Summer Solstice: July 2008

Thursday 31st July

Just literally go and play for a few mins, do all the games but work on change of direction, circling and also driving from Z4 with DHQ and FQ yields. Have family up at the moment so grab moments with the horses between doing stuff with them and also between rain showers! Hope weather gets better now in August ;-)

Friday 25th July

Today started out misty and damp but soon turned into a very fine, hot day. I had a few chores to do in the morning but went and got Solly at around 1pm. He played very well and so I saddled him and went out into the new playfield to play with his saddle on. I moved all my play things to a lower grazing field as our regular playfield doesn't get grazed and the grass is above my knees and very hard to walk around in let alone see the jumps and barrels all around. lol.

So, saddled in the Wintec Wide with the XXXXW gullet in (the largest one) with two prolite shims in, I made sure we tested it's balance online with lots of trot/canter circles, sideways and jumping over some make shift jumps I put up. The saddle didn't slip at all so I mounted.

I made sure I had LF and DHQ and then we went and played with the trotting poles, we did the poles then DHQ nicely and went back in the other direction, this went really well, I think he liked doing them ;-)

Sol and the trotting poles

Then I put out five cones, four as corners of a square and one in the middle of these as a comfort spot. We did a game that we tried at Jackie's course a few weeks ago, circle outside cones (as a circle, not a square) and when this goes well in walk go to the middle comfort cone. Then do it in the opposite direction, then do it at trot both ways, all on a casual rein with carrot stick for support. Well we had a little trouble getting the circle but once we got it we did the other tasks. I like this task as it gives me a focus and also a definitive release, this also helps Solly too. Have to practise it as I have to get used to putting the CS on my shoulder and using the reins with one hand which I find awkward...but practise makes perfect!

Solly and me doing the circle around cones task

Then hubby Mark rode Sol for a bit, walk, trot and canter and did very well with him. Sol really looked like he was enjoying himself. He did so well I stopped the session there and took him back to the house for a good wash. We're going to a Parelli Play day with some fun dressage tomorrow so I thought he could do with being a bit cleaner but wasn't sure how he would take to the hose.

I shouldn't have worried, he loved the hose and warm water, even drank some and tried his best to get me totally wet too ;-) lol. All in all it was a very good day.

Sol enjoying his warm shampoo & shower

Sol playing and drinking the water, he's such a clown sometimes. lol

Thursday 24th July

So after not really playing with Sol yesterday I had the morning free so went out early and he caught me whilst still grooming Stormy our big grey Shire. When he decided it was time to PLAY with Stormy I haltered him and drove him to another part of the field.

Today he was quiet, calm and as I don't normally play in the mornings this early he probably was taken by surprise. lol. ;-))

I did some prelim games to see where he was this morning and then got down to what I wanted to do today: Circling change of direction/Circling Transitions/Sideways without a fence. These are the L2 things I'm concentrating on at the moment.

His circling was a bit lazy so I put in some change of directions (not got good ones yet but practising, he's better at these when he's got better impulsion). He then got a bit fizzy so I played around with transitions from trot, walk, trot and then when he got lazy again I either put in a change of direction or canter transitionsOR BOTH. This really kept him on his toes. At one point he just stood looking at me and wouldn't budge so I worked on a better draw and then backing up following my belly button so that he did serpentines backup and draw. Then I went back to the circles and we finished on a very good note.

After a long dwell time and the friendly game swatting flies off him I took Sol to the 50' roundpen I've set up in the paddock. We played a few games at liberty: extreme friendly; porcupine back, FQ, HQ; Driving game HQ; circling at trot left & right; sideways, only two steps right and left but very good sideways.

He had done so well I left it at this point, taking him out of the roundpen at liberty using lead by the lower lip. He stood DHQ for me while I put the gate back on the pen and then I let him go back to the herd. It was a good lesson for me....get up earlier, play without too much heat or flies and don't be predictable!

Wednesday 23rd July

Today I went out to play friendly with all our 5 horses and to see if Solly wanted to play...well he did but only at liberty. He had lots of fun playing the circling game with me and our paddock has a big hill in it so I only played this with him for a while and then Tara came and caught me so I played with her instead ;-)

Monday 21st July

Pic of Sol from Jackie's course, isn't he cute!

Last week we had Rain, Rain, Rain and it's been such a HOT day today I managed to play with 3 of our horses. The flies were ridiculous and really annoying us, especially the horse flies or clegs as they're called up here in Scotland. I was killing so many off of poor Solly but I think it's giving us a good bond...he twitches, I kill fly, he's happy! ;-) lol

So, this morning I played with him in the grazing field. He did very well with backing up off of phase 1, just a finger. Backed up straight and serpentines with head down, he's really good and getting really light with this exercise. His circling on a hill at trot for 4 laps was very good, only a couple of stops. Sideways without a fence is improving well and he really enjoyed all the friendly games as it helped rid him of flies.

Brought him to the house and saddled him with Stormy's saddle. This is a Wintec Wide and I had the XXXW gullet in it. I used 2 shims at the front to keep the saddle balanced and this really helped give Solly's shoulders when moving LOTS of space. Think I may have finally found a good way to saddle this boy...he's got HUGE shoulders that move about 4-5" back when he's moving. His left shoulder goes back a bit more than the right one too, so hopefully this way of saddling (which Jackie Chant helped me with) will really help him be able to move well without the saddle hitting his shoulders.

Solly in Stormy's big saddle, may even try it on the XXXXW gullet with 3 shims!! see how that is, won't ride if unbalanced or liable to slip!

Anyway, walked him up to our playfield, this is safer at the moment as the estate has about 3000 young pheasants in pens up the road and I don't want to freak Sol out when going past them. In the playfield we played lots of circling on the move, jumped two log jumps, stood on the pedastal, played squeeze/circle along a fence and put some yo-yo's along a fence in too. Then played with figure of eight around two cones which we got some really nice change of direction at trot with. Sol was really locked onto my energy and what we were doing and it felt good.

So, I went into the large 100' roundpen and mounted. Did some walk around the rail, changed direction with Indirect/Direct rein movements, then some yin yang manoevers too. Going well so we upped it into trot and did more yin yang changes of direction and also some ride the rail/go into sideways along the rail moves. Sol did well, his attention went at first but slowly as I kept changing direction he locked back onto me.

Next we went out of the 100' roundpen and into my 20m x 40m open arena and I took more concentrated reins to attempt the prelim 10 dressage test I've been practising with my other level's horse Tara. He again was a bit 'lost' to start with, kept him between my reins and legs and he got the idea okay. The test went okay, just kept it in trot for now and once he concentrated on what I was asking he was okay. It's pretty difficult up in our playfield as the grass hasn't been grazed and is very long, when I was walking around it was above my knees and hard to step through so I was very pleased with my boy today.

After this I trimmed his feet and he was a very good boy then too ;-))

Sat 12th July

Today I went out and played some good games with Sol, he was very up for playing, responsive and calm. I tried out backing up serpentines with his head down and he remembered that from the course and did it very well. His circling was good and also his backup from just a finger, no wiggling, was excellent.

I then got on a rode him, doing plenty of DHQ, FQ yields, making sure I stopped with lightness on phase 1. We also did some freestyle circling around barrels making patterns with circles and straight lines in walk and trot. I didn't go to canter today.

My friend and I then went towards home and took a short hack around the forest here. Sol was a bit hesitant going onto the forest track and I made sure my reins were shorter so that I could keep in contact with him if necessary. Walked fine for a short while and then he saw a deer in the long grass, I didn't see it at all but he did and he spun 180 degrees to the right. I lost my position slightly but managed to stop him and I did a LF and got off. He was a bit high headed but we just walked home together without much fuss. I didn't get back on as I knew where we were riding is known for flying pheasants. This estate is just so unpredictable that I don't want to blow Sol and my confidence and if we get some great riding in our play field that's good enough for now.

Wed 2 - Sun 6th July

Parelli L2/L3 course with 3* PNH Instructor Jackie Chant

held in Fife

This was a fabulous opportunity for me and Solly to go to a wonderful Parelli instructor for 5 days of intensive study. Jackie Chant is a very very experienced PNH instructor and I found her easy to understand, easy to get along with and easy to fire questions at as I had quite a few about Solly for her. She helped me understand Sol better, his Horsenality and his behaviours and also helped give me more techniques and strategies to keep his and my confidence but also to be able to progress with our study together. Loved the course and hopefully will go again to her next year when she comes over again from New Zealand.

Here is a very rough, general idea of what went on through those 5 days:

1) Wed 2nd

Learning about teaching phase, controlling phase, reinforcing phases of learning. One oz on the rein, 2oz in your leg, 4oz of rhythmic pressure. Expect a lot, accept a little, reward often and knowing the difference between 'Tolerate, Give (weighs more than 4oz), Yield (weighs 4oz or less), and Turn Loose (weightless).

Also the Parelli forumula for learning, strategies to help with confident horses and unconfident ones. To remember to teach first at a walk (low energy), then teach it again at trot (medium energy) and then again at canter (high energy) and to always remember to finish on a Phase 1!!! So, yoyo with just a straight non-wiggling finger. Another strategy was using the falling leaf for getting the horses energy up and/or down.

It amazed me at how quickly Sol learned once he got it. Fab stuff.

Solly was very unconfident and worried today, about his herd (Tara is grazing with him but not out in the learning field), the other strange horses around, the place and also in me as a leader. I have to get him listening to me politely before he can learn so the start of play really is to build his confidence first and foremost.

3) Thurs 3rd

This day we learned how to keep neutral but with energy in our body! hard concept but Jackie explained this really well. We did quite a few energy simulations with other students and it was quite amazing how our energy affects others, keeping control of energy is an art form.

We also did one rein riding (LF, DHQ and Backup) and learning fluidity techniques such as being in time, balance and harmony with the horse. I also realised after Jackie and friend Sue told me that my riding position is bad, I lean too far back and have learned to collapse my lower back and shoulders. I'm going to work hard on getting these things better and once I put myself in more of a 'classical postion' Solly went better and more forward for me.

Today Sol's confidence was a little better, he was calling out to Tara less and trying hard to be with me more.

3) Fri 4th

We learned the main PNH ideals which are: First is the relationship with the horse, then the 4 savvies and then to be progressive. Strong stuff and good to remember.

We also learned about how to 'seek lightness' and 'accept the good'. With that in mind we talked about preparation and prerequisites for liberty, which are:

a) Low phases *

b) Slack in the rope

c) Very good HQ yield

d) Established draw, draw at low phases *

e) All 7 games going well

f) Confident (at all 7 games)

g) Control of energy

h) Rapport - wanting to be with you

i) Horse confident @ distance *

(* = main criteria: low phases, with good draw with horse confident at distance)

We practised this in play with the horses, getting all the criteria good with the halter on and then doing the same with the halter around the neck only. The idea was to get a good balance between the draw and drive and we did lots of things to help this ie. extreme friendly in all zones with all energies, porcupine head to a LF to smell tail, following a feel at walk, trot and backup, needle desensitization and following a feel with a rope around the front leg.

In the afternoon we learned more about impulsion and patterns to help with that. We need to get our whoa to = our go. As impulsion = emotional collection or fitness then we have to help our horses with their emotions to be able to help their impulsion. Impulsion isn't IMPULSIVENESS, on a scale of 0 = slow and 10 = very fast we're trying to get a good 5 from our horses so that they stop and start on the lowest of phases positively.

The impulsion patterns included: Point 2 point, bulls eye, yin yang, bow tie, hour glass, clover leaf, corners game, ride the rail and question box games. Jackie also explained about taking 'X' with us so we have a place of comfort anywhere.

d) Sat 5th

Talked about L3 groundskills: 7 games, 5 zones, 4 savvy's, 3 distances (12' 22' 45'), 3 energies (slow, medium, fast/purity of gait), 4 gaits (walk, trot, canter, gallop). We also learned more about leadership and how to give and take that, to hold until soft and not to pull on ropes.

We learned some great rope skills and how to really get a quick efficient phase 4 with ropes on a fence.

In the afternoon we did some yoyo along fences in Zones 3, 4 & 5. Solly did these well after a bit of confusion but Jackie used him as a demo horse and she really helped me see how to manage him with his unconfidence in new things and then his confidence and slight dominance when he knew what to do ;-)

We then did ridden circles around the round pens and then afterwards around just 4 barrels without a rail to cling to. Sol did okay at this but it took quite a bit of time for him to understand what I wanted and then when I changed area and did it with 4 cones we had to start from scratch again. We did get it in trot well and this is when Jackie helped me with my riding position a bit.

Today also was about canter dynamics, how to set the horse up for canter leads and Jackie rode Solly as we did two canters and both times he decided to get unconfident/dominant with learned behaiours, he put his head down and started striking out with his front legs. I got a bit unconfident and asked Jackie to help which she did and she gave me great strategies and new techniques to get Sol and I through this. I now know what to do, when to do it and why I'm doing it. Great to have that knowledge. I must also remember that if it worries me with bucking or striking out while being ridden then to get off and do DHQ and FQ yields on the ground until their soft and light and then say 'OK we need to do this - now where were we' and continue from where we were before the issue happened. Also to allow him to play online but to shut down any unwanted behaviours as this can be exactly where these behaviours start, sort them out, smile and continue.

e) Sun 6th

Today was all about equality of flexion for the horse. Learning about how the horse should be on circles and how to help them when they're not equal in their bodies when turning. "Do in our body what we want our horse to do in his". We also learned about the ribs and how to set up canter leads well with patterns like leg yield and the bow tie.

Jackie also gave us a great talk about saddling and the new Parelli saddles. Most of us also got her to check our saddles on our horses and I realised that Sol's saddle fits 'regularly' and would be fine but throuhg PNH and my studies I realised that this wasnt' good for him, it was a bit tight when he moved and that I need to sell this saddle and get him a Wintec Wide like my other horses and shim for the fit. This would then give him great room for his big shoulders when moving when being ridden. I am in the process of selling this new saddle now and will use Tara or Storm's saddles for him and see how he goes.

We also saw some of the Parelli 'Saddling' dvd where horses have grids painted on their backs, it was amazing to see just how much a horses back, withers, muscles, ribs etc MOVE...huge! no wonder most saddles that fit when the horse is static don't help them!

In the afternoon we did things with our horses like, backing and over to help with collection and to get the horses weight off their forehand. Solly again was used as a demo horse and Jackie was showing how to get the horse back and over with it's HEAD LOWERED....not tried that before and Sol, once he learned this was fab. We also did backing and into serpentines from Z1, getting the horse to follow our bellybutton with his two eyes. Very interesting task. Sol was great at doing this with backup and with me backing up and him following too. Fab. This is something Jackie said to do maybe for 10 mins a day to help get weight onto HQ's and also to help build lateral muscles.

Next Jackie showed us how to ride a circle and to ask for sideways onto a bigger circle (a good way to teach leg yield) and Sol was okay with this but sometimes a bit bracy so we did quite a few DHQ's, move the FQ's until light again. Really enjoyed this task.

By the end of the week Sol was much calmer, relaxed and having fun with the learning experience. I was more confident in leading him about, playing with him and realising what I need to do to help him find relaxation so that we can both stay confident and progressive.

I really really enjoyed myself and know that there's a wonderful horses trying hard to come out in Solly and I will continue to progress his training as much as possible. Unfortunatley this week it's raining but it's good for Sol and I to lick and chew with all our new found knowledge. I look forward to playing and riding him again soon, for now here are some piccie's from the course...