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! :)

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!!