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.

Stop, Drop, and Roll

I have finally taught Sonny to lay down! I have been wanting to do this for a long time, but only recently got the motivation to really play with it. It has only been about a week or so and I am so happy with the results! I hope to keep improving it, especially to where he doesn't have to walk around so much. I have a few more ideas to add to it, so stay turned for updates!



(I am not sure why the video is so blurry. Maybe it has to do with the layers of dust on my camera lens? That's what happens when you live in a barn!)

Baby Steps

Had another pleasing time with Sonny today! I have a big animal science exam Thursday that is supposed to be really challenging, so I needed all the time I could get tonight to study. I figured I would play a little at liberty since I didn't have a whole lot of time.

I started with some stick to me, which he was putting a surprising amount of effort into! He did so well at sticking with me without lagging behind that I didn't play with that very long. Then I moved onto some small circles at the walk/trot. He stayed really close to me, but the best part was that I barely took a few steps back and not only did he turn into me (that is usually a problem for us, he likes to take off running rather than come into me), he came into me with a happy face! Usually if I ask him to come into me straight from a circle without stopping, he turns it into a driving game and gets really dominate. I was completely shocked that he came into me at liberty with a happy face! Wow! That was enough to make my day!

Along with that, he laid down twice today. I want to teach him to lay down when I ask him to, so I used Marion's advice and rewarded him a ton while he was still laying down. I did that both times and quit after the second time. I didn't 'ask' him to lay down either time, but I am hoping that eventually I can get him to piece together the puzzle. He is so stinkin' smart I don't think it will take long. I will definitely be playing with it and updating here about it soon!

Oh, how I love that little booger!

Let the Good Times Roll

Last night was the first time I have ever seen Sonny be LBE! Man, oh, man did I love it! He was playing, doing flying changes, and even put effort into backing up! It was so exciting for him to be playful without being dominate.

Towards the end of the session he did go back to his LBI self, which was fine with me. I was just happy enough to experience LBE with him, no matter how long it lasted. It was pretty interesting to me that even though my match report says I am LBE, I had a hard time keeping up with his energy. I really enjoyed the 'go, go, go' part, but felt much more connected to him once he went back to being LBI. Considering I am on the cusp of an LBI, I guess that is where my true LBI traits show through.

Once things calmed down I played with the spanish walk for the first time in a while. I don't ask him to do it much because he can get really frustrated with it and that defeats the purpose. Last night was great though, he even did two steps in a row for the first time! Hopefully the next time we play with it he can do the same again.

I also wanted to bring up that, after my lesson with Juli, I have been giving him much more time to think. When he thinks he does this thing where he hangs his head to the right and stays there for a really long time. Once he licked and chewed (which normally comes pretty fast) I used to just move on to the next thing. Juli had me wait there until he looked at me before I moved on. I have been keeping up with that and have seen some HUGE changes. Even though it can be like watching paint dry, I am really seeing the benefits of waiting for him to give me two eyes and two ears. He is now giving more good faces than bad, which is amazing. He is almost always walking into me with good faces and I couldn't be happier about it.

Yesterday was just amazing; I hope to see more days like that in our future!

The 'watching paint dry' thinking face. 

What's New?

First of all, have you noticed I updated the header of my blog? I have been meaning to put a picture by the title (which is why there was a huge blank space), but never got around to it. Finally I did. I like it, but I think I want to change it. I am thinking I want to change my blog colors to purple. But, it has to be simple! So look for a new design in the near future?

Here is what Son and I have been up to:

Emily Rodgers with Sonny, (Freestyle, 30 mins) Rode Sonny in a bridle for the first time in over two years today! Since I got the cradle bridle for Christmas, I figured I should start getting him more comfortable with the bit. I am not sure what happened in his past with the bit, but it must have been traumatic since nothing bothers him and he shuts down when you put a bit in his mouth. Lately I have been putting the bridle on him and doing easy things, like leading him to the pasture, so that he doesn't associate the bit with negative things. Today I put molasses on the bit (which was super messy) and rode around for a little while. I didn't do anything challenging and I never touched the reins. He let out a few big signs and seemed to realize it might not be so bad! I am very pleased with how it went and can't wait for him to experience the C3 bit!                                                                                                                             Tue 27 Dec 2011 at 08:49PM

Emily Rodgers with Sonny, (Liberty, 30 mins) Had a simple but fun day! Didn't have time to do much so just played at liberty. had some really great stick to me and he out a ton of effort into trying the Spanish walk! He also gave me some really happy faces :).

Wed 28 Dec 2011 at 06:41PM

I seem to be catching a cold, which has put a damper on my horsey time. Hopefully I will get out there today, but I doubt I will do anything. Sounds like a perfect day for some undemanding time!

My blue-eyed beauty. <3

Updates

Emily Rodgers with Sonny, (Freestyle, 60 mins) Last night I re-watched some of the level 2 freestyle DVD. This really refreshed some things in my mind...like playing with indirect to direct rein turns. So Sonny and I played with some foundation things and it went so well! We had wonderful transitions today, including walk to trot and trot to walk transitions from phase 1! Then we worked on indirect to direct rein turns. He is great at indirect, but tends to just round his whole body and walk in a circle rather than do a direct rein turn after an indirect. I made a few mental notes about Pat's turns: really watch where your weight is bend your elbow for the indirect then straighten it for direct. I played with that then really broke down the turns. I went slow and paused after the indirect, straightened him out, then asked for direct. WOW what a difference! They might not be as fast and spiffy as Pat and Vision's, but they were a million times better today! Going back to the foundations for a refresher always helps us get our good better and our better best!


Emily Rodgers with Sonny, (On Line, 30 mins) Didn't do a whole lot with Son today since we have been doing so much riding lately...wanted to make sure he had a chance to breathe! We played with the spanish walk for a while. He knows my command to bring his leg up, now I am focusing on the walking part. It is a slow process for both of just who are just learning!


Well the wedding is over, so one less thing to worry about! Our riding has been going MUCH, much better! But, I don't want to push it. I would love to play with carrot stick riding everyday, but right now I don't think we know enough to play with it everyday and him not get bored. So, yesterday we mixed it up with some spanish walk! Considering tricks are one of Sonny's favorite things, I am hoping to teach him lots of fun stuff in the future!  

He looks so dashing in our Parelli saddle.

Playing With the Horse That Shows Up

This post connects to yesterdays, but I thought it would become a chapter book if I wrote it all in one day...

Just this morning I was telling my godmother how happy I am to have my best friend Melissa board at the same barn I do. It is beyond helpful to have another parelli student so close; we bounce ideas off each other, talk about problems and solutions, and of course inspire one another. It didn't really hit me how connected we are until I tried to figure out what I wanted to title my post today. The only thing I could come up with is exactly what Melissa titled her post yesterday. I didn't want to be a 'copy-cat', but it actually sparked my interest.

Melissa and I have two very different horses, very different backgrounds, come from totally different places, and here we are titling out blog post the same thing in two consecutive days. How interesting! It seems like we tend to be discovering the same things, we are just taking different journeys to get there. I think this is just too cool!

Monday night I met Melissa at the barn and she was having such a great time with Rydel! She had this fun little course set up and I was so eager to play with it with Sonny. But, if you read this post, you know that Sonny was not in any kind of mood to be doing any playing. Putting the relationship first, we did nothing but spend some undemanding time together that night.

When I went out yesterday he was in a great mood and eager to get going! Interesting...a completely 180 from just the night before. Immediately it made me think of reading Melissa's blog on Monday night...Play with the horse that shows up. I had planned on doing nothing but undemanding time with Sonny yesterday, but he was in such a playful mood that undemanding time would have been so boarding. I felt a little guilty when I started setting up a course, thinking that I should still be not doing anything with him after the depressing last two days he has had. But, I kept thinking about Melissa's blog and decided to go for it. This is the horse that showed up today so who cares what horse showed up yesterday!

Boy, am I glad I did! We had one of the most fabulous days ever. I recently watched the savvy club dvd from May 2006, Issue 17, where Pat plays the circling game with Magic then doesn't let her stop until she puts all 4 feet on the tarp which is set in 3 poles (if you login in, you can click here to watch the video). He talks about really making it a 'game' so that Magic puts effort into getting to the tarp. I thought it would be an awesome game for Sonny since there is so much incentive.

I started out Tuesday playing with that. He caught on so quick! I didn't want him to get bored with it so we moved on. He went sideways towards me by only just raising my hands and backing up. He has never went sideways towards me from phase 1 before (he usually waits for me to put my carrot stick on the other side of his body), so I was super excited about that. Also, my 'Up' command has really been improving...he lifts his leg up even with the pedestal isn't around! How fun! We moved on to playing with the barrels Melissa had set up. At first he tried getting out of it and would madly dash around the barrels at the last second rather than jumping. I knew that our friendly game must be broken, he wasn't connected to me enough because he wasn't thinking, and he didn't see the incentive to jump.

I played some friendly game for a while, then moved onto the connection and the thinking. Disregarding the barrels, we played with some transitions online from only my energy. Once he was with me there, I started making him think about the barrels by doing things like trot up to the stop and back up or side pass around them. Once I felt that everything was improved, I asked him to jump and he said "No problem!". I wasn't expecting him to be that willing, but I sure did love it! After lots of carrots and scratches, he went on the jumping the barrels without a problem from the walk. One of our biggest improvements in such a short time!!!

After that we were so connected I decided that it would be a perfect time to practice our phase 1 transitions freestyle. I didn't have my 12 foot line around, so I just tied my savvy string around his neck since I didn't plan on doing a ton since we played online all day already. Since the barrels were out, I thought it would be fun to see if I could get on him from one since I think that is a level 3 freestyle task. Getting on a barrel when you are 5'1" is a LOT tricker that it looks. In the meantime while I struggled to get up there Sonny had wandered a few steps away. Oh crap...I don't have a lead rope on him and now he isn't close enough for me to get on and I just used all my energy to get up here. As soon as I stood up, Sonny looked at me and came sideways right over to me..."Wanna ride?".Being the emotional person I am, this gave me goosebumps and almost brought tears to my eyes. Then after that we were just walking around and I aimed him at the pedestal. Not only did he offer to stand on it, he offed to put all four feet on it without me asking! He has NEVER put all four feet on it when I am on him...I couldn't believe he offered it! He melts my heart :).

Practicing our new trick...'Up'!

Fascinated, Not Frustrated

Sonny definitely woke up on the wrong side of the stall yesterday. He had his ears glued backwards and did not want to do anything! I started out the night with just some simple porcupine and things like that and he was grumpy, grumpy, grumpy. I was about to get frustrated that he was in such a bad mood when I realized I should be fascinated instead!

I took a step back and broke down the situation. He is LBI, so the more I try to get him to do anything the more he is going to 'rebel'. Obviously I was not being provocative enough to gain his interest. So I changed the plan in order to engage his brain and interest.

Trick training is perfect for LBIs. A lot of the stuff requires minimal energy, there is a ton of incentive, and it makes them use that smart brain of theirs and helps them feel smart. Sonny knows how to give kisses, but that is about it. Time to expand!

If you remember this post, Sonny LOVES the pedestal (along with probably the majority of the LBI population). He loves it so much he puts effort into standing on it because he knows either a rest or treat follows. In order to not only engage his brain but also to expand the things we can do with different objects, I decided it would be a fun idea to teach him to just put one foot on the pedestal when I say 'up'.

I wasn't really sure how this was going to work out considering the only trick I have ever taught a horse was to give kisses! I started out with him really close and would direct him the same way I would to get him to stand on the pedestal and said 'Up' at the same time. The first two or three times he put two feet on and I backed him off so only one foot was on, then rubbed and let him rest. About the 4th time he put only one foot on! Then, about the 6th or 7th time, all I had to do was say Up and he put his foot on! WOW! Not only did he catch on, he immediately was giving me two eyes and two ears, asking "Do you want me to put my foot on here?". I can't believe how fast his whole mood/attitude changed!

I know Sonny is incredibly smart, but it still blew me away at how fast he caught on! I was beyond fascinated. This kind of reminds me of when you watch animal planet and Caesar talks about giving dogs a job. Not only does it make them feel important and smart, but it gives them something to set their mind to. This is what I need to do with Sonny. I know I probably mention this in every post, but every day I constantly gain more knowledge of how important this is and how to put practice to purpose.

Lesson of the day: No longer can I go out there and expect to warm up in the most mundane way ever. I can't start out with a little bit of circling game, oh jump the jump now, lets yo-yo a little bit,  now we can push that ball and so on. That just isn't going to cut it anymore. Not only do I need to have interesting things in mind for the whole play session, but our warm up is just as important. Linda recently posted about this on her blog, but now I truly understand it. I always used the excuse 'well he is LBI, so we warm up slow'. Yes, our warm up is going to be different than with an LBE, but 'slow' does not mean boring! Putting a foot on the pedestal is slow, but it is obviously not boring! I need to engage his brain and get him with me from the very start to improve everything else for the day.

One of Sonny's first few times on the pedestal at the old barn!