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!

Their Story

A while back I posted about how my boyfriend got his very first horse, Lilah Rose. Well, this is their story...

Evan has always been allergic to horses (in fact, the first day I came home from the barn and stepped in the house he began sneezing immediately as I walked in the door!) but as he became more and more interested in horses and natural horsemanship, we started researching possible options for him. Naturally, we came across the only hypo-allergenic breed in existence, the American Bashkir Curly Horse. Relatives to America's Mustangs, Curly Horses are a rare breed. Eventually, Evan's horse fever got this best of him, and his parents knew they were going to have to do something about it. After doing a lot of research and promising his parents he would make an appointment with an allergy specialist, Evan was finally given permission to buy a curly horse of his own.

Unfortunately, Curlies who have had any formal training or have been in the show ring are very expensive, so our only choices within price range were untrained brood mares or babies. So, despite Pat's famous saying of "green on green, makes black and blue," I pushed for getting a "fresh canvas", rather than a horse who has altered opinions of humans. Lucky for us, we found Silver Storm Farm in Tennessee who seemed to have exactly what we were looking for. The choice was between a 1.5 year old mischievous colt, and a slightly younger sweet little filly. It became clear during observation that Lilah is an introvert, but Left or Right brain we weren't totally sure. Regardless, she stole Evan's heart, loaded perfectly and took the 9 hour ride back to Ohio like a champ!

It didn't take long to figure out the Lilah is a LBI/LBE cusp. She has so much energy but only wants to use it if it's her idea! Evan began teaching her the 7 games and soon enough she had them learned and was figuring out ways to get out of them. She was smart, and we knew we had to increase our knowledge if we were going to keep up. This June Evan decided to participate in the Level 1/2 clinic with Jesse Peters. It was such a great decision and a huge confidence builder for Evan.

Focusing on learning

A private lesson with Marie

Using phases effectively.

The bareback pad is a non-issue.

Her headband says "princess" :)

Post clinic, we are focusing on the basics and getting Evan prepared for his level 1 audition. Lilah has already learned so much, I am so excited to see just how far they will go in the future!!

Good, Better, Best...

Since my time spent at the 3/4 clinic, I have been actively working to better myself and my riding in particular. I've learned that my horse is capable of performing at a higher level and it is myself who needs to work up to that level of capability. I know that my riding is far from perfect, but I have really been working on using my whole body- focus, seat, and legs- rather than relying so much on my reins for control during the ride. I know Rydel prefers to have her head and not be micromanaged and it makes me feel much more connected to her to be able to communicate using primarily my seat and legs. I have posted a video demonstrating how I have begun to prepare for bridleless riding. As you will notice I use the "helicopter cheat" that Jesse taught me at the clinic. This is mostly for my benefit as it helps me remember to engage my whole body including my shoulders for turns. It is also helpful in case I need to use my stick to reinforce where I want her to go. My goal is to get better and better each week so that eventually I don't have to use the helicopter technique, and then don't have to use the stick, and then am able to achieve the same precision at higher gaits. Here's the video. It may be easier to view on youtube directly here!

In the past few weeks I've been trying to find ways to make riding fun for both of us. One of those ways has been to branch out and ride outside the arena. It's helped provide an area that's more fun to canter in and does not require quick turns. (Sorry for the semi-blury pics).