Sunny, nice mild day. More arena time with Lady and Wyatt. Played with the door again and desensitising in the general area. Lady was up for some games after I encouraged them to lope and trot around at liberty. Practiced figure eights online, circle game 22 ft line--more for me to practice rope handling with that much rope. Lady and I don't care for it that much. She'd rather be on the 12 ft line or liberty. 22 feet of rope just makes us clumsy doing more refined lateral work. She was in low-key mode and only wanted to walk and take things relaxed and slow.Trotted a few figure 8's then went on to something else. A little sideways,( which is very hard for her, being a forwardaholic, then she offered touch it with cones. Threw down a pole--which she decided was also a put my nose on it game. Eventually, persuaded her to walk over it, thinking we might try rudementary sideways along it, or back up over it. My expectatons were not high and neither of us was really in the mood. Still need more isolation of yielding neck and hindquarters. I quit while she was still quiet and relaxed. We'll work on those area's more. With the new stuff I think we'll go back to the 12ft line, then graduate to 22 ft.
Checked on my new horse in another barn. Took off his blanket, got him outside for some turn-out. He's LBI in his stall, or when able to get rid of excess energy. RBI when trying something new or unconfident about his environment. He got nice and muddy, both sides, and seemed pretty happy about it. Guess what I'll be doing before my lesson tomorrow?
Getting ready to call it a day, B and I toted a bale of hay to Wyatt and Lady's barn. In the middle of the barn, a little PMU filly was down, people crouched all around her. After let loose of the cross-ties, apparently something spooked her, she flipped over backwards and hit the cement floor. Took the vet an hour to get there. We all helped to get her on a tarp and into a trailer for transport to the university. Last I checked, she may have perm neurological damage if she makes it. They were still waiting on the radio-graphs when I called to check on her status. Hoping for the best...
Mar 18, 2010
Mar 16, 2010
RBE Arena Play
Beautiful day today. Finally able to do some constructive things with Wyatt and Lady, now that we have moved. First off, get Lady used to the quonset hut arena. It has a big overhead garage door, then regular doors along one side. And then some really weird sliding door that most people and horses enter through when it's cold.
So I put the horses in the arena and they both trot around a bit. Lady, wild-eyed, more like bounces around, with her typical snort and blow routine, then takes off across the arena to the south gate, throwing in a frisky buck and fart for good measure. I just walk in circles ignoring them, take my lunge whip and start tapping different surfaces in the arena, like the sliding metal door, then slide it open and closed open and closed, open and closed, and don't stop until Lady gets calmer. Then I get my carrot stick and tie a plastic bag on it and do the same thing all over the arena as well as smacking it on the ground, on objects, on myself. By this time Wyatt 's gone to find a safe corner to stand in, trying to be invisible; he's really good at invisible horse, you know. He hates Parelli games. To him, it's like going back to kindergarten. It's insulting. He's a solid citizen and has no tolerance for them thar rope-wigglers. How he can see the color orange is beyond me, though. They say if you lose one of your senses, the other's get better. Well, he is blind in one eye. Go figure. Anyway, the next step for me is to go to the other end of the arena and abruptly open the little entrance door, go out and in, out and in, opening and shutting, about a hundred times, shouting, Hey! Hel-lo, Hey! Hah! By about the hundreth (I'm exaggerating ) time, Lady has lost her concern and wants in on the game. I mean, if there is something so great about that door that has me fascinated, why, she'd better go over and check it out. So she comes over flipping her forelock to the side and asks in her Scarlett O'Hara way, "what-eva in the world are ya doin by that little ole do-ah? Why, is there any Cay-un-dee involved? 'cause you know how much I just Love, CAY-UN-DEE!" Success! I was glad too because I was getting tired of the whole thing. I was prepared for someone to come running, saying, "need some help? You ok in there?" Which I have to add happens a lot whenever I'm wigglin' ropes and flapping my arms, but never if I'm wrestling around fifty pound bags of grain, or the wheelbarrow's stuck in the mud. No, never then.
Now what Lady and Wyatt could have used today was a good run, round and round the arena. They hadn't been out for the last few days, due to flooded, mushy brown gooky pastures, and Lady's got some real pent up energy to blow off in her RBE way. I didn't want Lady to associate the arena with running around in a panic every time we go in there, though, so after the "sacking out" session, I just walked around and mirrored her, matching her energy every time the tractor started up in the distance, or the bird flew by--but her reactions were very low key thanks to the above session, so I didn't have to do a lot of trotting and loping around--Whew! glad for that, cause I'm really out of shape. It took a very short time before she hooked on and started following me around, looking for scratches and rubs. We played a little touch it game for a while and ended by hanging out by the gate, where Wyatt decided it was finally ok to come clomping on over. We all just stood there then, the little tri-herd of us, licking, chewing, breathing slow and easy and looking out into the afternoon sunshine, content.
So I put the horses in the arena and they both trot around a bit. Lady, wild-eyed, more like bounces around, with her typical snort and blow routine, then takes off across the arena to the south gate, throwing in a frisky buck and fart for good measure. I just walk in circles ignoring them, take my lunge whip and start tapping different surfaces in the arena, like the sliding metal door, then slide it open and closed open and closed, open and closed, and don't stop until Lady gets calmer. Then I get my carrot stick and tie a plastic bag on it and do the same thing all over the arena as well as smacking it on the ground, on objects, on myself. By this time Wyatt 's gone to find a safe corner to stand in, trying to be invisible; he's really good at invisible horse, you know. He hates Parelli games. To him, it's like going back to kindergarten. It's insulting. He's a solid citizen and has no tolerance for them thar rope-wigglers. How he can see the color orange is beyond me, though. They say if you lose one of your senses, the other's get better. Well, he is blind in one eye. Go figure. Anyway, the next step for me is to go to the other end of the arena and abruptly open the little entrance door, go out and in, out and in, opening and shutting, about a hundred times, shouting, Hey! Hel-lo, Hey! Hah! By about the hundreth (I'm exaggerating ) time, Lady has lost her concern and wants in on the game. I mean, if there is something so great about that door that has me fascinated, why, she'd better go over and check it out. So she comes over flipping her forelock to the side and asks in her Scarlett O'Hara way, "what-eva in the world are ya doin by that little ole do-ah? Why, is there any Cay-un-dee involved? 'cause you know how much I just Love, CAY-UN-DEE!" Success! I was glad too because I was getting tired of the whole thing. I was prepared for someone to come running, saying, "need some help? You ok in there?" Which I have to add happens a lot whenever I'm wigglin' ropes and flapping my arms, but never if I'm wrestling around fifty pound bags of grain, or the wheelbarrow's stuck in the mud. No, never then.
Now what Lady and Wyatt could have used today was a good run, round and round the arena. They hadn't been out for the last few days, due to flooded, mushy brown gooky pastures, and Lady's got some real pent up energy to blow off in her RBE way. I didn't want Lady to associate the arena with running around in a panic every time we go in there, though, so after the "sacking out" session, I just walked around and mirrored her, matching her energy every time the tractor started up in the distance, or the bird flew by--but her reactions were very low key thanks to the above session, so I didn't have to do a lot of trotting and loping around--Whew! glad for that, cause I'm really out of shape. It took a very short time before she hooked on and started following me around, looking for scratches and rubs. We played a little touch it game for a while and ended by hanging out by the gate, where Wyatt decided it was finally ok to come clomping on over. We all just stood there then, the little tri-herd of us, licking, chewing, breathing slow and easy and looking out into the afternoon sunshine, content.
Back to Basics
Moved the horses again! Twice in 1 month. We've also had 55 to 60 inches of snow this season, which is a record. With moving, then the snow, the horses have not had much in the way of exploring their new surroundings. My LBI just seems to glare at me these days. He's finding it tiresome having to make new friends all the time, and I'm still adjusting to the new environment myself.
I passed online level one with Lady last April. That beautiful red string and certificate are especially meaningful as shortly after, Mom's cancer had ceased responding to treatment. By May, she was gone. Since then, We have bits of progress, in little spurts, but so many hurdles in the way. We are ready to proceed to Level two Freestyle audition--have been for a while. We have been playing in higher levels in all the Savvys for years, but being able to set things up to demonstrate our abilities, or proceed in a logical progression is dependent on the environment we are in. All the barns I have boarded at are not conducive to any type of natural horsemanship, and the Parelli system is extremely challenging to try and put in practice. Why? My horses care and well being is always the first thing on my to do list. After I check those things off the list, there is little time to take the time it takes. This really, has been the conundrum, but I still press on.
I passed online level one with Lady last April. That beautiful red string and certificate are especially meaningful as shortly after, Mom's cancer had ceased responding to treatment. By May, she was gone. Since then, We have bits of progress, in little spurts, but so many hurdles in the way. We are ready to proceed to Level two Freestyle audition--have been for a while. We have been playing in higher levels in all the Savvys for years, but being able to set things up to demonstrate our abilities, or proceed in a logical progression is dependent on the environment we are in. All the barns I have boarded at are not conducive to any type of natural horsemanship, and the Parelli system is extremely challenging to try and put in practice. Why? My horses care and well being is always the first thing on my to do list. After I check those things off the list, there is little time to take the time it takes. This really, has been the conundrum, but I still press on.
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