Wet And Wild? No, Just Wet.

A couple days ago we gave "the girls" (as Evan calls them) a bath and much to my surprise they both did great! Getting used to water was something I had specifically gone to Parelli Professional, Jesse Peters for help. We practiced it extensively last summer but once cold weather started I hadn't done anything more to prepare my horse for bathing. Because of her previous abhorrence to water I was worried that our lack of practice would cause her first bath of the season to be less than ideal. However I was pleased to find a horse who barely cared about the water and was happy to stand and eat while I washed her! Amazing! My horse who normally would go RBE around water was disinterested and actually relaxed and willing to put her head down to eat!

My mind was totally blown. I guess that's what they mean by "make no assumptions". Here I was assuming that I would end up with a wild horse who didn't want to get wet, when I actually had a horse who wasn't wild at all....just wet!

It was Lilah's first bath ever! What a great foundation she's getting!!

Turning Over a New Leaf

As the trees and flowers are beginning to blossom this spring, it seems there is no better time to check my priorities and ensure that I am putting the horse first. So, with a new schedule that gives me more horse time, I am turning over a new leaf and it feels great! This week I have spent everyday with Rydel and each day I have been at the barn while the sun is actually still in the sky (yes this is a big deal)! To kick off the new season we had Parelli Professional, Laura Beaver out to the farm to give us a lesson in freestyle. I sat and watched her lesson with Emily which gave me some great ideas for patterns and exercises to practice during our ride.

When it was my turn, Laura brought out the Red Light which is a devise that uses an infrared photonic light to stimulate tissue repair along with the increase of blood and oxygen to damaged areas. I had heard a lot of good reviews about the therapy but was skeptical and wanted to try it for myself. Before our lesson I had explained Rydel's sensitivity to being touched along her abdomen as well as the soreness in her back and her arthritis. Without actually seeing her, Laura had suggested it might be ovary related but to try a gastro-supplement first. Well, Laura did a few points on Rydel with the light and I could already begin to see her relax but I was blown away when she redlighted the point near her ovary- Rydel let out a huge release, her head dropped nearly to the ground, she started blinking, licking and chewing excessively and her whole posture changed. From then on, as she did more points on her body I could see my horse get more and more relaxed. She even changed the way she was standing to be more square! A at the end of it she blew out her nose and the back end (if you know what I mean) for about 2 minutes straight then just stood there with her head down and lip droopy as if she were about to fall asleep! I was shocked! I had never seen such a positive response as there was with the Red Light. Even massage therapy and chiropractics had never come close to what I saw with the light! After that, I saddled her and walked her around just to have her associate the saddle with a good feeling, but I didn't ride. Instead, I let her out to pasture and allowed her to just feel good.

Beginning the Red Light Process

After seeing the immense positive effect it had on my horse, I've decided to invest in a Red Light of my own. I really want to put her needs first and if I can alleviate her pain and keep her relaxed, it is definitely worth the money! This is just one of the ways I hope to improve our relationship this spring- I think it's going to be a great season!

I Don't Mean To Brag...

But I just got back from a week filled with sunshine in the Caribbean and I must admit, I haven't had a whole lot of time to think about horsemanship lately.

However, I was finally able to get back into the swing of things and see my "lil' miss" today. I spent a long time just letting her graze while I casually brushed away the remainder of her winter coat and untangled the knots in her mane. We then practiced some circling, straight back ups, squeeze, and sideways (nothing too demanding), and called it a day. There are so many horsey things on my calendar for the next few weeks and now that spring has sprung I can't wait to fill you in on all the progress we will make!

Stay Tuned!!

Putting Principles to Purpose- Freestyle

It's time for some much needed updates!

Now that Rydel is becoming a pro at stepping towards me for mounting, I have been playing around with freestyle riding a lot more. Saturday I had another fantastic lesson with Juli Piovesan during which time I  had some major "aha! moments"on the ground that I think will help decode some of our problems in the saddle. However, it's freestyle that I want to talk about today, and during the lesson we also worked on riding the follow the rail pattern with a lot of transitions, direct and indirect rein turns, and neutral lateral flexion to stop. Our focus was on helping Rydel really understand the pattern we were asking her to maintain (i.e. her responsibility). We also focused on teaching me to really use my phases starting with the most subtle in order to be the most effective teacher possible and to not constantly rely on the reins (i.e. my responsibility).

Practicing the "pattern" of the squeeze game during our lesson. 

A few weeks ago I wrote about putting principles to purpose online (you can read about it here). Well, the same concepts are true about freestyle; putting a purpose to the ride helps to give your horse a reason to play the seven games in the saddle. Making it a game, such as "don't make me have to correct you on this pattern," or "don't make me close one more finger on my rein," or "you don't want to stand still? Ok, let's trot" uses reverse psychology to achieve your desired outcome and keeps it interesting for your horse. Likewise, playing with the same patterns and games during freestyle riding as you would online allows the horse to link what they learned on the ground to the saddle, making your rides more effective teaching tools for the horse. Especially for right brain horses, giving them a job or a purpose, "go from point a to point b at the trot and stop in the corner," helps to teach them responsibility and how to learn to act like a partner instead of a prey animal.

Viewing my rides this way has really helped fill in the missing link for how to transition from the ground to the saddle. It has helped me be able to have a plan for my rides rather than to just get on and mindlessly travel around the arena, without giving my horse much to think about in terms of maintaining her own responsibility. I believe this is going to set us up for success for riding in bigger and unfamiliar places and for transitioning to finesse in the future!!

Happy ears after a great ride! :D