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!

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 :)

Back To Basics.

I have a feeling the first part of 2012 will be about mastering the fundamentals. I have big dreams, but I will never be able to do the fancy stuff without first having the basics down to a science. This is not to say that I will be starting completely over, as a lot of tasks are second nature by now. However, there are a few holes in my horsemanship that need to be patched before we can move on. In fact, I believe part of these holes developed because we have been working through the program and Rydel has gained confidence. For example, sometimes Rydel challenges me during the Porcupine Game- a game that I could easily win against my submissive Right Brain Introvert. Now that she has learned to be more confident she sometimes tries to be dominant and pushy and instead of getting frustrated with this I just smile and play the game right back until I am the winner. I never want to destroy the confidence she is gaining, I just want to ensure that she maintains respect.

As I mentioned before, another fundamental we have been working on is the passenger lesson. In a previous lesson, Juli pointed out that perhaps Rydel had been too introverted in the past to really express how she felt during riding and now that she is coming out of her shell more I have to deal with her opinions, both good and bad. This is why I am slowing things down and going back to passenger lessons before trying to do much more advanced freestyle riding. Not micromanaging our rides has really given her a much better impression of riding and this will pay off later when I start asking more from her.

My goal is to send in my Online Level 2 audition video by the end of the month. I have purposely been putting it off because I have been trying to really get the fundamentals down- isolating the patterns into component parts and trying to achieve tasks using the smallest phase possible. I'm hoping in the next few weeks our video looks far better than our first attempt both in technique and rapport. Only time will tell but I think taking the time it takes will really pay off!
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Natural New Years Resolution #4: The 5 Ingredient Rule. This is a difficult rule to follow (especially as a college student) but the idea is to eat the most pure foods possible. So, when you are in the grocery store, try not to buy anything that has more than 5 ingredients in it. This mostly applies to ingredients that aren't natural and are things you cant pronounce.

Being A Perfect Passenger.

I have alluded to Rydel's arthritis before but I have never really explained why it has been such a big deal. You see, Rydel's arthritis in her hocks makes her back sore because she tenses up from the pain. Before I had a diagnosis for her arthritis, I had no idea what was causing her pain, I just knew that something was wrong. During saddling she would try to bite me and move around a lot- something she had never done before. And when riding and I would ask for the trot she would pin her ears and eventually just stop and tried to bite. I never would have chalked all of that up to an issue in her hocks, but the vet did because almost as soon as I explained the symptoms he ordered a flex test. So Rydel went on anti-inflamatories, muscle relaxers, and a steady diet of no riding for a month. She also went on a joint supplement that she is to continue for the rest of her life. After all this, Rydel now has no daily pain, but a lot of psychological baggage associated with it. Now, even though she is feeling better, she associates saddling with the pain she felt when riding before we knew it was because of her arthritis.

Well, for the past few weeks I have been working on re-introducing the saddle to Rydel. Letting her know that it won't cause her pain, and that I won't force her into a bad situation with it. In order to do this, I had to be sure that the saddle really would not continue to hurt her, even though the back pain associated with her arthritis was gone, I had to be sure there were no other factors. This is what led me to make the decision to purchase my theraflex pad. The first time I put it on her with the saddle and let her walk around, even without having the proper shim pattern for her back, she immediately started blowing out and relaxing. This was a miracle! I had not seen her relax in the saddle for months! In fact, it was typically the opposite- she would usually hold her breath while riding! This was a huge step in the right direction.

After a few more weeks of approach and retreat with the saddle and doing a few passenger lessons bareback, she finally started to accept the saddle again. Today, I decided to see how she would do saddling again. I went to the barn with the attitude that I wasn't going to push anything and if she wasn't feeling ready, I would just retreat and try again another day. But when I began playing with Rydel she was really focused on me, She seemed particularly calm and was just waiting for me to give her something to do. After a few minutes, I decided to try saddling and she stood more calmly than she ever has as she let me put on the saddle and cinch it up. I did everything slowly and took time in between each hole on the girth. Because she handled everything so well I decided to get on and do a passenger lesson. I was careful to mirror her every move, which totally blew her mind and every time she got tense and looked around, I did the same and very soon I had a calm horse! Anytime she wanted to stop, I let her. I would rub her and then ask her to go using my seat (squeezing all four cheeks) which she caught onto really quickly. Pretty soon she stopped and started licking and chewing so much it looked like someone had stuck peanut butter in her mouth! It was the same thing she had done in our lesson and it is great to see my introverted horse licking and chewing like an extrovert! All in all it was such a big day for us! Everyday I hope to keep riding a little more where we can work our way up to doing a pushing passenger lesson at the trot and then eventually get to the point that we dont need the passenger lesson anymore!

I've learned a lot through this whole process. One of the most greatest lessons I learned is the importance of being a good passenger. This means not trying to micro-manage the ride, but learning to let go in life too. I realized that I can't always control my journey with my horse, (or my journey in life for that matter!) and the way I was looking at things was too direct line. Our journey doesn't end just because we got bumped off my timeline for progress. In fact, that's the beauty of it. Our journey never ends.

Taking The Time It Takes

I decided to video again today and things went much better this time! I kept reminding myself that my video did not have to be perfect and it would give me a good indication of the things I need to work on and change for my actual audition video. Im pleased to note that our figure 8 is so much better these days! At the walk, i really only have to use phase one and rarely phase two, at the trot, it is much more phase two and she is still learning how to maintain gait but at least she recognizes the pattern. I wish you could have seen our first attempt at this video because this one is loads better!

Things we do well:

• Friendly Game- as a means of retreat
• Friendly Game- Helicopter
• Obstacles- two feet on pedestal, walk over tarp, jumps (not seen in video)

Things to work on:

• Stick to Me- walk, trot, backup
• Sideways Game- without a fence
• Figure 8 Pattern- at the trot

The video is to music I am considering using for my audition... Here's to progress!

"You've Turned Into A Mom From Toddlers and Tiaras"

One of Pat Parelli's many sayings resonates in my head as I write this, "Horses are like computers, they don't always do what you want but they always do what you tell them to do." Well, this blog post is about surrendering myself to humility as I explain how last night I indeed "turned into a mom from Toddlers and Tiaras" and how my horse definitely did what I told her to.

As always, I started my night at the barn with good intentions. I was planning on taking a practice level 2 audition video. I mostly wanted to document my progress and was planning on sending in a real audition later. But for some reason, I went completely direct line and felt the need to have the video be exactly as it would in a real audition. I had planned out my tasks but spent nearly 40 minutes obsessing over the very first one- the figure eight! I was so aware of the fact that I was on camera that I felt determined to make it perfect, almost as if it were a performance. I understand now that this was the absolute wrong way of looking at it, but the worst thing is I didn't even realize I was doing it! Before long, it became a vicious cycle of me getting uptight causing Rydel to be uptight. I was completely emotional and the exact opposite of a good horsewoman. As the session went on, I rarely took time for retreat, I didn't always set myself up for success by slowing things down or going back to the friendly game when it was broken. I am totally and completely ashamed of how handled (or didn't handle) things. It was like my horse knew her responsibility, do the routine (pattern) to the best of her ability, and I knew my responsibility, reward the slightest try and don't worry about perfection. And yet, there I was, a crazed pageant mom jumping around the audience dancing the routine and urging my child to not forget to smile. Talk about embarrassing. 

When I finally decided to call it a night, put Rydel back in her stall so she could eat her dinner, I could feel my blood pressure slowly starting to go back down. I apologetically groomed and loved on Rydel but I still left the barn feeling like I completely let her down. 

Im going back tonight without an agenda this time. I plan to be a much better partner for her and am going to focus on our relationship. In time, I know all other things will fall into place. :)