Maia’s Trail Clinic April 2012

I took Maia to the Jackson County Horseman’s Association Trail Clinic in April 2012.  The filly was nervous upon arriving at a new place far from her herd, but settled down and addressed the many obstacles with the thinking part of her brain.  She examined each obstacle as she approached it, reached out her nose to “touch” it, then “stepped up” on the obstacle with a hoof to test it, determined she was safe and handled each like a pro.  I was so very proud of her.  Mary Ann Kennedy’s “Heart in Your Hand” seemed perfect music for her trail clinic adventure.  Enjoy!

 

Prince and Tye at Play March 2012

I’ve been playing with individual horses at liberty in the trail course recently. There is no better way to find out how strong the glue is holding your horse to you, how well they understand your requests and how confident they are with each of the obstacles.  After I finished my session with Prince, he galloped off to play across the fence with Tye. My camera came out to capture his moment of Horses and Life, sheer joy and exuberance.  Mary Ann Kennedy’s song captures the spirit of the moment.  Enjoy!

 

Christmas Day Play with Tori Dec 2011

Leigh gave me a terrific Christmas present.  She came out and videoed me playing with Tori in our arena.  We started playing on the ground at liberty with Tori touching a ball, distinguishing between the noodle and the ball, doing lateral flexion, stepping up on a frisbee and pedestal, doing an obeisance, pushing the ball, backing to pressure on her tail, circling, figure eighting barrels, parallel parking and the doing bridle-less riding.  We had so much fun, and with Leigh’s video you can enjoy the fun too!

 

Crescent City Ride with Tori Sept 2011

I took Tori to Crescent City, California with Robin Keeton and her Rocky Mountain mare, Reba.  We had an amazing weekend, riding the redwoods on Saturday, the dunes on Sunday and ending up riding on the beach at Crescent City on Monday.  Tori and Reba were great trail partners.  As we gaited down the beach, I pulled out my camera so you can see and hear the sounds of the ocean and the smooth, four beat gait of my lovely Paso Fino mare.  Hope you enjoy it.

 

Maia First Rides April 2011

I am starting Maia under saddle and am delighted with how easily everything came for her.  I had taught her to ride the rail, weave the cones, figure eight barrels and step up on the pedestal on the ground, first online and then at liberty.  With that background, she knew what was expected when I rode her and was able to do it all with confidence.  Lovely! Here is a link to a short video of Maia’s first rides.  Hope you enjoy it.

Kami Loves Doing Tricks March 2011

With all the wet winter weather, I’ve been teaching the horses tricks and they LOVE it, banging on the fence in competition to come out and play with me.  I started this session having Kami touching the ball, and she shows you she can follow the ball, flex right and left, stay with me, back, correctly identify between a noodle and a ball, grab and give me objects, step up with her right and left hoof, bow, circle, straddle a pole, smile, step up on, grab or wear a tarp, give me my hat, and pick up a squeaky ball or a fallen rope.  Here is  a short video of Kami showing off her tricks.  Hope you enjoy it.

Play Date February 2011

BabyonPedestalWhat a great play date today turned out to be.  Many thanks to Janie for welcoming us and  to Sheral who came early and set up the arena with a wide variety of obstacles – multiple pedestals, the new teeter-totter, multiple inner tubes, cones, barrels, car wash, poles, ball, tarp….. you name it, there were plenty of things to challenge human and horse.  And what a pleasure it was to watch horses and humans partnering up, communicating an intention, asking for a try, reading the horse and rewarding the slightest try.

  • Danna was there with Bel – a remarkably let loose Bel, yawning and relaxed.
  • Julie and Rusty had fun playing with the car wash and those pesky pool noodles dangling down and working a bit on obeisance on the pedestal.  Hmmmm….. a new way to earn carrots?  Good.
  • Sheral and her Baby girl were the epitome of connected harmony at liberty with Baby coming up with at least as many ideas as Sheral on nifty things she could demonstrate. Sheral and Baby can easily pass their Level 3 in the Liberty work.
  • Cindy brought Jade today instead of Ollie and I now understand how she could confuse the two.  Jade is his spitting image – perhaps a tad more sensitive and a tad braver about obstacles.  A really nice mare who tries really hard for Cindy.
  • Cari came with her Smokey and did a lovely soft liberty stick to me, inviting Smokey to explore different obstacles and giving him the time and space he needed to examine them.  Made me sigh with pleasure to watch them.
  • Deb brought both Dancer and Gabe.  What a study in contrasts.  Gabe is LBE and self-confident – loves to lie down for Deb, demonstrate how clever he is by entering the inner tube and pivoting in it all by himself.  Dancer was less confident and needed a softer touch, longer waiting periods to gain his confidence and offer Deb partnership.  What a challenge hopping from Gabe to Dancer and back.
  • Speaking of switching horses, Nancy from Grants Pass came to visit and played with both Gabe and Dancer.  Nancy is a really good horse hand and has level 3 skills and it showed.  Great to have her joining us.
  • Amanda brought Saraha and did some really nice on line with him and her first liberty play session in the arena.  An exercise in drive and draw and building relationship.  Nice.
  • Tara was there with Bud – another pleasure to watch the connection between those two and the effort he puts into his Spanish Walk and learning the obeisance.

Overall, the quality of horsemanship in our group just makes me grin and it would be hard to find a nicer, more supportive group of people.

We broke for our potluck lunch and then folks did some riding in the afternoon.  Cari worked a bit on riding with energy, relaxation and body language and using her reins or the neck string for effective communication when I called it quits for the day, but I had a smile on my face for a great day.  Thanks to you all for making it such a great play date.

Sandor and Jenny Play Chase the Ball – January 2011

Jenny’s Arab, Sandor, started out as cautious of balls, sceptical of a ball that was moving and down right alarmed if the ball came toward him.  Over time, we’ve gotten him used to moving balls and asked him to “push” the ball with his nose.  Fear has transformed into delight at this new game.  The frightened prey animal has become engaged and eager to play “chase the ball” with Jenny and radiates smug pride at his part in playing this game.

I hope you enjoy watching Jenny and Sandor play “Chase the Ball.”

Prince Plays Follow the Ball – January 2011

Rainy weather had me playing with the horses on the ground.  I taught the horses to touch a ball on the end of a stick and that concept led to the horses learning to follow the ball.  Once Prince figured that out, it provided a whole new way to communicate with him – based on play and draw, without make and drive.

I realized that I tended to use my regular carrot stick more for driving and that was true for my carrot stick riding as well.  The horses responded to it, but at some level, this was “make” and it showed up in their attitude.  Prince loves his stick with the ball on the end of it.  It awoke a strong play drive in him, an unprecedented level of creativity in figuring out ways he could play with that ball and a glue that is amazingly strong.  All three of those developments surprised me, because in truth this developed out of play and Prince taught me at least as much as I taught him.

We start with touch and follow the ball on the ground, following into a turn away from me and obeisance because they show how this concept developed on the ground.  On the riding front, Prince parallel parks and invites me to get on bareback and with nothing on his head, where he gives me lateral flexion, walks, trots, leg yields, halts and backs up.

Here is a short video Leigh took of one of our follow the ball sessions:  Enjoy!

Play Date October 2010

ArenainfogThe weather was perfect for the play date today.  Cool and a little damp and breezy, but perfect for playing on the ground and in the saddle.  We had a large turnout today, up to 16 horses playing, a mix of old friends and people new to Parelli and the ranch.

As usual we started on the ground and in pretty short order, horses and people settled and found their partnership frame of mind.  Ursula, one of Tara’s students borrowed Tori for the day. Ann’s yearling Atwood colt put all four feet inside the big inner tube, the teeter – totter and car wash were tested and mastered.  The bridge was a little slick with the showers last night and, if not approached dead square, down right slippery.

The high point for me was having Mystic mount the teeter-totter from the side and – looking at it as a pedestal, stood happily on a loose rein on it.  Change the picture of the stimulus and change the response…… how interesting.

Debbie’s Dancer had his roll in the pond (though I personally thought it a bit chilly for a dip – but there is no accounting for taste).  Ann and the girls went loping around the pasture, using the ponds as a big figure eight pattern.  Grace and I followed their lead and did our follow the rail, weave the cone, barrel pattern and figure eight patterns in the pasture.  Hold the pattern in your mind and its amazing how the horses just sync into it with you. All in all, a fun day.

We will be entering into rainy season soon so this may be the last play date at Mystic Ranch for a while unless the weather stays dry.