Imagine That

Sonny and I had an absolutely fabulous time today! He was such a super star and I couldn't be any more proud.

Background: The first time I ever played with barrels Sonny he cut his leg pretty badly on one when going sideways over it and has been pretty afraid of them since. I have done lots of friendly game and over the year since the accident he would do everything but go sideways over them. It has been a huge challenge for me and I get so frustrated with it.

Back to today: I had intentions of wrapping his legs and trying sideways. I was in a hurry to get to the arena to help a friend so I didn't have time to wrap his legs. I had the barrels set up so I just played figure 8 with them instead since I didn't want to mess with sideways and risk his legs again.

I was spicing up the figure 8 with transitions when I happened to halt him at the side of a barrel. With me standing in figure 8 position, he took it upon himself to go sideways over it. As you can imagine, my jaw hit the floor. I didn't ask for a single step and it went as perfect as could be. He kind of paused over top of it, but I didn't want him to think I was pushing him so I let him figure it out. After a few seconds, he continued sideways over it like an old pro. Of course my LBI would do it when I didn't ask! I can't believe all the arguments we have been in over this simple task and he completes it with flying colors when I didn't ask him to. Go figure...

Needless to say, I was quite ecstatic about it. That definitely made my life complete! I am just thrilled. As if that wasn't enough, he jumped with me three times at liberty. This wasn't like any other time we have ever experienced. He put effort into the jump. He didn't try to run out. I didn't have to ask him to do it. My LBI willingly exerted energy to stick to me. Wow! By this point I was just blown away. I was so shocked, surprised, excited, happy...just on cloud 9. He has never jumped with me at liberty over a jump in the middle of the arena without trying to get out of it. He even cantered a stride before! I don't have words to express how happy he made me today :).

Yes, I have the cutest horse in the world.

Funny Sonny

When Sonny was at liberty the other day he got away from me. He normally goes to the other end and comes back. As he came back to me, he did something I would never expect my LBI to do: he went sideways over a pole on his own!

Okay, so I know that he likes to think he knows what I am going to ask of him and he will do anything if he thinks a rest or treat might be in store, but for him to walk up to a pole that we hadn't been going sideways over and just decide to stop half way over it and sidepass down the entire thing....that's pretty funny!

I was NOT expecting him to do anything of the sort, so by the time I realized what was happening he was almost done but I caught the very end of it on tape.

I love the face he gives me at the end. "That's what you wanted, right mom?". He's so stinkin' cute!

Dust Bunny

Hot, hot, hot! It was so hot today we didn't do much. Took him outside in the breeze and ate some grass. Played with a few small things, like sideways towards me his bad direction. I am not sure why, but the one way he will go sideways towards me from 22+ feet away, but the other side he can barely manage a step. Probably 99% of it is my fault, so I need to put effort into improving that way. 

We came back in and played with the laying down in the arena. I haven't asked him to do it in a while and I think he partially forgot what it means. He actually rolled pretty quickly after I asked him, the only issue was that he didn't shake! Ahhh! 

Can you guess what side he
rolled on? ;)

My little dust bunny! 

That is a dust line, to show how dirty he is. 

Hahahaha. Look at his neck
where he didn't get dust. 

After getting the dustiest I have ever seen him, I had to wash him off. He got a liberty bath today. He actually stood really, really well. Never moved a step! :)

Bad picture, but you get the idea.

Extroverted, Introverted, and Everything In-Between

Our natural trimmer, Rodger, came down on Saturday to do the horses' feet. It was raining and Sonny had been outside, but at least he was smart enough to stay in the shelter. He was cold and wet so I brought him in and dried him off. I had no idea what was in store for me.

Poor guy :(.

After getting him dry I took him out into the area to hang out until Rodger got there. To say the least, he was wild! Running, bucking, rearing, hopping, flipping his head, shaking his neck, and overall just full of energy. I am not sure what caused it, but it was too funny! I hadn't planned on doing anything, but he didn't want to stand still at all so I figured I would help get his feet moving. We played lots of stick to me and driving game at liberty (I didn't want to be at the other end of his rope!). It is also so interesting when my normally extreme LBI doesn't want to keep his feet still. I was being a little introvert that day, so it was hard for me to match his energy. Here is a short clip of it:

When he is extroverted is the only time I ask him to rear. When he is his usual, introverted self, my rear command is met with a lift of his nose and a grunt, without his feet ever moving haha. 

Once Rodger got there he calmed down and was good. His feet are really looking great! Which is a huge improvement from last fall when Rodger first started doing them.

Today Sonny was back to his normal self. Very introverted and not wanting to move very much. I set up some trot poles and did some different things with those. He backed right over them without trying to get out of it, so I was really happy with that. I also had him circle all the poles, then go between them, then over them, the stop in front of them, and everything I could think of. This got him interested enough to give me so good faces so I kept it short and sweet and ended on that. 

Before I took him out of the arena I wanted to work on one more thing (this is where the "in-between" part of the title comes into play). A few days ago I thought it would be interesting to see if he would go sideways over me. I have always, always wanted to do it, but never tried it. After seeing a PP do it at Equine Affaire, I knew we could do it. I played with it for a bit but did more friendly game under him than sideways. Well today I played with having him go sideways over me and I think it was a huge success. For this being only our second day, I was really happy with it! 

More to come, soon!

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!

Back That Thing Up

Last week I posted about having issues with backing, mainly due to respect. Well, backing has improved tremendously since then!

Tonight I played a bit at liberty. To start off, his sideways was amazing. That was definitely the furthest he had gone sideways at liberty from phase 1 without moving forward. Awesome!

From the sideways we moved on to two trot circles. He happily trotted along around me (even though his buddies were standing at the far end of the arena and he could have gone to hang out with them!). When I disengaged, he gave me two eyes and two ears and politely waited for me to ask him to come in. Is this really the same horse as last week? Wow! Love those happy faces!

I wanted to test our back up, because once you take the halter off nothing is left but the truth. The truth is: our back up really did improve as much as I thought! I got him to back up more than 22 feet from phase 1/2, then he waited so nicely to come back into me.

Success! Super happy with tonight!

On a side note, we had a really great time yesterday, too. It was 65 degrees and beautiful outside so we went for a trail ride! There really isn't anywhere to ride but the road we just walked a little over a mile up the road. He was so great! We went down a lane to get to the road and he trotted over nicely when I asked and came to a halt without using my reins! It is so wonderful to have a horse than you can ride anywhere on a loose rein! What a fabulous few days we have had!

Round Pen Fun

I have never been in a round pen and am not sure if Sonny has either. We have been playing a lot at liberty lately, but I think a round pen would really help us. Since real ones are expensive and we can't play outside anyways, Evan made us a great temporary one right in the indoor! He used cones, reflective posts, and some kind of caution tape (that is pink and doesn't say caution).

We didn't mess with it for too long, but of course Sonny was brilliant. It was great to see how many laps he could maintain with me in neutral. The best part was he even maintained some trot circles close to me, without following the round pen rail!

After we played a bit with the circling game, I took him out of the round pen, wanting our first round pen experience to be short and sweet!

We then played with a bit of figure 8's, and those were the best we have ever done. I have been trying to do them with the least amount of pressure on my featherline as possible (in preparation for liberty!) and he did fantastic! 

After that, we practiced with some sideways at a distance. I have been trying to improve my savvy by playing the games as far away as possible. His sideways gets a little slower at a distance, but is definitely improving! 

I ended after that because I needed to go home and study, but overall we had a really good night :). Thanks to Evan and Melissa for the round pen and the photos!

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