection was dead, and we were trying to run it off our laptop powers and so trying to conserve it as much as possible. Joy.

But! All was once again well in the world, as Skippy had our truck healthy and hale once more, and ready for the open road. So we set off. Our goal was the North/South Carolina border, at a wonderful layover spot called Sallys Ark [this place I CAN find again, and have several times, I love it] We did get a back up plan to stop over in Virgina though, because it was about 12:30-1pm by the time we got on the road for real and we werent even to Syracuse yet.

The drive was on and off blizzards pretty much the whole way. We eventually decided to just haul tail for Sallys, because other wise day two would just be another crazy long day, and I would rather do one uber day and one short day. So uber day commence.

Around 7 or 8pm both E and I were getting to the point of boredom. Just the whole stuck-in-a-car forever thing, and so we both broke out our little 5-hour energy drinks and downed the powerful energizing brew.... WELL! When they say powerful energy kick... THEY MEAN IT! We were buzzing and bouncing for HOURS. At fuel stops we were literally running in and out of the stations and jumping around, chatting and generally being insanely hyper. Anyone who has seen me buzzed on Easter Cream Eggs, this was 20x that. Imagine. Now run and hide.

It was crazy, it was fun, I dont particularly want to do it again, but it got us there. 2:30am we pulled in, unloaded ponies, fed them, unblanketed, and went to bed. Oh, but not before trying for a good while to text the moms that we got there safe. Backwoods North Carlolina has zero cell reception though, so that didnt fly very well. We tried though! Tucked into bed with an alarm set for 8, we were dead to the world.

Morning came with sunshine at least. We passed through a mini blizzard in north North Carolina, so the sunshine was welcome. I played with both girls at liberty in the round pen before loading them up and that was super fun. They are both such great fun to be with, and its such a challenge to play with both at the same time, accomodating Mo and her left brainedness and Indy and her right brainedness... its fun. I love them.

Indy loaded like a total trooper and Mo her usual self and we were off once more. Luckily, this day ran MUCH more smoothly and we made it to Ocala to J's for about 4:30 I think. We unloaded the girls and they both ran about for 15 minutes or so, rolled, blessed the ground they stood on for being solid and then got to grazing. When I came back a little later, Mo was sound asleep, and yesterday morning bother were out like lights. Poor kids, they get tired too!

E and I had another adventure trying to get into the house we were staying at, we got locked out and such, but eventually got it sorted.

I got to play with the ponies yesterday a little, when it stopped raining for a while. That was nice. I groomed them both up shiny, clipped Mo's chin hairs and cleaned up her front legs a little. Played with clipped approach and retreat for Indy's chin and legs and then played with my still-shiny-new feather lines that I got for Christmas with Mo.

WOW! What a star she is, and how much FUN are feather lines?? Such a cool way to feel for lightness! Also played with some zone five driving with walk/trot/backup transitions and the figure eight. Mo is a star. I couldnt have been happier with her. I turned one of the lines into a hackamore style rein set and 12' line and moseyed over to the pedestal. As soon as Mo saw me getting up on there she started to come to me sideways. She was quite a ways away to, because she had been lollygagging a bit. Silly Mo. Still, it was really nice to have that obvious invite of 'Lets go for a ride'. We didnt do to much, because I was still getting the feeling of Mo being travel-tired. Just some bends and haunches/shoulders in and backing practice from my seat. Also did one walk canter transition, just to see how little I could do and still get it. The answer is next to nothing :-D I was pretty excited. I only did it once, because I didnt want to push it when she was obviously trying so hard even though she was tired.

Funny side bar about clipping - Mo fell asleep while I was doing under her jaw and I had to hold her head up at times... silly horse.

Pretty much the whole time I was doing stuff with Mo, Indy was stalking us, trying to get in on the action, or rumaging around in the things I left on the bridge - brushes, showsheen, clipper box open... she messed up all the things with her curiosity. Which.. I am glad she curious, but I am also glad she didnt break my camera that was sitting there to!

It was raining here when I was finishing up playing yesterday, so on went their rainsheets. They looked pretty miserable in the morning time all wet and with their long hair, so since it was chilly anyways, I thought they would be ok with their things on. They seemed happy this morning when I went out to feed them.

So, thats my adventure thus far, I will endevor to keep the world updated as much as I can
:-)
S

Its My Life

Not only is it my semi-motto de jour but it is also a fairly catchy tune by Bon Jovi, circa 2004/2005. Interesting side fact: This song was the first song I really really liked and bought an album for. It really touched on something important to me - the desire to live and grow and be my own person. Sure I went through the whole BSB/Spice Girls thing when I was younger, but right about the time I really started to figure myself out, this song came out and caught my attention.

Before Parelli, in a hunter world full of perfect brown TB, appendix or lean quarter horses, I had a BIG CHUNKY PALOMINO Belgain x QH. I also loved and still love purple. So when I went to little shows, everyone else was there in their perfectly shined boots and boring jackets and white pads on their spectacularly uninteresting brown horses. Nothing against brown horses, it just cracked me up that every single [or nearly] hunter horse in the arena was brown. Chestnut. Boring. No or little white. They all looked the same. Perfectly braided, looking totally bored, cookie cutter little show horses. And then I walk in on my light palomino beefcake, decked out in purple. Purple saddle pad, purple polos, purple helmet, gloves, the whole she-bang. Obviously I stood out. Whether it was good or not, I dont know, but I was there to have FUN. Everyone else seemed to have forgotten that simple fact. The shows were even titled FUN Shows, there were no rules on attire - other than obvious safety guidelines - there was nothing stopping them from showing off a little fun personality other than their own lack of imagination.

I never really showed a lot, I can count on two hands how many shows I have been to, but each time I go, I try to add a little bit of uniqueness. My helmet is purple, so that's a given, but I also try to add other things, a purple saddle pad, purple ribbon in the braids, *something* that shows who *I* am, as ME, not as a drone who goes along with the crowd.

To be honest, my whole drive to be unique is part of why Indy's name is what it is - Individuality. To remind me to always be myself, not fit into some cutout pre-determined version of what someone thinks I should be.

Mostly I think that suits, there are times when it suits to conform somewhat, to keep peace and because I want to, to be able to grow and be better at being me. Being an individual doesn't mean I cant do things other people do, I just get to do them with my own flair. Live outside the box as it were. My life seems to generally lead down the outside-the-box path. Out of high school, University wasn't on my menu because I was to introverted to be confident enough to go.  I went to a small trade college instead, and also found Parelli around that time.

Even growing up, I never had the same sort of life plan that everyone else seemed to have - go to school, get a desk job, get married, have kids, live happily ever after. No, while other girls my age were planning their weddings and naming their not-even-yet-conceived children, I was planning my farm layout and picking out future horse names. Funny how life works out, isn't it?

In school I usually felt out of sorts. During Careers class the pressure was on to pick a career/job path that you would then study towards the rest of your high school career.   The only thing I ever wanted to do was be with horses. Other things weren't an option. Maybe that makes me narrow minded, but I prefer to think of it as having a goal and striving to reach it.

Post trade school [ten month program] I 'lucked' into an office job. I wasn't looking for it, I didn't particularly care to have it, but it was money, which I sorely needed at the time. Two years I spent in that office. Most of which time was just spent counting the minutes until I could get home to my horses to put the wind back in the sails of my passion. The up side of the office job was that it allowed me to save enough money to get myself to Florida and undertake the journey that has FINALLY brought me to the portion of my life that sees me sharing my passion with horsey people and Parelli students all around me.

I guess all this rambling could really be condensed down to a simple fact or two. Don't be afraid to make something of your passion. Hold onto your dreams and make them your reality. Anything can happen when you act your own person and break the mold.


When I started this post I wasn't really sure where it was going. I didn't think it would end up as a diatribe about my life... it was supposed to be a re-cap on my Florida planning - which is well underway, for those curious. I leave in three weeks. Horsey paperwork is on its way, blood drawn and just awaiting results. My trailer is living at my dad's - he is getting it all road worthy and such, and Goliath is getting an extra inspection or two before being asked to undertake a 1200km journey hauling such precious cargo.

Also, I have found two extremely nice people who will be leasing Indy for the Fast Track 1 and 2. I am thrilled about that. I was a bit worried about her sitting bored in a pasture for twelve weeks.I think she will have a blast, and certainly the people who get to play with her will as well, she is such a treat to be with.

Otherwise not to much has been happening here. We have and continue to have some very deep freezes. Temperatures haven't been above -15C in at least a week. Projections are more in the -20 range for the next while, with a delightful breeze making it feel much more frigid. I am not sure I can adequately express my excitement for warmth and sunshine, and the lacking need for seventeen layers, while still feeling cold.

So far, I am very proud of how I have lived my life. It is mine to live, and I refuse to live it to anyone's standards but my own - which are high, let me assure you. There are those around me who wonder and wish for me to just 'let go of this horsey thing' and 'get a real job' and settle down, but that would be a betrayal to myself and who I am, so I plan to continue on this journey, keep on keeping on with my horses, and getting my good better and my better best!

 :-)
S

Motivation

Today, here I am. I am trapped at my dad's garage. Waiting for one little lightbulb to get changed on my truck so my license plate once again illuminates itself come dark - which does come obcenely early these days! Sitting here, killing time moseying around the world wide web, shivering everytime someone opened a door I started to ponder about motivvation.

It is a grand total of -13 out today, celcius, not including windchill. Once you factor that in, it becomes somewhat like -20 or so. Even for Canadia that is rather extreme for this time of year. Feels like not even two weeks ago it was +10 out and I was riding in a sweater.... oh wait,... I WAS! Sheesh.

So motivation. When it is this cold and this breezy, my motivation is distinctly lacking in getting myself out to the barn. The ground is froze, the footing is non existant, I have to wear eight hundred layers resembling the Michelin Man with ineffective mitten claws for hands. How can you have feel and timing with those kinds of barriers?? Sure wants to knock all the try out me.... I dont even try to get out there! Well, strictly speaking thats not true. I do go out and do chores regularly, so I get out there, just not always out for actual pony interaction time.

I feel like winter is good for building some rapport though. Its cold, its miserable and almost everytime they see a human we are bringing them some kind of something good - be it hay, grain, treats, warm blankets, letting them into their warm stall.... the list goes on. Seems like a good way to make some good 'bank account deposits', no? A lot of days I feel like I am getting nowhere, doing nothing productive, and then this morning when I went to adjust blankets, my usually aloof Indy made an effort to walk over to me. With a happy face no less. Hmmm.

Now what does that tell me. Maybe in the summer there is just to much going on? To much OH BOY LETS GO..... do whatever. Not enough 'Hi, how are you? Heres a cookie, see you later'. Maybe. Or maybe I am just more interesting than snow but not more interesting than grass. Joy.

Back to motivation. How do I get motivated in the winter. Im tempted to just say I dont. But thats not true. With my florida trip coming up, I am very motivated to at least THINK of things to do. So Ive got my MIND on the job at least. I do a lot of planning this time of year. I watch lots of dvds and make plans for what to do on the days its nice out or when the snow finally melts. Last year, I got really clever and brought a barrel into my basement, tied it to a footstool and then saddled it so I could practice engaging my core and body the way Linda talks about us needing for our Finesse. Get it right before adding the horse and it *should* come easier once the horse is in the equation, right? That was my theory. I think it worked out nicely. At the very least it got me saddle time through the winter, even sans a pony.

A month and a half ish until I get to head to the warmth. Just need to keep motivated until then. Try to keep some form of pony time going on so I dont hit that withdrawl wall. Horses are like my addiction.... withdrawl definatley hits in these dark cold months. I cant wait to get exclusive horsey time come February!

Not to sure if this was a coherent post or not.... My truck still isnt even in the garage... *sigh* Oh well. Maybe Ill head over to Savvy Club and poke around the vault.....

:-)
S

Classy Ponies!

In my seemingly never ending mission to be ready to head to the wonderful and warm South, I got my ponies some excellent outerwear to *hopefully* curb their Canadian Woolies.

Courtesy of my friend and fellow Parelli student S, who co-owns Manely Horses, I found some very awesome purpley and stripey fleecey coolers, and a lovely black and almost lavender rain sheet for Mo, and a wonderful tealy blue one for Indy. They both look so classy and mega-rock-star like in their new swanky gear!

Heres hoping they leave them on and dont let the others rip them to shreds..... !

:-)
S

PS: How nice is it that when I opened the back door BOTH of my ponies came over. Not just Mo, who has formed a nice habit of coming over when I call her, but her darling Aloof Highness herself came over too, and waltzed right into the barn. How excellent is that? Loverly!

Planning!!

WELL! Lots has been going on! Planning is going into overdrive as I am getting ready to go back down to Florida again! My program at the Florida Parelli Ranch starts on February 14th, so I have *some* time to plot and plan, but for the most part I want to get things squared away as soon as I can.

If all goes well, I will be taking both Mo and Indy with me, to keep Mo at the ranch with me and lease out Indy or board her off property.

Currently both ponies are doing excellently. We have been doing some playing in the soy bean field as the weather allows [which isnt often] and visited my friends new indoor for the first time yesterday. Mo was a trooper, shes been indoors before, Indy was a little right brain, but came down very nicely.

Let the plots commence!

:-)
S