MAY 2012

MAY 2, 2012
(On Line, 45 mins) Bit of online fun while snacking grass - stick to me at trot to get to the grass, sideways up the hill while eating grass, directing from Z5 away from the grass, and squeeze through standards and into the ring. Then out out out quickly, away from biting flies and into the arena!
Figure 8 at walk, directing the nose, super soft response.
Friendly game with saddle; trot circling.

(Freestyle, 30 mins) My focus today was "how soft can I be" in freestyle. I hadn't transferred this to my mounted work, but the end of the last ride showed me how far I still needed to go. Auditing the Kari Bowser clinic showed me strategies for achieving. Bow Tie pattern for dealing with the rushing. Lots of backing, and sideways - plenty of resistance. Plenty of stopping. Trot was better. Still rushy a bit, but not nearly as much. I could feel my body being more responsive, not just reacting.

MAY 5, 2012
(On Line, 45 mins) Playing online outside again as part of moseying for grass: sideways up the hill, yoyo up and down the hill, direct from Z4 and 5. Tremendous to see her big controlled round trot as she moves on the hillside looking at the grass!
Inside, beautiful figure 8 and nice circling.

(Freestyle, 45 mins) Very much improvement under saddle. More relaxed, not as impulsive. Walk on rail with Shelley beside it for confidence building helped a lot. Used back up again to deal with impulsion. Trot went from a bit worried, to EXCELLENT.

(Liberty, 30 mins) Stick to me, touch it, circling. Got over excited on circle when wouldn't change and went into RBE canter for quite awhile. Reconnected with friendly and touch it. Beautiful girl.
  
MAY 8, 2012 The Hit the Trail set has a terrific dvd on general skills of groundwork, despooking, and bend to a stop - all with Linda teaching. A fantastic review with new learning opportunities! I discovered "holes" missing in my knowledge and with new found ideas made super progress today in multiple areas. This, along with the GoC set are so jam packed with information and teaching demos they are like updated Blue Pack level 2 and Liberty & Horse Behaviour sets.

(On Line, 45 mins) Progress with online confidence by retreating when Zaina showed a change (as per Hit the Trail info). BIG difference. Brought out a small kids ball to work on confidence building with it on her, and had great success with her left side. Overall, much more attentive today than last session. Guess whatever was in the air has passed!
 (Freestyle, 45 mins) Super saddling session. NO worries with the pad, and no moving away with the saddle, despite my super clumsiness - sigh, poor horse, what she puts up with! Today's theme was bend to a stop, using newfound knowledge from Hit the Trails. She started to cross her back legs, and getting that she needed to stop. Every time she "left" I bent her to a stop, and wow, at one point she finally EXHALED! That's when I got off. It felt so right to end it here, and I think there are huge dividends in store for today's learning.
Also - I think her favorite pattern is the bow time, for destressing at the trot. Mine too.

 (Liberty, 15 mins) Short liberty as I felt the connection was a bit fragile but also needed to be nurtured after our end-riding success. Very soft stick to me, with two (especially the second) wonderfully soft change of direction. Then figure 8 (dare I!), stopped each time she did a half rotation and came to me, rubbed her softly on the muzzle, then asked for the second half. Um, this was pure physical delight in our harmony. I didn't ask for too much, I was polite, and she was oh so willing.
We ended the session with her touching the marker as I picked it up, and she followed me to the rail where we deposited it. I can still feel this session in my teeth, hours later.

MAY 10, 2012
What a time today! High gusting winds made it rather noisy and fearsome in the coverall. But Zaina's got her mojo back ++++. After weeks of worrying about being on the rail (ask me about the "cone" incident!) today she rose to the challenge. "Bring it on" she told the wind, and was marching around the rail INTO the corners with nary a cue or correction. There I am, on her back not very helpfully thinking, "Are you sure, Zaina?????"

 On Line, 30 mins. Figure 8 at the trot VERY NICE, circles and changes. Just a prelim to freestyle today.

(Freestyle, 45 mins) Only need for two bend to a stop before zaina exhaled and was in left brain mode. Happily too me around the rail, despite the wind, and I happily took her on to circles and figure 8s as part of my leadership role - using the carrot stick no less. My goodness, I haven't used it for weeks and it was as if I'd been using it for ages. How things change.
Z was super today with circles - I lowered my stirrups a hole, maybe that was it?
After I threw away the CS I guess she figured we were in for trots so got worried. I just put her back onto the bow tie pattern, she relaxed, and we were able to do some really nice trot patterns. Getting closer....!

(Liberty, 30 mins) SUPER stick to me. Sticky but progressive sideways (rarely played with this at liberty). Then to the figure 8. Started with half the pattern, no problem. Progressed to asking for full figure - left me, but came back. Asked again, left across the arena, I stood my ground swinging the savvy string like a fan. When she turned, I stopped and invited her. She came back, had a rub, asked for it - DONE!!!! She followed me around as I collected arena toys.

MAY 13, 2012. Zaina is 16 years old and today she allowed me to use the clippers on her bridlepath between her ears! Thank you Parelli!
(On Line, 45 mins) Lovely day moseying for grass, and peppering in a few tasks, along with stretches and deep grooming.

MAY 15, 2012
(On Line, 45 mins) Today, Zaina went a little ways down the steep grade (my learning from Hit the Trail). Three times and she walked up and down calmly. Let me bounce a medium ball on her back, and let me touch her face and neck with the pool noodle. Last year the pool noodle was trying to eat her.

(Freestyle, 60 mins) Walk was beautiful today. Was able to play friendly game rubbing CS along the rail. She went along the rail and into the corners, halting. I think I've figured out my balance and use of legs to get good circles, although going to the left is like turning a truck.
Spent a lot of time with trot walk transitions and working on my position. I could feel some beautiful moments of smooth, non-running trot. A dream! Was doing sitting trot circles without even realizing it, it had become so smooth. Smoother than the posting trot. Mmmmm, a position thing no doubt.

(Liberty, 15 mins) Stick to me, and wonderful walk weave (3 poles).

MAY 18, 2012
(On Line, 60 mins) Today I spent at least 30 minutes helping Zaina be confident to circle to the right. How interesting.

(Freestyle, 60 mins) Fantastic walk. Played the pattern shown on latest mastery dvd - halt at the rail, disengage off the rail with CS, then use CS to turn head back to rail and walk forward (not a full circle). Zaina sticky turning off rail to the left, but very soft to the right. She much enjoyed the pattern.

Trotting success once I realized I have been gripping with my knees in the trot. Totally accidental realization. Then riding with relaxed legs completely changed my body, and Zaina's. NO MORE RUNNING. My chest opened, I could breath, and I could think. I'm imagining how awful this has been for her. Got off soon after a bit of nice relaxed trot in order to reward both of us.

 LIBERTY: Beautiful stick to me, touch it from 12 ft, started back up, and into figure 8 (one round). Z very soft and connected.

MAY 21, 2012
(On Line, 30 mins) More ball play confidence with Zaina. Today the big blue exercise ball - no problems with approaching, and she even started giving it a BIG push!!! How cool is that???? What a change from the fall. Then onto her back, and bouncing it. She's not completely relaxed with the bouncing, or it rolling around on Z4, but she has figured out she needs to lower her head to get rid of it - just needs to develop enough confidence to keep it lowered rather than nodding it up and down!

(Freestyle, 45 mins) More beautiful walk. Friendly game with fence rail. BETTER able to stand straight next to it while I rubbed the rail with CS. Long way to go, but at least she's no longer terrorized. Had to do an emergency dismount with a "predator" neighbour was watching from her yard! Then back on. Trot was fast to begin with, then with lots of pattern interupts become beautiful. Soooo many years of wrong riding to rebuild.

(Liberty, 15 mins) Stick to me at trot down the length of ring, and across. Lost her coming back.

MAY 28, 2012. Okay - this is the thing - if you cannot peddle while trotting it likely means you are gripping in your knees, even if you hadn't realized it (ie, the death grip is not apparent). If you give up the grip, your back will soften, if your back softens so will your shoulders. A+B+C= SHAZAM - a softly trotting rather than racing horse! So, watch your peddling!

May 21, 2012: BIG BLUE BALL
Big Blue exercise ball play online progress! Able to bounce ball on Zaina's back. This progress occurred because of my retreating AFTER she showed a change toward relaxation. On the 21st she let me bounce the ball on her back but was tense; on the 23rd she figured out that I'd stop bouncing if she lowered her head. After that, she'd keep it down as I was bouncing it!!!!

Bouncing ball on back is a level 4 online task, and I wasn't scheduling even having the ball ON her until later in the year. But when I realized I was retreating at the wrong time I decided to start ball play with small balls and work up to the big one. Well, only two sessions were needed with smaller balls because of the change in approach.

May 23, 2012: 45' LINE
Started serious play with 45' line on the 23rd, second play on 26th. Very "live" rope! What a surprise to me, as I expected it to be more difficult to handle because of its length. Energy runs down the rope very quickly so it is an excellent tool for stopping RBE issues and for backing.
Point to point is kind of crazy with it! Need to review online patterns to check out my technique for that task.

May 26, 2012: Freestyle
Aha - sublime riding. Giving up more tension and gripping, and putting Zaina back in the natural hackamore - and riding inside to help with calmness. I was also much more effective, rather than a wimp at the walk, expecting her to be more responsible for standing and backing and moving sideways. Result - better standing, backing and sideways!

May 29, 2012 BIG FIELD CATCHING GAME
Aha! Zaina was out in the big field when I arrived, so we got to play the catching game! Liberty circles (at a gallop) with lots of changes of direction and chance to practice simple changes.  Zaina was determined to stay on the grass, but then I could see her puzzling this out: "Mmmmm, I'm on the grass, but I'm not eating the grass. And the grass is tall, so this is hard work. And the ground is bumpy, so this isn't comfortable. Mmmm, what's the point, might as well go with her." Yahoo - ten minutes of fun not frustration.
Wonderful online play. Yoyo about 30feet, working on straightness.
New task today - coming over obstacle toward me. Difficult for her, as she wanted to go to the side, but I helped her stay straight. Did one back up toward the obstacle as well. Next over was MUCH more confident.
Lovely liberty, squeezes and she wanted to go over the pole again, so we both did.

MAY 31, 2012
(On Line, 60 mins)  45' Line, point to point - still rather close range but I'm getting a bit handier with the rope BEAUTIFUL circling game: walk not really a circle though, but bit more active; trot became relaxed; gorgeous relaxed canter. Couldn't canter more than 1 1/2 circles at a time, but I didn't push it, accepting what she was offering and disengaging early as reward. I love the parelli mindsite: expect a lot, accept a little, reward often - satisfying for both of us.
Backing - much straighter.

(Freestyle, 60 mins) Fantastic walk, including backing. Almost no brace. Trot is becoming steadier (yahoo!). Used transitions much more effectively, including backing to help shift the weight when she got foreward. Played corners game, which seemed to give the trot more purpose and helped shift her mind a bit too. Was very mindful of keeping my chest up, and hands back as part of keeping her weight back. Meant I forgot about ensuring I was posting correctly, so body didn't feel as light afterward. Thankfully through my head is Linda's telling me that we can't fix or work on everything all at once.
 
(Liberty, 15 mins) Stick to me at trot, from a fair distance, but MUCH better than has been, with Z NOT taking off into a canter. Backing - resistant, wanted to go sideways so that's what we did, then backing when alongside the wall. Accepted a few steps, as she was responsive to being corrected for straightness.