Accept The Saddle

When starting a young horse, the first step is to accept the human, the second step is to accept the saddle. This is a step that has taken a lifetime for my seventeen year old mare. I have written previously about how Rydel came to me with a great fear of saddles and saddling, and it took me a few months to reintroduce the saddle to her as something benign. Unfortunately, while I was trying to teach my horse how saddles can be good things, I was also learning about saddle fit at the exact same time. Through a long process of trial and error with different types and sizes of saddles, I learned a lot at the expense of my horse's back. Even when I thought I was doing it all by the book (wider treed saddle with special pad and shims) it only took a few months before my horse ended up sore backed and ready to bite me when she saw me coming with  my saddle to ride. So, I knew something had to change, and fast!

After months of research (and taking a break from riding to heal my horse's back), I decided that Freeform saddle's were the way to go. My horse was getting sore with every treed saddle I tried, so I knew that I wanted to try treeless, but I also knew that not all treeless saddles are created equally and choosing the right one was very important. Research pointed me to Freeform every time as the obvious choice for quality and science. Tests showed Freeform saddles to have even weight distribution due to the special process in which they are made. A few years ago, the winner of the Tevis Cup (the 100 mile long grueling endurance race) rode in a Freeform and passed every single vet check along the way. I was convinced, I needed to try one.

In February of last year, I purchased my very own Freeform saddle for Rydel, and the difference was remarkable! My horse no longer tries to bite me when I saddle up and she never bucks or balks when I ask her to change gait. When I get off, she doesn't dip her back in pain, and I am forever grateful that we found something that works for us.

Trying on the Freeform

After a year of riding in the Freeform, I am still amazed at how well my horse is doing with it. However, last night, something even more incredible happened. We recently got a new horse, and while I was over helping my boyfriend ride bareback for the first time, I left Rydel saddled up, with the reins tied up so she wouldn't get herself tangled. I could tell she was relaxed, so I had no problem leaving her untied to wait for me to return. Well, the next thing I know, she started to act like she was going to roll...with my saddle still on her! As you can see in the video below, my first reaction was to think "NOOOOO, that saddle costs more than you do, silly horse!" Sadly, I was so dumfounded by her willingness to roll, that I didn't think to turn the camera to start filming her.

(It's the audio in this video that matters)

But after watching my horse roll in the snow and straight over onto her back with my Freeform saddle still attached to her body, I realized how truly big of a deal this event was. First, my horse has never been confident enough to roll in an arena full of people, let alone to be confident with the saddle enough to feel comfortable rolling in it!

I have no words to describe how amazing it feels to know that my horse finally accepts the saddle, and to know that I (with the help of Freeform) was able to help her overcome her anxiety and years of baggage to be truly comfortable wearing her saddle and to be the best partner immaginable!

Pattern Positivity!

With the way things have been going with work recently, my weekday horse time has been more abbreviated than i would normally prefer. Tonight we had an appointment with the farrier for both Rydel and Lilah and I was determined to maximize my time. Rydel got her pedicure first, and while Lilah was getting her tootsies worked on, I decided to take Rydel into the arena to have some fun.

I hadn't planned on riding, but Rydel was quite calm and connected so I decided to hop on bareback and instantly, I had a plan- we were going to play with responsiveness using the corners game. Now, before you start piling on the praise for my ability to quickly assess the situation and make a plan for how to fix it, I must admit that the idea was not mine. A few months ago I submitted my level 2 freestyle audition (viewable here) and when I received my results (level 2++ pass!), the assessor suggested using the corners game to work up to cantering consistent laps.

Anyhow, with this plan in mind, I intentionally did not tie my rope into reins. With only one rein for emergencies, I was forced to focus on how I was using my body to cue my horse. Once I was able to ride the rail at the walk without having to use many corrections, I introduced the corners game. To reinforce the pattern, we started at the walk and stopped at every corner. Each time, I tried to be very conscious of my energy and body language, and overly exaggerated my stops by exhaling deeply and trying to release all the energy from my body. As I did this, Parelli Professional, Don Jessop's words were ringing in my head...  Your energy should be like a light switch, either on or off, there should be no in-between. Alternatively, when I would ask her to go again, I tried to increase my energy and bring my life up in my body so that Rydel could clearly feel the difference. I kept stopping at every corner for three or four laps until she really understood the pattern, making sure that the corners provided a lot of reward in the form of rest and scratches. Next, rather than changing the pattern up (ie: alternating the corner at which we stop to keep my horse interested an guessing) I decided to keep the pattern consistent for my right brain horse, but alternate the gait instead.

Using the consistency of the pattern for reinforcement- every corner means stop - I asked Rydel to pick up a trot on the short sides of the arena and maintain a walk on the long sides. Pretty soon, she was putting more and more effort into getting to each corner and she was offering to trot on the long sides as well. Hmmm, how interesting! What was even cooler, was that I was able to use her putting effort into staying on the pattern (her responsibility) to focus on my responsibility of keeping my focus and managing my energy to affect her responsiveness. By the end of our session, all I had to do was exhale to get her to stop which was reinforced by the pattern of stopping in the corner, and bring my energy up in my body to get her to go again!

Many lights went off in my head tonight, and I am really seeing the value in patterns. Previously, I had been so preoccupied with perfecting the patterns that I missed their true potential. Now I see that I can use patterns to reinforce something that I am teaching, such as increased responsiveness off my body language and energy alone! I can't wait to start using the patterns to teach and reinforce even more concepts!

Send Me On My Way

Evan recently got the new iPhone 5S, so of course we had to test it out on the horses. Here is a little video I put together using the new phone. Enjoy!

EDIT: Video was removed, please use link below

(Or view on youtube using this link).

Like It Or Not, Progress.

In the past few months, a lot of things have changed in both my horsemanship and my life. I spent a lot of time just focusing on my relationship with Rydel and not worrying about having an agenda with her or worrying about how to translate our time together into blog posts. This was all pretty liberating for myself, but probably fairly boring for those of you who do (or did) follow my blog.

During this time off, however, I have been given the opportunity to reflect on my horsemanship journey, and more importantly, my attitude about my journey. First, I took some time to just slow down. In doing so, I learned that my horse has a lot to offer. From meeting me at the gate, to showing me where she wants to be scratched, to attempting to mutually groom with me (ouch!), to bucking and playing and jumping, it has been amazing to watch her grow into herself and open up more and more! This "slow down" period for us was relaxing and incredibly consistent. We ended up doing a lot of the same things everyday, practicing the things we were good at, and avoiding the things we are not. We are both Right Brain Introverts, after all, so it should not come as a surprise when I say we tended to stick within our comfort zone.

While we were progressing with our relationship and having some really great times together, it wasn't until a recent lesson with Parelli Professional, Jane Bartsch that i realized I wasn't being provocative enough. Jane challenged us with some zone 5 driving for our homework and taught us the beginning of long rein driving. I am excited to keep pushing our level of savvy to new heights! (Thanks, Jane!). In other exciting news, a few days after our lesson with Jane, we received word that Rydel and I passed our level 3 online audition! You can view the video Here. I intentionally waited to talk about it because I honestly thought we would fail on our circling game. I know it's not our absolute best, but I am pretty happy with the results.

Also during this time, I decided to apply for a demo spot at the Upper Marlboro, MD Horse and Soul Tour Stop. I wanted to challenge myself and provide some purpose for our play times. I decided to apply for the Psychology 101 demo with Linda, as I believe Rydel is a pretty classic RBI. Well, I finally finished the video, which I am excited to share with you all!. You can view it  on Youtube here!

So, what have I learned during this crazy adventure these last few months? I've learned that the phrase, never ending self improvement is not just a mantra on the days that we feel like it. Instead, we should be actively seeking out progress, in horsemanship and in life. This is not to say that we need to be constantly improving, per say. Maybe "progress" for you at this moment means having the savvy to know when to push yourself and when to take some reflective undemanding time. Whatever your action may be, it is progress as long as you are moving closer toward your goals. We owe it to ourselves and our horses to take an active role in achieving our goals and becoming the horsemen and women we want to be. My call to action for us all is this: Like it or not, progress!

So It's Been A While...

I'm sure you have all probably forgotten what it looks like to have my blog pop up in your reading lists and dashboards, but alas, I am alive and humbly seeking forgiveness from disappearing for so long. I have no real excuse other than the fact that blogging has not been a priority lately. Well, today I'm hoping that will change, as I have lot's of exciting things to share with you.

Rewind back to the winter, it was cold but not miserable and Rydel and I were doing a lot of riding. I have never been a particularly confident rider, but the trust and confidence Rydel has gained in the last year has inspired the growth of confidence within myself, and with each day of playing with and riding Rydel, I felt more and more willing to try bigger and bolder things.

When I got Rydel eight years ago, she was totally green and terrified of being ridden. The day I went to trial her before the purchase, the owner lunged her for about 15 minutes, tied her up and forced the saddle on her. She could not be mounted without someone forcing her to stand still, and she was so agitated with the whole situation that she threw her head so violently that she flipped the reins over her head and literally flipped the bit completely over inside her mouth. Even after witnessing all that, I still did not comprehend what a challenge this horse would be for me. She has been my greatest challenge, a wonderful success, and most importantly, my best teacher.

This is a video of me riding Rydel back in February of this year (Link Below). The purpose of this video is not to show off any great skill or ability as a rider; there are many people who ride more gracefully properly than I do. Instead, I am proud of this video because of the confidence and trust we have both gained as partners. Never in a million years would I have expected to accomplish the things I am now accomplishing with my horse. This sweet little Arab has taught me to dream a little bigger every day! :)

(Here's the video link. I couldn't get it to upload directly!)

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

Feeling Accomplished.

I had mentioned on my Parelli Connect Page that one of my goals is to send in my level 2 online audition video by the end of the month...Well, it's not even close to the end of the month and I'm ready to submit a video! To be honest, I had been "ready" to send in a video for a long time, I even tried taking a few preliminary videos just for practice. But every time I went to actually do it, I would get really nervous and emotional and try to micromanage everything! (I wrote about it here). It took me a few months to have the confidence in myself in order to get to the point that I could relax and make a video worth sending in. The biggest thing I needed to realize is that my video doesn't have to be perfect and if I continued to spend time trying to perfect things I would probably never send in an audition and drive myself crazy in the process!

So, as I get ready to send in my first official audition ever I am feeling extremely accomplished. First of all, I am happy with the progress Rydel and I have made in the last year. I wish you could have seen the horse she was when I first got her, I swear you wouldn't even recognize her! I am so grateful she was patient with me through all my years of avoiding horsemanship and being too afraid to admit that I needed help and support. This brings me to point number two; I am so incredibly glad that I found loads and loads of support and help from Emily, Jesse, and Juli, without whose support and instruction I would have never been able to get to this point. Finally, I feel accomplished because no matter what score I receive on my audition, I can feel good about just sending in the video! I really don't think I ever would have sent one in had I not had the support from my fellow Parelli friends and in turn gained the confidence in myself to feel comfortable doing it. Now, I can't wait to start working toward sending in auditions for more levels and more savvys! It has become a motivator instead of something I fear.

So, without further adieu... Here is my not-so-perfect-and-I-don't-care Parelli Level 2 Online Audition video! Enjoy.

Sometimes you have to take a step backward in order to move forward.

This past week I have learned that looking at things with a fresh prospective can allow for immense improvement. Of course, sometimes gaining a new prospective means borrowing someone else's. One day, I was trying to figure out how to improve our "Stick to Me" game. I had worked on the friendly game in zones 2 and 3 so that Rydel would be comfortable with me walking next to her instead of leading her from the front, but for some reason we would always revert back to that position, with her behind me. After watching this for a few minutes, Emily suggested that I give Rydel a consequence for not sticking to me. So, the next time we tried it and Rydel fell behind me I waved my carrot stick behind me to cue her to catch up. It didn't take very long for her to catch on and soon we were completely connected. It was a simple fix but something that would have taken me much longer to figure out on my own.

Also, as I previously mentioned, I have been trying to video more of my play sessions in order to become more comfortable with the camera. What I've found is that watching my videos helps me see what I cant always see during sessions. Of course, it's sometimes difficult to critique oneself, which is why I was thrilled when one of the Savvy Club members watched my video and offered some practical advice. I won't bore you with all the details of the conversation but I am so grateful for the advice and information I received. The next time I played, a few parts of her advice crept into my consciousness. One of the things she helped me become more aware of is the fact the cues I give with my rope hand are often misleading. (For example, holding my hand up and out while asking for the sideways game is confusing because typically holding my hand out like that means go forward). The other piece of advice that stuck in my mind that day was that I should view our driving game as my bubble trying to move her bubble. Thinking about these two things I decided to take off the 22 foot lead and play at liberty as I was afraid of accidentally confusing my horse with my rope hand. As soon as we were at liberty I was absolutely ecstatic to find that our stick to me game was fantastic! Im so happy to have such a strong bond with my horse that Rydel actually wanted to be with me! She stuck to me for over an hour! Even at rest while I was talking with another horse owner at the barn (the perfect opportunity for her to walk off and distract herself with other things) she stayed right next to me, leg cocked, patiently waiting for my next cue! :D I couldn't have been happier to see the effects of a bond I had worked so long to build.

Here is some video from that night. Of course, I got kinda emotional once the camera went on so my focus is a little off and the video DOES NOT do the whole experience justice. As always comments are welcome and in an effort to critique myself I noticed the strange expression on my face, the fact that my headband is falling off, the fact that some of my cues/phases are way too strong than what would have been necessary, and my directions are not always clear. Rydel needs a strong leader and I don't always offer that. Lucky for me, she is understanding that I am learning too and I am so excited to keep improving for her!

Sometimes taking a step back means viewing yourself from the other side of the video camera.

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!