Touch Your Horse with Your Heart! -- Being in the Moment!

I could have labelled this entry "the Perfect Day" because of how wonderful it was. Last night, I woke up in the middle of the night, feeling bad for H and V because the winter is boring and they get no challenges. So, I was determined to drag something new there and pull out the PVC poles to work with our lunging.

And then when I woke up, my horse magazine listed a series of letters from people who were talking about how to "mix it up" in the winter to fight the winter blues.

So, I get a big piece of poster board and I go to the barn and V and H are happy to see me. And they are intrigued when I am hauling these big poles into the barn. They were watching with ears pricked. I let V into the arena while I was sitting up the poles as 4 points in a big circle. She was fascinated because she is a lively intelligent young thing!

And she was such a good girl! She enjoyed lunging over those poles in both directions, trotting and cantering with energy and joy and direction and focus and lively spirits. And then I set up two jumps rather than 4 points. One jump was a little ditch -- two poles separated on the ground. And the other jump was your basic X set to about 8 inches. She just sniffed and sniffed those jumps.

And I could tell right off that she knew what to do! And boy did she do it! She cantered big and loose and focused and powered over the jumps. She didn't pause or make small work of the ground ditch either, but popped right over. Yes, she knocked the X jump over both directions, but it was her first time at this activity and I was proud of her willingness to "pop" over and try her best. She was happy to work with me on this task. Then when I pulled out the big posterboard to see if she would walk over it, she beat me to it. I threw it on the ground, and she walked over, sniffed, and stomped on it. Brave smart trusting girl.

Then, of course, we did some Parellis. She is so smart that we tried different sorts of new challenges. She thinks that backing through tight spaces is no big deal. And she thinks that pausing before walking through a gate is just courteous good sense.

My smart thoroughbred. You should have seen her eyes shine today! She was happy, loose, relaxed. I'd be in some spot in the arena and she would power walk that long lean thoroughbred way with her ears pricked forward to get to me. I can tell that she liked the fact that we mixed it up and I offered her a new job today. I am proud of her.

And H! She was not to be outdone. She was as sweet as pie. She let me lunge her both directions with sweetness and spirit. She tried to canter a few steps each direction just to show me that she still can. And then she stood patient and sweet and quiet as I worked foal introductions with her in her stall.

A perfect day. Treats for everyone. Namaste.

Touching your horse with your heart! -- Getting Savvy!

Okay, so I am writing this Parelli post on December 5th, a really magical day. We had snow and I got up at 5:30am for a winter walk with my beautiful Zelia. I played with my pets and then went into work and sat quietly to watch my Parelli DVD. The lessons today were getting your horse with savvy and leading your horse with savvy.

I hadn't done Parelli in awhile, but was determined to try with Violet this evening. I went to the stable and V was happy to see me as usual. Ears forward, head lifted with anticipation, quick steps to the gate, kisses, and nuzzles! All good. We practiced getting with savvy and had a friendly game chat. Then we did Parelli.

And let me tell you. Violet is a brilliant young lady. She loves Parelli. We played the porcupine game, driving game, yo-yo game. She was *all over* the Driving from Zone 3 game. And then she was eager to do the leading with saavy game and backing through a gate game. She learned instantaneously to wait for me at gates and wait for permission to pass. She truly *gets* that it's about bonding and team spiritedness. And she is joyful about the friendly game. It was just a thrill to have such a good evening.

Still having trouble getting V and H to bond. Lots of squeals and kicks and pinned ears. And now V is in heat, so she can't figure out whether she is afraid of H or strangely in love. But things are moving along. There was more nuzzle and neck kisses before hissy fits this evening. And there was respect for me when I was in the ring. So....being prayerful and watchful.

Touch Your Horse with Your Heart! -- the Yo-Yo Game!

So, Violet and I are still playing with Parelli Level 1. She is just so very smart and playful and witty. I am so glad that I started this adventure. It makes me appreciate her horse nature. I still anthropomorphize like crazy, but I really enjoy trying to think about what it means that I am a predator and she is prey in nature!

Anyway, she's really good at the porcupine, driving, and yo-yo games. But I have to say that she's pretty amazing at the yo-yo. She's very observant and subtle. She knows what I want.

Now we are working on me picking up her legs all from one side. She's pretty good at it. And since I started Parelli, she's becoming very light and agreeable about offering her feet. She's super good about lowering her head. But today, November 13th, we had a bit of confused fun doing the side-driving game where I'm supposed to walk boldy, with her a bit ahead of my shoulder toward a goal. She was confused and I kept breaking the rule. I am supposed to look with confidence at our goal and NOT at her! But I always looked at her. We'll pick up this game, I just know! Namaste to my beautiful Violet!