Just Checking In

Sonny and I had a great walk today! Even though it was windy and cold, the sun was shining and that hasn't happened in a long time! So we took advantage of it and got out of the barn.

My handsome man <3. 

We went for a walk down the road and stopped periodically to eat. It was very relaxing and great to spend some undemanding time together out in the sunshine.

Even though that is a crop field, this is pretty much how
everything looks right now...flooded!  

What really stuck out to me today was how Sonny kept checking in with me. During one lesson Juli pointed out how Rydel will check in with Melissa and how that is a good thing. I never thought about it before then, but now I am very aware when Sonny checks in with me. He does it a lot when I clean his stall or sometimes while we are playing, but have never noticed him do it while being outside. Today he checked in with my constantly. He checked in with me as soon as we got outside, while he was eating, while he was walking, and everything in between.

I was going to take a picture of him but he went to
check in with me and I caught him in action! 

I was blown away when he stopped eating grass to come over, say hi, then go back to eating grass. My LBI hasn't been outside in months and stopped eating to come check in with me. WOW! I am so impressed! I hope that means the dynamics of our relationship are changing....for the better! I will be interested to see if he does the same thing the next time we go for a walk! 

Normal is Natural

It has recently been brought to my attention that things like 4-H are no longer what they used to be; everyone is out to win, even with the expense of their horse. If younger generations are learning that 'to ride a horse' means to use a big bit, jerk on the reins, and win, what is horsemanship going to be like when those kids grow up? It is a scary thought that now haunts me every time I go to the barn.

My best friend, Melissa, just posted this on Parelli Connect and I feel the need to share it because it gave me goosebumps and coincides with everything I have been thinking about lately. A lot of people have no idea what natural horsemanship is and only know how to interact with horses from watching what their trainer do. With that in mind, I encourage everyone to share things like this, but more importantly to share your horsemanship. I really hope I live to see the day when normal is natural.

I dream of the day that "taking riding lessons" means learning to ride with fluidity and to work with the horse instead of against it. I dream of the day that "joining a 4H group" means being involved in a group of individuals who learn natural horsemanship together and who are like minded in their views about horsemanship. The day that "going to a show" means going to a venue to demonstrate one's excellence and skill while valuing the relationship above any ribbon. I dream of the day that normal IS natural.

Friday Favorite #3

This week's Friday Favorite is:

Mane 'n Tail Detangler!

Growing up in 4-H, I was always told "Never brush you horse's tail!". So, I didn't. When I started riding with a trainer that had arabians, he taught me how to pick a tail. Basically, you shampoo and condition it, then once it is clean you literally separate the tail strand by strand in order to make it fuller, and detangled without brushing it (so the loss of hair is very minimal). This is a great way to make your horses tail full for a show, but who has hours to do this throughout the week? 

The first year I had Sonny I never did anything with his tail. I didn't show so I just let it be. Sometime last summer I decided I wanted to start making his tail look good. I knew I would need some kind of product to help me brush through it without ripping all of his hair out. Everyone loves Cowboy Magic, but I have never been a fan. So I decided to try Mane 'n Tail. 

I absolutely love it! It works so great; its like the knots just disappear! It is fairly cheap, and totally worth it. It never takes me long to brush out his tail and it salvages almost all of his hair. Doesn't get much better than that! Sonny has never had a long mane, but Melissa uses it on her arabians mane with great success!

You can buy it in a pint, quart and gallon. I usually wait until tack shops have free shipping deals, then if I have to buy a few quarts of it and with free shipping it can be cheaper than gallons. 

Girl, look at that tail! 

This is definitely a product that I plan on using for a long time, and don't go anywhere without it! 

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. 

Friday Favorites #2

This week's Friday Favorite is:

The Original Muck Boot!

I got my first pair of muck boots last fall as a gift. I thought they were over priced and always believed my $20 of rubber boots from TSC were just fine. I was wrong. So, so very wrong.

I have never loved a pair of shoes as much as my muck boots. Ever.  Which means I can't say enough good things about them. Here is a general list:

-They are warm. Not just warm, SUPER warm. My favorite kind of warm: only need 1 pair of normal socks in freezing temperatures and still keep your feet warm, warm. Something about multiple/thick socks makes me feel uncomfortable, so I really love that I can wear my normal ankle socks in these babies and never get cold.

-They are dry. No matter what you go stomping through, you never have to worry about getting wet. My old TSC boots would get cracks in the soles and within a few weeks of wear I couldn't even wear them in water because my socks would get wet. Not with muck boots!

-They are comfortable. They are just the flat, cheap-o bottoms that you find in normal rubber boots. They are soft, squishy, and no matter how many hours in them my feet never hurt.

-They are convenient. Embarrassingly, this is one of my favorite things about them. You just slip them on and go! There isn't any tying, any hassle, or anything! I leave them by the door of my house so if I need to run out and get the mail, run to a neighbors, go to the store, get something out of my car, I always slip them on and go! They are even easier to put on than UGG's. Perfect for an LBI like me ;).

-They are stretchy. This works PERFECT for me. I am the sweat pants queen. But nothing gets my panties in a knot like the bottoms of my sweat pants dragging the wet ground in the winter. With my muck boots, I never have to worry about that. Since the tops are stretchy, I can shove my whole pant leg down in them! With boots like UGGs, it is always uncomfortable because it is such a tight squeeze, but not with muck boots!

-They fit in my stirrups. Who would have guessed they can be so effective and still fit in a stirrup? Genius!

I have the small tack classic ones, but would love to have a tall pair for ridding, a nice pair for wearing everyday, then my slip ons for mucking and general barn visits. Of course, that is in a perfect world. But no matter what, anyone, especially those who live in states like Ohio, should all own some kind of muck boot for winter! They really are the absolute best!

The tall Tack Classics! 

I got mine at SmartPak, which was the cheapest I could find at the time.

Big Purp

Stephen and I didn't exchange Christmas gifts this year because we are going on an expensive cruise over spring break. 

But, he surprised me with the perfect gift:

"Did I hear more room for treats?"

A new tack box! I am calling it "Big Purp", in memory of an old friend. 

Previously I had two tack boxes to keep everything I owned in. Now they can merge into one and I have room for growth! 

It isn't finished yet; we are still completing the inside design and the outside is going to be painted more than just purple. When all of that happens, I will be adding more pictures. 

But I am so excited about it, I had to share! 

Busted

Sonny and I had another fantastic lesson with Juli yesterday (that makes lesson #4 with her). She had me list a few of our strengths and weaknesses and then we focused on how to better the weaknesses. Of course, our weak pattern was the weave. She really helped me break it down into pieces that were easier for me to understand. How am I supposed to communicate to Sonny what I want him to do if I am not really sure myself? So now, for once, I am actually excited to play with the weave!

Weaving around tall cones: challenging and humorous ;)

The freestyle portion of the lesson was just what I needed. After a 'non-ideal' ride Saturday, it was very reassuring to have such a brilliant ride last night! One of the problems we focused on was the follow the rail pattern. Lately (but only at the trot), Sonny has been taking off or diving into the middle of the arena. I thought he was playing the game 'you can't make me stay on the rail'. But, when I started telling Juli that he also takes off if he doesn't want to turn back to the question box, the real game was more obvious. He was playing the 'If I speed up, Emily will stop me then I can just stand there' game. BUSTED! Sonny may be clever, but he can't out smart Juli!

Asking to back (which explains my position).

As funny as it sounds, it seemed like he didn't even want to play the game anymore after we talked about it. At one point he decided to dash to the question box in order to get the rest, so we increased our pace and just like magic, and all of a sudden that game was not any fun anymore! Now that I have more arrows in my quiver, I am excited to ride again! What a great lesson!

A very 'thought provoking' lesson! :)

What Really Matters

Lately I have been trying not to ride so much because I don't want to ride too much and have Sonny get bored with it. But, I have a freestyle lesson tomorrow and thought that I would ride once Saturday to play with the question box before my lesson. The ride wasn't bad, but it wasn't what I was wanting. Our geometry with the question box was awful, our upward transitions were almost nonexistent, and if he didn't want to turn, not only would he sometimes ignore phase 4 with my carrot stick, he would take off in a canter! It made me so upset that we aren't where I would like to be with freestyle and it bummed me out for the rest of the day.

Today I went down with the intensions of having a little fun before I went to work. I didn't have a whole lot of time (about 45 mins), so I was just going to get him out of his stall for a bit. Things ended up going so well! He gave me great faces, transitioned from phase 1, had some great slow hand transitions, the spanish walk went well and I even got another flying lead change! Woo hoo! Throughout our time together we were both happy and having fun. When I was on my way to work I was thinking of how nice it would be if things could go that well everyday. 

They can. I can't except perfection ever, let alone overnight. All I can do is enjoy my journey to being the best me I can be, like I talked about here. I keep going through these phases of losing sight of what really matters: the relationship with my horse and the journey at the present. Even if I would have gotten on Saturday and, voila, he was a super trained level 4+ horse, would that have given me what I was looking for? Of course not. If he was perfect from day 1, what would I do after that? There wouldn't be any learning, any challenges, any getting to know each other, and most importantly we wouldn't have anything to build our relationship off of. 

From now on, I am going to tattoo the saying 'The Journey' on the inside of my eyelids (just below the 4 responsibilities as a horseman), to constantly remind myself to not get caught up in perfect and fancy things, but to enjoy all of the little things that I sometimes overlook. 

Friday Favorites

I am going to start a series of posts on Fridays that exhibit something that I love. It may be a favorite product, favorite pattern, favorite thing that Sonny does, favorite picture, or anything else that is one of my favorite horse-related things! 

So my first ever Friday Favorite is: when Sonny matches my breathing by exhaling right after I do.  Sometimes when I am in neutral and letting him think about things, I let out a big exhale and he mirrors me by doing the same. It makes me feel so connected to him and so warm and fuzzy inside :). 

Goals for 2012

Jesse Peters now has his schedule up for 2012! That inspired me to create a list of some things I would like to accomplish this year. So much has changed since last summer: Melissa moved to my barn, we found Juli, I now have a trailer, fluidity saddle, and cradle bridle and on top of that Sonny and I have made some huge improvements in our relationship. With all of that going for us, I really believe 2012 will be an outstanding year!

Here are some things that I would really like to do:

-Attend a clinic with Jesse
-Go to both of Jesse's Playdays (May 5th and August 4th)
-Attend a few hunter paces
-Participate in at least one hunter pace bridle/halter-less
-Go trail riding a few times
-Make it to hocking hills to trail ride

I create these lists every year and usually only complete half of them, but I am sure going to try to squeeze in as much fun and learning as possible this year!

As far as horsemanship goals, I would love to have my green string by the end of the year!! If I keep working to get my good better and my better best, I have no doubt that we can achieve it.

Happiness

If someone were to ask me what makes me happy, the answer would be easy: Sonny. Although I don't always think about it in that way, he contributes more to my happiness than just the pleasure I get from being around him.

Things have been going great lately. Our freestyle is coming along nicely, he has been giving me better and better faces, he is starting to accept the bit, and so, so much more. Yes, all of those things make me happy. But there is something deeper that causes him to make me happy; it is more than just what we accomplish together.

The other day he went outside for the first time in a while. I didn't want to take that away from him, so I just went out to the field to say hi and was going to leave. Not only did he come to me, he wouldn't let me go. As hard as I tried, I couldn't get away from him! I couldn't stand to just leave him there at the gate, so I ended up waiting until he was content enough eating grass to let me walk away. It seems silly now, to have stood there doing nothing until my horse didn't want to follow me anymore. But now that I think about it, that's where true happiness is.

I am constantly pursuing never ending self improvement, but the trick is to realize that isn't what is going to make me happy. If you are always working to be better, there isn't an end goal in mind in which happiness lives. Happiness is found in the present, the journey.

"Sometimes we miss happiness by looking too far for things nearby." 

New Things

Christmas wasn't long ago, but I have a few more things to add to the list of new things!

First up is a Parelli hackamore! Doesn't it look great? I think it will be a big help improving our 'go' button.

Next up is a pair of boots from my boyfriend, Stephen! I have been riding horses for over 15 years and never owned a pair of cowboy boots...until now!

Last but not least is my gift from Melissa. If you haven't noticed, I tend to stick with the color purple and she has everything pink, so those have become our 'colors'. For Christmas, she got me this:

I love it so much! What is even better is she has a matching one for Rydel with a pink gem! What a fantastic idea! I think we are going to put them on our saddles, but I love it so much I might be wearing in on a necklace ;).

Happy New Years!

My new years resolution it quiet simple this year: never ending self improvement! As long as I stick with that, I think it covers just about everything!

Hope everyone has a happy, safe, savvy New Years!

Rydel, Melissa, Sonny, and me celebrating New Years!