Experiencing the Power of Focus

Chances are you have seen this video:

Even as I was younger (but not that young!) I understood the power of focus. When I was first learning to jump I was completely astonished that you could influence your horse's lead after a jump just by where you looked while over the jump. How cool!

I know Pat talks about focus a lot and I work really hard at it while riding. Tonight is was brought to my attention that I may not always be putting the focus into online tasks like I should be.

Lately Sonny and I have been struggling a bit with going sideways over the ball. Sometimes it is because he is unconfident, and sometime because he is too confident (you can't make me!). There was a lot of commotion at the barn tonight, so it was one of the unconfident times.

After lots of friendly with the ball, we made it over a few times. But, it went something like this:

Okay this foot. Now that foot. Whoa, not so fast! I said left foot not right foot! You're about to touch the ball!!!!

If you can picture that, you can see how we both ended up worn out and sweaty after only a couple of times! It made me think: Who is doing more work here? Obviously, it required a huge amount of energy by both of us, when each of us should really have to use only minimal energy to go sideways a few steps over a ball. 

So, what's broken? Me. I shouldn't have to micromanage him. It is his responsibility to make it over; it is only my job to suggest that he do it. Therefore, I set him up for success by placing him where he should easily be able to make it over the ball. Then, I focused my attention over his withers and asked for sideways, as if the ball wasn't there. Guess what? It went perfectly! It was by far the best sideways over a ball we have every done. AND it was so easy for both of us!

Lesson of the day: It is not about the ball....or the trailer, or whatever the task may be. I can't get caught up in so much of what I want to happen that I skip the fundamentals. If you take the time it takes, it will take less time. What's the rush to get over the ball? Why don't we do it right from the beginning and never have to worry about it! 

This reminds me of the time at Jesse's playday when I was playing with loading Sonny in other people's trailers. Jesse rode by and shouted "Put his mind in the trailer not his feet!". After that I focused my attention on focusing Sonny's attention and he walked in without hesitation. Wow! It really 'clicked' then, but now I have to apply it to everything we do.

The power of focus is truly a real 'power' and should be embraced.

Lesson with Juli on 9/20/11

Level 2 Online Audition

I sent this in last month, but still wanted to share!

This was my first time auditioning with Parelli and I really enjoyed it! Since then we have came a long way. This was before our lessons with Juli, before my understanding of his faces and before I started using phase .5 with him. But, it sure is neat to see how much we have progressed in under two months!

Here is our scorecard:

It was everything I expected, which I think is a good thing! I am really hoping to bring that rapport score up with out next audition now that his faces are looking better.

And here is the video:






Feel free to let me know what you think!

Raise Your Hand if You're A Direct Line Thinker

I had a lesson with Juli the other day and she mentioned that Sonny goes to 'autopilot' when out on a circle. Interesting... I never thought about it. We have been working on transitions on a circle a lot lately, but apparently he isn't getting the hit to ask questions.

So I set up a small jump and started playing. I know Pat always says to do other things than the normal so your horses asks more questions. Well, what do you do with a jump? Jump it! Duh! I guess that has always been my idea. Yeah, I occasionally have him sidepass in front of it, but that is about the extent of my imagination.

Juli suggestioned working on transitions with the jump. Just because it is a jump, your horse doesn't always have to jump it when he gets close. So I started doing things like trot up to it, stop and back up. Walk, then trot up to it, stop, then sideways. Walk up to it and touch it. Circle in front of it then circle behind it. Squeeze between it. Trot up to it, sidepass, jump it. Canter up to it, stop, back up.

The first thing I did was trot up to it, stop, then was going to ask for the back up. When I got to the -stop- part, Sonny looked at me like WHAAAAAT?!?! It was so funny I couldn't do anything but laugh!  After more playing he got the idea and started asking more questions!

After we had a good grasp on the jump, I figured maybe I should apply the same concept to the pedestal. At first I just asked him to walk up to it and stop. The first couple times he continued to put his front feet on it. So I backed him off and played lots of the friendly game. After a few times with that he got the idea that I didn't want him to put his feet on it, so he would stop in front of it and lift his leg OVER the pedestal and kind of hang it there. How interesting!!! He is such a character, but this showed me I do the majority of my thinking inside the box. I am not nearly the creative person that my LBI needs me to be. It was really upsetting to come to the realization that I have been a direct line thinker all along and haven't even realized it.

If people could be perfect, never ending self improvement wouldn't even exist. I just need to learn from the experience and move on. I can't dwell on things in the past, Sonny definitely isn't going to. I am going to just put these arrows in my quiver and be a better human for my horse!

Introducing Emily

If you haven't guessed already, my name is Emily and I have lived in Ohio my whole life. My mom took me to my first riding lessons when I was just 3 years old. I remember being led around on an old horse named Spirit, and thinking it was the greatest day ever when I got to hold the reins by myself!

Spirit and me at a fun show; egg and spoon!

When I was 6 years old, we rescued my very first horse, Velvet, from The Last Chance Corral. He was only a few months old; we had to feed him milk 3 times a day at first! We kept him until he was 3 years old. He was the most handsome horse; tall and black with a gorgeous blaze. On top of that, he was extremely gentle. We had grown up together and were inseparable. Before he was even broke he would let me ride around on him bareback in just a halter. When we took him to be trained, they told me he was a Tennessee Walker (which I hadn't even heard of!) and that he would never be able to do anything I wanted. So we made the hard decision to sell him to a great home. He was such an amazing horse; I am so thankful to have that experience and wish I could have him all over again.

Velvet when he was still so little! (I guess I was, too)

After selling Velvet I started leasing the cutest old palomino quarter horse mare from a local lesson barn. Her name was Sassy and she lived up to it. We attended my very first horse show at the beginning of the year, the Hairy Horse Show. Our first class was Hunter Under Saddle and we won! How awesome! Going into my first class ever I did not expect that outcome, but couldn't have been more excited.

Winning the Ground Poles class at the Fair!

After leasing Sassy for a year, I decided I wanted to jump. I switched barns and started leasing Chauncey, an old ex racehorse who had a really rough past. Thinking back, he was definitely an LBI. He was so pushy and so funny. Everyone that met him just adored him. I leased him for a total of 3 years: our first year we did english pleasure and some hunter hack stuff, the second year we switched to eventing, and the third year we did just dressage. By the third year, he was getting pretty old (late 20s) and I was in love with dressage and wanted to do so much more.

Showing Chauncey at a mini horse trial.

That is when I found LaBelle, the love of my life. She was big, bay, and beautiful. Belle was the sweetest thing in the world, with the most elegant face and huge kind eyes. I also had her for 3 years. We had the most amazing connection; I swore she knew what I was thinking. She was so intelligent and we worked amazingly together. In the 3 years that I had shown her a couple times a month, we won all of our classes except 2, both being at regionals. At our very first regionals we won the Training Level division out of 36 riders, which is one of my most cherished memories. In 2005, we were second in the nation!

LaBelle's notorious extended trot at the
2006 Regional Championships.

A few of our accomplishments, including Mare of the Year
(3 times) and being in the magazine Dressage Today!

LaBelle had some health problems and couldn't compete much above Second level (although we consistently scored in the 70%s every time we showed second level!). That is how I came to acquire Icon, a Dutch Watmblood that was imported when he was younger by Robert Dover!! I had been riding with George Williams and had aspirations of competing in the Jr./Yg tournament, which is like a younger version of the Olympics here in the USA. Icon was a fabulous horse and very talented, but we didn't get along at all. I didn't like working with him and he didn't like working with me. He was right brained and I am left brained and at the time I didn't  know how to handle it. I was so unhappy I thought I had lost all interest in horses. I sold him and everything I owned.

Icon and George Williams.

After about a year, I realized that it wasn't horses I was unhappy with, it was the relationship I was unhappy with. I had Velvet, Chauncey and LaBelle (all 3 left brained horses) for 3 years each and had incredible relationships with the all of them. It hit me that it was the relationship, not any fancy dressage movement or any amount of blue ribbons, that I loved most about horses.

So, I found Parelli and Sonny and that is where I am today! 

Introducing Sonny

Sonny was born on February 12, 1999 out of a mare named Sonny Bar Breeze and by the stallion Pass to the Stars. Both of his eyes are partially blue and he has 3 APHA points, 1 in halter and 2 in longe line. He was used as a western pleasure horse for a while but hadn't been ridden in months.

My first time riding Sonny.

None of that mattered when I drove out that chilling October day to see him. The only reason I went was because I had the day off school and was thinking about getting another horse. He was close by, so why not?

Sonny's first day at his new home!

He was in the very last stall, completely dirty and under muscled. He looked like an absolute mess! As soon as I walked over he immediately came to say hi. He was so curious and loved the attention; he chewed on my jacket and licked my hair. I was hooked.

Sonny came home on October 25th, 2009. At the time, I wasn't very sure what I was going to do with him. He wasn't a show horse, he didn't have any special talent, he was used to western when I was used to english, and I didn't have anything for him (not even a halter!). But, I had a horse and he had the greatest sense of humor and that was all that mattered.

I kicked into gear and busted out my unused Parelli Level 1 DVD's and got to work. That is when our journey began!

We slowly progressed for a while. I was only using the home-study program and a few random tips from the savvy forum. Then over the summer I met my new best friend, Melissa. Not only does she do parelli, but we also go to the same school. Perfect! Then on August 28, 2011 we went to our first Parelli Playday at 3* Instructor Jesse Peter's place. WOW! That may have been one of the most influential days of my entire life. From then on Sonny and I have been progressing a lot more rapidly!

Sonny and me and Jesse's place.

Now we are playing in level 3 and I am trying to get to a fast track to live my dream as a Parelli Professional!