Confidence.

Today was a good great day with the horses! The sun was shining in our normally cloudy Ohio home this afternoon and it was a perfect day to be at the barn! The horses went out to play in nearly 70 degree weather while Evan and I did barn chores in our t-shirts! Crazy weather for February. After a few hours the threat of rain prompted me to bring the gang indoors. Despite being plucked from her pasture, Rydel stood happily next to me waiting for me to do something with her. So, I decided to try tying her using one of the cross ties near her stall door. This was the first time she had ever been tied since we moved to the new barn and I was worried she would dance around. Much to my surprise, Rydel stood like an angel letting me brush the dirt from her coat and pick her feet! She never put any tension on the cross tie and never tried to turn around even though the door was wide open looking straight into the pasture! Our porcupine game definitely played a huge role in our success today.

Later I decided to take her into the arena and play with a few concepts I wanted to practice in preparation for advancing into level 3. We worked on backing from the tail, leading from the ears (which she is not too fond of), and leading from the savvy string on her front feet. In preparation for liberty we worked on HQ yields that flow into the stick to me game- it was then that I noticed Rydel cannot yield her hind quarters all the way through to look at me with her right eye. She will do it with her left eye no problem but that right eye is really telling of her confidence issues with that side. Something we will definitely be working on in the next few weeks!

Lastly we worked on confidence with the mounting block- one of our biggest road blocks lately. Rydel's sideways to the mounting block is getting almost effortless as she comes to me with only phase one or two prompting. Then I did the usual regimen of friendly game using my stick and my body to get her comfortable with the idea of standing still for mounting. Usually the slightest hint that I'm about to get on will cause her to walk off, but today after swinging my leg up multiple times and lying over her back, she didn't move! After a while I decided she was giving me enough green lights to get on. We had a nice walk around the arena which gave me the chance to play follow the rail and try out the steady rein technique. Rydel did sigh a few times but never fully blew out like I would have liked to see, but after about ten minutes or so I got off. Baby steps today will turn into giant leaps in the future and I am so happy she is finally gaining back some confidence accepting a rider! Just in time for warm weather riding :)

Putting Principles to Purpose- Online

I know it's been a while, but such is the life of a college student about to enter finals. I wanted to post a quick update about what we've been working on lately, though. I've been really excited to get moving on our level 2 freestyle especially since I have been watching a ton of videos about it for inspiration. However, Rydel has been having issues with the mounting block and being relaxed as I get on and off and I decided that I have been ignoring it long enough.

Pat talks about putting principles to purpose and giving your horse a task or reason to be playing the games. At a smaller level, the games are used to center and relax your horse and build her confidence. There comes a point though, when you need to start getting more creative- and I believe this is the point many people start to see breakthroughs. Pat uses the example of working with horses from on top of his mare, Magic. At that point she understood that she had to work with Pat as a partner in order to teach the horse on the ground. It was no longer just playing the driving or the circling game, the games had a purpose!

With that in mind, I began revising the dreaded sideways toward the fence (or in my case, the mounting block) using our sideways game as a tool to move toward the block and position herself for mounting. I used my phases and as soon as she stepped toward the block I quit, if she tried to step away, I would make the wrong thing difficult. It took about five minutes for her to really start understanding what I wanted. When she stood still by the block I rewarded her for a long period of time, quit, and moved on to something else. After the next couple of days it didn't take long before she was quickly moving toward the block and standing there while I rubbed her back and neck and mimicked laying on her back. :)

It's not perfect, but eventually I would like to build up her confidence with just having me lay on her or just sit on her. I think friendly game is the key- If I can build her confidence here I think the rest of our riding issues will fall into place!

It's The Little Things

Yesterday was a really great day with the horses. Evan and I got there early enough that we were able to let the horses out to soak up some sun in the pasture for a few hours. The gang (Rydel, Lilah, and Sonny) were eating and running and jumping and just all around enjoying themselves.

Later, I brought Rydel in, cleaned her up (sort of!), and brought her into the arena to play. Not only did she give me really good sideways with a fence in both directions, but she had the most beautiful allow on the circle at liberty. It was awesome to just stand there relaxed and have my horse trot a lap around me in a perfect circle! Then when I wanted her in I gently looked at her hind end suggesting her to disengage and there she was walking toward me with a good expression on her face! As if that wasn't enough to make me happy, we worked with the mounting block- something that has recently become a stressor for me- after about ten minutes of just having her relax and stand quietly next to it I began asking her to move her hind end toward me and the mounting block. She got nervous about this as usual, but for the first time ever she actually took a step toward me!!! This is huge for a horse that finds safety in retreat and moving away from scary things. She trusted me enough to take that step so after lots of friendly I asked for her front end and then her back end to move toward me again, slowly but surly she started to get the concept and become more and more confident about it! :D I can't wait to keep working with it! These little joys are what keep me coming back for more. I love this journey!

Haha! (Right after rolling)

Lilah Rose

My Girl

The Gang

:)

She's so smart!

Beauty and Power

Classroom Wisdom.

I'll be finishing up my undergraduate degree in Public Affairs this spring, and I could not be more excited about that! One thing I am not very excited about though is going to my leadership class every tuesday and thursday. As you may or may not know, Public Affairs (much like political science) is a major that is full of "Type A" personalities- of people who want to be lawyers, work in government, and even run for political office. The people in my leadership class are no exception. In fact, given the structure of the class, there always seems to be competition to be the most effective "leader" of the group. When I was in grade school and high school I thrived on academic excellence, on answering questions, and being singled out and put into classes for "enriched" and "gifted" students. I was confident in my abilities and I always lead group projects.

But things are different now. I've realized one thing, I am a leader among followers, but a follower among leaders. It was easy for me to take the lead and feel confident about my leadership when no one else jumped at taking the lead. But in my class, with every member of my group chomping at the bit to have things their way, I feel much more comfortable just sitting back and doing what I'm told. This is evident in my horsemanship as well, I have a right brained horse who needs leadership and rarely challenges me for authority. I feel comfortable settling into the role of leader for my horse. I am interested to see if I ever own a more dominant horse if I would have trouble maintaining leadership..(Hmmm!?...)

All in all, I think having "savvy"means having the ability to decide when to follow and when to lead, when to apply pressure and when to release. It's a balancing act, but it makes us better, more centered horsewomen in the end- and it obviously spills over into every aspect of our lives!

February Fun!

Now Emily can have all her favorite things at the barn. :)

Little ball for little horse. 

Action shot!

After a fun day in the mud! 

Run!

Skeptical faces. 

My love <3