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.

What A Woman Wants

Any man of mine better walk the line

Better show me a teasin' 

squeezin'

pleasin' kinda time

I need a man who knows, how the story goes

He's gotta be a heartbeatin', fine treatin'

Breathtakin', earthquakin' kind 

Any man of mine <3

My Only Sonshine

Sonny came with his name. When I first bought him, I had intentions of changing it. There are about a billion horses named Sonny in the world and I can't stand overly common names. Someone suggested I call him Phantom because of the way his face is half white (from Phantom of the Opera). I really liked the idea, but once I got to know him I realized Sonny fit well. Phantom was just too serious...Sonny (being a typical LBI) is so comical and mischievous, his name fits great.

He has acquired many nicknames over the two years that I have owned him, but Sonshine is by far my favorite. It always makes me think of the song "You Are My Sunshine", which makes me so glad that I never changed his name.

He truly makes me happy when skies are grey, more so than anything else. I had such a terrible day today, but ended it by spending some time reading in his stall. I threw him some hay and listening to him munch (one of my most favorite sounds) while I read. It is the most relaxing thing ever, even on a chilly night. He would take pauses from eating and come say Hi. He would rub his snot all over me or lick the pages or try to eat the cover of the book, but it's okay with me (as long as the owner of the book doesn't notice the hay in the binding!).

Whenever I have a bad day, just seeing him always puts a smile on my face. No matter what has happened, I can always count on him to make me happy again. It's funny how an animal without words can do more for me than a conversation with a person. Maybe it's his innocents, or maybe it's his silly little gestures that always ignite happiness within me. Or maybe it's his ability to forgive and forget that makes me so willing to let things go. Or maybe it's just the snot in my chewed up hair or the dirt on my cheek or those big old lips, always searching for a kiss, that remind me of the never-ending affecting that I will always have and how truly lucky I am to be a part of it.

He'll never know how much I love him, or how grateful I am to have him in my life.

Horsenality Statistics

I often find myself wondering about horsenality statistics. Considering a good part of the horse people population probably doesn’t even know what a horsenality is, it would probably be next to impossible to figure these out (some more than others), but it is still fun to think about.

-What is the most common horsenality in the world today? Least common?

-Are people attracted to horses with a horsenality that matches their humanality?

-Obliviously right brain horses survive the best in the wild, but to RB horses that also have LB tendencies

survive better or worse than horses with only RB qualities?

-Do different styles of riding favor certain horsenalities? (Racing vs. dressage vs. jumping, etc.)

-Is there a certain horsenality associated with different breeds? For instance, I know of multiple arabians that are RBI and a few draft horses that are LBI; does that mean certain breeds commonly have a specific horsenality? 

Feel free to comment or e-mail me your horsenality statistic questions or what you believe might be the answer!! :) (labelle012@yahoo.com)

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!]