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!

Let It Be

Sonny and I had a fabulous liberty session today! I didn't have a whole lot of time (what's new?) so I just wanted it to be short, sweet, and successful. I haven't played at liberty very much this summer, if even at all. Well, besides walking him to his paddock and back, but that's about the extent of it!

We went in the big outdoor, which probably wasn't the best place to go, but it was so nice out today I definitely didn't want to be inside. For once I didn't have any plans in my head about what I wanted to do, I just kind of flew by the seat of my pants. I practiced some sideways over me, realizing that the one way is broken. Did some driving game to fix it and it turned out great! Then I played with the difference in going sideways towards me and backwards towards me at a distance. He caught on really quickly!

Everything was going great so I tried circling game. This game has always been hard for us at liberty so I usually avoid it. I get frustrated and he knows it and ends up trotting around the arena and pretending I don't exist. That frustrates me even more and I end up giving up. So today I set myself up for success by standing about 10 feet away from the long side of the fence, so a portion of my circle would be along the rail. I sent him off at the walk and it was perfect! He was doing these perfect circles, maintaing gait, direction, and flexing towards me! Then, when I took a single step back, he came in to me! I was blown away! I played with some changes of direction, a bit of trot, and he was awesome! I was so impressed!

Walking a small circle :). 

So my lesson of the day: Let it be! Of course I should always aim to get my good better and my better, best, but there is no rush. You have to have all of the pieces of the puzzle to see the big picture. There is no point in trying to force things, but rather to figure out what is broken and go from there. It reminds me of back when I started Parelli and was flying through things because Sonny was so smart. Before I knew it we could do level 3 tasks, but did we have a level 3 relationship? Of course not! I was forcing him to do things, there wasn't any communication, I was just demanding things of him like the rest of the un-natural horse world does. I didn't find a level 3 relationship wasn't until I slowed down focused on what was important: the relationship not the tasks. So today was a friendly reminder to just take it slow, go with the flow, and focus on what really matters! :)

Trotting on a circle with a great expression! 

What My Horse Has Taught Me

Not too long ago this was my facebook status:

“Asking a horse ‘What can you do for me?’ is backwards.” —Ray Hunt

Even though it is obvious that I 100% agree, within the last few days Sonny has done a lot for me. But, maybe not what most people would expect.

Today it finally hit me why Kristi Smith's blog is so accurately titled Life Lessons from my Parelli Levels Horse. Wether I figure it out or not, everything Sonny teaches me about horsemanship also applies to my life.

After a very successful play session yesterday I laid in the grass while he ate and I just thought about everything. I thought a lot about what my friend Deb said to me: she was telling me that she saw someone post that you have to approach your horse with a blank chalkboard every day and create everything one day at a time. That really hit home for me. I realize everyday that I go to play with Sonny I unknowingly drag along so much baggage. I always think about where we ended our last play session, how my day as school went, stress from work, and so on. It isn't fair for me to be emotionally weighed down by all of those things and expect him to be happy to play with me. In fact, it really isn't fair for me to heave any of my emotions on him and expect him to deal with it.

Just like Sonny does, I need to take our relationship one day at a time. Every day is a clean slate. Every day is a chance for me to prove my leadership. Every day is a new chance to put the relationship first. So even if I make a mistake, which is bound to happen, it is not the end of the world. It is a learning experience and without them how will there ever be improvement?

It is amazing to me how good Sonny is at reading me. As silly as it sounds, it always feels like he knows exactly which lesson I need to learn at the exact right time. As I laid there in the grass watching him eat without a care in the world, everything fell into place. Recently there have been a lot of things going on in my life that upset me and I have been doing nothing but dwelling on them. With all those unhappy faces lately, Sonny was teaching me that I need to take everything in stride. Managing a farm is a whole new experience for me and of course there are going to be ups and downs, and definitely a lot of learning experiences. There is no point in holding grudges or being upset with people; as long as I do that ears are bound to be back. Once I can take every day as a clean slate and use it as a chance to prove my leadership, then I will start to see those ears pop forward.

I am so thankful that Sonny is so patient and persistent, and especially so forgiving. Everything means something and nothing means nothing. All those unhappy faces he was giving me was just a friendly little reminder of what's important in life, which is the relationship you have with those that you love.

Pump the Breaks

I haven't been posting much lately because...I really haven't done anything to post about. I have had plenty of horses to ride and play with, but this blog is about Parelli and Sonny and I am not sure how I feel about posting things other than that.

Long story short, Sonny and I have been disconnect the past few weeks. I am not sure how to make this flow, so I am going to use bullets to describe what has been going on:

• I want my green string. I know we can easily get it, I just have to tape it. In order to tape it, there were a few things I wanted to improve on. Perfect opportunity for direct line thinking :(
• I don't have much free time, therefore the time I do spend with Sonny I think should be productive
• Im tired. Very tired. All of the time. 
• Sonny hasn't given me a happy face in weeks. Which makes me frustrated and upset like nothing else. 

I hope that gives you a glimpse into the way our relationship has been feeling lately. When it is put into that kind of list, it looks pretty obvious that we have problems. Ugh. Last week I finally realized that I have to change something (if you always do what you have always done...). I took a step back and looked at the situation. I mentally made the above list. After a minor meltdown and a lot of "Why do I do this", I decided to put myself in time out until I got my attitude together. Sonny is always going to mirror me, and if I am feeling tired, out of time, pressured, goal oriented, frustrated, and upset, well... I am not going to want to even see my mirror. 

Thursday we had PERFECT weather and I was feeling great. I was really looking forward to playing with Sonny so I finally let myself out of time out since I had a fresh, positive perspective. I set up a few things: a small jump, three cones, and a single barrel. I immediately put my LBI hat on, snugger than normal. I often try to slow things down for him, but I am not being 'true' about it. I may slow down physically, but I am still going 100 mph inside. I know LBIs are mentally quick so that sounds right, except my mentally quick feels a lot more like anxiety. I get so worked up over slowing down that my energy isn't slowing down, I am just physically slow. Therefore, I haven't been truly matching his energy lately. Tuesday I was just happy to be with him tried to make that show. I spent lots of time playing the friendly game and actually being relaxed for once.

Along with making an effort to match his energy, I did a few other things that I don't normally do. One was to not push him. We have had a lot of trouble with sideways over the barrel in the past and normally when I want to practice it I just make him go over it. That is so unsavvy of me that I am almost embarrassed to say it. So Thursday I trotted him up next to it, lined him up, then walked him away. He gave me the WHAAAAAT? face and I loved it :). That was the first time in a long time he has asked me a good question like that :).

I didn't play for too long when I did something that is very, very hard for me: I stopped early. The LBE in me wants to go and play and play and play until I accomplish everything that I want to. Of course Sonny hates it and I push him through it. Why would I ever think that was okay? So after a happy 20 minutes I asked him to lay down, he stayed laying until I asked him to get up, then we got up and went and ate grass. It was such a fun day. There wasn't any pressure, there wasn't any expectations, we actually just played.

I am not sure when I crossed the line of the 7 games to the 7 jobs, but I am pretty sure Sonny would say that I definitely crossed it. I feel so bad and embarrassed about it, but I guess it's a good thing to move from unconscious incompetence to conscious incompetence. If I can start applying everything I know to be true, rather than just storing it in my head, I bet I could make a pretty good partner.

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 :).

Joy Ride

I have been really busy with school lately, which is unfortunately cutting into my time with Sonny. But, only three weeks left, then finals, then a cruise, then next quarter I should have plenty of Sonny time!

Anyways, the time I have been able to spend with his has been great! For some reason, freestyle isn't out strong point. But, I have rode three times over the past week and it has been wonderful!

I realized that I am still expecting perfection while riding. The past few rides, especially last night, I really worked on just making my good better, and my better best, without expecting everything to be perfect. That made such a difference!

For one, it made me lighten up a lot. Just last night I realized I don't ever smile while riding. Which is strange, considering I am almost always smiling online and at liberty. As sensitive as Sonny is, I know he has to notice. That made me think about myself and what I am doing while riding. I spend so much time focusing on him and what he is doing, I don't focus on myself at all.

So last night I really focused on smiling, being aware of what I am doing, and actually enjoying myself! I put effort into controlling my energy, and mainly focusing on the task and myself, instead of just him. Of course, things fell into place and he was happy and I was happy and we actually had a really enjoyable ride! For once I wasn't so hung up on perfection that we actually got to have fun. Not only were we having a good time, everything was so much better than it normally is! He was following the rail, listening to my phase one, changing direction at the trot without taking off, putting effort into the question box, and even putting effort into jumping the little cross rail I had set up!

So my lesson of the day: I need to start playing while riding. Just because I am in the saddle doesn't mean I have to be serious and everything has to be perfect. It is more important to focus on me, such my energy and focusing where I am going, than to focus on him. When I am hold up my end of the bargain, he will fall into place. And most importantly, the more I enjoy myself, the more he will, too!

Unconditional Love

By definition, Unconditional Love is a term that means to love someone regardless of the loved one's qualities or actions. The term never made sense to me until I got Sonny.

Thursday night we hit a rough patch. Sonny has issues with bits that date back to his old owners (and who knows how far back it started before that), so I have never ridden him with one. Now that we are moving towards finesse, I want to start getting him to like the bit. We were making progress, but I pushed him past his threshold Thursday and felt so bad about it. He was tense and unhappy and I thought for sure that was going to negatively affect our relationship.

But last night was so perfect and I couldn't have been any happier. The weather was nasty and I had homework to do so I didn't plan on spending much time at the barn, but wanted to have a good night to make up for my mistakes Thursday night.

Right off the bat he blew me away. As you know we have been playing with laying down, but he has been moving around a lot before he will lay. Usually I walk him to the end of the arena and ask, then he walks around a couple of circles then finally lays down. Last night I thought I would try it as soon as we got into the arena. Right in front of the gate I asked him to lay down, then kept a light rhythmic motion on the line (I just had my featherline attached). Since he is such a superstar of course he laid down right beside me!! I was ecstatic. He is so stinkin' smart I can't even keep up!

On top of that, he was totally LBE last night and I loved it. He was so playful and wanted to go, go, go. I brought out the big green ball and he was cantering it around the arena! He has mastered moving it on the go, but has never cantered with it before! Then the ball got stuck and he fell up on top of it and his front legs were smashed into it and I thought for sure he was going to break a leg. Then he popped up and continued chasing it haha! Along with that, he was bucking, rearing, jumping straight up in the air and being all sorts of energetic (definitely not LBI! ;)). Another boarder was in the arena working her show horse...I am sure she and her dad think I own some crazy beast now!

I wanted to get on and just walk around to, again, make up for the bad ride on Thursday. I didn't have anything but a featherline, so I just tied my savvy string around his neck. I did a few turns and he was amazing. Without even my carrot stick, he was doing turns on the forehand...just based on my weight and leg position! His turns were so good forehand and hindend, for the heck of it I asked for a step sideways without reins, carrotstick or a wall. Of course he went perfectly sideways :). Considering I have only played with sideways without reins a handful of times, I was extremely pleased!

I got off after that since I wanted to end on a good note. I had him stand there while I fetched my featherline. As I was walking back up to him, I stopped at his butt. Sonny knows that if I raise my hand, he moves his butt towards me (like sideways towards me), so just playing around, I stopped behind him and raised my hand. It was so funny because I could tell he was watching me get the rope because as soon as I raised my hand, his head shot up and his ears were moving...trying to figure out what I wanted. He thought about it for a while, but I remained still letting him figure it out. After a minute or so he took a step backwards! How awesome!

So my lesson of the day is: It doesn't matter what we accomplish. If he never wants to wear a bit, fine with me. That is so far from importance that there was no need at all for me to be upset about it or for me to push him in any kind of way. All that matters is the relationship; as long as we always have that, the love will be unconditional.

The First Key To Success

If you know Parelli’s keys to success (which can be found on my Parelli Principles page), you’ll know that the first one is attitude. I have always believed that I have a good attitude with Sonny because I love him and enjoy being with him. I usually just left it at that and didn’t pay much more attention to it.  

I played with Sonny for a little bit last night and it was okay. He gave me ugly faces, didn’t want to do anything I wanted to do, and overall the relationship just wasn’t great. I ended it on a good note and decided it would be best to try again tomorrow.

Today was outstanding! Sonny was happy and willing; he kept coming in to me with happy faces and even gave me two eyes and two ears while backing up. I was blown away! What a difference from the night before! I proceeded to hop on bareback even though I didn’t have a 12’ line with me and didn’t want to mess with using my 22’ line while riding. He was the best he has ever been and I only had my carrot stick (which I barely needed to use!). We have been having minor difficulties with turning his forehand without him moving his hind end. I played with it a little bit Wednesday night, but had to keep resorting to my rope instead of being able to do it with just my carrot stick. When I got on today and it was like everything just clicked! He was moving his forehand around his haunches without taking a step forward and I BARELY had to use my stick!! I couldn’t believe how well he was paying attention to my body. I could even do indirect to direct rein (I am not sure if they are still called that if you don’t have reins?) turns on the rail with just my carrot stick! What a HUGE improvement from just a few days ago when we couldn’t do them with reins! WOW!

I am so very thrilled at what a great day we had today! I couldn’t stop thinking about it and wondering how so much had changed overnight. The more I thought about it the more it made sense. I had an awful day yesterday…one of those days where you can’t get anything to go your way. Even though my night had gotten better before I went to see Sonny, I was still filled with the remnants of a bad attitude. I took all that negative energy with me into the arena with him. How could I expect him to look at me with a happy face when I am radiating negativity? This makes me think of the movie Buck, when he says:

Your horse is a mirror to your soul.  Sometimes you might not like what you see… sometimes you will.” ~ Buck Brannaman

Last night Sonny was just mirroring what he saw in me. Therefore, the lesson of the day is the reminder that attitude is the first key to success. There is no way I can expect Sonny to have a great attitude about things if I don't myself. The bad things that happend yesterday morning were done and overwith and there is no reason to carry them around with me. I needed to move on! Sonny sure wasn't going to dwell on the past and feel sorry for me, so I shouldn't either. He is the best teacher I could ever ask for!

Fascinated, Not Frustrated

Sonny definitely woke up on the wrong side of the stall yesterday. He had his ears glued backwards and did not want to do anything! I started out the night with just some simple porcupine and things like that and he was grumpy, grumpy, grumpy. I was about to get frustrated that he was in such a bad mood when I realized I should be fascinated instead!

I took a step back and broke down the situation. He is LBI, so the more I try to get him to do anything the more he is going to 'rebel'. Obviously I was not being provocative enough to gain his interest. So I changed the plan in order to engage his brain and interest.

Trick training is perfect for LBIs. A lot of the stuff requires minimal energy, there is a ton of incentive, and it makes them use that smart brain of theirs and helps them feel smart. Sonny knows how to give kisses, but that is about it. Time to expand!

If you remember this post, Sonny LOVES the pedestal (along with probably the majority of the LBI population). He loves it so much he puts effort into standing on it because he knows either a rest or treat follows. In order to not only engage his brain but also to expand the things we can do with different objects, I decided it would be a fun idea to teach him to just put one foot on the pedestal when I say 'up'.

I wasn't really sure how this was going to work out considering the only trick I have ever taught a horse was to give kisses! I started out with him really close and would direct him the same way I would to get him to stand on the pedestal and said 'Up' at the same time. The first two or three times he put two feet on and I backed him off so only one foot was on, then rubbed and let him rest. About the 4th time he put only one foot on! Then, about the 6th or 7th time, all I had to do was say Up and he put his foot on! WOW! Not only did he catch on, he immediately was giving me two eyes and two ears, asking "Do you want me to put my foot on here?". I can't believe how fast his whole mood/attitude changed!

I know Sonny is incredibly smart, but it still blew me away at how fast he caught on! I was beyond fascinated. This kind of reminds me of when you watch animal planet and Caesar talks about giving dogs a job. Not only does it make them feel important and smart, but it gives them something to set their mind to. This is what I need to do with Sonny. I know I probably mention this in every post, but every day I constantly gain more knowledge of how important this is and how to put practice to purpose.

Lesson of the day: No longer can I go out there and expect to warm up in the most mundane way ever. I can't start out with a little bit of circling game, oh jump the jump now, lets yo-yo a little bit,  now we can push that ball and so on. That just isn't going to cut it anymore. Not only do I need to have interesting things in mind for the whole play session, but our warm up is just as important. Linda recently posted about this on her blog, but now I truly understand it. I always used the excuse 'well he is LBI, so we warm up slow'. Yes, our warm up is going to be different than with an LBE, but 'slow' does not mean boring! Putting a foot on the pedestal is slow, but it is obviously not boring! I need to engage his brain and get him with me from the very start to improve everything else for the day.

One of Sonny's first few times on the pedestal at the old barn!

Putting Playing to Purpose

If you have ever had an LBI (or perhaps you are one, yourself!), you already know how challenging it can be to bring up his (or your!) playdrive. We call them the 7 games, but my LBI doesn't always think of them like that. There are some days where he looks at anything that involves moving as the dreaded w word...work!

Yesterday started out like every other day. I let him loose in the arena to roll and investigate if any sources of food have shown up since the day before. He always has to fix the playground I set up for the day; yesterday he threw cones, rolled the barrels and moved the balls to where he thought they should go. Normally I move them back to be able to accomplish what I had in mind for the day, but since I have been focused on hearing out his opinion lately, I left them where he had put them and decided to work with that.

Our day started out slow with lots of incentive. Things like 'touch it' come into play when he lacks motivation and are a great way to get him going somewhere with a 'rest' at the end. After some playing with the cones and a pole he started to look a little more alive. We moved down to the other end of the arena where he had placed the barrel and balls. He had them set up like this:

As always, I was trying to be creative in order to engage that smart brain of his. He had actually choosen a very interesting way to set things up and made it out to be a perfect playground! He could figure 8 around the red ball and green ball, around the red ball and barrel, squeeze or yo-yo between the barrel and green ball, change direction around the red ball or between the barrel and green ball, touch it, and so on...the possibilities were endless!

As we started the first thing I noticed were the questions! No longer did he just go up to the red ball and push it, he asked "What should we do now with the ball?". Coming from an LBI who always wants to do things his way, this was astonishing! Not only was he asking questions, he was having a great time! We were playing. He started out at a walk with a grumpy face and before I knew it he was so focused, listening to me, and trotting!!! I couldn't help but to find myself laughing and having such a great time as we maneuvered through the obstacles.

Lesson of the Day: My LBI will never be like my dog; I can't just get out a toy and have him be excited about playing. In order to get him to want to play, I first have to get his mind playing. He absolutely has to be engaged mentally in order for him to be engaged physically.

Our relationship has been improving so much lately, but this is going to take it to a whole new level. I hope that this influences him to want to be (and play) with me not only because there is a potential for treats and rests, but because of the fun we have together! This is a big challenge for me to become creative as ever in order to influence his mind into playing. Considering he was so creative yesterday, who knows what we will come up with next!

Taking the Time It Takes

I realize I am very fortunate to have the education that I do. OSU is a great school, it's so close to home, and I have plenty of people supporting me through my time at college.

That doesn't mean I enjoy it. There is no worse feeling than being stuck inside a library studying molecular bio chemistry when the sun is shining in through the window, teasing you about the beautiful day outside. Of course my thoughts never leave Sonny as I mindlessly scribble notes on a page. I guess that is why I have always looked at college with the idea of 'Get in and get out!'.

In that fashion, I started college in the summer after my senior year of high school, I chose a major within a single quarter, and applied and was accepted a year early. I thought this was want I wanted. It was an allied medicine profession, paid well, and all of my family thought it was a great idea. I did, too....until I saw people living their dream.

Why can't I be a parelli professional? Why can't I make horses my full time job? Horses are my (only) passion. Having a job that involves horses seemed so...fantasy like. It never seemed possible to me because it would be too good to be true. With the help of my aunt I have realized that I can do this! I can make it happen. I can live my dream.

So today I went and changed my major from Medical Technology to Animal Science. I plan on graduating with a 2 year degree in Veterinary Technology and a 4 year degree in Animal Science with Emphasis on Equine Science. How awesome this that? My hopes are to work at the equine center near my house and give parelli lessons. Sounds perfect to me!

If I would have takent the time to takes to figure out what I want my life to be, I might not be in the position I am. At the same time, I am so thankful to have realized this before spending $30,000+ on a career I don't want and that doesn't make me happy. It is going to be a lot easier changing my life plan half way through my sophomore year in college rather than when I am 30 or 40 years old.

Lesson of the day: It is so easy to take Pat's lessons and apply them around your horse. He teaches so much horse psychology that the things he says 'click'. The key is to take that knowledge and use it in everything in your life. True savvy isn't just with horses, its a lifestyle.

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