Last Day of Week One :-(

One whole week has already flown by. How sad :-( I have learned so much and it is slowly sinking into my brain.... slowly. I will have to read all of this again when I get home to remind myself of several things.

Today was Leadership day. Kathy gave us an excellent presentation on leadership and what it means in each different horsenality AND we charted ourselves for personality to compare to what our horses are. Me and Mo are both LBE with a few LBI tendencies - AND I found out I am imulsive so that might be a lead on some of our ocaisional impulsion issues... how interesting! [oh boy!]

During remuda today we were with our LBE group again - what a fun crew! I am so proud to have actually had the confidence to jump into the extrovert group, and BE an extrovert. I love it. We talked about mirroring and energy and about Linda's lesson yesterday with the energy holding in the core and then we did simulations with a partner to mirror. I partnered with Iris and off we went - I got to lead first. Being me, I took off at a 'canter' and played with flying lead changes and canter/halt transitions - at first my partner was ehind but then she kept up really well - reading and mirroring me as I did what I did. Then it was her turn and I think I did a poorer job of keeping up with her - how interesting! So when I did finally get out with Mo I was really conscious of staying WITH her and not a step ahead or behind when I was trying to mirror her.

I was able to get my hands on some Sneak E Snacks today for Mo. She is very much a food monger and would be very easy to turn into a cookie monster, in fact I almost did today before I got it through my head that licking my pockets wasnt the best plan, no matter how funny/cute it was. She asked politely after that and started trying things to win a cookie instead of demanding one.

We also got to watch a trailer loading demo today by Kathy and a students horse named Shannon - a RBI. I dont know what the full story on her was, but we were asked for a non-extreme horse volunteer who just didnt consistently go into the trailer. We got to see just HOW MUCH waiting is needed for an introvert - and how much safety/comfort matters to a right brain horse - vs yesterdays demo with an left brain introvert. She was very much an obediant horse, a lot like Dakota on some days, and just sort of did things because she thought that was the right thing to do instead of actually wanting to do them. After Kathy played she offered a few really nice things and quit there - not even doing more than giving a really good confident lok into the trailer because ... guess what... ITS NOT ABOUT THE TRAILER!

After that Avery and her two horses Ahug and Akiss gave an inspirational trailer loading demo. These two huge belgain crosses [bakshir curly and paint respectively] went into the tiny two horse straight load in tandem. How cool!

And so my playtime begins.....

Mo met me at the gate, she usually does, and if she doesnt its because shes unsticking her head from out the window to get around the corner to come greet me. She has nickered at me every day for the last three days, almost every time I get up to her pen. SO COOL!! So haltered and armed with cookies, we took off down then lane and into the Enchanted Forest. I experimented with driving from zone four and five the whole way and learned a lot because one of the things that is hard for a left brain extrovert horse is giving up control of zone one [their nose, my dear C and T <3] SO being able to direct Mo's nose from allll the way back behind her was a fairly cool achievement since I couldnt do that a week ago!

Once inside the allocated area we pit stoppd at the first pond to see what would happen and I found out Mo wasnt really about offering things, and was really more interested in having her cookies. Hmm. Oky, well we moved on because she was getting unconfident about the whole water thing and I really dont want a horse afraid of water.

When we got to the bridge that crosses the creek I thought about needing a plan for oday and needing to engage my LBE horsey... well... one of the 'solutions' on my horsenality card for LBE's is backing! So I felt brilliant and decided to back Mo across the bridge. I found a rather large amount of hesitation and lack of confidence with things is zone five...[behind her] so that was really interesting to me, since I have no problems *personally* flopping all over her no matter the zone. I guess thats the difference between *things* and ..well, me! So there we are, zone five facing the incline [mild] for the bridge and Mo looking at me like " Are you crazy?! I cant back up this!" I took a second and actually thought about it to make sure I was reading her right, and that it was a mild unconfidence thing and not a snotty "yea right" thing. But nope, it was her not being ok [in a really mild manner] with things behind her, so I took a page from Kathy and WAITED. OMG do you know how hard it is for an extrovert to WAIT?? They have actually suggested a stop watch to time it - and I know I am guilty of the wait 5 seconds OK we're good, so I had my ipod and I listened to a song and waited for Mo to relax.

Lo and Behold, 3/4 of the way through the song Mo lowers her head and relaxes and licks and chews ultra over time. HOW INTERESTING! And then we back up another three steps and lather rinse repeat [ I swear I WAITED every single time and I am SO proud!] This went on until I got all four feet on the bridge [ that she has no problem crossing going forwards] and thats where I quit. Mo looked delighted and empowered and totally like "OH HEY thanks for waiting!" Which Ithought was really neat given her *usual* confidence with everything - which I now know is everything in FRONT of her.

By this point I am debating asking a faculty member about how to build confidence in zone 5 and as I am thinking it my brain is coming up with plans on its own so I didnt ask. I decided to devote today to mostly gaining that confidence by back and sidepassing up to things and wokring on backing up - since it was and has been sticky since I got here [dominance thing]

After crossing the bridge we went over to the honey comb in a sort of zig zag and appropriated the giant log to use as a confidence builder #1. Sidepassing Mo up against the log I found a big, ok well not big, but issue getting zone four to line up! How interesting. So I stop and think about this again. I realize [ok, admited] that in my sideways game zone 4 lags and I have not really ever addressed it, so now it is showing up here and it is unconfidence to go some where with zone four without leading with zone one first... hmm....

We worked with that for a bit until she was ok touching the log with her whole body and then went into an open round corral in the honeycomb. I set up two barrels in the figure eight pattern and thought about how to get creative and use backing so I went back to my attempt to back through the pattern. Hmm... V e r y s l o w l y things went at first, and I backed with her the whole time until I thought "I wonder if I can do this from farther away" and that went... well.. interestingly. I could get so far through the pattern and then she would get stuck and turn and face. SO then I went to our sadly underused backing by the tail. Mo picked THAT up in a *snap* and then we went ok through the pattern one and a hlaf times before she got bored and made up her own games.

*will finish later, have to catch my rid ein ten minutes!*

Morning with Linda Parelli!

Dearest C! And T! I am so very proud of your shiny new blog! <3

My adventures recently follow thusly:

Well this morning we got our very own up close and personal time with Linda Parelli. How very very cool. As an entire class [80 some odd people] we got to sit out in the [chilly] morning and watch a new savvy club dvd segment being filmed. With Linda. And two students with mismatched horsenality/personality problems. There was an extroverted person with an introvert horse and and introvert person with an extrovert horse. Very cool. I took a LOT [srsly, a TON] of things away that I can use with Dakota AND Indy.

For Dakota : I need to do less than him, I need to bring my energy waaaay down, I need to engage his mind with subtlety and intrigue instead on just slamming him with a phase four.. and lots of other things I need to soak on.

For Indy: I need to also bring my energy waaaay down. I need to be particular and make her feel SAFE so she doesnt have to go to the blowing up place. Because that is never fun. Safety is a very big thing with her. So I need to make very sure to deal with that.

Today I realised how very much Mo needs to move her feet. As an extrovert she likes to move [sometimes!] and as a left brain horse she is innately very very confident. We have been discussing the ways a horse can be confident and there are five areas : As a Learner, in Themselves, in a Herd, in their Environment, and in me as a Leader. In herself as a horse she is innately incredibly confident. In a herd she is also very very confident – enough so that it makes her a loner by choice on most occasions. In her environment she is most often pretty confident, as shown by the way she walks off a trailer acting like she owns the new place. That leaves her confidence as a learner and in me as a leader. Hmm. I would say that as a learner she is mostly confident but is peppered with mild unconfidence if she doesn’t get it right away. In me as a leader Mo is petty happy. She likes to test me every day, but not to hard, most days we have a working partnership.

SO! As an essentially 98% confident horse, she is happy to move around and explore everything – not run around scared out of her wits! Indy would be the run around scared out of her wits, and I am learning a ton about how to help her and redirect her. Mo needs direction though to. Creative and constructive direction that doesn’t hold criticism for her and her flamboyant self.

If you know Mo, you know she is a total goober and likes to run around flailing happily and hopefully not tripping over her own four feet. On several separate occasions she has so far [in four days] tripped over her own feet, on FLAT ground and almost fallen flat on her face. One time she almost did a nose dive off of a bridge. Hysterical laughter ensued. Sorry Mo.

So today I was making a big effort to observe her since I have sort of gotten the OMG PARELLI LAND LETS PLAY out of my system and I can focus now *coughextrovertcough* I was watching her, and waiting for any lacking in confidence in her part, and I really didn’t see any outside of the pond. She was happy to walk everywhere and even offered up a trot regularly. So we played and I tried different things and I changed it up. We went first into a round corral in the honey comb of the enchanted forest playground to practice our sadly lacking liberty skills. A friend had just shared some horsey cookies with me so Mo was uber enthusiastic!

We played at liberty for a good while, working on yo-yo, sends on the circle, trying a squeeze over barrels [not so good] backing by the tail [SUCCESS!] and sideways – which is getting better! I am getting better at regulating my energy so its not a SEND but a sideways… you know? It was really cool at one point I was standing in front of her and making the sideways motions in my body, crossing my legs over and things and then Mo started MIRRORING my legs with her front legs! How cool!

After that we clipped a line on and went out.. OH WAIT I FORGOT THE COOLEST THING!!

Going into the honey comb, there is a gate obviously, but also, sporadically around the biggest ring there are tree logs of varying sizes that you can opt to jump… WELL!! Mo JUMPED the BIGGEST one SEVERAL times!!! This tree was BIG !!!! maybe up to my waist or so. And she did it.. I was soooo floored… so proud. I couldn’t believe it! And she did it more than once with a very tiny send, it was like she offered it at the lightest suggestion!

My darling darling amazing cool horse jumped this monster log again on our way out and patiently waited for me and my uncoordinated self to clamber over the giant log. Finishing with the round pen we headed over to the different logs, jumping our way over to the back pond where we played squeeze game until we got two feet just barely into the water and I left it at that. From there we went over to a large log circling our way there. When we got there we found a cool set of logs in a semi L shape. The long wide of the L was a short log and the short side was a tall log. I started circling and squeezing Mo over the different logs and then thought it would be cool to stand on the tall log that had a flat space to play. Well! As soon as I got up there Mo sidles up like “do you want to get on?” And it was so cute! I am not supposed to ride for these to weeks so I had to politely decline, but it was so sweet that she asked.

So we played circling and squeeze and tested our lightness and change of direction – because lets face it, there isn’t much room to maneuver on top of a log! Mo did me proud and was excellent. Maybe could have been a little lighter in the canter, but otherwise super great. So I walked around on my loggy loft and Mo kept playing around me until she got the point and we moved on again. Extroverts you know.

On our way we just happened by another side of the pond so we played more with the water and this time Mo went in!! She went all the way in and came back out, got a cookie and we moved on! Its not about the water!

Our next stop was two tractor sized tires lodged upright in the ground with a horse width between them as a squeeze set up. Being the maniac I am, after letting Mo investigate them, I climbed up onto one and got her circling around me. That was all well and good, until I decided to up the ante and get a change of direction from my seat. Shouldn’t be to hard right? Given that I was just working on that? It wasn’t, not technically, but I wanted the change to run through between the tires. Hmmm!!! Mo thought that was really interesting! AND it took her more that five seconds to understand the game! Whoo!

After she figured it out – not to much longer- I realized it was time for the seven games workshop in the honey comb and went back over there to watch and listen. There were bunches of horses inside so Mo and I just watched outside. They were working on friendly game when I got there, so we watched that … er, I watched that and Mo grazed! Then porcupine game, where Avery talked about moving the front and hind end etc.. so when experiment time came I decided to see how my lead by the leg was. Well darnit if it wasn’t really light!! I was so proud of Mo! I tried her back legs then, with my carrot stick/savvy string around her back legs to test that one. She was distracted eating so at first it was not so good but then I got her attention and she did it amazingly – and THEN when I stopped she didn’t even want to start grazing again because I had been INTERESTING!!

When they got into driving game I was noticing how I was really really thirsty and how Mo kept licking me [srsly, constantly!] so I moseyed my way back over to the lodge ish area. On the way there was a bridge traffic jam so while I waited my turn I went over and played follow the weird white birdies. Hopefully such exercises will prevent them “ OMG KILLER BIRDS” issue while riding! Crossing the bridge has never been as issue with Mo, and when I get the chance I want to play with backing over it.

At the lodge area, still on the playground side I realized I had a problem.. no hitching rail and Mo isn’t allowed indoors. Hmm… luckily there is a round corral right there, and since they don’t want us leaving horses unattended, there was thankfully a few people there that I asked if they could watch Mo for me and they agreed. It was only a few minutes while I grabbed a cup of water, but I appreciate it none the less!

Mo is so adorable, she watched and followed me when I left and then through the big windows, and then got all happy looking when I came back out. Awwww!!

Once I finished my water, I noticed the big green ball in this particular round corral, so I went over to get it [Mo at liberty] Mo came about halfway then found some interesting sand and ignored me so I just started bouncing the ball around her doing approach and retreat etc.. Another horse who was scared of the ball came in and her owner took advantage of my bouncing to help her horse approach and retreat enough to get her nose on the ball! How awesome! After enough retreating for Mo, I decided that her look wasn’t an “umm Im not sure” look but a “ Pfft… I do do balls” I walked right up to her with it and started bouncing right next to her. That didn’t bother her so I bounced it high and sat it on her back for about ten seconds before I couldn’t contain my self any longer I had to hug her and tell her how awesome she was!

After that grand finale with the ball we moseyed out of the playground to get Mo a drink – she has finally found the world of molasses water, and it took her literally seeing another horse drinking out of it right in front of her to convince her it wasn’t a poison attempt! What a goofball. Now she [well today] only drinks the molasses water.

After getting a drink we moseyed back around and encountered Carmen and the Killer Golf Cart! Mo’s reaction isn’t your typical OMG reaction when you think of a horse being afraid, but it was an OMG for her so we went over to visit Carmen and investigate the cart and convince Mo it wouldn’t eat her. In fact she tried to eat it. Whoo! Even when Carmen drove away we were able to follow her, with me driving from zone 4/5. Cool stuff. I have been practicing my driving a lot more now I find, and we are getting pretty good!

We tried the pond one more time, making it more of a circling game and Mo went in awesome and pretty deep to, playing and splashing around. After that it was pretty late so we walked around, met up with Iris and dried up our horses in the sun and then brought them back to their pens and went for supper before going home to J’s for the evening.

Hopefully more tomorrow!

:-)
S

Days One and Two

And so it begins...
My course in Liberty and Horse Behaviour has begun!

Yesterday was all about reading the horse and the nature of the horse. We played with a game called me and my shadow. Well now! If I didnt discover that I personally own a green bucket fiend [thats what all the grain and cubes are fed in] While playing Me and My Sahdow the whole point of the game is to be able to hand over the 51% leadership to the horse and take the 49% for yourself, and just go with the flow and see what they do.

Mo took me on quite the adventure! We power walked everywhere for starters. And I mean POWER walked! We sped around, bucket to bucket up and down the lane of pens. At one point, one of the girls offered to go around and start blocking all the food buckets... well if Mo doesnt start RACING her to get to the buckets before her. It was HYSTERICAL!

Interesting to note that Once Mo got the idea that Her Supreme Highness was in charge, she WENT and was curious and a few times I had to say GAME OVER and get my leadership back up. That was interesting to note because I never realized how close to the surface her dominance was! So that was cool to learn. And her curiosity! About EVERYTHING! There are some shelter things the size of about a bigish standing stall and they are raised and she walked right into and out of several just exploring! Not so much for the claustrophobia that one!

So that was pretty much our day yesterday - Pat came to talk to us in the afternoon so we had less horsey time, but that was TOTALLY OK! He was explaining to us about the new intern/extern program and such that you can apply for. John gave another Q&A Session on it this afternoon which was really interesting.

So today was Horsenality day. We went into all the dfferent horsenalities and then were sent out armed to see what kind of horse had showed up today. So I went up to my pen to see which Mo I had to visit with today. Well, first she nickered at me, which is always a good Mo-sign. She also basically thrust her head into the halter so off we went. I sort of drove from zone three and sort of shadowed her out to the Enchanted Forrest.

Once there we went into one of the round corrals and I let her go to see what she would do. She sort of stuck by me so I experimented with what we could do. We can do sideways towards, yo-yo, driving and porcupine. I forgot to try squeeze - my bad. Then I tried our sideaways circle which went pretty well to!! Out on the circle she was really good, yesterday we got a canter/trot transition with just a minor finger point, and we were pretty much on the same page today. That was neat. And she kept LOOKING at me! Like "OH BOY! What are we doing now??" she trotted to me a bunch of times which was super awesome.

When we had the circling thing and bring back down ok we attempted sideways. And I say attempted because thats just what it was. It wasnt to pretty but I was able to get about four good steps each way and be really pleased with that and walk away. I learned that my send was to strong for sideways. I need to be more sublte and not yell so that she leaves completley. Very neat to play with that - her leaving flight line got smaller and smaller... very cool. So I snapped my 22' back on and we went out exploring in the playground.

There was supposed to be a workshop on a few things in different areas but I missed them because Mo went on adrenaline adventures! We cruised around and she went LBE adrenalized for a bit so we squeezed over a line of logs that made her think about her feet, then moved to a box jump, which she actually jumped, and I promise you it came to her chest! I was so proud! When we got off of that we went to a big tire filled with sand and Mo promptly put four feet on - nothing new for her really. OH! And also, there is a bridge - a real one made of wood - that you have to cross to get to this part of the playground and she crossed it like nothing the first time I asked. To cool.

So after the tire we went to a little bridgy thing on the ground, more like a plank type deal and she semi jumped it and stepped over it and across it again no problem, but a little adrenalized still, and not really coming down because horses around us were going right brain. There is a little round corral up in that corner so I decided to head in there. In there I took off my lead to see what she would do and started on a vircle. Well,real fast I got worried about Mo jumping the little panels because she kept looking at the other horses. So I strarted mirroring her again. And she did a total 180 and went ... what ARE you doing?>? And then she was with me and we walked out of the roundpen [online] and went around, still a little adrenalized, but now responding so we did grass point to points.

Eat some grass, trot or canter to here, eat some more grass. I usually put some logs in her way or something. Big ones. It was awesome watching her jump the giant logs at a tiny send and at a trot. Sometimes even a walk! So she was more in control of herself and reading my energy down part to go for grass so we headed back over the big round pen where the ball workshop was. They were playing ball soccer with the horses and people, the poeple having to stand still!

So when that semi ended I went in and got to play and that was cool. Mo was in a good mood. Then we went over to the hill playground just a little to two cavellti on the ground and played with energy up and down with grazing point to point over the caveletti. She got to where she would slide to a halt when my nergy went down and dive for grass! How cool!

Finally we had to go in for the night because it was dinner time. Then I ate dinner and now I sit here :-)

Will hopefully post some more tomorrow,
Gotta Run!
:-)
S

The beginning

Dearest C! I hope this finds you well,

Here I sit, in my new room for the six weeks, Pirates of the Caribbean playing in the back ground, contemplating how my journey has gone this far.

We left Russell on Thursday morning fairly early. [And I shall need to know your name…] The first hour and a half went great, then we hit the Canadian border. That was a little nerve wracking! My coggins test semi-technically expired on the 24th, since for travelling they are only good for six months – which I didn’t know until the day before I left practically, but my vet took another before I left, so its coming in the mail. Anyways, we thankfully got through, squeaked through really, and were on our way after about an hour.

Day one was good. We stopped and did the bathroom thing, the Arby’s thing and finally made it to our stop for the night. We stayed the night in Elizabethtown Pennsylvania. It was a great place and we met great people. Day two we were scheduled to meet another travelling companion so we got to dawdle around in the morning having breakfast and such before hitting the road. We didn’t get on the road until nearer to ten thirty. This turned to be a sort of negative thing because the mileage between PA and our stop on the NC/SC border was the longest leg of the trip. We didn’t pull in there until near to TEN PM!!! YIKES! To top that off we were having transmission problems to we had to go slow. The hills in PA/NY are killer!

So we made it to Sally’s Ark, which was fabulous [and then they made me their chief] Mo had a great snooze that night and was fair coated in shavings come morning. When it came time to leave, we left early for the last day of travel, and Mo loaded up like a complete champ. I adore my horsey.

The last day of travel went well, we made it in fourth gear all the way here, if a little slowly. At least we made it!! Mo unloaded here great and has been in a great paddock stretching her legs and napping alternately ever since.

Horse country around her is simply stunning. STUNNING I tell you. If I get a chance I will photograph it all! We saw palm trees on the roads on the drive down, that was fairly awesome to. I found Waldo! He is in fact a town in Florida! And I saw a town called Dumfries, and I found the original Brunswick [vs NEW Brunswick LOL] Also saw New Carolton, which made me giggle and think of Tanya.

My hostess is amazing, and I cant wait to be able to talk more with her! She is so so so nice, and [I think] we get along great. Dad and I took her and her husband Ralph out to dinner last night, it was a really good time! So, anyone looking to come down for a course here, I HIGHLY recommend staying at J’s Place – contact me if you need contact info! I obviously cant guarantee she will have space, but you can try! J

Dad and I did some grocery shopping this morning – after accidentally getting lost down the road with some of the most beautiful horse places I have ever seen – so my fridge/cupboard space here now looks exactly like it does at home – Poptarts [my sundae ones!] orange juice, and milk. Joy!

There are TONS of tack stores around here, and the mercantile at the Parelli centre [ you seem somewhat familiar, have I threatened you before?] so I am so totally pumped to go SHOPPING!!!

Hmm… what else…. [hows your footwork?] OH! At the Florida Ag stop [which I was also panicking about] I made friends! ME! Who never talks to anyone I don’t know, who is SHY – but I saw rope halters on the horses in the trailer so I got brave and asked if they were headed to the ISC and they were! So that was awesome and we got to follow them most of the way through Florida, so that was spectacular. [Or, perhaps the reason you practice three hours a day is that you have already found one, but are otherwise incapable of WOOING said strumpet…. You’re not a eunuch are you?]

So now I am just waiting for my AMAZINGLY GRACIOUS hostess to get back from an errand she had this morning because she said she could trailer Mo over to the centre for me since my truck is sort of done being usefull until I can get it to a garage and get it fixes [PIRATE] So that is so nice of her.

I cant think of anything else to add right now so I will add later!
:-)
S

Last Update...Probably...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ok, back to work!

I will post as soon as I can :-)

S

She CANTERED to Me!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

:-)
S

*Happy Birthday To Me*

Its my birthday today and its been a total rollercoaster week! In a really awesomely good way!

NEWS #1: CANADIAN BORDER BAN ON FLORIDA HORSES IS LIFTED!!! MO IS GOING TO FLORIDA WITH ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now the rush is on to get all paperwork accomplished before next thursdays departure day!

NEWS # 2: My Cradle came last night! Perfect timing for my birthday present to me! And, in a delightful true LOL moment, when I tried it on Mo I realized just how LARGE her cuddley cranium is.... I had punched an extra hole in her headstall to prepare for the high cheek peices even though she was on the second hole from the top - from all accounts extra holes have been needed..... Well not for MO! Miss I Have A Giant Head fits the Cradle PERFECTLY on the top hole that was already there. New holes for nothing. Oh well! At least I did a good job on centreing them and they look good :) I only got to ride in it for twenty seconds bareback because I was late but Mo thought it was really cool and I got forehand isolation which never happens! Needless to say, I am ultra uber excited to play with this in the next WEEK [omg] before I leave and then again down in Ocala!

So that was my thirty second last night, the night before was awesome to! I played with Mo on the ground, trying to maintain high engery without going to the right-brain place and was pretty successfull! I tried to look at my obstacles in new ways, and be as soft as possible and try new things... it all went really well! When I mounted, I was just sitting on her bareback because I had been circling her from standing on a barrel and she offered to sidepass over. I decided to see how my bridless was going and unclipped my 22' and we proceded to wander all over the ring!

I tried to emulate what I did last weekend at Shirley's weaving around and through and over everything to keep Mo interested and it really worked! We even cantered around, which is something we have been having trouble with only at home in the front ring because of scary trees. So that was a big deal!

Even cooler, it was the first time I could tell my aunt about being able to take Mo afterall, so when she got home and I was riding, me and Mo went over to the gate, opened the gate [still bridless!] closed the gate and TROTTED over to the house, onto the patio and up to my aunt so I could tackle her with the great news! AND Mo was totally with me when I dismounted and stuck right by me the whole time at liberty!! YEYYYY

That was the first time we were outside of a fenced area bridless. Unless you count being in the 25 acre pasture, which I dont since thats Mo's home turf as it were, and is not potentially scary. The whole escapade felt completely safe and controlled and was wonderful! I was so proud!!!

SO! RECAP!

1. Mo IS going to Florida
2. My Cradle came in! [C3 for m'dear Mo if you are curious]
3. Bridless gate opening!
4. Its my birthday and Im watching Greys with my sister T and cousin C tonight! Yey!
5. Mo and I are going to another playday at Shirley's on Sunday with Suzie and Blue! And hopefully Shirley and Jeanette to!
6. Hopefully going to tape some of my Level 2 on Sunday!
7. I am NOT panicing to get everything ready for leacing in a week... NOT....promise
8. Stay tuned for Mo's adventures in Florida! I can guarantee she will ham it up!

Cant wait to be there!!!! Our Liberty needs serious help, thank goodness for LIBERTY & Horse Behaviour!

:-D
S