Warm and Pleasant for Eternity

Today, the sun is out and it is warm and pleasant out. Snow is melting, birds are singing. In between work shifts, I went out to have day two of my quiet time with Blu. He was sticky about going on past the gate that separates the pastures. At the round pen, he was patient while I worked the gate open and shut.

I had a vinyl table cloth to lay on so that my snow pants would not get wet from laying in the snow for so long. However, the table cloth smelled bad, so I flung it away. Blu was dilly-dallying by the gate when he noticed the table cloth. He did not worry about it when I was carrying it, laying it down, or even when I whipped it away from me, but now he was snorting at it from the other side of the pen. I watched, knowing that I was about to see him work through this confidence issue by himself and that it was notetaking time. The table cloth was behind me a bit. He had his head up and eyes and nose wide. He choppily paced left to right in an arc that cradled toward me. He would stop and dip his head. He pawed once. Slowly, the tension left his body. When he got to me, he still had some remaining concern, but it continued to melt away. He sighed. Later on, he confronted the table cloth as he casually walked around me. When the wind picked it up at another point in time, he looked up with surprise, but just as quickly returned his attention to me with relaxation.

Today, Blu did not move around so much. He did not try to move me, either. He also did not nibble me. He put his mouth on me, but no teeth. Sarah the black cat was with me, again. She randomly slapped him a few times. I think she is hormonal because the next moment she was rubbing on him again and he had just been sitting there quietly in the first place. I began to throw her out, but she kept coming back. I even tried tossing snow chunks at her, but she just chased them and came back to us. Funny.

When Blu lifted his head in reaction to being slapped by Sarah for the third time, I sat up and tried something. I pulled gently on the hairs under his neck and taught him to lower his head that way. He learned it really fast and I could just touch him under the neck and he'd lower his head to me.

It had been 30 minutes and it was time for me to move on to the next part of today's session, but I did not want to. Blu was chillin next to me and Sarah was sitting on my chest as I lay in the snow watching the extremely clear, extremely blue sky above and the sunlight play in Blu's long mane. I just wanted to stay there for the rest of eternity.

I finally mustered up the gumption to get up. Blu decided to investigate the tire and the spot I had been laying. I called him over, but he was completely engaged with the ground, so I smiled and left him locked in while I got ropes and halters. I had a feeling that he was finally going to roll in there. As I came back, he was rolling! He came right to the gate when he saw me. He was eager to have the halter on.

I let him go in the other pasture, but he was in a cuddling mood. The connection was maintained and it was so nice to stand with him for a bit. He felt so connected. As I stood with him, he noticed the salt lick bucket hanging on the fence and occupied himself with it. I felt his focus on me dissipate so I sneaked off to go get Misty.

Misty was on the other side of the corn crib. I surprised her when I came around the corner, but she came right over and was eager to get the halter on. I took her to a barrel and she automatically came up to the barrel for me to get on, but as soon as I settled on, she was movin'. I rode her around a bit to establish our feel and her impulsion improved. I used the pedestal and circling the cone to do this.

I yielded Blu's hindquarters and he very easily followed Misty and I. I don't remember how, but somehow Blu ended up unattached to us--I believe that Misty scared him away. I wanted to halter Blu (not put a line on him, just practice putting on a halter from Misty's back. Once he was following us again (which was very easy), I stopped and got the halter on him. I put Misty in front of him so his head was over her withers. It was the only way I could keep Misty from mauling poor Blu. Blu was very cooperative through the whole thing, though.

After walking a bit and gently asking him to keep up with us with the carrot stick, I moved into the trot. He went right into the trot with us and stayed with us. We went about 100 feet before Blu started to get excited and naughty thoughts (he wanted to bite and harrass Misty--he hadn't yet, but it was coming). I had wanted to make it to the pedestal together, but we needed to get his mind changed. I cut across in front of Blu straight to the pedestal. That surprised Blu and he stared at us, stopped in his tracks.

I took Misty back to him and pet him. I asked him to come with us and he got on the pedestal. I played the friendly game (extreme and then letting the string wrap gently around him) for a bit. Neither Misty nor Blu reacted. Then, I invited Misty onto the pedestal and she did not fight with him! They stood together peacefully and I knew this was our end point.

Blu followed us off the pedestal. I parked him at a cone while Misty and I got the line for him so I could manage him at the gate. Blu was doing great. He did not move one foot until, just as I leaned over to clip him, Misty bit him and he tripped sideways. He followed Misty and me to a barrel where I positioned Misty so she could not get him. He wanted to put the clip in his mouth, so I let him a little bit more than he wanted. No issue, no drama, we worked the gate.

Blu went to the water trough while I was letting Misty go. Misty had to be tackled as she tried to come back over to the wrong pasture, hehehe. When Blu finished with his water, he came back to me. I gave hay to everyone and went back to work.

It was such an amazingly awesome session. The connection, the success, the warm sun--so good.

Natural Horsewoman Out.

Black Cats and Pyramids

Maggie and Mom gave the horses hay before I got out there. That is not optimal, but when I took Blu by the jaw after greeting him, he did not argue a bit. He was actually very bright and light. He anticipated stopping at the gate, but I smiled and continued to the round pen.

I made a decision today that I want to give Blu and I a good long focus on our relationship. I want to do amazing things with him, so I am going to make sure that we have a super duper foundation underneath us to build on. I feel that I am continually returning to a feeling of being at war with Blu. It did not used to be that way, though. Looking back through my blog posts, I come across this post about Blu. It made me smile. At the end of our session, when I return Blu to the back pasture with all the other horses, he chooses to follow me back to the front instead of join his buddies. That is a powerfully humbling feeling.

I am going to go on an adventure in less than 18 weeks. I would love for us to have all these tricks up our sleeves, but what is much more important is that Blu and I have a rock solid relationship. No cracks allowed. I need him to trust me completely on this road trip.

All of this stewing has lead me to the decision to plan out each of my remaining weeks today. The first week is going to be down time. It is going to be learning about each other in the round pen.

Today was the official signing of the peace treaty. I was put on my Carhartt's and hoofed it to the round pen with Blu as described above. I was surprised that Blu immediately came to me and stood over me. I lay in the snow being rubbed all over by the cat and the horse. After a bit, I sat up and found an itchy spot under Blu's chin. He loved being itched there! When he would stretch out of reach, I would take my hand down and he would put his back down for more. Blu was progressing to nibbling, so any time he put his mouth on me, I stopped scratching. He licked and chewed after 5 times.

Once he put his butt to me and began backing up. He has done this on occasion during quiet time since I first started Parelli. He likes his butt itched, but this feels different. It is a way to get me to move out of the way, I think. He is not kicking or evening looking mean--he just looks sneaky and kind of like he is giggling. He will very slowly slide back. I used the carrot stick to protect my space. He got some more itching from me before he got into position to do it again. When I yielded his hindquarters, he plodded slowly off and looked like he was going to lay down. I sat up to watch and he immediately looked to me and came back.

I rolled around on the ground, but it was to no avail. He was done with rolly thoughts--or so I thought. He was getting a little mouthy with Sarah the black cat. All along she had been rubbing on his mouth and chin, but now he was starting to get a bit curious with his teeth. She slapped him and hissed. He pulled away and licked and chewed. "That cat has self respect," I thought. I felt justified and happy about protecting my space from then on. I did it gently, but I was adament. After some more time of being clear about my boundaries, he followed the cat to the gate (more like chased her slowly at the walk). When he decided that there was no way he could reach her through the gate, he began to wander as if to roll again. He was clearly restless. He would get his legs close together and swish his tail, but not go down. He pawed. He yawned.

I think he was having some major discoveries right then. He returned to me--still not having rolled--and I stood and we exited together. I positioned him so that he was between me and the fence so I could do a stick to me game on the way back to his hay. The first stop, I had to add stick, but the second time, he stopped without it. Then I ran to his hay and he trotted.

Natural Horsewoman Out.

Just Laugh

This morning, I fed the horses their hay early so they could have it all eaten by the time I went out for my session. Blu was a bit contrary to coming to me when I came back to play, though. I think he was expecting some grain, first, maybe. I played the catching game with him and had fun getting him to focus on me. I went to his stall and waited for him to follow me in there at the end. I was tempted to pop out and call him, but I stayed disciplined and waited (that 2 minutes nearly killed me, don'tcha know?). He came and I gave him a sweet. I sat with him while he cleaned up some hay in his stall, then I took him off to the other pasture on a 12' line with one strung carrot stick.

After some extreme friendly game in zone 5, I led him through the weave pattern of 3 cones from zone 2--simple stick to me. That got our path tracked through the snow and established connection. I moved on to driving from zone 5 with one 12' line. This turned out to be a situation where there was not enough preparation for our goal and the tools we were using. Blu ended up confused and worried and I ended up frustrated.

Quite out of frustration, I yielded his hiney as he was wandering off with his head up and body stiff. It was very fast and he totally changed. Even though I should not have been so emotional, it was exactly what Blu needed--a big HQ yield that matched-and-then-somed his energy. It snapped me out of my stupor, too. I suddenly knew what I needed to do, and things were much easier.

I took a step back and did the weave pattern from zones 2/3. I moved it up to trotting with cantering on the ends. At first, Blu had difficulty cantering, but his ears and mouth relaxed after a few times and he did an end with relaxation and lots of hind end engagement. We were ready to ride.

Blu did well squeezing between the barrels. I sat down and we headed off. I got warm and took off my coat, placing it on a corner post. Blu was very confident with this whole thing, but when we got to the opposite corner, he was suddenly frantic, nervous and stiff. I was searching for the offender and doing changes of directions as well as considering dismounting if I needed to. But then I realized he was spooking at my coat! It looked different, so here we were. I thought it was very funny, but I made the rest of our session about building his confidence. Using change of direction every time he stopped at a threshold, I helped him find relaxation and build confidence as we went with his idea. Every time he stopped, I leaned down and marked in the snow where he made it to before doing a 180 and going off. I also asked for a canter or jog as we left and let him slow down as he needed to. We were making about a foot of progress each time, then all of a sudden, he got curious (still tentative, though) and covered over 50 feet of uncharted territory on the track since the coat. There was a huge lick and chew moment, a sigh of relief, and lots of laughing from me as I thought of him saying "Ooooooooooooooh."

Blu did not take issue with me reaching down and swinging my coat on. I got down and hugged him then he followed me at liberty to the gate. I was sure to follow the track out. Interestingly, Blu did not wait while I locked the gate on the other side--he did not turn face and wait. Instead, he went to the barn. I suspect he was thinking about his breakfast. Sigh/laugh.

Natural Horsewoman Out.

Easing Back In / Easing Back On

Today was my first play day since we began walking. I wanted to do something very easy so I could assess and decide what to do next as well as to sort of ease my left-brained introvert back into doing things that require effort.

I had an apple core in hand and when I stepped out, there were 10 equine eyes on me. I don't think they saw the apple, though--I was too far away. When I got to the door to Blu's pasture, I unlocked it then waited. Usually it flies open so fast, but today I let the suspense build. I was kind of proud of my way of making things provocative from the start.

When the door opened, Blu (and all the other horses) definitely had their eyes on me. I stepped out after waiting and Blu met me 1/2 way. He followed me as I backed into the barn. I gave him the apple and while he ate it, I put on his halter. When we left, he went off a nice soft feel. I focused on keeping him next to me instead of behind me.

First thing we did was check the time. He had to wait outside by the door while I did that. Then we went out to get the paper. He did have one threshold, but he went on after only a few seconds and by himself. In the road, I sensed some tension, but not much. He was much more relaxed and not frantic or tight about getting back to the driveway. He waited outside patiently again while I put the newspaper and mail in the house. He was not tied either time; the line was just laid over a planter on pedestal. How obedient! I suspect that a good foot of snow over all the grass played an important role, though :)

In the drive way, I played the friendly game and stood with him for a bit. Then I gently yielded his forequarters a bit. His hindquarters a bit. Forequarters, hindquarters, forequarters, hindquarters. When I asked for sideways, it was very soft and he went together. Next was to come sideways to me. I did the same separation and recombination and got the best sideways to me, yet. Blu stayed calm and relaxed. Usually, he gets tight and worried about sideways. Today, I finally managed to be clear about it.

He became absorbed in the goings of a plastic bag in far off yard. I did a falling leaf pattern that turned into a stationary figure eight pattern, then I put our heads down. He licked and chewed. Now I had his attention. I began yoyos. He was doing them with just energy on the way out, but coming in was hard for him--an "I can't," not an "I won't." I just waited with light steady pressure through his sleeping. Whenever he would wake up, I'd take the pressure away. As I applied again, he'd go to sleep. There was slack in the line, but I would just keep it steady. Then he would just wake up and come to me. That was a very nice thing.

I sent him out on a circle. He was doing a good job of keeping slack in the line. If he took it out, I did a partial disengagement. When his walk was rhythmic and he was leaving the slack in for several laps, I asked for the trot. He kept the slack and jogged on. He did ten laps without correction. My goal was 15. In those first ten, he was falling out of the jog and then picking it up again quickly without being told. I decided to aim for 10 the next time. This time, he did 10 nice laps without any breaking gait. I stood with him for a while.

Out in my arena, we walked the path of our follow the rail pattern. The fresh snow made it easy to set things up for success. I stood on a barrel and squeezed him through space between the two barrels. He had to go around the first time, which I let him. The next time, he stopped in front of me an invited me on. I got on, took off his halter and line, and put those on the barrel. He took them off the barrel a few times before finally walking on without swishing.

I was going to go until I got one lap without using my stick. Just the walk. I wanted it to be easy so we would win. Well, he stayed on our track and I did not need to use my sticks at all. So, when we arrived at the barrels, I had him squeeze between them and stop. I put his halter on from his back then stepped onto the barrel. I tried to get him to hand me a carrot stick, but he was more interested in throwing it away from me. Finally, I was able to grab it before he threw it. It was funny--I was laughing.

Blu was great with the gate. I took off his halter and he waited patiently while I locked it back up. Then he followed me to the barn and we sat in the aisle for a while. He cleaned up loose hay and I cleaned his back hoof and sat there feeding Hoosier handfuls and feeding Blu.

It was such a nice, easy session.

Natural Horsewoman Out.

Walking with Maggie Again

Maggie, Ginger, Blu, and I went for a walk as the snow came down really heavy. We focused on him being polite and respectful about grazing. Snowing really hard :( Good walk :)

Natural Horsewoman Out.

Grazing by the Road

One of Blu's and my hazy areas is road confidence. Both of us get tight around the road. Today, in the lovely sun, I stood in the road while Blu grazed in the ditch. He really got into the relaxation and when I finally took him into the road, he was not tight and unpredictable. I was able to relax more. He did tighten his butt when a car went by, but it fizzled out pretty quick. On the way home, later, he also tightened up on the road. I will be feeling for him to be completely at ease with the road.


While we were, in the aisle by the neighbor's horse and donkey, we ran/cantered together and it was so fun. Blu was splashing me as he ran along in the puddles and he would buck exuberantly. It was such great feeling that brings a smile to my face.

Another Account of the Day: "I let Blu graze in the ditch for a long time. Then we were off to the neighbors. Lady and Moses the donkey were laying down in their pasture, today. Blu and I ran/cantered down the aisle by their fence. He liked that, and I did too :D On the way back home, Blu was a bit better feeling on the way home. In the road, he was the most confident that he has ever been, but I still felt tightness in him as a car went by from behind. He did not have any displaced behavior, though, and he felt fine once we hit the drive. Sometimes, he gets antsy or will toss his head and buck as he walks away from the road.

So, good walk, today :D"

Natural Horsewoman Out.

Walking because of the Weather

This week I have been taking Blu for walks because it is major meltdown time outside. Everything is turning to yucky, slippery, mucky mess. Blu would not have good footing in the pasture, I don't want to mosh up his path in the arena so it dries all choppy, and the lawn is OFF LIMITS. Also, Blu and I could use some walks. I am going to really just focus on our relationship building for a while until we have footing again.

I have been going to the neighbor's drive and walking through puddles and working on his road confidence. This morning, we were taking thresholds one at a time. When he froze up and started pawing, I got him going on a consistent circle so he could move his feet. Yesterday, he was walking with his butt in the road (like a haunches in) because he was looking in the ditch. So, I played with him in the ditch. On my walk with Maggie, Blu walked straight in the walking area outside the white line.

He was willing through all puddles except at the end of our walk. I used reverse psychology and pushed him around the puddle several times. When I did not push him around the puddle, he gladly went through it.

On our walk, we encountered and maneuvered a giant log. Blu did not hesitate to go over it. At first, he put a foot on it and began to walk over it. He shifted gears and jumped smoothly over it with no problem.

I never felt any particular connectedness on our walks so far. I have felt rather blah about them. I feel like this afternoon's was the best, but Blu and I have some building to do, that's for sure. More to come!

Natural Horsewoman Out

Lovely Walk

I took Blu for a walk on the driveway and down the asphalt path at the neighbor’s. He helped me bring up the trash—no problem with that, by the way. He was nervous on the road, so I took some time with it. He was fine trudging through water and was a pretty good partner for our walk. It looks like we are confined to lovely walks for a bit as the temps are at or above 50 degrees F this week and everything is muck. I am ok with that :D

Natural Horsewoman Out.

Back from the Getaway

I attended a weekend getaway with my youth group this past weekend. It was so much fun. I played ice hockey on a frozen lake for two hours straight, went sledding for 3 or 4 hours on a wonderful sledding hill, and God made all kinds of changes in my heart. I was EXHAUSTED!

So, today, I played with Blu at liberty. I stood with him for a while chatting. Then I drove from zone 5 at liberty. I took him back to the hay room and trimmed his right front foot. . . but I was so sore from all the playing this weekend, I could not do any more feet! So Blu has one lovely manicured foot.

Blu opened the barn door and I drove him to a tree. There we worked on transitions in prep for cantering in zone 5. Blu was cantering, but with super tight lips. It was pretty bad and made me tight, too.

So, I changed it up. We cantered to a grassy spot in straighter lines with me in zone 3 and he never picked up the wrong lead. We ended with grazing and walking back to the pasture.

Natural Horsewoman Out.

Last Lesson With Meggie, Lead Change Ladder Session #5

When Blu saw me, he did his regular walk toward me, but Ginger got in the way. Ginger is mean to the boys, very insecure in herself, so she gets nasty and will unnecessarily push Hoosier and Blu around. Now that Blu had an obstacle between him and me, he could either give up or overcome. He fought Ginger to get to me! Well, he actually dodged her blows and sped by, but that's huge!

He was following with me as a partner, rather than dragging behind. I had him circling 15 laps at jog, cantering until relaxed, driving from zone 5 fig 8, cantering in zone 5 in fig 8, prep for mounting from two barrels. All of this before Meggie arrived.

When Meggie arrived, I was almost mounted up. We were supposed to be working on the lead change ladder. However, for the day, we barely made it to the counting canter strides step because Blu had this HUGE problem on the left lead. We focused on eliminating the tail swish by suggesting as lightly as possible and then letting him build up his impulsion as I did quick releases. We went from a thought of going forward to finally a canter. But there was so much worry in his canter. He had trouble with making one of the short-side corners. I used my stick on his shoulder to get him to stay inside. Also, he left the arena once or twice on a sort of AAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!! canter. We were bridleless, but this was fine, because, as you might have read, I currently have a lot more confidence bridleless than I do with reins. I just calmly smiled at Meggie and said "Good bye!" as we raced off on a tangent. I guided him back to the arena and we re-entered. That happened three times, each time with me getting that shoulder over sooner so the leave was shorter. Finally, he got a little relaxed.

When we switched directions, I put on the reins so I could have Meggie help me through my unconfidence with them. I knew I would have less to deal with in this direction because he is more confident on the right lead. Sure enough, we he was fine. We even got to count strides, and it felt REALLY good. I also never had any problem with the reins.

Meggie is not going to be available to me for lessons until April 5th. Maybe by then I will have some lead changes to show her. Her homework for me is to get Blu very confident at the canter in zone 5 so we can work on asking for a lead on a straight line from zone 5. Also, continue working on the lead change ladder.

Natural Horsewoman Out.