21 DAYS TO SHEDDING PREDATORY HABITS: AN IDEA IS REALIZED

As Wendy Carpenter and I were chatting at the barn about 6 weeks ago, the subject of my trip to Colorado to study under Carol Coppinger, 6 star Parelli Professional, came up again. Wendy graciously listened as I talked about my experiences learning how to steer Maverick like a boat and riding without reins or sticks. There were a lot of frustrations and aggravations in the process, but what emerged for me was life changing as it regards my horsemanship. The idea that you can really ride your horse with ONLY your legs was a big challenge, but one I have taken very seriously. The two consecutive weeks in Colorado honing my thoughts and skills were invaluable.
I also explained to Wendy how I now felt that our ability to do this with our horses was critical to our success in the Parelli program, but also with anything we wanted to accomplish with our horses, in or out of the arena. The concepts I learned from Pat and Carol during the trip have now been forever incorporated into every task or goal I have for my horsemanship. The residual benefits, among others, are a higher level of consistent effort from my horses, more efficient learning for both me and my horses, a great feeling of accomplishment and LOTS OF FUN!

The Colorado trip also made me realize that I have not been ambitious enough about my horsemanship, something Pat challenged me with while I was there. For a long time, it had been a form of recreation and stress relief with no real goals in mind. That isn't going to be what it's all about anymore. I'm not sure where this journey will lead me, but I know one thing for sure: I want to be a master at Levels 1-4 of the Parelli program. That is going to take higher levels of grit, determination and dedication.. The feeling reminds me a great deal of when, after about 5 years of practicing dentistry, if I really wanted to be masterful at it, I was going to have to put massive effort into continuing education and then putting that into practice. I am in a similar place now with my horsemanship. So what that I am 55? Actually, it's a good thing it's now, much later and it might not be possible...

Wendy was so intrigued by it all that not only did she want to know and learn more, but she really wanted a similar experience to the one I had had in Colorado. For Wendy however, a two week trip to Colorado is completely impractical. As a very busy wife, mother and full time radiologist, the only way to achieve such a wish would be to have Colorado come to her.
I then started talking about how I realized in Colorado the one who really had to make a change was me. I had to break habits that had become automatic. I had to become truly determined to do so. I talked about how studies had shown that humans need at least 21 days to break bad habits and establish new ones to take their place. And I thought out loud that my horses had been waiting for me to do so. 

To which Wendy replied that perhaps we could do it together, a 21 day game plan where I would help teach her the concepts I had learned in Colorado in order to complete her L3 freestyle. In the process, I would come to find that helping Wendy would also convince and inspire me even more that I can completely trust that the Parelli program works. Every time. Without fail. As long as the human has the desire and determination, natural horsemanship is achievable.
Wendy refined the idea even more: practice makes progress possible, so if she were to break her bad habits and establish good ones quickly and efficiently,  her 21 days would be under my direct supervision; no practicing without me there. After all, the highest achievers don't go perform anywhere without their coaches right there with them, right? 




And I thought to myself, what better way to ingrain these habits into ME, by teaching them to Wendy? As a concept, it seemed a win (Wendy), win (our horses), win (me)! Of course, Wendy won't be able to do them the days consecutively, so it won't go as fast as my Colorado trip, but I see lots of benefits to that, especially the chance to be able to process and internalize each new day in the process.
So after some back and forth as to the name, 21 DAYS TO SHEDDING PREDATORY HABITS was born. Wendy and I were about to embark on a unique horsemanship journey...thanks, Wendy, for taking this journey with me!

Walker and finesse

It's been a lot of fun playing with Walker getting ready to film our Level 4 Finesse. He's such a challenging horse. One day, he may do things just as planned, the next, he has a totally different opinion of the whole thing and gives me serious attitude. Yesterday was a particularly interesting day. I believe in planning when playing with horses, but with Walker, we often can't follow the one I have in mind.

The weather began changing, with a cool breeze coming off the Gulf and a cover of clouds scudding over the landscape. Walker's state of mind was, well, jumpy. It's difficult to reinforce anything with Walker when he is in this frame, but to be fair, I don't think I would be ready either if I felt that way.

Also, we have had an enormous amount of rain over the last 2 weeks, so the large arena is a sloppy mess. The indoor arena is good for some things, but not when Walker is on edge. When the extrovert is antsy, it's best to be in wide open spaces so he can really move out. So, it's out to the park we go. We are very fortunate to have the park to play in. It can absorb a lot of rain and still have good footing for riding.

I don't want any more life to come up in my horse, not at this moment. Some of you may have ridden a horse who feels like he has fire coming from the ends of his hair, but for those of you who haven't, it can make the human feel pretty jumpy too. It's akin to feeling like a passenger on a projectile in a slingshot that's been cocked and is ready to be launched. Exhilarating, and scary all at the same time. Since I am now 55, I make it a point to stay away from scary.

So, I figure walking a long focus on a casual rein will be good for him. We have trees in every corner of the park area, which is fabulously handy. It's as though they mark a nice 700 ft. by 225 ft. arena area. We start and he is walking big long strides using that energy he came with while looking around at our surroundings. He does a pretty good job following my focus until we actually get to the first tree, but despite my focus, he goes right by it. "Ring, ring", I lift my reins, ask for the hindquarters to go away to get him to face up on the tree. As we get there, I lower all my energy and say aloud, "Now, hurry up and relax, Walker." He can only stand there for two seconds before he has to walk away from the tree. After the third time we repeat this at this same tree, I start to count in my head how many times we have to do it. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 times! On the eighth try, he sticks his head far into the branches of the tree, as if to say, "OK, I get it!", and after ten seconds of standing still, I ask him to move off to the next tree. I repeat this going to the right until he actually stops at a tree and stands for 10 seconds without having to redirect him or ask him twice to stand still at the tree. I think we took two full trips around the park to get this.

Lather, rinse repeat to the left. This time, it only take two trees (half the park arena) for Walker to get it, and I know I now have a horse who is ready to do something. Thank you PNH! Without the tools and techniques to get my LBE into the game, we could never have progressed this far.

In an open area, I started first to ask for a shoulder in to the right, his easy side and then the left, the side that gives him difficulty at every thing. Walker has difficulty keeping himself balanced going left, however some balancing exercises first always help. Today, his shoulder in going left feels really good, so I start to ask for walk canter transitions.

He does the best ones, by far, he has ever done, so we stop and as I reach for his mane to get off, he give me a big "get off nicker". He only does those when he knows he's done something really well. This is not my imagination. He knows when he has put in good effort, and he is rewarding me with that nicker when I reward him by hopping off.

There is just no feeling like the one you get when your horse and you are so in sync.

My Trip to Colorado

August was an exhausting and exhilarating month of horsemanship, fellowship and realizations. I heard things said in ways I had never heard before. There were concepts that got a lot of emphasis that I had not experienced in past lessons or clinics. These things really helped to make sense of and clarify the direction I am going with my horsemanship and my teaching. 

The first concept that Pat and Carol emphasized was: 

We are in charge of the gas, our horse is in charge of the turn.  

The more I have thought and put this concept into action, the more effort I have been getting from my horses. Not because I'm urging them to go, but teaching them that they must go until I say otherwise. Now that Walker and Maverick are learning this, they are putting more effort in on their own. Interestingly, most of the time, it is the other way around, the horse is in charge of the gas and we are in charge of the turn. That is a dangerous situation. When the horse knows their human is in charge of the go button, the less likely they will "go" on their own. When my horse KNOWS he MUST turn at an obstacle (or go over it), it makes it much less likely that I will get launched over a fence or into a tree because my horse has stopped in front of it. 

So the key for me is the energy and focus I bring when teaching my horses this. If we are trotting along at a passenger lesson and my horse is thinking slow down or stop at a fence or barrel, or whatever, I put all my concentration and effort into making sure they understand GO. I don't care whether they turn left, right or jump, they just must not stop trotting. When I started playing with this I realized pretty quickly not to have anything in the arena I was not comfortable with jumping! At that point, the only concern from my point of view is that they go until I say otherwise. It is amazing how quickly the horse catches on to this game. Once they do, I move on to something else. 

At this point with Mav and Walker, Mav as the introvert has more trouble with go than Walker. However, that is no excuse! He can learn to do this just as well, but it may take a little longer for him to be obedient to the concept. The key for Mav is rest when he does get it. The key for Walker is release in motion when he gets it. Walker always has a way to tell me when he has moved enough. Most of the time, I am near exhaustion before that happens, but it is important I follow through for him to learn!

The other key is the phases of go so it takes very little for your horse to know that you mean go:

1) Smile with all four cheeks
2) Turn the smile into a squeeze (turn both toes OUT)
3) Smooch ONCE (otherwise the smooch will mean very little after a while)
4) Spank the air (with popper on macate reins or savvy string, I prefer the popper, I can do less with it and get more response)
5) Spank the hair (of the horse); if you have to go to this phase, be aware that anywhere behind you can also push the up button on your horse. If you can ride that, great, if not, stay to spanking over your horses shoulders

LBE Playoffs, Round 3

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Walker and me at Christi Rains' place recently. What a nice shape he is getting freestyle

LBE Playoffs, Round 3

As I was driving to the barn yesterday, I was pondering the idea of “bubbles” after watching Kalley Krickeberg’s 3^rd DVD in her new Sport of Liberty series. I didn’t think it would apply to what I was planning on doing with Walker, riding out in the park, but I was so wrong. What ended up happening for us was the merging of two concepts: harmonious bubbles and staying on the pattern until you get a change.

It is hotter than the Devil’s griddle in Houston now. The heat and humidity are taking their toll on horses and humans alike. So I decided I would wait to saddle up until after 6 pm. It was a good choice. The breeze from the Gulf was steady at about 10-15 MPH, so the heat was bareable. And as the sun started to set, I didn’t feel like we were getting baked by it. I still had my sunglasses on though!

Walker felt pretty good as we walked out of the turnout, although he needed a good brushing after sweating all day. I got him tacked up and we headed out to the park. He was very happy to stop for a few moments to eat grass, as the park across the street from our barn has really lovely grass right now and besides the two of us, there are very few people out there using it.

Walker and I playing at Liberty in the open on a recent visit to Christi Rains' place

I headed out to the far side of the trees that separate the area across the street into two sections of park. Near one of the lakes that borders each side I have hidden a pole that I use as a visual guide for me for putting us on patterns like the figure eight. Yesterday, I put the pole in between two small trees that are about 120 ft. apart. They help me create a very nice, large figure eight.

I wanted to concentrate on relaxation at the canter freestyle and then the same with soft feel or contact, all depending Walker’s state of mind. I knew he might be a little fizzy with it being later at night than we had ridden in awhile and there were all kinds of distractions around the park.

People were fishing and playing around the lake to our west. In addition, the city is cutting a very wide trench on the far side of that small lake to connect it to an adjacent lake. They are using a crane with a big bucket shovel for the job, and it stood tall in the sun, casting it’s shadow eastward towards us. Finally, the trenching has resulted in the accumulation of a huge mound of dirt about 4 to 5 stories tall and 100 feet long, all things Walker has not see there before.

So, as I thought might happen, Walker was pretty concerned with all those things happening around the lake. But I started with a strong, though brief, online warm-up, then circles first under saddle and he quickly settled into a nice walk, then trot, then canter on a loose rein. I then played with finesse, and we made some lovely trot and canter circles. His self carriage just gets better and better. When I was at Christi Rains’ place last week, she commented on how far Walker has come. We took a break, Walker eating grass and me watching the sun setting. We then began the figure eight pattern, and the concept of bubbles really came into play.

I dropped my reins over the saddle horn with a twist, and I realized that Walker was really not listening to my leg. First, as we went on our right hand circle away from the western lake, and then as we made our left hand circle towards it. But what I realized for the first time was that it really felt like a dominance game. He wasn’t just ignoring my leg, he was leaning on it.

He was pressing into my bubble, the sides of which were at that moment represented by my leg. Game on! So each time he pressed into my bubble by leaning on my leg, I tapped him progressively harder on his shoulder with my kid’s carrot stick (the new version, I like the stiffness of it) until he got off of my leg, my bubble. When I felt him harmonize with me, when I felt our bubbles side by side on the pattern, I told him what a good job he was doing. I did not get any stronger with my leg. He knows what it means, and the last thing I want to do is push back into his bubble and start a fight. Picking a fight with a 900 lb. LBE Arab is a bad idea! What I’d really like him to think is that I’m just as smart as he is and the leader of this small herd of two. With Walker, that is no small feat.

At first, he tossed his head around, offended? Surprised? Maybe a little of both. If you could have seen us from 100 ft. in the air, I’m sure our figure eight would have looked like some crazed moebius strip. I thought to myself, “We’re not getting off this pattern until I get a change, Lord, please have it happen before the sun sets on this park!”

As we made somewhere about the fifth turn around the figure eight, the head throwing stopped, but the pattern was still cattywhompus. Couldn’t stop yet. About the tenth turn around the figure eight, he starts to blow several times right after I bump him on the shoulder. Wow, I realized that he likes it. He feels better because I’ve become a stronger, more CONSISTENT leader. As an extrovert, consistency is not my strong suit, so I feel good about myself that I persisted until I felt him change.

At this point, I felt that he was in a really good frame of mind for learning. But not learning what to do. We have done hundreds of figure eights over the years. This was about obedience and willingness, something we have really struggled with from the beginning after he had been made to distrust humans from an early age. My instincts told me there, in the park, we must persist on the pattern, we were on the verge of a real break through. By the 15^th figure eight, the crazed moebius strip started to feel much more like a snowman figure eight, but I was still having to tap him regularly, though much more softly now. Interestingly, his energy had not lagged despite the number of figure eights. Was he feeling the same thing I was feeling? That we were becoming a real team?

At somewhere between the 19^th and 20^th figure eight, he did the pattern virtually by himself, with me as a passenger. I asked him to stop as we went over the pole. He came to a graceful, framed stop. As I hopped off, he gave me a very loud “get off nicker”. He ate the cookies I offered him with gusto. There was no doubt, not only did I know that Walker had made a real effort for me, but more importantly, he knew it, too, and he felt good about it. Developing my feel of bubbles, and staying on the pattern until I got a real change had paid off huge dividends for both of us.

LBE Playoffs, Round 2

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LBE Playoffs, Round 2

For those of you who read my last blog, think of this as a continuation of the interplay between Walker and Isabelle. If not, please enjoy it as an example of what you might think about doing when your LBE decides he can turn his backside to you.

First, it’s Mother’s Day. A day everyone plays nice with Mom, makes her breakfast in bed, let’s her sleep in late, take a long bath, maybe get a pedicure or visit her favorite restaurant. Flowers are a must.

Of course, for a horse loving Mom, a trip to the barn is a no brainer. However, Walker had no idea it was Mother’s Day. For Walker, it was just another day.

Wendy and I agreed to meet at the barn and just hang out with our horses, maybe groom them a bit, pick their feet and feed them cookies; chat about life and family. And that was a good choice: the horses seemed quite happy in their turnout, hanging out under the trees and mutually swatting flies off of one another. It was perfect, about 83 degrees with a soft breeze keeping the air from feeling still.

Walker had another plan. As I was picking the last back hoof, he deliberately pulled away, turned and walked away from me. I had not brought my stick, however, I did have my savvy string on me, so I sent him further than he had intended to go. Wendy and I looked at each other and knew: GAME ON. Wendy and I have been friends long enough for her to know how left brained Walker has become and how he now loves to try test my leadership.

Now it was time for laughter and consequences. Because of some torrential rains over the last couple of days, the horses were in smaller turnouts than usual, which was perfect for the game we were about to play. I went to get a couple of carrot sticks and headed in  Walker’s direction.

He had tucked himself into a corner, munching on a hay pile. I sent him off at a canter, and the horses around him went with him. Wow, what fun to watch! He took off like a bullet, head low, really stretched out and having fun. After several runs around the turnout, the other horses realized that this game had nothing to do with them, and they all either stayed under the trees watching us, or went back to eating hay.

Wendy was helping me, keeping Walker going if he broke down to a walk or stopped in a corner. He did this several times before realizing he wasn’t going to get to do anything slower than a trot. He trotted big and forward and then more and more slowly. Now we waited for Walker to start really looking to me for comfort. This game requires several looks in, begging to come to the middle.

Finally, he started to make the circles around me smaller and smaller, until I stood on a dirt pile where he made the circle as small as the pile (see video). His ear nearest me was glued to my position. He took several small looks in, wondering when I was finally going to bring him back. I waited just a bit longer. Finally, I brought him back, then asked him to put his zone 3 next to me so I could hop on bareback.

We walked together over to the area where Walker had originally walked away from me, and I hopped off. At this point, he was stuck to me like glue. The feeling between us was palpable, a bit like an electric current running between us. I made sure the other horses that came to join us kept a respectful distance. Two LBE’s had played a game, and it had been fun and good for both of us. 

LBE Playoffs, Round 1

Here, I start a series of blogs that I have been sending to Parelli blogs about my Level 4 journey with Walker. I am a bit behind with posting these to my blog site, so for those of you following, forgive me for dumping them on you all at once. 

LBE Playoffs, Round 1

The audition process has proved to be a very challenging and fruitful exercise for both me and my horse, Walker. To bring a bit of perspective to this particular audition episode, Walker is my extremely expressive LBE. So expressive in fact, that a friend of mine nicknamed him “Walkie-Talkie”, a name I call out to him when I come to play with him.

When I started my Parelli journey with him, he was an extreme RBE. He really didn’t even belong on the Horseanality chart. When I measured him then, his dots would have been somewhere on the other side of the table from where the chart lay. I was told by more than one person that I should sell him as they were afraid he might get me seriously injured or killed. Just putting a saddle on him made him break out into a frothy sweat.

However, I couldn’t sell him. I didn’t want him to end up on someone’s dinner plate. And I believed we would make a good team someday. Now he is my levels horse.

We have been playing steadily in all four savvies, the most current is our L4 Freestyle. We have made excellent progress over the last year at getting him calm, connected and responsive under saddle. Thank you, Christi Rains, for all you insights and honest assessments of my skills; much of our leaps have come because of your guidance.

Here are Christi Rains and I after a trail ride around her ranch. Christi is a good friend and mentor.

We had already sent in an audition that needed some changes, and on this particular day, I felt we would be ready to video again. I am blessed with a good friend, Wendy, who volunteers to tape our auditions. She is witty, funny and calm and she helps keep the process lighthearted.

An additional challenge we have faced is that is has been raining a great deal in Houston this winter and so I had to figure out a way to do my audition in a very small indoor arena (about 30 x 20 meters). In addition, there are five support poles scattered throughout it with cross beams which, if you are not careful, could deliver quite a blow to your head if your horse decided to wander off course. Or if he choose to be really naughty, he could choose to just run right at a pole. It makes me grin just thinking about it. Our core principal of “Do more with Less” was really put to the test.

On this particular day, my LBE was nowhere to be found. Once in the saddle, he did not want to move. I asked him forward, and he just stood there like a pillar of stone. I looked him in the eye and said, “REALLY?” I had had a little bit of this behavior in the past, but nothing to this extreme. So I sat in the saddle and thought about how I could play with the new version of Walker that had shown up.

Perhaps, in retrospect, it was a divine inspiration. The four corners game is a part of our audition, trailing a tarp behind us at a trot to combine it with the friendly game. However, at this point, I was just trying to get his life up, so I thought, perhaps, this game would help.

We started at the walk, and after one tour around our small arena, he started to free up a bit. I asked for the trot, and more life came up. I asked for the canter on the “long” sides of the arena and BOOM! After one tour around, we were cantering along every side of the arena and on the long sides, we just about got to a gallop, where he did some lovely slide stops. It was one of the most exhilarating rides of my life. It was so much FUN!

After about three or four times around with that amazing speed, I stopped to reassess. I knew I would not be taping my audition on this day. But I thought I needed to test our connection, so I once again looked down at Walker and asked him, “How do you feel about doing those flying lead changes now?”

I asked him back up to the canter,  and we circled the arena calmly. Then I asked through the middle (with the poles all around us) and got a lovely right to left change. We continued the canter around on the left. I asked him through the middle and got another lovely change, this time left to right. We stopped and I got off immediately, again with a giant grin on my face. He looked at me with a soft and contented eye and nuzzled me for a cookie.

And as amazing as all of that was, the part that gave me goosebumps is when I took the saddle off. There was not a hint of sweat anywhere on him. There was nothing but smooth dry hair where the saddle had been. The whole session had been play for the both of us.