Friday, December 25, 2009
Christmas
Merry Christmas everyone! I got 3 new horse books: Raise Your Hand If You Love Horses by Pat Parelli, Tom Dorrance's book, and Naked Liberty by Carolyn Resnick.
So, have a very merry horsey Christmas!
So, have a very merry horsey Christmas!
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Okay, So Before I Forget . . .
I JUST HAD AN AMAZING DAY! There I said it. Okay, so I just had a super horse-filled day today. We'll go in chronological order, since that's going to make it easier for you to follow my musings and theories.
Firstly, (I wonder if that's a word. . . hmm) I had a lesson with Shirley today. She had me play with a RBI named Ollie. He was a chestnut Morgan, a bit large, although that seems to match his heart. He seems like such a sweetheart. He tries so hard to please. He's a pretty cool guy, and I like him.
Well, I didn't care if this was a riding or ground lesson, so Shirley picked riding, because she said Ollie could use it. We got him all tacked up, then I want to cinch him up 3x, like normal. Did some circles, and squeezes and various things. Shirley has me go through the car wash with him. He had some trouble with it. It took him a while to go through it, but he did eventually. I learned I have to pump up the leadership skills a little bit.
Here's what I wrote to Shirley about my riding part of the lesson:
And I thought I should mention, too, that riding Ollie was very cool. I believe that is the first time in about a year that I've been able to ride a horse without feeling nervous. I think it was just because I wasn't over-thinking it, but still it's a very cool feeling. When I used to take lessons from another trainer, I'd always get nervous getting on the horse, so it was never any fun. I tried sitting on Moose bareback tonight, to see if I felt safe up on him, and I didn't, but our play on the ground more than made up for that. I'm sure once I start riding him in a saddle I'll feel much better, since I think bareback is just intimidating to me right now.
Kind of getting ahead of myself, but yes that's how it felt. I was not scared of being up on him. I didn't feel nervous. Just happy, and wishing I felt confident on lots of horses, so I could ride more often. :) But as I said "our play on the ground more than made up for that."
So, fast forward to later tonight. I went outside by Moosey, went and said hello. Quite ironically, he didn't want to be caught. He does this a lot, where whenever I put the halter over his neck, he throws his head up. So, it wasn't like he left or anything, just being a silly. But once I got the halter on, I took him outside for a while. Well, SUPERB my dear, is how it went. The kind of session where you don't care if that's the closest you ever get to excellence, because that was just incredible. A brief overview:
I played with Moose once I got home, and he did FANTASTIC.
Sometimes when I ask Moose to back up or stop, he thinks I want him to turn and face. Well, tonight he didn't, so we were able to play with Zone 3 Driving Game, and when I stopped, he stopped. When I backed, he backed. We even did it from Zone 4! Huge improvement from what he used to do. And it's incredible how little things make such a big difference. Changing my focus from him to where I want him to go made such a big difference. Our yo-yo game is incredible now. He backed to the end of the 22' without me changing my rhythm in Phase 1. And he drew to me from the end of the 22' without me lifting the rope off the ground. Just priceless
He had me jumping up and down a couple of times, and I probably could've given him a bucket full of treats for his performance. Just fantastic. And I didn't mention it in there, but our communication was absolutely incredible, too. I had him doing things from 22' away and he was responding like I was right next to him asking. It was SUCH a cool feeling. And he had slack in the line the entire time he circled me. God, I love him. He's so cool. So, I think we're moving on up, ladies and gents. Passing Level 2, here we come!
But, wait, that's not all, in this incredible offer you also receive the NEC Celebration DVD. I know, to top off a perfect day, the DVD came today, and it is really cool. I'm not far enough into it to talk about what it's about and give a mini-review, but there's a quick 5 minute clip with Linda showing video footage of all 4 horsenalities that is really revealing, and I think should've been put into the Horsenality DVD in the Success Series (SS).
Well, if tomorrow is an extension of today's awesomeness (or not), I'll try to let you know. But until then, g'nite!
Firstly, (I wonder if that's a word. . . hmm) I had a lesson with Shirley today. She had me play with a RBI named Ollie. He was a chestnut Morgan, a bit large, although that seems to match his heart. He seems like such a sweetheart. He tries so hard to please. He's a pretty cool guy, and I like him.
Well, I didn't care if this was a riding or ground lesson, so Shirley picked riding, because she said Ollie could use it. We got him all tacked up, then I want to cinch him up 3x, like normal. Did some circles, and squeezes and various things. Shirley has me go through the car wash with him. He had some trouble with it. It took him a while to go through it, but he did eventually. I learned I have to pump up the leadership skills a little bit.
Here's what I wrote to Shirley about my riding part of the lesson:
And I thought I should mention, too, that riding Ollie was very cool. I believe that is the first time in about a year that I've been able to ride a horse without feeling nervous. I think it was just because I wasn't over-thinking it, but still it's a very cool feeling. When I used to take lessons from another trainer, I'd always get nervous getting on the horse, so it was never any fun. I tried sitting on Moose bareback tonight, to see if I felt safe up on him, and I didn't, but our play on the ground more than made up for that. I'm sure once I start riding him in a saddle I'll feel much better, since I think bareback is just intimidating to me right now.
Kind of getting ahead of myself, but yes that's how it felt. I was not scared of being up on him. I didn't feel nervous. Just happy, and wishing I felt confident on lots of horses, so I could ride more often. :) But as I said "our play on the ground more than made up for that."
So, fast forward to later tonight. I went outside by Moosey, went and said hello. Quite ironically, he didn't want to be caught. He does this a lot, where whenever I put the halter over his neck, he throws his head up. So, it wasn't like he left or anything, just being a silly. But once I got the halter on, I took him outside for a while. Well, SUPERB my dear, is how it went. The kind of session where you don't care if that's the closest you ever get to excellence, because that was just incredible. A brief overview:
I played with Moose once I got home, and he did FANTASTIC.
Sometimes when I ask Moose to back up or stop, he thinks I want him to turn and face. Well, tonight he didn't, so we were able to play with Zone 3 Driving Game, and when I stopped, he stopped. When I backed, he backed. We even did it from Zone 4! Huge improvement from what he used to do. And it's incredible how little things make such a big difference. Changing my focus from him to where I want him to go made such a big difference. Our yo-yo game is incredible now. He backed to the end of the 22' without me changing my rhythm in Phase 1. And he drew to me from the end of the 22' without me lifting the rope off the ground. Just priceless He had me jumping up and down a couple of times, and I probably could've given him a bucket full of treats for his performance. Just fantastic. And I didn't mention it in there, but our communication was absolutely incredible, too. I had him doing things from 22' away and he was responding like I was right next to him asking. It was SUCH a cool feeling. And he had slack in the line the entire time he circled me. God, I love him. He's so cool. So, I think we're moving on up, ladies and gents. Passing Level 2, here we come!
But, wait, that's not all, in this incredible offer you also receive the NEC Celebration DVD. I know, to top off a perfect day, the DVD came today, and it is really cool. I'm not far enough into it to talk about what it's about and give a mini-review, but there's a quick 5 minute clip with Linda showing video footage of all 4 horsenalities that is really revealing, and I think should've been put into the Horsenality DVD in the Success Series (SS).
Well, if tomorrow is an extension of today's awesomeness (or not), I'll try to let you know. But until then, g'nite!
Monday, December 14, 2009
Fantabulous Day
Well, yesterday was just incredible. I have to gloat for a second. I bought the new Parelli Levels, and they are just INCREDIBLE! I love the way Pat explains things. They are REALLY REALLY good. I highly recommend you take a look at them if you've got the chance. I've just finished the Level 1 and 2 On Line DVDs so far, and am really liking the way this is set up.
SO>>> About my fantabulous day. Well, thanks to these wonderful DVDs, I have been re-naturalized, so to speak, because I remembered to reward the slightest try. I did it before, so that never stopped, but I hadn't been happy about it. Well, for the past 2 days, I've really been satisfied with whatever Moose has offered, and as a result he has been a confident learner. It is just WONDERFUL! These past 2 days were the first times EVER I was able to teach him with him staying engaged. Before he would either be dominant or unconfident. Whenever his confidence would rise up, so would his dominance, so I couldn't juggle that, and would accidentally knock the confidence out of him every time, so he turned unconfident again. No fun, I'll tell ya. But oh, I think these DVDs have been the missing key.
I went out with Moose yesterday, and he was in a pretty good mood to begin with. I probably was too, actually. So, I took Moose outside to play with him, since his pasture is all snowed in. I wanted to play with our Circling Game. Well, about halfway through our play-time, I decided I wanted to teach him to stop when the CS is in front of Zone 1, since we have no downward transitions on line, only upwards ones, I thought "what the heck? Let's give it a shot."
Specifically, his issue with downward transitions is that he thinks that when I put the carrot stick in front of him, that means stop, then turn and face. The stop part is great, but I don't want him to face me. (Oops, guess our HQ driving game is a bit TOO good). So, I kept repeating that to him: whenever he'd stop, if he moved his forehand over to me, I would move it back over so that he was somewhat perpendicular to me. The first few times, I was on the brink of losing his confidence, but this time he realized I was just communicating with him and saying "no, that's not what I want" because I released right away when he did what I asked. So, I re-explained to him what I wanted and made it easy for him. Then, I tried it at a little longer distance, like a 6' circle, then we worked it up to 12'.
Okay, now for the incredible part. I sent Moose out on a circle to the right, and stood in neutral like normal. Moose was at about 1 o'clock on the circle. I thought to myself "when he gets to 10 o'clock, I'm going to ask him to stop." My hand had just grasped the handle of the carrot stick. Moose is now at 12 o'clock. He stopped, PERFECTLY!!!! I was so excited, guess he read my mind :). So, I immediately brought him in and gave him a treat and was just excited about having fun. I can't wait until I have the savvy to cause every day to feel like this one. But the absolutely incredible thing about this is that there was NOOO way Moose this happened by chance. Moose read my body language and responded, and that just makes me so happy. I love my pony!
SO>>> About my fantabulous day. Well, thanks to these wonderful DVDs, I have been re-naturalized, so to speak, because I remembered to reward the slightest try. I did it before, so that never stopped, but I hadn't been happy about it. Well, for the past 2 days, I've really been satisfied with whatever Moose has offered, and as a result he has been a confident learner. It is just WONDERFUL! These past 2 days were the first times EVER I was able to teach him with him staying engaged. Before he would either be dominant or unconfident. Whenever his confidence would rise up, so would his dominance, so I couldn't juggle that, and would accidentally knock the confidence out of him every time, so he turned unconfident again. No fun, I'll tell ya. But oh, I think these DVDs have been the missing key.
I went out with Moose yesterday, and he was in a pretty good mood to begin with. I probably was too, actually. So, I took Moose outside to play with him, since his pasture is all snowed in. I wanted to play with our Circling Game. Well, about halfway through our play-time, I decided I wanted to teach him to stop when the CS is in front of Zone 1, since we have no downward transitions on line, only upwards ones, I thought "what the heck? Let's give it a shot."
Specifically, his issue with downward transitions is that he thinks that when I put the carrot stick in front of him, that means stop, then turn and face. The stop part is great, but I don't want him to face me. (Oops, guess our HQ driving game is a bit TOO good). So, I kept repeating that to him: whenever he'd stop, if he moved his forehand over to me, I would move it back over so that he was somewhat perpendicular to me. The first few times, I was on the brink of losing his confidence, but this time he realized I was just communicating with him and saying "no, that's not what I want" because I released right away when he did what I asked. So, I re-explained to him what I wanted and made it easy for him. Then, I tried it at a little longer distance, like a 6' circle, then we worked it up to 12'.
Okay, now for the incredible part. I sent Moose out on a circle to the right, and stood in neutral like normal. Moose was at about 1 o'clock on the circle. I thought to myself "when he gets to 10 o'clock, I'm going to ask him to stop." My hand had just grasped the handle of the carrot stick. Moose is now at 12 o'clock. He stopped, PERFECTLY!!!! I was so excited, guess he read my mind :). So, I immediately brought him in and gave him a treat and was just excited about having fun. I can't wait until I have the savvy to cause every day to feel like this one. But the absolutely incredible thing about this is that there was NOOO way Moose this happened by chance. Moose read my body language and responded, and that just makes me so happy. I love my pony!
Saturday, December 5, 2009
The Influence of Energy
I found even more articles. I'll create another post for you soon. One of them reminded me of an experience I had while horse-shopping.
I was looking at a Chestnut Arab mare, about 15 hands, and was trying to do some groundwork with her. Playing some of the basic Parelli games, you know. I don't really remember how she did, but it must've been somewhat alright, because I proceeded to do the Circling Game. I couldn't get her to move! In honesty, I probably could have, but I didn't want to really Phase 4 her, since 1) her owner was watching, and 2) I wasn't sure why she was doing it, fear or disrespect or confusion. So, I asked a friend watching if she wanted to play with the horse. She said sure, and hopped in.
Well, she tried the Circling Game with her, and she couldn't get the horse to STOP moving. It was incredible. From the time I had walked out of the pen to the time she had walked in was like 20 seconds, maybe. But yet, the horse had completely changed. "How interesting!" My friend is an extrovert, and I'm an introvert. What a sensitive horse!
I was looking at a Chestnut Arab mare, about 15 hands, and was trying to do some groundwork with her. Playing some of the basic Parelli games, you know. I don't really remember how she did, but it must've been somewhat alright, because I proceeded to do the Circling Game. I couldn't get her to move! In honesty, I probably could have, but I didn't want to really Phase 4 her, since 1) her owner was watching, and 2) I wasn't sure why she was doing it, fear or disrespect or confusion. So, I asked a friend watching if she wanted to play with the horse. She said sure, and hopped in.
Well, she tried the Circling Game with her, and she couldn't get the horse to STOP moving. It was incredible. From the time I had walked out of the pen to the time she had walked in was like 20 seconds, maybe. But yet, the horse had completely changed. "How interesting!" My friend is an extrovert, and I'm an introvert. What a sensitive horse!
Friday, December 4, 2009
As Promised, Articles Galore!
Okay, so there's a bunch of articles:
- Here is some more information about Tom Dorrance.
- Here are a TON of articles about Ray Hunt, I just picked my favorite. Press the Next or Previous buttons on the bottom of the page for more. This one has lots of quotes from him.
- This one is about Linda Parelli, and about how adults learn. Short, but interesting.
- Another one about Ray Hunt: this article portrays Ray as an American sage. It is about one of his clinics from an observer's perspective. It has lots of quotes from Ray in it. Flows really well, very well-written.
- This article is written more to emphasize martial arts than horsemanship, but it's still interesting. It's about a martial artist's experience with Ray at a clinic.
- Oh, how I WISH I knew the author of this. It's somewhat short, too, but really has a message. It's really eye-opening. CLICK THIS. It's called People Problems.
- Perspective by Linda Parelli. Short.
- This is about Tom Dorrance. It's detailing his last, clinic ever, apparently. Very interesting to hear how he ran his clinics.
- By Tim Hayes, this article is called Know Your Horse, Know Yourself. It was kind of a "thanks, I needed that" kind of thing for me. Very easy to follow.
- This article is an auditor's perspective on Ray Hunt's clinics. I don't know if you'll find it as interesting as I did, but it gave me some little nuggets of information to think about.
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