Lick & Chew

Yesterday a friend from the barn rode Sonny. It was a really neat to see someone else ride him and I think it was a great experience for us all!

I explained phases to her and how to not 'kick 'em to go and pull 'em to stop'. It was definitely a new concept to her, but from her dressage background she understood how it worked. She played with walk transitions and follow the rail while I explained some theory to her. She mentioned that Sonny didn't want to walk in a straight line so I talked about reverse psychology and "here let me help you!" So she turned and twisted and turned and twisted him and didn't let him walk in a straight line. After doing that for a little while he walked perfectly straight so I told her to stop him as a reward. I started to explain how pressure motivates, but the release teaches and I think that gave her something to lick and chew on! Both of us came from dressage backgrounds and are both LBE around horses, so I completely understood when she said if you get a few good steps of half pass, you ask for a few more and a few more and without realizing it you never reward the horse. I went on to explain the important of giving them time to think, which comes as a lick and chew. As I kept talking, Sonny was, in a very extroverted manner, licking and chewing. It went on forever! We talked and talked and he licked and chewed and chewed and chewed. It was so funny!

It was very....exciting/rewarding/motivational to see the concepts of natural horsemanship made an expereinced rider lick and chew. Most of the time people who have ridden all their life blow off Sonny and I, calling what we do "tricks" and never giving us a second look. It really meant a lot to me that she even gave me the time of day, was interested, asked questions, and tried so hard with Sonny. Definitely brought a huge smile to my face!!

Perfect Practice

I am definitely a perfectionist, and as Pat would say “Only perfect practice makes perfect”. Although I am always striving for never ending self improvement, there are a few times when I can get a little LBI/LBE about things and either a) not put as much effort into them as I should or b) want them to be perfect without the practice and give up when it [obviously] doesn’t happen like that.

A few of these little ‘issues’ I have mentioned before, such as mounting and stick-to-me from his right side, bridling (well, the bit) and the weave. Now that I am back from vacation and summer is just around the corner, I really want to put effort into practicing everything perfectly because nothing means nothing and everything means something.

I started out today by trying to do everything with excellence. Expect a lot, accept a little, and reward often. I had let Sonny out into the little grass area outside the barn while I cleaned his stall. Instead of just going up, slapping the halter on and dragging him back into the barn, I played with ‘how little does it take me to ___’. I guess I should rephrase that to ‘how much’ by the way things were going! He hadn’t been outside lately and the catching game wasn’t on his list of things to do. After some looooong phase 1s and quick 2, 3, and 4s, he started focusing on me and paying attention. After I got his attention and got him to walk over to me, I aimed to halter with excellence rather than shove the halter between his nose and the grass. After picking up his head a few times by pressing my fingers into his cheeks, he politely waited for me to halter him with savvy. After getting him focused on me and haltering with excellence, I played the stick to me back into the barn instead of just dragging him along. MUCH better than the usual events we plow through!

Once inside the barn I played with one of our biggest downfalls: standing while I groom. I have gotten into a horrible habit lately of letting him move around and eat and doing everything he wants while I follow him around with my brush. While on vacation, he had an entire week to do whatever he wanted, so I thought today would be a good day to practice perfectly and step up and be a leader. I kept the savvy DVD about grooming in mind and got to it. I pictured a square that just encompassed his feet. Every time he moved a hoof out of the square, I moved it back in (whether it be backwards, forwards, sideways, etc.). Then if he stood in that square for a good amount of time, he got a treat. My smarty-pants LBI didn’t take long to catch on. Occasionally he thought the hay on the ground sounded better than standing for a treat, but I stuck to it and that was the best he has ever stood for me since moving to the new barn last August!

We warmed up sooo slowly online today. I got him to perk up a little bit, but I must have interrupted his nap time today because he was out of it! I forgot my theraflex pad at home so I ended up borrowing Melissa’s bareback pad for our ride today. As I have mentioned before, I have such a hard time with freestyle because I go totally LBE and want everything to be perfect right now! Today I had the attitude that things can’t be perfect if I don’t practice them perfectly, so I aimed to really play with things I normally avoid. That includes trotting for longer periods of time, following the rail consistantly, and making my carrot stick phase 4 mean something so he responds to phase 1.

I am not sure why but it blew me away when I realized how great of a ride we had today. We were happy, relaxed, and everything was so much better than normal! He followed the rail, his carrot stick responses moved from non-existent to phase 2, we did multiple figure 8s through the question box maintaining and trot, and his downward transitions were awesome! To top it all off, he reached for the bit today and did the best he has ever done with bridling!

So my lesson of the day is: you can’t get perfection without perfect practice. I know that is common sense, but in order to live a lifestyle of never ending self improvement, you consistently have to be conscience of aiming to do everything with excellence. Although it was easier to drag him into the barn, let him run around while I groomed, or pretended our follow the rail issues didn’t exist, if I take the time it takes it is definitely going to take less time. Before I know it, he will be standing still while I groom and it won’t take long at all. Or things like finesse or going to come so much easier because he holds up his responsibilities in freestyle. In the end, the only way to move towards perfection is to practice perfectly.

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!