I know, I'm Horrible. But I'm still here . . . . Honest!

Been here 3 weeks and still no updates. Very sorry guys. I do check the blog every day, I seriously do, I just don't feel this inkling to write so haven't for a while. I've things written down in my journal, so there are many things to share though, so don't worry you'll still get some information.

So, ok, as far as things I've learned. Moose is a lot more extroverted than I thought. He is very clear, when I say "hey Moose, can we do this?" He goes "no." And he'll tell you VERY clearly, "no." That's more of an extroverted reaction. As a specific example, I'll ask him to turn to the left and he'll go right. It's an obedience issue, and according to Linda's horsenality information, that means he's actually being LBE. Wow, huh? I had him pegged as an introvert.

And so along with him being more extroverted, we had (kind of have) major steering issues. So it is being dominant, he goes no, my idea is better than yours. And so the appropriate strategy with this is "great idea, let's go!" and do more than he wants to do. Well, I realize I've been saying no to him a lot, but our riding has been greatly improving. We've been given the task (since I got here now, think, been here 3 weeks) of riding a circle around an object and this time I got on, we rode 1 circle at the walk without any steerin mishaps or goofing off or anything so I jumped off right away and ended it. That was fantastic. This was yesterday too, so we'll see how today goes.

And hmmm, what else? Well, as I announced before we passed our level 2, so are now officially playing in Level 3 On Line. Also, our freestyle is in Level 2. I'm very impressed because I've dreamed for a long time of the day I'm in Level 3, and now that it's here it's interesting to compare, because I don't feel like I know more. Moose still does things, and I still get frustrated, and I still look at him going "wow, I don't know what to do about that!" so nothing has really really changed in that point. It's just what we can do. We can do all these wonderful things that we couldn't do before, and our relationship has grown. That's the biggest thing. I'm still me and he's still him. We're working towards harmony, we've just moved up a rung on the ladder. Doesn't mean I'm suddenly a horse expert like I thought it would.

Also, gosh, what else to mention? I got to go to the Sioux Empire Fair. Watched my first beauty pageant, and I saw Miss South Dakota. Have eaten out the most in my life: 8x in 2 weeks. Have a lovely farmer's tan going on right now. Used clippers for my first time on a dog. Watched the maintenance guy rope chairs out of a pool ;) (soooo hilarious). Learning to trim feet. Saw what a South Dakota storm can do. Had horses stay here on their way to the Canadian Nationals. Went to a lake house in Minnesota. Ate a $9 burger. Saw the barn's Down's Syndrome daughter win Walk/Trot in honor of her horse that died last year a week before the Sioux Empire Fair. Went swimming a lot. Played with horses a lot. Done stalls a lot. Slept. Met new people. Oh, got my palm read. Had a bull whip cracking party until 11 at night ;). Cleaned the barn. Chased madly after a loose dachshund. Chased after 2 loose horses. Walked a lot of dogs. Attempted to make friends with the barn's dog Lucy who has been abused before she came here and is now not a fan of people.

So lots of new experiences. I've also learned I slouch when riding. I learned the power of passive persistance. I learned more about where the weight is on your horse, and why the change of direction is so powerful. Along with that, I learned the reason dressage has so many lateral maneuvers in it. I learned that every horse is an individual and needs to be treated as such. I learned that Moose is very weak, which is the reason he pulls on the rope when he canters on line. I learned how to fix that. I learned how to make progress basically.

I think that's mainly what it's come down to, is I've learned how to make progress again. I found out from being here that Moose and I are so much further than I thought we were, because we've been pushed to go further. Before I could just play in my comfort zone and do the same thing over and over again and no wonder we never went anywhere! I thought we were. I'd come inside going "guess how many laps we got today!" And it seemed like progress, but then I'd move onto something else and stop counting laps so we'd be right back where we started when I tried counting laps again. So, while here, we've tried new things. We've done the flank rope, we've done Zone 5 driving. Basically, we've really expanded into things I would never have thought of doing. It's kind of been like a 3 week clinic with Farrah, it's really been excellent. I think her forward thinking mind is very interesting.

Got a quick story. We were all outside playing with our horses, and one of the interns picked out a little mini to play with. One of the things Farrah told her was to see if she could sit on him, lay on him, just kind of be over him and things like that. So, I'm here playing with my horse and I hear a thud. Look over, and she's laying on the ground. She got bucked off! Since it was a mini, she was totally fine, but so she thought she couldn't go any further because she couldn't get on. Farrah goes, "well, see if you can put a barrel on him then". It's just contagious, I don't know how to explain it but I love it. She sees forward openings in everything. I told her about Bella and how she's pretty green and complicated and I want to help her riding but I'm not confident enough and she goes "Well, you can sit on her, can't you?" I go "yeah..." "Then go do that." Well, duh! If that's not obvious! I just love the way she thinks like that, because my brain goes "well, plan A failed, I'm stuck" and it doesn't have to be like that. There's always something else that you can do, something you can try, some way forward. Was watching the Savvy Club Circling DVD and in the Finesse portion Lauren Barwick is riding May Lee and talking about her ride on a voice over, and she mentions that her horse felt kind of stiff that day, but she wanted to do a pirouette. Well, she tried it but she didn't work, so instead of getting frustrated or mad or anything she said, "well, I KNOW we can do a walk pirouette" so she did that instead and then they both got what they wanted. It's a compromise.

Farrah had to teach me a concept to help me with Moose. She told me a story. "Ok, so let's say you and me are best friends. Really best friends. And say I want to go watch a movie, and you want to go play volleyball. Well, it's the first day, so you give in and say ok, we can go watch a movie. Then the next day, the same situation arises. You want to play volleyball, but I want to go watch a movie. Well, now we compromise and watch a movie about volleyball. Then, the next day maybe we go play volleyball for 5 minutes, and then go watch a movie. That's kind of the idea. You get to where you're so excited for those 5 minutes of volleyball and so pumped up so that I (AKA your horse) eventually start to like playing volleyball. Even if volleyball happens to be doing circles, or something really boring." And that's what I have to do with Moose is compromise. Because, see, he thinks his ideas are great. He wants to watch a movie, he loves movies, it's his most favorite thing in the world, and why would he think about playing volleyball? That's where we have to compromise, and I have to learn to cause my idea to become his idea.

Another week, possibly 2 actually, and I'll be headed home. It's been such a blast so far. Sometime I hope to bring my journal down here and type up some of the relevant notes i have written in there. Dunno if I'll actually get to it or not though.

Thanks Farrah!

Yee Haw!!!

Totally just passed my level 2 On Line!!!!! YES!!!!! Very exciting, I'm grinning from ear to ear. Yay!!!

Takin Off

The time has finally come, we're headin to Farrah's. Not sure how much I'll be able to post once I'm there but if it's anything super significant I'll attempt to. Wish us luck!

Guess What Guys?

I rode Moose for the first time with a saddle yesterday!!! I'm proud. He didn't do anything stupid at all. We just walked. I tried directing him and we did some HQ yields. It went over really well.

And I had a realization that the bucking isn't his fault. It's mine. It's his way of showing me he still doesn't trust me. So I had a very how interesting moment. Yay progress!

Operation Horses

I've been getting Moosey prepped for riding recently. It's been going pretty well, but I'm a little finicky about saddle fit. I'm afraid to mess up because I think he'll buck. We had a day last week where he bucked all over the place. Good thing I've got a long rope. :) But I'm thinking I might try riding with a saddle on soon. Maybe within a week or two. We'll see though I don't want to push this.

Today was also quite the day. Bella kept getting attacked by giant (seriously giant) horse flies - one of them got me too - and so I got to watch her run and Moose run laps around the pasture today. Luckily, that was AFTER I snatched her halter and quick unbuckled the rope to let her run. And AFTER I decided she looked really tense and I decided I should probably do something. And that was AFTER Moose started bucking really bucking high because of either A) Fly or B) The fact that his girlfriend was outside the pasture. So, yeah. Lovely day. Needless to say I apologized to them both after that. Moose doesn't hate me though, so I think it might've been just a fly.

And speaking of Moose, he walked to me the other day. I was pretty happy with that. Quite a few steps too and he said hi. I was like sweet. Cool bud.

And I'm thinking of filming our level 1 in the next few days. We'll see how that goes. I still would rather just film our Level 2 but then that means we'd be working on Level 3 on the ground (YIKES) and we're not ready for that yet. Our patterns still need work. I think I need to get to be a better leader to show what I want. I have a feeling Moose's going to get a discussion from Farrah, so I think I should prepare him a little better. Just that feels hard to do with this friendship I have going on with him. And I don't want to ruin that.

Guess I got some more thinking to do then. As if that's hard for us intellectual people.

Happy Birthday to me!
Happy Birthday to me!
Another year of blogiiiiiing
Happy Birthday to me!

A Story

The hours drip by like paint, dousing the tiny trailer which is practically falling apart with a sense of wisdom beyond its years. A man chewing gum with a golf cap on is familiar to that feeling. He has a sweaty horse called Moose on a lead rope. His eyes are about wrinkled shut with age, but his smiling face gives away his mood. He stands to the left of the trailer, and puts a feel on Moose's lead rope, urging him to come forward. Moose locks his feet and his eyes go wide and starry. There was no way that 2 legged thing was going to get him on that cage on wheels. The man shrugs and keeps the feel on. 2 minutes pass. 4. Then 7. At 10, he gracefully, while keeping the feel precisely the same, sinks down onto the trailer bumper feeling content to wait there all day. At 20 minutes, Moose's eyes soften, and the man releases the feel instantly. Moose just stands there, not even noticing. The man sits still for a moment, his breath the only sound in the air for a moment while the onlookers wait patiently. He then climbs to his feet, and walks to Moose, who tenses up at his approach. The man looks him in the eye, bends down and breathes into the horse's nostrils. Moose stands still as a statue. Then, the man asks for a chair. An audience member hands him one noiselessly. He drags it back to the trailer, dropping Moose's lead rope and letting him stand where he is.

He begins to whisper, "What are you seeing right now?" His voice grinds over the words like a jagged saw cutting wood.

A girl raises her hand. The man nods at her. She yells, "I see-"

The man puts a finger to his lips, then points at the horse.

"Sorry," the girl apologizes. "I don't see anything."

The man nods, as if he hearing what he expected to hear. "Anyone else?" No one else raises their hands. The man stands, and walks to the edge of the little corral he was in. He ducks under deftly and shuffles away. The audience members are stunned. The girl runs up to him.

"Uh, sir. . ." she twirls her hair nervously.

The man looked down at his watch as if surprised to find he had it on. "Lunch break. Be back in an hour." The audience members raised their eyebrows as he hobbled to his truck and drove away. They decided to leave Moose just as he was, and everyone went back to their cars to get their lunches. It was already late in the afternoon.

An hour later, the man pulled back up and wandered right back into the pen. No announcement we're starting. No words to anyone. Apparently the only person he needed to talk to was a horse. Moose perked up at seeing him duck under the corral rail. His eyes were brighter and he took a half step towards the man. The man stopped instantly, and walked right back out. He turned his back to the horse and addresses the reconvening crowd. "Do you see the difference now?" He smiled as he jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the now-curious horse. The onlookers were puzzled. Just looked like a horse to them.

The man turned around slowly to see the horse staring right at him. He went into the corral, and walked up to the horse. The horse took a hesitant step back. The man did too. Then he stepped forward again, and the horse stepped back. The horse ended up backing all over the corral. One step at a time. With Moose still keeping him the same distance away. After this went on for some time, the man stepped forward, and Moose stayed where he was. The man extended out his hand toward the horse's nose. Moose lowered his face and sniffed his hand. The man smiled and walked out of the corral. "Bathroom break."

A half hour later, the trailer loading started up again. Moose had been moving freely in the interim, and had started to pace the fence. He was looking for the funny man who he was starting to trust. Just as he got worried the man wasn't coming back, he spotted him ambling towards him. In no time, the man reached him, and this time Moose relaxed as he stroked his face. He lowered his head, and cocked a leg. The man grabbed a rope from outside the ring. Moose ignored the fact that it looked like a snake, and allowed the man to slip it over his head. The man walked away and Moose followed with no hesitation. There was no drag on the rope. The man walked in a few circles and then walked right up to the trailer. Moose hesitated when he felt the man put a little feel in the rope, directing him in. The man released the pressure as he saw Moose's indecision. He walked over to him and pet him, convincing Moose again that this man understood him. The man shuffled to his spot at the left of the trailer and sat down on the bumper again. He slowly took the slack out of the rope, and Moose strode right into the trailer.

The man cracked a smile. The horse was barely small enough to fit in the lousy thing. Then, much to the amazement of the audience, the man proceeded to load and unload Moose for the next half hour until it got so good that if you put one finger under the rope and pointed he would jump in. Once the man got Moose to do that, he loaded Moose one last time and shut the doors.

He took off his golf cap to expose a balding head of salt and pepper hair. He held the cap over his chest. "Any questions?" he coughed. The onlookers were stunned beyond words. They simply started at him. "Thanks for having me then." He shrugged the cap back onto his head and moseyed back to his own truck. He fired up the engine, and drove down the gravel driveway.

"Wait!" a girl yelled, running after him furiously. The man didn't stop. She screamed "WAIT!!!!" The truck puttered to a stop. Almost out of breath, the girl skipped over to the driver's seat. The man rolled down the window.
"Did I forget something?"
"Yeah," she panted. "You did. I have something to tell you."
"What might that be?" His eyes crinkled.
The girl turned to indicate the whole audience with her arms. "We couldn't see anything."
He shrugged. "I'm sorry to hear that." When the girl didn't reply, he started rolling up his window.
"Oh one more thing!" the girl yelled, pressing her hands against the window.
"Yes?"
The girl tilted her head to the side, playing with her bottom lip. "What did you do in there?"
The man's eyebrows raised. "I gained his trust. Told him I wasn't going to hurt him." The girl pondered his answer, and turned around to leave. The man raised his window, and left. The girl skipped back to the audience. A woman with short blonde hair approached her and mistook her pondering face for a sad one.

"Oh sweetie, it's alright, none of us saw anything either. Don't worry dear," she held out her hand for her daughter to grab. The girl latched on to it, jumping around as she walked.
"Did you know he can talk to horses?" she said eventually.
"Really?" Her daughter didn't see the doubt on her mother's face.
"Yeah. Said he told him he wouldn't hurt him." The daughter bounced around some more. She stopped and asked. "Can I learn to talk to them too mommy?"
The lady's face was blank as she answered "Sure, sweetie, whatever you'd like." She herded her bouncing daughter into the truck and sighed as the door clicked shut. She did not want to ruin her daughter's dreams, but that man would now have to be paid for 6 hours of work when it only really took him 10 minutes to get that horse in the trailer. Such a rip-off she sighed.

She then hopped into the truck, and they drove Moose home. "Could he teach me mommy?" her daughter's eyes glistened.
Mom looked back in the rear view mirror. "I'm sure he probably could," she smiled to her daughter, but frowned on the inside.
The girl giggled all the way home. When they arrived home, the mother took her phone outside and called the man right away. "I'd like to talk to you about price."
"Alright,"
"That was a 6 hour trailer loading, but you loaded my horse in 10 minutes. I'm not paying for 6 hours then." The mom was resolute.
"Then I have a proposal."
"What might that be?"
"Pay me for 10 minutes, and your daughter can come work off the other 5 hours and 45 minutes."
The mother sat down in a chair, sighing loudly. She did not want her daughter associating with this man, but it would make her so happy. Eventually, she agreed to it. As long as she came with though. The man said that was fine. Her daughter was ecstatic. The mother just hoped she was making the right choice.