Smile

There have been a lot of reasons for me to be smiling lately. One if them is because...

we had a photo shoot! 

No words needed.

I absolutely adore pictures of Sonny and cherish every single one of them. Because of that, I have been dying for Leslie and Dane, from The Perfect Pear, to come out. We were able to set something up over the last few days and I am just thrilled with what they have showed me so far! My cheeks may be a little sore, but there is still plenty to smile about.

Along with the fantastic photo shoot, things with the farm have really been coming along. We are finally 'full speed ahead'! For one, WE HAVE FENCE!

There has also been some serious progress on the main barn. Water buckets are up, blanket bars are on, and the bathroom, tack room, and wash rack all have walls!

Finally, we are on the web! You can check out the farm online here:

Website | Facebook 

So things have been really busy lately, but at the end of the day, I can't help but to smile!

Wordless Wednesday

I am home for about a half an hour before I need to be back at the barn. Since that time includes eating and whatever else I need to get done at home today, I don't have time to even think about writing a blog post. Instead, were are going to kick it old school and do it picture book style ;). So here is an update on the farm:

Our brand new, 60' round pen! Yahoooo!

Today we finished putting screenings in the stalls and
the aisle. More photos coming soon! 

Sonny's HUGE stall gate went from this...

To this! 

Sonny being such a good helper :).

Rafters in my tack room! 

Sonny helping Stephen while he puts the final screws
in my tack room wall. 

In the last picture, you can see how awesome the gate turned out! I will have to post a before picture, but he used to only be able to barely put his nose over it. Now he can comfortably hang his head over it! After we cut it down, my godfather cut open an old hose and glued it on the top so it is nice and soft if he leans on it. He is so increbily happy now that he can stick his head out all the time!

I have tons, and tons, and TONS of pictures to still show. But, that is all I have time for now! Hopefully more tomorrow.

Week One Updates

As of last night, Sonny had been at the farm for a whole week! We survived!

The weather was insane; just so miserably hot. Therefore, we didn't get a whole lot done. I had him out to eat grass during all the cool parts of the day and didn't want to take that time away from him to do any playing. Thankfully, Sunday was beautiful! It was cool, breezy, and so enjoyable. Therefore, Sunday morning we finally played! He was great online, a little unmotivated/not very interested. I have been watching the level 4 DVDs so I thought I would give zone 5 driving a shot. It didn't go very well at all. He did not want to move forward and when he did he I couldn't figure out how to get him straight. I got relaly frustrated with my lack of knowledge and because Pat uses an RBE in the DVDs and has no problem at all getting her going. So my emotions got involved and I knew that I had to quit so I got him to move a little bit then stopped. I guess I will have to prepare myself better, next time. I hate getting frustrated because I know Sonny feeds off that but I really felt like I was lacking resources. But, I plan on doing more research and being more positive next time to take the time it takes to figure it out. I am sure that Sonny will forgive me and that next time will be better!

We got to ride this morning and it was fabulous. I used my smart pad under my bareback pad and it was heaven! Oh, it was so nice! I played with the question box, trot poles, and even jumped a little! We had a really good time!

After my ride Stephen came over to work on my tack room a little bit. I will post about that tomorrow. But, he didn't come empty handed! He came with 8 more barrels for me. Now, I will have 12 barrels to play with! Holy cow! I am so excited and can't wait to 'break them in' ;). He is such a keeper!

I am going back down tonight to show my friend around, so more about that tomorrow, too!

A few photos from our first week!

All Moved In

Sonny and I went to a 3/4 clinic with Jesse Peter's over the weekend. When we came home on Sunday, we went straight to the new barn. We had an awful, scary trailer ride home, so between the three and a half hours in the trailer and the exhausting weekend at the clinic, Sonny was definitely wore out by the time we arrived. We got there pretty late, so we didn't have time to do much that night. Stephen and I spent some time hanging out with him in his stall, gave him some hay, then headed home for some much needed sleep.

I headed back down around 7AM and he seemed to have been fine over night. I can see him in his stall from the road, so I can check if he is moving, eating, or standing. He had eaten all his hay and was just hanging out. Once I walked him he really hyped up. For the rest of the day, he got upset whenever I left. He wouldn't eat his hay unless I was around, but did eat a ton of grass and all of his grain. He would whinny and poop until I came back into sight (Even if I was just around the corner!). I spent a whopping 15 hours at the barn Monday, staying with him as much as possible to keep him happy. He never had runny poop or worked himself up, but you could just tell that he wasn't comfortable without me around. Which is totally understandable! He is at a new farm with only one other horse.

Tuesday was better, but I saw a definite change on Wednesday. He stopped pooping every time I left, didn't walk circles when I was gone, and started to explore his stall and eat all of his hay. Today he is acting very close to his normal self; even someone who just met him Monday commented on how happy he looked today compared to Monday. But, why wouldn't he be?

Our daily schedule looks something like this:

• 7AM: arrive at the barn. Take out Sonny to eat all the clover he can scarf down, along with the lush, green grass that is taking over the farm. 
• 9AM: Breakfast! And stall cleaning
• 9:30AM: Back out for another go at the all-you-can-eat buffet. 
• 11AM: Back to the stall before it gets too hot. Fan on high and a nice little snack. 
• (During this time I am working to get things done around the farm, as well as showering and feeding myself)
• 7PM: Back out to eat grass and roam around
• 9PM: Dinner time! Maybe a cool shower, too. 
• 10PM: Time for Emily to go home. 

Rough life for the boy, right? It's been so stinkin' hot we haven't played much at the new farm. This weekend it should cool down, so I am looking forward to getting back at it.

Here are some photos of his updated stall:

What you see from the road.

His first day in his new stall! 

I love the shadow :).

While I was at the clinic, Stephen and his dad surprised me by putting a lot of work into my tack room! It was so nice to come home to that!

Still a lot to do, but we have walls and a door!

The current state of the tack room.

His favorite thing to do. 

 So far things have been great and will hopefully only get better!

A Family Affair

Wednesday night the whole 'crew' came out to help with Sonny's stall! With all the help, it went so smooth. If you remember from my last post, the final part to Sonny's stall was to put up the wall between is stall and the tack room.

Between Stephen, my dad, and my godfather, it was up in no time.

Plastic up to protect my tack room.

Stephen starting the boards.

Stephen and Dad measuring the next board. 

Putting it up! 

My god father, boyfriend, and dad :).

Done for the day!

I am sure you are wondering why we left that gap in the middle. We decided to get fancy and match up this boards with the boards on the right wall. Looks good, doesn't it? 

So we still need to fill in that hole and put another board on the very top, then the wall will be done! I am going to Jesse's 3/4 clinic this weekend and Sonny is moving in when we get back. So while I am going Stephen is going to finish that up and hang his buckets and get it all ready. I am so excited to see it when I get back!

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

Snappy

Today was lesson six with Parelli Professional Juli Piovesan. She is leaving soon for the externship, so I am really glad we got to squeeze in one last lesson before she goes. I bet she will have a wonderful time, but we sure will miss her!

We started out on the 45' today; my first time playing with it in front of someone. She said we were off to a good start, but pointed out a few areas that would be good to work on. One was bringing him in to me; we have been trying to focus on it lately but he is still having trouble following the feel. She noted that I am not able to run up to him in any zone to play the friend'y game; in order to have him be more confident trotting towards me, I should practice the running friendly game. Makes sense!

Another point she brought up is that if I can't get responsiveness on a 12' line or 22', then it won't come on the 45'. Duh. Just like how we test everything online before we ride, I should test responsiveness at a shorter distance before trying it on the 45'. Lightbulb! We played with the 'snappy game' that she showed me a few lessons ago. Although this time it wasn't so much about the back as it was about the response. Again, I need to make things a game! Although Sonny was backing from phase 1, he wasn't putting very much effort in at all. So I did a really subtle phase 1, 2, 3, don't make me move my feet, phase 4! After a few of those, he stood at attention and gave me a really great face. Huh, how interesting!

Along with that, she encouraged me to start playing more with his faces. Again with backing, back him up until he asks a question or has a better face, then reward. I need to make backing seem like something other than a punishment, which I feel like might be how he interperates it.

Finally we played with some sideways. After the snappy game, he was really focused on me. We went sideways his bad direction and it was beautiful! He went so far and barely went forward. Definitely out best sideways that way. So exciting!

After that I got on and we played with all of the same concepts. Being snappy and responsive. He was totally focused on eating, zero attention on me as we followed the rail. We transitioned to sideways game along the rail. Juli wanted me to focus on seeing how he responded to each of my phases. In the beginning he was just "nom nom nom" grass!! After a few minutes, we had him thinking sideways after I only shifted my weight, and he stopped eating. Huh, how interesting!

From there we played with a figure 8 to help improve his transitions. It really helped me figure out our strengths and our weaknesses. Perfect timing to be able to address those weaknesses before our clinic this weekend!

Now I am itching to go ride and play with all the things we covered today!