The Little Things

I finally got a chance to ride tonight! I wanted to play with the GoC because it seems like I never have the opportunity to be consistent. I started it right before my 3/4 clinic at the end of June and never played with it again until a few times through out July and August. I took a huge break from it and recently picked it back up a few nights ago. So I am going to work really hard to be consistent, but I guess I need more arrows in my quiver.

Tonight started out well; he was good online and super forward and responsive riding freestyle. When I picked up the reins he knew to keep moving and stretch. Trot is the issue. He tends to curl his neck and avoid the contact, rather than take the contact and stretch. It's hard for me to tell as I am riding, but I had a friend video tonight and it seems like he is still avoiding the contact to some extent? After watching the video I tried again and took more contact to encourage him to take more, but then he reverted back to old habits and stopped. So then I started with stage 1, reins mean go and worked our way back up to trot with the same results. Ugh. If you always do what you have always done...

Here are two pictures from the last 15 seconds of the video my friend took. Most of the video he just curled his next, but for a few strides he looked like he actually engaged behind and pushed into the contact. I knew it felt good because that's where I stopped. Sorry the photos are so bad; they are screen shots from the video on my phone.

I wish I had more arrows in my quiver, but I guess the only way I can add to the ones I have is through experience. I am going to go back through the DVDs and make sure I am covering every point and try to go from there. I just feel so bad that Sonny has to be my 'sacrificial lamb' :(. But, I know he is very forgiving and as long as I keep my attitude positive and always reward the slightest try, I guess he isn't going to be too offended. Then again, look at all the mistakes he has put up with from me in the past three years that we have been doing Parelli ;).

As I was feeding him dinner and getting him ready for bed, I was kind of down in the dumps about our ride. As he was finishing his dinner I cleaned my saddle, put my tack away, cleaned up my tack room, locked everything up, got things ready for the A.M., and then went to kiss him goodnight. (Just to update those who are new: Sonny has his own barn. His 'stall' is a 15x16 area in one corner. His gate is at an angle on the corner closest to the inside of the barn. His gate had a bungee on it so if I leave it open it just shuts behind me and he can't get out). Well as I went to kiss him goodnight I saw his gate was wide open. It's not really a big deal if it is; the farm property is completely fenced in and everyone knows that if Sonny were to get out, he would never make it past the first blade of grass. But, he was just standing there waiting for me to come back. It really reminded me how lucky I am to have such a fabulous horse. I can only imagine where some people's horses would have been (some might have even been half way across the country as slow as I was being in the cold tonight).

It really made me smile and appreciate all the little things we have. When I was done riding tonight, we had excellent liberty walk and even trot circles! He stood still for me in front of other horses while I went to get water for grain, and he stood still after walking through the human door and porch as I went back to shut the door behind us. Along with that, he pooped (twice!) and peed ONLY in his pea grave tonight :). Just because we are having a difficult time learning something new doesn't mean that we are failures or that I am screwing him up or whatever it is that I am afraid of. We are just learning, haven't put that much time into it, and it's a total 180 from what we both have learned our whole lives. Of course we can't change that over night! So I am going to take the time it takes and be positive and progressive :). In the end, at the core of it all we still have the relationship, which is what really matters!

Warm & Fuzzy

Yesterday was so cold, but Sonny knows how to make me feel all warm and fuzzy!

Yesterday morning I led him outside at liberty. Usually he struggles to get 'free' to go eat grass. Yesterday I focused on my destination and was confident (but ready to correct) that he would continue to walk with me and not stop to eat. Not only did he stay with me, whenever I stopped, rather than diving down to eat he turned his head towards me, asking what was next. Goosebumps!

I got him out to play late last night, so we had to work in the indoor. I played a little online and was very pleased with the results! The first time I yo-yoed him back, he kept two eyes and two ears locked on my. He never does that! I was ecstatic!

After a good online warm up (he was being incredibly responsive), I got his bridle out for the first time. He took the bit right away and didn't chomp. I am so happy!

I rode around freestyle for a while and he was fabulous! So I dropped put the reins on the bridle and played a little Game of Contact. He immediately remembered reins mean go and to stretch into the contact.

At the trot he wanted to stop, so I took more contact until he went forward and then tried again from the walk. Within no time he was powering forward into the contact!

After that I got off and hung out for him for a while; something we haven't done in a while. He yawned and chewed and yawned and chewed and rested his head on my shoulder. Oh how I love him :).

Pretty boy :). 

The Game of Contact Progress Pictures

Remember this photo?

It was taken in April of this year, from a weekend spent at Stephen's house. I loved the angle, was very happy with my equitiation, and loved how relaxed and in sync we looked! I was thrilled with it!

Although Sonny is tracking up in the above picture, he is heavy on the forehand and is still hollow. He is tracking up better in the second picture than the first, but still not using his body correctly.

This photo was taken with under 5 rides playing with the game of contact:

I don't know about you, but I had to pick my jaw up off the floor when I saw that picture. My fat, downhill, long bodied, lazy, unathletic, stocky paint horse looks like he is balanced and using his bosy correctly....wait, what?

Although it isn't perfect...yet, I still can't believe he changed so much so fast! I never knew he could more forward into the contact. In fact, I never realized that any horse could. I rode and trained dressage for about 7 years and have always pushed horses into the contact. On the contrary, Sonny, himself, moves into it. He offers it because we have a mutal understanding and respect. There is no hassle, no fight, no struggle to get him to take the contact; it's just there. And it's beautiful, and of course, natural. It has never felt so fabulous to me before.

I am so pleased with how far he has come in such a short time, I will definitely be adding pictures as we go on!

Good News, Bad News

Bad news first: school started today.

I am not thrilled about it. Especially when I was lucky enough to spend my entire summer hanging out with my Sonshine. Ugh, getting up for class, even though it was 2 hours later than normal, sucked way worse than getting up to go see Sonny. But I have to get it done. Have to. Not an option (at least I try to convince myself that is the truth).

I don't have class on Thursday, and only 1 hour of class on Tuesday and Friday. Monday and Wednesday I have to be on campus from like 10-4, but that is totally survivable, right? Please tell me it is.

When I got out of class I went straight to the barn and got to ride with three of my boarders: Eliza, Katie and Rachel. We started out in the arena and went on a really great trail ride. So happy to have them around to ride with! Sonny did fabulous, of course. He trotted AND cantered on a loose rein out on the trail without going full speed ahead. Yay :). We also played with contact at the canter today. It was BEAUTIFUL and felt so wonderful. I need to get pictures or videos. Today I did notice that when I played with contact at the trot he lost his impulsion. Definitely something to work on. In general I think I have been lagging in having him be responsive lately. I need Juli to get back from Colorado and give us some motivation!

Good news: well, the best kind of prize is a sur-prize, so I think I will wait ;). Stay tuned!

Sonny and his best bud, D'Art. They adore each other
so much, it could give you a cavity. 

Compassionate Contact

Even though I bought the Game of Contact back in April, I haven't done a whole lot with it. We played with steady rein at Jesse Peters' clinic, but haven't touched it since then. Yesterday I took him out in the huge, freshly mowed, field and played around.

He definitely remembered that reins mean go and stretch. Off to a great start! I played for a while at the walk and trot, trying to see if I could get him to stretch steady rather than drive down and pop back up. I wasn't having a huge amount of success, but I wasn't too worried about it.

I switched it up and started practice canter walk transitions consistently for the the first time. I was counting strides and trying to walk every 5th. In the beginning the transitions were okay but got worse as I went on. I couldn't figure it out for the longest time. How can something get worse and worse the more you do it? I can do perfect canter-halt transitions without a halter or bridle but was having really bad canter-walk transitions with my bridle. How interesting! After thinking about that I dropped my reins and tried again. Bam! Perfect transitions. So...what was the problem? I was making assumptions and going back to old habits. After the first few transitions I must have started to use my reins to try to slow him. Well, reins me go, right? So he probably wasn't in a 'downward' frame of mind when I started using my reins since I had just spent so much time teaching him reins me go. When the transitions got worse because I was using too much rein, I made the assumption they would be bad and used even more! Yikes. As soon as I went back to not using reins and trusting him, the transitions were there.

After a few fabulous transitions I went back to playing with contact. I thought about the DVDs and what I was missing. I thought about Jesse's clinic and something popped out at me: the theme of Jesse's clinic was to make it a game. Everything we did we were supposed to have the frame of mind "If I were you....". I have been so good at keeping up with that until it came to the Game of Contact. I got so focused on the contact I lost the game. Lightbulb! I picked back up my reins and thought to myself if you don't take the contact, I will. Then I experienced about three strides of the most beautiful contact I have ever felt. It was so...unbelievable to have this contact with my horse that wasn't forced or pushed, it was just natural. We had a mutual understanding and it was just so...pleasnt. There wasn't any fuss or fight or any of that. It just...happened. After all those years of riding dressage and pushing my horse into the contact, it blew my mind to just let it happen. As always, I am so thankful to have found Parelli and for Linda and all the fabulous things she has done. I can't wait to play with it more and see where it takes me!

Photo by The Perfect Pear Photography 

Game of Contact Update

It has been two and a half weeks since I started playing with the Game of Contact. In that time, I have been focusing on confidence: getting Sonny to be confident with the bit in his mouth and figure out what to do with it. We have done plenty of bit isolations, he now takes the bridle without a treat, and I have been riding him in it (but without reins).

Yesterday was my first day attaching reins to the bridle since October of 2009. Since Sonny has had bad experiences with bits in the past (the same probably goes for almost all 'pleasure' horses), I wanted this to be such an awesome experience. I was nervous that he would get worried once he felt pressure on the reins, so I tried to use them as little as possible. At the same time, I needed to start using them some or else I would never be able to use a bridle. I started using my reins along the rail, playing with "light and late". I barely touched them, just enough for him to recognize something changed. He responded beautifully! I did a few cloverleaf patterns and used my reins as light as possible as my phase 4 to keep him on track. Again, he responded appropriately to the lightest touch. I am guessing Parelli people might be the only ones to understand this, but it really made me so emotional. Here is a horse that used to go completely inside himself if you even brought the bridle out, and now he is riding around confidently like its nothing. I am so thankful to have such a wonderful partner, who has taught me the importance of patience and taking the time it takes. No one could have showed me better than he did!

Today I started playing with stage one in the saddle, which is "reins mean go". He almost knocked me out of the saddle; he caught on so fast! In the DVDs, Linda has a really challenging time with Aspen (which is great, because that really prepared me for the worst!). After warming up freestyle today, I put the reins on, played with fluid rein and then stage one. After about 10 minutes or less, I was picking up the reins and he would power forward!!!! How cool is that, especially since he is LBI? Never, ever would I have guessed my 'lazy' LBI would so quickly learn that when I pick up my reins he needs to go forward. Awesome! He isn't stretching as much as Aspen and Bobbie Sox did in the DVDs, but stretching is stage two. So the fact that we went from no reins, to reins mean go in two days, well I can't be anything but happy with that :). I am so, incredible proud of Sonny, and so thankful for a horse that tries his heart out for me.

Day 1 of reins attached

Game of Contact: Day 1

After watching the Game of Contact all weekend, I was eager to get started.

Yay!

I didn't have a whole lot of time today so I planned to spend it just hanging out with Sonny. That made it a perfect time to just put the bridle on and relax.

I have played with the bridle before, but haven't even touched it in over a month. Just to catch up the new readers, Sonny has a lot of emotional baggage attached to bits. So a few months ago I started out very, very, slowly with things like 'Touch-it' with the bridle. Eventually we built up enough confidence over the weeks to put it on. But, I still felt like we were missing something so I decided to hold off until I had enough funds to buy the Game of Contact.

After watching the DVDs, it finally clicked that Sonny needs to be the one to seek the bit. I understood that I shouldn't have to pry his open his mouth, but I always held the bit right in front of his muzzle. Linda clearly shows that the horse needs to seek the bit.

So today I dusted the bridle off and just held it up. Sonny immediately went after it. Huh, how interesting! Although he kept grabbing the side of the bridle, I was so happy that he was still putting effort into figuring out the answer. It didn't take him long to grab the bit and I rewarded with one of his favorite apple treats. After that, he kept searching for the bit. How cool!

After a few times I put the bridle on and continued to groom and hang out with him. He was chewing more than I would have liked; I want to have a PP double check that it is fitting correctly, but I think he is still just unconfident. I played with some bit isolations and was so surprised by how well he did. With the lightest pressure he would stretch. What a good sign! Even after a month he still retained that concept, which thrills me!

I plan on just bridling for 4 to 7 days. I hope by the end he is more quiet with the bit. Then I plan on starting to play with him online (with his halter on under the bridle), then slowing working to playing freestyle (without reins). Finally, I hope to start at least stage 1 or 2 before the end of June. With all the of the farm stuff going on, I don't have a whole lot of time so I am not sure how well my plan is going to work but we'll see!

So cute :)

Super Savvy Buys

I never mentioned what all I bought at the tour! I managed to get a lot without spending a lot, which is a win, win situation :).  Since I haven't been making much money lately, I knew I had to be cautious with what I bought.

First on the list was a big green ball. But, I don't have a picture since they all look the same ;).

I don't need any equipment, so it was too difficult to talk myself out of that. Although, I did buy some snaps. I got two snaps for my featherlines, which are going to make my life SO much better!! I also got a repair snap for my old school 45' foot. I was able to sneak in a black popper, too. I figured while I am there, I might as well buy one because you never know when yours is going to break.

I wanted to get a few clothing items, since all I have is a jacket that isn't very suitable for summer. My first choice was the 'Good, Better, Best' shirt. I have had my eye on it since it came out and is by far my favorite of their new shirts. I also picked up the last small purple polo. It fits a lot better than what I would have imagined, so I can't wait to wear it! I have always wanted to get a visor and figured what the heck. I got black and I have been wearing it constantly since the tour! As you can see, I did snag a binder for my Savvy Club DVDs.

My big purchase of the weekend (drumroll).... the Game of Contact!!

With my past in dressage, I have been dying to get my hands on these DVDs. With my voucher from volunteering, I figured this was the perfect opportunity. Not only did I get to purchase it, I also was lucky enough to have Linda sign it for me. Yay!

And I am not even done yet! I worked behind the cash registers behind the weekend. While I was working, my boyfriend came up. He didn't come empty handed either! He bought a purple hackamore and bareback pad for me! I have been wishing and hoping for these for the longest time, but never willing to spend that kind of money. But, now I have both and am so excited to use them!

Now, off to watch the GoC!