Wordless Wednesday

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? 

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.

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! 

Hunt the Jump

On Saturday Sonny and I participated in our second ever hunter pace! Just like the first one, it was a blast!

It was the annual halloween pace so we dressed up! Sonny and I were bumble bees and my friend Katie was Dr. Who with her horse being the Tardis. I think our costumes looked great!

I loved how the ribbons in his mane turned out!

The pace was LONG. We did the moderate and the slow pace; the ideal time was 53 minutes for 6 miles! We got pretty close to that and ended up placing second :).

A dirty and VERY tired Sonny! 

Sonny was very good! He was a lot more forward this pace and not as well behaved as the last one, but he was so much better jumping! He jumped everything I pointed him at (except the very last one...go figure!). He even jumped some pretty big logs! What a good boy :). I am so impressed that for one he was jumping as much as he did and for two he jumped so many big things! It is hard to imagine that just a few years ago he had no idea how to jump and just two months ago he was spooking at longs and he is now soaring over big tree trunks! He is such a superstar.

He wasn't going to jump this, then did. Caught me off guard,
hence the position. Whoops! ;) At least he looks great! 

For those of you who might be interested, here is a helmet cam video from the pace! It is not me, but you can still see the jumps and all!

Good Day

Creative title, eh? But, that is exactly how I feel.

Today I got to play with Neblina and ride both Allegra and Sonny. Yay :).

Neblina was really good. Her follow the feel is getting so much better, but her porcupine game is still not very good. I am trying to decide if I need a better phase 4 or more motivation? Hmmm. I put the saddle on her for the first time today! We played lots of friendly game and approach and retreat so it went so well! Such a superstar.

Represent ;).

Alllegra was fabulous. The best ride we have had together by far! We definitely 'clicked' today :). I love her so much!

Sonny and I also had a really good day! I played for a second online; he asked so many questions and gave me great faces! I LOVE it! Also, he jumped a single barrel..twice :). So, so proud of him!!! That was a huge accomplishment for us. I got on bareback and bridleless and played with my phases for direction. I realized I rely on my legs a lot. Although its great that I don't have to use my carrot stick or reins, I really shouldn't have to use as much leg as I do. He finally understood it was his job to stay on the circle at the walk and trot and did great! The canter was much harder. After he put effort into staying on the circle for a stride or two I stopped and he immediately licked and chewed. I stopped there :).

SUCCESS

I am not one for capital letters, but holy cow today was a fabulous day!!

Yesterday I got a mild break from work, so I got a chance to watch my DVD that had just came in the mail. I found a used 'Jumping with Confidence' DVD by Linda for $5. STEAL. Cheapest Parelli education material I have ever bought. Ever. And worth every single penny!

Not to go into too much detail, but most of the DVD was more about respect than jumping. Turns out that is exactly what I needed. I am going to a hunter pace this weekend and that was why I watched the DVD, but there definitely was a greater lesson to be learned.

So I made it a point today to not be a boring, predictable human. I made it a point to be a good leader every second I could. I got fabulous results! Sonny's faces improved a lot (he hadn't looked at me with two eyes and two ears for a few weeks before today), he did lots of licking and chewing, became interested, and consequently, he jumped!!!!

He jumped everything I asked him to, even the barrels that he loves to run out on. He put so much effort into going over them not only online, but also freestyle :). That had been a HUGE problem for us, but today he didn't think twice about jumping them every time I pointed him at them. Awesome!

So fabulous day riding. Once I was done he was all hot and sweaty so I thought it would be a good time to ask him to lay down. Once he started rolling, I played porcupine game on his halter and gently asked him to lay flat. Without even thinking about it, he laid down and stayed there until I asked him to get up. I may have had a mini heart attack I was so elated. I have been wishing and hoping for this moment for SUCH a long time and today it finally happened :). YAHOO!!! Our relationship must really be improving; I feel like he trusts me so much more now.

Tomorrow I plan to play with a little game of contact and ask for the laying down again! Hope it goes just as well as it did today!

Love this Kid. 

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! 

Over the Moon

I had such a wonderful weekend with Sonny. Although nothing spectacular happened, he had me over the moon.

Friday we had a short, sweet, and successful liberty session. My lesson of the day: Don't micromanage! Man, oh, man! I get so LBE and caught up in perfection that I don't always realize how much I can micromanage Sonny. Only recently have we been playing with figure 8's at liberty, with very little success. Things were going great Friday so I rolled out some barrels and started the pattern. Things weren't going so smoothly so I stopped and thought about what was broken. As always, it was me. I was so focused on getting these tight, perfect little turns around the barrels that I was oblivious to all the great things Sonny was offering me. I tried again with a better attitude and it went so well! He went pretty far out and around the barrels, but I was barely doing anything and he was putting so much effort into the pattern! He kept moving instead of stopping at the barrel, and did really well going back in-between then and turning back towards me. The best part: we ended with him coming back towards me with a very happy face :).

We also had some small achievements Saturday. My favorite came when I was talking to some friends during a circling game. My friends were standing directly in front of me and I had some barrels lined up directly behind me. I had sent him out on a circle and was passing the rope behind my back when my friends told me he had jumped them. For a minute I didn't quite understand what had happened. "You're trying to tell me my LBI jumped barrels behind my back without me asking and with plenty of room to go around them on either side? No way!" I was flabbergasted. Sonny is pretty darn good about keeping up with his responsibilities, but they usually don't hold up with things that require too much energy. For him to maintain gait, maintain direction and look where he was going behind my back, well I couldn't be happier!

Today was pretty great, too! We focused on touch it: touch it from a long distance, touch it with on one foot, touch it with your tail, etc. I also really gave him time to think today. I didn't do anything until he gave me two eyes and two ears. It was a long, boring process and my inner LBE was digging to get out, but I think it will really pay off. Along with that, he had some excellent jumps! In attempt to move more towards level 4, I put standards with a pole higher than barrels laying down. The pole was only a couple inches higher then the barrel, but it was a good start. He jumped it three times and was pretty good about it. The last jump he actually even started cantering before it when I only had him at a trot. I believe that would be effort :).

Weekend Warriors

Last weekend I decided to take Sonny over to my boyfriend's house for a few days. I had been planning on it for a while, but it was supposed to rain all weekend so I gave up on the idea. Last minute, I decided to tough it out and make it work. It was my last chance to ride in the fields before they planted crops and I had the weekend off anyways so I figured, why not?

My view from Stephen's window.

We didn't plan it out very well; I'll know better next time. We got there late Friday night and it had just started raining, so I kept him in the "stall" Stephen set up. Stephen has a 3 sided barn where he gated off an area about 30x15. In the back he piled straw and we kept his buckets in the front. Sonny didn't seem to mind the stall, but I think he was worried about being alone.

I got up Saturday really early and let him out in the field. He seemed to do better then, but was still looking around a lot and not very relaxed. Around noon I went out to play with him even though it was raining; I figured the more I got his mind working the better off he would be. The rain had made everything slightly muddy and very, very chilly. Within 20 minutes we were wet, dirty, and cold. This had turned out to be such an awful idea! What was I thinking?

Munching on grass and looking around.

I took him back in the stall to dry him off. I didn't want to leave him by himself, so Stephen put together 4 bales of straw for us to lay on beside him. We all took a nap for maybe an hour or so. By the time we got up it was warmer, a bit sunnier, and at least not raining. He seemed so much calmer and happier that I let him out in the field. He was so relaxed and happy. We went back in the house to dry off ourselves. I checked on him every few minutes through Stephen's window. To my surprise, he kept going from eating grass to back in the barn to relax. Huh. How interesting!

Hanging out in the barn.

I rode later that day once it dried out a bit. We had a great ride through the fields. It was a bit windy, but he was motived and moving! I felt really 'in tune' with him, rather than him being faster or slower and me.

The weather was still nasty on Sunday. But, it cleared up enough for us to set some jumps out and have fun with that!

Giant jumps ;).

Overall, I wouldn't brave another weekend in bad weather. But, we sure did have lots of fun and I think it strengthened our relationship. Can't wait to play at Stephen's again...in better weather!