Merry Christmas!

Hope everyone has a safe, beautiful holiday! 

[Almost] Wordless Wednesday

Unrelated to Sonny and parelli, this is Sheldon (a.k.a. The Big Bang :)).

He is a dutch/thoroughbred cross that I am currently riding. He is an LBE and so much fun! I adore him!!

Liberty Video

I don't think I have ever videoed us playing at liberty before, so here goes:

 

I do realize that it looks slightly slow motion. Oh, my LBI. Maybe next time we will look a little more...alive ;).

Lessons in Liberty

I love liberty and so does Sonny. But lately we have been a little....stuck. Since I moved to the new barn I haven't done much liberty. We didn't have fencing for a while, the outdoor is ginormous, and the indoor usually has someone else in it. I don't want to risk Sonny running away while sometime is trying to ride so I normally stick to online or freestyle.

The past week or so I have been really trying to get back into the swing of things. That is when this happened. He got away from me which isn't a big deal, but he was doing it so much I got frustrated. I put him back online and started over and the next time we played he got away from me again, and again, and again. 

So finally two nights ago I was playing online and thought that maybe I would just take the rope off and see what happened. He was fabulous! We played a little stick to me, sideways, driving, and ran through the games. Circling game at liberty has been our archnemesis. That's usually when things go haywire. So that night I tried to break down the problem. I have been circling him close to the wall (about 10/15ish feet away) so that I could use that to help me keep him on a circle rather making it more difficult on myself and circling him in the middle. Last night I really focused on what he was telling me. When I started the circle, just at the walk he was fine, but when he got to the wall he turned and burned. DUH. Lightbulb. How is my squeeze game? I am not sure why it just occurred to me to check that before my circling game but better late than never. Rather than chasing after him trying to play the catching game, like I usually do, I just stood where I was and waited. He walked right back to me. Huh, how interesting! The game wasn't so fun when I didn't feed into it.

So I moved on to squeeze game. He didn't have the confidence to go through where I was when I asked for the circle. I backed up again and he went right through. I did it a few more times and tightened the gap and his squeezes were beautiful. So then I asked for the circle again. Voila! Perfect walk circle at liberty :). I was so happy I ended there. After a few weeks of trying with no success all it took was for me to listen to what my horse was telling me.

So last night I played at liberty again, just for the fun of it. Which I think is a really important concept for me to grasp. A lot of times I go out to play at liberty with an intention of accomplishing something, or anything. But, he feeds off that mind set and it does that the fun out of it for him. So tonight I just took the halter off and played around. We started with some zone 3 driving which was going so well I played with zone 4 and 5. I know, I know I barely have any experience with Z4&5 driving online, so I shouldn't be doing it at liberty but what the heck. It went so well and I think we both actually really enjoyed it. He followed the rail with me in zone 4 and 5 which I think was interested because we have never played follow the rail online just freestyle.

He was showing great interest in putting effort into things and acting like he was really enjoying it. So I asked for another walk circle and it was perfect! So I asked for a trot circle and it was really great, too! He got a little bigger than I expected, but he a) was so focused on me he didn't care that all of the other horses were getting grain except him b) maintained gait c) maintained direction and d) had a beautiful bend in his body. It was excellent! I am definitely one to quit while I am ahead, but because if my play frame of mind I just started walking to see what would happen. He did a traveling trot circle at liberty to where he was circling me perfectly in the middle of the arena. Wow! That blew my mind! I stopped there and played some more games, but I wanted to end on a really good circling game. I asked for the trot circle again and when he got in front of me he started to come in, but I senesced a direction change in his mind so in order to encourage his own ideas I asked for the direction change. My first one at liberty on a circle in the middle of the arena and it was perfect! The best part was after he changed direction, he maintained a perfect close range trot circle around me. He is so fabulous! He definitely knows how to put a huge smile on my face!

I tried to get a picture, but the indoor arena lights, plus night time, plus close range trot circles do not equal good pictures. You can't even see him in half of them. Maybe I will have someone get a video soon? 

Finally: Some Play Time!

I finally got to play with Sonny today. I think it has been at least two weeks since the last time we did anything. I could definitely tell, but I don't think he minded.

It's been really muddy lately but we still were able to use the outdoor. We splashed through the puddles had a good time making a mess. I got on bareback and bridleless, and actually savvystringless because it was covered in wet sand from playing online. His warm up was pretty good online and he was being super responsive when I was on him. I didn't feel the need to push for anything and there wasn't anything specific I wanted to work on so we headed out to the big open field.

I think that was my first time riding him outside in the field without at least a savvy string around his neck. He was perfect. We cantered and trotted and did figure 8's and quick stops. Anything I wanted it was there.

My favorite thing from today was after my ride. Out in the field I got off and walked him back to the arena to get my things I left there. All the way back to the arena we had to go through grass. I played spot to spot, which I normally do. But the weird thing was: he didn't put up a fight. Every time I walked off he walked with me, no questions asked. Which is so strange for my food obsessed LBI. I am pretty sure he has never stopped eating to walk with me without there being any motivation on my part. Normally I have to use my carrot stick (or leadrope when I am not at liberty). S it completely blew my mind that he just stopped eating and walked with me. It was so relaxing to not have to worry about asking him to walk with me; he just did it. It was definitely the most enjoyable walk we have ever had together :).

Galloping through the field bareback and halterless :).

Wordless Wednesday

DONE

I am done with school for the year! It feels so great. Semesters were long and drawn out as opposed to quarters, but overall I do think it went faster than usual. I am so glad that it is over with.

Now hopefully onto horsey time. Looks like someone needs a little TLC....

Poor guy was put on the backburner all week...

Pretty Impressive

First of all, if you aren't my facebook friend you have to watch this. This is Take 1 of my liberty jumping from the other day.

As funny as it is and as many times as I have laughed uncontrollably over it, there really is something interesting about it.

Stop the video at 0:16. Then watch Sonny closely for the next two or three seconds. If you notice at about 0:17/0:18, he looks over at me. The second my leg his the jump, he is already flexing his body towards me. Wether he heard/saw/felt me, he knew something was going to happen and was already thinking of turning and facing me while he was still in the air. I think that is so cool! I may be wrong, but I think this shows just how connected to me he is.

Unfortunately my phone only takes 20 still shots in a row. I would have love to have caught some of what happened after what you can see. He turned around and put his nose to my face. I am not sure if he was checking me out, confused, or just flat out laughing at me. It's fun to think what he might be thinking.

"Oh, you are so embarrassing!"

 "Your squeeze game sucks" 

"Human training is harder than it sounds"

"So THAT is why you need me to jump for you"

What do you think he is saying? 

Tis the Season

If you haven't noticed (unless this is your first time viewing my blog, I really hope you did notice) that I changed the layout to a Christmas theme. I am having a really hard time getting it exactly the way I want it, mostly because I don't think blogger is saving my changes. Grrr. But on that note: if anyone knows someone who designs blogs for fairly cheap (>$100) I would be super interested!

I think it's too late for Christmas photos (how do I always seem to miss it? Procastinator, procrastinator...) so I guess I will settle this year for just decorating his stall. Which is slightly disappointing because no one every sees his stall. I am starting to feel a little scroogey! Yuck!

Although we did get a Christmas tree yesterday! Pretty sure we bought the biggest one they had ;).  We didn't buy enough lights because we weren't expecting to get a mammoth so it isn't finished, but it's a start!

A two man kind of tree...

I have finals this week, so there probably won't be much horsey time. But after that is Christmas break and hopefully lots of horsey time!

Imagine That

Sonny and I had an absolutely fabulous time today! He was such a super star and I couldn't be any more proud.

Background: The first time I ever played with barrels Sonny he cut his leg pretty badly on one when going sideways over it and has been pretty afraid of them since. I have done lots of friendly game and over the year since the accident he would do everything but go sideways over them. It has been a huge challenge for me and I get so frustrated with it.

Back to today: I had intentions of wrapping his legs and trying sideways. I was in a hurry to get to the arena to help a friend so I didn't have time to wrap his legs. I had the barrels set up so I just played figure 8 with them instead since I didn't want to mess with sideways and risk his legs again.

I was spicing up the figure 8 with transitions when I happened to halt him at the side of a barrel. With me standing in figure 8 position, he took it upon himself to go sideways over it. As you can imagine, my jaw hit the floor. I didn't ask for a single step and it went as perfect as could be. He kind of paused over top of it, but I didn't want him to think I was pushing him so I let him figure it out. After a few seconds, he continued sideways over it like an old pro. Of course my LBI would do it when I didn't ask! I can't believe all the arguments we have been in over this simple task and he completes it with flying colors when I didn't ask him to. Go figure...

Needless to say, I was quite ecstatic about it. That definitely made my life complete! I am just thrilled. As if that wasn't enough, he jumped with me three times at liberty. This wasn't like any other time we have ever experienced. He put effort into the jump. He didn't try to run out. I didn't have to ask him to do it. My LBI willingly exerted energy to stick to me. Wow! By this point I was just blown away. I was so shocked, surprised, excited, happy...just on cloud 9. He has never jumped with me at liberty over a jump in the middle of the arena without trying to get out of it. He even cantered a stride before! I don't have words to express how happy he made me today :).

Yes, I have the cutest horse in the world.

Funny Sonny

When Sonny was at liberty the other day he got away from me. He normally goes to the other end and comes back. As he came back to me, he did something I would never expect my LBI to do: he went sideways over a pole on his own!

Okay, so I know that he likes to think he knows what I am going to ask of him and he will do anything if he thinks a rest or treat might be in store, but for him to walk up to a pole that we hadn't been going sideways over and just decide to stop half way over it and sidepass down the entire thing....that's pretty funny!

I was NOT expecting him to do anything of the sort, so by the time I realized what was happening he was almost done but I caught the very end of it on tape.

I love the face he gives me at the end. "That's what you wanted, right mom?". He's so stinkin' cute!

I Promise

Although I always make an effort to put our relationship first, it is easy for me to put my needs over Sonny's. I often lose sight of what's important and get caught up in materialistic things (my way of grouping things that most 'traditional' riders look for, such as a on the bit, collected, good distances to a jump, etc.).

It seems like every time I get done with a night that I look for things that benefit me and not him, I feel completely dissatisfied with myself. I have brought it up over and over again, but it never seems to click. No matter what I know, I continue to do the same things in different ways. So I am really going to make a conscious effort to not only be aware of myself and actions, but to then apply what I know. It is easy for me to say I know that is right, but then to put it into action is a whole different challenge.

This is my promise to my horse and myself to work for never ending self improvement and to not only continue to educate myself, but to apply what I know 100% of the time.

I hope to one day be able to be the centered person that my horse expects me to be. I am so grateful that he constantly challenges and influences me to be a better person not only with my horsemanship, but as a whole.

It's Official

The pony search has begun! 

Jase Carter

Auntie Em 

Happy Thanksgiving

It isn't what you have in your pocket that makes you thankful, but what you have in your heart. 

Guilt.

When it comes to Sonny, and especially his health, I give him my all. And when I work so hard to make everything as perfect as possible for him and it doesn't work out, it makes me feel nothing but guilt.

How could I be so ignorant? I am so embarrassed and ashamed. I feel like such a horrible mom.

Mistakes are proof that you are trying. I guess I will just try harder next time...

D to the E, to the L - I - C - I - O - U - S

With all the stuff I have been making Sonny eat lately, I thought it would only be fair to to make his dinner a little more enjoyable.

Herbs, herbs, and more herbs! 

So I have been feeding him a variety of herbs! So far he has ate every single one of them, which makes it hard to determine which ones he loves and doesn't. But, I guess the more he eats the more options I have....

Here is what we have covered so far:

We started with Spearmint:

Then eyebright:

Then raspberry leaf:

Then peppermint:

And calendula flowers:

That is all I have been able to to try for now. Considering Sonny has eaten some really weird things before (like a snotty baby wipe), I shouldn't find it surprising that he has eaten every herb so far. I have a lot more to try and will probably document them, too!

It's Not Having What You Want, It's Wanting What You've Got

My lack of posts lately has been due to the huge sale we had at our farm Saturday. The sale included 27 horses and I rode 6 of them. They were all sport horses, so either dressage or jumping. I rode 3 jumpers and a few really great dressage horses. It was really awesome to be doing so much jumping and dressage work. It  definitely made me a little bit sad when I went back to my little paint horse.

Today the fancy horses went home and I got to spend some time with Sonny. I already missed the springy dressage horses and those that had me confidently jumping 2'9", but it did feel good to be back with Sonny.

The weather was perfect so I busted out the 45'. We haven't played with the 45 since like July so I wasn't expecting much. To my surprise, Sonny was fabulous. He was SO responsive! He did something today that he has never done before: he maintained gait backwards. It really shocked me; to the point I was questioning what was going on. I asked him to back with a phase 1, then he kept backing with only my energy. Once I relaxed, he stopped. I did it again just to be sure that was really what happened and sure even I asked him to back and he continued until I relaxed. Whoa. How crazy is that? It's hard to believe he used to be so hard to back and now he is maintaining gait backwards. Wow!

We tried some bigs circles and he was excellent. He maintained gait over poles, responded to my slow hand, did multiple trot circles without slowing down, even had a few really great canter circles, and most importantly: he ask asked a lot of questions! I was so thrilled!

Considering he put so much effort in today and did so well at the end of the 45', I decided to quit early. To finish up my day, I asked him to lay down. After he laid down I asked him to lay flat. He did without protest, which is something that is hard for him. As he was laying out flat I laid over him and we soaked up the sun. It was so tranquil; so peaceful and relaxing. I got up and he laid there until I gave him the verbal cue to get up. He normally pops right up when I stand up so it was really great that he waited for me.

I walked him back to his pasture at liberty. After walking him through two gates and over grass, and having him stay right will be and so connected, I realized that this is everything I want. He was so amazing today and tried his heart out for me. He will never be a fancy dressage horse or jumper, but he will also be the best partner I could ever ask for. I am so in love with him and wouldn't trade him for the world.

It's not having what you want, it's wanting what you've got. So I am gonna soak up the Son♥

 

Wordless Wednesday

I don't think I ever posted these pictures from the Hunter Pace we attended back in October. Too cute not to share ;).

Phase 1, is that you?

Maybe I use horesnality as an excuse, but I don't feel like we always have a solid phase 1. As we continue to work towards level 4, that has to change.

I didn't plan on doing much yesterday; just a little jumping then off for a trail ride. The jumps were already set up and my focus was to work on me and my position more than him. He wasn't super excited about jumping (which makes me sad; I need an LBE!) so I didn't do much. Just enough to get a good feel.

The best part from yesterday were our canter transitions. He was being super unmotivated and was barely inching forward, so I applied the snappiness from my lesson with Juli. Before I knew it, he was canter from a halt from only phase 1. It was probably one of the most awesome things I have ever experienced. We were sitting there at a halt, I bought my life up and he would canter. I didn't do anything with my body, but smile with all 4 cheeks. How cool!!!

I really didn't think it was possible for him to be tuned into my body that much. I always felt like he could never really feel my energy through the saddle. Yesterday proved to me that he definitely felt something! I don't think he has ever been very responsive at phase 1 for an upward transition (in the saddle or online), but now I know yes, he can do it. I just have to have the arrows in my quiver to get them out of him. I am looking forward to playing more with high expectations of phase 1! 

Follow Up Feeding

I realized that is wasn't very savvy of me to not share the articles that I am reading regarding savvy feeding. So here are a few I have found helpful. I think I might add them to the "links" section on the right.

Let me know what you think :). And please share if you have any good ones!


If you are interested and having your hay tested and analyzed, I highly recommend sending your results to Claire of Shotgun Ranch to have her analyze it.

Shotgun Ranch Nutrition

Claire also has lots of awesome articles; here are a few of my favorite: 

Why I Feed Vit E and Flax

Safe and Unsafe Fruits and Veggies

Using Herbs for Flavor

Patti, at Desert Equine Balance also has some really great articles on her blog: 

Feeding an Underweight Thoroughbred

From Apples to Poo Soup

Gastric Health

Hooves and Nutrition

Probiotics

Hope those help :)

Savvy Feeding

You might call me "One of those crazy health freak moms that never lets their kid have taco bell" (or at least that's what my best friend calls me).

A few months ago I decided to have my hay sent out and analyzed, then had Claire Cox from Shotgun Ranch Nutrition balance Sonny's diet for me. Claire is an extremely knowledgable person and I felt like just balancing his diet and being done with it would have been such a waste. So I went all out.

I have been trying to learn as much as I possibly can recently (and I have Claire to thank for most of it) about feeds and feeding. I never knew there was so many important things like the ratio of omega 3 and 6, why you shouldn't feed oils, and the importance of Vitamin E. There is something about learning those types of things that I, all of a sudden, crave. It has become a slight addiction. I really, thoroughly enjoy the satisfaction of knowing I am providing to the best of my ability for my horse. As my knowledge continues to go I hope his health does, too.

I wish I had time to learn more, research more, and apply more, but for now Claire's articles are getting me by just fine! It has been so awesome to be able to relate to things going on in my Animal Science - Nutrition class at OSU (guess who was the only one i n my group to get the omega 3 and 6 question right on the pop quiz? This girl!) and to be able to apply what I have learned to the horses at the farm. I know a lot of people think I am crazy or going over-board, but I am extremely satisfied with what I have been learning and what I am able to provide for my horse.

In order to make the copper, zinc, magnesium, iodized salt, monosodium phosphate, iodine, vitamin E,and selenium taste a hair bit better, I have acquired some herbs! It started out with getting herbs that are immune system boasters for Sonny for when we have events at the farm, but of course I couldn't stop there. I also got a few herbs to spice up his dinner! Maybe I am doing a little overkill, but I bet you he isn't complaining ;).

And the Winner is...

Congratulations to Emma (allaroundcowgirl), who won the $25 gift certificate to Parelli for her comment on Blogoversary Giveaway!

Also, congratulations to Jackie (Myhorsejourney), who won the pink savvy string for her comment on The Little Things!

Thank you to everyone who participated! I hope you all enjoyed the contest; I know I did! It was wonderful reading all your comments and I hope that you all continue to comment! If you enjoyed the contest and would like to see more in the future or have any suggestions, please let me know!

For the lucky winners, be sure to send me your address (my email is erodgers122@Gmail.com) and I will get your prizes off to you!

Have a wonderful day and keep it natural!

Last Chance...

Today is the last day to enter the Blogoversary Giveaway! You have until 11:59 tonight (eastern time) to comment or share! Here is your chance to get an extra $25 towards Parelli or a pretty, new, pink savvy string :).

Just What We Needed

Juli Piovesan came out yesterday for the first time since she got back from Colorado! I am sure she had an awesome time, but I definitely missed her a lot! So did Sonny ;).

I knew I wanted an online lesson because, for one, I wanted to play with zone 5 driving and for two, Sonny and I have hated it lately. We were stuck and neither of us ever wanted to play online. I knew that meant something was wrong so I asked for help.

We started out in our slow warm up, playing the touch it game to try to cause him to ask questions. He was touching everything I wanted, even with the leg I was aiming for. Then he touched the jump standards with zone 5 without any problem at all. I was pretty impressed; he is usually so scared to touch things with zone 5.

Zone 5 touching the jump standards! 

From there we moved onto figure 8s. Not to focus on the pattern but to see what it would take for him to ask me a question. He would perk up an ear as he came around the outside of the barrels but then go right back to his LBI face. We experimented with a few ideas, but none of them really  influenced him to connect with me and ask me a question. We tried keeping his feet moving until he perked up an ear. It was a long, slow process of backwards, sideways, forwards, and again, and again, and again, without even a hint of a question! Then, he wasn't being responsive sideways so I made it snappy and tagged him and he gave me two ears and a big question :). So it seems like snappy might be the key to unlocking the questions and happy faces.

Such a happy face ;).

From there we went to play with zone 5 driving. We did a LOT of really awesome preparations. After watching the levels, I was left really confused and unconfident about Z5D. Juli isolated and separated the whole process so we could recombine smoothly into Z5D. I felt really left out in the dark after the levels and Juli really, really, really made sense of everything.

Better expression!

Sonny was an absolute superstar. He was even cantering beautiful circles around me in zone 3 with my featherlines on. He would even trot off with just my leading hand :). He was being so responsive I couldn't believe it! Even his expression improved! :) So we didn't actually get to Z5D but she put about a million arrows in my quiver and gave Sonny and I something really fun to play with! :)

Somewhere along the line in our lesson we were discussing playing online. She told me that we play online to 1. teach the human something new 2. teach the horse something new 3. for preparation (like trailer or farrier). Okay, I have herd those a bunch before and it makes sense. Then she made it clear that those are the only reasons we play on line. I have been playing online just to practice, but unless you are trying to develop a skill or prep for something, you shouldn't just be playing online. Lightbulb! That is why we hate it! It completely blew my mind and made sense of everything that has been happening lately. I think that was a huge breakthrough for me and I think it will really change a lot in our relationship!

Finally, Juli helped me with feeding. As you all know, now that Sonny is at the barn I manage I get the pleasure of feeding him almost every day. When I first started he was pushy and such a challange. All summer I have played the driving game to get him to back up and wait for me to dump his grain, then wait for him to ask if he can eat before I allow him to. He does okay with it but he is always a nervous wreck and super anxious. So I asked Juli if she could help me have him relax at feeding time. She asked me to put his halter on, dump his grain, and back him a consistent amount of steps. Then, once the butterflies settle and he asks a question, I can guide him to his feed bucket. So I did just that. Backing him wasn't too back but it took him a little while to let the butterflies settle (I love that analogy!). Once he seemed relaxed I guided him to the bucket, but he came to me instead :). That was a super, huge warm and fuzzy moment for me! He knew the grain was in the bucket and he came to me instead :). He came to me with this super sweet, soft face and it melted my heart. Definitely the perfect way to end our lesson!

Needless to say, I am so thrilled and excited to continue to play with the ideas that Juli gave me! I am so happy that she is back and so lucky to have her around :)

The Little Things

I finally got a chance to ride tonight! I wanted to play with the GoC because it seems like I never have the opportunity to be consistent. I started it right before my 3/4 clinic at the end of June and never played with it again until a few times through out July and August. I took a huge break from it and recently picked it back up a few nights ago. So I am going to work really hard to be consistent, but I guess I need more arrows in my quiver.

Tonight started out well; he was good online and super forward and responsive riding freestyle. When I picked up the reins he knew to keep moving and stretch. Trot is the issue. He tends to curl his neck and avoid the contact, rather than take the contact and stretch. It's hard for me to tell as I am riding, but I had a friend video tonight and it seems like he is still avoiding the contact to some extent? After watching the video I tried again and took more contact to encourage him to take more, but then he reverted back to old habits and stopped. So then I started with stage 1, reins mean go and worked our way back up to trot with the same results. Ugh. If you always do what you have always done...

Here are two pictures from the last 15 seconds of the video my friend took. Most of the video he just curled his next, but for a few strides he looked like he actually engaged behind and pushed into the contact. I knew it felt good because that's where I stopped. Sorry the photos are so bad; they are screen shots from the video on my phone.

I wish I had more arrows in my quiver, but I guess the only way I can add to the ones I have is through experience. I am going to go back through the DVDs and make sure I am covering every point and try to go from there. I just feel so bad that Sonny has to be my 'sacrificial lamb' :(. But, I know he is very forgiving and as long as I keep my attitude positive and always reward the slightest try, I guess he isn't going to be too offended. Then again, look at all the mistakes he has put up with from me in the past three years that we have been doing Parelli ;).

As I was feeding him dinner and getting him ready for bed, I was kind of down in the dumps about our ride. As he was finishing his dinner I cleaned my saddle, put my tack away, cleaned up my tack room, locked everything up, got things ready for the A.M., and then went to kiss him goodnight. (Just to update those who are new: Sonny has his own barn. His 'stall' is a 15x16 area in one corner. His gate is at an angle on the corner closest to the inside of the barn. His gate had a bungee on it so if I leave it open it just shuts behind me and he can't get out). Well as I went to kiss him goodnight I saw his gate was wide open. It's not really a big deal if it is; the farm property is completely fenced in and everyone knows that if Sonny were to get out, he would never make it past the first blade of grass. But, he was just standing there waiting for me to come back. It really reminded me how lucky I am to have such a fabulous horse. I can only imagine where some people's horses would have been (some might have even been half way across the country as slow as I was being in the cold tonight).

It really made me smile and appreciate all the little things we have. When I was done riding tonight, we had excellent liberty walk and even trot circles! He stood still for me in front of other horses while I went to get water for grain, and he stood still after walking through the human door and porch as I went back to shut the door behind us. Along with that, he pooped (twice!) and peed ONLY in his pea grave tonight :). Just because we are having a difficult time learning something new doesn't mean that we are failures or that I am screwing him up or whatever it is that I am afraid of. We are just learning, haven't put that much time into it, and it's a total 180 from what we both have learned our whole lives. Of course we can't change that over night! So I am going to take the time it takes and be positive and progressive :). In the end, at the core of it all we still have the relationship, which is what really matters!

I Never Thought....

That you would be the one to hold my heart♥

Blogoversary Giveaway!

Today marks the one year anniversary of my first blog post! Hurray!

In honor of everyone's support (no matter how big or small), I am going to be holding a raffle! There will be two winners: the first place winner will receive a $25 gift certificate to the Parelli shop!

The runner up will receive a pink savvy string in honor of breast cancer awareness month!

Photo courtesy of Parelli Natural Horsemanship, Inc. 

Here is how you enter:

• You can enter the raffle by doing one or both of the following:
• Commenting on one of my blog posts (either upcoming or old, it doesn't matter!) will get your name 'in the hat' 1 time per comment. 
• Sharing a link to my blog (and sending me a screenshot or telling me where you posted it) will get your name 'in the hat' 2 times per share. 
• You can get 'your name in the hat' up to 5 times; any submissions after your 5th will not count
• To clarify, you may use either or both of the options to get as many opportunities to win as possible! 
• The deadline (you must have your comments posted and your 'share' entires submitted) by November 4th, 2012 at 11:59 P.M. 

If you comment on a post, be sure to include your name or some way for me to identify you (anonymous posts will not be recorded). 

How it works:

Every time you comment on a post, or inform me where you shared my link, I will give you a number. For one comment, you get one number. For one share, you get two numbers. Those numbers will be recorded then entered into a random number generator, for which I will 'draw' two numbers. The first number will get the gift certificate and the second number will get the pink savvy string!

Just a note: there might be an extra something for the person with the best 'share' ;). Blogger lets you keep track of where your views come from, so if someone posts my link somewhere that draws a lot of attention, I will make it worth your while! 

If you have any questions, feel free to ask! Best of luck to everyone! 

The link the share my blog: 

http://savvywithsonny.blogspot.com/http://savvywithsonny.blogspot.com/

Warm & Fuzzy

Yesterday was so cold, but Sonny knows how to make me feel all warm and fuzzy!

Yesterday morning I led him outside at liberty. Usually he struggles to get 'free' to go eat grass. Yesterday I focused on my destination and was confident (but ready to correct) that he would continue to walk with me and not stop to eat. Not only did he stay with me, whenever I stopped, rather than diving down to eat he turned his head towards me, asking what was next. Goosebumps!

I got him out to play late last night, so we had to work in the indoor. I played a little online and was very pleased with the results! The first time I yo-yoed him back, he kept two eyes and two ears locked on my. He never does that! I was ecstatic!

After a good online warm up (he was being incredibly responsive), I got his bridle out for the first time. He took the bit right away and didn't chomp. I am so happy!

I rode around freestyle for a while and he was fabulous! So I dropped put the reins on the bridle and played a little Game of Contact. He immediately remembered reins mean go and to stretch into the contact.

At the trot he wanted to stop, so I took more contact until he went forward and then tried again from the walk. Within no time he was powering forward into the contact!

After that I got off and hung out for him for a while; something we haven't done in a while. He yawned and chewed and yawned and chewed and rested his head on my shoulder. Oh how I love him :).

Pretty boy :). 

Another Year With My Dear

As of today, Sonny and I have been together for 3 years! As we continue to get our good, better and our better, best, I would say that this past year has been the best, yet!

I look forward to many, many more... 

Forever&always. ♥

The day Sonny became mine - 10.25.09

Wordless Wednesday

Some photos from our ride Monday night!

 50 Shades of Hay??? No...Grey! 

Instagram: Are You Out There?

Does anyone out there have instagram? If so you should follow me or comment with your user name and I will follow you! You can find me at: savvywithsonny

I am absolutely obsessed with instagram and always enjoying finding new parelli people to follow! Or any horse people to follow, actually.

If you already follow me (or visa versa), let me know so I can say hi!

Instragram photos are my favorite :)

Deer Creek Trail Ride

Yesterday Stephen was nice enough to take me trail riding! With our new three horse trailer, we packed my friend's in, too! Melissa came with her mare Rydel and Sarah brought her horse Ozzy. It couldn't have gone any better!

Melissa & Rydel, Sonny & Me, Ozzy & Sarah

It rained all morning, but by the time Stephen picked us up it had stopped. It turned sunny and beautiful; the trails weren't muddy, but not dusty either. The weather was great, the horses were all fabulous, the scenery was beautiful, the trailer was awesome, there was good company...it was perfect! 

Lovin' the new ride! 

The trails were awesome, winding in and out of the woods, up and down hills, through the water (or what should have been)... the only thing missing was jumps ;). Sonny was the best he has ever been. For one, he walked right on the trailer. He loved it. He was brave the whole trail ride, was confident through all the scary things, and most importantly: he was such a good listener! At the last hunter pace he got a little excited and wanted to go, go, go. Today he was all about whatever I wanted. Impressive for an LBI, eh? You want canter, okay! You want walk, okay! He was perfect. We basically spent the whole ride on a loose rein, something I normally wouldn't think of while trotting and cantering on a trail. He is usually in GO mode and wants to blast around. I actually just used a California roll in my reins and played with steady rein if I needed him to slow down a bit. He listened and settled in to some really comfortable trot and canter! Very balanced and relaxed. I was thrilled! 

~10 miles and 150 photos later... ;)

Ozzy and Rydel were just as great, which made for such a fabulous time. I was so glad to spend the day with my best friends and have such a great time! Wish I could do that more often!

Enjoy!