Happy Day :D

After feeling discouraged for about a week or so now, I finally have a reason to be happy. Yesterday, in an effort to work on our "relationship problems" and fix our catching game, I set up a small make-shift round pen in our indoor arena out of big cones and yard tape. I started playing around with hindquarter disengagement leading into the stick to me game- this is where I found our problem (or one of them). I noticed, and was not surprised, that Rydel can't move her hindquarters around and give me her right eye, but she will do it from the opposite side to give me her left eye. Hmmm! So I need to do more friendly game on her right side. After playing with it some more she finally understood that walking in an arc toward her hind end and putting a little pressure on her means "spin around, give me two eyes, and walk with me." Keeping things short, sweet, and successful, we ended when she could do it on both sides and was feeling pretty relaxed with me on her right side.

Well...Today was a huge testament to the fact that doing less sooner pays off because when I went into the pasture to get Rydel, all it took was a little pressure on her hindquarters and she was walking back toward the barn with me!! She had to stop at some thresholds in which case we took our time and played the game again, but I was thrilled when she stopped a few times to blow out and relax. She even followed me all the way into the barn without me having to touch her at all and walked right into her stall! :D That is a success in my book.

New Kensington Protective Sheet!

Been giving Rydel lots of down time as I have spent the week nursing multiple skin issues. On the up side, today I got to try on her new Kensington Protective Sheet! I was introduced to the brand at Equine Affaire and was impressed with the quality and outstanding warranty policy so I decided to give it a try. So far this is the best fitting sheet I have found for Rydel since she is so small. The sheet is supposed to protect from flies, UV rays (which means no more bleaching out!), dirt, and water. I'll let you know how it works out, but in the meantime, here are some pictures!

Without the mask

Snazzy in full garb

Sharing a moment

Awww!

How Interesting...

Lately I have been feeling a little bit stumped and the fact that I haven't had much time to play with Rydel has only made it worse. When I do get some time, I've been practicing my catching game with Rydel and found out some interesting things......It doesn't take long for her to turn and look at me and even keep her attention on me ears forward but it seems like no matter what I do, turn around, turn around and walk away, walk away keeping my body facing her, turn around and bend down, etc. I cannot get her to follow me. The whole time she will just stand there with her ears on me almost as if she's saying "well!? Are you coming over here or what?" Now, if I put enough pressure on her hindquarters I can get her to eventually have to turn enough that she will walk a few steps with me, but this feels like cheating and I don't know if her heart is really in it. Tomorrow I will try to play the catching game in a smaller space than a pasture or large arena, for now though...all I can say is "how interesting."

The catching game may have us stumped but we are great at playing touch it! 

RBI's are so funny- it's hard for her to look at me with two eyes from this distance.

Short, Sweet, and Successful!

This past weekend I had a chance to go to Equine Affaire multiple times and it was a great source of motivation! I watched four different demos put on by Linda Parelli and all of them were eye opening, especially the Game of Contact! During her demo Linda said one thing that really resonated with me... "Keep your sessions short, sweet, and successful." In other words, when learning something new it doesn't take a lot to get your horse's mind working. My motto from now on, is now "short, sweet, and successful."

Throughout the weekend, I've had a lot of time to reflect on my horsemanship journey with Rydel.

(I even got to tell my story to Linda!)

Rydel and I have come a LONG way in the last two years, and while it has taken a while to get to this point, our momentum is only gaining. I'm grateful to Linda for developing "Horsenalities" as I truly believe this was the breakthrough I needed that turned everything around. It's going to be a great summer :)

Sideways all kinds of ways!

Today I came to the barn with the intention of riding but ended up just practicing our sideways game every way imaginable. It all started because Evan felt Lilah was feeling spunky and would do better if given the opportunity to run around a bit in the outdoor arena (someone was riding in the indoor). So, I took Rydel out with them and just let her run a bit too. Rydel ran like a maniac at first, but eventually all she cared about was eating. My Catching game was failing, she would turn and face me but not come toward me, and eventually just quit looking at me in order to continue eating. I decided I would need to try something else to get her brain working. Since she was eating with her head toward the fence, I walked up and began asking her to move sideways along the fence at liberty. She took a few steps and then went back to eating. Next, I kept walking as I asked her to move sideways along the fence, I would only let her eat once my energy was back down indicating that we could both stop and rest together. When I switched sides to go back the other way, Rydel started trotting away from me and the fence. Taking this opportunity from her, I put more pressure with my stick on her hindquarters asking her to once again be perpendicular from me. She obliged at which point I immediately asked for her to go sideways, this time without the help of the fence and again at liberty. Well she must have caught on because she did go sideways and she did it at the TROT! I was amazed. No rope, no fence, and at a higher gait than I expected. I gave her some scratches as a reward and let her mosey off to eat more grass. She's such a clever girl, always exceeding expectations. After that I didn't pursue too much, we did a little with sideways toward me as well as backing from the tail. I also discovered that she hates when I rest my hands on her face/nose...How interesting! Something, I will have to work on in the future. For now, I am content with the progress we've been making. Tomorrow Linda Parelli comes to town for Equine Affaire!! Hooray!

Pattern Savvy!

This weekend we participated in a Parelli clinic put on by 2* Juli Piovesan with the intent of introducing people to Parelli, the games, and Horsenality! Emily did a great job of explaining the event and taking photos which you can view here. It was so much fun and a learning experience for everyone! Not only did I learn that Rydel and I can have success away from home, I also learned that we are going to need to do a lot more pattern work (both in the saddle and on the ground) if I ever want to help build Rydel's confidence with maintaing her own responsibility. You see, it was extremely obvious at the clinic that my little RBI needs to likes to have her hand held during tasks, and I have been inclined to do that for her. This weekend really helped open my eyes to the fact that I am not doing her any favors by not helping her develop confidence and ability to maintain gait and direction without constant interference. In fact, as I stopped micro-managing her with the reins, I eventually got a horse who was much more connected to me and was listening to my focus, seat, and legs a lot more which allowed me to use my carrot stick and reins a lot less! 

So this week I have been playing with the follow the rail pattern adding transitions such as neutral lateral flexion to stop, hindquarter disengagement to stop, fore and hindquarter turns, and walk trot transitions. After playing with this for a few days we had a GREAT ride last night. Rydel was really catching on to the pattern and was even acting particularly left brain and food motivated so I introduced her to the corners game and it was a total hit!

Someone wanted to tag along. 

Not only did she really understand the pattern and was moving off of my focus and seat most of the time and my legs all of the time, but the motivation of getting to stop and eat the clover in a corner of my choice kept her putting effort into getting there! She actually offered to trot and gave me happy ears while doing so which rarely happens! I could tell that the guessing game of figuring out which corner I was going to let her stop in was confusing her a bit because she would put a lot of effort into getting to the corner and then be upset when I wouldn't let her eat. Knowing that she is innately RBI and needs structure, I think I will develop a pattern with the corners game rather than having her guess. For example, I will let her eat every 3rd corner.

Love my arab! <3

 Despite not having my comfort zone of riding in a saddle, I had a lot of fun with this ride and it helped build my confidence riding bareback. I'm excited because I know the more patterns she learns, the more responsibility I can hand her, leaving me with less to micromanage on my ride!

Glued to the rail- look at those ears!

All in all, it's been a very Parelli-filled week and I hope to keep up the momentum! Practice leads to savvy! :)