....Getting Unconscious.

A few months have gone by since my lesson with Linda Parelli*. Thankfully I have had quite a bit of time with Lil.

Its funny how such a big learning event can be so packed that it takes months of practical application to sift through all the information. Its like little bits of savvy dust that have been swirling around suspended are now settling down to form a visible layer of gold. Lil and I have been continuing to develop our foundation in Four Savvys* to level 4 with delicate attention to the details of cause and effect.

Tiny Tiny details. Tiny changes and little adjustments. Reading Lil just a little bit better. Reading her a little bit faster. Speaking to her a little more softly. Being a horse, Lil notices everything. Because she is a Right Brained* horse she has intense emotional reactions to it all. Because she is usually an Introverted horse* I have to look very carefully to see what she needs from me moment to moment. To be subtle enough...to be quick enough...to be gentle enough...to be right on...requires unconsciousness.

I noticed something interesting in the year after my lesson with Pat in Reno in 2009. Because of physically being there with he and Lil I could think back to how he was with her. Not just what he did. I could think back to how he felt... what it was like to be with him and somehow in doing that I was able to emulate his state not just his actions.

My Linda lesson had another dimension to it. For the first part she was playing with Lil through me. I tuned in not only to her words and directions but purposefully opened my unconscious to the tone of her voice, her timing, her observations and her split second decisions about what Lil needed. The results of being able to recall and apply Linda's example have been very special.

Its not that Lil is suddenly void of emotions....or that I am suddenly a zen master. (not at all. I am still a Right Brained Extrovert) She still is who she is and so am I. Innate characteristics and all. Its just that we are more centered as individuals. And I think it is a result of our partnership.

Wanting to be in partnership with Lil and be better for her has caused me to shift in myself and to notice and effect the most minuscule changes. Because she is a horse, and inherently so forgiving...she has allowed me the latitude to grow as a leader. Because I have grown as a leader she has been able more and more to feel her feelings and yet trust me to acknowledge them and take care of the situation.

Our recent level of trust has enabled us to do some flying changes, pure bridless riding, connected and joyful liberty*, a soft and quiet game of contact and I have even trusted her enough to do some jumping! (which is a deep seeded childhood fear issue for me)

It pretty much goes without saying that the chances of all of this magically coming to me and my horse at this time without the generous mentoring hands on of Pat and Linda Parelli is remote. I suppose the only payback I can give is to USE IT. Don't waste it. Grow everyday and play with my horse.

Thank you Linda and Pat.

My Blog a few days after my lesson.
Linda's Blog on my lesson.
*see glossary at the bottom of the page

Lil and I in Four Collections.

What springs to mind when I look at this series of photos is Collection. The dreaded word. It is dreaded for me because the word itself is so over used and misused and flat out misunderstood.

I like how Pat points out that the opposite of collection is scattered. If we accept this to be true, we can say that the opposite of scattered is collection. Then, we have a reasonable starting point.

These photos embody Lil and I being together in "FOUR COLLECTIONS". I learned this from Pat Parelli.

RAPPORT (heart collection) Bonding and Trust. Especially me trusting her because I'm the one who is worried about jumping. She is the one giving me confidence. How cool is that?

RESPECT (mental collection) Communication and response. She is understanding what I'm asking and is willing to do it.

IMPULSION (emotional collection) Go equaling whoa. This is the ultimate exercise to test this and has miles of "dressage" implications.

FLEXION (physical collection) In the simple purpose of jumping halfway over the barrels we are gathering ourselves up, balancing for a moment in full engagement, moving forwards and then halting.

Of course all of this ads up to being in harmony with Lil mentally and emotionally as well as sharing her physical power. A brilliant combination. It really was a great day. Karen Rohlf is so right when she says: "Harmony feels good and Beauty is obvious."

Here's a short one minute clip of us playing around.

...and I almost got faked out.

This is the tricky part after all. Our horses are dynamic not static.

Lil and I went up to the arena pretty happily. She rolled right away which is a good sign. When she seemed ready to do something, I sent her out on a circle at Liberty*. She maintained gait, direction and connection and started to blow out within a few laps. When she came back though she didn't want to touch me when I put my hand out. (read Right Brained*) I waited until she could. Then scratched her withers which she got into (read Left Brained*).

I figured we should check out our Figure 8 Pattern Online*. Oh man. In my lesson Linda called me out for moving my stick too quickly. I seriously don't even lift it! But even thought it doesn't raise off the ground....I move it to the side at the same time as giving the cue with my direction hand. And crap! Its not an easy habit to break! Linda suggested I might need to put a bell on my stick like there used to be in the Blue Level Two pack. I'm thinking I may need a car alarm to go off.

Lil was not going around the cones at first. I allowed her to work on it for a bit but when she seemed to have lost the plot I sent Zone 1*. I got the ears back for a second...shoot!..I must have asked too loudly. Of course she went around the cone but then straight away got stuck coming through the change of direction. Once through the middle she would start to trot...come around the cone and stop for a second before heading through the middle again. I'm so glad Linda pointed out the mental tension in her hesitation to come through the middle. Its so subtle....that is the part that is broken and yet I hadn't been conscious enough to isolate it. We just kept on until she could walk softly, ears relaxed and not get stuck.

When she came back to me it was not with Zone 1 ...it was kinda with her shoulder. So I sat on a barrel and waited. She blew out softly but had the secret lip licking. She cocked a leg but didn't touch me or start to rub on me. She looked sleepy. She had been on grass for 3 hours. It was the time of day she usually takes a nap...but I wasn't sure. Then her lower lip started to sag. Ha! Had to be Left Brained! I had waited it out!!!!! ...right?

I saddled her without any resistance...played some cantering circles over the barrels...a little sideways at the trot on the circle...nice stretchy, relaxed..a few changes of direction... all good. Brought her in. She blew out softly and licked...but none of her tongue came out of her mouth. I started to get a little suspicious.

I had asked Linda about this in my lesson....this...uncertainty. She reminded me that she used to make sure that she couldn't blow Allure up before she rode him. I wanted to be sure so I thought I'd try some canter gallop transitions on the circle Online*. I asked for gallop...nothing happened...I waived the flag in Zone 5*.....KABLOOOIE! Now we had gallop...and a few bucking horse quality crow hops. There was one I didn't think I could've ridden.

Now I had a Right Brained Extrovert on a string. Enter my handy dandy new strategy from Linda. Encourage the gallop for a lap and try to keep my feet still! No adding motion to the commotion. I feel like I had improved on that one and I think it helped. Then, I'd get neutral in my body for a lap. When she wanted to relax and slow down I allowed her to. We had to repeat this about three times. Finally she could canter...then gallop without melting down.

Suddenly Lil started blowing out for real. With conviction!!!!! She started licking and two inches of tongue appeared. She itched her leg and started swishing gnats.

I hopped on and we had a great ride. We had a perfect sweat pattern, she rolled at my feet, frisked me for treats and swung away at the walk the whole way down to the barn. Thanks Linda for giving me that extra strategy to roll with the change up. Savvy equals safety right?.... pheeeew!



*See the Glossary at the bottom of the page.

Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!

Yaaaaaaaaaaahoooooooooooo! My lesson with Linda and Lil was priceless. I'll have to mill out what I learned as I process and absorb it.

Yesterday I was playing with Lil and a very large bell went off in my head.

In our lesson at the Parelli Across America event in Redmond, OR Lil came into the arena acting like a Right Brained Extrovert*. Linda helped me understand the strategy of asking her to go faster than she wanted. If she couldn't keep her feet still then "lets move them!". Now, I've heard this for years, but to see it utilized for a horse that I know really well, helped me big time.

Not too much...just enough. Add just enough energy to take over leadership. Its not a punishment. Which, although I didn't think that I was using it that way. . . . clearly I've been doing too much. Linda told me to be very careful not to add motion to the commotion. (I moved my feet a lot. arg!) Understand Lil's idea... "eeeeek! I've gotta move" then ask her to do more of her idea. All of a sudden, without even knowing it, she's following me. I get it! And boy did it work like a charm.

In pretty short order Lil could stand still. Even in front of all those people! But as soon as I asked her to do something too loudly she went introverted. To entertain the crowd Linda told tons of stories in her spellbinding Linda way and shared lots of Horsenality* info while we waited. . . . . . .And waited and waited and waited. Finally, in her own time, Lil came off of the adrenaline. In the end she yawned for like 5 minutes, rolled, rubbed and nuzzled Linda. She had made it to a confident Right Brained Introvert*. I could feel the grin on the crowd.

One of the stories Linda told was from the Australian Parelli Event. (you can read about it at Linda's Blog the may 17th post) Her lesson there was with a Right Brained Extrovert. She talked about riding the horse and allowing her look around but not letting her get fixated.

So here was the big bell yesterday: All of a sudden I could recognize the difference between a Right Brained Extrovert frozen in place and a Right Brained Introvert gone introverted.

There have been times (looking back now I can see) where Lil was fixated. She would run around like a loon, freeze, then run around some more. This is why I kept saying that it wasn't "sticking". In this case I need to help her to focus. Ask her to do something. Making sure that I match her energy. Sometimes that means being pretty gentle. Sometimes that means I've gotta get pretty big. But the thing I realized is that just waiting for the next explosion is not the right strategy.

However, when Lil goes introverted I do need to wait for her to become confident enough to ask me a question and request further instructions. Linda has said that and written it a hundred times. Wait Wait Wait Wait Wait! Its just I was doing the right thing at the wrong times. Ah yes. What is that Patism about where to be, when to be, why to be, what to do when you get there and when to stop doing what you're doing? . . . something about that being true savvy...??

When she's in an RBE freeze its almost as if she's still vibrating. when she's in an RBI introversion, its so quiet! And now after the stark difference she showed in Redmond I CAN SEE IT!!!! Hallelujah! I was literally yelling with excitement into the phone when I called my husband yesterday to share my breakthrough. lol.

This will change everything for me and my horses. Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Jackpot baby!

..Playing with "Summer Lil"

My horsey's horsenality* changes with the weather.

Its very clear, if we think of measuring confidence in 5 areas, as Pat and Linda have taught us, (Confidence in my Leadership, Herself, the Heard, the Environment and as a Learner) Lil has the most trouble with changes in her environment. The wind, pelting rain and cold really does a number on her confidence.

It is for sure getting better each winter as our relationship gets stronger especially as I've learned to help her more. We've made a lot of progress in the last 4months. Buuuuuuuuuuut, I LOVE it when she gets back to this Lil. She's snugglier, itchyer, pushier, curiouser (heh) and even nippier. It makes me sooooooooooooo happy!

It is almost like we can do anything together. I'm a lot better than I used to be about flexing my strategies for her changed behaviors and adjusting to fit the situation.

Now....we can get back to freakin flying changes undersaddle. I swear...if I ever get through this...if I ever get it...I can die happy. Its just so ridiculous. Lil is brilliant at them. Online* and at Liberty*.

Its a pretty simple issue....I chicken out. I get tight right when I need to be confident to allow her to go forward into the change. Grrrrrrr. Pretty soon I think I'll be so sick of myself I'll finally give up and go for it. Kip just laughs at me and rolls his eyes. "You're stopping her from doing it! She's ready!!!"

I am tempted to just take a passenger lesson and have Kip ask her to do it as if she was at Liberty. I'll just shut my eyes and hang on. How finessey and skilled does that sound?

Seriously though, getting down to it, here is what I'm worried about. I'm worried that carrying me will unbalance her and she'll trip and fall. I also have some emotional baggage with her getting super engaged at the canter. She used get very emotional at the canter and get so tight and overengaged .... I guess it's a carry over for me. For crying out loud. She's past that. I need to get over myself.

Having my summer horsey back will help me psychologically I think. She is more left brained...so maybe I will be too. I'm quite sure she'll be happy when her human gets it together....

....and I fell on my head.

Oh my gosh! What a dork.

Lil and I were playing. Having a grand old time working on our L4 Liberty* stuff. Canter stick to me with flying changes....spins....an extremish YoYo Game with back up fast and canter draw.

Here's the thing. It was cold again so I had breeches on underneath my jeans and therefore was not my normal agile self. Plus we'd been playing for quite a while, turning and burning in the deep sand....

We were just getting a really REALLY good draw at canter. Like a war horse, Lil was pretty much as collected and jumping in the canter as she'll ever get. I was running backwards....I just didn't quite pick my knees up high enough and KABLOOIE! Backwards I fell with plenty of velocity to feel the thwack at the back of my head resonate in my jaw.

As I fell, I was aware that Lil was still maintaining gait and direction like a good little partner. Actually, she didn't look that little as I was wrenchingly twisting my head and neck to look up at her bearing down on me.

Of course, she stopped when she got to me. She looked down like, "Huh. This is a new variation." I felt like a real knob. My ego was very glad that we were alone. I also felt extremely grateful that she was left brained and thinking. I got up. Dusted the sand out of my hair and tried to flick it out from the back of my pants. I rolled my eyes at myself and shrugged to Lil who actually didn't seem think it was all that interesting after all. Gotta love that.

To be perfectly honest, this isn't the first time I'd had such a rediculous mishap. When Lil was three (and I was much less savvy and therefore much less safe riding) we had just survived a ride together and I was going to fill up water buckets before I left our boarding stable for the night. Again I didn't pick up my feet and simply tripped over a stall mat falling onto my elbow thusly breaking it with a loud crack.

In that light, I am thrilled that this time no trip to the hospital was required. (even more importantly, no missing any horse time) I have a bit of a stiff neck today but am otherwise none the worse for wear. Additionally, I got a few good laughs at the office. Welcome to goobersville.

...a few days ago with Lil...and yesterday with Nigel

I noticed the other night when I was sitting in Nigel's stall spending undemanding time that my poor horsey Lil was climbing the walls. After we played over the weekend she had been pretty quiet Sunday and Monday....it was Tuesday night that she started to have trouble again.

So, Wednesday we marched up to the arena to move around. It makes me so happy that now she can partner with me even in self medicating. After a quick roll she almost seemed to say "right, here I go"...she took off at a speedy tail in the air canter to the right. But, she maintained gait and direction and looked where she was going.

The last few times we played she only needed 10 or so laps to really calm down and feel better. Wednesday she got to 20 laps before her tail relaxed and she made a smaller circle to avoid the muddy patch that she had been slipping on for the previous 1/2 a mile.

We played with all our normal stuff...she still is choosing to go sideways and around the barrels at Liberty* instead of hopping halfway over. . Online*, she does it every time. Ah...Liberty is such a good test. I'm pretty sure its a confidence issue that will be fixed with repetition.

Our close circle at Liberty is coming back. yay! And we're getting it at walk now which I feel shows more understanding. We are getting a few halt canters Online although the it ends up being walk to canters every 2nd or 3rd ask. Lead by a tail making turns is better...our close spin left to right is ok (I hate that she moves her HQ though) we need a little polishing right to left... The next time Kip is with me I'll ask if he can see anything different in my body language going that way.

It was one of those days when she doesn't quite feel fully present. Our draw was maybe 60% of what we have on a good day. She still did a lot of licking and chewing..still much improved from what it was even a few months ago...but I couldn't see very much tongue. However, she didn't suck on her tongue so that was good. I felt like I was going maybe one click too fast..

A great sign that Wednesday was ok, was that yesterday when our Farrier did her feet she was in one of those super mentally engaged moods. She was snuggling with him and lifting up her back feet for him and even offering to put her front feet on the jack stand! What a good girl. She had lost both her back shoes and the accompanying shims so both she and I'll be glad to have that fixed.

With Nigel yesterday I'll just say he was amazing as usual. He seemed to realize that I wanted a big rear with more airtime. He put A LOT of effort into staying up there. 5 seconds he gave me! 5 seconds!!!!!!!!! That's the record for sure. I wooped it up for that one. The whole valley probably was wondering what in the heck was going on. LOL

Our ride was good. I have 2 thick shims in the front and it was too much. This next ride I'll switch to a thick and a thin and see if that's just right or if I just need a single thick one. Maybe that means he's traveling more uphill?...

Following the rail even doing a big stretchy trot and cantering is much better. Our weave at trot Level 2 style was almost perfect...Doing the cantering Bow-tie Pattern* was better..ish. Still needs work. His canter depart even from the walk Online is doing great...I can't wait for them to improve undersaddle. I hate that feeling of disharmony when they aren't.

Ok. I have to confess that I had some ruffled hairs on the left hand side just behind the withers. Poo. I think it was some of our canter halts. I was bracing too much in my stirrups.

I quit while he seemed to be eager to do even more things (yay me) and we walked with a swagger down to the barn. I haven't put him in the trailer for a few weeks so I thought we'd better practice. He jumped right in. I shut the door..he was just fine with it. For the whole rest of the day he was tracking me wherever I went with two interested ears forward. Excellent.

On New Years Day Weekend...

...with my parents who came out to the farm to visit.

On Friday we decided to film my Dad's official level one audition. He's been playing with the horses a little bit at a time and over the years. Both he and Mom have been to two Parelli Tour stops and watched many hours of Parelli Dvds. ("ok guys you gotta just see this one video") I knew he could do it....I wondered how Lil would feel about being his partner in it.

They both did really well! Lil was very patient and when Dad asked correctly she did it. Dad did wonderfully with accepting what she was offering (even if it ended up being a Level 4 task instead! lol. like halfway over the barrels...or her thinking he wanted sideways towards instead of away) and then sorting out what he needed to change to get what he actually had intended. I am very proud of both of them.

Mom and I had the best time watching Kip play with Jack. I brought Lil up to the arena the day after dad did his audition...she rolled...and then (clearly before any grooming) stayed down and took a nap. A loooong nap. Mom came up to hang out with me. She and I stood by Lil protecting our little herd and watching Kip play with Jack. Lil was cantering and nickering in her sleep. It was really funny.

Today I got to play with Nigel. We just fiddled around. Checked off a bunch of 2 carrot stick riding tasks from the L3 Freestyle* list. Kip came up to take a break from football to say hello and brought the video camera.

We just had 8 min of battery life left so here is just a few little Online* clips. We were playing with rearing online which as you can see is a pain because he gets tangled up in it...I move backwards to try to avoid it...he thinks that means come forward...so we don't end up with a real Levade. . on the other hand that seems to be getting more of a Mezair effect. . . the flying change was nice...the cones were in my way so I had to hold the rope up...I'm glad to have the beginnings of a few elevated trot steps on vid because I know those will really improve...

Christmas Break

I've been having a great time with the Nigel and Lil!

Nigel is, as I've almost come to expect, learning things at the speed of light and Lil is much more confident than she was last winter.

Nigel offers to do levade (sustained rear with knees together) and mezair (basically rearing and pawing the air. used to be beating down doors in battle) all the time now. I have no idea how to cue them individually though! Yesterday I was able to count to 4 while he was up in the air. He's getting the idea that I like it when he perches up there.

He is clearly getting stronger.

I love it when Kip gets to play with Nige on the weekends and is impressed with how he's developed. I like to see him smiling and saying "woah! thats awesome!".

Riding Nige has been waaay fun. Our steering is getting A LOT better. The other day I almost took the bridle off. I decided to keep it on and just looped the reins over the saddle horn and did a pretty perfect walking cloverleaf pattern* without having any need to touch the reins. Big progress. Our canters have gotten better and follow the rail without touching the reins is very good at trot and coming along at the canter. We got a very pretty sideways at the trot too.

I've checked Nigel off on everything on the Level 2 Freestyle* list except open a gate. We did it in the summer....but I want to double check it ... its been so muddy by the gate to the arena since we put it in.

I've been asking him to get into the trailer quite often. Shutting the door and feeding some breakfast. That too is getting better all the time.

Lil and I are on a licking and chewing record! Plus she fluttered her nose (her little Right Brained Introvert* version of a nicker) at me two days in a row!!!

We've been doing sideways at canter away from the lead...kind of an interesting effect...and her extensions at trot are getting really pretty online*. She is now offering to do it undersaddle as well.

Yesterday we had a lovely ride. We got a really nice little bowtie pattern using canter walk canters. Super cool! I need to see it on video...her walking pirouettes are staring to feel really good.

I just don't know what I would do without the Horsenality* information. It would have taken forever to learn what she needs by trial and error. Yesterday she galloped it out for about a mile. The funny thing is that she seems to know that its ok to do it now. Like she's not wondering if its upsetting me. She just gets out on the rail and does what she needs to do. Then comes back and says "Phew" I feel better now. What do you want to do?"

Looking forward to more pony time tomorrow. Here are a few picts from Kip and I's playtime with the white horses yesterday.

My Parellitube Submission

Well...I thought I'd put one together...

It was really fun looking through the footage over the last year.



To view it larger on youtube:
Parellitube Montage

and it was pretty clear that Lil and I's relationship is waaay stronger than last winter.

I was wondering if I'd even be able to put a halter on her safely. She was leaping around, tail over her head, snorting. Although I figured she'd be pent up as the horses were all in on thanksgiving day due to yucky weather....this was the most trouble I've seen Lil have so far this winter.

She came right up to me when I went to see about catching her. I did send her away a few times because she didn't feel safe but on about the third time she looked at me and waited to be invited in. As I put the halter on, Kip asked if I was going to be ok. With conviction I said: "yes! she needs me and I know what to do. we're going to be fine".

Now, here's the first: As soon as the halter was on and we were heading up to the arena, Lil calmed down. She even started sighing and shaking out tension in her neck. Ha ha! So even just on the way to the arena she was finding comfort. Wow. wow. wow. wow.

I've been watching the new Parelli Levels DVDs. As we know, a horse's needs are Safety, Comfort then Play right? (then food. lol) Well, Pat was talking about comfort. He was talking about horses finding comfort in movement.

Pressure motivates, but its the release that teaches..... I have usually thought about giving comfort as stopping. Giving a rest. This of course is effective...but as Pat was talking about letting your horse go out on a circle and just find the comfort in movement....I began to think about Lil and how helping her move...makes her more comfortable. Like I knew it was making a BIG positive difference. Obviously. But I was more thinking about it helping her get more Left Brained*...calmer...less emotional....etc.

Now I started to think about her physically being comfortable. Like warming up by the fire after being outside in the freezing cold for hours. Or finally stretching out on the couch after a long day at work.

So with this in mind, I turned her loose in the arena. I thought she'd really need to gallop around....she didn't want to roll...but surprisingly to me she was very very connected. I asked her off on a canter circle and she maintained gait and direction really nicely!

However...when I brought her back in...I didn't get any blowing out. Or really that much licking and chewing. So I put on the 22ft line and set up some barrels. Over the last few sessions I've been thinking of how to take this to the next level. This maintain gait maintain direction and look where you're going... I've felt that it's time to up the anti a little to make even more progress into her relaxation mentally, emotionally and physically.

So. The game was just a simple circling game at canter but I added jumping the barrels. We went about 12 laps (very connected it seemed) to the left then stoped. She was very still...I could have waited for her to come out of it but after a few minutes I decided to send her the other way and see what happened.

To the right after about 13 or so laps I could tell she was thinking more about maintaining gait and putting more effort in. She broke to trot a couple times then picked right back up into the canter. She was thinking! Excellent.

Then...........after oh my gosh like 20? laps, (remember that's a half a mile), when I brought her back...she blew and blew and blew and licked and even yawned a little!!!!! She hardly ever does that. It took very very little to draw her the rest of the way to me. Finally she rubbed and scratched her head on me which she only does if she's present and with me. Horray!

She rolled then fiddled around the arena...then I turned her and everyone else out to play.

A while later I came down to clean stalls .... she came over to the gate and hung out with me. What a great feeling!

For those of you horse behavior junkies.....

Check this out....I was uploading vids from my blackberry today and found this one of Lil from earlier in the summer.

This is how long I have to wait sometimes for her to come out of her Right Brained Introversion. Just watching the video it seemed like forever. 4 and a half minutes!!! This is why when I mention that it took her less than a minute to lick her lips or that I could see an inch or two of tongue its a HUGE deal.

(sorry for the buzzing sound. better just mute it. at about 4min 30 she really comes out of it...if you care to watch all the way until she lays down you'll see her go back to her happy place)

Letting Lil Gallop It Out

I'm so glad that I know what she needs right now!!!!!!!!!!!

The horses were in for nearly 48hrs. (all their stalls have large runs but of course its not the same) Plus..even when Lil gets turned out she doesn't usually gallop enough.

Last night I put on forty thousand articles of clothing and sat in Nigel's stall while he ate. This turns out to be a great way to spend undemanding time with him. If I go in when he's not eating he just gets bored with me and wants to DO something. It was pretty cool. He seemed happy to have me there. He kept checking in and blowing out nicely. I say points for me. Ha!

Meanwhile in the stall next door....Lil was climbing the walls. Poor thing. The crazy weather freaks her out.

So today I squeezed in about 40min to take her up to the arena. She rolled right away which is always a good sign...then hopped up squealing and jumping around. Also a good sign. At Liberty* I asked her to maintain gait and direction which she challenged a few times but not in a scared way. After 15 quick canter laps I asked for a flying change which she was present enough to do but she wanted to change direction again so it took us about 7 laps to get 2 good ones maintaining gait to the right. Then she wanted to come in. The really really cool thing was that she was licking her lips within about a minute. And I could see like 2 inches of tongue!!!

We are working on hopping halfway over the barrels. Teaching it Online* at the moment....it took about 4 tries to get it today but then she licked and chewed within a minute again.

Also quickly did a few walk canter transitions and some stretching online...then waited for a final lick and check. This took a little longer but not too bad. She shook her head and as we were walking to the gate she did a few little bits of blowing out. Not like she does most of the time but this was a pretty quick session so I was happy. She was relaxed when I put her blanket back on and settled back into her room. Later when I set everyone free she walked out calmly. Yay!

with Lil....and the change is slowly coming.

n
She's just more restless. I hardly catch her any more with her lip hanging down...sleeping. I see a lot more of her sucking on her own tongue out of frustration. (this is even when she's out in the field or in her stall so i know its not me.) Her ears tend to flick back and forth much more urgently. Its not too bad yet..but I am noticing.

The good thing is she's still really in tune with me. When I come by she gives me two forward ears and soft eyes. Perhaps she remembers that I can help her.

I know from last year that she needs to move. She doesn't tend to do that on her own. I mean not to the extent that she needs to. She's been out much of the week and I see her walking all over and even galloping for the few minutes the others do. The arena is open at the moment so they all even get to roll in the sand. But...............it's not enough. Which is cool in a way. . . she needs me.

So yesterday was the first day that I had the purpose of really helping her move around to release tension and work off some cortisol. Already we had even more of a challenge because it was only an hour before sunset. (is that the time that predators have historically hunted?) This is typically a harder time of day for her than the morning or mid-day. I grabbed the wheelbarrow when we went because I needed to clean up the mess they've all made and with Lil on the line I marched on up like a leader.

As I picked up poo and talked on the phone, she wandered around and kept coming back to check on me. (good, good) I kept an eye on her as she wandered to see how much tension or lack there of she was displaying. I wondered if she'd lay down and take a nap. (of course a huge tell tale of how comfortable she is.) Several times she came near me and pawed thinking about it. But no dice. She didn't look too bad overall....got what I call the "square ears" (i'll have to post a pict...its a Right Brained Introvert* sign) but it didn't last too long. After a while she did roll but hopped up and kind of napped standing up. This was still pretty good I thought....

Playing at Liberty* as I think I've mentioned before seems to be the most effective. If we lived somewhere dry with more outdoor space I'd put her on the 45 and play the cantering traveling circling game all over. But, it's Oregon in October..and so we are relegated to the arena. (I swear I am NOT complaining. I am so grateful to have one.)

Anyway...she was ready to play for sure and offered to do lots of cool flying changes (we're working on the weave backwards and forwards now..) and I was still getting awesome draw at the canter. So I gave her a treat.....She went to her happy place and pretty internal. She was sucking her tongue (she does it in a different way in this state. straight out in front instead of out to the side the way we usually think of a thoroughbred doing).

A couple things about this behavior that I've discovered. She is still able to learn and listen to me and do stuff. . . but she DOES NOT GET BRAVER. In fact, she is much more susceptible to spooky or startling things. So I think about this, and keep at it until she comes back into the world. Licks her lips, lowers her head, loosens her ear, blows out and shakes her head.

Oh so tricky! But it sounds simple right? Oh, no, no. Since what she really needs is to move..I send her off on a circle at the trot. Yesterday, she obediently left off in the proper direction, beautiful rhythmic trot, stretched over her topline, maintaining gait and direction. (Usually a sing of being Left Brained*) But. Her tongue was out the whole time. She can show so many mixed signals and some are so subtle I miss them. So I left her out there.

One of my FAVORITE things I learned in Reno from Pat was that ten laps on the 22ft line ends up being a quarter mile. This was very very exciting information for me. A thoroughbred's flight line is between 2 1/2 and 6 miles right? So theoretically if I hang in there long enough with her she'll cross it.

She did about 12 laps before she licked her lips and seemed to make some changes. I asked her to go till 15 and then brought her back. We had a little dwell time...but she didn't nuzzle me or really connect...she stood about 5 feet away pretty still.

I asked her to do 15 the other way at trot. This time she didn't have her tongue out and was asking if she could come back a lot. Of course dwell time after the bring back then 15 laps each way at the canter. I had a cavaletti off the rail and as she went by I pointed at it and clicked (from the center of the arena while sitting on the barrel). She went directly to it whist cantering and hopped over instead of going around. She didn't loose rhythm just put it right into her stride. I thought: huh. I guess I really could ride that. Afterwards, she kept jumping it! That was really cool. Really really cool actually.

So that was a ways! 60 laps. And most of the time she was farther away than she would have been on the 22ft line. So lets say 1 3/4 miles? She even was warm to the touch when we finished with that. She was blowing out..but not too forcefully. When she really goes for it I know there was a lot of tension built up. Yesterday it wasn't like that. She even did the little purring blow out that they do when they are just relaxed and happy.

She looked quite rideable but it was getting towards dark and that wasn't my goal anyway... I must admit that I was beginning to wish it had been. lol. I have a few things to polish up in our L4 Liberty assessment so I figured we'd work on one of those. She tends to be a little stiffer going sideways right to left so I started to ask her for that...and a little faster. She kinda got it but when I asked for more she did a spin and came cantering towards me....in a playful way!

"Take what the horse is offering" right? So when she cantered to me, I used that energy to ask a faster sideways but from zone one*. Then, draw her forward (she got so engaged!) then, drive her back and sideways. Before I knew it and without me meaning to she was playing that super cool cutting game that we see Linda and Remmer do so often! I laughed out loud. I mean really...what more could I ask for? Here my little RBI who for the longest time didn't play....was..well. playing.

It was great. Now, I'll be interested to see how things are today.............

and I'm still high on our ride

Well, it was about as good as it gets with Lil night before last.

Again we started at Liberty*. A few flying changes which were nice. Then I asked her to go out and circle. After a couple laps she came back in to me. She had a soft expression on her face but I thought about being a better leader and working on my driving game......

So I made a bigger effort sending her. Giving a little smack on the bum with the string as she moped out. That worked! She went off and did 15 laps each way!!!!! yahoooo! (now clearly I read her correctly at that time...but I'm not exactly sure that that strategy will work with her most of the time. I don't know...I guess I'll just have to use my best guess each time.)

Time to dress up. Took me 3 tries to put the saddle on. She stands still but when I reach under to get the girth sometimes she lifts a hind leg. Don* reminded me that that is NOT passing the stand still for saddling test. So I took it off and tried again and then again until she did not give me that resistance.

She turned her head away when I took the bridle off the fence...so I physically retreated until she turned back to me. Bridling went perfectly after that. Then....I walked over to the fence..got up on it and called her. She came over! This is a very good sign as she does not always do it. Nigel usually does. And he marches. Lil comes over very slowly.

Stand still for mounting? check. Walk out to the center....and I figured I'd do the forequarter, hindquarter yields and walk forward straight backup straight with just the Savvy String. Excellent.

Walked around just a bit...light was running out. So we did some trots Finesse* style. Not collected really. Just connected. Kip was out there with me. (love love love it) He suggested that I ask her to do a half a 20 meeter circle in a small trot and a half in a medium trot. This was actually brilliant because of course transitions are a beautiful thing and this accommodated Lil's horsenality really well as it didn't change too too fast.

I stuck with that until I didn't have to use anything but a change in energy in my body to make the transitions. Man how making a pattern out of it works. Then to the bullseye of the circle for a moment of rest and a treat.

Canter has been a big thing for us because it's taken her so long to get physically and mentally relaxed in it. Doing so much canter Online* and at Liberty* has changed everything. So my goal was 4 laps each direction. Started with a few transitions within the trot then asked her out of that. Really nice forward no issues going into the canter. Not perfect. But willing.

I started to the right and at first I was getting one to one and a half laps before breaking gait. I try to not ever make her feel wrong when we're working on canter. I totally err on the side of caution on that one. Its been so emotional for her for soooooooo long. So when she did break gait I chalked it up to my fault not doing enough sooner and just started again. Buuuut, I also wanted to be a good leader and stick to my plan.

What ended up working was just making sure I paid very close attention to a drop in energy on her part (downward transition within the gait) and fixed it then by re asking her to go. (upward transition within the gait). Yahooo! Got it to the right.

Going left she had figured out what I wanted and so was putting in quite an effort. The thing was it was more of a hand gallop. Not really getting faster and faster but not really a soft canter either. I didn't want to be picky about the speed...its just that I frankly am worried about her getting off balance, tripping and falling on her head.

My decision was to stay really relaxed and fluid in my body but to do a one second half halt on the shoulder that felt like it needed it. In this case it was the outside shoulder. She was falling into the circle with the left so my instinct said to slowdown the right. Tada! Super. I felt like I wasn't really disturbing her but just got in and out when she needed me.

I felt REALLY REALLY good about those canters. Walking along the rail (using Karen Rohlf's idea about neutral within the walk) she was blowing and blowing and licking her lips. La la la. Faaaabulous.

I usually want to do a few trots to fix any impulsion issues that might have cropped up. And I did need to do some 10 meeter circles using one rein to get back to a self regulated working trot. I wondered if I could just use my Savvy String to stop and back up. YAY! I hopped down, undressed, gave some big long scratches (I remember when I couldn't find any itchy spots) even under her udder...savvy string around the neck, marched back into her room and that was that. Super.

I love it when I have to take a day or two break and I can live off a great last session. That is the best.