My Mostly-Parelli Log

Current Mood: sick and happy...lol

Jen came over today, and when she got here we went out to play.

She seemed to think that while Z's horsenality can change from moment to moment, he had a lot of RB-I characteristics. She calls him mini-Cal, haha.

Splash was really unenthusiastic at first.  I think he might have been partly unhappy because i was distracted by Jenny. Jealous LB-I! Lol.  I started out really slow, but after some time of him looking grumpy and not thinking, I got a tad irritated and sent him out in a circle- in a you had BETTER move well kind of way. Haha...turns out that was the right response!  He woke up, blew, and got much perkier from there.  Without getting into details, I tried to be creative sans obstacles without asking for too much speed, or making him grumpy.  I must have done pretty well, because we ended with stick2me canter in the field at liberty.  :-)  Yay!

Current Mood: busy

haven't played too much, but when i do i play with pressures (really interesting) and thresholds a lot.  i still have trouble seeing splash zone out, and i really need to get some LBI phsycology learned, but things are good.  Z got a bath yesterday, he has horrible skin...

I wanted to play with Splash at first...or rather, I wanted to make myself play with Splash so that I could start getting a feel for what he needs instead of being an avoid-aholic about it.  He came up to me when I first went out, and I made an effort to follow through better with my driving games.  I didn't realize how much I let that slide!! O_O  When I brought out the halter with the intention to play, Splash left.  Not suprising, given the buzzy energy I probably had.  I shooed him off at a trot, figuring that that would help him think of leaving as more work that it's worth without me trying to trap him.  I ended up just playing some games with his attention, giving him cookies when he came over.  When he came over a third time, I gave him a treat and then just turned and walked away, back to the little pasture.  he followed until we got into the trees, where he passed me.  

I went over to Z, who walked over and I gave him a cookie and itchies.  As I was haltering, Mr. Splashcame up behind me and started itching rather impolitely on my back.  I informed him that he was NOT allowed to be impolite, nor steal me from his brother.  He walked away licking and chewing, and when I got Z haltered I went over to him and he still lifted his head and ears quite happily.  Then Z came over and I gave them both itches before starting off with Z. 

I kept my circling goal in mind and started with yo-yo.  The back was crooked, so I used a lighter P1 and was a little bit more particular to make to back up important. He licked and chewed quickly- he gets his thinking done much faster than Splash does (LB-E) and gave me two ears.  For the next few minutes we worked on backing well just past the 22' mark on the 45' line, then WAITING until I asked him in.  I think that that waiting was very important for him, because it helped him to lick and chew, get his head organized, and think.  

Then we moved on to driving game.  I wasn't exactly sure when he was trying/not understanding and when he was just ignoring, but I tried to watch out for tight lips and keep everything very distict.  I got some licking and chewing, and he got lighter and lighter.  We also worked on extreme friendly games, and of course there was some itching and down time in between all of this.

Then we moved on to circling game!  Now that I know that Z's issues are from lack of confidence, I asked for less and had him wait before he came in.  It went really well! Even if RRC was only 1/1000 of what it should be, he still offered elements of all three, and waiting before he came in helped him relax and lick and chew and give me two ears...a lot!  It was great!  There was definately more progress in 6 laps today than in 60 laps last session. :)


 

Current Mood: happy

The clinic, while awesome and informative, left me doubting my relationship with Splash...so it's nice to know that even after what could have been a very uncomfortable experience, Splash and Z still want to see me. ^_^

Current Mood: grateful

Splash trotted to me today!!  We played in the arena, with the trailer, and then bonded outside with some UT and friendly. ^_^  I love my horse. 

Current Mood: happy

Splash is at Jen's for the week, because I had that clinic up at her place last weekend in addition to a clinic in Ellicotville that she and I are both taking horses to next weekend.  My brain's gonna be fulllllll for awhile!

I got to Jen's after pilates class on Monday night (I also walked my dog for 45 minutes or so that day, and got really close to a feeding turkey vulture and a snapping turtle!) around 8:30.  I forgot to mention trailer loading in my notes, but Mollie helped Theresa, who trailered her lovely morgan from Pen Yan, with that and we all watched.  I think that Jen and I both discovered that we weren't being nearly particular enough with loading.  She's taken to everything she learned fantastically, but I'm taking a little bit more time to get my head wrapped around it all.  Anyways, when I got to Jen's Splash and I played with the trailer.  We got to a really great point, where he stood in there for quite awhile with all but Z5 inside, but then I expected too much and caused some unconfidence.  We played until he was feeling better about it, and went to the arena of death!

The generator ran out of gas before he was totally LB, which was unfortunate, but I DID discover that his figure 8 has improved a lot!  So, Monday night was a night of learning, if not total success and confidence.

Today I woke up, and Jen and I went out after breakfast and hunting down extension cords for the music.  Splash wasn't thrilled to see me, by any stretch.  I expected it though, and he didn't LEAVE...he just didn't come, or give me any sort of positive expression either.  Remembering what Mollie said about my LB-I thinking I was going to make him do things, I sat on a bucket and waited.

I spent around 10 minutes catching.  At one point he was walking along with me on one side and Bunny behind him, and ended up with a fence on his other side.  He started to trot, but I took the pressure off and he turned and took a few steps towards me.  Then he yawned, and yawned, and YAWNED! Woah.  Then we walked sort of to me, then past me to hang out by the trailer.  I walked over and itched on him, then we went to the RP.

I ended up playing OL in the RP, hanging out a lot with the trailer, and riding BB in the RP and around the fields.  It all went [i]really[/i] well, although I wasn't able to recreate the enthusiasm from the clinic.
 

Current Mood: confused

At the clinic Mollie talked a lot about rhythm, relaxation, and contact during the circling game.  I don't need to practice circles with Splash, because he sends and within half a lap we have all three- and then he goes straight to "Circles SUCK" if I'm not careful.  I thought that it might help Z though, because when I have him circle he lacks all three.  he braces on the halter, he has a bad banana, he doesn't maintain gait, and he doesn't blow.

Z came over really happily since I've been doing the scratch-for-questions game, and after itchies we played stick2me.  he had trouble finding the comfy place at first, but I think he got it after a bit.  Then we started circling game...

At 15 laps, he licked and chewed for the first time.  Still braced, not maintaining gait, bad banana.

30 laps: blew for the first time, and gave a tiny bit of contact...then went back to brace, bad banana, breaking gait.

45 laps: urgh.

60 laps: I came out of my bubble to give P4 because nothing was working, he licked and chewed and gave me a really bracy lap and a half of trot, and I brought him in.  He did lots of licking and chewing, and we did friendly.  Maybe I should try again?

10 laps: no improvement. Transitions?  Slightly more licking and chewing, nothing great in terms of brace and banana.  But his send and backup were lovely!

I decided that I had really run out of arrows, so I brought him in and taught him lead by the tail instead.  That went really well, and he seemed happy with me after, following me around everywhere. *shrugs*  Maybe I'll talk to Mollie about it.

Current Mood: ecstatic

Stick2me
-The inside track is the DOMINANT place!
-Horse needs to find that "comfy spot" with you by his withers, and it needs to be important to him that he keeps you there; horse adjusts to you, you don't adjust to horse. 
-transitions engage the mind and helps to cause horse to use his hindquarters better
-have a friend help you so that you don't have to be the bad guy: instead of me 'making' Splash canter, I would canter and then Mollie or Jenny would use a string from the other side of the fence to get him moving
-Watch out, those LB horses are sneaky!! If you find yourself facing a new direction, working hard, or with a horse inching closer, keep in mind...it's probably on purpose!

Circling Game
-Splash was expecting me to make him- even if the make was only P1.  Wait, wait, WAIT for lick and chew or a question.  Slow down, we're in a hurry.
-Use obstacles and transitions (especially transitions within a gait) to cause horse to need to think about you, instead of checking out when he begins circling.
-NEVER allow a nasty expression
-Looking for: Rhythm, relaxation, connection (though not so much with my LB-I!).  Once this is achieved, ask for 4 more laps or so, so that RRC can become habitual/so they learn how to maintain it.
-There is no Rhythm in one!  Swing softly 3 times when sending, even if you don't need to go to P4.
-how little can you do?

Backup
-How can you make the game IMPORTANT to him?? Look for "Yes ma'am!" expression and backups.  If his expression is icky, or if he gives a "whatever" sort of backup, use rapid succession of P4s.  Ignore obstacles, it's HIS job to figure it out.
-What's the plot??
 

DRAW WITH HINDQUARTERS!!!
 
Are you acting like a predator? Sometimes your opposite instict is the right one.
 

Current Mood: happy

Z was such a good boy today!!!!  I went out late- around 5:00- and decided to play with him instead of Splash because I haven't really done anything OL with him in awhile.  He was very good for haltering, though helicopter stick+SS gave him some trouble.  He wasn't really RB though, he just kept trying to avoid it by moving or ducking his head.  I let him feel his way out of the gate, and while he was pretty skeptical at first he worked through it himself and ate hay out of the wheelbarrow while I closed everything back up. 

I've only played Touch-it with him once, but this horse must be one fast learner!!  Even at the beginning of the session all I had to do was focus my body in the right place and he knew right away where to put his nose/what game we were playing.  After touching the object he would come back to me and ask for friendly.  ^_^  I also tried a little bit of traveling circles with him, which was fine except that he couldn't quite maintain gait, and taught him more about the differences between friendly CS and better-move CS and flapping things (garage in a box door).  He wasn't entirely LB I don't think (he was just a tad high-headed, tight, and unblinking), but even when I asked him to trot on a circle he stayed well away from the hopping panics that he sometimes falls into.  I really think that touch-it is a great bravery builder, because it gave Z a purpose in going a little bit outside his comfort zone.

When we went inside we did some pedastal things, then stick2me transitions at liberty.  Good good horse!!!  He's really maturing!  He'll let me pick up and hold his front feet very consistantly now, but his back feet are still giving some problems. =/

Current Mood: hopeful

My Goals for Today:
-try something new
-balance energy and nothing time
-remain soft
-read my horse
-do what is best for the horse no matter what
-advance some of the things that we can already do
-start out with something familiar and easy and build to something challenging

I watched the L3 DVD1 last night, and I'm really inspired to make some progress! So today I'm going to do my best to find a balance between new and old, and energy and quiet. I've found in the past that this is where I run into problems with moving on, because I get excited and move on too quickly for my horse- the results being nearly 3 years in Level Two.  Balance, balance, balance!

Meh, later. horses are hungry.