I had another lesson today. It went really well. I was very pleased. I played with Ollie again again, and I really feel like he liked me too. Shirley even complimented me on how much improvement I made from our last lesson. I got firmer with him today when he needed it, despite him getting a little bit unsure, I persevered and then he came out fine and regarding me with respect. I was really happy. I really felt like a leader today, and that things worked out well.
I ended up riding him, too, at the end. I noticed when I rode him last time that he always wanted to go wherever he wanted when someone was riding him. Like I had to constantly remind him to go where I wanted. And he had an obvious draw to where his herd mates were. So, I asked Shirley when I should be reminding him to go where I want. She just reminded me that the phases, are eyes, belly button, leg, arm. I kept going to arm as phase 2ish, since he wouldn't go. She said that was most likely the result of him not being ridden very much. He is 14 years old, but doesn't have a ton of riding time on him. So, he isn't being sassy, he just doesn't understand since it's never been reinforced to him before. So, that was kind of cool, feeling like I actually got to do some kind of 'training' on Shirley's horses. :) Made me feel good anyways, that she said I was good for Ollie since I was more particular. He's a pretty cool guy.
And since Moose has been kind of a stinker about haltering recently, Shirley said that sometimes you have to make him and he doesn't just get to goof off. So, you might have to hook the halter around his neck, and just say 'deal!' for a little bit. But she also reminded me that I have a 50-50 chance. Good day, all in all!
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Learning Lots
Well, you can kind of ignore that last post, because today I had a few epiphanies that totally kicked my feelings yesterday to the curb.
I learned that having a focus is incredible. Like I said yesterday, I felt lost. Things just weren't working so well. Well, I learned today that part of the reason I felt we don't go anywhere is because I have forgotten to make programs. If Moose has a problem with something, I stop and attempt to fix it, but I have the attitude of fixing it today, instead of just rewarding the slightest try and making a program out of it.
Also, today I learned that in order to to lead by the leg, it really helps if he knows that when you put pressure on his leg, that means lift it. I taught Moose that today on accident, and then leading by the leg was almost flawless. Also, I learned to make the right thing easy and wrong things uncomfortable, but then KEEP THE CONFIDENCE. I made the wrong things too uncomfortable, it seemed, and then Moose couldn't come to me. So, I sat down and waited for him instead of making him come to me.
And I learned to be fascinated with lightness. Moose was distracted by something off in the distance and along with bumping his head back to me, I asked him to lower his head. Normally, I am way too rough with this, and I can never time it right. It's just resistance on resistance. Well, today I decided to do something else about that. (I was sitting on a barrel at the time, btw.) I put the rope between my pointer and thumb, then started adding fingers one by one. When I got my whole hand on the rope, instead of making a fist and pulling down -this inhibiting my ability to open my hand fast- I just held my fingers like they were, and added some downward pressure. If he didn't respond, I started moving my hand back and forth, because even if I can't get his head to go down, I bet I can move it. So, then my release was a lot faster, and it was very interesting. Eventually I went to touch the rope, and his head came down, and went all the way to the ground. Talk about cool! So, I'm learning that it is a game of how little can you do and get the response. Pretty neat stuff.
On the personal development side, I was reading an article yesterday out of the Savvy Times (think it was from '05?) that said that one of the things people do at the centers is play volleyball, and the only rule is that the ball has to keep moving. You can use whatever limbs you'd like to accomplish that. When I read it, my first thought was when I played that at the neighbor's house. I was in volleyball the year before, and so knew all the rules and such, and everyone else was 'cheating' by not hitting the ball right. I got annoyed with them. And so I went "how interesting!" I learned that I like playing by the rules! It's like I need some kind of a focus, it doesn't necessarily need to be step by step, but at least so that I have a few "oh, well if this happens, do ___" type things. Like I remember playing badminton in gym class, and that worked well for me, because you have an in and an out. The line was in. If there's a dispute as to if it's in or out, then re-do it. It was fairly black and white: not that there wasn't a gray area, but if you found one, just re-do it. That was really something to lick and chew on. I don't consider myself a very black and white person, or else I'd be doing Clinton Anderson's stuff instead of Parelli, but I guess I was getting a little sick of having so much gray area and not knowing what to do. Then, I start over-analyzing, and getting stuck again, and the whole big charade. So, how interesting!
And, I found out that the bareback pad I have for Moose slips backwards on him. The pad did that to him before whenever I would saddle him, and now the pad does the same thing. But the interesting thing is that today we only did walk and back-up as our gaits. No Circling Game at all. So, I guess we're going to have to find some other pad to keep the bareback pad in place, because the only reason it slips is because it wants to lay behind Moose's withers, not over them a little bit like I want it (Moose's got big, longish withers). I want to have it placed so I'm sitting in the middle of the pad, and not the very front of it.
So, for the past week or so, I have been putting the bareback pad on every day. I haven't ridden him since Monday, but that's alright. It's good for him to wear it, is my philosophy. And now, I just had another epiphany. The thing that caused all this lead by the leg stuff today was that Moose kept backing up when I wiggled the rope around his leg. I was just trying to do Friendly, and he kept backing. Talk about connect the dots. I just realized that THAT is why he won't back up for me at Liberty. He thinks backing up is wiggling a rope, not my energy moving him back/finger wiggling (even though that's what I do on line, is just wiggle my finger and he moves back. . . have to look into that one more. . .). So, now I think I'm going to try to play with this some more and see if we can get it to where I can wiggle all kinds of ropes and he doesn't back up unless my energy is up. This will be good for me, too, because I need to start distinguishing that within myself, because my energy is usually down, and I'm starting to think I don't raise it often enough.
But yeah, I'm sure you can tell by reading my blog posts that I tend to be a kind of sporadic thinker. I get most of my epiphanies from talking to my mom and recounting to her how the play with Moose went that day. It's like I need to talk to think, sometimes. I've thought about getting a tape recorder and just recording myself talk, but I'm not sure if that will feel the same. Yeah, just got side-tracked. Well, my point is that if this is how I think, imagine how Moose feels when this sporadic person walks outside to try to teach him. I was explaining to my mom yesterday how I feel like I'm trying to teach him Science, Reading, Writing, Math, Social Studies, Spanish, and Music (the 7 games) all at once, instead of isolating, separating and recombining like I should be. I should be dedicating time to one task, then to another, then to another, instead of just trying to fit every single game into one 2 hour play session. This came about by me hearing that some girl was just filming her Level 3 on line, and she only plays with her horse like 10-20 minutes per week. She's had him for somewhere between 3-5 years, can't exactly remember. But if you do that math, that adds up to around 9 hours of play time per year. PER YEAR. Moose and I have a grand total of around 500 hours. And we're in Level 2. And I owned him for 1 year. So, my question was how in the world did this girl do it? Quality of time spent, not quantity. I've got plenty of time, I just don't use it well. I do whatever random thing pops into my head at that moment. I usually don't play off of what we did yesterday, so there is never a continuation of learning. It's like everything is its own entity, nothing is connected to anything else. Then, in essence, I am not creating a foundation, since there is no purpose, and without purpose I'm sure Moose lacks understanding.
Jeez, how much horses have to teach us! I look forward to more lessons from Moose tomorrow.
Savvy up!
I learned that having a focus is incredible. Like I said yesterday, I felt lost. Things just weren't working so well. Well, I learned today that part of the reason I felt we don't go anywhere is because I have forgotten to make programs. If Moose has a problem with something, I stop and attempt to fix it, but I have the attitude of fixing it today, instead of just rewarding the slightest try and making a program out of it.
Also, today I learned that in order to to lead by the leg, it really helps if he knows that when you put pressure on his leg, that means lift it. I taught Moose that today on accident, and then leading by the leg was almost flawless. Also, I learned to make the right thing easy and wrong things uncomfortable, but then KEEP THE CONFIDENCE. I made the wrong things too uncomfortable, it seemed, and then Moose couldn't come to me. So, I sat down and waited for him instead of making him come to me.
And I learned to be fascinated with lightness. Moose was distracted by something off in the distance and along with bumping his head back to me, I asked him to lower his head. Normally, I am way too rough with this, and I can never time it right. It's just resistance on resistance. Well, today I decided to do something else about that. (I was sitting on a barrel at the time, btw.) I put the rope between my pointer and thumb, then started adding fingers one by one. When I got my whole hand on the rope, instead of making a fist and pulling down -this inhibiting my ability to open my hand fast- I just held my fingers like they were, and added some downward pressure. If he didn't respond, I started moving my hand back and forth, because even if I can't get his head to go down, I bet I can move it. So, then my release was a lot faster, and it was very interesting. Eventually I went to touch the rope, and his head came down, and went all the way to the ground. Talk about cool! So, I'm learning that it is a game of how little can you do and get the response. Pretty neat stuff.
On the personal development side, I was reading an article yesterday out of the Savvy Times (think it was from '05?) that said that one of the things people do at the centers is play volleyball, and the only rule is that the ball has to keep moving. You can use whatever limbs you'd like to accomplish that. When I read it, my first thought was when I played that at the neighbor's house. I was in volleyball the year before, and so knew all the rules and such, and everyone else was 'cheating' by not hitting the ball right. I got annoyed with them. And so I went "how interesting!" I learned that I like playing by the rules! It's like I need some kind of a focus, it doesn't necessarily need to be step by step, but at least so that I have a few "oh, well if this happens, do ___" type things. Like I remember playing badminton in gym class, and that worked well for me, because you have an in and an out. The line was in. If there's a dispute as to if it's in or out, then re-do it. It was fairly black and white: not that there wasn't a gray area, but if you found one, just re-do it. That was really something to lick and chew on. I don't consider myself a very black and white person, or else I'd be doing Clinton Anderson's stuff instead of Parelli, but I guess I was getting a little sick of having so much gray area and not knowing what to do. Then, I start over-analyzing, and getting stuck again, and the whole big charade. So, how interesting!
And, I found out that the bareback pad I have for Moose slips backwards on him. The pad did that to him before whenever I would saddle him, and now the pad does the same thing. But the interesting thing is that today we only did walk and back-up as our gaits. No Circling Game at all. So, I guess we're going to have to find some other pad to keep the bareback pad in place, because the only reason it slips is because it wants to lay behind Moose's withers, not over them a little bit like I want it (Moose's got big, longish withers). I want to have it placed so I'm sitting in the middle of the pad, and not the very front of it.
So, for the past week or so, I have been putting the bareback pad on every day. I haven't ridden him since Monday, but that's alright. It's good for him to wear it, is my philosophy. And now, I just had another epiphany. The thing that caused all this lead by the leg stuff today was that Moose kept backing up when I wiggled the rope around his leg. I was just trying to do Friendly, and he kept backing. Talk about connect the dots. I just realized that THAT is why he won't back up for me at Liberty. He thinks backing up is wiggling a rope, not my energy moving him back/finger wiggling (even though that's what I do on line, is just wiggle my finger and he moves back. . . have to look into that one more. . .). So, now I think I'm going to try to play with this some more and see if we can get it to where I can wiggle all kinds of ropes and he doesn't back up unless my energy is up. This will be good for me, too, because I need to start distinguishing that within myself, because my energy is usually down, and I'm starting to think I don't raise it often enough.
But yeah, I'm sure you can tell by reading my blog posts that I tend to be a kind of sporadic thinker. I get most of my epiphanies from talking to my mom and recounting to her how the play with Moose went that day. It's like I need to talk to think, sometimes. I've thought about getting a tape recorder and just recording myself talk, but I'm not sure if that will feel the same. Yeah, just got side-tracked. Well, my point is that if this is how I think, imagine how Moose feels when this sporadic person walks outside to try to teach him. I was explaining to my mom yesterday how I feel like I'm trying to teach him Science, Reading, Writing, Math, Social Studies, Spanish, and Music (the 7 games) all at once, instead of isolating, separating and recombining like I should be. I should be dedicating time to one task, then to another, then to another, instead of just trying to fit every single game into one 2 hour play session. This came about by me hearing that some girl was just filming her Level 3 on line, and she only plays with her horse like 10-20 minutes per week. She's had him for somewhere between 3-5 years, can't exactly remember. But if you do that math, that adds up to around 9 hours of play time per year. PER YEAR. Moose and I have a grand total of around 500 hours. And we're in Level 2. And I owned him for 1 year. So, my question was how in the world did this girl do it? Quality of time spent, not quantity. I've got plenty of time, I just don't use it well. I do whatever random thing pops into my head at that moment. I usually don't play off of what we did yesterday, so there is never a continuation of learning. It's like everything is its own entity, nothing is connected to anything else. Then, in essence, I am not creating a foundation, since there is no purpose, and without purpose I'm sure Moose lacks understanding.
Jeez, how much horses have to teach us! I look forward to more lessons from Moose tomorrow.
Savvy up!
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Quick Update
I've just been playing around with Moose lately. I don't feel like anything reallly spectacular has happened or else I'd update about it, but I do feel like adding that we're starting to do some riding stuff. Just little putzy things bareback, but it's going really well so far. I'm taking my very first baby step to being a leader while mounted. Feels nice. :)
But as for other news, yeah, I am now out of a job. Rather unexpectedly, I was let go, so will be seeking another job/ alternative ways of making some moo-lah. I've got some really exciting leads for this summer, some of which require some monies, so the search for another job is on! Things will be so much easier once I can start giving lessons, or starting horses, or something like that. But, anyways, looking to the bright side, I am now open to another learning opportunity and have more time to play with the horses!
But as for other news, yeah, I am now out of a job. Rather unexpectedly, I was let go, so will be seeking another job/ alternative ways of making some moo-lah. I've got some really exciting leads for this summer, some of which require some monies, so the search for another job is on! Things will be so much easier once I can start giving lessons, or starting horses, or something like that. But, anyways, looking to the bright side, I am now open to another learning opportunity and have more time to play with the horses!
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Mom and Bella's Breakthrough
I'm pretty psyched for mom right now. We went out today to play with the horses, and I decided to try to help mom out a little bit. First, we stated out with simulations, me being the horse and her the human. The purpose was so that 1) I can give her feedback, and 2) she can develop better rope handling skills for the 22' line.
And then I told her that she should try hitting a barrel as hard as she could with her CS (carrot stick), and then rub it. I asked her how she felt afterwards, and she said it was interesting, because she could really feel her energy going up and down, and how quickly she needed to adjust it.
So, after doing that, she got her pony and I proceeded to give her a 'lesson' in leadership. Bell was circling, and pretty bored. She was looking outside the circle, waiting for every excuse to stop and play games and such. So, I asked mom to do a change of direction when Bella was walking pretty well. She backed up, and then pointed for Bella to go off the right, but Bella just stood there. I told her to tag her 3x on the neck. Bella swished her tail, and tosses her head, but then trotted (hallelulah! The LBI trots!) off half a circle to the right. Then, she stopped and stared a whole into mom. I told mom to smile, and then turn her back. Bella put her head down, and then licked her lips. I then challenged her to see if she could reel in the rope without looking at Bella. Bella came over, so then she did Friendly, to make sure we still have her confidence.
Then, I had her send her out again. This time Bella looked a little more attentive, but possibly a little unconfident. So, I had her stay more on the passive side, until Bella started messing around with the barrel, saying "look, even this barrel is more interesting than you!" so I knew she was confident again. Then, she sent Bella out, and Bella took about 3 steps before turning and facing. So, she re-sent her again. Same thing. I told Mom to back her up a little bit, because she was too close, and to send her like she was going somwhere, like there is a purpose to all this, because if Mom doesn't think there's a purpose, I doubt Bella's going to either. So, then she sent her out, and Bella went. I had them do a little more change of directions, and then -since Mom was conveniently standing by 2 barrels- I asked her to see if she can stand in the middle of the barrels and do change of directions from there to get Bella to do a figure-8.
I thought it went pretty well. Bella still had the druthers towards me and Moose -since me and him were chilling together- but not that big of a deal. Then, Bella started not coming in to Mom for the change. She's like "I know what happens before what happens happens!" So, I wasn't really sure if that was dominance ("I don't want to come in to you!") or unconfidence ("I can't come in"). I had mom turn her back, and then see if Bella would come in. It took a little prompting, but she eventually did, so I'm thinking it was more dominance-oriented, which will be something to fix for next time.
Then, Mom asked if we should end, but I don't think quite yet, since Bella didn't come to her, that wasn't really a good note to end on. I asked her to do something else with her for a little bit, and she thought of Stick To Me, since they haven't done much of that. Great idea! So, I had to adjust Mom's position a little bit, and give her some concepts with this game. I think this game is really going to help both Mom and Bella. Mom, because the parameters are really good for her, so she really KNOWs how to be a leader here: like she has a specific goal in her mind of what she's looking for, and so it helps her be able to assert herself. It'll help Bella, because then she can see that Mom is a leader, and so it will lend her to being able to do the Circling Game better. Also, I thought it might be good, because then if Bella feels like circles are boring, in Stick To Me, at least you're going somewhere, so there's a purpose right there. And. interestingly enough, we found a problem right away. Bella swishes her tail, tosses her head, and puts her ears back when you go from the walk to the trot. So, first I had to correct Mom's trot, because she started jogging at the same speed she was walking. It was like a human piaffe. So, I had to get the idea ingrained into her head "go somewhere!" Once she started doing that, she got Bella to trot, and then once I told her "Back her up fast" she had to stop and start backing up Bella phase 4. Really good for both of them. Bella licked her lips fast every time. After she did it twice, I noticed that Bella was putting her ears back whenever Mom walked, but I'm not sure if that was sassy or just paying attention, so I just left it alone.
So, yeah, overall a very successful day. I really hope that Mom learned today the benefits of leadership for Bella, because today was the first day she's ever truly Phase 4'ed Bella. Before, she always nagged her, so I'm hoping that this will REALLY open her eyes up to the fact that you can not possibly hit a horse with a CS as hard as another horse could kick, so it's okay to believe in yourself, and mean what you say sometimes, as long as you're not mean or mad. It'll be interesting to see how Bella's behavior is different next time Mom plays with her, and to see how their relationship changes because of it.
And then I told her that she should try hitting a barrel as hard as she could with her CS (carrot stick), and then rub it. I asked her how she felt afterwards, and she said it was interesting, because she could really feel her energy going up and down, and how quickly she needed to adjust it.
So, after doing that, she got her pony and I proceeded to give her a 'lesson' in leadership. Bell was circling, and pretty bored. She was looking outside the circle, waiting for every excuse to stop and play games and such. So, I asked mom to do a change of direction when Bella was walking pretty well. She backed up, and then pointed for Bella to go off the right, but Bella just stood there. I told her to tag her 3x on the neck. Bella swished her tail, and tosses her head, but then trotted (hallelulah! The LBI trots!) off half a circle to the right. Then, she stopped and stared a whole into mom. I told mom to smile, and then turn her back. Bella put her head down, and then licked her lips. I then challenged her to see if she could reel in the rope without looking at Bella. Bella came over, so then she did Friendly, to make sure we still have her confidence.
Then, I had her send her out again. This time Bella looked a little more attentive, but possibly a little unconfident. So, I had her stay more on the passive side, until Bella started messing around with the barrel, saying "look, even this barrel is more interesting than you!" so I knew she was confident again. Then, she sent Bella out, and Bella took about 3 steps before turning and facing. So, she re-sent her again. Same thing. I told Mom to back her up a little bit, because she was too close, and to send her like she was going somwhere, like there is a purpose to all this, because if Mom doesn't think there's a purpose, I doubt Bella's going to either. So, then she sent her out, and Bella went. I had them do a little more change of directions, and then -since Mom was conveniently standing by 2 barrels- I asked her to see if she can stand in the middle of the barrels and do change of directions from there to get Bella to do a figure-8.
I thought it went pretty well. Bella still had the druthers towards me and Moose -since me and him were chilling together- but not that big of a deal. Then, Bella started not coming in to Mom for the change. She's like "I know what happens before what happens happens!" So, I wasn't really sure if that was dominance ("I don't want to come in to you!") or unconfidence ("I can't come in"). I had mom turn her back, and then see if Bella would come in. It took a little prompting, but she eventually did, so I'm thinking it was more dominance-oriented, which will be something to fix for next time.
Then, Mom asked if we should end, but I don't think quite yet, since Bella didn't come to her, that wasn't really a good note to end on. I asked her to do something else with her for a little bit, and she thought of Stick To Me, since they haven't done much of that. Great idea! So, I had to adjust Mom's position a little bit, and give her some concepts with this game. I think this game is really going to help both Mom and Bella. Mom, because the parameters are really good for her, so she really KNOWs how to be a leader here: like she has a specific goal in her mind of what she's looking for, and so it helps her be able to assert herself. It'll help Bella, because then she can see that Mom is a leader, and so it will lend her to being able to do the Circling Game better. Also, I thought it might be good, because then if Bella feels like circles are boring, in Stick To Me, at least you're going somewhere, so there's a purpose right there. And. interestingly enough, we found a problem right away. Bella swishes her tail, tosses her head, and puts her ears back when you go from the walk to the trot. So, first I had to correct Mom's trot, because she started jogging at the same speed she was walking. It was like a human piaffe. So, I had to get the idea ingrained into her head "go somewhere!" Once she started doing that, she got Bella to trot, and then once I told her "Back her up fast" she had to stop and start backing up Bella phase 4. Really good for both of them. Bella licked her lips fast every time. After she did it twice, I noticed that Bella was putting her ears back whenever Mom walked, but I'm not sure if that was sassy or just paying attention, so I just left it alone.
So, yeah, overall a very successful day. I really hope that Mom learned today the benefits of leadership for Bella, because today was the first day she's ever truly Phase 4'ed Bella. Before, she always nagged her, so I'm hoping that this will REALLY open her eyes up to the fact that you can not possibly hit a horse with a CS as hard as another horse could kick, so it's okay to believe in yourself, and mean what you say sometimes, as long as you're not mean or mad. It'll be interesting to see how Bella's behavior is different next time Mom plays with her, and to see how their relationship changes because of it.
Friday, January 8, 2010
Resolutions
Well, I didn't post anything right away about my resolutions, because honestly I'm not sure what to pick. After some thought, I came up with the following goals I would like to at least start this year:
- Buy a Western Theraflex, so I can . . .
- Start riding Moosey
- Officially pass Level 2 On Line
- Ride the unicycle around my driveway
- Be able to run 3 miles in under 25 minutes (or bike the equivalent in under 20 minutes)
- Be a healthier person and try new foods
- Learn, learn, learn
- Unofficially pass Level 1 with Bella
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