Walker and I becoming real Partners

Walker and I had the most wonderful online and freestyle play sessions this weekend. Online, Walker is almost jumping barrels with confidence thanks to Karen Rohlf's squares and circles pattern. The pattern consists of going around a rectangle, stopping in each corner, changing gaits and adding circles along either of the lengths of the rectangle. The pattern is designed to get your horse to listen attentively to your body language, keeping your horse from crowding you and to be ready for the next suggestion. I tweaked what she showed us this month in her online video classroom by putting a two barrel jump in the middle of one of the long sides of the rectangle.

What this did for Walker was amazing. It made him focus on the next task that would come right after the jump, to stop at the upcoming corner of the rectangle. It helped Walker not to crowd me after going over the jump, and it helped him maintain an even gait before and after the jump, something we have been struggling with for awhile. Within just three turns around the rectangle, Walker looked 70% smoother going over the barrels and he was much more calm and responsive to my suggestions. Thank you Karen!

The following day, to my chagrin, the barrels had disappeared from the arena, and I looked around, no luck, could not find them. I needed a new plan. So I thought to myself that since Walker had made such big strides with the barrels, maybe it was time to start playing with trotting over a jump and stopping before the back feet followed the front.

I set up a six foot jump first, and Walker was able to trot and stop over it after a few tries. I raised the jump to 12 inches. Now, the RBE came out. He was worried. I stayed calm, smiled and soothed him each time he tried with my voice and my body language. When he did finally stop over the jump, he looked at me, and I smiled even bigger, fed him cookies and stroked his nose.

Time to raise the jump to about 18 inches, a much bigger challenge for Walker. I decided not to push the issue if he lacked confidence, but I wanted to see how he would respond. He stayed left brained, but clearly did not like the idea of hopping over the jump and stopping without clearing it altogether. But since he was calm, I persisted, and after five tries, he got it! He hopped over the jump and stopped. Now I was really grinning and quickly running out of cookies... :-o I asked Walker to go sideways over the jump, which he did well, and that was that! Time for freestyle...

I am not going to describe what we did, I will just download a couple of videos so you can see for yourself. I would, however, like to thank a few people and animals for helping me get to this wonderful place with Walker: bareback, bridle-less and completely relaxed, the both of us. Here I go:

Nancy Cloud, who I think saw something really tenacious in me, even though I was really, really green. Thanks, Nancy, for firmly setting my feet in the right direction. Look at us now, Nancy!

Wendy Carpenter, who convinced me to buy Maverick with her, the horse who in turn convinced me I had to get into shape and lose weight. Wendy also helped me realize where the teacher in me should be focusing. Look at us now, Wendy!

Kerri April who has provided a safe place for me to learn, grow and experiment without judgements. When she sounded surprised that I was totally unconfident about riding Walker bareback and bridle-less, I knew I had a big new goal in front of me. Look at us now, Kerri!

Lei Clay, who provides our horses with a natural place to live. We don't have to get our horses in the right frame of mind when we get to the barn, they are there all the time. Look at us now, Lei!

And to Randy Farmer, my husband, who has lovingly tolerated all the hours away from home so that I could follow my dream and my passion. Randy has quietly watched and supported me all along, when others thought I was just plainly nuts. Look at us now, hon!

Roll the tape...

Online and Freestyle in the Heat

Mav and I had an excellent online session yesterday. We played with Karen Rohlf's circles and squares pattern, and I thought again putting a jump in the middle of it would help Mav with the jump, but in a completely different way then from Walker. For Mav it's about getting the momentum to get over the jump without just hopping it, which will come in handy later, but for now, I want him to work up the energy for it. 

He balked at first, so I split the two barrels to allow for a small space through which he could pass through them. He learned to keep his energy up until we got the the corner of the rectangle, and by the second pass, I knew he was ready to try jumping them again. And I was right! He had plenty of energy to clear the barrels and make it look easy. Good for you Mav! 

Then we played with the our transitions on the circle, especially the canter, to see if Mav would flow into it better without putting his head down and wanting to buck his way through it. He got both left and right canters really nicely, so we stopped there. I decided he looked calm enough to take him out the the park so we could ride in the shade, so that is where we headed next. 

I have realized that it takes a lot of savvy and discernment to figure out when a horse is ready to move on the a bigger challenge. Riding out in the park with out any other horses, away from the barn and everything that feels safe for Maverick is a very big step. But realistically, the only way you can be progressive is to take those "chances" with your horse when it feels right. 

And how do I know when it feels right? It's hard to explain, but it is usually when Mav or Walker demonstrate something to me calmly, thinking their way through and not reacting or blowing through a task. And if they do this more than once, I know they are ready. 

Then, of course, I have to be willing to go beyond my comfort zone. That can involve some pretty serious increases in heart rate and blood pressure, but as long as I can still think myself through something, than I know I am ready also. I am no good to myself or my horse if I get emotional or bracy in the middle of an exercise. 

Of course, getting myself into shape has also given me the physical ability to do things I was really afraid to do, even a year ago, like riding bareback and bridle-less on Walker at the canter. Today we did that while videoing it at the same time (see my next blog for that!)

Once out in the park, I let Mav graze for a bit, then I hopped on and we started our freestyle play session. We started with walking and trotting a figure eight around the trees, and Mav did this very nicely. Then we started doing transitions on an oval around two of the bigger trees. 

Mav struggled with the canter at first, I am not sure he really wanted to canter yesterday, it was so hot, but I assured him I really wanted him to! So after a couple of hissy fits, he did canter very nicely. I was so proud of him for working through his reluctance. We were finished in about 40 minutes, so I hopped off and let him graze again, this time at liberty, which he seemed to enjoy immensely.

Lots of folks at the barn

Between a long week of work, my Mom spending a couple of nights in the hospital and the ridiculous heat we have had to deal with, I have not spent much time at the barn since last weekend. However, I did get a chance to go last night. Lei had a photography party, complete with chocolate martinis for the adults, and birthday cake and chocolate covered strawberries for all the kids. Several people at the barn had birthdays in July and August, and we were celebrating all of them. 

Walker hams it up for cookies

Wendy and I brought our boys out for the fun. I decided to ride Mav and Walker around bareback. Mav went first, and wow, did he have a mind of his own about where he wanted to go. Mostly, he wanted to mug all the humans for cookies. He was pretty successful at doing that.


Next came Walker. He is such a ham. He also mugged everyone for cookies, but he has additional tricks under his forelock, raising a front foot as though to shake hands, bending his neck around and gently nuzzling people with his nose. He did manage to wheedle cookies out of several people. 


Lauren D. was our photographer, and when I get those, I will definitely post them. The two photos here were taken by Lei, who got my iPhone to take them. Yes, that is a martini glass in my hand. Thank you, Lei! The chocolate martini was delicious!

Walker poses for the camera, or does he want some of my martini?

Ashley, Abby and Cat all took me up on the offer to ride Walker bridle-less. It was fun watching the girls ride, all fearless. It was wonderful to see Walker, left-brained and being really good with the girls. 

Finally, we tucked the boys in for the night and fed them all. We were rewarded for this with nickers all around.

Thank you, Lei, for a wonderful evening.

Walker and Mav on a Different Timeline

I realized today that Mav and Walker are on two very different timelines, but that playing with Maverick is helping me to accelerate my learning in helping my partnership with Walker. Walker has become so much more left brained of late that the same strategies I am using in playing with Mav are helping me to play with Walker as he becomes a more centered horse. 

And the help is reciprocal. Because I learned so much in playing with Walker, it has really helped me be more progressive with Mav. Like yesterday in the park. I wasn't sure how Mav would do, just the two of us pretty far away from the barn, but he was very calm. It probably did not hurt that is was about 95 degrees out with hardly a breeze to stir Mav's mane. First, I threw the rope over his back then backed away a couple of steps. I waited about five minutes, and continued to be calm. Then I stepped back about 5 steps, still calm, never stopped grazing. Then we moved to another spot where it would be easier for me to sit, and I stepped about 10 paces away. He remained calm and grazing. 

So, we followed an amazing day online and freestyle riding with this grazing Liberty session, things that took me years to accomplish with Walker. As much as my horses are becoming transformed, I am becoming transformed right along with them.