The Late, Great, Eight

I feel like a lot of my posts lately have been about some huge life lesson, savvy lesson, or some major breakthrough. Today's post is just about what a great, simple, successful time Sonny and I had last night. Hope that doesn't disappoint anyone!

I didn't have a whole lot of time last night due to work, but I was determined to get his mind going. I just set up two cones and figured we could focus on figure 8's. We haven't done anything with them in a while so I thought it would be good to check that he still remembers the pattern.

We started online and just through in some changes of direction around the cones. He was very responsive and asked a LOT of questions. Definitely made me happy! He didn't give me a whole lot of great faces, but I figured I should be grateful he was interested enough to ask questions. I tend to get frustrated and upset when he comes into me with his ears back (not dominant, just not forward), but I am learning to not let it bother me. When I let it bother me, it puts me in a bad mood then he mirrors that, so getting upset by his faces is NOT going to make them get any better.

I took the lead rope off and played online for a little bit. We played with some liberty circles and stick to me. He got 'stuck' backing up; he kept avoiding it by going sideways. I made the wrong thing difficult and the right thing easy and before I knew it he backed up more than 22 feet away :).

I tried liberty figure eights at the walk for the first time since who knows when. It has at least been since Sonny as at the boarding barn, so sometime before July 1. They were perfect. He did these beautiful figure 8's with minimal effort on my part. All I did was back up and re send and he knew exactly where he was going, came right back around the cone to face me, and didn't protest being sent off again. I was so impressed! Completely blown away.

I got on and did a few figure 8's freestyle. Those still need some work; I let him rely too much on my leg still. I ended on a good note and called it a great day :).

Snappy

Today was lesson six with Parelli Professional Juli Piovesan. She is leaving soon for the externship, so I am really glad we got to squeeze in one last lesson before she goes. I bet she will have a wonderful time, but we sure will miss her!

We started out on the 45' today; my first time playing with it in front of someone. She said we were off to a good start, but pointed out a few areas that would be good to work on. One was bringing him in to me; we have been trying to focus on it lately but he is still having trouble following the feel. She noted that I am not able to run up to him in any zone to play the friend'y game; in order to have him be more confident trotting towards me, I should practice the running friendly game. Makes sense!

Another point she brought up is that if I can't get responsiveness on a 12' line or 22', then it won't come on the 45'. Duh. Just like how we test everything online before we ride, I should test responsiveness at a shorter distance before trying it on the 45'. Lightbulb! We played with the 'snappy game' that she showed me a few lessons ago. Although this time it wasn't so much about the back as it was about the response. Again, I need to make things a game! Although Sonny was backing from phase 1, he wasn't putting very much effort in at all. So I did a really subtle phase 1, 2, 3, don't make me move my feet, phase 4! After a few of those, he stood at attention and gave me a really great face. Huh, how interesting!

Along with that, she encouraged me to start playing more with his faces. Again with backing, back him up until he asks a question or has a better face, then reward. I need to make backing seem like something other than a punishment, which I feel like might be how he interperates it.

Finally we played with some sideways. After the snappy game, he was really focused on me. We went sideways his bad direction and it was beautiful! He went so far and barely went forward. Definitely out best sideways that way. So exciting!

After that I got on and we played with all of the same concepts. Being snappy and responsive. He was totally focused on eating, zero attention on me as we followed the rail. We transitioned to sideways game along the rail. Juli wanted me to focus on seeing how he responded to each of my phases. In the beginning he was just "nom nom nom" grass!! After a few minutes, we had him thinking sideways after I only shifted my weight, and he stopped eating. Huh, how interesting!

From there we played with a figure 8 to help improve his transitions. It really helped me figure out our strengths and our weaknesses. Perfect timing to be able to address those weaknesses before our clinic this weekend!

Now I am itching to go ride and play with all the things we covered today!

Smart is the New Black

I received two packages in the mail this week: both item's were black in color. When you put together the whole picture, black and purple look so good together ;).

The first item to arrive was my Smart pad! Next was new, black stirrups. These were the kind I used to have with my dressage horses, but I just went with cheap ones when I got my wintec. Now that I have a great saddle, a really nice pad, and am riding more, I thought better stirrups would be a good investment.

My phone is on its death beg, which is why the photo
is so awful. But you can see my pad and new stirrups!

Turns out I was right! Yesterday I rode with both my smart pad and new stirrups. The stirrups are a lot nicer than the old ones because the bend, allowing you to really stretch your heals down. I had no idea how much they helped until I rode in them after using non-bendy ones for so long. They were so nice; really made me whole lower leg so much more comfortable.

The pad was great, too! I am not sure if it has to do with his feet, the red light, or just the saddle pad in general, but my saddle felt so secure today. Yesterday was my first day riding since Jesse helped me with all of the above, so I can't tell what the variable is. Regardless, the smart pad is a keeper!

I forgot my shims, but not a huge deal with the same pad! Had I forgotten them with my theraflex, the dry spots would have been atrocious. But, even without shims, and a very light sweat, he only had a minor dry spot behind his withers. How cool is that? I am going to try to play with shim patterns next week and will post my findings here.

Sonny must have been pretty happy about the pad and stirrups (okay, maybe not he stirrups), too, because he was fantastic! One of the best rides we have had. I was planning on trail riding down the lane to the road that my new farm is on, but that didn't work out. As we road down the lane, Sonny was calm, responsive, and forward. He wasn't trying to eat grass, he followed the trail (the road) better than ever before (maybe is has to do with all the follow the rail we have been doing lately?), and was overall just a joy to ride. On the one side at the end of the lane is a mess of trees; in those trees is a bunch of garbage, mostly old tree trunks, branches, tires, etc. Needless to say, Sonny usually get's a little on edge as we go by there because everyone knows mountain lions hide in tree piles in Ohio. Yesterday, he barely looked twice. We walked all the way to almost the end of the road without even a flinch; he just followed the trail! I was ecstatic! Towards the end of the lane I saw a Doberman, who in-turn saw us. He was barking madly and I wasn't sure the fence around him was sturdy so we headed back; I wasn't going to risk ruining all of the great things Sonny was offering me to get chased by a huge dog. So we headed back and rode around the front yard.

He was being so good; he was oddly relaxed and maintaining this beautiful gait, at the trot and canter. He loves to blast around when we are outside but he was being so great yesterday! I played with circles and figure 8's around the trees and he really put effort into the patterns. I used the lines in the lawn to practice straightness and overally just tried to keep him interested and guessing what was coming next.

I ended the day with some canter serpentines. I used to do them all the time with my dressage horses, but never with Sonny. My intention was to just practice a combination of a) picking up the correct leads based on my body position and b) to practice turns without using my reins. The turns were a bit of a challenge, but when we made big, wide ones I didn't have to use my reins. But, the transitions were fabulous! We were going canter-walk-canter, picking up what ever lead I wanted, without using reins or barely any leg. Awesome! So excited about how our freestyle is coming along. Most importantly, I am completely enjoying it. I have never loved riding so much. I hope Sonny feel's the same!

Summer breeze.

It's Rides Like These

Today I had a really, really good ride with Sonny. We have always had trouble with freestyle, but I feel like something really 'clicked' today. 

It started yesterday, when I rode in my new bareback pad for the first time. Love it. I don't know how i lived without it? Anyways, when I first got on Sonny yesterday he was slightly obnoxious; he was pulling the leadrope out of my hands, diving down to eat grass, blasting around as fast as he could, and overall just not being a very good partner. Like usual, I put my hands of my ears and "la la la la" pretended that it was okay. After a little bit I thought to myself 'would an alpha mare allow this?' Of course not! So why was I? I then made it a point to be a good leader and the change was immediate. 

Purple! 

I was more particular about every single thing I did. When I wanted to him walk (even if he was eating grass), he needed to start listening to phase 1 or else he got a quick 2, 3, and an actual 4, not just a 3.25. Before I knew it, he was walking off when I smiled with all four cheeks. He doesn't even do that in the arena, let alone while he is eating grass. Huh, how interesting! 

So today I started off online with the bridle on. He is getting really good about seeking the bit; even after I take it off he tries to grab it again :). But there is still some unconfidence with it on. He knows how to respond to pressure on it, but chops every once in a while. So today I just left it on him while I did everything: grooming, while he ate grass, while I played online, and for the first time in a long time, while I rode. I am still not 100% positive this was a good idea; I could have easily blew his trust/confidence. But, I thought back to level 1. When you first introduce the carrot stick, you take it everywhere until it becomes a part of you and your horse. You do the same with the 45' line in level 3. So I thought I might as well apply the same theory to the bridle. I won't use reins with it until he is confident, but until that point I want it to be just like a second halter. 

Grooming while the bridle is on.

Once I got on, he walked off when I smiled with all four cheeks, even though he was eating grass (insert huge grin here). I had set up four cones as a question box in the middle of the arena. I started my ride off with that to get him interested. The first thing I did was move his hindend around to face a different direction in the box. I realized when I put my leg on, he marched his big butt right around without moving an inch forward and I didn't use reins or have to use my carrot stick. Whaaaaaat? (insert shocked face here). Since when is my horse so responsive? Of course I went on to test the other direction, his bad way. Again, he marched right around without even thinking a hair forward. Now I was really blown away. He always associates leg with some kind of forward and I always have to use my stick to remind him that it doesn't. So today it finally clicked that leg does not mean go. Win :). 

I went on to play with the question box, the clover leaf pattern, and follow the rail. All of the above were better than ever before. It obviously stems from our new found knowledge of left not meaning go. For the first time ever, I could guide him at a trot and canter with my leg without going faster. Before, he would be fine at the walk, but in the trot and canter he would just blast forward whenever I put let on. Today he put effort into the question box without being rude and diving towards it. The clover leaf pattern was next to perfect; I could use just my eyes, belly button, and leg to do an entire clover leaf at the walk, and only minimal carrot stick at the trot. Then, for the first time ever, he actually put effort into following the rail today. For some reason that has been a huge problem for us. Today I could do entire laps at the trot in the huge outdoor with only 1 correction per lap. Wow! We even started follow the rail at the canter and made it down one long side without any corrections. That is HUGE for us (since normally he just blasts around and pretends to be a race horse/cutter/reiner/bronco). 

It's rides like these that reassure me that we our on the right track and our freestyle will be exactly where I want it to be if I keep up the perfect practice. It is really easy to see someone riding (um, Kalley Krickeberg, anyone? Her spotlight at the Tour was truly unbelievable) and be discouraged about where you are with your own riding. But, the last two days made me feel confident that we are on our way! Before you know it, we will be exactly where I envision us, it just takes time and perfect practice. 

Sorry for the book, but I was just thrilled with everything tonight. I am so excited with where we are and where we are going. Good, better, best, never let it rest! 

 Oh, how I love him. 

Surreal

Yesterday was just one of those days that you wish would never end.

The weather was so beautiful, high 50s and sunny!  SInce it was so nice I threw a  few barrels in the outdoor (usually everything is in the indoor) and set them up for big figure 8s.

I started out online with my featherline and Sonny was so great! I played a little with Mikey's "project" with the barrels: we did a lot of things that ended with a rest at one of the barrels. After playing some touch it, I played with sideways towards a barrel and stayed at the very end of my 22.     His sideways so straight and snappy, I was thrilled! 

After he was warmed up enough, I got on and started with some passenger lessons. Once we started to follow the rail I focused on disengaging his hindquarters to bring him to a stop. At first he wanted to trot when I put my leg on, but I reinforced with my carrot stick then let him eat the grass along the rail once he did stop. He caught on so quick! Pretty soon we were disengaging to a stop with very minimal effort! I am so thankful for that clarification at Juli's workshop! 

I then played with circling and doing figure 8s around the barrels. It went so well at the walk! I could totally tell he was focused and bending around the barrels. I made sure to let him rest, or take him into the barrel and stop him when I felt like he was really understanding the circle. The trot was okay, he was very sluffish. He had been outside for a few days straight and I think he was just so worn out. After a really good circle I stopped and called it a day.

Walking around the barrel.

Throughout my riding I made sure that I kept my hand in neutral. Maybe it is from my dressage background, but even when I am not using my reins I like to stay bent at the elbow and hold my hand above his withers. Yesterday I played a game with myself and made sure I kept my index finger  touching my therflex pad (the part that connects the two sides over the withers). This was so surprisingly hard for me! I would find myself all tense because I was dying to lift my hand up! This really brought to my attention what a bad habit I have, but I feel like now that I am more aware of it I will have an easier time fixing it!

After riding I walked him down past the pastures to let him graze on really great grass. Even though we were out in the middle of an open field, I felt confident enough to take his halter off and let him eat while I tried to get as much hair as possible off him. He wandered from spot to spot, but never moved too much. After a bit I decided that we should go back so I went back about 10 feet away from him to pick up the halter where I had dropped it. I turned around and he had followed me! Once I stopped, he stopped and ate. So I tried it again: I started walking and before I knew it he was right there with me! Wow, did that make me feel warm in fuzzy inside or what? For my food obsessed LBI to walk with me out in the middle of a field full of lush, green, grass at liberty was one of those moments where you just feel complete.

Following me at liberty in the
big, open field :).

Yesterday was such a wonderful day and I look forward to many more over the summer! 

At the End of My Rope

Literally.

During my last lesson with Laura, she brought up that in order to pass level 3 online, I need to get Sonny out at the end of my rope. Common misconception: Just because I am holding my popper doesn't mean that I am at the end of the rope! Having most of the rope on the ground and only 3 feet between Sonny and I isn't what they are looking for ;). Although slack in the rope is good, I still need him out and away from me more!

At the end of my rope, but with lots of slack.

So last night I took ahold of that idea and it went so well! I started out the day with my normal touch-it games but this time I challenged Sonny to see how far away I could stand and still get him to touch it! It was a little difficult at first, then we both realized its the same game no matter where I stand.

I applied the distance to everything we did. I brought out the tarp for the first time in a while. Not only did he walk across it from 22 feet away, he backed onto it from 22 feet away!

One of the best parts of the night was our sideways game. I combined what I learned from both Juli and Laura in the past few weeks and man, oh, man was it great! He marched sideways right out to the end of my 22, then marched right back in sideways towards me when I asked. WOW! I was extremely impressed with the speed he used on his way out and how easily he came back in. Best sideways we have had so far!

Now I feel like I have a much better understanding of what level 3 quality is and am dying to get my audition sent in!

Lucky

Yesterday was amazing! The weather was beautiful: around 75 degrees, sunny, and a breeze. We got the shirts for Parelli - Ohio! figured out and found out they would be on time for Equine Affaire! Great news! On top of all that, Sonny and I had a wonderful ride, and it was outside for the first time this year!

I warmed up inside and he was a little slow going. I practiced what I learned from Laura and set higher expectations of him. His sideways was much quicker and more responsive today! He gave me a lot of good faces online, which always makes me happy!

We moved on to riding outside. The good thing about the outdoor is that the railing is smooth, contrary to the big posts that jut out in the indoor. This gave us a steady track to follow rather than weaving around in the indoor while trying to follow the rail. I was actually really shocked by how well Sonny did follow the rail. He is so bad about it inside and was so great outside. Occasionally he would fall into the inside but didn't take much to get him back on track. That makes me think that I am more of the problem when following the rail in the indoor than him. Oops!

That is what we call 'Bareback Butt'!! ;)

Understandably, he was a bit distracted being outside with the wind blowing and a stallion hanging out on the fence line. To get him focused I decided to play with the cloverleaf pattern for the first time. Because of the way the indoor is set up (the size and the posts along the side), I have always been too nervous to try the pattern. It actually ended up going much better than I thought it would! Starting the pattern was a bit rough; we were all over the arena going fast then slow and everything in-between. I remember Pat (in a savvy club DVD) mentioning that you want to make X (the very center of the arena) the sweet spot. Therefore every time we hit X I let him rest. My clever little LBI caught on so quick! Before I knew it, not only was he following the rail and staying pretty straight, he was listening to my aids and putting in effort to get to the center! He definitely understood the pattern because he would stay in the rail until I turned him off towards the center. Awesome!

After our lesson Tuesday and our ride yesterday, I am definitely becoming more confident with freestyle! I am excited to continue to play with it outside and to be moving towards my green sting! It is not just the four leaf clover [pattern] that is lucky, I am pretty darn lucky to have such a wonderful partner!

My lucky charm. 

Arrows in My Quiver

We had a great lesson with Parelli Professional Laura Beaver yesterday! Laura is on her way to become a 2* instructor and I feel very lucky to be a part of her journey!

As we warmed up, she made a really good comment to not use horsenalities as an excuse. When thinking about canter circles and such, I don't play the "He is an LBI, he can't do it" card, but I did find myself using that as an excuse to go slow. I know its okay to warm up slow and match his energy, but she made me realize that if he knows something and has had enough time to wake up, there isn't any reason why he can't do it as a normal pace. Our sideways game has always been inch by inch; responsive, but very slow. He has been doing the sideways game for over 2 years now, time to step it up a notch!

Slow going. I love that we are resting the same leg! 

Once I got on, she really brought 'focus' to my attention. From my previous dressage lessons, I am pretty good with the concept, but Laura did help me clarify a lot of things! We played with circling around a cone. WAY harder than it sounds! I kept losing my focus and either looking down at him when I used my carrot stick or looking sideways at the wall if he fell to the inside. Rather than change my focus to the wall, I need to keep my focus on the circle while asking him to move back to the correct track. Interesting!!

Blurry, but a great picture of our focus on the circle!

I know this probably sounds silly since I am LBE/LBI, but freestyle lessons are always such big confidence boosters for me. Freestyle is definitely my most challenging savvy and sometimes I am too intimidated to get out there and try things for fear of failure (which relates back to this post). Every freestyle lesson I have had (4 now) puts more and more arrows in my quiver and the more comfortable I am starting to feel with it. With summer just around the corner, I hope to continue to add to my quiver and thank everyone (especially Juli and Laura) for helping me get all those arrows!

Thanks, Laura!

Thanks to Evan for taking the pictures :).

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.

Lesson with Juli

We had our fifth lesson with Juli yesterday. As always, it was a huge success! All I really wanted to focus on was the bit and improving our freestyle. 

We made some good progress with the bit! I actually put the headstall on him. He chewed and chewed and chewed but there wasn’t any freak out! And I was able to take it off once he left it alone. I can’t wait to play with some bit isolation stuff. My only concern is which bit to use. I wish it was possible to let him sample a ton and pick out the one he likes best…

Playing with one of Juli's bits. 

He had a surprisingly great attitude today. I was really, really, really happy with his faces. He cantered four laps then when I stopped him, he gave me two eyes and two ears until I asked him to come in. Awesome. Then we did play with some figure 8s. I have been way to direct-line about them. Instead of just figure 8 after figure 8 Juli told me to switch it up more to keep him asking questions. Duh, I should have known that. Within a few minute his faces were looking much better and best of all when I went to bring him in to me, he started to turn back towards the cones so he definitely had the pattern on his mind! Can’t wait to play more with that!

Look at that ear on me! 

Once I got on Juli showed me how to disengage his hind end while riding. I am not really sure why but this blew my mind. I don’t think it is a hard concept to understand, but feel like I might be a little more confident/comfortable with it if I saw someone do it. I might look up some savvy club DVDs to see what I can find. I may need to just play with it more…maybe it will just click?

She gave me some great tools for when he pulls his snotty, LBI tricks to get out of things. She also pointed out that I go right to phase 4 with my carrot stick and keep it there when riding. As much as I would like to think I don’t do this, I know it is true. I don’t think he realizes what phase 4 means. I need to make phase 4 mean something to him in order to get a response from phase 1. Maybe this brings me back to my ‘snappy’ lesson? I think so!

So my things to keep in mind: Make cantering circles a game, don't be a direct line thinker when playing with figure 8s (or anything else!), practice partial disengagement from a walk and trot, and make my carrot stick phase 4 mean something! Being LBE, I want to go play with all of that right now! But, I think we might just enjoy the sunshine today :).

A special thanks to my boyfriend, Stephen, for spending the day at the barn with me and taking so many wonderful photos! 

Time Out

I mentioned in a recent post that I started playing with the Corners Game (which you can find out more about it in the freestyle patterns or in the new level 3 freestyle DVDs) with great success. I rode last night and warmed up with the corners game and again it worked out great! Even though the corners in my arena are dark and filled with toys, Sonny definitely gets the idea. I feel like I am putting him in time out sitting in the dingy corners, but I find it relaxing and I think he does, too. He is putting so much effort into getting to the corners, he was even trotting when I didn't ask him to. An LBI trotting when you only ask for walk is huge progress! It also is greatly improving our follow the rail. He used to constantly dive into the middle of the area or hunt down the question box, but now is happy to stay along the rail to make it to the next corner. 

We played with more canter last night and it is going better! He is making really ugly faces, but canters from phase 2 so I am hoping the faces will improve with his stamina. 

A big step for us was last night before I got on. After playing online a bit I took off the lead and played with figure 8's at liberty for the first time ever. We had been working so much on the weave that our figure 8's have been improving a lot. At first they were a little sticky and he was hesitate to move forward, but it didn't take him long to realize that the pattern was still the same even at liberty and he made a perfect walk figure 8! WOW! So impressed! Of course I stopped after that :). 

Kisses from my lovebug. 

Updates

The past two nights with Sonny were great! First and foremost, his ears have been much, much better. Not as good as I would like, but a huge improvement from the past few weeks.

He is now backing up like I have never seen him. I am trying to change up the amount of steps I want but to always have a goal in mind to help myself focus. He is putting so much more effort into it! I have also started putting it to purpose more often, such as backing over a pole, between cones, or out the gate. So happy with the progress!

The weave is making slow strides. It has gotten a little better in the sense we both don't go so right brained anymore. Which I guess is pretty big, but then I stay LBE and want it to be perfect right now! Of course is doesn't work like that. But perfect practice makes perfect!

Thinking about the weave. 

I rode a bit last night. I started out with playing with corners and that really, really helped him follow the rail. Too bad the corners in our arena are filled with stuff or else I think it would have been even more beneficial. I think using corners to warm up is going to be a great motivator when working with an LBI. I also cantered a bit, but nothing much. I am not exactly sure where I should go with the canter to improve it so I think that I something I am going to ask Juli about.

I am so excited about our recent progress! I won't be able to play tonight or tomorrow night but I am dying to get back out there Thursday!

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Sonny has been really, really, nippy lately. He wants to bite/put his mouth on everything. He hasn't been aggresive at all, so I figured he has just been bored from being inside 24/7. Well, he went outside almost every day this week and Thursday he was still biting as much as ever. I didn't do a whole lot Thursday because there were so many people in the arena, but we we did do felt...blah.

Not only was he biting, he had his ears back all night. I have been thinking hard about it these past few days and I realize it all comes down to respect. He has lost a lot of respect for me lately and I don't do anything about it. I don't blame him. For some reason I have been letting him do things. I make up excuses for him, such as he is bored from being inside all day, and make up excuses for me, well I will allow him to do it. There is a big difference between let and allow, and I have been letting him do whatever he wants.

After thinking about it, we have had the most boring past few weeks. It's hard enough to not be boring with an LBI when I try, but I haven't even been trying which means he is probably ready to just eat me and get it over with. If I ask him to jump something and he doesn't, my response is "Well why don't we just touch it instead?". I ask him to canter and he trots, my response is "Well, okay lets just go do something else". I ask him to back 5 steps, "Oh, you only want to back 3? Okay, then". No wonder he has lost all respect for me, I have been the worst leader in the world!

So today I went out and actually acted alive. For the first time in a while I set up a playground. I set up four cones in a rectangle to work on backing...goodbye threee steps only!! I set up a weave, since we haven't done anything with that pattern since out last lesson with Juli in Janurary! And I set up two barrels for jumping.

After playing some touch it (which is getting really good with the bridle/bit!), I slowly worked him up to energy. I don't think boot camp would be fair after having weeks of spa days. We moved over to the cones and after circling through them I halted him in front of the first two and asked him to back behind the last two (so through the rectangle). After backing three steps (Linda is right, horses can count. Not a joke!), he stopped. I continued to ask him to back and he just stood there for a minute, so I moved to phase two and his head shot up and his ears pricked forward. "WHAAAAT?! More than three steps?" Haha, he definitely wasn't expecting it. But a few yo-yos later his backs were REALLY improving!

We circled down to the barrels and from a trot I asked him to go up to the barrels then stop. Not jump. Then the next time, I really focused on the jump and had the mindset "He will jump", not just corssing my fingers that he would. From the walk, he plopped right over the barrels. Who would have thought my horse could jump? ;)

The weave was a bit more challanging. Unforunately, my hypothesis that 'even if I didn't practice the pattern it will still get better' turned out to be false. It was just as sticky as it was when I left off. Our figure eights were a lot better, so I need to just keep applying them to more and more cones.

Along with playing with the weave, I am finally getting the motivation to do things that are hard for us and that I normall avoid. I asked him for a lot of sideways on his bad side and didn't just let him get to phase 4 for up and down transitions.

Overall we had a really great day! I hope that I was finally challenging him enough to make things interesting without feeling like work. Hopefully, we can keep with with the respect now!

Busted

Sonny and I had another fantastic lesson with Juli yesterday (that makes lesson #4 with her). She had me list a few of our strengths and weaknesses and then we focused on how to better the weaknesses. Of course, our weak pattern was the weave. She really helped me break it down into pieces that were easier for me to understand. How am I supposed to communicate to Sonny what I want him to do if I am not really sure myself? So now, for once, I am actually excited to play with the weave!

Weaving around tall cones: challenging and humorous ;)

The freestyle portion of the lesson was just what I needed. After a 'non-ideal' ride Saturday, it was very reassuring to have such a brilliant ride last night! One of the problems we focused on was the follow the rail pattern. Lately (but only at the trot), Sonny has been taking off or diving into the middle of the arena. I thought he was playing the game 'you can't make me stay on the rail'. But, when I started telling Juli that he also takes off if he doesn't want to turn back to the question box, the real game was more obvious. He was playing the 'If I speed up, Emily will stop me then I can just stand there' game. BUSTED! Sonny may be clever, but he can't out smart Juli!

Asking to back (which explains my position).

As funny as it sounds, it seemed like he didn't even want to play the game anymore after we talked about it. At one point he decided to dash to the question box in order to get the rest, so we increased our pace and just like magic, and all of a sudden that game was not any fun anymore! Now that I have more arrows in my quiver, I am excited to ride again! What a great lesson!

A very 'thought provoking' lesson! :)

Fun Figure Eights

Last night Melissa was working on her figure 8 with Rydel in order to start videoing her level 2 online audition. While watching her play, I realized I hadn't done a lot with the figure 8 since our level 2 audition. I did play with it a bit after watching the savvy club dvd The Project, but I didn't do a lot with it even then.

So last night she rekindled my interest in it. I have always heard that LBI's should love patterns, but Sonny doesn't seem to be that fond of them. He finds them boring and pointless. The Project gave them more of a purpose and made them more interesting, but I still didn't want to drill anything.

At work today I was trying to be creative and come up with a new twist to the figure 8. The other day Melissa had two barrels set up at both 10 and 2 o'clock on the circle and I thought I could do something interesting with that. I thought if I seperated the barrels, we could do so much with them: figure 8, squeeze, yo-yo, sideways, and much more.

Starting out tonight I just played with yo-yo and sideways until Sonny and I got warmed up. Then we started playing with the figure 8 and holy cow was it fun! With the 4 barrels, there were so many figure 8 possibilities! It was so much fun playing with in and out and around! It was a pretty big challenge for Sonny, not only mentally but physically as well; it kept him very involved and interested. He was listening so well and putting a really good effort into keeping up with the complicated patterns. We were having a blast! We had such a good time, he even came into me with both ears forward multiple times! I have been looking for those ears for SO long, I couldn't have been more happy and excited :). He was so very respectful tonight, I just couldn't believe it. I really feel like tonight he realized that I actually can be a good leader! Yippee!



[Thanks to Melissa and Rydel for doing such a great job videoing us! It is much appreciated!]