2011 in Review

This past year was one of the greatest years I have had with horses. Sonny and I got to do amazing things and meet a lot of wonderful people!

Jesse and I playing the circling game with Sonny.

2011 had a slow start. Winter and Spring quarter of school were awful; I was taking really hard science classes that left very little time for anything else.

I decided to take the summer off school, which turned out to be an excellent idea! It was really time to focus on my horsemanship and start progressing, rather than being stuck doing the same things over and over. With Sonny being an LBI, he really needed me to set up my game.

June flew by. It was my first quarter not in school since the summer before my senior year, so I was trying to do as much as possible! I spent a lot of June playing with Sonny, trying to improve our freestyle and of course our relationship.

June 23rd

July 6th was the first time I heard from Melissa. Little did I know that she would be the greatest thing of 2011!

Melissa and her horse, Rydel.

In the middle of July I went to see my past horse, LaBelle for a week. What a great time that was! It was so fun to be able to play with dressage again.

The horse that started it all, LaBelle.

August 5th I moved Sonny to a new barn. It is so close to my house and they are okay with all of my parelli stuff, so it has worked out great!

Sonny's first time at the new barn. He loves
his privilege of a stall guard! 

A few days later, on August 9th, I put the bridle on Sonny for the first time since October of 2009!  Almost two years! He has some issues with bits, so this was the beginning of lots of friendly game.

This video was made on August 21st. Sonny's first time loading at liberty!

One of the greatest days in 2011 was on August 28th; Jesse Peter's playday. This day ranks way above others for a multitude of reasons, but mainly because of the effect it had on Sonny and I. After our lesson with Jesse that day, Sonny and I completely changed the way we view each other. I finally understood the meaning of being a leader, and he finally started accepting me as one. What a HUGE accomplishment! Along with that, Melissa and I had a great time overall and met so many people and did some many amazing things!

Rydel, Melissa, Me, and Sonny at the playday!

September 20th was another amazing day. This was our first lesson with 2* instructor Juli Piovesan! Juli is truly an amazingly lady and has done so much for the four of us! So thankful to have her in our lives!

First lesson with Juli.

My Parelli saddle came on September 26th! Oh how lucky I am to own such an amazing saddle!

Although it may not seem substantial enough to bookmark as an important date to an outsider, November 8th really sticks out to me. On this day I really felt a change in my relationship with Sonny. I was finally understanding how to let him have his own opinions and use his ideas to my advantage. 

Finally, on Christmas Sonny and I got a whole bunch of new parelli things that are sure to make 2012 even more interesting!

It has been such an amazing year for Sonny and I. I can't wait to see what 2012 has in store for us; it is sure to please! 

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

Christmas in July

Yesterday was so beautiful, I could have sworn we just had Christmas in July.

It is hard to believe that yesterday, being the day after Christmas, was SO sunny and 45 degrees. Who would have ever imagined that? Sonny and I played on line for a while. I really focused on rewarding the slightest try. I talked to Juli over the weekend and she mentioned that is going to be the key to making him motivated. Makes perfect sense, I just don't think I had put the effort in myself to reward him for the slightest try no matter what. When we play with something new, I always stick with 'expect a lot, accept a little, reward the slightest try'. BUT...I don't think I always reward the slightest try on things I believe he knows how to do. I I guess in my mind if he knew what to do he should, but that is balanced out by expect a lot...I still need to reward the slightest try!

After some sidways game, I got on and played with a lot of carrot stick riding. Then we went on a  trail ride down the driveway and along the road. The grass is still super wet so we couldn't ride through it, but the driveway/road walk was fun enough. It was my first time using my carrot stick out on a trail ride. It went so well!  He still listened to my eyes, bellybutton and legs, making the steering part easy. He was also very in tune to my body for transitions, both up and down. Considering that was a challenge just a week or so ago, I would say yesterday was a huge success! I can't wait to be able to go on trail rides with only my carrot stick and savvy string! 

A Very Parelli Christmas

Not only was my Christmas merry, it was filled with Parelli!

My dad got me:

-the cradle bridle! 
-a purple carrot stick!
-black featherlines!
-a parelli headband
-True Unity by Tom Durrance
-Think Harmony with Horses by Ray Hunt

Does it get any better than that? Don't think so!  :) I am a very happy girl!

Merry Christmas!

Is your horse Naughty or Nice this year?

Through Parelli, Sonny is always on the nice list! Your horse can be, too!

Hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!

Winter Blues

Its official: we have set a record for the most rain in one year. That's one record I am not happy about. The fields are flooded, the horses haven't been out in weeks, and its starting to take its toll.

The fields today.

Yesterday I went out with intentions of riding, only to find out Sonny was not having it. He pinned his ears and wrinkled his nose at me all night. This was not a grumpy face, this was an extremely unhappy face. I could not for the life of me even get him to unglue his ears from his head, let alone make a happy face. I am not sure if it is just the fact that he is tired of being stuck inside, or maybe it had something to do with his buddy Rydel being in season. Whatever it was, that was by far the nastiest I have seen him in the two years that I have owned him.

Today was much better. I didn't have any plans and we spent a lot of time not doing anything. Right away he came up to me with both ears forward, which made me so happy! We played with sideways towards me on his bad side and it was going really well. He made a couple nasty faces when we were walking together, but he always had a happy face when he was walking towards me!

I really hope the ground freezes soon so he can go back out, which I believe will get him out of the winter blues.

Updates

Although it may not seem like it from my lack of posts on here, I have been really busy lately!

Tuesday was my birthday so I was pretty busy for that. I got my first massage, which was so much better than I could have ever imagined. I also got a Keurig coffee maker! AND...Melissa got me the Parelli Celebration DVD! Can't wait to watch it!!!

Last night Sonny and I had a great time:

Emily Rodgers with Sonny, (On Line, 60 mins) I was plesantly surprised last night to find a little play area already set up! Someone had put three poles down in a row, then enclosed the open ends with two more poles. This was obviously designed to just trot over the three ... more(On Line, 60 mins) I was plesantly surprised last night to find a little play area already set up! Someone had put three poles down in a row, then enclosed the open ends with two more poles. This was obviously designed to just trot over the three main ones, but opened up so many more oppertunities for us! We were doing all sorts of fun things like walk over the first pole, sidepass around the corner, then go touch a cone! He was asking all kinds of questions! It also pointed out that even though he was backing onto the pedestal a few days ago, he is lacking some confidence in zone 5. Along with playing with the set up, we focused on sideways. I applied the same attitude to sideways as we did with the back up: I want to get to phase 4, but if you don't want me to you should move on phase 1. He got it really quickly! I would really like for oursideays game to be much more snappy than it has been. Lots of fun things to play with!

With Christmas just around the corner I am sure things will only get busier, but back to play time after the holiday!