Shout-Out To The Parelli Central Blog

A few months ago, I submitted a blog post to the Parelli Central team about a mental breakthrough I had conceptualizing my progress with Rydel. At the time, it made a lot of sense for me to hash out my thoughts on paper, but I didn't really expect much to come of it. Well, today I received notification that my submission has been posted on the Parelli Central Blog! I am honored, excited, and a little embarrassed! Of course, I feel like my writing does not have much universal clarity. After all, I had mostly been writing for my own sake, to sort out all my thoughts and emotions. But, nevertheless I am absolutely thrilled to make my first major mark on the Parelli social media world, and I can assure you, it will not be my last!

View The Post Here!

The Tour Stop that started it all!

Perfect Landing

This past weekend Evan and I made the 8 hour trip east to move myself, some of our things, and our horses to my new (and Evan's old) home in Pennsylvania. It was a long drive for us, and even longer for the horses, but we all eventually made it safe and sound and had an absolutely "perfect landing" when the horses stepped off the trailer in their new Oxford, PA home for the first time. Rydel was a little stiff (as to be expected) but back nicely off the trailer and just stood and waited for me to give her the next cue. I slowly walked her into her outdoor dry lot which had been set up for the night with hay, water, and fresh straw bedding in their run-in. I gave her a good once over and hit some of her acupressure points to help ease her pain. After Lilah got off the trailer and we squared up with JD Hughes, our amazing transport driver, our barn owner said something that I wouldn't have expected. She said... "Never have I ever seen two horses step off the trailer and act so calm and comfortable here." With a smile, I looked at Evan and knew he was thinking the same exact thing, It's all thanks to Parelli! Our horses are adaptable, they act like partners, and they look to us as their leaders to tell them whether they should be nervous in their new environment. Evan and I were well prepared for the moment they would step off the trailer and in being centered ourselves, we allowed our horses to be centered as well.

We allowed our horses to settle in overnight, and I was amazed to find two perfect partners waiting for us the next morning right at the gate ready to greet us! We took the opportunity to spend some undemanding time before letting them out in their pasture for the first time. They both walked about 5 feet before stopping to graze, and meeting their over the fence neighbor was a non event. Deciding they were content, we left for about an hour to pick up supplies at a local feed and tack store. One we returned, as we walked through their dry lot and over to the gate that leads to their pasture, we saw four ears perk up over the hill. Rydel had been grazing next to Lilah who decided life is much easier when you can graze from the ground!

We then allowed our horses to catch us and escorted them into the barn for the first time. Again our barn owner was amazed to see them walk so calmly around the unfamiliar territory of the farm. As we walked, I kept checking to see how connected Rydel was to me by stopping and seeing how much it took to get her to stop with me. Once inside, Rydel confidently put her nose on the stall doors, horse blankets, and even the clock! She backed confidently into the wash rack before getting to explore the magnificent indoor arena.

Having the large indoor to ourselves, Evan and I decided to let the horses off their leads to play at liberty, and we had such a great time! Both Rydel and Lilah stuck to us at the walk and trot all around the arena as we explored the mirrors, jumps, and mounting block. Even as the barn owner opened the large doors to the indoor exposing us to the open barn leading to the outside, Rydel's attention to me never faltered and she stayed with me the entire time completely at liberty!

I'm so happy to have such wonderful horses! And I'm convinced that our prior and proper preparation with Parelli has allowed this transition to a new state to be a purely positive experience!

Equine Predatory Instinct?

A few weeks ago, Evan and I were watching Liberty and Horse Behavior and Pat mentioned something about how some horses have a predatory instinct of sorts. A lot of times we see Stallions with this instinct where they will chase down a threat to their band and confront it if necessary. Perhaps predatory is not the right term to use here, as we know horses are prey animals and would never actually seek to kill as a predator would. However, I have seen horses get pretty aggressive with "predators" (dogs and cats). In the first instance, we had brought my dog to the barn with us to have some fun running around in the fields. Being curious, my dog playfully approached a young gelding, the two sniffed each other and then the colt immediately began chasing my dog. At first it looked playful, but I soon realized this horse was driving my dog using the "snaking" head position that Stallions use to run down a mare. The horse was barreling down on my dog full speed with his head down and teeth bared. Luckily my dog was able to duck under the fence after a very close call, and I still wonder to this day what would have happened. Would the young horse have trampled my dog? Would he have bit him? Killed him? We have also recently heard a story about a horse would would pick up cats by their tail and violently shake them. I'm unsure what it is that drives horses to be confrontational and engage the "fight" side of their instincts rather than the "flight" side.

A few weeks ago, Evan and I were playing with our horses and discovered that our 2 year old Curly Horse, Lilah loves to track down and ultimately stomp on things. We first noticed the behavior when our new barn cat entered the arena. Lilah, then at Liberty, was immediately drawn to the cat following it intently at the walk and trot. The cat, obviously intimidated, didn't put up with it for long before bolting out, but we were intrigued. Next, Evan grabbed a a whip with a long string used by the normals at our barn to longe their horses. What we saw next, amazed us! Evan would drag the string along the ground, much like you would to bait a cat into playing with a ball of yarn, and Lilah would stalk it and run after it until she was able to attack it with her hooves. I say attack, because what we saw was not play, it was more than that. She was literally violent with the end of the string, stomping it out as if she was trying to stomp the life out of it. We tried to capture the nature of this on video, but after a few tries, we never did see the level of violence as we saw the first time. What you see in the video is a fair second, and demonstrates this unusual tracking behavior.

I do question whether or not this behavior stems from a high play drive (more left brain behavior) or if it stems from the need to eliminate a threat in order to seek out safety (more right brain behavior). Certainly something to think about...

Edit: I re-watched the segment in Liberty and Horse behavior where Pat briefly discusses this behavior, he calls it an extreme "herding" instinct. He states that these horses will actually kill sheep and other small animals, but are also very good at being cow horses as Janine mentions in the comments below. He does not go into much detail beyond that, but I do believe it is a behavior that we can encourage the positive attributes and discourage the negative ones. -Melissa

Let's Talk Saddles

Saddle fit is such a complex issue, complete with both myths as well as facts and everything in between. I highly encourage every rider to research for themselves and attempt to find the truth, but be warned, once you start, it is a long and treacherous journey!

About a year ago, I got my Duett saddle and decided that my saddle search was essentially over and that I had found exactly what I wanted. Of course, at the time the Duett was what I wanted: a saddle wide enough that I could shim under it and it would allow my horse's muscles to build up underneath. After all, this is the general concept to follow for saddle fit that Parelli teaches and it is why their saddles are so darn wide. And it does make sense, you don't want to fit a saddle to a horse that is not muscled properly to carry a rider. Well after about a year of using my Duett with both the Theraflex pad and the Equipedic pad, I am still seeing soreness in my horse's back, just forward of the lumbo-sacral junction. Along with this, my horse remains to be girthy and hate being saddled despite trying everything imaginable to fix it! (As a side note, I am putting my horse on an acid reducer, per the vet's recommendation to rule out the possibility of ulcers.) 

So where does this leave me? Basically, I felt the need to start over with what I know about saddles and saddle fit and go on a exploratory journey of my own which requires lots and lots of learning. I began researching saddle fit, biomechanics of the horse, differences between treed, treeless, and flex-tree saddles, and finally what models would be best all things considered. I must say, I have received a lot of information but don't have a very good way of sorting it all out. Hence, I'm turning to you, the blogging community of the world, for help. 

First, here is a theory article article about the biomechanics of the horse and how they relate to saddle fit. I would say, I agree with most of the information presented in this article. In fact, and embarrassingly, many of the illustrations of horses subjected to poor saddle fit, look a lot like my horse. :( I don't think I'm doing everything wrong. I do have a wider saddle and place it so that it is behind the scapula, but the panels do not sit flat on her back which I believe could be contributing to her pain. 

As such, here are some of the models I am looking at:

1) The Parelli Cruiser - built on a flex tree and designed with the lowest part of the saddle in the back to help put you on your balance point. I am interested in this saddle because of my interest in trail riding, but it is overwhelmingly expensive, way heavier than my english all purpose saddle, and I am unsure how my horse would react to something built more like a western saddle. 

2) The Freeform Saddle- Technically a treeless saddle but is built with special injection molded foam as well as a flexible gullet that helps provide support. Not nearly as expensive as Parelli and has gotten rave reviews, but still has the taboo of being treeless. 

3) Balance Saddles- What the Parelli's used to use and promote. I believe they are built with a flexible tree but I cant be sure as their website is difficult to navigate. I believe the theory provided on their website is good but I'm still pretty in the dark about these saddles. 

Basically, I want your feedback, advise, personal anecdotes, recommendations, ANYTHING that will help lead me in the right direction. In other words, let's talk saddles!

Weekend Of Savvy

This past weekend Evan and I went down to Murfreesboro, Tennessee to volunteer again for the Parelli  Horse and Soul Tour and we had an absolute blast! From the moment we got there we were greeted with open arms from our friends on the Parelli Road Staff. It was so cool to be part of the "inner circle" and I believe wonderfully amazing things are in store (Can't wait to divulge more about it!!) In the meantime, here are some pictures from the weekend.

The first night we all went out to dinner and had a hilarious time trying to hook Liz up with the server! 

Juli Piovesan, Parelli Professional extraordinaire! <3

Carrie (who sold us Evan's horse) showed up with her family!

The girls: Athena, Jill, and me!

Evan sporting the new Parelli Outerwear and showing his support for Breast Cancer Awareness!

Pat demonstrating it's not about the trailer!

We love volunteering!

Blue skies on our ride home. :)

Passive Persistence...

EDIT: To see the published version of this blog, please go to http://central.parellinaturalhorsetraining.com/2012/12/passive-persistance-asking-for-the-try/

Expect A Lot, Accept A Little, Reward The Slightest Try.

Reward the slightest try: a Parelli-ism I had always tried to live by for my Right Brain Introvert horse. I was doing it all by the book, giving her time, using approach and retreat, and waiting for her to build her confidence. For the past year I have been trying to live by this motto (I even have a bracelet with the saying to remind me), yet last night I came to a realization that sheds a whole new light on what it means to reward the try. 

In order to reward the slightest try, you must first ask for the horse to try. 

This, my friends, is the basis of my revelation. In the past year, as I began to get more involved with many Parelli Professionals in clinics and lessons, a reverberating theme has been incorporated in all of their advise to me. I must not be afraid to ask more of my horse. In other words, (for lack of a more imaginative way to put this), I must expect a lot. This in and of itself is not a major epiphany. I've said it here, and here and probably even more than that, and yet, today it makes more sense. The real understanding for me comes from what it means for my horse to try for me. I titled this post "Passive Persistence"because this is what is required from the horsewoman (or man) as she asks the horse for the try. In the past, if Rydel showed opposition to something (say, for example, an upward transition in the saddle) I would avoid doing it, I wouldn't push her because I didn't want to compromise our relationship. I figured it would come in time, I wanted it to be her idea. I don't think this was a wrong way of thinking, but I understand now that it was not the best thing for my horse. You see, in avoiding all the issues we would have when asking for higher gaits, I compromised my position as the best leader for my horse. So long as I use passive persistence in the proper position, anything I ask of my horse would be an appropriate amount to request her to try for me. So long as I keep myself centered and my emotions out of it, I should ask until my horse responds with the slightest try. 

That being said, the way you ask for the try will be different if the horse is left or right brain at the moment. In my case, Rydel would buck or throw her head when asking for an upward transition to the canter. I first got off and assessed if it was pain, fear, or defiance and discovered online that it was the latter. Knowing it was a left brain behavior, I felt confident addressing the issue from the saddle. First I asked her to change gait using my focus, energy, a smooch, and then a tap on the rear with my hand. She would respond but would buck, spin, and stop in every effort to avoid actually going forward. In an effort to be more effective I grabbed my carrot stick and played plink, plink, keeping passive persistence in mind, I did not give up even when she bucked. I stayed calm and kept asking for her to find the right answer. After all, we are still playing the seven games, right? It was a long, painful few minutes as Rydel tried all the tactics that had worked for her in the past to avoid going forward, until finally she cantered a few strides without protest. And that was it. We ended the ride. Rydel licked and chewed after our ride, but it was me who had more to think about after our ride. I've said constantly that I want to be the best I can be for my horse. Well, unlocking this part of the leadership, relationship, partnership puzzle is one huge step closer to achieving that goal. :)

Rydel and me when I was in High School, we've come so far!

Attitude

"Our mood changes more often than our fortune"

How can I even begin to catch you up on the details of the past month of my life? It started out like any other month, full of work and not enough time for my beautiful equine partner. And just like every other month, it started out with me hopelessly battling a fungal infection on Rydel's legs. the fungus comes and goes with the changing weather and I have never been able to get the upper hand. This month I decided to try treating it with a combo of triple anti-bac ointment, and anti-fungal cream. After the first few days I was seeing great improvement, only to come out the next morning and to my complete horror find Rydel's leg swollen and bloody! After further inspection, I found a few more spots on her stifle that were oozing a yellow liquid. Mortified, I cold-hosed her leg and cleaned her wounds, vowing to call the vet if things weren't better in the morning. Well, the next morning things had only gotten worse, Rydel's leg was as swollen as ever, she had a fever, and was dragging her foot as she walked. After completely and utterly freaking out the vet assured me, Rydel's ailment, known as Equine Cellulitis is fairly common and her leg would go back to normal with treatment. 

After weeks of cold-hosing, compression wrapping, administering Bute, and antibiotics daily, Rydel is finally back to normal and able to slowly start increasing her activity level. Yesterday was the first time we actually played together since the Cellulitis and we had an absolute blast! You see, during her treatment my mission was to get her better, I had the same routine everyday and I did not take the time to focus on our relationship and I was definitely not tuned into how she was feeling about all of this. By the end of her treatment, Rydel was literally "screaming" at me with her body language. She was so agitated and unhappy and I felt awful and discouraged at the same time, it was not a healthy combination. 

Parelli teaches us that the attitude with which we approach the horse is so crucially important. It can mean the difference between a fantastic day and a horrible one and that is so true for Rydel and myself as well! Last night my mood was lighthearted and happy and I was not weighed down with the stress of worrying about her leg. We spent a lot of time just being together and then played "Stick to Me" online and at Liberty and I felt so connected to her! She tried so hard to stay with me and mimic my energy level. Then I got on bareback and bridleless and we just walked, followed the rail, and worked on our downward transitions and back ups. Such a simple task but it felt SO good. She is a super star horse!

With October right around the corner, I feel energized and ready for fall with Rydel. While, I certainly cannot control my fortune, I can control the attitude I have in response to it, and that can make a world of difference!

Their Story

A while back I posted about how my boyfriend got his very first horse, Lilah Rose. Well, this is their story...

Evan has always been allergic to horses (in fact, the first day I came home from the barn and stepped in the house he began sneezing immediately as I walked in the door!) but as he became more and more interested in horses and natural horsemanship, we started researching possible options for him. Naturally, we came across the only hypo-allergenic breed in existence, the American Bashkir Curly Horse. Relatives to America's Mustangs, Curly Horses are a rare breed. Eventually, Evan's horse fever got this best of him, and his parents knew they were going to have to do something about it. After doing a lot of research and promising his parents he would make an appointment with an allergy specialist, Evan was finally given permission to buy a curly horse of his own.

Unfortunately, Curlies who have had any formal training or have been in the show ring are very expensive, so our only choices within price range were untrained brood mares or babies. So, despite Pat's famous saying of "green on green, makes black and blue," I pushed for getting a "fresh canvas", rather than a horse who has altered opinions of humans. Lucky for us, we found Silver Storm Farm in Tennessee who seemed to have exactly what we were looking for. The choice was between a 1.5 year old mischievous colt, and a slightly younger sweet little filly. It became clear during observation that Lilah is an introvert, but Left or Right brain we weren't totally sure. Regardless, she stole Evan's heart, loaded perfectly and took the 9 hour ride back to Ohio like a champ!

It didn't take long to figure out the Lilah is a LBI/LBE cusp. She has so much energy but only wants to use it if it's her idea! Evan began teaching her the 7 games and soon enough she had them learned and was figuring out ways to get out of them. She was smart, and we knew we had to increase our knowledge if we were going to keep up. This June Evan decided to participate in the Level 1/2 clinic with Jesse Peters. It was such a great decision and a huge confidence builder for Evan.

Focusing on learning

A private lesson with Marie

Using phases effectively.

The bareback pad is a non-issue.

Her headband says "princess" :)

Post clinic, we are focusing on the basics and getting Evan prepared for his level 1 audition. Lilah has already learned so much, I am so excited to see just how far they will go in the future!!

Good, Better, Best...

Since my time spent at the 3/4 clinic, I have been actively working to better myself and my riding in particular. I've learned that my horse is capable of performing at a higher level and it is myself who needs to work up to that level of capability. I know that my riding is far from perfect, but I have really been working on using my whole body- focus, seat, and legs- rather than relying so much on my reins for control during the ride. I know Rydel prefers to have her head and not be micromanaged and it makes me feel much more connected to her to be able to communicate using primarily my seat and legs. I have posted a video demonstrating how I have begun to prepare for bridleless riding. As you will notice I use the "helicopter cheat" that Jesse taught me at the clinic. This is mostly for my benefit as it helps me remember to engage my whole body including my shoulders for turns. It is also helpful in case I need to use my stick to reinforce where I want her to go. My goal is to get better and better each week so that eventually I don't have to use the helicopter technique, and then don't have to use the stick, and then am able to achieve the same precision at higher gaits. Here's the video. It may be easier to view on youtube directly here!

In the past few weeks I've been trying to find ways to make riding fun for both of us. One of those ways has been to branch out and ride outside the arena. It's helped provide an area that's more fun to canter in and does not require quick turns. (Sorry for the semi-blury pics).

Soaring With Eagles (Part 3)

(Click to go back to Part 1 and Part 2)

Part 3: Outside My Comfort Zone

Some "wait" time for my RBI

Now, I know I was just saying how much the Level 3/4 clinic was a major boost to my confidence, and in just a few sentences it may sound like I'm about to retract that statement, but bear with me! The final day of the the clinic we focused on two of my biggest personal challenges, liberty and freestyle in an open, unfenced area.*gulp* Here's the story....

The day started out well enough, we began by troubleshooting issues from the previous day and recapping what we all learned, as we talked we enjoyed sitting outside in the cool(ish) morning breeze and it set the mood for a great day. Next we took our horses into the field on the 45 foot line. I didn't have one of my own so Jesse graciously let me borrow one of his. This was the first time we had ever played on the 45 and I was quite nervous about looking foolish. I certainly did not know how to coil the rope back up as I reeled it in, and found out pretty quickly that our phase 1 and 2 were pretty ineffective starting at about 23 feet! :/ After a quick warm up, Jesse asked everyone to work on flying lead changes either online or at liberty. Well, we had never done them but I figured, "why not!" and began watching Jesse instruct a fellow participant on how to use the fence to aid in the change of direction. Standing so the horse creates an arc or half circle as them move using the fence to block their path, Jesse would tell us to "drive, drive, drive" the horse to the fence, then "draw, draw, draw" them back in at a canter and then ask for the lead change by "drive, drive, drive-ing" them the other way. We were essentially using the figure 8 pattern in a very long range and using the fence to help aid the turn. At first Jesse pointed out that I wasn't bringing my energy up enough to encourage her to canter in to me, I literally had to run backwards and then send her out again. After some laps of counter-cantering, we finally got some really good lead changes in both directions! I was ecstatic and exhausted as the sun had risen overhead to about 95 degrees. After just 3 flying changes we moved on to a new task altogether (short, sweet, and successful!)

Rydel after doing a perfect flying change!

Not surprised to see our "draw" was broken, we have this problem at shorter ranges too. It took a lot of effort to get her to come into me at the right speed.

The next task was liberty, which required starting in individual round pens with the idea of slowly moving into bigger and bigger spaces. Let me preface this by saying, yes, we have done some liberty practice before, but I dont normally demand much during our sessions and definitely do not try to work through RB behavior without putting on my safety net (rope). Of course, being in a new setting with many other horses was not conducive for helping her stay focused on me while at liberty. Again, our hide your hinny was broken and we played with this as the key to perfecting our stick to me game. Whenever she would break free from me, it was hide your hinny until you connect with me with both eyes, and game over. That's the game- can you stay connected? For almost two hours we played with this in various capacities.

Stick To Me.

The most challenging was when we had to put all our horses together in the same open space, surrounded by a big fence (the largest part of the honeycomb), the idea was to have your horse stay with you and protect "your" space by making it very uncomfortable for a horse who has broken free from its human to do anything but go back to its proper human. Well, this was definitely a fun game for the left brain horses, but for the right brain ones, as soon as a little pressure was put on them, they couldn't think at all to try to get back to their humans. Not only was this a challenge for my horse, but it was challenging for me to stay calm and focus on keeping my horse connected to me while worrying about fending off other horses and not brining my energy up in a way that my horse felt it was being directed at her! Ack! Eventually I was able to keep her relaxed enough to stick with me but we were never able to achieve some of the higher level tasks such as having your horse maintain a circle around you. By the end, I was hot and miserable and feeling slightly defeated. 

Partial view of the Honeycomb.

The final task was freestyle in a wooded area without a fence. This was definitely outside my comfort zone and I was not feeing good about it. I knew it would be difficult to keep myself and my horse focused on a pattern with no rail to follow and no straight lines to use. I tried doing the figure 8 around some trees but it was difficult to maintain consistency and things fell apart at higher gaits. Next, Jesse had everyone work on steady rein and practicing stretching into the bit, something I couldnt do because I wasn't in a bridle, just a natural hackamore. As the session went on I rode around aimlessly feeling really depressed. Jesse seemed to ignore this though, I believe now he was waiting for me to find the courage to ask questions, something I'm not very good at. Finally he started giving us more directive tasks, sideways from point to point, back around a tree (which we were actually REALLY good at!) These simple tasks helped me regain confidence and after the backing I was feeling a lot better. Finally, Jesse had us pair up and do a trail ride through the woods two at a time. Rydel and I were paired with Sjoujke Janssen and her arab, Dyna. The arabs loved running through the wooded trail! Rydel was really excited and extroverted and was putting a lot of effort into going forward. She even jumped some logs and cantered willingly! I it was a lot of fun and she stayed pretty LB all things considered. On that good note we did a few more things and then ended our ride and consequently our clinic.

Really happy with her flexion here!

Trying hard!

How interesting, I weight my right stirrup more than my left.

We wrapped up with some final words sharing what we all learned. For me, it was a total mix of emotions. Happy because of all we had accomplished and grateful for the glimpse of our potential. A little frustrated at how good everyone was compared to us, but determined at the same time to go home and get to work. And finally, empowered thanks to having the tools and savvy necessary to make our dreams happen! :D 

Two hearts, one soul <3

Soaring With Eagles (Part 2)

(This is Part 2 in the series of blog posts written about the Level 3/4 Clinic with Jesse Peters, if you have not yet read Part 1, please go here now.)

Part 2: Expect A Lot, Accept A Little...

Learning to expect a lot of my horse had become a theme for the weekend.

After we all had a wonderful lunch prepared by Stacy Peters, we each had the opportunity to take a 20 minute private lesson with Jesse to work on something specific to our individual needs. I was a little nervous because I was the only one who ended up choosing to ride for my lesson, but I knew it was what we must work on if the rest of the clinic were to go smoothly. Hesitantly I saddled up and quickly had Jesse advise on saddle fit with my new Equipedic pad. Then, Jesse had me get on and start doing the figure 8 pattern around two cones at the walk. My responsibilities were to have a strong focus on where I wanted to go, use my whole body and energy, support with my legs and finally my stick. Amazingly, Rydel did great and we were doing perfect figure 8's in no time! Next he has us alternate which cones in the arena we were doing the pattern around so that we could use more space and work our way up to a trot. During this time, Jesse instructed me to focus on the downward part of my posting trot so as to not drive her forward and ride more in a more extroverted manner than she needed. He also had me wait to correct her until she had made a full downward transition. In other words, I was not to correct her when I simply anticipated she was about to walk. Pretty soon we were both gaining confidence and relaxing and as we did, Jesse had us use more and more of the arena until we were riding follow the rail around the entire arena at a trot. Rydel even offered to canter which was a BIG deal, because she typically hates doing it.

Rydel still has a negative opinion about moving forward.

Slowly we both became more comfortable!

Rydel offers to canter with a nasty face- probably because I was so stiff and surprised!

Slowly we both became more comfortable with the idea of moving forward at the trot and canter and Jesse helped me loosen up and learn to ride like an extrovert as Rydel started wanting to move forward more and more. After our lesson I felt like a new person, I had much more confidence in my ability to be a leader while in the saddle, and it felt great that Rydel was able to relax and not get right brained during our ride. (Major points for Jesse here!) Later that evening we all rode in the honeycomb (series of round pens within a big round pen). Here we practiced carrot stick riding with out much aid from the reins. We played with a million transitions including indirect turns to change direction. Jesse also taught us the helicopter game which helps us exaggerate our body movement to help the horse find our focus. It was a great tool for me and Rydel caught on really quickly!

Moving forward a lot more willingly now

Practicing the helicopter- look how relaxed Rydel is!

We ended our evening of riding playing "can you" with a partner and then going on a group trail ride which was so much fun!! The final challenge was some more cantering practice in the round pen using the question box. I was so proud of how well we both did. I never expected our riding to be that good, and while there were plenty of people in the clinic who did better than us, Rydel definitely deserved a blue ribbon for how quickly she was able to pick things up and how much she was offering me at the end. I truly cannot wait to start riding more and more. Freestyle was a major highlight of this clinic and I'm so glad I pushed myself to do it! :D