Horsin around

Horsin around

Special horse

Had a really interesting playtime with Maverick yesterday. He seemed to be in a very playful, punky mood, so I decided to play with him at liberty to start. We began with some friendly game, but it was obvious he needed to move, so since we were next to the fence I asked him to squeeze past me to the left, which he did very nicely.  But when I asked him to disengage, he kept going in a circle and squeezed by me again before he listened to my ask for a disengage. He did such a nice circle that I thought to myself, what if I ask him to circle here at liberty? And he did, but not just one, two, and I again asked for the disengage, brought him in and let him lick my hands for a minute or two. He loves to lick on me and Wendy after he has done a task, we both agree, it is a good way for him to access and think and feel right about what we are doing together. It took me 5 years to get a liberty circle game with Walker, and with Maverick, a very green horse, we got it in 3 months. I always imagined what it might have been like for Walker if he hadn't been such an emotional wreck when he came into my life. And what it might have been like for him if I hadn't been so green in natural horsemanship myself when we started together. I think I have my answer now in Maverick. The great news is that Walker is becoming the horse he was meant to be, all be it late.  Because of what I have learned with Walker, I can appreciate and value this chance I have with Maverick, a physically, mentally and emotionally talented young horse.

So, I wanted to test whether Maverick really understood I was asking for the circle game, so we moved to another part of the arena. I yo-yoed him backwards for a few steps, then asked him to move into a left circle, and not only did he do two circles, he did four! I disengaged him, brought him in and fed him cookies. When I asked him for a right circle, he could not do it, he moved back into a left circle again. Liberty tells you the truth, so it was obvious to me that he was not confident about the right hand circle, probably because he had not been played with much on his right side. So I put the halter and 22 ft line on him and asked him to start a right circle, disengage, rest, start, disengage, rest and start again. Each time, it became easier and easier for him to move in the right hand direction. When he moved right easily, probably the fourth or fifth time, I disengaged him, asked him in and fed him cookies, let him lick my hand for about five minutes, just hung out with him, down time. 

What a great play session! We had great energy, willingness to please, truth and a the seeking of a path to greater achievement together. I am blessed to have this chance to play with and develop this horse.

New Member of my horse family

Shame on me for not writing about this sooner, but I have a new horse I have gone in on with Wendy. His name is Maverick (registered name: Allergic Reaction), a big gorgeous quarter horse hunk. I really rode him for the first time this last week, and he is as green as grass, but I am not any more, so that is OK. We have started to ride along the rail and ride some circles, walk, trot.  On the ground, he can already do all seven games quite well, we can pick his feet at liberty from both sides (something he really did not want to do at all when we first got him), so we are already playing with Level 2 tasks. He is a left brain extrovert with lots of energy at the ready. Bay with bits of flaxen in his tail and mane. I am in love with him already. When we stop playing so he can think a little, he will lick my hand over and over again. When he gives me a little nip with his teeth, I know it is time to get his feet moving again! He is smart and tries really hard to please. He had a problem with a pretty bad hoof abscess first week we got him, but that is healing. Eddie Drabek is coming to see him tomorrow to start him on a natural trim regimen. For that matter, I want Eddie to evaluate Walker about pulling his shoes off so he can be barefoot again like when I first got him. Walker has been getting better and better under saddle, really bringing a lot of effort. Love that! More later . . .

Clinic update

So now that the holidays are over, it's time for a clinic update. Walker was just fabulous this time around. He was much calmer in the group and yet he still had lots of energy. Kerri pointed out a flaw in my cantering, I was scooping instead of flowing back and up with the canter. Now that my surgery foot has healed adequately, I rode twice this week, and what a difference it made! Walker has had huge energy at the canter, but with exuberance, no craziness. I laughed out loud each time we stopped for a break, fed him cookies as a thank you. And I know I was riding differently, because I had sore muscles. We also worked on our circling game at Liberty, and Walker was able to do a flying lead change at Liberty. What I did find out was that I still needed to play with my draw at Liberty, and we have made excellent strides with that over the last couple of days.
It has been raining quite a bit where we are, and we don't have a large indoor arena. However, we have a large park across the street with big open fields. I go out and mark an arena with cones and it works really well, plus Walker now likes being out in the open. It gives me an "arena" to play in and it helps me focus on the patterns we are playing with. My favorite right now is the clover leaf. I also ride a dressage test to mix it up a little bit so Walker doesn't get bored or stale.
It is wonderful to now be having FUN with my horse. And although I know Walker doesn't think of it as "fun" the way I do, I can tell he feels good about our sessions together. It feels like this is what he was born to do, canter big and beautiful in the middle of a park!
Maverick, the horse Wendy and I own together, is making big strides fast. We play with him in the small indoor arena, where he can now play almost all the seven games online as well as at Liberty. His Liberty stick to me game is really getting good. I love Liberty! It is so much fun, but especially with my extroverted horses.