In April we submitted our video audition of Mystic and Jackie doing Level 3/4 online tasks to Parelli.

In May we received the following email from Parelli giving us a level 3+ on our online skills and great feedback on where to focus our energies in future play sessions.

“Jackie-
Thank you very much for your on line audition.  It was a pleasure to
watch.  Please allow me to be the first to congratulate you!  Your on
line savvy is level 3+!!  Great job!!!

Now as you start thinking about heading towards level 4 there are a
few things to consider.  The first is that it will serve you to get
Mystic out on the end of the 45′ line, maintain gait and direction and
also hunting for obstacles.  It would be great for him to really learn
to maintain his responsibilities at greater distances.  Be sure that
you are able to remain neutral in the center after you send him as
well.  You had a tendency to watch him as he made his laps as well as
lead him with your following arm.  Remember you must first allow him
to make a mistake and then correct him, otherwise you are
micromanaging him.

One other thing is that you had a really great send into the trailer,
but Mystic did not seem too comfortable to stay in.  Just offer him
enough opportunities to come out that he then decides it is not
necessary.  You will know that he is thinking his way in when he does
not feel the need to turn around.

Thank you very much for your dedication to your horse and to the
Parelli program.  We look forward to viewing your future success.

Sincerely,

Kristi S. Smith
Parelli Assessment Team”
 

We just finished another lovely play date.  The weather was nice enough to play in shirt sleeves in the outdoor arena.  The horses were all left brained and horses and humans were all in a partnership frame of mind.  We started off playing with the horses on line, did some liberty, broke for a potluck lunch and then rode in the afternoon.

Baby and Namaste tied for being the bravest horses – Baby for letting Dad put the ball on her back; Namaste for walking through the inner tube twice in a row. Many thanks to Mark for bringing the inner tube for us to play with.

I think Baby also did the squarest sideways toward, though Onyx did it very well too.  The trick, from watching Sheral and Della, is to use the stick and string over the back to ask the butt to come toward you.

Mystic was awesome at stick to me at liberty in the arena, pushing the big ball down the arena and doing a flying lead change as we switched directions at the canter, came down to a trot, walk, whoa and back up, even sideways away and toward.  Changing directions when he broke gait from a canter to a trot worked wonders with Mystic.  He became more animated and attached to me, rather than feeling intimidated by me using a higher phase to correct him.

Alice was the cantering queen, picking up left and right leads easily, doing a couple of flying lead changes and counter cantering. Onyx and Mystic also picked up correct leads going to the left and right. We did some riding with the string around the neck before Della and I played with some finesse, doing shoulders in and haunches in and leg yields and half passes.  I forgot my bridle, but Mystic was willing to collect up anyway.

Linda rode her Paso Fino, Shadow, for the first time in two years and is rediscovering the joy of spending quality time playing with her boy.  She’ll be back for more play dates!  Donna came to watch, but ended up riding Baby and Mystic.  While you might think they are a study in contrasts, both horses have very good accelerators, brakes and smooth gaits!

The potluck lunch was delicious, the company supportive, the conversation about how wonderful our horses are – in short, a perfect day. In Della’s words “What a wonderful time, inspiring, creative and at moments thrilling!” I am looking forward to our next play date on April 11 from 10 to 3 at Mystic Ranch – weather permitting.  Hope to see you at the ranch.

We had perfect Indian Summer weather to play with our horses during our October play date.  Della’s sister, Cynthia, was thinking of buying a horse and said she had never ridden a gaited horse.  She came to the right place to fix that!   I had her test drive a Rocky Mountain Horse, a Peruvian Paso and a Paso Fino so she could feel the difference in their gaits.  I suspect Cynthia will be thinking about whether there will be a gaited horse in her life in the future.

Playing in the trail course is always fun.  The horses’ pleasure was all the greater since we had re-seeded the grass a few weeks ago and it was green and luscious.  What better reward for going over an obstacle?

Then we went into the arena and played with some of the new Parelli Patterns on the ground for a bit.   Sheral had brought her minature gelding, Walker and his cart so we also got to drive the little guy, weaving through the barrels like a pro.  I had ground driven my horses, but it was my first time driving in a cart.  I was pleased that ground driving skills seemed to transfer over to the cart just fine.  It makes me think about putting a cart and harness for my horses onto my Christmas wish list.  What fun.

Lunch was good, horse talk flowed and we got to watch the RFD TV video of Dennis Reis working with Prince during his Albany Tour Stop.  After lunch, I put a bareback pad on Prince and he followed me around the arena while I set up the barrels, parallel parked for me to mount like a pro and then played the patterns with gusto – particularly his halt – back ups – from any gait.  He is a great youngster – as sweet and cooperative a horse as I have ever worked with.

Sheral stayed and rode Mystic doing the patterns with me.  I’ve always been bored by arena work, but Sheral and I and both horses had a blast playing with the patterns. The horses really tune into your body language, providing a clear path to riding with a carrot stick and bridle-less riding.  After doing them a few times in the arena, we went out into the pasture and did the patterns with imaginary barrels and posts and the horses did just great, changing gaits and turning to the lightest suggestion.  Still, I think the high point for me had to be seeing Sheral ride Mystic without pain. It was Sheral’s first ride since her hip surgery and the grin on her face made my day.  Seeing her relaxed on Mystic taking him from a walk to a gait to a canter to a halt and back up and through the pond was fabulous.     All in all, a very good time.

Jackie went up to her third Dennis Reis “No Dust” tour stop in Albany, Oregon in July 2008.  Mystic and Jackie have attended Dennis’ last two tour stops in Albany and already had received 11 out of 16 endorsements in Dennis’ program for doing round pen, ground school, mounted and mounted refined tasks.  The one that stumped us last year was trotting a figure eight on the correct diagonal with vertical flexion.  Sounds easy?  Yes, but remember that Mystic is a gaited horse.  I could get vertical flexion and collection, but it came with gaiting, not the trotting.

After a year’s work, Mystic and I trotted a figure eight on the correct diagonal and earned our 12th endorsement from Dennis Reis on Friday. I also got feedback from Dennis on the Horsemen Course tasks and Dennis showed me how to lay Mystic down.  Interestingly, while Mystic was concerned about being laid down, once down, he relaxed completely and wiggled his upper lip when I scratched his itchy spots.

During the Saturday show, Dennis had me demo Mystic for the audience doing collected walk, trot, gait and canter and disengagements, backing and moving the shoulders in each direction, leg yielding, etc. – all riding bareback and with just the neck string.  He invited me to become one of his endorsed instructors.

Dennis also selected my three year old gelding Prince for his colt starting and had me and Mystic help him work with Prince during the show – on the ground on line and at liberty and getting Prince into his first canter with the western saddle on his back by me driving him on Mystic around the arena. Once Prince was used to the western saddle, Dennis rode him with just the string around his neck.  The whole focus was on forward and having Prince recognize Dennis’ energy to speed up, slow down or just stop riding and have him stop. Dennis even had Prince do a flying lead change with just the string around his neck.

On Sunday, Dennis had me round pen the two boys and then saddle Prince in the middle of the round pen where he stood like a complete gentleman, parallel park him next to the fence, mount him from the rail and ride Prince in the round pen at a walk, trot and canter with just a string around his neck, while Dennis was riding Mystic with a string around his neck bareback.  What a blast!

Mystic and Prince were fabulous!  Dennis said that Prince was one of the nicest minded colts he had ever worked with and that I had done a great job with him.  What could I say to that?  I had to give the credit to the colt for his sweet temperament.  I was so proud of my boys.  I lost count of the number of people who came up to say that Mystic was the most beautiful horse they had ever seen and that they loved our relationship together.  I also had a number of people inquire about when I would be giving Reis clinics and if they could send their horses to me for starting.  Wow, what a weekend!

For those of you who didn’t dare venture out, and that’s everybody but us, you missed a fabulous play date.  Okay, so in the first 5 minutes we thought the petals were falling off the blooming trees and really it was snow….and okay so later we were riding on the road and got hailed on and it was melting fast between the saddle and our legs, but other than that it was a great day.

We started with an hour and a half of working on the obstacle course.  Then we saddled and progressed to the newly fenced arena.  What a delight.  Then off on a follow the leader trail ride including crossing the pond and tree weaving.  We put the horses in the pasture while we retired to the house to warm up and enjoy hot cocoa and chicken noodle soup.  Then back out for another trip through the obstacle course and some wonderful liberty play in the round pen.

It was a delightful day and Jackie we thank you so very much for your hospitality.  You have a wonderful place to play with horses!!!

Ann, Kelsey, Mikayla, Marshal, Dodger, Lakota, and Casper

The famous Wells Fargo team of horses needed a place to board the night before the Pear Blossom Parade in Medford and Mystic Ranch was their home away from home.  The big rig made it into the drive safely and the four horses got a good night’s sleep before joining in the parade!

On April 20, 2007, our 6 year old Paso Fino mare, Tori, gave birth to her first foal.  The filly is a stunning smokey buckskin color, with black mane, tail, dorsal strip and lower legs, three white stocks and a star on her forehead. We have named her La Maia de Mistico or Maia for short.  Maia in Greek mythology was a goddess, the eldest of the Pleiades and is also the “brightest star” in the Pleiades constellation.  Maia is certainly the brightest star of our herd of Paso Finos.  Maia is now a yearling and plays the seven games of natural horsemanship, hands you her hooves, ties, leads, loads in a trailer and will pony like a pro.  With imprinting and natural horsemanship it is amazing how far and how fast you can bring along a young horse.

Mystic and Jackie are still loving their classical dressage lessons from Connie Francis.  Like natural horsemanship, in classical dressage the rider works with the horse asking it to become more athletic and supple, moving its weight off its forehand and onto its hind quarters.  Mystic loves his weekly lessons and eagerly enters the horse trailer to find out what he will learn this week.  When horse and rider get it all working right, there is true partnership and the horse just glides with no weight on the reins and no resistance in its body.  It is truly magical and Connie is a great instructor.

More and more people are realizing the extraordinary relationship you can have with your horse using natural horsemanship.   At last count we have more than 25 natural horsemanship practitioners in the Southern Oregon region participating in the savvy riders yahoo group and getting together for monthly gatherings at the ranch to play with our horses, help each other progress with our horsemanship skills and share ideas.  It is great to have such a supportive community when issues arise and you want to solve them the “natural” way.  Give us a call at the ranch if you would like to join us!

We now have seven new partially covered paddocks and are offering them to boarders for $250 a month.  The paddocks open up into the pasture for turnouts and allow the horses to have social interaction with the horses in the large paddock.