Has There Been a Cuter LBI?

Of course, everyone feels this way about their LBI, right? I walked to the turnout knowing Maverick was who I was going to play with, and when I called his name, he lifted his head with ears at attention, turned and ambled my way. 

He nuzzled up to me, asking politely for a cookie, which, of course, I delivered promptly. Although I brought a halter with me, I knew I wouldn't need it, so I started walking to the barn slowly, and Maverick followed calmly behind me. 

I knew this was going to be a really good day when Maverick stood calmly for me to groom him and put some fly spray on him. Usually, he gets antsy when I groom him, but today he really seemed to enjoy it. 

We are still waiting for our new Natural Performer saddle, and I no longer feel comfortable riding him in the Jeffries saddle, as it is too small for him now. In fact, when I called about the saddle Friday, they told me it would be another month, which will make our total wait time almost four months. They must be inspecting every stitch under a high powered microscope. 

So today was bareback day. Last time I tried bareback, Maverick was pretty unbalanced, but I was hopeful today would be better. 

We started on the ground, playing stick to me from zone 3. I thought that if we did the weave from zone 3, it would help when I needed Maverick to maintain direction, either on the rail or on the circle. And it really worked today. He did the weave really nicely at the walk and trot, so we quit there. My hamstrings felt much better today, which I think made our weave better too. It felt like a small breakthrough. If I need to curse someone I don't like much, wishing them a hamstring injury would make a good choice. ;-)

We played with the backup. I was looking for Mav to really put some effort into it. When he made a slightly bigger effort, we quit. Tomorrow will be even better... Next, I asked for him to get up on the pedestal from 22 ft. with four feet. Again, he can do two, but not four. I got a bit closer, maybe 12 feet, then he could do it. Tomorrow will be even better...


I wanted to see how he felt about cantering to the right. So, I asked for the left canter first on the circle game, and he did that very well, just a little head shake to start, no dolphin swim move, no bucking. Nice. Went to a change of direction at the trot, then I asked for the right canter. All I got was a fast trot. OK, slow down, regroup, ask again. 

This time we got the canter, but Maverick was cross-firing. Transitioned down again, asked up again, cross-fired again. Transitioned down, and I blew a big breath out, thinking rhythmic and relaxed. Asked for the right lead again, and yes! He got it. Not only that, he did a half circle of really relaxed and rhythmic strides. I transitioned him down, brought him in and fed him cookies. HE blew out a big breath. Perfect, moving on...

Now it was time to ride. It is great to have lost the 23 lbs., but never more helpful than when hopping up on a sixteen hand horse bareback, even with a small mounting block. Maverick was rock solid while I put my leg over. I thought about the first time we saddled him, and he wandered off with a foot in the stirrup. Not anymore! He volunteered to bend for cookies, first on the right, then left. Cute, very cute. 


We moved off to the question box to do circles. My plan was to help him bend better to the left, his harder side, so I started with right circles. We did four circles around the question box, each one better than the last. So we moved on to the left circles. Again, each circle, though not as good as the right circles, was better than the last. At one point, Mav almost cantered, but I am not quite ready for that bareback with him, so I slowed my body down to keep him at the trot. We stopped in the question box, backed up a couple of steps, then I fed him cookies. 


Then we did alternating circles through the question box, two on each side, and we quit in the questions box after backing up a couple of steps. 


Mav surprised me today with all the energy he brought to our play session. His willingness did not surprise me at all. He always wants to please, energy or no energy. So trusting. Our hopeful horse. 


As a special reward, I took Mav across the street to the park to graze on grass for about a half hour. The last time we did that resulted in my forehead being split open and lots of bleeding, with Mav making a mad dash back for the barn. But I knew today would be a totally different day...

The Journey is Hope for Tomorrow and a Reminder of Yesterday

Walker and I had a lovely play session yesterday. I am slowly playing with the list of Level 4 tasks, and this last week, we have been playing with Walker's zone three issues. At level 4, the ante is raised, having to go sideways over a barrel and jumping a single barrel. 

When Walker goes sideways to the right, he feels very unconfident, but he can go over that barrel as long as I stay close to remind him not to walk forward. When his legs touch the barrel, I am pretty sure he thinks he is going to die or get injured. 

It is much easier for him to go over the barrel to the left, so something from the right eye really bothers him. We will just keep plugging away, and like all the other issues with Walker, some day, it won't bother him any more. I have to say, I am pretty sure this whole zone 3 issue has taken more than two days for him to "get over". I remember when he could not go sideways over a pole! Now, he goes over a barrel, and going right, coming towards me! There will be amazing days to come.

Yesterday, I brought a more play for tomorrow attitude, so I took any small improvement and moved on. Walker did a lovely long line weave game, so we quit that pretty quickly. Then we jumped a small jump on the long lines and played with backing up to the jump. Walker was unconfident at first, but after the third try, he became much more relaxed, so we quit that as well. It's a task we need to do, but more than that, it will help him to stop backing up when I ask. I am looking forward to playing with that again to see how he improves. 

Then we played with freestyle and fluid rein. I have found that wearing gloves when it is this hot and humid helps the reins slip through my fingers so that I can actually do the fluid rein exercise. Walker responded very well, at one point trotting more than half the arena with his head low and stretching out. Fantastic!

Then we did trotting and cantering circles around the question box with my arms folded across my chest. The arena had just been graded, so it was easy to see that we went over the same hoof prints for all of the circles within one to two feet across. It was definitely the best 20 meter circles we had ever done freestyle. In fact, it was so good, we quit right there. So now, it will be time to do more simple changes and more yo-yo cantering along the rail, playing with Walker getting more comfortable picking up his left lead. 

As always, Walker earned lots of cookies today. Even though the weather here is a preview to hell right now, Walker almost always brings plenty of energy to the table if I approach him correctly. Lately, he has been more left brained to start, so it has been helpful to have Maverick to play with who is teaching me how to play with an LBI. Slow, slow, slow, move the hindquarters in all kinds of ways, lots of stops, lots of praise and cookies. It never fails to amaze me how well these strategies work!

I always remind myself that when I play with Walker, we have come so far from where we started. It helps put so much in perspective. I remind myself how much he has taught me. I remind myself how much he has forgiven. I remind myself how many barriers have been brought down between us and how much he trusts me. The good news about all of that is that our relationship is precious, not fragile.

 

Riding for Tomorrow

It's late, but I wanted to get down a quick note about my time with Walker and Mav. Walker picked up my hat from the arena floor for the first time today, and luckily, Wendy got it on tape! It is so much fun to have my RBE picking things up with his teeth. Of course, that is his LBE coming out!

Then I played with Maverick. Freestyle! We started out slowly, but with our turns tonight while doing bow-ties, I used what Kerri taught Wendy, to use the carrot sticks just in front of the drive line, and that worked really well for Mav. His turns were really nice tonight. In fact, he felt so good, I asked for a canter, and he was a bit reluctant at first, I think because the fluidity saddle feels strange to him, but within about 5 minutes, he was offering me a left canter and we did three canter trot transitions. I have to say, his canter is so big (and he did give me a bit of a buck at first) that my ribs where they attach to my mid back are sore tonight! I was so happy with what he offered though. Then we did some circles to start help him bend his ribs to set up the right lead canter for another day.

But I will remember tonight with Mav because he offered so much. And when we finished cantering the last time, he really got into a flow for about half the arena. I transitioned him down just before he was going to slow down himself, and it felt like real harmony for the first time. Sweet! 

Playing and Riding for tomorrow...

Riding in the Rain

Before I talk about today, just a quick note about my experience at Kerri's place last weekend. 

Walker and I had a great experience. Kerri really stretched me mentally and physically. Walker got to show off how far he has matured with his respect and impulsion. After feeling a little unsure about the ball early in our online session, we returned to it in between other tasks, and as you can see in the pic, he was pretty OK with it by the end of the morning, bouncing it off his back from both sides. I realized, again, that many of my horses limitations are really my limitations. 
He struggles with zone 3 still, but that's OK. We're going to keep plugging away and one day he'll be OK with it. I need to be better at accepting my horses timeline on that one. 
He was really great when I asked him to circle at the canter, freestyle, with my arms crossed across my chest. What a feeling of partnership!
I have to accept the great with the not so great and make all of it better over time. Frustration is counterproductive. 


With that in mind, today I thought it would be great if I brought Mav with Walker and me into the arena. It was raining very lightly, so we were all slightly wet throughout our play session. While Walker and I played with zone 3, jumping a single barrel and going sideways over a single barrel, Mav chose to climb up on the pedestal to look down at the other horses in the turnout. He definitely knows how to amuse himself. 
Walker really struggled with zone 3 today, even though two days ago, he offered to jump the single barrel. I never know from one day to the next how he will feel about the zone 3 tasks, so it takes all of my equanamity to not get frustrated when he loses his confidence. 
As I was playing with getting canter transitions online with Walker, something that we were able to improve pretty quickly today, Mav rolled in the arena dirt. As he was wet from the rain, he made himself a nice mud coat. He even had splotches of mud all over his face. Then he just hung out and followed us with his ears and eyes. 
Then, it was time to ride Walker. Because of the rain, I decided to ride with my bareback pad. We did mostly right circles to help Walker bend his ribs to the right. Then we did bow ties and Walker offered the left lead. Fantastic!
Now it was time to see if I could get Mav to come along with us. At first, he did not really want to move, but when I gently insisted, he trotted up and down the arena with us at Liberty, at one point even offering a lovely canter. Fun!

Then it was clear that he was done moving, so Walker and I did freestyle cross-armed right circles, at least four. So lovely, so calm. Even bareback, I felt glued to Walker's back. Pilates for Dressage, Gilad and 22 lbs of weight loss have all helped make me a much more confident rider. Just a short 15 months ago, I had never ridden Walker freestyle and bareback. I am so competitive with myself, it's a good exercise to remind myself how far and fast we have progressed. 
Even though we did not do any left circles, I knew it was time to quit. I have to remember, I am playing for tomorrow. And tomorrow is soon enough to do left circles.

In fact, the day before, Wendy and I hung out at the barn and discussed that very thought. We laughed, because she reminds me that I have to focus more on playing for tomorrow, and I remind her to be more in the moment when she is playing with her horses. Both of us are learning to be a five with our intention.  
I finished my day with a lovely dinner with family to celebrate my Mom's 87th birthday. We had fun together. I can only hope to look as good as my Mom does at her age. I fully expect to still be spending time playing with and riding horses at that age!