Miyagi and the 7 games

I am definitely pleased with her progress. When I first got her, I couldn't even walk farther back than her withers, now I am using a power grinder on her back feet, so I would say we are nailing the friendly game. I have discovered that she is an LBE/RBE and that has helped with our progress immensely. I first took her to a local barn to play with a friend on the extreme cowboy obstacles. We started in the arena where I began to teach her the 7 games. Yo-yo she picked up amazingly fast, driving and porcupine frond and back end went very well too. Side ways was a dream, but she had trouble with the send and allow of the circle game. She started to get it to the left, but flat out refused to go to the right. I just let it be what it be, as she was doing quite well for her first day of play. We went in the round pen for a liberty catching session as she is the queen of not being caught. She was more tired than me in the end, so that was good, since she was catching me! Then we went out on the obstacles and I couldn't have been more pleased. Technically the only games we played were friendly, send and squeeze, and put your nose on it. All I figured would help to get her back in the trailer which she has boycotted as a mode of transportation. She went thru a car wash made of pvc pipes, fallen limb trash pile, up and down moguls and 2.5 ft high steps, thru a 5ft deep trench, over telephone poles, on a teeter-totter bridge, a tractor tire pedestal....Surely she will get in the trailer...........NOT! So as I remind myself that it is not about the trailer....even though it is the only way get her back home. Some people came to give me a hand with encouraging her, and just putting her feet in one at a time. I didn't want to make a big deal out of it as the day went so well. I have all the time in the world to take the time it takes at home. Loaded up, we went home feeling like we conquered the world. We spent the next week playing with the seven games some more and playing friendly with the trailer.

"Baths" are done...um sort of.

Well what a day. We started off by worming the girls, and then to give them baths. Kandi wormed them and it was, no exaggeration, a breeze. No fuss, no muss. I would liked to have let them settle in longer before the stress of a bath, but the days are getting shorter and colder and I work and comute....AND...it's hard to see in the before photo's, but they are FILTHY. Miyagi's tail probably had 5lbs of pooh stuck to it. Hard long poo balls that probably could have been sliced and had rings counted for age like a tree. Let me just say that a 150 lb mini IS strong. And a 400lb mini...oh my. I felt like my sons favorite wrestler in WWE. Joni came to help, thank god. She was initiated into the world of rescue by letter of demand. My birthday...I get to choose. We skipped our planned trail ride to care for the mini's. I figured it would not go smoothly, but it did go according to planned. That little Ochi, not halter trained, and no desire what so ever to be wet, in the end stood still enough for me to lather up and rinse her face and top side. I used the EZ-all sprayer and it helped. After dragging me all around the back yard, with approach and retreat, she started to play in the water with her lips. After all the hullabaloo, everything else was a breeze. As I suspected, she felt nothing was as bad as that BATH. Miyagi was a different story and with 400lbs to back up her flight method, I had my hands full for sure. She learned more quickly that if she stopped and faced the water, it would go away. Again, all I could get was the face and top line, but that was fine for a first bath. Her tail however, was a whole other story. With the thickness of the pooh, her short stature, my bad back and wanting nothing to do with me behind her with the hose, I had to bring in the re-enforcements. The non horsey husband. He stood close to her and reassured her, while I soaked her tail in a bucket of shampoo. I massaged and rubbed and picked apart that pooh for nearly an hour and still couldn't get it all. But I knew I had enough gone that once dry I could brush out the rest. I slathered it with a finishing detangler and brushed when dry. Voila! Still dirty, but next time it will be a breeze. I banged their tails because they were dragging the ground and Miyagi was stepping on hers. During Miyagi's primping and fussing, Joni took Ochi for a walk around the house a few times, and unlike the drag fest from the night before, she was leading like she had been halter broke since the day she was born. They both are leading so well, that I took off the halters for good. They both stood for nearly 5 minutes to have me and Joni scratch away all evidence of ever having worn one 24/7. They both were easy to catch and halter again for our little post bath photo session that Joni made me do. I must admit, I looked better too after changing my clothes. Rose 16hh and Miyagi 34" have decided that they are of equal stature and skill and both defend the same section of fencing. I think they will get along just fine in the end. I have to take my shower now, I smell and have work in the morning.
Savvy On
Michelle

Oh dear, I did it again...more rescues

This story starts at it's most interesting spot....How I tried to explain to my husband that I went to a pony show with one horse and came home with three! It was a long day that started at 7am getting the trailer ready, my son showered and dressed and on the road by 8:05. The soccer game started at 9:10 and as always we have to be 30min early. Spirit loaded well, and despite his sheer terror, he was a good sport at the soccer field while he waited an hour and a half in the trailer. He had company for a while as a few horse crazy girls stood on the tire well and pet him through the window. The team won 5-0, then off to the show. We had a great day even though we were late. It was my sons second show ever and Spirits first. They had a blast! I think Spirit felt special with all the grooming, loves and cookies. He rarely is the center of attention at home. And not to mention without two evil 16hh TB mares bossing him around, he felt like king of the ponies, as he towered over all the mini's. There was only one pony bigger, she was a welsh pony. Spirit fell in love with this little black shetland mare who was pregnant. I think it was the lack of mama drama, knowing he wouldn't be the "baby daddy" must have been the appeal. After the show we left to go pick up our mini's that we agreed to rescue. One for me and one for Kandi (my best friend). So this is where I back up and explain the plight of the little black horses. The story is that there was an elderly couple in the bay area, hoarders, who were in over thier heads. One stallion and 14 mares and fillies. All black, and while well fed, they were severely neglected. Most were not halter broke, and some had health issues and/or ticks, needing hoof care, worming and vaccinations. And of course....A BATH! ASPCA had seized all but two and they had been in quarantine for about 3 weeks then transfered to a local "holding" rescue facility (Fancier Farms). We were foretold about them by two days, but of course, that tid-bit is left out of the husband version. As always, many details are. We rolled into the farm three trucks and trailers deep. A mini rescue convoy, if you will. We walk over to the stall and there are only three left. The matriarch 12yo grandmother and two yearlings. I told Kandi to pick hers first, as she was the one to share with me. She chose "blue halter". I had already decided on the older mare before we got there, and that left "red halter" all alone, so I took her too. Being that we were all experienced horse handlers, these little ladies loaded without incident. Though "red halter" either drug me or I drug her to the trailer. We took turns dragging. We tied grandma in with Spirit who was happy for company, and left "red halter" loose. She snuggled in between them and they didn't make a sound all the way home. You would have never known there were horses in the trailer. My son on the other hand couldn't stay quiet. He proceeded to tell me that my rescue count for the year is "7". WHAT?! No way! So out come his little fingers and a one by one count of compassion. Starting with our two kittens Zack and Miley, then our puppy Roxy (which I pointed out the technicality of dad actually bringing her home) a teeny kitten that we saved on the side of the road while taking my mom to the hospital that a vet was gracious enough to take, a puppy that I nearly ran over on the way to work and a co-worker took home, and now these two. Yup that is 7. Damn kid. I pull in the drive, park, and proceed with a guilty look that could not be disguised, into the garage to start the explaination. Before I could utter a word, my husband knew something was up. He insisted that I must have wrecked the truck. I assured him I had not, as he was headed to inspect his beloved white dodge. I stopped him and began the explaining. As always he was understanding and proceeded to begin his "honey do" of building be a small gate, and I headed to construct a corral. Luckily, we had t-posts still in the ground for a pen that we had made earlier for a friends horse that had an injury. I was quite please that I was able to complete a home for them in under an hour. There was a rush as they were still in the trailer. They have a huge oak tree for shade and enough room to move around freely. When we went to unload, poor Spirit was at the end of his lead rope with the baby under his nose eating hay. He had the look of, "seriously?...why am I the babysitter?" None the less, there they all stood quiet as mice. So me, my barely knows anything about horses son, and knows even less about horses husband...leading the unleadable to the back of the house. The trick of course...getting them in gate with out the evil TB mares making a nuisance of themselves. We fed them away from the gate, and put Spirit in to join them. Luckily, they wanted NOTHING to do with the TB eating goblins, as it took a few minutes to travel the 10 foot distance from one gate to the other. Baby first, carrot stick ready for fending of evil mares if needed, she had all heels dug in, unwilling to make the final 6inch journey into the newly constructed palace. And with a final "jump" in she came. Grandma was more willing, and they were now in there new home, with no one being mauled. Whew!Kandi drove thru the front gate moments later. She will be my mini "expert" I will field all my "mini" questions to, as these are my first. With in minutes she is shaking her head NO. There I stand with a small flake of hay...."What...too much?" Her head shaking now seriously YES. I put some down...."Now?" Head shaking with eyes rolling now...NO. "WHAT?" ...."STILL?" So she watches as I keep pulling hay from my hands until I get the all approving nod. "I mean really, c'mon, grandma is quite obese any ways, and baby is not in any danger of being starved either. I'll get you trained" she reasures me. They settled in well, with grandma "owning" all the piles of hay, but there were enough that baby still got to eat. I have named grandma "Miyagi" Me-ah-gee and baby "Ochi" Oh-chee. I removed the catch ropes from thier halters as I have not had a problem getting close to them. Today I will make my signature rope halters for them. It started to rain, but luckily it was only for about 5 minutes. I checked on them a few times before I crashed, and they were quiet. The big horses of course want NOTHING to do with them. I woke up this morning and Ochi had some goop in one of her eyes. I will have to get some ointment from the vet for that. No snotty nose, so that is a good sign. Today will be bath day. I will ad some "Eqyss Micro Tek" to the shampoo. Good bacteria/fungus killer. They both have beautifull long curly tails that are full of nasty poo. After they are dry, they will be wormed and tick checked. My other best friend Joni (non horsey person) will be here soon to help with the make over. We were going to go for a trail ride, but since we are both exhausted, and the ponies will be enough to finish us off, we decide that the ponies will be a fun way to spend the day together. That really is the most important part. My plan for these girls is to take them thru my manners program, and one of them to follow the Parelli Patterns on line to level 4 and hopefully Liberty level 4 as well. We would like to keep one of them and adopt out the other in the spring. Which one we will keep we are not yet sure, I am leaning toward Miyagi at this point because, she is an alpha mare and I feel she truely could hold her own with the big girls. At this point they are terrified of her!Follow along on thier journey with them here on my blog. You can view the lovely ladies in my photo's page. And follow along with Kandi's rescue "Onyx" on her web site. www.kandilandminis.weebly.com Savvy OnMichelle

Why does life have to get in the way

Well, I have done NOTHING for two weeks and I am just peeved. I took a week off work to stay home and work on the house. Little did I know that it was ALL I was going to do. My cement floors look great! We stained them. They are fabulous. But my horses?….nothing! I will have to say that Snookie is looking fabulous from her weight gain program. Rose on the other hand came up with an abscess in her front right foot a week ago and was in agony. I soaked it, put a poultice on and wrapped it every day for the last 5 days. She wouldn’t even put a teeny bit of weight on it. No swelling, heat or a mark on her leg. I got some bute for her though. I couldn’t stand to see her in pain like that. She still managed to kick Spirit’s butt. I think that being able to walk on it a little helped with the congestion in her tendons. They were tight. It is a side effect of not walking on the foot. This morning she was trotting around and had not had bute for 2 days. I am so happy it was nothing major or life threatening. I have to say, I am happy to have the knowledge that I do from my previous experiences. To know when to call the vet and when not to. When to have them out and when not to. Three vets agreed that it sounded like an abscess and to give it a few days with soaking/poulticing before someone needed to come out. It only cost me $32 for two tubes of bute, and I didn’t even use half of one. But now I own a soaking boot and have bute on hand. I plan on getting back to it tonight with Snookie. Time change will be coming soon, and before I know it, it will be getting dark before I get home from work. I know I have to tape my L2 freestyle before that happens. I think I need to watch a video or two as well. So back to the blogging to keep me on my game before I lose sight of it all.
Savvy On
Michelle

It's OFFICIAL!!!!!!

I am officially L1 Parelli. I got my certificate and red string and pin. It means I am back in the game. Back in my life and, as only a direct line thinking predator can desire, I have something to show for it. WOO HOO! Now to tape that L2. Hopefully I won't be too hot tonight, and I can tape it again. I will tape it 10 times (not all tonight of course, 1 a day) and re-evaluate from there. Some how the fear of failure is starting to melt away. We shall see!

So Inspired

I took my mother to see the movie Julie & Julia. I was inspired. I have decided to make my blog more official. Or something like that…more purposeful. I am going to count all the tasks in the self assessments and official auditions, see how many days seem feasible to accomplish this but no more than 1yr 1mo. That will be my birthday. I am turning 40 in just 30 short days. I have been depressed about it for years. Now that it is finally here, I am not sure how I feel about it anymore. I know that I was upset that I never realized most of my equestrian dreams. I never went to the Olympics, I was never Rookie of the year in grand prix show jumping, I never rode a grand prix dressage test at Buckingham Palace. I never competed in three day eventing. Heck, I don’t even have a shelter for my horses anymore or an arena to do all these tasks in. But I do know that I am Officially L1 in Parelli. It is kind of a joke now as it was really not a test of my skills for sure, but the real accomplishment was the fact that I did get off the couch and get back into my life after a year and a half off. I am a great horse person who still has a lot to learn, but I CAN pass L4 Parelli, I just need to put my mind to it. I think it would be a real inspirational thing to do, considering how I thought I would just die if I ever turned 40. Take the whole dreaded year and make it something greater than I ever thought it could be. So that is my plan, now I just need to do the math. ICK!
Savvy On
Michelle

Old friends, New Beginnings

OMG! So much to tell since Wednesday. I can’t believe I haven’t posted since then. Shame on me! The queen of excuses...it was really too dang hot to do much! I will stick to the freestyle stuff here and then put the rest in the misc category. I gave Snookie a little break on the hill therapy and let her work on the flat for a few days. I knew our big ride was going be this weekend and didn’t want to KILL her! Also, since it was my best friend riding her, who knows nothing about horses, I wanted to do a little test drive/tune up. She was light as a feather in all the seven games and lateral flexion. Not bad for not being played with for so long. Except for yo-yo…backing has always been hard for her, but still she did it well. So, she is really starting to put good weight on…Yay! I could not tell my friend how nervous I was, for all of us. Snookie being old and prone to spooking, her knowing nothing, me and my nerves riding Rose, and Rose because it was her very first REAL trail ride. We got off to a late start and by then it was getting quite warm. We hosed the girls off first, then loaded up. Short drive to the lake. Small issue getting mounted. …Next time I will remember a mounting block! The plan was to just take it slow and respect the horses thresholds as we got to them. First one was 10ft down the trail. Stop chew weeds, 4 more steps, and so the first half hour went. Rose was in the lead, as I feel Snookie didn’t feel as confident with a non horse person aboard to take the lead like usual. Rose the brave one…not so brave. That’s ok. Took a while but we made it about 100 yards. Then the dried creek bed in the shade with berry bushes. That was a NO GO! I dismounted and led her through. Found a rock and remounted. Finally I urged my friend to take Snookie in the lead. No need to request twice. She clearly was ready to stop fiddle-fart’n around and get the show on the road. Rose immediately followed suit and both were as calm as can be. Then we got to the fork in the road, both trails lead to a switch back up a pretty steep hill. We chose the harder one by mistake and Snookie led the way. Halfway up I could see her falter and had Joni stop and we dismounted again. After we mounted back up, we enjoyed the beautiful view of the foothills. We eventually came to another steep hill and decided it was just too much for our first outing and not fair to Snookie. We headed back and of course, now headed home, the two had a steady rhythmic march. We dismounted again to traverse the switchback downhill. I knew Snookie couldn't handle it. Mounted again, and stopped in the shade and let them graze a few minutes. We made it back safely and had a wonderful time. When we started…my friend literally knew nothing about riding. Snookie took good care of her, and us of her. I survived my fear…in fact conquered it. I was terrified I would kill my best friend or my senior citizen mare. We decided we will do it again soon, but next time we will go to the other lake with not so steep hills. What a great birthday present!
Savvy On
Michelle

Testing...testing...1..2..3

I figured now that I have Snookie going and following a good evening habit, it was time to drop the excuses and get back to L2 online. Snookie can't handle Rose leaving her, and vice versa. I have been doing hill therapy in the pasture and then taking Snookie out to eat next to the fence. I had to think about how I was going to get Rose out without snookie and without the others eating Snookies food. So I figured take Rose out and let Snookie and spirtit graze while we played. Then put Rose up and feed Snookie. Yet again Snookie blasted through the gate. I was none to thrilled. But that is a lesson for another day. I told myself, for motivation purposes, I would tape my L2 online every night till I was satisfied, even if it takes a month. That takes a little pressure off of me since I get huge anxiety at shows and while taping. I play Rose a while and try a "car"pod for the camera. It was too far away, so I asked my husband to tape me. The taping went well except for I hate the way I look...trying to put those issues aside...and Rose wanted to be very close to me a few times and I had to really put pressure on to get her to move out. We did all the compulsories and a few "show your stuff" stuff. Nothing too fancy. But my husband started whining about the barbecue being left alone and I got a bit stupid. Turns out it melted the knob off...oops. My big problem was after we were done and the logistics of feeding Snookie. She was loose and since I soak her food, there wasn't time for the "soak" with her digging through it. I will have to plan that out a little better or I will never move forward, All in all it was a good play session and we even learned something new. I watched the video, not pleased with my body or my general "flow" but at least I know what I am dealing with and can plan accordingly to dress different and what areas need to be fine tuned. I can say that I am happy I am keeping a diary of all this so I can look back at my growth thru this difficult time of dealing with the fear of failure and mostly I am being held accountable.

Fun But little progress

Well, aside from the bizarre walk about on sat, Sunday was a great horse day all around. I had fun with my friend for NINE hours, delivering, picking up, picking up, delivering and bringing home a bunch of mini’s. The smallest….26”. I got car sick for a while, and we had to avert some major traffic delays, but all in all was a fun day. Saturday I did nothing with Snookie…I figured her stroll thru the neighborhood was enough for both of us. But Sunday I amped up the hill therapy. We did 10 laps each direction of walking downhill and trotting uphill. I got her enzymes in the mail…think I already mentioned it. Last night I had a parents boy scout meeting, so I couldn't’t do anything by the time I got home. Tonight I am gonna try really hard to play with both Snookie and Rose tonight, but the farrier is coming for Rose So I may get cheated out of it again. I have to have help trimming feet…my back is killing me, and Rose is the biggest PILL for me. Not bad, my back just can’t take her right now. Once the farrier is done I will be able to keep up on her feet in a matter of minutes with the power grinder. Since Hill therapy is #1 priority, as it the first step to riding again and passing L2 Freestyle, Snookie gets the play time first for a few weeks.
Savvy On
Michelle

Avoidance is like a drug!

I need a patch or something. So even though I have made it out there every day for Snookie...I only played with Rose once. Ya, there was back to school night, my sister came in from Arizona, it was hot, I was tired, some really good reality TV...but the reality is...I was avoiding. Hmmm. At least the first week of hill therapy is over and we made progress. Now I suppose I shall play with Rose tomorrow whether I want to or not. Gonna be hard. Lots of excuses. Going to see a horse with a friend and sons first soccer game of the season. But I know I am going out of town with a friend on Sunday to pick up and deliver two horses. I can feel the comfort of my couch cushions gently caressing my behind and telling my rump love stories to keep me there. Maybe I can tape a couch pillow to my arm as a patch. LOL. That would at the very least be a good friendly game with my RBE! Wish me luck and sweat...it's gonna be a scorcher.
Savvy ON
Michelle

3 big steps for horse, one giant leap for Freestyle

Hill therapy...today she actually took some BIG steps, about 12-15 inches in stride with the hind, going downhill to the right. They have been mostly been 4-6 inches. We always start to the left as I want her to have the warm up, joints lubed, before we go to the right. It was after 10 laps, she just went for it. I have been really watching how she moves, what muscles are engaged and when. The level of her head...almost to the ground at times.....and the best of all...all her licking and chewing. I don't know what it is that she is "digesting". All I am doing is standing in the middle and making sure she is moving. How she travels is totally up to her. I watched the top of her neck grow out of her withers today while going uphill, so round and "on the bit"....dressagy term...Then during her bath, I gave her a massage while she ate. I felt these new muscles behind the scapula and also on the hip. Cool! I got her enzymes in the mail today...yeah! Riding is just a hop skip and a jump away!Savvy ON

Hill therapy breakthrough

Last night was a big breakthrough in the hill therapy. She made it 15 times each way. Good girl Snookie. I was really studying her body afterward while she ate. I gave her a half bath…top line only…and felt some new muscle development, and a bit of fat pad on her side right about where the saddle and girth meet. I think I will add a little more food, now that she is used to the extra feedings she is getting. Can’t wait for our trail ride and my special Freestyle audition. Don’t want to spill the beans and then not be able to do it. But I am working on the plan in my mind. Great fantasy at the least.
Savvy On

HMM How interesting

So I start off the night making Snookie's food and meeting her at the gate. She saw the carrot stick and walked away but came right back. Rose and Spirit are far away. I halter her and we walk down the hill. We start off to the left as we have been and added 2 laps totalling 12. Rose and Spirit narrowly close to watch the alpha be my minion. Snookie's circles take an egg shape as she gets close the the others. Small rest near Rose before we change direction. Turn to the right and proceed with a small..."I'm old, I don't think I can do this today" protest. I assure her that she can proceed and aim her toward the rock free path down the hill. She stops again and looks at me..."are you sure I have to do this?"....I assure her that YES she does. One lap complete and yet another question on the down hill path. "lick chew, lick chew..NO" I reassure her that even though she is old...she will not die from this. 3 laps down...I get the "let's see if she is really serious" look. YES I am serious....please keep walking. I don't want to be down her tonight either...so let's do 5 more and we will call it quits. 4 more laps down..now totalling 7. No sooner do the words..."one more" leave my lips...when something up the hill causes Rose to take off in the only way an LBE can......SQUEALING AND LEAPING. All of a sudden my "I can't make it another lap" senior citizen has an RBE moment and is careening around, in the only way an RBE can...."I don't care if I break my legs in the process...I will not be left to die alone" 1lap, 2laps, 3 laps 4....I lost count... could be more!...lots of dust and rope wiggling and back to something resembling a non right brain horse makes a lap that is walking, thinking, licking and chewing again. As we walk up the hill toward the gate, I turn to her and say..."I thought you couldn't do any more?" She replied..."Ya well...where's my grain". We walk thru the gate and I notice my wonderful husband was tearing out the broken door jam of the garage and making horse eating monster noises. Thanks hun. She is definitely getting stronger just 3 more days and I am changing to a spot where she can trot. I plan on riding Saturday and Sunday at the walk.

Hill therapy day 3

Wow…this is starting to work. Last night she went, 11 laps to the left and then 7 to the right. I could tell that was it for her. I can really see a difference in the way she is starting to move her body. At first she was really pulling herself up the hill with her front end now she is starting to push more from behind and even take some bigger steps. She has always been a little more short strided with the right hind, so when her left hind touches the ground going uphill, I kiss a little to ask her to push a little harder with that leg, to help her take a longer stride with the right. She is licking and chewing every time she gets to the top of the hill. I am patient and let her stop sometimes on the downhill. She gets all four feet square under her then starts again. She is cute and does ask me. The look says…”hey I’m old, do you mind if regroup?” I think it is helping our relationship as I think she is aware that I care about the fact that she is doing the best she can and I don’t push her. Since she knows she doesn’t get her evening gruel with out a therapy session, she is still waiting at the gate for me. That makes me happy that she hasn’t decided to head for the back of the pasture. It must not be that bad in her mind. I re-read the Parelli hill therapy outline and decided to stick with the walking for a at least 7 days or until we make 15 laps each direction. Not sure yet, but that is my current thought. It says that 7 days in a row the first week is imperative. My sister showed up from Arizona last night. So that is all I did with the horses.

Back to the Basics

Rose did well last night, but golly my arms get tired with that heavy 22’ line. We started with the 7 games. She seems really stuck in the driving game HQ on left side. We will play with that some more tonight. Yo-Yo from a finger wiggle to the end of the 22’ line. Played the friendly game with her muzzle. Porcupine back by tail pull…needed a phase 3 though. Side ways game to the right, hind end trailed and was slow to respond. Same as driving game. Needs more playtime. Figure 8 at a trot was nice. We side passed over the pole and played the friendly game with snookie's butt at the same time. She was perfect. I think she enjoyed playing with me…she has been quite jealous of Snookie. Hopefully we will be back to L3 soon. No pressure though..I can't handle it. I keep telling myself...start with what you CAN do.

Hill therapy off to a good start

Snookie is doing well on her new diet, is getting about 3 baths a week now. Everyone is towing the line with the routine and not getting as jealous. I purchased an enzyme supplement for her today. Hopefully those will help her. She is doing well on hill therapy too. She has had hip/hock problems with her right hind for years now so she doesn’t do as well going to the right. We walked 6 circles to the left, then 4 to the right then 4 to the left on a hill that is . I only make her go to the right till I see her start to shake on that leg. First day was 3 circles right, last night 4. I think I will go to a less steep hill tonight and try trotting a bit. Maybe rotate 1 day trotting 1 day walking 1 day flat with cavaletti.. For more info on Hill Therapy google “parelli hill therapy” We should be riding at a walk this weekend and taping L2 freestyle no later than 9-13-09. I have a wild idea for my audition….but it is my little secret for now…

How stupid could I be?

So I decided that a good move toward riding was to clean my saddles. My friend and I are going on a trail ride in a few weeks, thought it was also a nice gesture not to have my non horsey friend ride in filth. So I dug out all my saddles and drug them to the garage, stand and all. Then I went on the hunt for my saddle soap and conditioner. Geez I couldn't find it. Reorganized the tack room a few months back with a friend. Looked in the boo boo goo drawer, as the conditioner is in a jar like fura ointment. It is an expensive German bee's wax goo, and the jar is white and orange. So, after searching every nook and cranny of the tack room, when I found it, bottom of jar broken and covered in dirt and grass at the bottom of my trunk with my saddle soap, thought nothing of it. Cleaned the jar, wrapped it in tape, labeled it, and proceeded to spend almost two hours cleaning and hand rubbing the conditioner...no rags. My saddle seemed a little sticky, but I figured since it was so danged hot....what ever. I grabbed my surcingle and decided to have a glass of ice water and a smoke before starting the next item. So I sat, and as the cool water passed my lips, I noticed something odd, peeking out behind my careful tape job. I scrunched a bit of tape down to notice the words...."water soluble antibiotic for the prevention of infection"WTF...I just spent an hour rubbing my $1500 dressage saddle with fura ointment. Apparently one time, I bought a jar that was not in the usual black container with neon yellow lid. It never occurred to me to read the jar. It is the only thing I own...I thought...in a white and orange jar. At least I know my saddle will never get an infection.Now where in the heck could that conditioner be. Guess I will start tearing apart the house.Good news is that I started hill therapy with Snookie. Her special feeding program is going quite well. I can lead her to and from the pasture with out a halter, and the others are learning not to rush the gate while I take her out. Snookie is enjoying the attention. Rose is jealous. What a brat. Squealing and rearing and running around when we leave. Begging for my attention when we return. Spirit, what a champ! He knows I am never coming for him, so his sweet face just politely asks for a cookie. BTW did I mention it looks like an Anna Sewell pasture. Rose is near black...like Black Beauty...Snookie, a dainty copper chestnut like Ginger, and Spirit a plucky little grey pony like Merrylegs. I love it...like my childhood dream come true!Savvy ON

Got a plan!

Well I finally have a plan for freestyle. Get snookie some weight and conditioning. Do a trial run on L2 taping. Should be do-able. All that will get her ready for a ride with my friend at the lake. We plan on going in a month. I am very excited about the ride. It will be Rose's first time at the lake, and the first time riding with my best friend since we were kids and rented horses. She is not a "horse lover" but Snookie should babysit her just fine. Ahhh, something to look forward to.

New Long Lines

Bought some new long lines. Well rope anyways. I chose 3/8's so they are not so heavy for my arms and 18' so they are not so long. When I tried them out, they kept coming undone. I also kept letting the rope drag as my arms were killing me, so she kept stepping over them....her favorite game. But nonetheless we persevered and practiced weaving at a trot. We did well for the first time on that pattern at a trot. 1 down and 6 to go. I went and bought snaps, that will help. And I am gonna dig out the surcingle. I suppose I have a disability for now, and besides, the great classical dressage masters use surcingles, so I won't put myself down for that. Now I just have to find the dang thing.

Initial Progress

Well this has been a big week for me. Without going into too many details……due to the car accident, surgery, putting a horse to sleep and some “home” issues, I havn’t played with my horses for basically a year. And to make matters worse, barely cared for them from jan-june. July was a pivotal month. I finally got the health & desire to play again, and this week to do even more than that. I think I am about to take my life back. I realized that my level 4 goals were a bit too much pressure for me and my horses at our current level of fitness and being so out of tune. If I can’t even make it from the couch to the tack room, how am I gonna go passing L4. Not to mention, when I did play with my horses I expected us to pick up right where we left off. I know better than that, but I couldn't help being frustrated that we both were so out of tune and sync and that the accident has caused my arms to be so weak and uncoordinated. It sucks to have the knowledge in your head, but you can’t make your body do it. What do I do now? I did some reflection of the last 6 weeks. It was the kick in the butt I needed to get started. I now own every educational piece of Parelli material…just missing mastery manuals 1-6, but those are not far away. I have no excuse to not to figure this out. So I pondered. “Take the time it takes…so it takes less time” Starting over will take less time, than to sit in this funky place, floundering around in the stink of mediocrity for the next few months.So I re-arranged my life so that I can “move closer and stay longer.” I re-structured some things that will facilitate success instead of setting my self up for failure. This blog is one of them. I hope that it will keep me accountable to myself for my time. Another is that I upgraded my Parelli Savvy Club membership to GOLD. Since my pathetic performance yielded a PASS for L1, I will tape my L2 online this weekend and see how that goes. And since it is “free” now to audition, I can just start from scratch and go one level, one savvy at a time and there is no pressure on me to “perform”. I realized that my fear this time was 'fear of failure". If I sit on my couch, I can live in my little fantasy world of how great I WAS. But if I played with my horses I would have to be faced with my current level of mediocrity. Fear of "whatever" is the single greatest crippling disability.I woke up Sunday and asked myself…what “CAN” I do Today?I can give the horses a bath….done. I can go to the store and buy new long lines…done. I can “try” the new long lines out on Rose…done. I can trim some feet…done. I can hop on bareback for a few min and play at the walk…done. I honestly feel like I have accomplished more in the last week than I have in the last six. With the herd smaller by one, I can also cater to Snookie’s special diet more easily. She can eat her special food without being bombarded on both sides. I hope her senior butt can recover the weight well. She has always been a hard keeper. So onward and upwards….Savvy On