Saturday 28th February
Friday 27th February
Thursday 26th February
So, today I played with Tara and Solly again and Mark came out and filmed me for my L3 auditions. I did Tara's Online, Liberty and Freestyle (bareback and bridleless) and then Solly's Online and Liberty. It was a lot of fun and I will let you know how it goes. Mark has to put each savvy individually onto dvd andthen I have to send them off to the PNH Centre in Florida so not sure how long it will take. Very proud of how well both horses did today.
NB. Sent all 5 dvd's off on 1st March....fingerscrossed ;-)
NB. Sent all 5 dvd's off on 1st March....fingerscrossed ;-)
Friday 27th February
Again today I went out with Tara and Solly. I started with Tara and went through our Online and Freestyle audition demo's, taking time out to get some sloppy things better. All went pretty well and I'm going to try to film a session doing this on Saturday or Sunday (fingers crossed the weather stays at least dry!)
Next it was Sollys turn. Today I played online, again going through our audition demo together. He was superb at figure 8's today, really putting in some effort and giving me canter with SLC's. His weaving was great too and he trotted well over the tarp. He also jumped a pole sitting on top of the laying down barrels so he's really jumping with his brain more now.
I then took the time out to practise sideways over the cone again today. I just asked for a move or slight move and he took very very slow single steps to get over the cone in 10 mins, which is a huge improvement on yesterday's half an hour. He had quite a few 'bow stretches' again today but today I made that into a game, I've been bowing with him when he does this thinking one day he may do this when I ask rather than because of stress. Today he actually seemed to do it when I bowed before him!! how cool. I'll have to try it again to see if it was a fluke ;-)
I am going to try to film Solly's Online and Liberty on the weekend too, if I can persuade Mark to help me out for that long ;-))
Next it was Sollys turn. Today I played online, again going through our audition demo together. He was superb at figure 8's today, really putting in some effort and giving me canter with SLC's. His weaving was great too and he trotted well over the tarp. He also jumped a pole sitting on top of the laying down barrels so he's really jumping with his brain more now.
I then took the time out to practise sideways over the cone again today. I just asked for a move or slight move and he took very very slow single steps to get over the cone in 10 mins, which is a huge improvement on yesterday's half an hour. He had quite a few 'bow stretches' again today but today I made that into a game, I've been bowing with him when he does this thinking one day he may do this when I ask rather than because of stress. Today he actually seemed to do it when I bowed before him!! how cool. I'll have to try it again to see if it was a fluke ;-)
I am going to try to film Solly's Online and Liberty on the weekend too, if I can persuade Mark to help me out for that long ;-))
Thursday 26th February
Today was quite windy but I'm trying to sort out auditions with Solly and my first levels horse Tara so out I go regardless. Tara is more advanced in some area's than Solly and I think she'd do a wonderful L3 audition so I've been playing with both horses a bit more. She is good at online and freestyle whereas Solly is great at liberty and finesse ;-) So I play with Tara online and liberty first today.
My lovely TaraSo next it was Solly's turn. He had been casually grazing around the playfield while I was occupied with Tara and he was looking to play now which was great. He caught me well and then I just played with things on the online audition list:
1) stick to me: walk/trot/canter/backup
2) standing on pedastal
3) jumping/squeezes
4) figure 8's: trot and SLC's at canter
5) weaving at trot
6) backing up over a pole with sideways off it (either away or towards)
7) over the large, flapping tarp
8) sideways over a cone
The last one, sideways over a cone, I started on as he can do a pole but a barrel is way too much for him to sideways over so I thought a cone is a good small step in the right direction. WOW, he couldn't even get close to it!! ;-(
So I took the time it takes to just get him comfortable standing near it, walking away, doing something else for a while and returning back to it. He had a few 'stretching because he's uncomfortable' moments, that long bow he does with his front legs and his back legs just CAN'T move forward. We spent about half an hour just retreating, approaching and retreating again until finally he managed to sidepass over it, a bit crookedly but hey, he managed it.
As far as Solly could go for a long while with the sidepassing over cone task
We left the play session on a good note which was lovely, and a new task to work on which is cool.
Sunday 22nd February
Yesterday was freezing wind blowing up here, today it was windy but slightly milder. The horses were on their toes but we decided to go out and play/ride our horses as at least it wasn't raining or snowing.I first of all played a lot with Solly and Mark filmed me so that I could see what needed improving for an assessment audition. We are a little rusty on certain things but others went quite well. My routine roughly was:
Extreme friendly all zones, backwards from hindlegs, backwards from tail. Stick 2 me w/t/c/bk up. Then figure of 8 at trot and weaving at trot. Next circling transitions with a squeeze jump. Then another jump squeeze. Sideways over a log and sideways towards and finally standing all 4 feet on the pedastal.
We need to work on the circling transitions, he needs to go for longer and with more impulsion and also his sideways over a log needs improving. I will try to go out every day next week to improve things back to where they were before Winter started and then hopefully I will be able to film something good to send of to the states for assessment.
After doing all that play though we were ready for a short ride. We didn't go very far as the wind was a bit spooky for the horses. Solly went very well, a few thresholds that we worked slowly through and on the way back he was very impulsive so I had to do lots of walk/trot transitions (every 7 strides) to get his focus back on me and then Mark and Holly cantered off for fun and Solly nearly lost the plot :-) BUT I got off, worked things out on the ground and then remounted and asked for walk/trot transitions again, by the end of the ride he was trotting a beautiful bouncy, slow trot and felt like an Spanish horse under me, with soft finesse reins.
Thursday 19th February
Yeehaa...today at long last I could go out and play with Solly. The snow has melted and the field is no longer slippery or wet! cool ;-)
It's been 2 weeks that Sol hasn't played so I knew we were going to be rusty on most things, so decided to go and have fun and play around with the new assessment criteria. I have been playing around trying to put together a good demo for videoing for the L3 'audition' we now have to submit so it was a good chance to see how things were going.
This is what we played with:
It's been 2 weeks that Sol hasn't played so I knew we were going to be rusty on most things, so decided to go and have fun and play around with the new assessment criteria. I have been playing around trying to put together a good demo for videoing for the L3 'audition' we now have to submit so it was a good chance to see how things were going.
This is what we played with:
Online first:
yo-yo's, circling, transitions, jumping, backing from the tail and hind legs, walking forwards from the ear and then the lower lip, sideways away and towards without a fence, trying sideways over a barrel (not good, Solly seems quite worried about this so may start again with a log), stick to me and figure of 8's at trot. All went pretty well but we need to practise more as it wasn't L3 standard yet.
Liberty:
I went through a rough routine which consisted of; extreme friendly game in all zones (he's cool with this), moving forward by the ear, moving backwards by the tail and then by the hindlegs (only taught him the hindleg one today, went very well), more friendly. Circling game with transitions (needs much more work as he doesn't stay in gait at the moment), drawing to me at trot (went very well).
Then I got him to stick to me to the gate of the 50' pen, squeezed him out, closed the gate and trotted to the pedastal. I asked him to stand on the pedastal which he did after a few attempts, just a bit rusty on this. Then we trotted to the 100' pen and squeezed through that gate.
Next I asked him to stick to me at walk, trot, canter and backup (canter needs some work on it), and then squeezed him over a barrel jump. He did the jump well to the right but a bit sticky going to the left. After this I asked if he would figure of 8 at liberty...he got a bit confused but got it in the end. So we need to hone our communication more and slick up our savvy to get it to L3 standard. I will try over the next weeks to do the online stuff to and play around with both of these until they're film-able. Very exciting and a lot of fun to try out.
yo-yo's, circling, transitions, jumping, backing from the tail and hind legs, walking forwards from the ear and then the lower lip, sideways away and towards without a fence, trying sideways over a barrel (not good, Solly seems quite worried about this so may start again with a log), stick to me and figure of 8's at trot. All went pretty well but we need to practise more as it wasn't L3 standard yet.
Liberty:
I went through a rough routine which consisted of; extreme friendly game in all zones (he's cool with this), moving forward by the ear, moving backwards by the tail and then by the hindlegs (only taught him the hindleg one today, went very well), more friendly. Circling game with transitions (needs much more work as he doesn't stay in gait at the moment), drawing to me at trot (went very well).
Then I got him to stick to me to the gate of the 50' pen, squeezed him out, closed the gate and trotted to the pedastal. I asked him to stand on the pedastal which he did after a few attempts, just a bit rusty on this. Then we trotted to the 100' pen and squeezed through that gate.
Next I asked him to stick to me at walk, trot, canter and backup (canter needs some work on it), and then squeezed him over a barrel jump. He did the jump well to the right but a bit sticky going to the left. After this I asked if he would figure of 8 at liberty...he got a bit confused but got it in the end. So we need to hone our communication more and slick up our savvy to get it to L3 standard. I will try over the next weeks to do the online stuff to and play around with both of these until they're film-able. Very exciting and a lot of fun to try out.
Ridden Freestyle:
This our least worked on savvy. I played with bridling today and the game was 'don't put the bit in your mouth' which worked very well as he couldn't resist grabbing it and putting it in (reverse psychology really works with this LB horse). This is the first time I've ridden him with only the bridle on and not the halter/rope for support.
I made sure his LF and DHQ's were good and went to play with the Question Box (QB) and using mostly the carrot stick we did small circles in walk until he 'got it' and then changed direction. Then moved onto large circles in walk and progressed to small and large circle and figure of 8's in trot. He had trouble understanding to keep on the circle so may go back this week to playing with riding with the carrot stick only in a roundpen.
Ridden Finesse:
This seems much easier for him, he flows better and is light off the bit, reins and leg. We did small and large circles in walk and trot. Then we played with circling/figure of 8's in trot, using X for stop/trot transitions which started off quite sluggishly but improved well. Then I played with a few canter transitions which went well. Lastly I played with the suspension rein weaving through poles which was a lot of fun.
This our least worked on savvy. I played with bridling today and the game was 'don't put the bit in your mouth' which worked very well as he couldn't resist grabbing it and putting it in (reverse psychology really works with this LB horse). This is the first time I've ridden him with only the bridle on and not the halter/rope for support.
I made sure his LF and DHQ's were good and went to play with the Question Box (QB) and using mostly the carrot stick we did small circles in walk until he 'got it' and then changed direction. Then moved onto large circles in walk and progressed to small and large circle and figure of 8's in trot. He had trouble understanding to keep on the circle so may go back this week to playing with riding with the carrot stick only in a roundpen.
Ridden Finesse:
This seems much easier for him, he flows better and is light off the bit, reins and leg. We did small and large circles in walk and trot. Then we played with circling/figure of 8's in trot, using X for stop/trot transitions which started off quite sluggishly but improved well. Then I played with a few canter transitions which went well. Lastly I played with the suspension rein weaving through poles which was a lot of fun.
A great day and now with a great purpose, to get our savvy better so that we can film our L3 auditions.
Thursday 12th February
Well we have had another 6" of snow today, it's very hard to walk through so no playing again at the moment.
Tara is enjoying being spoilt in her little space in our garden. We found a long strip of flesh had been stripped off her right heel which was causing her lameness, she was walking on her toe which made me look on her heels more thoroughly. I have put some TCP spray plaster over it and she seems to be making a good recovery.
Tara is enjoying being spoilt in her little space in our garden. We found a long strip of flesh had been stripped off her right heel which was causing her lameness, she was walking on her toe which made me look on her heels more thoroughly. I have put some TCP spray plaster over it and she seems to be making a good recovery.
Monday 9th February
Snow, snow, snow. The snow has been here for a while, it's sunken down to about 4" thick, it's hard and crusty and some places are very slippery. SO, no playing with the horses, one of ours, Tara, is in the garden due to a cut heel and is lame, probably slipped slightly in the snowy field.
Solly is doing well and I've been grooming him and feeding him but not much else. I have spent the last few days going over the NEW Parelli Level Assessments and thinking what to film with Solly. I think that as soon as the snow has gone I will play with the Online and Liberty Level 3 stuff and try to film those. Then I will play around more with the Freestyle Level 3, I need to start riding with carrot sticks and this will be a lot of fun to do now, looking forward to playing and getting ready to film some sessions for this ;-) There is no L3 Finesse needed to be filmed for the green string now so I'll just see how the online/liberty/freestyle goes and hopefully move on from there.
Solly is doing well and I've been grooming him and feeding him but not much else. I have spent the last few days going over the NEW Parelli Level Assessments and thinking what to film with Solly. I think that as soon as the snow has gone I will play with the Online and Liberty Level 3 stuff and try to film those. Then I will play around more with the Freestyle Level 3, I need to start riding with carrot sticks and this will be a lot of fun to do now, looking forward to playing and getting ready to film some sessions for this ;-) There is no L3 Finesse needed to be filmed for the green string now so I'll just see how the online/liberty/freestyle goes and hopefully move on from there.
Tuesday 3rd February
It has been snowing for about 24 hours off/on and we've got a good 5-6" up here. So I knew that I probably wouldn't be doing much with the horses today apart from feeding and making sure their feathers aren't all balled up with snow SO I thought I'd give them something fun to look at...A SNOWMAN! ;-)
As you can see Solly was fascinated, at first he walked away and wouldn't eat the hay nearest the fence but he got courage from watching Tara come over and investigate.
I'm hoping if it stops snowing/drizzling I can go out and make a big snowman actually in the paddock and see what they make of it. Probably Stormy (other grey in the picture) a LBext Shire will go and kick it over but hopefully some of the other horses will go and investigate and become curious. I will write more about it if I get to do it and watch them.
LUNCH TIME:
So I managed to get out and make my snowman in the paddock, first up to investigate was Stormy, he only looked from a distance and then the herd leader, Holly, came over and sniffed it, licked it, sniffed the gloves and then discovered the horse treats I'd used for the eyes, nose and mouth! I had to shoo her away so that I could play with it and Solly. lol
Solly came and caught me, like he wanted to play with it but wanted me to help him with getting close, it was quite cute really. I haltered him and then played about away from the snowman, making sure 'it wasn't about the snowman' ;-)
We did some falling leaf, yo-yo's and sideways and then I played with the alling leaf going towards the snowman. He didn't have a problem with that and when we got close he went and sniffed the sticks, gloves and then head. He had a very curious look on his face and moved back a bit when he 'twanged' one of the stick arms and the glove pranced about on the end of it! So funny.
We did some falling leaf, yo-yo's and sideways and then I played with the alling leaf going towards the snowman. He didn't have a problem with that and when we got close he went and sniffed the sticks, gloves and then head. He had a very curious look on his face and moved back a bit when he 'twanged' one of the stick arms and the glove pranced about on the end of it! So funny.
Solly investigating
Solly in treat heaven
Then I played a bit with the back of the snowman, asking Sol to squeeze at walk and trot between me and it, each time making the squeeze smaller. He did very well and didn't seem overly concerned about it all.
Then I decided to see if he'd stick around at liberty with the snowmand and yes he did! He backed up, I could point to the snowman and he's touch it and then lick it again. It was quite funny.
Solly and his snowman friend ;-)Sunday 1st February
Yeehaa....day was clear, cold and most of the snow has melted so Mark and I go out with two horses today. He with Holly and me with Solly.
It was great to play with Sol again, he was calm, responsive and attentive. This is what we played with:
1) Yo-yo's on phase 1 (his backing up is good, but draw needs some working on sometimes)
2) Circling, transitions and walking circles (these are very good, he's doing more canter now)
3) Sideways, away and towards without a fence (getting sideways towards better now and with more distance between us, using the carrot stick and string to ask him over)
4) Saddling and bridling (saddling is good but he needs a bit more work on accepting the bit again so will work on this. All okay once the bit is in, it's just the process of him taking it!)
5) Circling with jumps (this is good, he's using his body much better now and showing more confidence about it)
6) Figure of 8's at trot (went very well, he knew exactly what to do today which was lovely to see)
So, after playing and cinching up nicely I mount up and do some ridden work. This is what I did whilst ridden:
1) Walk/Trot - Trot/Backup transitions. Getting him soft and attentive
2) Canter/Walk and Canter/Trot transitions. This will take time to work on but he's much more willing to go into canter now, no bucks, no striking out etc. Much happier with the canter now.
Everything going well so Mark and I decide to go for a short hack while the weather is holding. Must admit it started to snow for a bit but then stopped so luckily we were still out and hacking out seemed a nice idea ;-)
I knew Solly was going to have thresholds so was prepared to jump off anytime to keep his confidence in me and himself. We managed to go about half a mile and he was very nervous about a pile of snow that the snow plough had pushed to the side of the road. It was very large and anything could have been behind it. I kept him facing it but backed up and then used the squeeze technique to get him past it left and right quite a few times. I didn't want him to put his nose on it, but I wanted him to be confident about going past it, seeing it from both eyes and then not spooking when it got to Zone 5. He eventually past it after quite a few squeezes in front of it and the final squeeze had him past it and facing it calmly so I backed him up a long way so that when we eventually turned away from it it wasn't anywhere near his Z5. He was pretty cool with that BUT when we turned he found himself in a place of overhanging pine trees, a scary stone wall and lots of thresholds.
To keep his (and my) confidence I jumped off and led him all the hack out, which was a couple of miles. We took it slowly, I let him stop and look around LOTS and then got him working with me with walk/trot/backup transitions along the way. He did so well and I could see he was trying his guts out for me, his head was very low for quite a while, his ears back in his unconfident look. Taking it slowly really helped him.
Sol looking around at his strange surroundings,
building his confidence all the time
When we got to where we were going to turn around we let the horses graze a bit as a reward. Then I remounted from a large stone and Solly started head tossing like when we first got him. This is pure unconfidence and so I took the reins up and held him gently to let him know I was there for him. This seemed to calm him down and also as it's displaced behaviour (can't move feet so I'll move my head) when we started walking off he was okay.
All the way home I was aware of keeping his mental confidence so this is what I did all the way home on a concentrated rein:
1) Walk/Trot/Walk/Backup transitions (These worked very well, he had a good trot, not too fast, not too slow)
2) Walk and Trot leg yields across the road (These felt really good, lots of sideways/forward movement in them)
3) Three speeds in the gaits (I worked on this in walk and trot, his trot was good slow, really felt lovely, didn't have much of a longer trot gait, just tried to go faster so that is something good to work on)
In the end it was a very good ride, glad I took Solly and I know I'm reading him much much better than last year even.
Sol and me at the end of the ride
