September 2008

Tuesday 30th September

Well, September has flown by for me. Not sure where it all went! lol. So thought I'd make the most of the last day before October and moseyed on out to the playfield. Opened the door and again all 6 horses come in for a graze, this has become a nice habit and they know that it's only for a short time and are very calm and happy to be in this nice field.

Solly plays with me a bit today, he runs off and pretends to move Tara about so I just mosey on around, stopping now and then to pet another horse or look at some grassey bit. I can see he's looking at me wondering what I'm doing. When I get to him he just catches me and has a nice scratch before haltering and playing friendly game.

I then make sure his DHQ's and move FQ's are good and yo-yo's too. Today I up the stakes and ask for a bit more speed with the yo-yo which he does nicely. Then I take him over to the new pedastal that we just made. Had one in the old field but had been using the tractor tyres in a jump for a while but decided one was needed as a pedastal again, I've left the other one without filling it so that I can see if Solly will put his foot into it calmly!

So, would he remember how to stand on the pedastal? YUP he did.

Sol christening the new pedastal

Then I asked for the new L3 pattern of all 4 feet on the pedastal, he did it after a bit of thinking of how to get all 4 feet up there! lol. I leave him up there for a few minutes so that it soakes in a bit. He looked so cool up there so I decided to try for his 4 and my 2 feet together on the pedastal.

All 4 feet on the pedastal

Then 6 feet on the pedastal! lol

After a rest I play a bit more circling, over the tarp and jumps, trying to get him more on the end of the 22' line and also trying to have him use more impulsion. After doing this I decide that he needs to have a bit more play and friendly with having Z5 near things so after he does a jump I ask for him to back up and put Z5 near the jump. He has quite a bit of trouble with this, often looking about and sometimes going askew with his HQ's. So I slow things down big time for him and only ask for a thought of movement first. Then I ask for a try of a step and then after lots of rests and retreats I ask for a step, rest, step, rest, step until he is nearly touching the fence with his back legs. I rest here with him for a long time and then retreat far away and let him graze for a while.

Sol trotting over the tarp

Asking Sol to backup and put Z5 by the fence

After doing this I go into the roundpen and decide that it's time to try to ask for more canter with his circling. He often doesn't put a lot of effort into keeping gait so I decide that if he changes gait I will use change of direction to impulse him to keeping canter more. I'm only asking for one lap in canter but he just doesn't keep it. Using COD worked a bit but it did break our COD for a while and I had to go back to testing it with the fence to get it back, I also had to get our friendly game back as I challenged this for him too. I managed to leave it on a good note, COD back and cantering a little better. Will have to work on this one over time, carefully and consistantly. Any change like this challenges Sol's confidence in what we do and it often takes a little set back to move forward.

Having taken a big rest after the canter circlings I saddle up (with 3 cinches as usual) and mount up. It was a bit windy and I was a little distracted by a few pheasants running around the field so I keep Solly away from them and work on trying to get figure 8's Freestyle. It's difficult as the cones I was using were part of the weaving session I do and I think this confused him SO I take him to where the small cross jump and the hay jump are and use those to go around. It gets a bit better but again this needs work to get it so that I don't use the reins so much.

I then do the trotting poles with him and then go over to the 100' roundpen and decide that I want to do a full circle cantering around the outside of the pen. He does it third time going to the left and first time going to the right. I stop everytime he does what I ask and rest him and leave it on a good note, dismount and take him out of the playfield.

Before going up to the house I decide to do some desensitization of his mouth and try to hold his tongue. His tushes (canine teeth) are very big and I'm worried about getting bitten trying to hold his tongue so I just play LOTS of friendly game with his mouth, gums, teeth and tongue and then play friendly with my Savvy Sting in his mouth. Everytime I try to get the string near his mouth his head jerks up so I really go slowly, get his head down and towards me in LF and when he touches the string I move it away. Eventually he takes the string a couple of times nice and calmly so I leave it there and will keep trying this everyday for as long as it takes. I don't want to put the bit back in until he can take the string with savvy.

Up at the house I again do the trailer patterns. Touch it with his nose, sniff the ramp, sideways around it, sideways to it. He does much better today and I'm pleased with our progress. After all this I let him graze give him a big apple and then trim his feet.

Monday 29th September

Today is going to rain in the afternoon so I scoot out and do a couple of changes to the playfield. I take away the tractor tyres from the tyre jump, set up the smaller tyres on top of eachother to make a good jump but take the tractor tyres nearer the river so that I can fill one with stones and sand to make a pedastal. This takes about an hour but then I go and ask Sol to catch me so that we can play.

I play online today checking to see if he can do everything I usually ask of him but with me holding the end snap of the 22' line. He does very well, jumping jumps, over the tarp, circling on the move etc. I am going to start with the 45' line soon so am making sure our communication over distances is good before I do that.

I saddle him but had forgotten my riding hat so we mosey on up to the house and I decide to do the L2 trailer patterns from the new Parelli Patterns books. First I ask him to go sideways both ways around the trailer with Z1 on the trailer. He does this pretty well. I then ask him to sideways up to it with Z3 next to the trailer. This he has a bit of trouble with so I only ask him to take a small step at a time and relax when I see he's worried. He slowly gets a little closer and I end that on a good note.

Sol sideling up to trailer

Next I open up the ramp of the trailer and ask him to sniff the ramp which he has no problems with. I next ask him to put two feet up on it, back up again and then ask for a few squeezes over the ramp. He does all of these things calmly and in walk so again I end the session there.
I was going to ride out but the heavens open up and rain calls off any more play. Good session though and I'm glad I'm getting the pedastal sorted, I've missed it.

Sunday 28th September

Not bad weather to start with today so Mark and I went out to play. Solly catches me when we call them all to the playfield and I play Online for a while.

Circling on the move at walk/trot/canter, jumping, yo-yo's, weaving around cones, over the tarp at trot. Oh and we had a good session with the ball. Solly goes up to it with confidence and kicks it about now so I asked him to take it out of the arena and back to where I store it, he did it quite well, had to stop and back him up a few times as not having a fence out of the arena was different. Got it back to where it should be so it was good to put a purpose to ball playing! lol

It was just a short play as I was riding Tara today so went and played with her too. Good day with Solly though and it was good to touch in with him as yesterday we were out so I didn't get to play.

Friday 26th September

Weather is good and again I go out and think about playing at liberty in the big field as it was so much fun yesterday and Mark wanted to video it for me. First I opened the gate and all 6 horses came straight away. Solly again hung about near me so this was a good start.

All can be seen on the Liberty video which I have now uploaded to the A) MOVIES section found on the right hand side menu bar.

Thursday 25th September

Felt a little tired today so decided to just go out and be with the horses in the afternoon. Regularly when I've been playing with Sol I've opened up the gate to the playfield and all the horses come in and graze while we're playing. This has been good for the horses and good to know if Sol still wants to be with me when other horses are around. SO, today I go and open the gate and sit on a log and wait. Holly and Stormy come straight in and up to me and then go off to graze. Fortune and Solly come in next, Fortune goes off with Holly and Stormy and Solly just hangs near me. After a while I decide that maybe he wants to do something with me, he kept looking at me, and when I get up and go to him he immediately DHQ's and catches me for a scratch.

The opportunity for play was there so I took that opportunity. I came with my CS & SS but not halter or rope so playing at liberty was the idea today, after I thought I wouldn't play too! Sol is definitely up for being with me so that's great.

I firstly ask for him to 'stick to me' at walk, trot and back up. Great.

Then I ask for him to squeeze jump the tyre jump, both ways. Great.

Then I run over to the tarp and stop next to it, he follows. Great.

I then walk purposefully over the tarp, he follows. Great.

We rest.

I take him over to the log and he sidles up to it so I ask for sideways with the log under his belly like we've been doing online and guess what? HE DOES IT...GREAT.

We rest again.

Sol going over the log sideways at liberty!...so exciting

I then run over to the barrel jump and he decides to go around it. I ask him to DHQ and turn and face the jump the other way, he does. I ask him to jump it, he does. Great.

I then run over to the two cones to see if he will do the figure of 8 pattern....he DOES. GREAT.

I'm so over the moon that he followed me and did all that I asked with gusto and fun on his face.

After he did all of this I sat on the barrel and let him graze around me, he didn't leave and often looked up to see what I was doing! He's a very cool horse and I really feel a happy bond with him.

Wednesday 24th September

Today I went out and did basically what I did yesterday:

Online: circles, transition, jumps, sideways without a fence, yo-yo's trotting poles, change of direction, figure 8's and weaving. I again played with his mouth and he's allowing me to put my fingers right on the middle of his tongue without fussing. I also went to his right side and started playing with that side of his mouth too. Played friendly, driving and porcupine with the CS & Flag (plastic bag) and today he was much more accepting of it, maybe because I wasn't so worried about his reactions, just got on with it.

Freestyle: circle around cones, weave around cones, jump, canter the rail, yo-yo's, transitions and also the Question Box again. Love the question box, it's really helping me focus on things and our circling is working much better for it.

Liberty: 7 games, circling transitions, a couple of change of directions too. Enjoyed Liberty today.

After a break at the house I again lead Solly to the arena field where I played on the 22' line again. Lots of sideways by the pheasant field fence, circling with squeeze between me and the fence, circling at walk, trot and lots of canter. Then I decided he was calm enough to ride so mounted up.

I had put tyres out as the four corners of a box at the centre of the arena field (with Solly following me at liberty like a puppy!) to use as the Question box up here. So firstly I did some sideways and fig 8's near the gateway and then focussed on the 'box' and headed into it. I let Sol rest here for quite a while. Then I decided that the best thing to keep his focus was sideways and back so I did those two and this became the L2 Finesse Patterns 'Sideways Box'. Really was a lot of fun and really gave me and Sol a focus. After this we did some Question box circles and fig 8's at walk and trot too, making sure I set it up well, stopping at the centre everytime to start with then doing something slightly different and then mixing things up. Sol's focus and attention was great and so after a while I decided to just stop on a good note, walked to the gateway and then brought him home. Whilst riding today I played music from the MP3 on my phone which really helped relax me and I think Sol enjoyed it too.

It's working out that I do Online, Liberty and Freestyle in the playfield and then do Finesse up in the arena field.

Tuesday 23rd September

Last night I went over in my head the things I could do to help Solly with his 5 Confidences (Himself, Herd, Environment, Learner & Leader) as by going into a different environment yesterday put his confidence in his herd, his leader and in the environment out of the window. So today I plan on going and playing and riding him as normal in the playfield and THEN taking him up to the arena field to play and ride. I am also going to help him with his riding up there by firstly using a concentrated rein (this really helps him feel I'm holding his hand and puts me in a better position to be able to stop any bucking before it starts!) and doing more transitions, sideways and backup online and ridden. Backing up and Sideways will help keep him LB. Will report back later as to what happens in todays session!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well today was fun, I played as normal with him in the play field and his sideways over a log was so much better today. I then introduced a plastic bag on the CS (flag) again. We did this a few months ago but didn't do 5-7 days of play with it so he was VERY sceptical of it today. He went very quiet, eyes not blinking much when he saw it so I got him to follow me with it instead. He would put his nose on it okay but didn't like being stroked with it much so I need to continue playing with this until he is better with it. I knew he wasn't happy with the bag as he went very Introverted and I could tell this by how he looked. He started blinking less and sometimes not at all, he also started to look very 'sleepy' and 'drowsy', like he wasn't there. I backed off or got him to retreat the second this started happening to maintain his confidence and it worked well.

I'm getting better at knowing when to use more variety and circling and turns and when to just keep things consistent, sideways and backups depending on what he needs from me at that moment.

Touching flag with nose, bit sceptical

Couldnt' stand near it, he was very sceptical of it near his feet

But then he got curious of it and I left it there, on a good note

I then saddled him, which went very well, he just doesn't like being saddled when more RB and he gets that way when he's closer to the house as he knows that means he's going out. And then I mounted and did LF and DHQ as flight checks. He was acting a bit strange, head up in the air and I noticed a small plane passing overhead so jumped off and took him into the 100' roundpen. After yesterday's bucking session I wanted to do everything right for him to be confident with me.


I played circling and sideways games I then remounted. Then I did a little bit of riding the rail with small direct rein circles and DHQ's turns on the rail to change direction. Then I realised to focus him more I could use the new Parelli Pattern called the 'Question Box'. This is where you have one or more obstacles in the centre or a box around the centre of the area you're working on and the centre is X. You use X as the place where questions are asked and where you can change things ie. Use it to stop (sweet spot), change direction, change gait etc. I just used my mounting block in the centre as our focus for today but will sort out four cones to make a box that we can stand in later on. Our focus was much better with this pattern and we did small circles at walk, figure 8's at walk and then both in trot. I changed my idea from one circle or two or fig 8's at anytime so Solly was focussed on me and wondering what I was going to do next. Cool pattern.


After I felt confident about him behaving himself out in the field I went to the electric fence and got Sol to stand whilst I took the hook from the fence on my CS and then walked him through the gateway, turn and wait for me to put the fence back on the post. Pretty cool and it was good to put some of the games to a purpose.


I next went and played the weaving game around my 4 cones at freestyle with mainly the CS as guidance. He did this well so I went and did the trotting poles at walk, as I've heightened one side of the poles on the fence, and then played with the circling around cones in freestyle. Everything going well so I dismounted and brought Sol to the house where I tied him for a couple of minutes whilst I got some lunch and fed him some treats and an apple so that being by the house is a sweet spot.


I then went up to the arena field with Sol, he was again okay going up, took his time and looked around a lot but nothing to worry about, I just let him walk up in his own time. At the field we rested and made sure he was okay before playing. Play consisted again of 'sniff this', 'sniff that' (mostly tyres and poly posts and fencing) and he got a bit worried by the farm implement that's always been in the field so we played with that for quite a while whilst his confidence and curiousity came up about it.

Sol getting curious with the 'roller'

We also did circling at walk/trot/canter, sideways at walk/trot and back up/yo-yo's. All going well so I decided to mount him. Did my usual checks with LF and DHQ and he was a little on his toes, head up a bit so I just sat there waiting for him to calm. He often checked my left foot like he was lateral flexing himself to calm down and get confident. So, I decided to just stay playing in the area nearest the gateway, I chose three blue polypoles to play around using one as my main focus (X) and the other two to circle around, so basically the 'Question Box' pattern again. He was a bit worried by the crop field next door as it's teaming with pheasants but I got his attention slowly. I then decided as he was not as calm as I would like to just sideways between the three posts. Going away from the field (to the right) was fine, good flex of the neck, calm and thoughtful steps. Going towards the field (to the left, field was at least 50 yards away!) he didn't like that AT all. His head went up, he couldn't flex and he was giving me lots of backup rather than sideways so I just stayed passively persistent until I got one or two steps of sideways to the left. We did this a few times. He started having a little bit of displaced behaviour, he tossed his head a bit, started moving his mouth a lot, tried to grab and bite the reins etc. I just sat calmly until he could stand calmly. Then I did one more sideways both ways and he did a couple of steps both ways well so then I dismounted and called it a day.

I didn't do much in the arena field but I'm very happy with how it went and how I'm learning to really read Sol more. I feel I did the right thing for him by taking him up there but also by not doing too much or in too big an area. Like most things we can build bigger and better as long as the start has a good foundation and I think that's what I was helping him with today.

Monday 22nd September

Yesterday Solly got the day off as I played and rode our young Shire Stormy. But today the sun was shining and it was actually quite hot so I decided that as the sheep have now been taken off our top field (old playfield) I could actually put up some polyposts to represent the sides of a big arena so that we could then use this flat area for riding the rail, turns, circles, transitions, faster gaits, fig 8's, weaving etc. So that's what I did.

Then I went and played with Sol in the main playfield making sure he was attentive, calm and obedient and having fun with me. All went well with the obstacles, jumps were good, change of direction and the fig 8's were great. Weaving was really good, he trotted over the tarp too. I also played with his mouth a lot and am manageing now to actually put two fingers on his tongue in his mouth without him mouthing.
After playing for a while I took him up to the house to be saddled. Now Solly hasn't been out of the grazing field or playfield for a couple of months and I knew that this was going to be a big deal for him so I took everything really slowly for him.

Saddling was a little like when he first came to us, he was trying to nibble on me and I maybe should have taken even more time doing this...I will remember to do this next time for him to help with his confidence in me.

Walking up to the arena was okay, he stopped a couple of times and we backed up a few times but mainly he was alert and sticking to me well with transitions and backing up with me in Z3.

When in the field we relaxed for quite a while just moseying about and taking in the views. Then I started to play with him so that he could get a feel of the field now. We played a bit of yo-yo and then 'sniff this' with the fence, polyposts and tyres that I've put near the corners of the makeshift arena. He was very good which told me he again was attentive and listening to me.

Then he got a bit of a bee in his bonnet and started to shift his feet about, we got to the right hand fence line (this is right next to a 'crop' field full of Kale where a LOT of the pheasants hide out) and he wanted to go sideways so we went sideways right down the hole field until the bottom. I think this helped him too as from here he could see down onto the main grazing field and the other horses and he could then see eachother.

Sol, going sideways down the arena field fence line

On the way back up the field I asked Sol to circle whilst on the move and this included a squeeze between me and the fence by the pheasant field. I was hoping some pheasants would fly up so we could get that issue out of the way but like most pheasants they walk everywhere and only fly up if they're literally being stood on!

Sol circling on the move, up hill with a squeeze

Sol going sideways with fence in Z5

Next he wanted to move his feet again and positioned himself with his butt on the fence so I asked him to sideways the whole length of the field again without a fence (apart from in Z5. lol) and he did this very well again. Once more I asked for circling the other way, on the move with the squeeze on the way back up and he was cool about that.

Sol seemed to be okay about the field, he was thinking, attentive, behaving nicely, we even got some nice canter circles over the left hand side of the field and I decided that it would be okay to ride. Today being in a different place I made sure I brought my body protector just in case ;-)

So, I stood on a large stone and Sol sideled up well to let me mount. He was a little on edge as he had a bit of trouble standing still but I was persistent in the proper position, calm and asked for LF until he was really calm. All okay.

Next I asked him to just stay on the left hand side of the field (away from the pheasant field) and walk the short side, circle around the tyre which I'd placed 10 strides away from each side of the fence and just continue doing this until it became a pattern. He started to do this very well, I was mostly using my body and CS to guide him and there was only one moment when he went up into trot but I brought him back down with a very calm LF.

BUT, whilst walking along the fence one time, away from the road that passes by the field, a motor bike loudly passes the field corner behind Sol and he just went into a bucking mode. He must have bucked about 4-6 times, like little leaps, I threw my CS away and concentrated on bringing his head up fast with a phase 4 to stop the behaviour. When he stopped bucking I managed to do a LF and he stopped and relaxed next to the wall/fence. I stayed on but was a bit shaken so got him very calm and then jumped off quickly and stroked him to make sure he was okay.

This caught me a little off guard (once again) and I know I've got to do this for the next 7 days to improve his confidence in this area. I think next time I will ride one side of the fence, LF and jump off, do some play, mount again, ride one side of the fence, LF and jump off etc for a while before attempting more riding in the arena up there. I need to be able to just keep it good and then play to make sure he's still 'with me' and I think this will help his confidence more. It was a big thing for him to go up there again after not being out for so long and I know his confidence isn't 100% when in new places or without his herd but I've just got to be a better leader for him so that this doesn't continue happening. New challenges for us both but this is how we will be more progressive together.

Saturday 20th September

Today the weather was good and Mark and I took Solly, Stormy and Holly into the playfield, here is what I did with Solly.

Online:
walking circles at walk/trot/canter, jumping, sideways without a fence, walking the tarp (albeit slowly, as I've moved it it now has scary long grass under it causing it to not be flat on the ground!), weaving at trot, figure of 8's at trot with change of direction, sideways over a pole.

Freestyle:
millions of transitions, canter around the 100' roundpen (big for me), weaving at trot, figure of 8's at trot (needs working on), circling cones at trot (much better today) and trotting poles.

Finesse:
Jumping up to 2'3", trotting poles with sharp turns & DHQ's around barrels each end.

Here are some pictures of the day.......

Sideways over a pole, hard for Solly but getting better

Weaving around cones with just a CS and a ton of focus


Trotting poles getting better



Circling with just a CS

Little jumps are getting better


Cantering is feeling better too

A 2'3" jump over tyres..a little out of my comfort zone and needs improving but felt good

Today was a lot of fun. Doing the bigger jump was great but I need to sharpen up my jumping position, it's literally been YEARS since I've jumped anything other than a small log. Felt good doing it though and now I have I just have to get better. Sol was a star and kept me safe. He did some wonderful canter and I will work on this and SLC (simple lead changes) with the help of a figure of 8.

He also did a wonderful ridden sideways without a fence so there is only two things left for his L2 now:

1) Hold his tongue
2) SLC x 3

I'm also working on getting more canter with the circling, change of direction at trot to be sharper and transitions on line and liberty to be better. When these are feeling better I will maybe start playing around with the 45' line now and then.

I've also written a list of things with imagination I want to try out:

a) Umbrella

b) Foot in tyre

c) Follow and plastic bag on the CS

d) Friendly w/plastic bag/flag

e) move the ball more online/ridden

f) Dragging items, online/ridden

g) Sideways over things, online/ridden

h) Opening gates

Should be fun trying out those few things. I'll report on how we get on soon.

Friday 19th September

More rain yesterday so no play. Today I had a few things to do but managed to get out with Solly at about 4.30pm. Not much time before walking dogs and settling in for the evening so I decided to do another session of Liberty, first in the 60' roundpen and then in the whole playfield.


The session in the roundpen went very well, games going well and we had some great circling both ways with change of direction. The change of direction wasn't kept in gait, he walked towards me and then trotted back out again but to actually turn and walk towards me and go out again was thrilling at liberty. I'm well chuffed.


In the field he was very good at sticking to me and we had a HUGE breakthrough when he jumped the tyre jump at liberty!! YEEEHAAAA!! Very very chuffed with him for that one. He also jumped the small cross jump and was DHQ's and moving his FQ's as we went about the field. I'm very happy with how play is going.


I then decided it had all gone SO well to call it a day but kept playing all the way out of the gate (squeeze still at liberty) and all the way to the rest of the herd (stick to me at walk, trot and backup). Very cool, felt really together today and it was a good short session. Hopefully tomorrow we'll get to do some more play and riding...as long as it doesn't rain!! ;-))

Wednesday 17th September

Yesterday again was raining and a bit grey and horrid but today after some drizzle it dried. Although it was very wet underfoot it was good enough to go and play and ride Solly and I'm really glad I did.


This was what we did Online to start with:
moving circles, change of direction at walk/trot, jumping 4 different types of jumps, stick with me walk/trot/backup, walking over the tarp whilst circling, put one then two feet over a log then back up, sideways around barrels, sideways with log in Z1, sideways with log in Z5, weaving at walk/trot, figure 8 at trot and getting more into the mouth for touching the tongue for when I need to hold his tongue (I will do this to make sure he's ready in his mouth before bitting him again)

Then I saddled and we did this Freestyle:
21mins of pushing passenger lesson at walk/trot (great fun), started doing backup/forwards/turning/DHQ/LF with just SS around neck, trotting poles, circling around 4 cones only using CS, weaving only using CS, going through dvd lines.

And then this Finesse:
Trotting poles & jump.I really enjoyed today, lots of Freestyle with only the CS for corrections, this stopped me using the reins too much and gave me a sense of what I need to do with my seat more. I didn't feel out of control either and this was a great relief to me. I think the pushing passenger lesson in the 100' roundpen really helped us both and it was a lot of fun too.


Everytime I dismount and unsaddle I put him at liberty to graze and be around me without me asking anything of him. He then sticks by me to go out of the playfield gate and DHQ's before I say thank you and goodbye for the session. I love this little intimate liberty session and it's creating good habits with us both.