Freestyle

6-24-11 I am working very hard to blog regularly my play sessions.... at times the days get away from me....... Today I had a wonderful freestyle session with Lordy. He was so responsive considering he has had quite a bit of time off since our focus was getting our online horsemanship better....... I did find that I need to play with the shim some...... I think he is filling in the areas along his topline differently..... Riding in the hackamore and Lordy appears to be so much happier not having a bit in his mouth. I do find it is a skill not to feel any brace on the halter. I am working to remain consistent in my ask, timing and release. Remembering to never release on a brace.......

Spent some time just casually walking the pasture fence line. Life is good.... XO

Figure 8

6-15-11 Today was another stunning day... clear blue sky and no humidity. Temp in the 70's. I can so get spoiled with this weather for North Carolina in June! Lordy and I spent some quality down time brushing and hanging out. Our play time was short and focus was online with the figure 8 pattern. Building draw and drive at walk and trot. Sending the horse around the cones is easy but keeping a connection to them mentally and emotionally is a challenge. I am constantly striving to use just enough drive to have respect and build the draw to enhance the rapport.........
Next session we will play again with the truth..... figure 8 at liberty. Until tomorrow going to soak up this amazing weather! XO

Evitex Update

6-14-11 Lordy has been on the loading dose for almost 2 weeks..... His stallion like behavior is much better. One of the mares just came into raging heat and he is coping fairly well. He has the shrill call out here and there but overall he is better.

I will be curious to see how things continue on since Sat he will move to the once a day regular dose. I do have to say that his coat is looking better than ever! He is shinny and shedding out wonderful!

More updates to come. All I can say is at least now I can play with him and he is not so distracted all the time during the mare heat cycles. Since he lives with 3 mares... there is usually one that is cycling!
Sigh.......

XO

Liberty Cones

6-14-11 The weather was amazing at 8am this morning. The humidity was gone! It was quite refreshing. I headed out to the barn, grabbed Lordy, fed him a cookie and headed to the round pen. We are focusing on liberty patterns in prep for liberty audition!

Our change of direction is really coming along. I am getting my timing and feel better and he is giving me more respect and fluidity!

Our challenge is the figure 8 around the cones. I find unless he really focuses on them he leaves the task on the send around the outer edge of one of the cones. Every time I found him disconnected from me and the pattern I placed him back on the line. We then did the pattern pretending not to have the line. Then I unhooked it and tried the figure 8 at liberty again. After 3-4 times he got it. He stayed connected to the cones!! I quit on that and my hope is that I am preparing for tomorrow.... knowing when to quit!

Overall we had a wonderful session with numerous dwell periods where I scratched his itchy and favorite spots. Having no bugs bothering us was a nice treat. We shall see how tomorrow's session goes..... until then..... XO

Softness at Liberty

6-13-11 Had a wonderful round pen liberty session this evening. The weather was beautiful and our changes of directions were fluid and effortless. It was like something clicked for Lordy tonight..... I could see the mind thinking and the lightbulb came on bright. We played with some soft slow changes of direction with flying changes. The trot change was also soft.

What was most amazing was his girlfriends are very distracting at the moment since 2 are in heat right now. His new supplement is taking the edge off but he was still very distracted. So I was thrilled to get the softness I got. I quit while I was ahead and I am planning to return early tomorrow morning to play again. My rope pen is still staked in the arena and ready for our play session early tomorrow. I am really trying to stick to the minimum of 7 days of a pattern!

OnLine to Liberty - BFO

6-7-11 WOW OnLine play really does enhance your Liberty! What a BFO today! I played with Lordy today at liberty and it was the first time in quite some time since my focus has been getting ready for OnLine audition. I was absolutely stunned with the outcomes! He was fantastic and he really showed me how much being in the proper position at the proper time really do matter.... I was able to ask and get the most amazing fun canter flying changes but it was critical that I was in the right place and followed through with timing and feel. Our 360 spins were good.... just at the walk for now...... I was very excited as I am turning my attention to liberty audition..........

I can not wait to play again and improve my feel timing and balance!

Evitex has begun.....

I got my shipment of Evitex from Emerald Valley in 2 days! I got Lordy started right away and I know it will take a few weeks for any results... but I am sure hoping it works....... His behavior waxes and wanes depending on the day and I think the hormone level that is swirling around in the air..... LOL but not really........ XO

Level 4 Audition Experience

6-5-11 Early before the heat turned up I was able to get some wonderful footage for my Level 4 OnLine Audition. In the moment I can get quite task oriented being a type A personality mixed with LBE! BUT the Parelli program has allowed me to develop some emotional fitness so I can stay more a lateral thinker in the moment of playing with my horse even when the video is rolling and I want everything to be perfect! LOL

I enjoyed my session and our flying changes were fun. Lordy is really expanding his play drive. I am also excited how fast his 2 line driving has improved. Our communication through the lines is getting better every time. I think our finesse background has really helped with that. The feel on the lines is so important not too much not to little but just right...... LOL

Overall I was very pleased and I am now working to convert my video footage to Movie Maker and upload to YouTube. I will post a link as soon as I can. (media challenged at times but getting better........)

I am now turning my focus to liberty and playing with the truth of everything we have been doing on the line! Stay tuned..... XO