Liberty, and Justice for All

If you have ever been around an LBI, they definitely don't like to be told what to do. In fact, I believe that Sonny spends his nights in his stall strategizing on how to do the exact opposite of what I want. Okay, not really, but sometimes it does seem like that. Linda always talks about how much reverse psychology works; I believed it after the first time I told Sonny to not get on the trailer and he did.

I tend to be a very controlling person; I am a perfectionist and what everything exactly the way I want it right now. If you keep up with my blog, you will know that lately I have been on a serious "horsenality movement", trying to understand my LBI to the best of my ability. A major part of my "horsenality movement" is to be able to be the best partner I possible can for Sonny.

We had a great time playing yesterday online. He gave me some really happy faces and I kept it short and sweet. I went back down last night to load him up and take him over to Stephen's. Stephen was running late so I had about 20/30 minutes to kill. I wanted to take him out for a walk around the barn, but I changed it up. Linda said to change things up, do something unexpected. So, I took him at liberty.

I didn't do a whole lot. We walked around the barn, through the grass, out to the front, then back in. He never left my side. Even through the grass and past multiple other horses. When we got back in, there were a bunch of horses in the aisle, so we had to stand and wait for such a long time. He was still at liberty (I had my savvy string around his neck for my safety net) and stood right with me. He never tried to move and was happy to just stand there with me. Which totally blew my mind, because even when I have the halter on I have to remind him every two seconds to stand still. And that's when he isn't dragging me around the aisle vacuuming up all the hay on the ground. The feeling that you get as you weave in and out of people and horses and go through arenas and grass and gates and your horse stays at your side, well that's one of the greatest feelings I have ever had. Without a halter and rope, its like we had something tying us together so much stronger than my 12 foot line. It gives me goosebumps just thinking about it.

I've always had an idea that Sonny loves liberty. It is definitely his favorite savvy, and not because he thinks he can get away or get more food that way. It's because there's justice for all. Justice is defined as "the quality of being fair and reasonable". Not saying that I am not fair online or while riding, but what better way for him to voice his opinion to me than by what he can say at liberty. There have been times when he has shouted at me online and I was oblivious. He doesn't even have to raise his voice for me to hear him at liberty. Liberty requires us both to do our part, and recognize each other's needs. At liberty, we are equals.

Therefore, I am going to try to start applying that same concept to all other savvys. I want there to always to be mutual respect, great communication both aways, and most importantly, the partnership. The more I trust him (and vice versa), give him a bigger responsibility, and don't make assumptions, the happier he will be and that will build an even better partnership for us.

When you take the halter or bridle off, you are left with one thing. The truth. And the truth is, I am so lucky to have such a great partner.

The love of my life <3

Visible Progress

After learning so much about LBI's at Equine Affaire, Sonny and I have made so much progress. Looking back at my play session on Friday, I knew I was still missing something. The intensity was a huge factor, but I just wasn't all the way there.

Sunday I went out with the intentions of really making him happy and having him want to be with me. What makes an LBI happy? Food and rest. So we took it out of the arena and out to hay field. I let him eat for a while, then slowly started playing with intensity. I made sure I had my LBI face on, and got to it! Again, I went back to the basics: yielding the forehand and hindend, simple sideways and easy circling game. I didn't want to bore him, but at the same time I was trying to observe the way he reacted rather than push, push, push him to do things. Like with Friday, I saw huge results with my slow motions but intense mind. I was very impressed with the circling game. After only a short time playing, he really got interested when I made things a game. I made my send on the circling game a game: don't make me pick up my stick or else I'm going to tag you! Right away he caught on and I had a forward, happy, trot without him even trying to stop and eat until I asked him to. Win!

I let him loose for a while and played lots of friendly game while he ate. Rather than be boring and just clip my lead on and walk him back to the barn, I played the catching game. The first few times he would come up to me and walk for a bit, then get distracted with all the grass and fall behind. Normally I would push him to stay with me. Instead, I moved slower and become more intense. I played stick-to-me backing up rather than pushing him to walk with me. Before I knew it, he was right there beside me back to the barn.

We had to go through a gate to get from the hay field to the "holding area" outside the barn. The area is small and grassy and basically just an area that is fenced in so if a horse gets loose in the barn there isn't anywhere for it to go. Since Sonny was at liberty, I expected him to go eat grass while I shut the gate. To my surprise, he has turned around to face me as I closed the gait and waited. I walked away from the gate and he followed me, and again stood there with me rather than eating grass. I rubbed his face and his neck while he preceded to sniff me up and down and up and down. It was like he was meeting me for the first time all over again. After a few minutes of standing there and rubbing his head and neck, he shook his head, let out a big blow and licked and chewed. After he had finished I walked him back into the barn, where he stood at liberty while I cleaned him up.

I was so thrilled with the day that it gave me goosebumps. I feel like I am slowly but surly making progress in the LBI department. I hope to continue to fulfill his wants and needs and become the perfect partner for 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! 

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.

How Much You Care

I haven’t been posting a lot lately, but I have spent a lot of time thinking. Sonny and I have been progressing so much these past couple of weeks and I couldn’t figure out why, until today.

A few nights ago we had a really good ride. Of course we played with carrot stick riding but also really focused on forehand, hindend, then sideways. I haven’t asked much for sideways without reins and it went SO well! We got a lot of good steps and some licking and chewing.

Tonight was fantastic. He was all ears; more happy faces than ugly faces is always an amazing night. His sideways is improving, slow hand carrot stick transitions were awesome, and even his upward transitions were right on the money. He was responsive and happy about it! On top of that, I got him to roll three times, which means he totally gets what I am asking. The best part is that the last roll didn’t require much wandering around! I am blown away by how fast he caught on to laying down and how amazing it was for him to do it without a ton of steps tonight! I couldn’t be happier!

Blurry, but cute :)

When I first read Kristi Smiths’s blog, Your Needs are My Needs, I thought I understood it. LBI’s need incentive and rest and I really didn't apply it much more than that. Tonight it finally clicked. Lately Sonny and I have been doing a whole lot of nothing. We have been taking walks down the road, soaking up the sunshine, eating grass, rolling, and not much else. This is not because I think we need undemanding time, but mainly because the weather has been so nice that I want him to have the chance to get out as much as possible. Before I have talked about spending undemanding time with him because he needs a break and we need that relationship building time, but this undemanding time has been completely different. We didn’t need to, but I wanted to do it for him. We have been going on walks, sunbathing, and spending a lot of time grazing because I care about him…and he notices. The more I put effort into doing things for him, the more effort he puts into doing things for me. And when I say doing things for him, I don’t mean what I used to think: things like giving him time to think because that means a better face. When I think about it, I am doing that for me; I want the better face so giving him time to think benefits me. I am starting to believe that all this checking in with me stuff and all the happy faces is a reflection of him realizing I am putting effort into doing things just for him, so he is asking what can he do for me in return. Kristi didn’t title her blog My Needs are Your Needs, but Your Needs Are My Needs. Because in the end, you’re horse doesn’t care how much you know until he knows how much you care.

Just Checking In

Sonny and I had a great walk today! Even though it was windy and cold, the sun was shining and that hasn't happened in a long time! So we took advantage of it and got out of the barn.

My handsome man <3. 

We went for a walk down the road and stopped periodically to eat. It was very relaxing and great to spend some undemanding time together out in the sunshine.

Even though that is a crop field, this is pretty much how
everything looks right now...flooded!  

What really stuck out to me today was how Sonny kept checking in with me. During one lesson Juli pointed out how Rydel will check in with Melissa and how that is a good thing. I never thought about it before then, but now I am very aware when Sonny checks in with me. He does it a lot when I clean his stall or sometimes while we are playing, but have never noticed him do it while being outside. Today he checked in with my constantly. He checked in with me as soon as we got outside, while he was eating, while he was walking, and everything in between.

I was going to take a picture of him but he went to
check in with me and I caught him in action! 

I was blown away when he stopped eating grass to come over, say hi, then go back to eating grass. My LBI hasn't been outside in months and stopped eating to come check in with me. WOW! I am so impressed! I hope that means the dynamics of our relationship are changing....for the better! I will be interested to see if he does the same thing the next time we go for a walk! 

Lost

If you asked how I felt with Sonny last night, I would reply lost.

Last night I didn't have much time to play, but Sonny has been inside so much I knew I had to go down to at least let him out of his stall! I didn't plan on doing anything, so I didn't even bother putting a halter on to go out to the arena. On our way to the arena a fellow boarder was walking by with a fresh off the track thoroughbred. Needless to say, I wanted Sonny as close to the wall of the isle as I could get him. It was just a simple sideways game...even at liberty he easily followed my phase 1 to step over. After walking by the owner of the thoroughbred asked how I get him to do what I want without touching him. Immediately I blurted out that is just our connection. Obviously knowing what I am suggesting plays a big role in it, but our connection has been so intense lately. Relating back to this post, it is like we are thinking together. In people terms, I feel like we can finish each other's sentences.

Whatever the feeling is, it completely absorbs me. It is like sipping on hot chocolate under a big blanket by the fire and completely forgetting that there is a blizzard going on outside. Lately school has been hectic; finals are next week, I have a midterm tomorrow, have to work tonight, had a paper due Monday, and I just can't catch a break. I have a lesson with Juli Thursday and haven't even had a chance to ride lately!

As Sonny and I entered the arena I had a lot on my mind. Atop it all was the conversation I just had with the thoroughbred owner. As I closed the gate behind us I figure he would walk off and roll and be excited to be out of his stall. Instead he patiently waited for me to latch the gate. I started walking to the other end of the arena where the dirt is deeper and where he usually likes to roll. But, he wouldn't leave me. So I started playing with him! We played with a little STM and went sideways over the ball and I even sent him out on a circle at the trot and he still wouldn't roll! He just plodded around on the circle waiting for me to do something. Finally I went over and sat on the mounting block, thinking that would be so boring he would want to wonder off. Of course he didn't. He moved his haunches over and asked if I wanted to get on. Might as well!  So I got on bareback and halterless with only my stick in hand. But I didn't even need it. He was so responsive he was turning when I moved my eyes and bellybutton. He stopped when I let my life out and he walked when I squeezed all four cheeks.

We played around for a little bit and had such a relaxing, good time. I had completely forgotten about school and everything I had to do. I forgot that I was upset and stressed out and actually felt great. Nothing else mattered anymore. I was lost in our time together. I am so thankful for this horse that I just love so damn much.

You Get Out What You Put In

The past few days Sonny and I have been doing a whole lot of nothing. But... everything means something and nothing means nothing. I really felt the affects of that today when we had a short play session at liberty.

Liberty is by far my favorite savvy; there is something special about not having anything but a bond connecting you and your horse. Especially an LBI, who would much rather be rolling, eating, or not moving at all. To think that Sonny would rather stick with me and do things together rather than stand over by the gate is extremely rewarding and a huge compliment...especially when the arena you are playing in is bigger than a dressage arena which provides a huge amount of area to get away from me if he wanted. Sonny and I never 'officially' started liberty like we did online and freestyle. Since I have never had a round pen, what liberty I do is very minimal and mostly just small things. But, today was definitely very special.

Rather than go off and roll when we first got to the arena, he stuck right with me even though he was at liberty. We started with small things like sideways over a cone or played with our new 'Up' trick. We were really connected today, like he was reading my mind but not in the way that he was assuming things.

There was a small jump set up, only like 6 inches high. Sonny is an expert at getting out of doing things that require energy, so I haven't asked him to jump at liberty since we haven't mastered him offering to jump online. So I started to walk him up to it and was going to go sideways in front of it, but we were so in tune! I just leaned my body and he went sideways so he would be in front of the jump. It was like we were completely in sync. I pointed to the jump, he trotted right over it then came back to me with BOTH ears forward! I was blown away! Not only did he happily go over the jump when he could have so easily went around it, he came back to me respectfully and happy! WOW!

I really believe that today was a direct result of all the time we have spent together just grazing recently. Not only did it give him (and me!) a break physically and mentally, it strengthened our bond and helped him put more effort in the time we spend playing together. Now I will put more effort into making it easier for him to put more effort in. I see a lot of undemanding time in our future!

Long Walks on the Beach

Okay so maybe we don't have a beach in our backyard, but Sonny and I both enjoyed a long walk today!

Lately is has been rainy and cold so the horses haven't gone outside in a while. Today it was fairly warm and sunny so I thought it would be a perfect time to spend some undemanding time with Sonny, like I promised here. We were going to walk across the hay field and down the lane, but he ended up doing a lot more eating that walking. I don't think he cared ;).

We spent over an hour an a half out there and I definitely felt the difference. On our way back to his stall, he was very connected to me and moved when I did, even though there was food everywhere. It is disappointing that it is now getting cold and will soon be snowy, but I am going to try to make more days like this before the weather stops us!

Walking and eating.

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!]

My Mirror

Our Stick to Me game has had its ups and downs. In the beginning, the walk, halt and back up were excellent. Everyone at my old barn was always impressed. But, our trot was horrific. He would never trot when I did, then once the rope ran out he would trot really fast, come up behind me, then try to drive me with his head or a bite!

Juli told me in our first lesson that he needs motivation to keep me in zone 3, rather than me just dragging him around. With that in mind, things improved a ton! But, with him being LBI, he still wanted to drive me all the time instead of stick to me.

As always, Linda pulled through! She posted a video on Parellitube about the stick to me game. Her suggestion of driving him away during the stick to me game worked great and solved our trot.

After we had the trot solid for a while, I thought it would be fun to try the canter. When I first tried, he would only speed up his trot and get really playful. After a few unsuccessful days, I decided to give it a rest and come back to it at another time.

Yesterday we were playing online before I got on and I was having him mirror me. Sideways, forward, backwards, and every which way. He was so in tune with me, as he has been a lot lately, so I thought I would give the canter a try. It worked great! Within a couple times, he would noticed the change in my gait and change his! How awesome!

This little horse amazes me every day <3.

Visible Progress

Sonny and I have been progressing at a rapid pace lately. Our lesson with Jesse got it started, and every lesson with Juli keeps on improving us.

Not only are our games better, but our relationship has reached a whole new level. When we first started progressing, I was amazing. Sonny can canter 4 or 5 circles with me in neutral, he jumps higher, he now can go sideways towards me, and much, much more. But, within the last few days it has kind of hit me how much our relationship improved. He can go from trot to walk to trot on a circle just by my body language now. He doens't do it all the time, but for him to respond so such a subtle phase on a 22 foot line...that is a connection! During our first lesson with Juli, September 20th, he was in his own little world out there on the circle, wouldn't flex towards me and I had to go to phase 3 or 4 to get him to go from a trot to a walk. Just in a months time our relationship has grown so much.

Also, his whole attitude towards me can change. I noticed last night during our yo-yo game, he back up with his ears forward, asking "Can I come back in yet, can I, can I?". For the past two years, he has always come back in with his ears back, pushes me out of the way and demands treats. Last night I felt like he chose me over the treats; he valued coming in to be with me rather than for a scatch or a treat. What a huge accomplishment and an amazing compliment! I was elated!

I am thrilled with the present, but am so excited about the future. If our relatationship can grow that much in one month, just think what we could be doing next summer!


Rydel, Melissa, Me, & Sonny
We like to be matchy, matchy :).