I Like It, I Love it

I would really, really appreciate if you all could head over to my farm's page on Facebook and give us a like.

http://www.facebook.com/ShadyAcresFarmLLC

In return, I would be happy to give a shout out, post a picture of you and your Parelli partner, have you as a guest blogger, or anything of the sort.

If you do like our page, be sure to let me know!

Thanks so very much!

Sonny will be giving free kisses to anyone who
'likes' the page! 

The Game of Contact Progress Pictures

Remember this photo?

It was taken in April of this year, from a weekend spent at Stephen's house. I loved the angle, was very happy with my equitiation, and loved how relaxed and in sync we looked! I was thrilled with it!

Although Sonny is tracking up in the above picture, he is heavy on the forehand and is still hollow. He is tracking up better in the second picture than the first, but still not using his body correctly.

This photo was taken with under 5 rides playing with the game of contact:

I don't know about you, but I had to pick my jaw up off the floor when I saw that picture. My fat, downhill, long bodied, lazy, unathletic, stocky paint horse looks like he is balanced and using his bosy correctly....wait, what?

Although it isn't perfect...yet, I still can't believe he changed so much so fast! I never knew he could more forward into the contact. In fact, I never realized that any horse could. I rode and trained dressage for about 7 years and have always pushed horses into the contact. On the contrary, Sonny, himself, moves into it. He offers it because we have a mutal understanding and respect. There is no hassle, no fight, no struggle to get him to take the contact; it's just there. And it's beautiful, and of course, natural. It has never felt so fabulous to me before.

I am so pleased with how far he has come in such a short time, I will definitely be adding pictures as we go on!

Good News, Bad News

Bad news first: school started today.

I am not thrilled about it. Especially when I was lucky enough to spend my entire summer hanging out with my Sonshine. Ugh, getting up for class, even though it was 2 hours later than normal, sucked way worse than getting up to go see Sonny. But I have to get it done. Have to. Not an option (at least I try to convince myself that is the truth).

I don't have class on Thursday, and only 1 hour of class on Tuesday and Friday. Monday and Wednesday I have to be on campus from like 10-4, but that is totally survivable, right? Please tell me it is.

When I got out of class I went straight to the barn and got to ride with three of my boarders: Eliza, Katie and Rachel. We started out in the arena and went on a really great trail ride. So happy to have them around to ride with! Sonny did fabulous, of course. He trotted AND cantered on a loose rein out on the trail without going full speed ahead. Yay :). We also played with contact at the canter today. It was BEAUTIFUL and felt so wonderful. I need to get pictures or videos. Today I did notice that when I played with contact at the trot he lost his impulsion. Definitely something to work on. In general I think I have been lagging in having him be responsive lately. I need Juli to get back from Colorado and give us some motivation!

Good news: well, the best kind of prize is a sur-prize, so I think I will wait ;). Stay tuned!

Sonny and his best bud, D'Art. They adore each other
so much, it could give you a cavity. 

Compassionate Contact

Even though I bought the Game of Contact back in April, I haven't done a whole lot with it. We played with steady rein at Jesse Peters' clinic, but haven't touched it since then. Yesterday I took him out in the huge, freshly mowed, field and played around.

He definitely remembered that reins mean go and stretch. Off to a great start! I played for a while at the walk and trot, trying to see if I could get him to stretch steady rather than drive down and pop back up. I wasn't having a huge amount of success, but I wasn't too worried about it.

I switched it up and started practice canter walk transitions consistently for the the first time. I was counting strides and trying to walk every 5th. In the beginning the transitions were okay but got worse as I went on. I couldn't figure it out for the longest time. How can something get worse and worse the more you do it? I can do perfect canter-halt transitions without a halter or bridle but was having really bad canter-walk transitions with my bridle. How interesting! After thinking about that I dropped my reins and tried again. Bam! Perfect transitions. So...what was the problem? I was making assumptions and going back to old habits. After the first few transitions I must have started to use my reins to try to slow him. Well, reins me go, right? So he probably wasn't in a 'downward' frame of mind when I started using my reins since I had just spent so much time teaching him reins me go. When the transitions got worse because I was using too much rein, I made the assumption they would be bad and used even more! Yikes. As soon as I went back to not using reins and trusting him, the transitions were there.

After a few fabulous transitions I went back to playing with contact. I thought about the DVDs and what I was missing. I thought about Jesse's clinic and something popped out at me: the theme of Jesse's clinic was to make it a game. Everything we did we were supposed to have the frame of mind "If I were you....". I have been so good at keeping up with that until it came to the Game of Contact. I got so focused on the contact I lost the game. Lightbulb! I picked back up my reins and thought to myself if you don't take the contact, I will. Then I experienced about three strides of the most beautiful contact I have ever felt. It was so...unbelievable to have this contact with my horse that wasn't forced or pushed, it was just natural. We had a mutual understanding and it was just so...pleasnt. There wasn't any fuss or fight or any of that. It just...happened. After all those years of riding dressage and pushing my horse into the contact, it blew my mind to just let it happen. As always, I am so thankful to have found Parelli and for Linda and all the fabulous things she has done. I can't wait to play with it more and see where it takes me!

Photo by The Perfect Pear Photography 

Wordless Wednesday

Jumpin' Jumpin'

Sonny and I have been jumping more lately. Although neither of us are very athletic, we get the job done ;).

I used to take jumping lessons when I did mini trails with a thoroughbred when I was 10 and 11 (so 9/10 years ago). By the time I turned 12 I was completely focused on dressage and really haven't jumped since then.

In preparation for my hunter pace on Saturday, I busted out the jumps and played around.



We definitely have a lot to work on, but more than anything I am so proud of Sonny for the effort he puts into it for me (the vertical was 2'3"). Jumping is definitely not easy/natural for him, so the fact that he tries so hard makes me happy. He is such a superstar.

For comparison, here is a video taken shortly after he jumped for the first time.



He has really came a long way! I don't ever expect him to be some grand prix jumper (same for me!), but it would be great if he could jump upright barrels for our level 4 auditions :).

Happy Trails :)

Today I went to my first hunter pace and wow, was it incredible! So much more fun that I could have ever hoped, and I even had high expectations.

My friend Sarah took Sonny and I along with her arabian, Sarabi. We met up with one of her friends, Stacey, and her arabian stallion (so many S names!) The pace was so much more laid back that I could have expected. Everyone told me that it wasn't competitive, but I could have never imaged how it was! We showed up this morning around 10, tacked up, and rode out! No ride times, no waiting, and definitely nothing serious; just get on and go :).

The pace was held on a 130, beautiful property. The trail started out in the woods and it was serious! The path had sharp turns, hills and valleys, mud, water, and sharp edges. Luckily, Sonny was a total superstar and wasn't phased by anything. Through the woods he confidently marched through the mud and water and was great going up and down the steep hills. Along the path were jumps, about 32 total. The first jump was just straw bales and he jumped it without question! The next food jumps in the woods were logs that Sonny kept a good eye on. After a good bit we came out of the woods into a meadow. At a small log jump I played the yo-yo game and got him confident enough to jump it. After that, the rest was history!

The trail continued to wind in and out of the woods and meadows. There were always optional jumps, almost all of them were logs. After the yo-yo game, he confidently flew over anything I pointed him out. By the end of the pace, he was aiming for the jumps! I was so impressed!! He never likes to jump at home and he here is practically dragging me to them. I couldn't have been more excited or possible have any more fun.

At one point the trail went through a big creek. The water was almost knee high in some places and so much fun to ride through! Not only did he ride through the water, he confidently walked over a spooky bridge. I was absolutely thrilled!

Needless to say, I am beyond thrilled with my fabulous, Parelli pony. Just last year at this time we went on our first (and up until this point) and last trail ride. He was so naughty, pulling me the entire time and not wanting to slow down. He tried to kill me by dragging me through trees in order to avoid a puddle. So to see him today, without any other trail riding practice, blew me away. I am still smiling :). Can't wait for the next one!

Sarah, me, and Stacey! 

The New, the Fun, and the Exciting

The new:

We have boarders! Yahoo! Our first boarder is the fabulous Eliza Farrell. Eliza is a fun, talented young lady that has so much going for her. Maybe that is part of the reason she is surrounded by so many handsome men?

Photo by The Perfect Pear Photography

Meet Ardie, Peter, and Trace. They are all thoroughbreds and are all so well behaved! Absolute gentlemen! Eliza does eventing and works with a Thoroughbred adoption program, New Vocations. She will be bringing three more horses in September, all of which I can’t wait to meet!

Our second boarder came yesterday with her impressive gelding, D’Artarian. Although I just met his owner, Katie, for the first time yesterday, she is a very sweet, hard working girl who was a joy to be around. Sonny thought the same thing of D'Art, who he absolutely adored and is thrilled to have as a pasture mate!

It was love at first sight!

The fun:

Things have been awesome at the farm! Sonny LOVES his little slice of heaven! It's so great to pull up every morning and see him already outside :). What makes it even better: he hasn't been going to the bathroom inside! I taught him to pee in the pea gravel and he poos outside. So I rarely have to clean his stall now. Major win!

Eliza, Katie and I went on a trail ride yesterday and had an absolute blast! We rode down to the paylake, over around a horse farm, and through a path into a corn field where we found a cool, old barn. Definitely pony pal status ;). We had a really great time and Sonny even enjoyed a good gallop on the way home! So much fun!

Katie, Eliza, and me!

The exciting: 
Things are really starting to fall into place at Shady Acres Farm! Out fencing is done, our hoop bar is up, major work is being done on the bathroom, lounge, etc. and the stalls are looking great! We currently have the four boarded horses (Adie, Peter, Trace, and D'Art), Sonny, and a little mare named Ginger (more about her soon). Tomorrow we have an older guy coming who belongs to an absolutely wonderful couple that just got into horses. Then in September, Eliza is brining three more horses and we have a half-arab coming.
I also feel like I am confident enough to do my level 3 online and freestyle DVDs. I will probably be uploading those soon, so stay tuned!