Hula Hoops

Josie and I have been playing with hula hoops this past week. It is a good winter time activity since there isn't a lot of sweating involved! My main goal at first was to back her into a hoop and have her place her back feet in the hoop. Shouldn't be that hard, but it is amazing how they don't want to stick their feet in that hoop! The first few sessions, it took some patience and finagling to get her in there. After a few days in between the first two sessions though, it went remarkably more smoothly when we revisited it. I can now get her to put all four feet in two hula hoops, from about 25 feet away. I haven't been able to get her to back through the first hoop on the way to the second hoop yet. She ends up sort of next to the hoops with her back feet, and then we sideways those into the hoop. But we'll keep playing with it! I was even able to get her to do it at liberty yesterday, from about 15 feet away.

My next task will be to get her to sideways into the hoops, and I would also like to play with putting her back feet in the hoop and yielding her FQ around without having her back feet leave the hoop. We have also started playing with drawing at liberty--more specifically to have her come to me at the weave! I was inspired by a fellow Facebooker on this one... We have some elements to work out on this one, but it is a good goal to strive for! I was able to get some nice trot-to-me draws at liberty yesterday, which is good for my lazy RBI! I'll keep playing with the figure eight and weave patterns and eventually work those in at liberty. I'll keep you posted!

A new year

I am going to try to start blogging more regularly again. This winter is going by quickly, and I feel like spring is right around the corner....pretty soon it will be trail riding season again!

I met Kari out at the barn today. It was nice to have another day with our ponies. Both of our horses were quite full of it today! In a good way! We let them run free in the arena for a while at first, and Josie was kicking up her heels more than I have ever seen her do. That fat rear can really get off the ground when it wants to! We played on the ground for a bit, working on figure eights and putting hind feet in hoola hoops. She is getting more confident with that, but still has some hesitation about getting both feet in the hoop. It is interesting to me that keeping feet in the hoop is such a big thing. We have definitely made great strides with the last few sessions of trying it.

Then we rode bareback for a while. A nice warm task for a cold and dreary day! Josie was great--stayed at the mounting block like a good girl once I got on (unlike last time when she decided she should take off at the trot! whoops how interesting....let's try that again, honey!!!!!)

That's it for now. I plan to go back out again in the morning. Maybe I'll blog again then!

Lovely night in Vienna

Through the vagaries of life, I have not been out to see my ponies in about a week. My progress on the patterns has come to a grinding halt. But the good thing is that I can always just pick back up and start back where I left off!

I just got back from the barn, and my dear sweet Josie was so happy to see me! I whistled at the back arena door, and she came tromping (because that's what she does best...) over from the feeder, through the impromptu stream that has developed in the paddock with nary a hesitation. She was sweet and affectionate, and happy to see me. Since there were lessons in the arena, we went straight through to the barn. She sometimes has many thresholds in the barn, but tonight was very left brained and needed to put her mouth on everything! That side of her doesn't come out very often. We mostly just did some undemanding time. We did a few small figure eights in the barn aisle and called it quits. I am looking forward to a horse weekend. Barn play on Saturday, and hopefully a trail ride with my dear friends on Sunday. Lets hope the weather cooperates!!!

Toodle-doo!

Day 6 of the On-Line Patterns

By golly, the patterns work! They say by day 5 or 6, your horse will make a change. Today was our sixth session working on level 1 touch it and figure eight. She made a significant change in touch it by day three. Figure eight took until today to really make the change. I have really been focusing on slowing things down for my right brained introvert. The level one task of a 12 foot line (shorter than I am used to lately) and at the walk (slower than I normally do...) has been great for both of us. I have really been focusing on doing level one with excellence, and going back to "kindergarten" has really opened my eyes to the holes that we have.

I used to think that our figure eights were okay, but I was really just micromanaging her through the turns and edging her one to keep up her momentum. Through our first 4-5 sessions of playing with this pattern, I really focused on quality, not quantity. So sometimes, we didn't get a full figure eight. If we got half a pattern with quality, I was happy with that. Yesterday, I started asking for more, but was still pushing too much with the stick to keep her going. Today I warmed up with 7 games, and worked some weave. Her send was sticky/slow, so I isolated that for a while to get a quality send at the WALK. A gait that is good to focus on for both of us! It is so easy to send her at the trot, since that gives her more momentum, but I really needed to step back and slow things down and get a quality walk first.

Once I had that going, then we moved into the figure eight. I found myself wanting to micromange her into the second turn of the figure eight, because she would start to slow down. In anticipation of her stopping, I would pick up my stick and push her onward. Finally, I told myself that I needed to let her uphold her responsiblities (maintain gait and pattern) and just TRUST her. By golly, it worked! She gave me some really great, soft, albeit SLOW figure eights. Soft eye, willing expression, no interest in the lucious grass... A great place to stop. We ended by doing a few touch-its. Ted (our barn owner) was there, and I was showing him what we've been working on. He was quite impressed that I could focus on a certain poop pile, and have her put her nose on it!!!! Kind of blew his mind that I could influence her in that way :)

I look foward to day seven of our program tomorrow. Then I can start working on the level two online tasks--longer lines, more responsibility. It will be great!

New beginnings

I have been in a rut of work, good dog time, and no horse play....That all changed today! I started my Parelli Patterns today. I played with them a little when I first got them, but never committed to doing them as a program. I was reading the most recent Savvy Times today, and there was a little article on using the patterns, and how to be most successful at them. It emphasized following the progress patterns laid out on the posters, and really starting from the botttom and working horizontally across the charts, not vertically.

So that's what I am doing! We started with baby steps today. Level 1 on line "Touch it" and "Figure 8" at the walk. Can't get more simple than that! And you know what? It was lovely! I played with Josie in her pen of horses. We played touch it on poop piles. After three or four, she realized what the game was and started sniffing the poop piles that I pointed her towards. Then I found two rocks to play figure eight with. At some point, the hill herd came thundering down and distracted her, so then we got to work on herd boundness. How fun! When I took her towards them, she had to circle (work). When she gave me rhythm and relaxation, and focus on ME, then we stopped and walked away from them. It was low stress for her, really, because we were already amongst a herd of horses, just not her number one preferred herd!

We made some good soft progress with our two tasks today. I ended our session with perfect practice for riding prep--neutral lateral flexion, then HQ disengage, then direct rein/FQ step into a few steps of back up. She did this perfectly from the ground on both sides. Then I unhaltered her and did it again AT LIBERTY. She was a rock star! Now if I can keep up with the 7 day program. Baby steps!

It's not about the...

Trailer! Today we planned to go on a trail ride at Walking Iron. I got to the barn plenty early, since I knew that I haven't been spending much time with Josie lately. On Tuesday in fact, she didn't even want to SPEAK to me, which is very unusual for her. She did greet me at the gate today though, so we got off on the right foot.

As much as we have worked on trailer loading, it is still an issue for my girl. She sees that thing, and instantly gets the look in her eye--oh no, she's going to make me get on that thing!!! I try my best not to be direct line about it, but it can be hard when she is so negatively focused on it. Ultimately I need to spend a lot more time with it so she gets comfortable with it on her own. I played some games away from the trailer and then started playing with her near her herd (her other big issue in life--herd boundness). The only rest and grazing that she got was near the trailer. At this point I had the trailer all shut up, so there was no possibility of sending her in. She just had to put zones on it.

We eventually got around to loading. She went in fairly willingly, but goes majorly RBI. Tight lips and face, no blinking, shallow breaths. At that point, I told her that I wasn't going to make her do anything. In fact, if it didn't feel right to go on our trail ride, then that was fine with me. Of course I had a momentary tang of disappointment at the possibility of not going, but it was only fleeting. If I learned one thing down in Florida, it is that the relationship is the most important thing. I vowed that I wouldn't compromise the relationship if at all possible. And I kept that vow today. I'll have to say, it is somewhat liberating to take that approach to things. It allowed me to keep all emotion out of my session with her. It is easy for me to take things personally and feel like if I was a better leader for her she would just go on and be fine with it. It is true that I need to be a better leader for her, but I don't achieve that by making her do things that break the trust built up between us.

Long story short, we didn't go on the trail ride. We played with loading for a while. We alternated loading or resting/grazing by the trailer. If we went away from the trailer she had to work--mostly circling game on the hill by the herd. The funny thing is, I had to do SO little. If there was emotion, it was emotions that she brought up in herself. I stayed a calm leader for her the entire time. I looked for rhythm and relaxation on the circle before she got any rest. Sometimes it took a long time, sometimes a little. She did eventually go on many times with all four feet. I even got her to the point where she rested in there for a while. She still doesn't like getting locked in, and that is where her major trust issues come up. I did put up the butt bar and shut the door once. I then unloaded and grazed her. We went back and loaded a few minutes later. At that point I called it good for the day.

She got a bath, and another good long graze, and then back to the paddock she went. All in all, it was a good session. I clearly have my work cut out for me if I am going to have a successful trail riding season with her! But it is fun to figure out the relationship, and I am committed to getting it right. I learned down in Florida how many situations I have "managed" her through. Even though it works in the short term, it isn't good for the long term. I hope I am on the right track with her...it feels right.

I hope my dear friends had a good ride without me, it sure was a beautiful day!!!

Dog Blog

It was such a nice day today. After working on my movie for tomorrow, and taxes, we decided to go to the dog park. I'm not sure that I'll make it out to see Josie tonight. I have too much work to do on the movie yet!

Here is Bristol doing what she does best--bounce!

Dave and Bristol taking a break.

Back to bounding...

and let's bound some more!

Driving home to Waunakee!