Day #12 - “Horsenality Tuesday,” September 9

8. September 2009 by Edie.

“Your horse doesn’t care how much you know until he knows how much you care.”  ~ Pat Parelli 

I think my head is going to explode!  It was a GREAT DAY!  We started in the lodge with John talking about how “what you focus on - EXPANDS.”  So true.  He also talked a little more about how our horsemanship is a never-ending journey - and that if we’re not happy with NOW, we’ll never be happy, because it will never be “perfect enough.”

He reminded us that we need to be “shining lights” in the outside world of “normals,” or as Pat says ” a well finger on a sore hand.”

Then, Kathy took over to talk a bit about horsenality, posture, saddle fit, and shimming (Kim L., wish you could have been here - I got you a handout!).  She showed us several “model” horse drawings and we placed them in the horsenality quadrants they appeared to belong in - how interesting!  So much of how a horse carries himself starts in his mind!  Same with us, of course.  She talked about how we probably can’t change basic bone-structure issues, but we can certainly change the rest!  She suggested the usual “helpers:” hill therapy, cavaletti, circle game (focusing on ribs), and transitions.  She also talked about how if there is friction/rubbed hair underneath our saddle after riding that we may have a driving seat or be bracing in our stirrups.

Then, we went out to Arena Grande with our horses and worked again on the cloverleaf pattern and circles - giving our horses MORE responsibility (loose reins) and working on our phases (eyes, belly-button, legs, reins) with regard to turning.  John said that if we only use our reins to turn, we are lying to our horse (being unjust) - because we probably are being lazy and not turning in our own bodies FIRST!  He described constant nagging on the reins as “being a back-seat driver.”  Good analogy. We practiced for an hour or two at walk, trot, and canter. It was interesting with almost 50 riders in there, but there were no crashes OR calamities.

Alicia and I switched saddles and I got to ride in her VERY expensive english Parelli Fluidity saddle.  HotShot seemed to like it and it felt nice, but I don’t see having the kind of $$ to buy a saddle like that any time soon (roughly $3500 with fittings).  She liked my Freeform treeless, though, so I’ll be happy with that for as long as I can. HotShot was GREAT about everything, but he was pretty pooped after this!  I can’t believe how fit he is becoming here - he’ll be MORE than exuberant for trail rides in Wisconsin when I get back!

Then, I cleaned that MUCKY pen (work!) and ran a couple of errands.  When I got back, I checked in at the Big Top.  Sam Caporn was in the middle of a lesson with Walter Zettl on his Selle’ Francois “Quick Car.”  I decided to stay and watch - most others were doing more riding this afternoon, but there were about 20 or so of us who opted to learn from Walter today and I didn’t want to drill my LBI to death anyway. What a cool horse Sam was riding!  He reminded me so much of my second police horse McAllister - so talented and springy.  It was only Sam’s second dressage lesson and he did pretty well.  Of course, he’s a natural rider and tall and skinny!  Some of the comments Walter made during Sam’s ride:

“98% (of mistakes) is NOT the horse - it’s the rider.”

“It’s like watching grass grow (classical dressage).  You see so little (aids), then suddenly, it’s there.”

“Don’t make him look like an elk!”  (this comment was accompanied by some interesting visual illustration - Walter pawing his arms like he was rearing and striking out - funny!)

“All mistakes (in the horse) come from crookedness.”

“If the horse has a problem - it is WAY BACK  (example: if a horse can’t do a canter pirouette, it’s because he can’t do a perfectly balanced, collected canter.  You should canter/walk/canter (a million transitions!), bringing him slower and slower in each transition to prepare for this).

Then, Kathy came in (after rousing applause for Sam and his willingness to be so transparent - one of the  things I LOVE about Parelli from the top-down - even Pat and Linda are willing to expose their mistakes so others can learn!).  She was riding her LBE Thoroughbred “Macchiato.”  Some of Walter’s comments regarding Kathy’s lesson were:

“I don’t care what bit you use - it’s your hands - if they are iron, your bit is iron.”

“When I say more outside rein, always the driving leg picks up - pushing into the outside (holding) rein (driving leg goes diagonal to the bit).”

“Give the horse a 2 horse-length “heads up” before a turn or a transition.”

Leg yield: “Both legs are back - one leg active, the other controlling.”

“Drive the horse into your hands - keep your hands quiet. Power comes to the hands from the back to the front.”

The coolest thing was watching Kathy take this lesson in her cowboy hat and chaps - this is what it’s all about!  I thanked Walter and he is SUCH a gentleman, he took my hand and kissed it!  He was more than willing to answer questions from any of us who had them (of course, I had several). He is such a gracious man and a wonderful teacher and he kept saying over and over “this horse is a wonderful teacher.”  He is the real deal and truly LOVES horses - such an awesome man.

After dinner (which those of us who were watching the Walter lessons were late for, but we didn’t care), I got HotShot out and rode him around the ranch a bit, just to stretch his legs again.  He had a significant work-out this morning, so we only spent a little while riding, but it was good.  The sun was down and the tack room was getting dark by the time we got back to the pens - days are definitely getting shorter.  I kept thinking that I didn’t want to meet a bear!

So, tomorrow is “Leadership Wednesday.”  Walter is here for one more day and I hope to catch another lesson or two - such a wonderful, unexpected (and free!) opportunity for those of us who take advantage!

Edie

Posted in 2009 ISC | No Comments »

Day #11 - “Riding With Purpose” - “Prey/Predator Monday,” September 7

7. September 2009 by Edie.

“You need to put principle before purpose, but you need to have a purpose for your principle to have meaning.” ~ Pat Parelli

It was a great weekend - HotShot and I spent an hour or so practicing our on-line assessment in the big playground on Saturday afternoon.  He was a little distracted, but we did O.K. and I think we have the compulsories down - I just wanted to watch myself.  So glad I did - I look like I’m in one of those fast-motion old-time movies (only 10 minutes, we have to do this, we have to do that!) - I can’t believe how extroverted I can be!  So, I will sloooowwwwww dooowwwwnnnnnn now and fit what I can in 10 minutes without stressing - sometimes I can’t believe my horse puts up with me! After all this on-line prep. we went into one of the 50’round pens in the playground honeycomb to ride for awhile, and he was giving me laps and laps of canter with NO corrections and even started SPINNING for me - amazing!  Just goes to show how much of a difference “riding from the ground” makes before you get on - it’s like putting a quarter in him!

On Sunday, we went to Mesa Verde (Alicia, Ash, and me) to see the largest cliff-dwelling ruins in North America - it was awesome!  We stopped for dinner in Durango and ran into Chris and Tony Faria (PP Mastery Students/Instructors from Australia) at the “Ore House.”  It was a long and strenous day - we had to hike some pretty treacherous trails to get to the Cliff Palace ruins and climb several ladders to get out - scary!

So, today came bright and early.  We started week #3 today (I can’t believe it!) and our “Riding With Purpose” module.  We started in the lodge and welcomed several new students who are here for the next week or two.  John then talked about some basics, including that as students, we can’t really ever be “wrong” here, that wherever we are with our horse NOW is fine, and that WE are responsible for our own learning.  He talked again about how, if someone tells you exactly how to do something, it creates human “brace,” and that it is better to have to solve the puzzles ourselves and go through the learning process that way.  He talked about how Pat does not want to create “lifer” dependent students like many instructors/programs do - he wants people to become empowered and not to rely on instructors forever.  I know that this is my philosophy with my clients and I think I have been very clear with them about this.  If they can’t go on without me one day, then I haven’t done my job! I am glad to be part of a program with the same philosophy.

John went on to say that it will take TWICE as long to absorb what we learn here after we get home - so, if we’re here four weeks, it will take at least eight weeks after we get home for it all to “sink in.”  He described the ISC as an “invisible dome” where there is NO PRESSURE - a safe haven to learn without judgment.  If we “take the time it takes” to learn things here, it will take less time at home.

He talked about how horses regularly get blamed for OUR incompetence - but they’re just being honest.  He said again:  When the student is ready, the teacher will appear - and encouraged us to take advantage of the instructors who are on campus.  Excitement - Walter Zettl AND Dave Ellis are here this week!  We have even been told that we can WATCH Walter’s lessons with Pat and Linda when they are held in the Big Top, as long as we’re respectful and don’t distract or interrupt the process or anything - cool!

Then John said: “Why can’t you ride bareback and bridle-less with your arms folded across your chest, stay on the rail, walk, trot, canter, halt, switch leads, etc.?  Why?  Go back to the FOUNDATION!” This was food for thought. Truly, if our foundation is “perfect,” we should all be able to do all of those things!  Something to strive for.  John reminded us of “never-ending self-improvement” and that we can go at our own pace here - we can push ourselves if we like or take it easier if we need to.

Then, we went up to the 100′ round pen, where John did a demo with his mare Chico on preparing for riding.  He said we should “ride our horse on the ground” before we get on, and that “if it’s not light, it’s not right.”  He had us press our finger lightly on our eyelid and said “that’s how much pressure it should be - no more.”  He also reminded us to make sure that our horse is “with us” and “checking in with us.”

John covered basic saddle prep. again and talked about the basics: front cinch, back cinch, THEN breastcollar, and reverse when you un-saddle.  He talked about how once you attach the cinch, you are “at the point of no return” and you probably don’t want to “talk to your buddy for awhile” before you snug it up to prevent a calamity.  He talked about your horse asking/allowing you to saddle them as opposed to just imposing it upon them (can you do it at liberty?).  He went over lateral flexion, phases of turning (eyes, belly-button, legs, reins) and direct and indirect reins, as well as emergency dismount.  He also talked about phases of “go,” (life up, smile w/all four cheeks, squeeze - and smile if you please! - spank!) and how to slow/halt (stop riding, sit down, THEN pick up reins!).

After lunch, our focus stations were either Arena Grande riding or the large honeycomb for riding prep.  I tacked up HotShot with the halter/hack and bareback pad and took him down to the lodge with me.  He stood tied at the hitching rail with some other horses for awhile so I could eat lunch, then we went into Arena Grande for an hour or so to practice cloverleaf patterns and create “tracks” in the newly-dragged arena - cool! After this, we took a spin (alone) up to the top of the hill and “snuck through” the fence at the back, where there is a trail head and some nice grass - I let him graze a while and spent some “undemanding time.”  As we came back down past the Big Top, I saw that they were preparing for Walter Zettl lessons.  I couldn’t go in with HotShot, so I took him back down by the pens and put him in the 100′ round-pen, inviting him to roll.  He was more interested in the weeds around the perimeter (typical!), so I practiced laying him down (twice) and bowing, then I got grain, etc. ready.  I had cleaned his pen earlier (horribly muddy because it poured again here yesterday), so that was done.  The “Big Blue” team had already brought hay around, so I went down to dinner, as it was too late to head back up to the Big Top - I’ll have to catch a Walter lesson later this week. One of the other students, Sylvia, was talking about it at dinner - how precise and amazing he is as a teacher.  Apparently Pat is learning to TEACH dressage through Walter - very cool.  IMO, one of the best things about the Parelli’s, both Pat AND Linda, is that they live by their own “never-ending self-improvement” mantra.

One sad note:  One of the Australian students, Julianne, had a tragedy yesterday while we were gone - her lease horse (local owner) colicked and DIED.  The ISC is giving her another horse to use, but how awful!  She was really upset - I don’t know the details, but I guess they couldn’t save the horse.  So sad.  Makes me remember to pray DAILY for protection for my loved ones AND my pets, including my horses.  I am grateful that I put Hotty and Lib on pro-biotics a couple of weeks before we left Wisconsin and that I have plenty left to keep them on here and for a while after we get home - you forget how finicky horse’s digestive systems can be in captivity, especially when it involves ANY change (food, environment, etc.)!

So, off to take it easy tonight - I might even watch some TV or something.  I’m pooped! Tomorrow’s another day of riding - yay!

Edie

Posted in 2009 ISC | 2 Comments »

Addendum to Friday, 9/24 - Yes, he IS an Arab!

5. September 2009 by Edie.

For those of you wondering how HotShot can REALLY be a registered half-Arabian - here’s photo proof!  I was a bit premature regarding the ending of my day yesterday. Just as I was preparing to leave the ranch for the day, the weather changed and Debbie said “Why can’t we go up into the Big Top?”  So, it was the kick in the jeans I needed - I went and got HotShot, put on the bareback pad, and took my 22′ rope and carrot stick/string along.  We rode up there and he was FULL OF IT after the rain - it had really cooled off.  There was no one else up there (Debbie had decided to play with a tarp in the 100′ round pen instead), so I got off, took of his halter and wah-lah, my Arab showed up!  He and I had SO MUCH FUN playing up there - he was running around, snorting and bucking, with his tail straight up in the air - photo op!  Unfortunately, I wasn’t quick enough on my favorite photo not to cut off a bit of his nose, but it’s a frameable photo if I can somehow “fudge” the edge a bit - we’ll see!

Then, we played with the ball - he was running around with it and retrieving it to me - the pedestal, barrels, etc.  - we were both really in the learning zone and he had SO much energy and impulsion.  I was counting on the fact that he is not at all lame on any leg, although his left hind is still a bit swelled.  Guess I’ll find out shortly if I made a mistake letting him run around so much, but I just didn’t have the heart to tell him he couldn’t - he was having such a good time!

After we were done, I had to hose his legs (muddy and dirty!) and do all the afternoon/evening chores.  Good thing I brought my muck-boots - the pens were awful!  Then Ash and I left and stopped at the City Market for a few groceries - Alicia made eggs benedict for us this morning - yum! - so I provided the eggs.  We went to the Hot Springs last night and had a nice, relaxing time.  I wonder what the pioneers thought when they discovered them?  It smells like sulfur, but you get used to it after a time.  We saw Sam Caporn there and had a good discussion with him.  We got home around 11:30 and I slept in this morning - Heaven!

Now, I’m at the ranch and will be going to get HotShot and play for the afternoon.  Ash and Libby playing near the driveway as I walked down this morning and Libby was SO shiny and clean, I took a few photos of them, as well.

Off to play with my horse now - have a great Saturday!

Edie

Posted in 2009 ISC | 2 Comments »

Day #10 - “Putting It All Together” Friday, Sept. 4

4. September 2009 by Edie.

“Trust that they will respond, but be ready to correct.  Not one more than the other.”  ~ Pat Parelli 

It’s pouring!!!  I’m sitting in the lodge now, after running back through literal RIVERS of water from the pens after lunch - it was hailing pretty hard too - we watched the horses “flip out” for a few minutes, then turn their butts to the wind and “deal.”  I decided that, rather than stand around and do nothing, I would come back down here and type.  So - today . . .

We started in the lodge again with John drawing the Horsenality Chart and talking about how, as our savvy grows, so does our “learning zone” with horses.  We talked about how, if our horse gets unconfident, we need to effectively use approach and retreat, but that sometimes, we need to “push them through” to get growth (move closer, stay longer applies to horses too, Cheri!).  Ronnie Willis said “Sometimes, you might have to take a horse to Hell and back.”  (BACK is the important part!)  IF you have the savvy, you can sometimes push a horse that’s RB or has gone RB through to LB - and “stretch their bubble.”  John stressed that only those with our savvy level or higher should attempt this though - or it could go horribly wrong.  He said the pendulum swings between de-sensitizing our horses (first), then, when they’re confident, sensitizing them again as our (and their) competency levels rise (otherwise, they’ll remain SO de-sensitized that we’ll have trouble getting them to MOVE!).  I thought about this in light of police horse training and realized that it makes perfect sense.  Now that HotShot and I are retired and he has the life experience, confidence, and ability to do other things, we are working on getting him more sensitive.  However . . .

“SENSITIVITY” DOES NOT EQUAL “REACTIVITY!”

but . . . if we never take our horses to the “edge” or their “blow point” when we CAN control it, it will happen when we CAN’T, or at the most in-opportune moment.

John said that we must begin to see our “window of opportunity” for teaching our horse and seize it (not miss it!).  But, we musn’t go TOO far in sensitizing (keeping balance in mind), or our horses might LOSE confidence - we want to strive for balance (whoa = go). This is true horsemanship.

John said that Pat created the “carrot stick” because he knew two kinds of people:  “carrot” people (love, love, love!, but no language or leadership!) and “stick” people (those who only know how to use force to MAKE). The carrot stick is a continual, visual reminder for us to be “extreme middle-of-the-roadists.”  We need to find balance between confidence (dominance) and obedience (submission) with our horses.

We then talked about the Personality/Horsenality Remudas we participated in on Wednesday and were told that the purpose for these was to get us to understand ourselves, so we can seek/achieve balance with our horses (and in our lives!).  Love, Language, and Leadership in EQUAL DOSES is ideal.

Then, the coolest thing:  Linda Parelli paid us a visit!  When she walked in, everyone stood and gave her a standing O!  She spent over an hour with us and did some in-depth teaching about horsenality - including answering specific questions from many of us.  I took a photo of the chart she created and will attempt to post it here - too hard to text everything she wrote, but what I got mostly out of it was that there is no “perfect match” of personality/horsenality, that the best personality for a horse is “a horseman.” The point is to learn to get on with everyone/horse who is different than you - without judgment!  She talked about the “axis of intellect” between RBE and LBI and the “axis of emotion” between RBI and LBE and said that sometimes, we subconsciously seek out our opposite in an attempt to balance ourselves, although it doesn’t always work out well in the long run (our opposites can drive us crazy!). I realized that this is true of me, and that in HotShot’s and my case (he innately LBI, me innately RBE) that we have both “grown” towards the LBE quadrant in order to better match each other - cool!

Then, Linda talked about how, just because a horse is calm, it doesn’t mean he is trusting.  We need to establish TRUST before we push them, or they can go RB or introverted.  The order is:

1) calm

2) trust

3) motivation

4) obedience/willingness (I am happy to say that HotShot and I are HERE!)

She talked about Pat and Allure (Pat has been riding him since Linda’s injury) and how they are a “perfect match” LBE/LBE team.  She said that her broken ribs finally forced her to give Allure to Pat so he could put on a good foundation.  She said “The first time Allure came back after a session with Pat, he looked like he had just had great sex!”  Someone asked her “What about Pat?” and she said “Well, Pat looked that way WHILE he was riding him, Allure didn’t figure it out until AFTERWARD.”  What a hoot!

Then, an (RBI) woman talked (through tears) about how she has developed a better relationship with her RBI lease-horse here in two weeks than she has with her LBI horse at home - what should she do?  Linda asked her “Well, do you want to be comfortable (which is FINE), or do you want to challenge yourself?  Only YOU can decide.”  She said that her LBI would teach her more if she can stick with it.  She said that “alot of people are mis-matched (with their horse) - that’s why they get into our program.”  She admitted that she was drawn to Allure for all the wrong reasons and that he IS a better horse for Pat because he requires SO much savvy, but that her original goals with Allure have now been replaced with “I want to learn as much as I can from this horse.”

Linda identified herself as an “off the charts” LBE/RBE (me!) who is (hopefully) moving down towards the center - no wonder I feel such a strong attraction to her as a teacher - I feel like a kindred spirit! She said “I was poison for my horses before Parelli.”  I guess I tend to agree with her, as in my case I could “get ‘r done,” but no horse ever wanted to BE with me like my horses now do!

Linda talked about our responsibility to our horses: we are either improving them, or we are killing them!  She said “You can’t be who you are with your horse - you have to be a horseman - YOU have to adapt!”  This quote is going on my website!

After Linda left, we had our Finale ceremony and it was VERY boisterous!  Since we human predators LOVE praise, recognition, and . . . certificates!  we were encouraged to cheer loudly for each other - and we did!

Kathy and Avery reminded us that “Only when you find your phase 1 getting lighter and lighter are you being effective.”  Words to ponder.

We finished up by watching a few inspirational videos - Silke Valentin, Honza, and Pat and Sparky.  I am going to try to get copies somehow of some of these videos - just to watch once in awhile to remind me what to strive for.

Well, I’m done writing, but it’s not done raining!  Alicia and I are hoping that this good rain fills up the lake behind the lodge so we can play in it with the horses!  It’s been so dry here this year that we haven’t been allowed in what’s left of the lake.  It is quite a culture-shock to be here and realize the VALUE of water - the ISC has 15,000 gallons of water shipped in here every single day!

Oh well, - the best-laid plans . . . I was going to practice-video my on-line and liberty assessments today - guess I’ll have to wait until tomorrow - the radar is showing a good chance of solid rain for the rest of today.  So, a bunch of the girls are going shopping (cover your eyes, Honey!). I think I’ll just bop around town a bit and see what I can see.  Tomorrow I’ll be here in the morning for Parelli Games - to watch, if nothing else.  THEN maybe I’ll get to do some video-ing.  At least this heavy rain makes it un-necessary to cold-hose Hotty’s legs again today!

Edie

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Day #9 - “Puzzle-solving Thursday,” September 3

3. September 2009 by Edie.

““Observe, Remember, and Compare.  Isolate, Separate, and Re-combine.”

“The Truth” continues . . .

Today we started in the lodge with John talking a bit about yesterday and what we learned.  We talked about competency levels and how they emerge in the following order:

- unconscious incompetence

- conscious incompetence

- conscious competence

- unconscious competence (it becomes second nature)

John talked about how the above are a cycle - when you get good at one level, you start over - it becomes an upward, never-ending spiral (you don’t know what you don’t know . . . until you know!).  He encouraged us to go at our own pace and to excel if we can - not to wait on instructors - we are empowered here!

Someone asked another question about how to deal with their LBI.  He told her to be interesting, or her horse might say “Your idea sucks!” and leave!  He once again said that we must cause OUR idea to become THEIR idea to motivate them - she said “how do I do that?”  and John replied “It’s a puzzle.”  That’s the only answer she got.  The philosophy here is to set it up so people can figure things out on their own - otherwise they are “robbed” of their own learning journey.

Then John talked about how often, we expect horses to do things in THEIR bodies (flying lead changes, changes of direction) that we can’t even work out/do in our OWN bodies!  I remembered doing canter lead-changes over poles at a Dan & Gretchen Thompson clinic in 2004 - it was very helpful to understand what needs to happen in your horse’s body to set this up.  John said “If you can’t do it on the ground, how do you expect to be able to do it on your horse’s back?”  This is where conga-horse simulations come in.

Then, he talked a bit about this Saturday - we can play Parelli Games again from 9am until around noon if we want to. I’m not sure HotShot will be “up” for this - depends upon his legs - they are still a bit swelled up today.  There is a folk festival going on in town this weekend if we can’t play, or we may take a day-trip to Mesa Verde to the cliff-dwelling ruins.

At around 10am we went out to the small coverall, where Kathy worked with four different horses on change of direction issues.  It was VERY informative.  She started with a sorrel LBI QH.  She reminded us that it is more important to move the front end (as opposed to the back end) on LB horses.  She said “start at “suggest” - if you start at “tell”, or even “ask,” these horses will HATE you!”  Also, it was amazing how LONG she waited on this horse to contemplate - 3 whole minutes at one point before she got a lick and chew!  SO HARD for my little extroverted self to do!  She reminded us that an LBI can easily and subtly go to the RBI side when stressed/learning (HotShot, for sure) and that if we push, we will damage the relationship!  We need to make sure that our horse(s) see the playpen/round pen as a “sweet spot” to be in - not a threatening/worrisome/stressful environment.  She reminded us - LOOOONNNNNGGGGG Phase 1, then quick 2,3, and STRONG Phase 4!   She suggested using cones as markers for point-to-point exercises (LBI’s HATE circles and boredom!) and to get interesting! She said that we’ll know we’re really getting somewhere with our LBI when he starts offering motivation and exuberance - then we must QUIT and leave him wanting more for the next time - so hard for us to do.

Then Kathy played with an RBE buckskin Walker mare - the polar opposite.  She said we must address the horsenality of a horse to develop “want” vs. “make.”  She talked about the difference between the cues for change of direction (run back) and “game over” (disengage) and how we should never even partially disengage to get a change of direction - confusing and sets up future problems.  She talked about backwards “S” patterns as drawing and falling leaf pattern as driving.  This horse had a tendency to come in with her ears back, and Kathy said “whether it’s a dominant behavior or a scared behavior, they shouldn’t be allowed to come in or be near you if they’re cranky.”

She talked about the differences between these two horses - it’s almost impossible to wear out an extrovert (Libby), but with an LBI, your BRAIN will wear out and start sweating first!  She said that if things are getting better, you’re on the right track.  If not, go back to where things are good - isolate the problem, separate, fix it, then recombine.

My favorite analogy that Kathy used was the “Thanksgiving Dishes.”  Do you wash the baked on pans from the oven first?  Or soak them while you do the “easy” dishes?  In other words - don’t “hammer away” at what you see as the “big problem.”  Just play at all the other, easier stuff and the big problem will just “slide away” like that baked-on scum!

Then, she played with a “middlevert” (on line between LBE?LBI) - a grey mare.  This horse found her SO boring, that she simply waited in zone 5 where the horse couldn’t see her, then developed some draw/curiousity by doing squirrely things back there.  Funny and this horse just couldn’t figure her out!  As soon as she changed her expression to one of interest/willingness in this session, Kathy quit!

Lastly, she worked with an RBE, pretty, light sorrel gelding who goes RBI while learning).  She was very gentle with this horse and gained his confidence quickly.  Again, she created draw with backwards “S” pattern change-of-direction, and said that if a horse starts to get pushy or invade your space, you simply switch to walking forward instead of backward (falling leaf).

After this, we broke for lunch.  Instead of going to eat right away, I got Hotty out and went into the small coverall 50′ round-pen to immediately cement some of this stuff in my brain!  We had a great session on-line with lovely change-of-direction at walk, trot, and even flying changes at canter (just a couple - he is still a bit sore).  After he OFFERED me amazing impulsion and willingness, we QUIT and I let him eat grass for about 15 minutes, then took him to the (yummy) molasses water, then cold-hosed his legs again - his left hind was a bit warm, but I still don’t think we need a vet or anything - he seems to be getting better every day.  I gave him a treat, put him in his pen, and went to lunch.

This afternoon was AWESOME!  We had a choice of two focus stations:  falling leaf and backwards “S” in the grassy meadow, or changes of direction in the large honeycomb.  HotShot and I walked up to the grassy meadow with me driving him from zone 5 with one 22′ rope - he was wonderful and focused, as he just about jumped out of his pen when he saw me coming to get him!

I didn’t want to tax him physically too much with changes of direction, so just ran him through a few patterns of falling leaf (driving) and backwards “S” (drawing).  He did them both SO PERFECTLY that I just stopped and let him eat grass for awhile.  Then we went into the large honeycomb and played “stick to me” a bit - he was very focused on me and happy to be with me, even with a bunch of other horses passing by and working in the small round-pens around us. We waited our turn to get into one of the round pens that had two barrels inside - bonus!  We practiced figure 8 on-line and at liberty around the barrels, side-passing over the barrel, and his favorite - half-jumping over one barrel in the middle of the round-pen - cool!  Then we came back outside the round-pen and I thought well, there’s no better time to find out - the TRUTH!  We went outside the gate and into the large (open) grassy field.  There were people all over with their horses, but I noticed that Ash and Libby were now gone (they had been up here earlier).  HotShot and I were the ONLY ones up there at liberty in the big field and he never even THOUGHT about leaving me - I was so happy! He could clearly see his pen (food!) about 1/2 mile away on the hill and could have left me to go there at any time, but he didn’t.  We played with the pedestal (he can get three feet on now, but not quite all four yet) and I took a bunch of photos of some of the other people and their horses who were up there.  Then, we went back on line and moseyed (drove) back to the pens - a perfect session!  I cold-hosed his legs again (2nd time today), applied more Derma-Plast, fed grain, cleaned pens, filled water, and went to dinner.

I realized today that my horse is SO bonded to me - that he gets his bravery from ME and apparently, me alone.  I guess that’s not surprising, given our history, but it really makes me aware of my responsibility to him as a leader and alpha human.  He is SO WONDERFUL!

Along the lines of wonderful-ness, I have decided to take on HotShot and Libby’s sire in October.  His owners need to disperse all of their horses, and they are willing to GIVE him to me.  This is pure-bred Arabian Baron Von Black, Wisconsin State Horse Council Horse of The Year a few years back when he and Al Bluhm single-handedly chased down a runaway draft team in the Janesville Labor Day parade. Al did everything with Baron - he was featured several years at the Midwest Horse Fair on Stallion Avenue, did cowboy mounted shooting, trail riding, etc.  He is 22 now, but in good health.  This will be my first experience actually owning a stallion and his owners would like to see him remain intact, so as long as he behaves himself, I’m agreeable.  Besides, HotShot is 10, Libby is 13 - it’s probably time for me to think about creating one more “horse of my heart” and I can’t think of a better sire - just need to find a nice Percheron mare to cross him on.

With that, I’ll close tonight and head off to the condo. for a hot bath.  Hug your horses, everyone!

Edie

Posted in 2009 ISC | No Comments »

Day #8 - “Leadership Wednesday,” Sept. 2

2. September 2009 by Edie.

“To err is human, but to blame the horse is even more human.”  ~Pat Parelli

Today we started in the lodge with John talking about leadership and sharing comments about yesterday. Several people commented on Kathy’s demo. with her two horses, esp. her LBI, and we discussed the fine line between expecting responsibility and accepting try.  Kathy said that, if her horse offered her something better or different, she wouldn’t necessarily correct in favor of preserving the relationship (don’t “no, no, no!”).  She said “Don’t step over dollars to pick up pennies.”  That one will stick with me, especially when I get direct-line in my thinking and have a particular end (task) in mind.

John talked about the on-line demo. in the Big Top yesterday and commented that there are not many places in “horseville” where 50 or so people and their horses can have a good learning experience without chaos such as happened there.

We then once again talked a little bit about Horsenality and were asked to consider ourSELVES - where do WE belong on the chart? I had given thought to this in the past and felt that I belonged either on the vertical line between LBE and RBE, or a little to the left (LBE).  We were asked to REALLY think about our INNATE personality - which caused me to realize that I really probably belong more in the RBE quadrant - my 25 years of law enforcement have moved me further left, but when I’m stressed, I still tend to default to the RBE quadrant.  This also fit with my Myers-Briggs personality profile (ESFJ) - my “F” (Feeling) part, anyway.

We were asked to go to different stations, depending upon our innate horsenality, so I chose to go to the RBE group.  PP Avery Gauthier (also an RBE) led us in a very interesting session there.  She started by making us move our feet!  We had to to another “blind horse” exercise with a partner and did a LOT of trotting!  THEN we were ready to THINK!  Then Avery began with some comments about RBE’s:

- we need to move our feet (or mouths!) to think

- our leaders must match our energy, or we get frustrated

- our biggest challenge is to STAY FOCUSED

- we need to use a “talking stick” to let others participate in our discussions

- we need to hold ourselves accountable for our own results

- Pat says “I’ll bet you can change your impatience into endurance.”

Avery went on to say that RBE’s are often labeled as “crazy” or “nutcases” because of our bouncing all over the place.  One of our strongest suits is DREAMING - but we need to have a focus to achieve our dream.  We need to break our dream down (isolate, separate, re-combine) in order to get there.

She talked about the four personality types and what comes easiest/hardest for each:

Right-Brain Extrovert - dream (easiest), focus (hardest)

Right-Brain Introvert - nurture (easiest), trust (hardest)

Left-Brain Introvert - theory (easiest), response (hardest)

Left-Brain Extrovert - doing - LBI’s are EXTREME do-ers (easiest), obedience (hardest)

We also talked about our insecurities - our “I’m not OK - you need to tell me I’m OK” need for support and re-assurance (honestly, this is inherent in me!)  We DO like to show off and have attention, but it’s usually just to have someone else confirm that we’re OK.  How interesting . . .

Avery talked about how we are more effective if we PLAN the night before for our day, because we’re ready to think after GOING all day (we need to move our feet to think!)  I guess this is true of me, as well.  One thing that didn’t fit, though, was that Avery said RBE’s fall asleep and wake up easily - definitely NOT me - I hate mornings and my mind used to race a lot at night, but not so much any more.

All of the personality types need to work on moving closer to the center, just as we expect our horses to!

Avery pointed out that as a group sitting on the mercantile porch, we all sat close together, open, and intent - we want inspiration!  While LBI’s (our polar opposite - yes, I married one - twice!) would typically sit back expressionless with their arms crossed, waiting for facts!  I thought about how funny it was that my husband and my horse are the same personality/horsenality - and my polar opposite innately!

It is easy for us (RBE) to focus on the negative, so we were encouraged to write down five things that went well EVERY DAY!  We talked about the “4 Agreements:”

1) always do your best

2) don’t take it personally (innately hardest for me)

3) never make assumptions

4) be impeccable with your words

Also, to put principles before goals and to interrupt our negative patterns!

This entire exercise was very good for me - I surmised that, while I AM innately RBE, I am almost equally LBE with my horse, clients, etc. 25 years of law enforcement and supervisory experience has definitely moved me more to the left, so I really am pretty close to that vertical line, although there is NOTHING introverted about me (surprise!).

After our groups, we went back to the lodge and discussed some of our “aha” moments.  Kathy talked about how you will often move to one of the quadrants next to your main quadrant, but rarely will you go diagonally across (such as, me going LBI) unless you are under great stress or have had some kind of life-experience (trauma) that causes this.  With our horses, this can take the form of past (bad) training (Libby is a good example, she can switch from RBE to LBI).

So, in light of what we learned about ourselves today, we were asked: how will this change how I work with my horse? (HotShot - LBI).

- I will slow down

- no judgment (criticism)

- develop a plan and FOCUS!

- let my horse “get a word in edgewise”

- give my horse more time to lick and chew (chill!)

I will let my hubby tell me - but I’ll bet he’d feel better if I did all of the above for HIM, too!

After this, we talked about flying lead changes and changes of direction

- you must have respect, impulsion, and flexion in order to get exuberance in our horse (boy, did I find THAT out last week!).

We watched a short video clip of a lion/zebra kill and talked about prey/predator things:

Predator:

- eyes in front looking forward

- hand that close quickly (claws)

- what we eat

- how we smell

- direct-line thinking

- forget, NOT forgive

Prey:

- eyes on side of head (almost 360 vision)

- flight

- hyper-awareness

- herd

- live in the moment, moment to moment

- forgive, NOT forget

We were asked to think about forgiveness and to “think about what you’re chiseling in stone as opposed to what you are writing in the sand.”

Horses are here to teach people not to be:

- chauvanistic

- autocratic

- anthropomorphic

- direct-line thinkers

If we don’t use the laws of nature while working with our horses, we become artificial (artificial aids) - many trainers don’t understand the mental/emotional needs of horses - they only think of the physical. We talked about perversions/vices (cribbing, stall-weaving, tongue lopping, rubbing) and how if we saw a PERSON doing these things, we would say “that person needs help” but how we are almost immuned to them in the world of horses.  We need to ask WHY are they doing these things?

In the lion/zebra video, we saw how the lions were more MENTALLY focused and the zebras were more PHYSICALLY focused.

Then we watched another short video of two stallions competing for dominance in a wild herd - they work it out and one of them prevails, but then they go about their business immediately afterward (immediate forgiveness).  It was also a great illustration of how it is natural for horses to push INTO pressure, not give to it.

Last, we watched a video of Pat riding Magic with Casper at liberty - similar to his 2007 demo. in Madison - it was SO inspiring!

After this, we went up to the Big Top, where John led a demo. on the “stick to me” game with Kathy, Emily Thompson, and Mastery program Lindsey (LNU).  They played “find your owner.” I have done this with the mounted police group and PP John Harms in the past - fun!

After lunch, we had a choice of three focus stations: change of direction, on-line preparation for liberty, or stick to me at liberty.  Alicia and I played hookey (sp?) and went to Out West Saddlery after lunch - I got the belt I wanted and had them measure me for some custom half-chaps when I get rich!  When we got back, I took HotShot up to the honeycomb on the grassy hill for stick-to-me liberty play.  Cynthia (L-4 student) was there with her big Percheron/Thoroughbred cross mare and we went into a 50′ round pen together and did circle game with both of them - opposite directions at the same time and everything!  It was really cool - my first time doing that - I can’t wait to get home and try it with two of my own horses!  I didn’t want to push HotShot too much today, as his legs were pretty swelled up yet this morning, so we played a bit and I let him eat grass for a while. We worked on some little things: porcupine, pedestal (we’ve almost got all four feet on now!) etc.  Then, only Jeanie and her beautiful black Arab mare and us were left.  As we walked to the log-jump out of the big honeycomb (an alternative to the two gates) we both looked at each other and said “maybe we should . . .”  Obviously we were synchronized in our thinking (a MIRACLE for humans), because our two horses did a PERFECTLY synchronized jump out of the honeycomb together - an awesome end to an awesome day!  We went back to the pens and were telling everyone - it was SO COOL!

Then, I cold-hosed Hotty’s legs, scraped off the “crud,” put on more Derma-Plast and Swat, cleaned pens, got water, fed grain, whew!  I missed the dinner/cook-out bell by a long shot tonight, but it was worth it just to stand in the pen with HotShot and scratch his butt while he  ate his grain (aren’t we horse-people weird?!).

So, off to pick up Chinese and veg. at the condo - I have GOT to get to bed earlier tonight!  It’s getting dark now, so I’ll go say goodnight to my equine friends and head up that LONG HILL to the truck!

Edie

Posted in 2009 ISC | No Comments »

Day #7: “Horsenality Tuesday,” Sept. 1

1. September 2009 by Edie.

“Knowing what makes your horse tick, what’s important to him, what motivates,de-motivates,upsets, or excites him is a fantastic key to success with your horse.”  ~Linda Parelli

Today I came to the ranch early to check on HotShot.  He was a bit swollen up,  but none the worse for wear, just a slight limp on his right front leg.  So, I took him out and moved him around a bit in the same 50′ round pen (returning to the scene).  He was a bit nervous at first, but settled down quickly.  I gave him about 10 minutes to move around, then put him away for my morning classroom session.

We started in the ranch house with John Baar talking again about rapport and how important it is to have it.  He described it as the basis under the triangle hierarchy (bottom to top) of Respect, Impulsion, and Flexion, but separate from those three, since the amount of Rapport varies in size.  He stated that as our savvy increases, we actually need LESS rapport to be effective with any given horse (like Pat).  We do need to continue to build our rapport with our horses, as it is the basis for our improving relationship.  He asked us to think about ways we can do this.  He also said that there are a lot of ways to do things, as long as we keep the 8 Principles in mind. He reminded us to never say never and gave the example of Pat’s introduction of the Cradle Bridle to Linda, who said “I’m not putting that contraption on MY horse.”  Well, you all know “the rest of the story.”

After our morning discussion, we all went outside and did a “blind horse” game.  We chose partners and one of us got a savvy string.  The other person got to be the horse.  The horses were solemnly SWORN to close their eyes and NOT CHEAT by opening them until the end of the exercise.  I was the horse first and this was an “eye-opening” exercise (OK, a bad attempt at a joke, but you all know I’m not very good at those).  I had to trust my handler/leader to guide me effectively over hill and dale (and even under a sprinkler) completely by FEEL, without being able to see where I was going.  My partner had a green string (great clue she knew what she was doing, since she’s passed her L-3) and had GREAT feel and leadership.  After about 10 minutes, we switched roles and I got to be the handler/leader at LIBERTY with only a swimming noodle to use for contact.  My horse and I did great - even climbed over a three-foot log!  I was obviously more concerned about my “horse’s” safety than Ash’s handler was, as Ash almost went into the pond in front of us!

After this exercise, we went back into the lodge for a brief discussion of it.  Then John wrote a bunch of “gibberish” on the board and said “go do this - do it now!”  We all looked at each other.  It was a great analogy for how arrogantly we expect our horses to understand our language and what we want them to do - they simply don’t know most of the time because we are giving them gibberish!

After this, Kathy Baar did a discussion on each of the four horsenalities and effective strategies to deal with each one.  It would be impossible to blog all of this info, as it’s all over my notebook, but a few important things are:

each horsenality has a savvy that is easiest for them:

LBE - Liberty

RBE - On-line

RBI - Finesse

LBI - Freestyle

This was rather interesting to ponder, but when going over the motivating factors for each one it became clear that it made perfect sense.  RBE’s are PLAYFUL and want to move their feet and as such, love liberty games.  RBE’s are mostly concerned with safety and comfort and moving their feet and as such, feel secure on-line and doing repetitive patterns, which will bore a left-brain horse to death!  RBI’s are also concerned with safety and comfort and are more controlled in their movement, but need the security of contact riding (finesse) and LBI’s are all about incentive (often food!), get bored easily, and don’t want/need to move their feet (lazy!) so they do better with less rein contact and more encouragement to go forward.

We also talked about how left-brain horses are thinkers and typically need “sensitizing,” while right-brain horses are reactive and typically need “de-sensitizing.”  We need to give left-brain horses more responsibility and right-brain horses more contact (security).

Then, we took each horsenality separately:

LBI -

- the more responsibility we give them, the smarter they will feel, the harder they will try, and the lighter they will be

- We need to be light and soft in our language to effectively get their attention, THEN go through the phases.  If we are “yelling” at them all the time, they just tune us out - no nagging!

- lots of rest

- treats for incentive

- use psychology (don’t make me . . . pick up the stick!)

- variety! the more you drill a task, the worse an LBI will get - be creative!

- yes, you CAN get to 40 canter laps with no correction, but you will have a psychology degree when you get there - I can’t wait!

RBI -

- can easily get claustrophobic and “freeze.”  We need to be slow and gentle with them - they love patterns!

- will get scared and feet get slower (sticky) if pushed

- patterns build confidence

- go back on line sooner than later, the more stressed they get, the more your relationship will suffer

- use CONSISTENT phases!

RBE -

- Again - patterns!

- MATCH their energy - they get offended when our energy doesn’t match - causes dis-harmony

- don’t make them stop their feet

- use pattern interrupt (ex: falling leaf exercise)

- play on-line unless you NEED to play at liberty

- big circles are ok IF they are thinking, otherwise smaller ones are better (for pattern interrupt)

- their natural flight-line is straight, THEN turn around and re-assess

- put obstacles in their way on the circle to make them think

LBE -

- PLAY!  (have FUN, DO something! Yes, Trish - that means YOU!)

- when you’re out of ideas, put your horse away, because they are NOT out of ideas and YOU will become their new play-toy!

We then talked about why all horse-herds in the wild need all four horsenalities in the herd, because if they were

all RBE - they would kill themselves running off cliffs

all LBI - they would be FAT and EATEN

all LBE - they would be so curious, they’d try to play with a porcupine or a mountain lion

all RBI - they would be frozen in fear and also be eaten

In short, they would all be dead!  The combination of all four horsenalities is what helps them to survive.

After this, we went out to the small Coverall, where Kathy played with her LBI mare and her LBE gelding, showing us the different strategies for motivation.  The most interesting thing about this was how she trained her LBI to back all the way around the pen in circle game (backing is a gait!) by using buckets with little bits of grain strategically placed around the arena - brilliant!  She won a contest with her hubby John by using this method.

I went to town at lunch to get Betadine, Swat, and anti-biotic ointment at Pagosa Feeds.  When I came back, John had an on-line focus group going in the Big Top.  I watched with several others while he taught people to keep their horses “on the rail” with ONE rope while driving from zone 5 - tough! He made them switch sides and from direct to indirect rein.  He worked with a little spotted saddle horse that was quite frantic to start, but was pretty calm when he got done with him.  Ash and Libby were there and Libby looked as calm as a stone, standing with Ash on a horseshoe with a bunch of other horses with her leg cocked - I got a bunch of photos, will try to add a couple to this entry when I get them uploaded.

After this, I took HotShot out for a drink of molasses water (his favorite - I swear he waits for me to take him to that tank every day!), then we played a bit in the 100′ round-pen on-line and at liberty.  He seemed recovered (no limp) and happy to do what I asked.  We did the on-line “on-the-rail” exercise I had watched in the Big Top - almost perfectly!  He even OFFERED a canter several times - so much impulsion and respect - wow!- and we did some lovely change-of-directions at liberty.  The swelling around his legs has already gone down quite a bit since this morning.  Then I cold-hosed his legs, cleaned his owies (he just looks a bit banged up), prepared his and Lib’s dinner (grain, vitamins, and pro-biotic powder - Pat’s “Big Blue” team of blue roan draft horses had already brought the hay around in a wagon), and cleaned pens before I could have MY dinner (just so you all don’t think it’s a bowl of cherries out here - I’m pooped!).

Well, enough for tonight - gotta go find Ash near the pens and head home for a hot bath.  More tomorrow.

Edie

P.S. I thanked God again today for my wonderful horse and for protecting him from serious injury - I don’t know what I would do without him!

Posted in 2009 ISC | 2 Comments »

Day #6 - “The Truth” - and - Catastrophe! “Prey/Predator Monday,” August 31

31. August 2009 by Edie.

 

“When you take the halter and lead rope off, all you have left is the truth.”  ~Pat Parelli

Well, just when you think things are going great, SOMETHING happens to bring you back down from the clouds.  I’d better start from the beginning of the day though, so here goes:

Today we started in the ranch house with PP John Baar introducing a passel of new instructors who are going to help us through the next week.  We also welcomed some new students who are joining us - some for only one week and some for several weeks - classes run simultaneously here, so people come and go, but the majority who started last Monday (around 40 people) will be here for the whole month along with me - some of us are getting pretty tight by now.

John started by talking about how this week we will be working on Liberty savvy, hence “The Truth,” title of this course, meaning, when you take off all the ropes, halters, etc., what do you have left? - THE TRUTH!  Does your horse really WANT to be with you?  Mmmmmm . . . .

We talked about how having the right attitude is SO important - it must be positive, progressive, and natural.  We took each word separately:

POSITIVE: We are to remember to visualize POSITIVELY to create better outcomes.  John again talked about fear (our’s AND horse’s) and how the right side of our brain doesn’t care about logic - its only function is to keep us ALIVE (Cheri, wish you could be here for some of this and share your journey with others!).  John said that what we focus on will expand and is more likely to happen, so that visualizing worst-case scenarios actually makes the possibility of them happening much more likely.

PROGRESSIVE: he talked again about the 3 reasons we do on-line exercises with our horses: 1) to advance our communication, 2) to prepare for something else, and 3) because horses teach people and people teach horses.  He talked about having 3 phases to your session with your horse: warm-up (something easy for both of you), teaching phase (have a plan for your session, then step outside your comfort zone(s) and STRETCH!) and cool-down phase (go back to something simple and end on a positive note).

NATURAL:

- is NOT mechanical or judgmental

- has an attitude of justice

- uses the laws of nature

- “want” vs. “make” (it’s OUR job to set it up so our idea becomes our horse’s idea - we should set them up to do their job with dignity!)

- pressure motivates, release teaches

FOUNDATION BEFORE SPECIALIZATION!

Natural is staying positive and progressive and putting the horse’s need(s) first!

Then John went on to set us up for his demo. outside in the round pen with his horse, Leo.  He talked specifically about circling game and how it is important for us to remember “the power of neutral,” (something I really learned a lot about last week with Sam Caporn).  He drew us concentric circles and asked us to think about staying in the smallest inner circle while in neutral - horses are very aware of and sensitive to silhouettes, and our stick has to be a part of us.  He also talked about how traditional longing simply de-sensitizes horses and doesn’t give them ANY responsibility.  We need to think about how we set up our horse to go out onto the circle and expect them to do THEIR jobs: 1) act like a partner, not a prey animal, 2) maintain gait, 3) maintain direction, and 4) watch where they’re going!  These responsibilities are in a hierarchy of importance (in that order).  He reminded us again that the better our “send” is, the better our “allow” will be, and that as soon as we make it a game, our horse will take an interest.

John talked about how body language is universal, but that WE don’t have to use it to survive - and horses DO!  We must be clear and consistent in order not to confuse our horse.  He ended with saying he wants us to exaggerate to teach, but then REFINE (tall order!).

We had a couple of visitors this morning - Pat and Allure!  Pat talked to us about our “aha” moments and a bit about his (new) relationship with Allure - Linda finally asked if he would ride him for her, since she is not completely recovered from her injury, and he said yes, of course.  He talked about how he has been teaching Allure about cattle and I asked him “How does he like it?”  Pat replied - “He’s like a happy alligator!”  Such an apt description of this off-the-charts LBE horse!  It was cool to watch him “fidget” as Pat talked to us - he obviously hated standing around and wanted to be off doing whatever it is they were going to be doing, but Pat just matched his little movements with his own and Allure never really got anywhere - funny!  Pat never got frustrated or impatient, just continued his Q & A and comments.  I can see why Linda says that Pat and Allure are perfect for each other! 

Then, we went outside and John played with Leo.  He reminded us how it is hard to TEACH at liberty - that is why we start on-line and get it good before we try things without a rope.  We should build/teach on-line first.  He mentioned that some people and their horses seem to be better at liberty than on-line (that would be us!) and just when I was starting to feel cool and think that was a GOOD thing, he said “Those are usually LBI horses who are simply saying “let me out there so I can do what I want!”  Sure sounds like HotShot - better get our on-line better for sure!

John showed us some cool stuff with Leo (backing all the way around the pen - backing is a GAIT to maintain!).  He sent us off to work this afternoon on the first three games (only) at liberty, reminding us that “for every door we close, we need to open another.”

So, after lunch I had to take Ash to the doctor in town - her throat has been bothering her so much because of the dry air - they told her she was OK, although VERY irritated in her throat - at least she’s not sick or anything, that would have been horrible!

After lunch we had three choices to play with:  online building to liberty in the big playground, liberty in a playpen (games 1-3) in the big playground honeycomb, or liberty circles in the grassy hill honeycomb.  Ash and I got back a bit late, so I took HotShot into the 50′ round-pen to warm him up, with the intention of going to one of those stations.  As I was working on his change of direction (we were a bit “stuck” on this, since he has SO MUCH more impulsion since our session with Sam last week, he doesn’t want to slow down!).  So, John Baar was riding by and I asked him for help.  He gave me some pointers and we were just about ready to put HotShot back on line to slow him down and get him more settled, when John got off his horse and offered to show me (bonus!).  He came in the pen and off HotShot went.  I think he was quite nervous about John and in retrospect, John might have taken things a bit slower and played a little friendly first, but oh well.  John seemed to be getting somewhere, but then he pushed a little too hard and HotShot’s draft horse came out again - he decided to go through the tiny opening (about six inches wide) that John had left between the round-pen panels when he came in - disaster!  He knocked down one panel and of course, it was attached to another, and another . . . then as they started to come down, he ended up all tangled up in the panels with his legs!  I of course didn’t breathe until he got himself out and trotted up to the pens - freak-out!  I went up and got him back near the water tanks, and he was limping a bit on his left hind, and three of his four legs are all scraped up.  Talk about heart failure!  So  - we went right back to the round pen and moved him around a bit until he calmed down, then I went up to the wash rack and cold-hosed his legs, applied Betadine, then antibiotic ointment (all provided by wonderful co-students who had witnessed this calamity and came running with help!).  My first-aid kit was up on the hill in my trailer, so I could have gotten it, but it sure felt good to have all the support.

We all talked about what could have been done to prevent such an incident (John immediately took responsibility for leaving the tiny hole between the panels that Hotty obviously thought was a door he could leave through!).  I decided to go back on-line for a few days in that particular pen to get him back and centered.  As of two hours after the incident there does not appear to be any swelling, so we’re keeping our fingers crossed that his legs won’t swell overnight, but if they do, a co-student has a laser and phototonic wand that she is going to show me how to use - and another co-student who is an O.R. nurse said that even the small cut on his pastern doesn’t need a stitch or anything.

I thanked God IMMEDIATELY for watching over us - I don’t know what I would have done if he would have been seriously injured - scary!  Thank God he has legs like tree trunks!

So, off to check him one last time in the dark (hopefully there are no bears about tonight) and head back to a hot bath and bed.  I saw John and Aaron off this morning after a fun Sunday playing in the river and the hot springs downtown Pagosa Springs.  They left around 7:30am and were going to try to get all the way to Omaha, NE tonight before stopping, so they have a shorter drive tomorrow and Aaron can get home in plenty of time for his first football game.  Godspeed, but I will miss them for the next three weeks!

Going now to ponder how the angels watch over us . . .

Edie

Posted in 2009 ISC | No Comments »

Saturday, August 29 - Open House/Parelli Games!

30. August 2009 by Edie.

“Dream it to believe it, believe it to achieve it, achieve it to perfect it!”  ~ Pat Parelli 

Wow!  What a day!  There were people all over the place!  I arrived around 9am and warmed up HotShot in the 75′ round pen right near his pen.  I put my saddle on the fence and after he was with me and listening (that send is getting awesome and he sure has increased his impulsion “try” for me since our little session with Sam!) I went to saddle him - then I caught a cowboy on a horse in my peripheral vision - instant freak out - it was Pat Parelli!  He was watching me and I was instantly nervous that I would do something “un-savvy” in front of him, so I tried to hide behind HotShot, but so much for that - I just had to “suck it up” and move on.  Well, he didn’t come over and tell me I didn’t deserve to be in this course or anything, so it must have been OK.  Still, amazing how scary it is to do the most basic tasks in front of Pat - especially when you know that they’re the most important tasks to him!  Proper haltering, saddling, tying, standing for the vet/farrier, trailer loading - these are the things that make Pat sad when his students don’t “practice perfectly.”

I put the cradle bridle and saddle on HotShot and mounted up, heading over to Arena Grande, where there were three Patterns to compete at:  barrels (Pat’s way - balanced on both sides, which is the opposite of a traditional barrel pattern), weave (through cones) and “gaits and distances” around the OUTSIDE of the arena.  I decided to try my hand at the barrel pattern, which was completely new to me - to get the butterflies flying in formation!  Of course, I completely forgot the pattern when I got in there, but we recovered and did well.  You can go as fast as you want in the pattern, but when you get to the end and land in the “question box,” you must stop, drop your reins, and put both hands in the air for 7 seconds, or you get a ZERO for time.  Also, throughout all of these riding tasks, you have zip-ties on each rein (the rein is folded in half and the zip-tie applied).  If you pull too hard on the reins and one or both zip-ties break, you get a ZERO as well!.  We did OK on the barrels and HotShot stopped and stood at the end like a trooper.

We then did the Gaits and Distances pattern.  You could choose fast walk, slow trot, fast trot, or slow canter around the outside of the Arena.  Once you passed through the Start cones, you had to be at the chosen gait and not break  gait all the way around, and it was timed.  We chose fast trot and I posted all the way around - HotShot did great with no corrections (well, except for one little reminder when he saw Libby at the second corner and I lost his mind for a second or two).

Very cool - Lauren Barwick was here with West Point - the horse she will be competing with in the para-lympics (sp?).  Lauren is a para-plegic and Pat’s personal student for this - what a lucky girl!  Still, I understand Pat cuts her NO slack because she has no usable legs - he’s a tough teacher!

By now, John and Aaron had arrived and I wanted to get up to the Freestyle obstacle course - I had HIGH expectations for my police horse here!  Each person went individually.  You started by going over a small log (which HotShot jumped - guess he felt my excitement) and then through a car wash (which he trotted right through with NO hesitation - best of any horse I had seen do this!), over a bridge (we stayed at a fast trot), then through two huge tractor tires that are set into the ground on their side with a VERY skinny squeeze to ride through, then back through - he did GREAT!  Then we went to two more tires (on the ground) and had to figure-8 around them.  Then, a straight-line downhill run over five small hills (we cantered up and trotted down each one) between traffic cones.  Then, you had to step into a question-box that was constructed of BIG logs (the horse has to hop inside), stop, do a turn on the haunches (direct rein) one direction 360, then a turn on the forehand (indirect rein) the other direction 360, stop, drop your reins, and hold your hands up in the air for seven seconds.  As long as your horse didn’t step out of the box, you were good to go.  HotShot actually moved his feet again  at about “one-thousand-six” because he saw Libby over on the hill, but he stayed in the box and we got a STELLAR time of 2.08 minutes!  I was VERY proud of him! And we still had both of our zip-ties!

The coolest thing about the Parelli Games is that there are NO winners or losers.  You compete against yourSELF and everyone wins!  Pat started this because it made him sad that pony-clubs and 4-H only train lots of little girls to hate each other over who gets the blue ribbon.  My goal for the obstacle course by the end of the month here is to do it bridle-less with only a neck-string in the same amount of time - this will be a HUGE challenge, but I watched a woman do this today - it was awesome!  The great thing about Parelli is that there is NO END to never-ending-self-improvement - every time you thing you’re getting good, you see someone who blows your mind!

I went over to the Liberty competition after this, but they were already done timing by the time we got there, so we just ran through the course for fun.  The biggest challenge I am having here with HotShot is his bonded-ness to Libby - he’s never cared before if he’s alone or with someone and could care less leaving her at home - very strange.  I can see him “leave me” mentally here and there - looking for her.  He even whinnied at Magic one time - another black mare - funny! I’m being reminded daily that, although he IS a special horse, he IS still a horse and a herd animal before anything else.

Then, several PP’s and Mastery students did great Spotlights up in the Big Top - great stuff.  At 2pm, Pat came in with Magic and did a cool cutting demo with “robo-cow.”  I was standing (in a nice breeze) at the overhead door on the entry-side of the Big Top on HotShot.  John Baar said I was OK there, but when they went to fire-up the robo-cow, everyone cleared out and he said “You might want to back out - I’ve seen horses go through fences to escape this thing.”  I told him I’d like to stay and that HotShot had seven years of police experience - I was confident he would be curious, not scared.  John said fine, but to be prepared.  So, they started up the robo-cow and HotShot never moved his feet - acted like he wanted to go after it (then I realized, how much more scary than pig-herding could a robo-cow be?!).  He was interested, but not one bit worried about it.  Pat did an awesome cutting demo. with Magic and the robo-cow.

On my way up to the Big Top, there was Linda riding in front of me on Remmer!, so I caught up and asked her how she was feeling.  For those of you who don’t know, she and Remmer had a bad fall about a month ago and she broke four ribs.  I told her that Libby and I had a tumble the week before we got here, and I bruised my rib(s) - felt like a kindred spirit!  We talked for a couple of minutes, then continued on.  I was lucky to grab both Pat and Linda for photos with me and HotShot after they were done today - cool!  I’m going to attempt to upload some photos today - we’ll see if I can get it done!  John took a really cool one of HotShot standing on the pedestal inside the Big Top, watching Pat do his demo.

So, all in all, a perfect day - until . . . about 9pm I got a call from Alicia, my other roomie (John moved us out of our time-share and into Ash and Alicia’s condo today, where I’ll remain for the duration of my time here).  Her horse was colicking and the vet was on the way.  We went back to the ranch to pick up Ash and hung around until the vet arrived.  This is the WEST - no barn,  cover, or lights - just pitch dark.  Alicia had to go back at 1am to check on her again (good thing she had her bear-mace, since she met one at her car the last time she was here!) and Jade seemed OK - guess it was some kind of gas-colic, so she put her on probiotics.  I have had HotShot and Libby on same since about two weeks before we left - it seems to make a big difference with travel-stress and gastro-intestinal stuff.  I’m knocking on wood, but neither of them have ever had a problem this way.  Still, a good reminder that horses are a lot like kids and can be VERY high-maintenance!

I’m actually blogging these last two entries on Sunday - sitting in the (quiet) range-house, trying to get done checking my e-mail before the next class shows up and has their orientation.  Tomorrow starts Liberty Week and this has always been HotShot’s and my  best savvy - so I’m excited to start!  Today I’ll play with HotShot a bit before leaving the ranch, then go downtown with John and Aaron to shop a bit and play in the river and the hot springs.  They leave early tomorrow morning - I’ll miss my boys!

Edie

Posted in 2009 ISC | No Comments »

Day #5 - “Putting It All Together” Friday, August 28

30. August 2009 by Edie.

Today we started in the lodge with John Baar talking about Focus!  FOCUS gives you FEEL, FOCUS & FEEL give you TIMING, FEEL & TIMING give you BALANCE.  Words to ponder . . .

We talked about fear (ours) and how it is perfectly NORMAL for the right side of our brain to use fear to keep us ALIVE.

He said we should VISUALIZE everything going right, go through our “oh no” moments mentally and think about what we would do if things start to go bad.  This reminded me of my teaching of crime prevention/sexual assault prevention - the same process - run scenarios in your mind so that IF something really happens, you are prepared and already know what to do.  John said that although it is our goal for our horses, WE must have mental, emotional, and physical fitness too.  We need to train our butterflies to fly in formation!

Always “ride your horse on the ground” (pre-flight check) BEFORE  you get on.  SLOW and RIGHT beats FAST and WRONG!

We then watched a very inspiring on-line/liberty Spotlight video of Amy Brimhall and her horse - amazing!  She had him changing leads TO her on the ground - at liberty!

We then did a word-association exercise using some of the main focus-words for this past week: Attraction, Rapport, Love, Language, and Leadership, and Respect.  My word-association partner got the “profound” award for this exercise when he said that: without Rapport (Relationship), and Respect, our horses won’t CARE if we LOVE them, won’t LISTEN to our attempts at LANGUAGE, and won’t FOLLOW our LEADERSHIP - good words!

John again emphasized that the goal is to make our idea our horse’s idea - to make the wrong thing difficult, and the right thing easy.  We then talked a little more about how it is OUR job to use motivational strategies according to our horse’s horsenality.  We need to follow-through (no wimping out!) and be careful what we release on - as the release is what teaches (always).  We need to follow our phases:  suggest, ask, tell, promise, all with the attitude of justice - cause - don’t make, and allow - don’t let.

TRUST and HONESTY were words for today.

Then, we went to the 100′ round-pen, where Sam did a great demo on mounting, dismounting, direct, and indirect rein.  He was riding a three-year-old Atwood Ranch filly and was she soft!  He reminded us not to overlook the “true unity” moments we have with our horses, but to never get on until we have our horse’s mind WITH us.  He said “to get it light, present it light.”  He reminded us that it’s not as much about what we do with our legs/reins as it is about FOCUS - what we do with our minds.  He was asked about emergency dismount and I was happy to hear him say that this should be your LAST resort, not your first mode of defense - that you need to learn to remain on your horse, give him what he needs,  and get him back mentally if at all possible when the catastrophy is presented.  This was always my philosophy with mounted policing - I didn’t ever think it did much for the public’s trust and confidence in my/our riding ability to have to jump off my horse every time he was stressed out.  So, I had my “whirly-gig” de-sensitizing kite and started swinging it around at the rail - he gave us a good show of how to get your horse to calm down and stand when presented with something scary!

Then, John talked about the Open House tomorrow and how they were SURE we were ALL going to participate in the Parelli Games.  He described some of the games and how they would be set up (will explain more in tomorrow’s entry after I do all of this!).  Things were really starting to buzz around here, so after lunch I got HotShot out and rode him around - vendors were arriving, setting up all over and there was a lot of activity - he seemed happy and stimulated, as I suspected he would be.  I felt bad for people whose horses had never been exposed to crowds - they had a lot of “proper preparation” to do before Saturday!

So, more tomorrow about the Parelli Games - can’t wait to show off a little!

Edie

Posted in 2009 ISC | No Comments »