Wendy and Bingo's Parelli Intervention

Here is a blog I started about 9 months ago, but never finished, so now I will have posted two blogs in one night! I hope it inspires others not to give up on being the best horseman they can be.

It's been an amazing journey thus far helping Wendy and Bingo towards their Level 3 Freestyle, through our 21 Days to Shedding Predatory Habits. We've also come to call it their Parelli Immersion. Now that they have their Level 3 online (a fabulous accomplishment) I knew from the start that the key would be getting Bingo to partner up under saddle, something Wendy has had trouble getting since starting her "Bingo Journey". To really appreciate how far they have come, here is a look back.

When Wendy decided to get a horse, she wanted a good trail horse. When she started looking around, she found out about a horse that had very good breeding, had had about 30 days of training, then been abandoned in a field for 11 years, neglected and living with cows. When she saw him, 200 lbs underweight and miserable looking, her heart went out to him and she didn't even hesitate. She bought him immediately. She knew he needed rescuing. It was unlikely anyone else would save this horse from oblivion. Her relationship with Bingo had begun.

Wendy and I live in the same area, and at the time, both of us kept our horses at a barn facility near our homes. Before the barn, we had not met one another. I'm not quite sure what Wendy thought of me before we started talking to one another, but since I was the lone PNH student at this particular place, no doubt she probably thought I was a bit strange as many there did: carrot stick and savvy string instead of a "whip", a rope halter instead of the usual web halter, playing with my horse on the ground with yacht ropes, or better yet, with no ropes or halter, riding around without anything on Walker's head, well, you get the picture. I was not of the "normal" horse world.

I now know that Wendy is an innately curious person with a keen mind and an open heart. She is also not prone to quick judgment or ridicule unless seriously provoked, so what she saw me doing may have peeked her curiosity just a bit...

I do remember what I was thinking when I would see Wendy ride or try to lunge her horse. Bingo had huge energy, and it was mostly out of control. The lessons she was getting were not helping her at all. I felt sad and frustrated that she was not getting the help she needed. I also did not want to butt in. After all, outside of exchanging a few pleasantries, I didn't know her at all.

One sunny weekend day, I was walking back to my car after spending a couple of lovely hours with Walker. As I turned towards the parking lot, I saw Wendy again attempting to lunge Bingo in an outdoor arena at the entrance to the barn. It wasn't going well. 

She was trying to get him out on the circle, and he was trying to run on top of her. I was very concerned watching and knowing how dangerous this could be. I knew I could help her, but again, I did not want to butt in. However, my concern outweighed my reticence, so I hung out by the arena fence mentally willing Wendy to ask me for help.

And, amazingly, she did! She turned to me, and said something like, "Can you help me with this?" Wendy now refers to that day as her Parelli Intervention. Once she saw what a few simple techniques could accomplish, she was all in. Of course, neither of us saw how far that moment would take us.

Now, that lonely, neglected horse is blossoming under Wendy's care and guidance. And with our 21 day Parelli Immersion, finishing Level 3 is a goal within site. 

And without that encounter with Wendy, I'm not sure I would ever have become a Parelli Instructor. Her encouragement was always been a great help to me. 

And so, the journey continues...horses and humans together, creating something more than either could be alone.

A Year?!

It's really hard to believe it's been more than a year since my last blog post. I suppose that is bad and good: so busy, it's been hard to find the time to write a blog or it's a shame not to document my thoughts and feelings of the journey this last year. 

One thing is for sure, nothing ever stays the same. There have been moments of real triumph as when Walker and I got our finesse flying lead changes passed. Then getting the devastating news that he suffered a medial suspensory ligament injury in his right hind leg, leaving us up to this point, still not ready to finish our finesse audition. However, as this journey has shown me over and over, the bad comes with the good, you just have to learn to roll with it and make the most of it that you can.

The good news is his injury did not end his riding career, and Walker is almost fully rehabilitated now. But we've lost 6 months of not being able to trot or canter for most of that time. For an LBE like Walker, getting him back to that frame of mind when he was doing lovely cantering circles willingly and learning to do his flying lead changes without opposition is hard fought ground to have to recover. Not hard fought in the way many people would think, but in the Parelli program,  using psychology, communication and understanding on Walker's time line, a standard I meet 95% of the time now. 

To that end, I decided he had to learn to be ridden out in the park where we could do long lines of trotting and cantering, the best for rehabilitating his injury. It's been a bit crazy getting him to feel more confident out there and staying relaxed enough to listen for that which I am asking him to do. In addition, we've had an enormous amount of rain this summer, so being able to ride in the park on the gravel paths has been a needed godsend. 

And this past Friday, after about an hour of play on the ground and in the saddle, he did the most beautiful circles on a loose rein around one of the trees in the park, EVER. It's funny, he really seems to know when he's earned his release, because as soon as I asked him down to the walk, I could feel his confidence and "spark" rise. He gave me a huge and calm walk back to the barn. 

So, it won't be long before we get those finesse circles and lateral moves filmed, despite how challenging Walker is. He has been and continues to be one of my best instructors...

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.

Maverick and I had a fantastic time together on Sunday morning. It was ridiculously hot, we were both drenched in sweat after just brushing him off in the barn. Without a breath of wind to cool us off, he performed like a real partner; he was fabulous. Online, he jumped the barrels from 30 ft., backed between barrels then sideways over one from about 25 ft. Beautiful cantering circles to almost the end of the 45 ft. line. I had not tried these things from the greater distances until that morning, and he did it all in that crushing heat! Then we rode and he did lovely upward and downward transitions, picking up the correct lead at the canter right and left, no problem. He even did a simple change from right to left along the rail. We finished when he did a great stop on his hind from the canter. Less is definitely more with Maverick. Drilling things is totally NOT necessary.

 

Walker and I had a great weekend playing with our Level 4 audition where we have never done it before, at the Carpenter Ranch in Hallettsville, Tx. Walker has come such a long way, to be able to do all these things in a new place. To think we lost any entire week to "New Tank Syndrome" at Fast Track in Florida just 8 months ago. Thanks, Wendy, for being our videographer, cheerleader and the best friend anyone could ask for. Your support of my dreams has meant so much.

Funny how a habit to write can become a habit not to write, but that is what happened to me over the last year. It's been filled by so many moments and events that I felt a bit paralyzed by the thought of trying to get it all down in black and white.

Tonight, I felt compelled to write once again about one thought: how do I meet a man made deadline and still keep to my natural horsemanship principles? This is a question I have been asking myself for the last several months. First, I doubted I could get my Level 4 online completed by September of this year because of the injury to my two hamstrings and another to my right knee. The hamstrings seemed to take forever to heal, but luckily, my knee bounced back pretty quickly. Neither outcomes were entirely under my control.

Then, it did not seem that I had enough arrows in my quiver to get it done, but Christi Rains has generously shared a lot of her knowledge with me, helping us make huge strides in a very short period of time. The old saying that the master appears when the students are ready was never truer than for Christi, Walker and me.

Now, Walker and I are struggling with a couple of elements, and we may still not make the deadline. I know we will get there eventually, small pieces are falling into place, but with Walker's strong LBE traits, getting it done on any given day in 10 consecutive minutes with the camera rolling is a huge challenge. If Level 3 was the moon, Level 4 is like a trip to Mars. I suppose that is why the list of Level 4 graduates in the Savvy times is a short one!

Nonetheless, I will not sacrifice my principles for the goal. My timeline is still my horses timeline. Ultimately, I have to trust and keep faith. Our relationship is so powerful now, I choose to trust it to take us so much further than I ever first dreamed possible. 

Parelli's 13 things we should all be able to do with Excellence

Catching game
Haltering
Pick up feet
Saddling
Bridling
Mounting
Neutral lateral flexion
Direct rein
Indirect rein
Supporting rein
9 step back up
Soft feel at halt
Trailer loading

This was a great list to be thinking about when I was going through the Fast Track course, but especially now that I am becoming a Parelli Professional. It gives me a blue print of what I should be asking my students to think about in their Parelli journey. So if we are supposed to be teaching to the task, what are the elements in making this list happen? My journey as a Parelli professional is just starting, but it is interesting how my new perspective is putting a fresh face on my own horsemanship journey. 

For those of you who have been following my posts, I have to apologize for not updating you more often. So many things have been going on in my life that I have had a hard time figuring out how to get it all to fit together and get done. But I have committed myself to being more consistent with my posting.

Walker, Mav and I are doing really well. I have had a very interesting 4 months with Walker. Some real highs and lows at our Fast Track course, which made it both exciting and very challenging at times, mostly mentally and emotionally. More on that over time...

Mav is really progressing

If you have followed my blog, you know that Mav grazed me with his hoof last February in the park when he got spooked as we were headed back to the barn.

Did you know, head wounds bleed...a lot

The top of my head is still numb from that "graze". The scar on my forehead looks a lot better though. Fast forward to October...

Over the last two days I have played with Mav, we are back in the park, but now both on the ground and in the saddle, trotting AND cantering. Mav has become so brave in fact, that even with the wind blowing and a large flock of birds squawking all around us, Mav stayed calm and relaxed. At one point, we rode in the direction of a large flock of birds that in unison flew off in noisy protest to our approach. Mav did not even break stride as we cantered towards and through them. His ears were at attention, but out of curiosity, not fear.

Having done so well two days earlier, I thought it was time to start riding Mav with carrot sticks in the park. This is a huge step, as there are no fences to contain him if he chose to run off or be naughty. Of course, I would have to evaluate his state of mind before trying to ride freestyle with carrot sticks.

After he rode through the birds, I thought we would be OK with the carrot sticks. What is great about this kind of riding is it really gives you excellent feedback about what your horse truly understands without the ability to micromanage him with the reins. And sure enough, Mav was still reacting to my leg as though it meant go faster, at least at first.

So, I pretended to be on Valium, really slowing down my leg cues for the turns, being very particular to turn with my eyes and belly button first, only then with the leg, and finally the carrot stick as needed. He broke into a trot several times. I repeated my instructions slowly and carefully. It took about 5-7 minutes for him to do two soft, walking circles with the carrot sticks, and we quit.

So, we trotted and cantered all over the park first, then walked in calm circles to finish. He was very happy to have grazing time surrounded by the same birds that had flown off just a few minutes earlier. He then very willingly walked back to the barn with me. The sun was beginning to set, very much like the time he got scared, spooked, kicked me and ran off just those few months ago. Now, he is becoming a real partner.

Yes, the photographer is in the saddle :)

Maverick Gets Even Braver

Had a short but very nice session with Mav last night as the sun was going down. There were lots of things going on around the park last night. As the sun set, it was casting rapidly, ever-changing shadows. The birds on the lake were more active and talkative. Since it was rush hour, there was a lot more traffic along the rode that separates the barn from the park. For a horse, there were so many distractions, so many things that could look threatening.  Nonetheless, I know we need to progress with our horsemanship if I want him to be a superlative trail horse, so I decided we would go to the park. 

The left brained extrovert showed up, as he got pretty excited playing on the circle game. It is interesting that he seems to have more energy in the evening than during the day. In fact, at one point he started to buck, bounce and run off, and I had to let go of the rope. I had a momentary panic thought of "We are in the park with no fences anywhere and a road about 100 yards away with lots of traffic, what's he going to do?" I then had another fleeting thought, a much more important one: "He's learning to be a partner, he won't go far, he's a left brained horse, he knows I am where safety is, he's going to stop and re-access. I think my calm transferred to him. He moved about 60 feet away then just stopped and looked at me. I am not sure what he was thinking, except maybe, "Well, that took a lot of energy, was it worth it?" And, maybe he was thinking, "What am I doing? Isabelle is over there."

I slowly and nonchalantly walked in his direction, picked up his rope with my carrot stick and stood in front of him, stroking his face. He took a really deep breath and let it out with a big sigh. But he wasn't blinking. Every now and then, Mav can go a bit catatonic, and this was one of those times. So I massaged his lips to encourage him to lick and chew. It took several moments for him to emerge back into the moment. Finally, he blinked and looked at me, licked and chewed and told me he was OK. 

Three reasons I think he had a crazy moment: one, he really wanted to eat grass instead of play with me, two, he still is not entirely used to the saddle being on his back and three, the park was a bit scary. Thank you again, PNH, for teaching me to access my horse before getting on, as I sure wouldn't have wanted to ride that! But he quickly settled down, doing some lovely figure eights with lots of energy, some very nice sideways without a fence, left and right. and I knew we were ready to ride.

I went over to one of the larger trees to mount as the ground around it is uneven, making it easier for me to get onto my 16+ hand horse. While we were standing under this beautiful live oak tree, several acorns fell from it landing with a thunk onto the ground. One more thing for Mav to possibly be concerned about, but he didn't even flinch. Mav is getting even braver!


Once we started riding, Mav was still a bit distracted by the sights and sounds of the park coming onto night. Even so, he did some really nice figure eights, only reacting to my leg by going faster once. This was a huge improvement over last time when he reacted almost every time to my leg by going faster. Such a smart horse!

Then we did just circles with transitions, and when he gave me one circle, really relaxed and energetic, we quit. I let him eat plenty of that lovely grass, then I took him back to the barn for a well deserved hose down, which he really seemed to enjoy. I am having so much fun with my horses right now. It is so nice to have this level of knowledge and expertise, knowing when to be, where to be and what to do when I get there. 

I have been blessed and am so thankful again to Parelli Natural Horsemanship and my teachers, Kerri April and Grady Carter, both PNH three star instructors, Nancy Cloud, whose encyclopedic knowledge of and experience with horses has been invaluable to me over the years and now Karen Rohlf, who's monthly online video lessons are expanding my knowledge of horses even more. 


Fun, Fun, Fun!

Would you trade...?

After the most amazing play sessions with Walker this weekend, I had brushes with what perseverance can produce. Following literally years of time and effort, often seemingly to little or no affect, I had moments of  pure joy with Walker. Both online and bareback and bridle less, there was such a connection between us that at moments it seemed as though he was in my head reading my thoughts and I was in his head reading his thoughts. 

Our connectedness went beyond the feather lines we played with online, the savvy string hanging around his neck when I was riding or the cookies and scratches I gave Walker by way of saying, "You're right, good job!". There is now a trust he has in me, a trust I have with him, a mental connection I know is not easy for Walker to offer given his tendency to be naughty, contrary and mischievous. I thought "a little faster", he went faster, "a little slower", he went slower. Everything was so soft and light. When Pat talks about how Tom Dorrance wasn't interested in doing anything with his horses with anything more than a string, I really understood that this weekend, because there is such a joy when you are connected in such a fundamental way that you might not even need a string to move together.

Walker followed me around after our play sessions in ways he never has before. Once, when we were done, I opened the arena gate so Walker could mosey over to the water as I gathered some of my tools, and he did walk out of the arena. But instead of going over to the water, he stopped, turned around, and walked back into the arena, nuzzling right up next to me. He then proceeded to grab the feather lines off the hanging hooks and handing them to me. 

Now, he knew we were done, he could have left, I allowed him to do so, but he chose to come back to me and help me out with my tools. He may have realized I would give him cookies as a reward, but there was clearly more in it for him than just that. He wanted me close, I could feel he felt better being close to me. He wanted me to know he did not want our time together to be over just yet. 

And for the first time, he licked my hands, not small licks, but big, wet slobbering licks. He was doing everything he could to show me how much he was enjoying my company. We spent quite a long time just standing together, content. 

As we did finally mosey our way to the water trough, I realized that I would do it all again. For those few moments of that connection and joy, I would trade all the hours, days, weeks and months of struggle to gain those few precious moments. Never again will I doubt the process I have gone through to find those moments I have achieved with Walker. I don't doubt that at some point down the road, Maverick and I will have similar experiences, only faster.  I look forward to many more days like this like weekend.

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.

Walker grazes at Liberty and ...

Walker is becoming a much more centered horse. When he gets more extroverted, he is much more the LBE than the RBE. When his left brained side kicks in and his energy comes up, that can be quite a challenge, but also quite a lot of fun. What an amazing partner he is becoming. To think, before I found him, he was headed for someone's dinner plate.