Tonight I didn’t have much time to go and play with Blossom as I had Scottish team training, but wanted to do something with her.
I headed out to the field and she quickly caught me, we started with lots of friendly game and then I drove her from zone 4 over to the obstacles. Here I played extreme friendly game with her, she was really good!! I then moved on to holding her tongue, it took several minutes for her to find relaxation. But I haven’t done this with her for months so I thought it was ok, we done it another few times and each time she found relaxation quicker. I then got her to smell her tail n both sides asking her to stay there for 10 secs which she found really easy and sometimes kept her head round longer even after I let go of her tail. We then played with Needle Prep, again she was really good at this and yielded to the pressure really quickly on both sides.
Then we started playing the 7 games with obstacles, Blossom was really good at this but my imagination for playing with an obstacle using porcupine and driving games isn’t very good. But I managed to think up ideas to play all the other games with different obstacles some that really tested us. We played with a pole on the ground, jump fillers, tarp, jump, hula hoop– Every obstacle we played with I tried to do something different.
After playing with the hula hoop I decided to try and copy Shelley’s you tube video and get Blossom to go through it. She done this without any problems and was happy to lift her legs and let me put them through the hoop and then play with it in zone 3 and 4 and then allow it to go down zone 5 and land on the ground.
I was then ready to finish so we walked back up the field to where my jacket was, and decided to have another quick play of holding the tongue – she was really good, so I played lots of friendly and then took of her halter.
Instead of running of to play with her friends, she stuck to me!! So I thought I should really make the most of it. So we played stick to me all around the field in walk and trot, we even played with the obstacles, she was happily following me through tight squeezes over poles and over the tarp. I was really impressed with her and it was just such a good feeling to have her stuck to me so well. We must have played at liberty for around 20 mins and not once did she want to leave me. But then it was time to leave for training so I finished with playing friendly game with her. What an amazing night!
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Monday 28th July
Well tonight I didn’t get the chance to go out and actually play with Blossom as I had ran out of time (Got lost on a new hack with Gee Whizz)
So instead I just went out to the field to check her and pick out her feet and played a little friendly game with her. Rubbing her all over, found a nice itchy spot on her shoulder so she loved me rubbing that. Then I just sat down on the grass next to her for 10 mins just spending some time with her, she seemed to like this as when it was time for me to go she followed me half way down the field. Think I should start doing this with her more often.
Good news I now have a X in spray paint in my field where the farmer is going to put my telegraph pole for me, all my nagging must have paid off and he as decided just to put one up to keep me happy. So hopefully that will get put up soon, can’t wait to play with that. Think it will really help us with our play!!
So instead I just went out to the field to check her and pick out her feet and played a little friendly game with her. Rubbing her all over, found a nice itchy spot on her shoulder so she loved me rubbing that. Then I just sat down on the grass next to her for 10 mins just spending some time with her, she seemed to like this as when it was time for me to go she followed me half way down the field. Think I should start doing this with her more often.
Good news I now have a X in spray paint in my field where the farmer is going to put my telegraph pole for me, all my nagging must have paid off and he as decided just to put one up to keep me happy. So hopefully that will get put up soon, can’t wait to play with that. Think it will really help us with our play!!
Monday, July 28, 2008
Sunday 27th July
Well yesterday while I was away at the playday the farmer cut the grass in my field for me as it was getting really long and I was struggling to find my obstacles. So today I had to go out and rebuild them all, I moved everything around and made some new ones out of what I have in the field, jumps, barrels, cones, poles, tarps, hula hoops, I also need to build myself a round pen but just didn’t have the energy to do that as well today. So that’s now on my to do list.
My sister caught Blossom for me while I was giving Bridget a bath, but as soon as she saw me I got a big neigh. It was so cute, really made me feel good.
I gave her a little groom and got her boots on her and then we headed to the field driving her from zone 5, she was really good at this but I think it helped that we were heading towards the field so she knew where we were going. But I guess this would be classed as setting myself up for success.
Anyway once in the field we started with going up the field towards the obstacles sideways, she was really bracey and I had to work really hard to get her to go sideways. But I must have choose the correct time to stop because as soon as I let her stop she licked her lips and lowered her head.
I then drove her over to the obstacles and got her to put her nose on some of the games equipment as we passed. She is getting really good at this game! We then found a nice flat bit of ground so I decided to play with circles there, we started with just plain circling game to get our HQ disengage good, just a look at the HQ done it n both directions. So we moved on to transitions walk and trot transitions were really good, canter actually wasn’t that bad either. She will go from trot to canter on phase one now, whereas before she would always just stop instead of going forward and she will come back to trot on around phase 2. But there was still so brace in canter, so we will need to work on getting her more relaxed in canter on line. But what I did notice was after cantering and coming back to trot she would lick and chew – is she starting to realise that canter isn’t going to kill her and it’s not such a scary place..
We got a couple of change of directions, but I think im going to leave this until I set my round pen up as this will give both of us a better focus. And hopefully make it easier.
We then played squeeze game over a jump, I think giving her that extra time to think after jumping the log yesterday really made a big difference as today first time she jumped without hesitation, so again she got lots of time to think and lick and chew. We then moved on to squeeze over trotting poles, again really good so I asked for circles to start with really good, soft with lots of slack in the line. But then she through a strop and decided she didn’t want to do it anymore and would stop and try and go the other direction. This is something that she has been doing quite a bit at home lately and from what I learnt from Jackie this is actually a more LB behaviour, but she the gets herself worried and it ends up RB.. How to challenge me! So today I decided I have to sort this problem out as I now feel it is becoming a learn behaviour. (Very similar to what Jackie worked on with her around the pole, she has worked out if she stops and braces I can’t physically do anything about it) Well I don’t have a pole in the field (I have asked for one) So I just decided to go with well if you want to run, run let me help you and just kept pointing her in front of obstacles as I really didn’t have any other ideas to use except quit for the day which is not going to help as this problem just keeps popping up. Well I must have ran her around for about 15mins in any direction she wanted, if she stopped and went the other way the fine but just keep going. But then I noticed her head started to lower, she came back down to a trot herself and before I knew it she was walking round on the circling licking and chewing. So I asked her in and played lots of friendly with her and finished on the good note for the night, as it was so hot I didn’t want to do too much with her. If anyone has any other ideas for this behaviour please let me know or share your experiences with me.
My sister caught Blossom for me while I was giving Bridget a bath, but as soon as she saw me I got a big neigh. It was so cute, really made me feel good.
I gave her a little groom and got her boots on her and then we headed to the field driving her from zone 5, she was really good at this but I think it helped that we were heading towards the field so she knew where we were going. But I guess this would be classed as setting myself up for success.
Anyway once in the field we started with going up the field towards the obstacles sideways, she was really bracey and I had to work really hard to get her to go sideways. But I must have choose the correct time to stop because as soon as I let her stop she licked her lips and lowered her head.
I then drove her over to the obstacles and got her to put her nose on some of the games equipment as we passed. She is getting really good at this game! We then found a nice flat bit of ground so I decided to play with circles there, we started with just plain circling game to get our HQ disengage good, just a look at the HQ done it n both directions. So we moved on to transitions walk and trot transitions were really good, canter actually wasn’t that bad either. She will go from trot to canter on phase one now, whereas before she would always just stop instead of going forward and she will come back to trot on around phase 2. But there was still so brace in canter, so we will need to work on getting her more relaxed in canter on line. But what I did notice was after cantering and coming back to trot she would lick and chew – is she starting to realise that canter isn’t going to kill her and it’s not such a scary place..
We got a couple of change of directions, but I think im going to leave this until I set my round pen up as this will give both of us a better focus. And hopefully make it easier.
We then played squeeze game over a jump, I think giving her that extra time to think after jumping the log yesterday really made a big difference as today first time she jumped without hesitation, so again she got lots of time to think and lick and chew. We then moved on to squeeze over trotting poles, again really good so I asked for circles to start with really good, soft with lots of slack in the line. But then she through a strop and decided she didn’t want to do it anymore and would stop and try and go the other direction. This is something that she has been doing quite a bit at home lately and from what I learnt from Jackie this is actually a more LB behaviour, but she the gets herself worried and it ends up RB.. How to challenge me! So today I decided I have to sort this problem out as I now feel it is becoming a learn behaviour. (Very similar to what Jackie worked on with her around the pole, she has worked out if she stops and braces I can’t physically do anything about it) Well I don’t have a pole in the field (I have asked for one) So I just decided to go with well if you want to run, run let me help you and just kept pointing her in front of obstacles as I really didn’t have any other ideas to use except quit for the day which is not going to help as this problem just keeps popping up. Well I must have ran her around for about 15mins in any direction she wanted, if she stopped and went the other way the fine but just keep going. But then I noticed her head started to lower, she came back down to a trot herself and before I knew it she was walking round on the circling licking and chewing. So I asked her in and played lots of friendly with her and finished on the good note for the night, as it was so hot I didn’t want to do too much with her. If anyone has any other ideas for this behaviour please let me know or share your experiences with me.
Saturday 26th July
Today I was going to Bankhead Farm for the dressage playday – dressage really isn’t my favourite thing unless it’s at a very high level. But I thought it would be good experience for me and Blossom. Especially as it would give us more purpose in the riding tasks and give us more of a focus instead of just riding about.
The day started with Blossom not wanting to go in the new lorry, typical gives her a nice new fancy lorry and she’s not interested!! She really tested me leadership and took over 45 mins to load her into the lorry using squeeze game. So we ended up being late arriving to Bankhead.
Once we arrived we headed to the playfield to get a good partnership with our horses. I started by asking Blossom to stand on a large tree stump, I have been asking her to do this for months and today she just got her front feet up straight away. I was so happy with her and played lots of friendly game. I then asked her down; otherwise I think she would have just stayed up there all day! We then headed over to a few poles lying on the ground to play squeeze game over, instead of walking over or jumping them she just wanted to stand on top of them. I had to make sure I was stayed very polite and thanked her for her effort but could she please walk over the poles not just stand on top of them. She was very good and responded really well and walked over the poles very carefully, and then I asked her over in trot and she jumped really nice.
We then moved over and played with circling game over the hills, and the jumping up the logs and back down the other side, she seems to really enjoy doing this and I always get her really relaxed on the circling playing here. Want to try and make something like this at home for her but not quite sure how I’m going to manage that…
I then drove her from zone ¾ up the field to the see- saw and played with that – she managed to walk all the way along with all four feet, in both directions! Big improvement, before I was lucky if she managed a couple of steps with her front feet on it!
We then headed up to play with the log jumps – again Blossom thought it was a better idea just to stand on top of the log instead of jumping it. I have no idea how she managed to balance her front feet up there but she did! So after playing friendly I asked her down and re – sent her to the jump, again she stopped and tried to stand on the jump so I was very polite and said thanks but I would like you to go over the log. It took a few attempts to get her to jump, but when she did I asked her to stop and gave her lots of time to think – lots of licking and chewing! I then re – sent her in the other direction and again gave her lots of time to think at the other end. Think this is something I need to do more often with her and stop expecting too much from her.
We then moved over to the outside of the honeycomb and played with sideways along the fence, still took quite a while for her to become soft and relaxed but its getting better than it has been – still needs lots of work.
We then went into a roundpen and played with transitions and change of direction on line. I feel that she losses her confidence when in canter and sometimes when in trot out on a 22ft circle. So I felt that playing in the roundpen would set us up for success and help Blossom learn what I was asking her.
Transitions went really well and she would come up and down with only a phase 1 – I was really happy. Change of direction didn’t go as well and still needs a lot of work, but by the end of our session we were getting a change of direction at a trot, still not perfect and still needs a lot of work but least now the foundation is there.
I then felt I should really stop playing with circles or she is going to get bored, so after letting her have a little rest time and a munch of grass. We played at liberty, starting with stick to me at walk, trot and back up. She was really could and really focused on me. We then played extreme friendly game – she was very good and seemed relaxed the whole time. I then moved on to smell the tail, very good both sides once I got her attention of the grass! Totally forgot about holding her tongue, so this is something I will need to play with another day. We then played with porcupine and driving, it was good still a little forward movement, but this is something I will work at again on line. Yo yo was ok, drive was good but draw was a little sticky. I then haltered her and played friendly before heading out of the pen.
After lunch we headed out to saddle our horses and prepare them for riding. I didn’t have to do much on the ground with Blossom before she allowed me to saddle her so I must have done something right in the morning. I drove her to the saddle from zone 5 and she put her nose on the saddle and the stood relaxed next to it. I then saddled her with the rope on the ground and girthed in three stages, done my pre riding checks and then mounted. Then just sat on her and gave her lots of rubs – Because she had been in the roundpen over lunch I took her out and took her to the water bucket in the field, but she didn’t want a drink. So we headed back to the roundpen and done some trot work. She was very calm and not as impulsive as she usually is, so I went outside the roundpen and circled the rail on the outside, again she was good so we went round around the rail of the honeycomb, still in control!!
By this time Sue and Len had built us a lovely dressage arena, so I headed down there with Blossom and walked round the arena to get her used to it, as it seemed to be quite a scary place. Once she was calm walking round I asked for trot, which appeared to be too much for her as she got very uptight and started cantering. So after getting her back to walk and settling her again we decided it would be best for Blossom just to the dressage test in a walk, she done this very well. Really long and low and relaxed. Seen as she had done it so well we thought we would try it in trot and maybe a little canter. It wasn’t great to anybody’s standard but to me I actually felt she done quite well. There were points in the test when we were out of control, with lots of brace. But there were also parts that I felt she was actually quite relaxed and listening to what was being asked of her. I then had to go as I promised I wouldn’t be too late home – wish I could have stayed longer. What a brilliant day, thanks everyone!!
The day started with Blossom not wanting to go in the new lorry, typical gives her a nice new fancy lorry and she’s not interested!! She really tested me leadership and took over 45 mins to load her into the lorry using squeeze game. So we ended up being late arriving to Bankhead.
Once we arrived we headed to the playfield to get a good partnership with our horses. I started by asking Blossom to stand on a large tree stump, I have been asking her to do this for months and today she just got her front feet up straight away. I was so happy with her and played lots of friendly game. I then asked her down; otherwise I think she would have just stayed up there all day! We then headed over to a few poles lying on the ground to play squeeze game over, instead of walking over or jumping them she just wanted to stand on top of them. I had to make sure I was stayed very polite and thanked her for her effort but could she please walk over the poles not just stand on top of them. She was very good and responded really well and walked over the poles very carefully, and then I asked her over in trot and she jumped really nice.
We then moved over and played with circling game over the hills, and the jumping up the logs and back down the other side, she seems to really enjoy doing this and I always get her really relaxed on the circling playing here. Want to try and make something like this at home for her but not quite sure how I’m going to manage that…
I then drove her from zone ¾ up the field to the see- saw and played with that – she managed to walk all the way along with all four feet, in both directions! Big improvement, before I was lucky if she managed a couple of steps with her front feet on it!
We then headed up to play with the log jumps – again Blossom thought it was a better idea just to stand on top of the log instead of jumping it. I have no idea how she managed to balance her front feet up there but she did! So after playing friendly I asked her down and re – sent her to the jump, again she stopped and tried to stand on the jump so I was very polite and said thanks but I would like you to go over the log. It took a few attempts to get her to jump, but when she did I asked her to stop and gave her lots of time to think – lots of licking and chewing! I then re – sent her in the other direction and again gave her lots of time to think at the other end. Think this is something I need to do more often with her and stop expecting too much from her.
We then moved over to the outside of the honeycomb and played with sideways along the fence, still took quite a while for her to become soft and relaxed but its getting better than it has been – still needs lots of work.
We then went into a roundpen and played with transitions and change of direction on line. I feel that she losses her confidence when in canter and sometimes when in trot out on a 22ft circle. So I felt that playing in the roundpen would set us up for success and help Blossom learn what I was asking her.
Transitions went really well and she would come up and down with only a phase 1 – I was really happy. Change of direction didn’t go as well and still needs a lot of work, but by the end of our session we were getting a change of direction at a trot, still not perfect and still needs a lot of work but least now the foundation is there.
I then felt I should really stop playing with circles or she is going to get bored, so after letting her have a little rest time and a munch of grass. We played at liberty, starting with stick to me at walk, trot and back up. She was really could and really focused on me. We then played extreme friendly game – she was very good and seemed relaxed the whole time. I then moved on to smell the tail, very good both sides once I got her attention of the grass! Totally forgot about holding her tongue, so this is something I will need to play with another day. We then played with porcupine and driving, it was good still a little forward movement, but this is something I will work at again on line. Yo yo was ok, drive was good but draw was a little sticky. I then haltered her and played friendly before heading out of the pen.
After lunch we headed out to saddle our horses and prepare them for riding. I didn’t have to do much on the ground with Blossom before she allowed me to saddle her so I must have done something right in the morning. I drove her to the saddle from zone 5 and she put her nose on the saddle and the stood relaxed next to it. I then saddled her with the rope on the ground and girthed in three stages, done my pre riding checks and then mounted. Then just sat on her and gave her lots of rubs – Because she had been in the roundpen over lunch I took her out and took her to the water bucket in the field, but she didn’t want a drink. So we headed back to the roundpen and done some trot work. She was very calm and not as impulsive as she usually is, so I went outside the roundpen and circled the rail on the outside, again she was good so we went round around the rail of the honeycomb, still in control!!
By this time Sue and Len had built us a lovely dressage arena, so I headed down there with Blossom and walked round the arena to get her used to it, as it seemed to be quite a scary place. Once she was calm walking round I asked for trot, which appeared to be too much for her as she got very uptight and started cantering. So after getting her back to walk and settling her again we decided it would be best for Blossom just to the dressage test in a walk, she done this very well. Really long and low and relaxed. Seen as she had done it so well we thought we would try it in trot and maybe a little canter. It wasn’t great to anybody’s standard but to me I actually felt she done quite well. There were points in the test when we were out of control, with lots of brace. But there were also parts that I felt she was actually quite relaxed and listening to what was being asked of her. I then had to go as I promised I wouldn’t be too late home – wish I could have stayed longer. What a brilliant day, thanks everyone!!
Thursday 24th July
Well thought I should really update this!!
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Today I had the osteopath coming out to check Gee – Whizz and Shady so I had to leave work early to be there for him. Once he was finished I made the most of being home early and went and got Blossom to catch me. I had took her saddle and all my equipment out with me, so once she had caught me I got her to go and put her nose on the equipment and her saddle.
We then had a quick play before I saddled her, she stood really well to be saddled. We then headed off up the field and played with circles, yo yo and a few squeeze games. I them felt she was ready for me to mount so I done some pre riding checks then got on and checked my lateral flexion. All was good, so we walked round the field and had a little trot. We then played with barrel patterns she was going really well in walk, so we moved up to trot. She was really good and felt really safe and in control, so I asked for canter and again this was really good, really steady canter!!
So after that nice canter I decided to finish on that note as she had been so good I didn’t want to push for much more from her today.
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Today I had the osteopath coming out to check Gee – Whizz and Shady so I had to leave work early to be there for him. Once he was finished I made the most of being home early and went and got Blossom to catch me. I had took her saddle and all my equipment out with me, so once she had caught me I got her to go and put her nose on the equipment and her saddle.
We then had a quick play before I saddled her, she stood really well to be saddled. We then headed off up the field and played with circles, yo yo and a few squeeze games. I them felt she was ready for me to mount so I done some pre riding checks then got on and checked my lateral flexion. All was good, so we walked round the field and had a little trot. We then played with barrel patterns she was going really well in walk, so we moved up to trot. She was really good and felt really safe and in control, so I asked for canter and again this was really good, really steady canter!!
So after that nice canter I decided to finish on that note as she had been so good I didn’t want to push for much more from her today.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Tuesday 8th July
Tonight I didn’t intend to do anything with Blossom as I still really tired from last week, so I just went out to the field to check her and pick out her feet so I only had my halter and 12ft line with me.
When I entered the field I shouted on her and she came trotting down to the gate to see me, it was so nice to see. I then haltered her a gave her a little scratch as the flies were really bad - I then got really in the mood too play with her.
So I started with disengage the HQ, first yield she was really slow and I had to use phase 4 before she moved. The next one all I had to do was look at her HQ and she moved them. We the played yo yo – I got lovely backwards from only phase 1 and also a really good draw back to me. Circling game was good, soft and we even managed transitions from walk to trot to walk to trot.
I then decided to jump on her bareback – she was just so soft and calm to ride it felt brilliant. After just mosey round not really having a purpose of what we were doing I decided to do the barrel pattern with her Jackie had shown us using circles and straight lines. She was so good, so calm!! I started just walking the pattern and she was really good, so I asked for trot – I couldn’t fault her she was just so calm. Not at any point did I feel unsafe or felt her get too fast. It was going that well I even done some canter with her!!
Well what an amazing night, not sure if it was the effects of the course that has made Blossom so calm or was it something I was doing different bareback that I don’t do when I have a saddle. Personally I think it is something to do with how I ride in the saddle compared to bareback – not sure what yet so I have lots to lick and chew over!
When I entered the field I shouted on her and she came trotting down to the gate to see me, it was so nice to see. I then haltered her a gave her a little scratch as the flies were really bad - I then got really in the mood too play with her.
So I started with disengage the HQ, first yield she was really slow and I had to use phase 4 before she moved. The next one all I had to do was look at her HQ and she moved them. We the played yo yo – I got lovely backwards from only phase 1 and also a really good draw back to me. Circling game was good, soft and we even managed transitions from walk to trot to walk to trot.
I then decided to jump on her bareback – she was just so soft and calm to ride it felt brilliant. After just mosey round not really having a purpose of what we were doing I decided to do the barrel pattern with her Jackie had shown us using circles and straight lines. She was so good, so calm!! I started just walking the pattern and she was really good, so I asked for trot – I couldn’t fault her she was just so calm. Not at any point did I feel unsafe or felt her get too fast. It was going that well I even done some canter with her!!
Well what an amazing night, not sure if it was the effects of the course that has made Blossom so calm or was it something I was doing different bareback that I don’t do when I have a saddle. Personally I think it is something to do with how I ride in the saddle compared to bareback – not sure what yet so I have lots to lick and chew over!
Sunday 6th July
Day 5 with Jackie Chant
We started the session of with Q/A from yesterday one of the questions was about the horse I had watched Jackie ride yesterday afternoon. So explain why she done what she did with him and how it then got her the results she wanted. Very interesting to hear what she said about what she had done as I had watch her riding, and there was a few points I thought to myself why did she do that.. so in this session I got all the answers to my questions!
We then had a little theory on balance point and riding with fluidity, really interesting and I felt I got a lot out of this. Next we had some simulations on fluidity – brilliant!! Wow what a difference it made to the way I will now think when I’m riding!!
The rain had went of a little so we headed out to the playfield with the horses and warmed them up – Blossom’s circles and yo yo are just getting so much softer!!
Jackie then gave us a demo on lowering the head, then asking for backwards and then sideways with the head down. This should then encourage to get the horse to keep its weight on its HQ and the FQ and will make things a lot softer and better for when we come to riding.
This was really good fun and made both horse and rider really think – Blossom got the hang of this quite quickly and was soon able to back up with her head down. Sideways still needs a lot of work but that needs work still on the fence I think before I start asking for this. We could then combine it all together and ask our horses to do the sliding rock pattern as this would help us get our horses to keep there weight on their HQ.
Jackie then gave us a demo on using sideways on a circle, this will prevent horses falling in on the circle and also good for keeping there attention. Very good demo - Something I would never of thought of!!
Blossom wasn’t too sure of this task to start with and was running from the pressure instead of moving sideways. So I broke the game down for her and made the distance shorter to help gain her confidence – got some really nice circles from her once she got the idea in walk and trot!!
After lunch the rain was heavy so we done more theory, this time it was on saddles and shimming. I just got some much from this, I suppose having a pony and not being able to get a Parelli or Balance saddle makes saddling the Parelli way more difficult for me. And also because of the type of job I want Blossom to do I can’t get her a wide fitting saddle as if I bend down the chance is the saddle will slip and come with me, so not really a good idea!
We watched a part of the new saddling dvd – Wow I didn’t think a horses back could actually move so much – It makes you really think more about how your saddle fits your horse and how you ride them!! I would recommend everyone watch this dvd – mega cool and loads of info in it!
We talked about the new Parelli saddles and how they are designed to work and also the difference between the English and western saddle. We then moved on to talking about the theraflex pad and how they work and the different ways they can be shimmed to help different type of backs – Really learnt a lot from this as I suppose I have been put of buying on as I wasn’t sure if I would be able to work out how to use it correct, but they are pretty straight forward, so think I might get Blossom one.
The rain had gone off so we headed out to the playfield to ride.
Jackie then gave us a demo showing us how to use the circle then into sideways we done on the ground this morning when we are riding. Very cool – I can see how this pattern could really help Blossom to become softer, Jackie actually told me this is what she used the day she rode her to get her so soft.
Blossom was quiet bracey today, don’t think the wind and rain was helping her! Jackie seen I was having problems and came over to help me. She got me to walk round the outside of the round pen and then ask her into sideways from there so she was facing the fence. To start with I had to do 2 laps of the pen before she softened, wow I would never have thought I would have had to go for that long. Jackie stayed and watched me for a while and what we noticed was every time she soften quicker and quicker – so that was really good!
The end of the day came before we all new it, we all gathered and shared what we felt we had learnt from the 5 days mine was I have to stay at things for longer until Blossom finds relaxation. Jackie then gave us all a badge with our horses horsenality on it and we finished with a huge Savvy Clap!!
We started the session of with Q/A from yesterday one of the questions was about the horse I had watched Jackie ride yesterday afternoon. So explain why she done what she did with him and how it then got her the results she wanted. Very interesting to hear what she said about what she had done as I had watch her riding, and there was a few points I thought to myself why did she do that.. so in this session I got all the answers to my questions!
We then had a little theory on balance point and riding with fluidity, really interesting and I felt I got a lot out of this. Next we had some simulations on fluidity – brilliant!! Wow what a difference it made to the way I will now think when I’m riding!!
The rain had went of a little so we headed out to the playfield with the horses and warmed them up – Blossom’s circles and yo yo are just getting so much softer!!
Jackie then gave us a demo on lowering the head, then asking for backwards and then sideways with the head down. This should then encourage to get the horse to keep its weight on its HQ and the FQ and will make things a lot softer and better for when we come to riding.
This was really good fun and made both horse and rider really think – Blossom got the hang of this quite quickly and was soon able to back up with her head down. Sideways still needs a lot of work but that needs work still on the fence I think before I start asking for this. We could then combine it all together and ask our horses to do the sliding rock pattern as this would help us get our horses to keep there weight on their HQ.
Jackie then gave us a demo on using sideways on a circle, this will prevent horses falling in on the circle and also good for keeping there attention. Very good demo - Something I would never of thought of!!
Blossom wasn’t too sure of this task to start with and was running from the pressure instead of moving sideways. So I broke the game down for her and made the distance shorter to help gain her confidence – got some really nice circles from her once she got the idea in walk and trot!!
After lunch the rain was heavy so we done more theory, this time it was on saddles and shimming. I just got some much from this, I suppose having a pony and not being able to get a Parelli or Balance saddle makes saddling the Parelli way more difficult for me. And also because of the type of job I want Blossom to do I can’t get her a wide fitting saddle as if I bend down the chance is the saddle will slip and come with me, so not really a good idea!
We watched a part of the new saddling dvd – Wow I didn’t think a horses back could actually move so much – It makes you really think more about how your saddle fits your horse and how you ride them!! I would recommend everyone watch this dvd – mega cool and loads of info in it!
We talked about the new Parelli saddles and how they are designed to work and also the difference between the English and western saddle. We then moved on to talking about the theraflex pad and how they work and the different ways they can be shimmed to help different type of backs – Really learnt a lot from this as I suppose I have been put of buying on as I wasn’t sure if I would be able to work out how to use it correct, but they are pretty straight forward, so think I might get Blossom one.
The rain had gone off so we headed out to the playfield to ride.
Jackie then gave us a demo showing us how to use the circle then into sideways we done on the ground this morning when we are riding. Very cool – I can see how this pattern could really help Blossom to become softer, Jackie actually told me this is what she used the day she rode her to get her so soft.
Blossom was quiet bracey today, don’t think the wind and rain was helping her! Jackie seen I was having problems and came over to help me. She got me to walk round the outside of the round pen and then ask her into sideways from there so she was facing the fence. To start with I had to do 2 laps of the pen before she softened, wow I would never have thought I would have had to go for that long. Jackie stayed and watched me for a while and what we noticed was every time she soften quicker and quicker – so that was really good!
The end of the day came before we all new it, we all gathered and shared what we felt we had learnt from the 5 days mine was I have to stay at things for longer until Blossom finds relaxation. Jackie then gave us all a badge with our horses horsenality on it and we finished with a huge Savvy Clap!!
Saturday 5th July
Day 4 with Jackie Chant.
Well today was the first day of the intro to level 3 course – we had a few new students joining us for the next couple of days. So they introduced themselves and told us a little bit about their parelli journey.
Our theory for today was on level 3 ground skills – level 3 is just:
· 7 games – Use Imagination
· 5 Zones
· 4 Savvys – Online, Liberty, Freestyle, Finesse
· 3 Distances – 12ft, 22ft and 45ft
· 4 Speeds – Walk, Trot, Canter, Gallop OR 3 Energy’s – Slow, Medium, Fast
Makes it sound so simple, doesn’t it!!
We then had a simulation on body language – Jackie and Elle gave is a demo first, it was very interesting to watch.. They were moving there hands around in time with each other, at a first glace it looked like Elle was trying to mirror Jackie’s movements, but was getting out of time sometimes. But when you look closer they were actually changing the leaders, Jackie started leading then Elle would take over leadership and Jackie would then take it back. Very interesting to watch as they didn’t speak to each other during it, this was all done through the enrgy in their bodies.
We then got onto pairs, my pair started of as the leader and I was following her really nicely. But then she stopped to try and get me to take control and I just stood there ( Thinking to myself if I just stand here long enough I won’t have to be the leader) So again she took the lead and very quickly stopped again and I then worked out I better have a shot of being the leader, but very interesting is she took the leadership back very quickly and I was happy to just follow again. How interesting, from that demo I found I prefer to be the follower, not the leader. I wonder if that is how I come across to Blossom…
We then headed out to the playfield and warmed the horses up and then Jackie gave us a demo on zone 5 driving. Really good demo as the horse she used to start with didn’t won’t to go, so she had to work hard to get the energy up and get him moving of the pressure and then get him more in time with her body enrgy. But then once she got the energy up, she had problems getting him to stop and back up. So I think it was such a good demo because it showed how it could go with the more forward and the slower type of horses.
Blossom done much better at this task than I expected!! I know she does have issues in zone 5 so I expected only to be able to do the task from zone 3 possibly 4. But I think the extreme friendly from the other day must have really helped her, as I was able to do the task in zone 5 after teaching her what I was asking in zone 3 and then 4. I was very happy as I didn’t expect such a good result!!
The afternoon started with some theory on riding patterns that we need to be able to do for our level 2 assessment using straight lines and circles and also showing us how we can use the patterns we learnt the other day to help motivate a short horse and slow down along horse. Really interesting and gave us lots of ideas of how we could help our individual horses.
We then warmed our horses up and mounted and worked on what we have been doing for the last few days. Again today Blossom was really soft and done quite a lot of licking and chewing while I was riding her which was nice to see.
Jackie then got another student to give us a demo on riding a circle around 4 cones and talked us through how we should go about making corrections if we needed to keep the horse on the circle. Very good demo and was good for us all to watch.
We then had the chance to play with this pattern as Jackie had set up more obstacles for us – I didn’t think Blossom was quite ready for this task so went back to the round pen to play with her in there for a bit longer. She was going really nice, so we went out the pen and played follow the rail on the outside after a couple of laps and corrections she stayed on the rail and was able to stay calm in walk and trot. So I decided to take her out to the field and give the patterns a try, to my surprise we actually managed them quite well in walk and a little trot.
Jackie then gave us a demo on diagonals and canter lead changes – I learnt most of this at collage so didn’t get very much from this, but it was still really interesting to watch! Need to do some work on my diagonals, something I have always had problems with. I know the theory but just always seem to ride on the wrong one – for some reason I can’t seem to feel the difference..
Another student was having problems with her horse when she asked for canter – so I decided not to do anymore with Blossom and watched Jackie ride this horse. Very cool demo, the horse was really challenging her and trying everything to get what he wanted. Really felt I learnt a lot from watching this as she really used all the stratagies we have learnt over the last few days to calm the horse and get him doing what Jackie was asking him to do.
And that was it for today, really interested stuff – Barbecue tonight!!
Well today was the first day of the intro to level 3 course – we had a few new students joining us for the next couple of days. So they introduced themselves and told us a little bit about their parelli journey.
Our theory for today was on level 3 ground skills – level 3 is just:
· 7 games – Use Imagination
· 5 Zones
· 4 Savvys – Online, Liberty, Freestyle, Finesse
· 3 Distances – 12ft, 22ft and 45ft
· 4 Speeds – Walk, Trot, Canter, Gallop OR 3 Energy’s – Slow, Medium, Fast
Makes it sound so simple, doesn’t it!!
We then had a simulation on body language – Jackie and Elle gave is a demo first, it was very interesting to watch.. They were moving there hands around in time with each other, at a first glace it looked like Elle was trying to mirror Jackie’s movements, but was getting out of time sometimes. But when you look closer they were actually changing the leaders, Jackie started leading then Elle would take over leadership and Jackie would then take it back. Very interesting to watch as they didn’t speak to each other during it, this was all done through the enrgy in their bodies.
We then got onto pairs, my pair started of as the leader and I was following her really nicely. But then she stopped to try and get me to take control and I just stood there ( Thinking to myself if I just stand here long enough I won’t have to be the leader) So again she took the lead and very quickly stopped again and I then worked out I better have a shot of being the leader, but very interesting is she took the leadership back very quickly and I was happy to just follow again. How interesting, from that demo I found I prefer to be the follower, not the leader. I wonder if that is how I come across to Blossom…
We then headed out to the playfield and warmed the horses up and then Jackie gave us a demo on zone 5 driving. Really good demo as the horse she used to start with didn’t won’t to go, so she had to work hard to get the energy up and get him moving of the pressure and then get him more in time with her body enrgy. But then once she got the energy up, she had problems getting him to stop and back up. So I think it was such a good demo because it showed how it could go with the more forward and the slower type of horses.
Blossom done much better at this task than I expected!! I know she does have issues in zone 5 so I expected only to be able to do the task from zone 3 possibly 4. But I think the extreme friendly from the other day must have really helped her, as I was able to do the task in zone 5 after teaching her what I was asking in zone 3 and then 4. I was very happy as I didn’t expect such a good result!!
The afternoon started with some theory on riding patterns that we need to be able to do for our level 2 assessment using straight lines and circles and also showing us how we can use the patterns we learnt the other day to help motivate a short horse and slow down along horse. Really interesting and gave us lots of ideas of how we could help our individual horses.
We then warmed our horses up and mounted and worked on what we have been doing for the last few days. Again today Blossom was really soft and done quite a lot of licking and chewing while I was riding her which was nice to see.
Jackie then got another student to give us a demo on riding a circle around 4 cones and talked us through how we should go about making corrections if we needed to keep the horse on the circle. Very good demo and was good for us all to watch.
We then had the chance to play with this pattern as Jackie had set up more obstacles for us – I didn’t think Blossom was quite ready for this task so went back to the round pen to play with her in there for a bit longer. She was going really nice, so we went out the pen and played follow the rail on the outside after a couple of laps and corrections she stayed on the rail and was able to stay calm in walk and trot. So I decided to take her out to the field and give the patterns a try, to my surprise we actually managed them quite well in walk and a little trot.
Jackie then gave us a demo on diagonals and canter lead changes – I learnt most of this at collage so didn’t get very much from this, but it was still really interesting to watch! Need to do some work on my diagonals, something I have always had problems with. I know the theory but just always seem to ride on the wrong one – for some reason I can’t seem to feel the difference..
Another student was having problems with her horse when she asked for canter – so I decided not to do anymore with Blossom and watched Jackie ride this horse. Very cool demo, the horse was really challenging her and trying everything to get what he wanted. Really felt I learnt a lot from watching this as she really used all the stratagies we have learnt over the last few days to calm the horse and get him doing what Jackie was asking him to do.
And that was it for today, really interested stuff – Barbecue tonight!!
Friday 4th July
Day 3 with Jackie Chant
This morning started with Q/A from the previous day and then we moved on to talking about preparation for liberty.
1. Low Phases
2. Slack in the rope
3. Very good HQ yield
4. Established draw
5. All 7 games going well
6. Confident (at all 7 games)
7. Control of energy
8. Rapport, horse wants to be with you
9. Horse confidant at distance
Before playing at liberty we should play with the halter round the neck as a safety net and we also need to get a good balance between drive and draw.
We headed out the play field and warmed our horses up with things we have been working on for the last couple of days. Blossom felt so much better and seemed to be really connected to me – her circles started to get quite strong again, so I used the pole like Jackie had done and within minutes she was so soft and focused!
Jackie gave us a demo with a students horse starting with extreme friendly game, it was really good to watch as Jackie played friendly in all 5 zones, this horse also had some issues in zone 5 so Jackie had to do lots of approach and retreat to gain his confidence – Blossom also has issues in zone 5 so it gave me lots of new ideas and strategies to play with. Jackie then showed us smell the tail, then moved on to playing the first 3 games with only the halter round the neck and finished her demo with stick to me. Gave us loads of ideas to play with.
Me and Blossom had a great session everything went really well for us, had to use quite a lot of approach and retreat for friendly game in zone 4 and 5. But very quickly she was able to keep her feet still and allow me to play extreme friendly in those zones.
Jackie then used Blossom for a demo on Needle prep and lead by the leg – Blossom managed both of these quite easily so gave us a really good demo of what it is meant to look like. Then I had a little play with her before we finished for lunch, she was really good!
After lunch we had a theory session on Impulsion, Balancing Go and Whoa.
Impulsion Scale 1- 10 (5 being the best) Impulsion = Emotional Collection.
We discussed the difference between Extroverted Horses and Introverted Horses.
Extrovert – Consistency, Circles, Repetition, Retreat back to where relaxation lives then reapproach, Establish X (pattern, safe spot)
Introvert – Variety (add incentive/rewards), straight lines, snappy departures (online first), Establish X
We then headed out to the play field to warm the horses up to be ridden, once we felt our horses were ridden to be mounted we could mount up and work on what we learnt yesterday. Blossom was going really well and was able to maintain a steady trot for a few laps on the round pen, which was a massive improvement!! Jackie came over to see how I was getting on and I asked her if she would ride her at some point over the next few days. I have never seen anybody else ride Blossom so thought it would help me to be able to see her being ridden and maybe pick up on some new things I have never noticed with her before.
Jackie decided to use Blossom for the riding demo – Again she worked on lateral flexion, indirect and direct reins. She then moved on to showing us how to use our energy in our body to get transitions in walk, trot and canter. And then also showed us the 9 step back up from a walk. My parents then arrived to pick up Dylan, so I went away with them to get Dylan all packed to go home. Jackie continued to ride Blossom while I was away (Not sure what she done with her) But when I got back and got on her she felt amazing to ride she was so much softer than normal and listened to my body energy better than she ever has. Just shows that the proper realise does teach them to be soft. It was brilliant to watch Jackie riding her and I feel I learnt a lot from it.
This morning started with Q/A from the previous day and then we moved on to talking about preparation for liberty.
1. Low Phases
2. Slack in the rope
3. Very good HQ yield
4. Established draw
5. All 7 games going well
6. Confident (at all 7 games)
7. Control of energy
8. Rapport, horse wants to be with you
9. Horse confidant at distance
Before playing at liberty we should play with the halter round the neck as a safety net and we also need to get a good balance between drive and draw.
We headed out the play field and warmed our horses up with things we have been working on for the last couple of days. Blossom felt so much better and seemed to be really connected to me – her circles started to get quite strong again, so I used the pole like Jackie had done and within minutes she was so soft and focused!
Jackie gave us a demo with a students horse starting with extreme friendly game, it was really good to watch as Jackie played friendly in all 5 zones, this horse also had some issues in zone 5 so Jackie had to do lots of approach and retreat to gain his confidence – Blossom also has issues in zone 5 so it gave me lots of new ideas and strategies to play with. Jackie then showed us smell the tail, then moved on to playing the first 3 games with only the halter round the neck and finished her demo with stick to me. Gave us loads of ideas to play with.
Me and Blossom had a great session everything went really well for us, had to use quite a lot of approach and retreat for friendly game in zone 4 and 5. But very quickly she was able to keep her feet still and allow me to play extreme friendly in those zones.
Jackie then used Blossom for a demo on Needle prep and lead by the leg – Blossom managed both of these quite easily so gave us a really good demo of what it is meant to look like. Then I had a little play with her before we finished for lunch, she was really good!
After lunch we had a theory session on Impulsion, Balancing Go and Whoa.
Impulsion Scale 1- 10 (5 being the best) Impulsion = Emotional Collection.
We discussed the difference between Extroverted Horses and Introverted Horses.
Extrovert – Consistency, Circles, Repetition, Retreat back to where relaxation lives then reapproach, Establish X (pattern, safe spot)
Introvert – Variety (add incentive/rewards), straight lines, snappy departures (online first), Establish X
We then headed out to the play field to warm the horses up to be ridden, once we felt our horses were ridden to be mounted we could mount up and work on what we learnt yesterday. Blossom was going really well and was able to maintain a steady trot for a few laps on the round pen, which was a massive improvement!! Jackie came over to see how I was getting on and I asked her if she would ride her at some point over the next few days. I have never seen anybody else ride Blossom so thought it would help me to be able to see her being ridden and maybe pick up on some new things I have never noticed with her before.
Jackie decided to use Blossom for the riding demo – Again she worked on lateral flexion, indirect and direct reins. She then moved on to showing us how to use our energy in our body to get transitions in walk, trot and canter. And then also showed us the 9 step back up from a walk. My parents then arrived to pick up Dylan, so I went away with them to get Dylan all packed to go home. Jackie continued to ride Blossom while I was away (Not sure what she done with her) But when I got back and got on her she felt amazing to ride she was so much softer than normal and listened to my body energy better than she ever has. Just shows that the proper realise does teach them to be soft. It was brilliant to watch Jackie riding her and I feel I learnt a lot from it.
Thursday 3rd July
Day 2 with Jackie Chant.
Today we started with any questions from yesterday anybody had, then moved on to what we would be working on today.
The morning we done some theory, then done some simulations. The first simulation was on energy, we had to get into pairs and hold hands and bring our energy levels up and down - very interesting I could really feel when my partner lifted her enrgy in her body and then lowered it again. We also done some pinky dancing in pairs, again very interesting as again I could feel my partners energy come up and down and made me want to stay in time with her – how cool. We then done some rope work on the fence line practicing bringing our enrgy up as a phase 1 then quickly going to phase 4 using a quick flick of the wrist to send energy down the line – Really good technique to learn and think it will work wonders when playing with Blossom.
We then headed out to the playfield with our horses and warmed them up using what we learnt from yesterday. Blossom’s circles were much better than they were before using the technique to keep her attention Jackie had showed me. But I found she still seems to loose her confidence out of a bigger circle so I kept the circles smaller to help gain her confidence and keep her attention on me.
Sideways was much better today and took less time for her to find relaxation, which was good to see. Yo Yo still needs some work to keep her straight and I still need to use lots of approach and retreat to help her gain confidence backing to the the end of the 22ft rope.
Jackie then gave us a demo with a students horse – she had set up a obstacle of two barrels next to the fence line and started with asking the horse to squeeze between the her and the fence and disengage at the barrels. Once that was going well she then stated asking the horse to do a figure of eight pattern round the barrels, because the horse she was using for this demo was a left brain extrovert she had to change the game a lot to keep his attention. So she mixed it up by asking him to squeeze at walk and trot, figure of eight and also added in stopping on the straight next to the fence an backing up. Really interesting demo to watch!
We then got the chance to play with this, I started with asking Blossom just to squeeze between me and the fence and turn and face at the barrels. She seemed quite unconfident and was trying to rush all the time, so I used the stop and back up to help her gain confidence and stop her rushing – Then she started doing the squeeze really well so we moved on to playing with the figure of eight pattern. This is where our problems started – When I asked Blossom to go round the barrel and the draw back to me she wouldn’t come in and just stood braced or went backwards. I wasn’t sure if this behaviour was RB or LB as to me it looked like unconfidence or it could have been dominance… I played around with it for a bit making sure I played lots of friendly but still didn’t seem to be getting anywhere.
Jackie called us all over to give us a demo on squeeze game over a log with another students horse – Interesting demo as the horse wasn’t too sure about jumping at the start but within minutes Jackie had her looking like a totally different horse.
We then got the chance to go and play with that – but I was quite happy with Blossom squeeze game over jumps she just needs to gain more confidence to start jumping bigger jumps. So I asked Jackie if she could come and help me with the last task (barrel patterns) as I was really confused and didn’t want to just ignore the problems I was having. Jackie watched me playing with her and soon got to see the problems I was having – so she had a play with her and found she was having the exact same problems and if anything Blossom became worse because Jackie started asking more from her. Jackie decided to give us all a demo with Blossom using the large poles in the field - basically she would let Blossom run and would use the poles to stop her, teaching Blossom to yield from the pressure on the halter. She wasn’t a happy pony with this at the start and actually reared up a few times to try and get away from the pressure on the halter. But by the end of the demo she was going much more relaxed and soon as the slightest feel was on the halter she would yield to it. Extremely interesting demo for all of us I think.
After lunch we done some quick simulations on fluidity – we got into pairs and one person put there hand on top of the others pretending they were on a horse and had to try and stay on without moving there body only there hand, then had to push down on the other persons hand to try and stay on and the last one was to show how fluid you can be if you move your whole body with your hand. Wow what a difference it made moving your whole body it really helped me stay in time with the movement my partner was making and when it was time to change round so I was the horse I could really feel the difference when they were more fluid with me rather than fighting against my movement.
We then headed out to the play field and prepared our horses for ridden work. Jackie then gave us a ridden demo using one of the other students horses – Showing us lateral flexion, direct and indirect reins and also using our energy for transitions and one rien back up – Really good demo as it showed us to hold in there and wait until the horse did soften before releasing and gave us some ideas to go away to play with.
I decided just to ride Blossom in one of the round pens as that way I can control her impulsion easier and gives me the chance to work on the things Jackie showed us in her demo. Blossom was very good today considering she hasn’t been ridden for a while and started to relax by the end of the session, I was very pleased with her.
Today we started with any questions from yesterday anybody had, then moved on to what we would be working on today.
The morning we done some theory, then done some simulations. The first simulation was on energy, we had to get into pairs and hold hands and bring our energy levels up and down - very interesting I could really feel when my partner lifted her enrgy in her body and then lowered it again. We also done some pinky dancing in pairs, again very interesting as again I could feel my partners energy come up and down and made me want to stay in time with her – how cool. We then done some rope work on the fence line practicing bringing our enrgy up as a phase 1 then quickly going to phase 4 using a quick flick of the wrist to send energy down the line – Really good technique to learn and think it will work wonders when playing with Blossom.
We then headed out to the playfield with our horses and warmed them up using what we learnt from yesterday. Blossom’s circles were much better than they were before using the technique to keep her attention Jackie had showed me. But I found she still seems to loose her confidence out of a bigger circle so I kept the circles smaller to help gain her confidence and keep her attention on me.
Sideways was much better today and took less time for her to find relaxation, which was good to see. Yo Yo still needs some work to keep her straight and I still need to use lots of approach and retreat to help her gain confidence backing to the the end of the 22ft rope.
Jackie then gave us a demo with a students horse – she had set up a obstacle of two barrels next to the fence line and started with asking the horse to squeeze between the her and the fence and disengage at the barrels. Once that was going well she then stated asking the horse to do a figure of eight pattern round the barrels, because the horse she was using for this demo was a left brain extrovert she had to change the game a lot to keep his attention. So she mixed it up by asking him to squeeze at walk and trot, figure of eight and also added in stopping on the straight next to the fence an backing up. Really interesting demo to watch!
We then got the chance to play with this, I started with asking Blossom just to squeeze between me and the fence and turn and face at the barrels. She seemed quite unconfident and was trying to rush all the time, so I used the stop and back up to help her gain confidence and stop her rushing – Then she started doing the squeeze really well so we moved on to playing with the figure of eight pattern. This is where our problems started – When I asked Blossom to go round the barrel and the draw back to me she wouldn’t come in and just stood braced or went backwards. I wasn’t sure if this behaviour was RB or LB as to me it looked like unconfidence or it could have been dominance… I played around with it for a bit making sure I played lots of friendly but still didn’t seem to be getting anywhere.
Jackie called us all over to give us a demo on squeeze game over a log with another students horse – Interesting demo as the horse wasn’t too sure about jumping at the start but within minutes Jackie had her looking like a totally different horse.
We then got the chance to go and play with that – but I was quite happy with Blossom squeeze game over jumps she just needs to gain more confidence to start jumping bigger jumps. So I asked Jackie if she could come and help me with the last task (barrel patterns) as I was really confused and didn’t want to just ignore the problems I was having. Jackie watched me playing with her and soon got to see the problems I was having – so she had a play with her and found she was having the exact same problems and if anything Blossom became worse because Jackie started asking more from her. Jackie decided to give us all a demo with Blossom using the large poles in the field - basically she would let Blossom run and would use the poles to stop her, teaching Blossom to yield from the pressure on the halter. She wasn’t a happy pony with this at the start and actually reared up a few times to try and get away from the pressure on the halter. But by the end of the demo she was going much more relaxed and soon as the slightest feel was on the halter she would yield to it. Extremely interesting demo for all of us I think.
After lunch we done some quick simulations on fluidity – we got into pairs and one person put there hand on top of the others pretending they were on a horse and had to try and stay on without moving there body only there hand, then had to push down on the other persons hand to try and stay on and the last one was to show how fluid you can be if you move your whole body with your hand. Wow what a difference it made moving your whole body it really helped me stay in time with the movement my partner was making and when it was time to change round so I was the horse I could really feel the difference when they were more fluid with me rather than fighting against my movement.
We then headed out to the play field and prepared our horses for ridden work. Jackie then gave us a ridden demo using one of the other students horses – Showing us lateral flexion, direct and indirect reins and also using our energy for transitions and one rien back up – Really good demo as it showed us to hold in there and wait until the horse did soften before releasing and gave us some ideas to go away to play with.
I decided just to ride Blossom in one of the round pens as that way I can control her impulsion easier and gives me the chance to work on the things Jackie showed us in her demo. Blossom was very good today considering she hasn’t been ridden for a while and started to relax by the end of the session, I was very pleased with her.
Wednesday 2nd July
Day 1 with Jackie Chant.
The morning started with Jackie introducing herself and telling us about how she got into Parelli and all about her horses, it was very interesting. We then all told Jackie a little bit about ourselves and our ponies and what stage in the programme we were at and what we would like to work on over the next 5 days.
Jackie talked about phases with us – 1.Teaching Phase (long phases, 3 seconds between each phase) 2. Controlling Phase (Quick Blocks, matching there level of energy) 3. Reinforcing Phase (1 ounce in the rien, 2 ounces in your leg and 4 ounces of rhythmic pressure) 4. refining Phase.
We then went and got the horses and headed out to the playpark, we were just to mosey round with our horses to start with to find out where the thresholds were and so we can learn to mirror them better. Once we felt out horses where relaxed, we could then start playing with the obstacles at the level we were all working on. I just played about with everything working out what thresholds Blossom had today – but most things were going quite well.
We finished the morning with having a quick chat about our horses and what we found out from them when we first brought them out, did they have thresholds and if they did how did we help them overcome them. It was very interesting to hear from everybody as I think we had horses that were all different horsenality which made it interesting to hear what people done different to help the different horsenality.
We all met after lunch back in the playfield with horses and settled the horse in using the games we know will help our horses to become relaxed.
The session was on the purpose games – we started with playing with yo yo using the driving game to help us get the backwards movement. Blossom had problems staying straight when going backwards, so Jackie got me to block zone one and direct the HQ from zone one, instead of moving zone 4 to get her straight. This really seemed to help but I still seemed to be having problems getting Blossom to relax and go backwards. So Jackie had a play with her and had to get really firm with her as she actually became very left brained and dominant, instead of her usual right brained behaviour. It took about a lap of the field backwards for Blossom to relax and soften which was interesting to watch as I have never asked her to keep going for as long before, and I guess this has taught her that she can stop on a brace.
We then talked about circling game and done some trouble shooting on this game some of the problems we came up with where, horse breaking gait, stopping, falling in on the circle, leaning on the rope, looking out of the circle.
Jackie asked me to give us a little demo of Blossom circling, as she tends to lean on the rope and look out of the circle. After watching a couple of laps each way Jackie then played with her for a demo for us to show how we could improve Blossom’s circling game. What she basically done as every time Blossom turned her head out of the circle she gave her a little feel on the rope, and put some energy towards her rips to get her attention back and get her looking where she was going. I always thought it was an unconfident thing with Blossom and thought it would come with time the more confident she became. But watching the difference Jackie made with her was amazing! It wasn’t long before Blossom became relaxed and started lowering her head and looking on the circle.
We then got another demo from Jackie with another students horse who broke gait on the circle and didn’t want to go. It was really good fun to watch as pretty quick Jackie got the horses energy up and she became really playful and full of energy. It was like watching a totally different horse, how cool!
We then got the chance to go and play with circles, what a difference it made to Blossom using the technique Jackie used on her, the circles were so soft and I could see how much more relaxed she was.
We then got a demo on sideways with a students horse – I found this very interesting as I noticed from watching Jackie that I use to high a phase on Blossom, which is then causing us problems. I have basically been starting with the phase Jackie uses for phase 4, oops!!
When it came to us having a go, I found I have to go for a lot longer than I have been before Blossom finds relaxation. Before the course if I got a couple of steps sideways without lots of brace I let her stop – but on the course I found I actually had to get her to go sideways round the outside of the honeycomb before she found relaxation. How interesting!
We finished the day with a overview of what we had covered that day and Jackie answered any questions anybody had – what an amazing first day, lots for me to lick and chew over tonight.
The morning started with Jackie introducing herself and telling us about how she got into Parelli and all about her horses, it was very interesting. We then all told Jackie a little bit about ourselves and our ponies and what stage in the programme we were at and what we would like to work on over the next 5 days.
Jackie talked about phases with us – 1.Teaching Phase (long phases, 3 seconds between each phase) 2. Controlling Phase (Quick Blocks, matching there level of energy) 3. Reinforcing Phase (1 ounce in the rien, 2 ounces in your leg and 4 ounces of rhythmic pressure) 4. refining Phase.
We then went and got the horses and headed out to the playpark, we were just to mosey round with our horses to start with to find out where the thresholds were and so we can learn to mirror them better. Once we felt out horses where relaxed, we could then start playing with the obstacles at the level we were all working on. I just played about with everything working out what thresholds Blossom had today – but most things were going quite well.
We finished the morning with having a quick chat about our horses and what we found out from them when we first brought them out, did they have thresholds and if they did how did we help them overcome them. It was very interesting to hear from everybody as I think we had horses that were all different horsenality which made it interesting to hear what people done different to help the different horsenality.
We all met after lunch back in the playfield with horses and settled the horse in using the games we know will help our horses to become relaxed.
The session was on the purpose games – we started with playing with yo yo using the driving game to help us get the backwards movement. Blossom had problems staying straight when going backwards, so Jackie got me to block zone one and direct the HQ from zone one, instead of moving zone 4 to get her straight. This really seemed to help but I still seemed to be having problems getting Blossom to relax and go backwards. So Jackie had a play with her and had to get really firm with her as she actually became very left brained and dominant, instead of her usual right brained behaviour. It took about a lap of the field backwards for Blossom to relax and soften which was interesting to watch as I have never asked her to keep going for as long before, and I guess this has taught her that she can stop on a brace.
We then talked about circling game and done some trouble shooting on this game some of the problems we came up with where, horse breaking gait, stopping, falling in on the circle, leaning on the rope, looking out of the circle.
Jackie asked me to give us a little demo of Blossom circling, as she tends to lean on the rope and look out of the circle. After watching a couple of laps each way Jackie then played with her for a demo for us to show how we could improve Blossom’s circling game. What she basically done as every time Blossom turned her head out of the circle she gave her a little feel on the rope, and put some energy towards her rips to get her attention back and get her looking where she was going. I always thought it was an unconfident thing with Blossom and thought it would come with time the more confident she became. But watching the difference Jackie made with her was amazing! It wasn’t long before Blossom became relaxed and started lowering her head and looking on the circle.
We then got another demo from Jackie with another students horse who broke gait on the circle and didn’t want to go. It was really good fun to watch as pretty quick Jackie got the horses energy up and she became really playful and full of energy. It was like watching a totally different horse, how cool!
We then got the chance to go and play with circles, what a difference it made to Blossom using the technique Jackie used on her, the circles were so soft and I could see how much more relaxed she was.
We then got a demo on sideways with a students horse – I found this very interesting as I noticed from watching Jackie that I use to high a phase on Blossom, which is then causing us problems. I have basically been starting with the phase Jackie uses for phase 4, oops!!
When it came to us having a go, I found I have to go for a lot longer than I have been before Blossom finds relaxation. Before the course if I got a couple of steps sideways without lots of brace I let her stop – but on the course I found I actually had to get her to go sideways round the outside of the honeycomb before she found relaxation. How interesting!
We finished the day with a overview of what we had covered that day and Jackie answered any questions anybody had – what an amazing first day, lots for me to lick and chew over tonight.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
27th/28th/29th June
This weekend I was going to Shrewsbury to compete so I decided to take Blossom with me, to help her gain confidence at different places and to get her used to being at shows. So hopefully when I start to compete her again it will make things a lot easier on Blossom.
We left on Friday morning, and I loaded the other two ponies first as I know Blossom is more confident if there is another pony in the lorry before her. She loaded well and travelled really well the whole way. When we arrived we built the corralls before unloading the ponies so they had somewhere to go as soon as they came out the lorry. She was quite on her toes when she came out but after that time in the lorry I don’t blame her, she stood well in her corrall and let me take her travel stuff of her and put a waterproof rug on her as it was raining.
I had hoped to take her for a walk round the showground, but by the time I got my tent up and had some dinner it was getting dark and we had to go to the briefing so I just left her for the night.
On Saturday morning I wanted to go and watch one of the teams that was in the arena so decided to use that as an opportunity to take Blossom with me and try and get her used to the atmosphere and noise. Leading her up to the ring she was really RB and was jogging and dancing about all over the place. Because we were heading to the ring on quite a busy bit of the showground it wasn’t possible to try and use approach and retreat as there was too many people, ponies, lorries and cars passing us at the same time. So instead I got her to back up for a few steps, then sideways, then played with the half circle game. By the time we got to the ring, she was a lot calmer but still couldn’t keep her feet still. So I played lots of yo yo game with her as I found that this seems to be a really good game for Blossom and seems to calm her and gets her attention on me. By the time the teams in the arena were on there econd race I was able to ask her to come closer to the fence and watch the other ponies. She really did appear to be watching and stood very relaxed.
In the evening after I had finished for the day I decided to go out and ride her. I saddled her in the corall as I didn’t want to be leaving my saddle lying about while I played with her before mounting.
She was really calm when I took her out of the corall and walked calm to the area I was going to play with her, what a difference from the moring! We warmed up playing with the seven games, all went well so I then done some pre mounting checks then mounted. I walked, trotted and got some really nice canter which was a nice surprise! I was getting some really strange look riding in my hackamore – it was quite funny!! We then went for a ride around the showground and she walked really nice the whole way and even stopped and stood still to let me read the for sale notices that were on the board!
On Sunday I didn’t do very much with Blossom because of the times of my session and final – but I feel that just the experience of being there and just going for a little walk was enough for her! I hope to start taking her to more shows with me as this will be great experience for her and will also really test my savvy to see if I am a good enough leader for her in these new places!
We left on Friday morning, and I loaded the other two ponies first as I know Blossom is more confident if there is another pony in the lorry before her. She loaded well and travelled really well the whole way. When we arrived we built the corralls before unloading the ponies so they had somewhere to go as soon as they came out the lorry. She was quite on her toes when she came out but after that time in the lorry I don’t blame her, she stood well in her corrall and let me take her travel stuff of her and put a waterproof rug on her as it was raining.
I had hoped to take her for a walk round the showground, but by the time I got my tent up and had some dinner it was getting dark and we had to go to the briefing so I just left her for the night.
On Saturday morning I wanted to go and watch one of the teams that was in the arena so decided to use that as an opportunity to take Blossom with me and try and get her used to the atmosphere and noise. Leading her up to the ring she was really RB and was jogging and dancing about all over the place. Because we were heading to the ring on quite a busy bit of the showground it wasn’t possible to try and use approach and retreat as there was too many people, ponies, lorries and cars passing us at the same time. So instead I got her to back up for a few steps, then sideways, then played with the half circle game. By the time we got to the ring, she was a lot calmer but still couldn’t keep her feet still. So I played lots of yo yo game with her as I found that this seems to be a really good game for Blossom and seems to calm her and gets her attention on me. By the time the teams in the arena were on there econd race I was able to ask her to come closer to the fence and watch the other ponies. She really did appear to be watching and stood very relaxed.
In the evening after I had finished for the day I decided to go out and ride her. I saddled her in the corall as I didn’t want to be leaving my saddle lying about while I played with her before mounting.
She was really calm when I took her out of the corall and walked calm to the area I was going to play with her, what a difference from the moring! We warmed up playing with the seven games, all went well so I then done some pre mounting checks then mounted. I walked, trotted and got some really nice canter which was a nice surprise! I was getting some really strange look riding in my hackamore – it was quite funny!! We then went for a ride around the showground and she walked really nice the whole way and even stopped and stood still to let me read the for sale notices that were on the board!
On Sunday I didn’t do very much with Blossom because of the times of my session and final – but I feel that just the experience of being there and just going for a little walk was enough for her! I hope to start taking her to more shows with me as this will be great experience for her and will also really test my savvy to see if I am a good enough leader for her in these new places!
Tuesday 24th June
Tonight I decided to go and play with Blossom as I haven’t had the time the last couple of weeks to play with her as much as I would have liked to.
We started our session with playing the seven games with the stable, Kathleen looked after the ponies for me at the weekend and had problems getting Blossom into the stable. So I thought this would be a good thing to start with, we started with friendly in the stable and the on to game 2 and 3. We then played yo yo up to the doorway and then I asked her to go back a couple of steps again. I would have liked to have got her to yo yo through the doorway and back again, but she isn’t confident with this sort of task yet so didn’t think this would help her gain more confidence in the stable. We then played squeeze game through the stable door, she did find this quite difficult to start with but was soon walking in and out really calm. So we moved on to playing squeeze game between the stable and me and then moved on to sideways along the row of stables. She was so calm, so I asked her to squeeze back into the stable and then played lots of friendly with her.
We then went out to play in the field, it was really heavy rain so we didn’t do very much as we were both soaked!
We started with circling game, the circles are getting so much softer now with lots of slack in the rope. So we worked a little on change of direction and transitions, everything went quite well we managed a really nice steady canter at one point that I was really happy about.
We then played squeeze game over a jump – it was only about 2ft high, but Blossom had problems with this. So I put one side down so it would be easier for her to cross – I could really see how much she was trying. She would lift her front leg and think about putting it over the pole and would also sometimes stop and put her foot on the pole. So we done lots of approach and retreat and I worked really hard to make sure I noticed all her trys and reward her for them. By the end she was quite confident walking over the poles in both directions, so I then put it back up to the jump and played circling game over the jump. She was quite good but I could still see she wasn’t very confident so after jumping each direction a few times I brought her back in to me and played lots of friendly with her and then finished for the night.
We started our session with playing the seven games with the stable, Kathleen looked after the ponies for me at the weekend and had problems getting Blossom into the stable. So I thought this would be a good thing to start with, we started with friendly in the stable and the on to game 2 and 3. We then played yo yo up to the doorway and then I asked her to go back a couple of steps again. I would have liked to have got her to yo yo through the doorway and back again, but she isn’t confident with this sort of task yet so didn’t think this would help her gain more confidence in the stable. We then played squeeze game through the stable door, she did find this quite difficult to start with but was soon walking in and out really calm. So we moved on to playing squeeze game between the stable and me and then moved on to sideways along the row of stables. She was so calm, so I asked her to squeeze back into the stable and then played lots of friendly with her.
We then went out to play in the field, it was really heavy rain so we didn’t do very much as we were both soaked!
We started with circling game, the circles are getting so much softer now with lots of slack in the rope. So we worked a little on change of direction and transitions, everything went quite well we managed a really nice steady canter at one point that I was really happy about.
We then played squeeze game over a jump – it was only about 2ft high, but Blossom had problems with this. So I put one side down so it would be easier for her to cross – I could really see how much she was trying. She would lift her front leg and think about putting it over the pole and would also sometimes stop and put her foot on the pole. So we done lots of approach and retreat and I worked really hard to make sure I noticed all her trys and reward her for them. By the end she was quite confident walking over the poles in both directions, so I then put it back up to the jump and played circling game over the jump. She was quite good but I could still see she wasn’t very confident so after jumping each direction a few times I brought her back in to me and played lots of friendly with her and then finished for the night.
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