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 :)