Ride at home

Since Maraschino has been home I have been playing with him every day and when I do that he's such a fast learner. He was much more relaxed today despite the rain this morning and he offered to get but on the pedestal. Now this is no s mall pedestal. It's a filled tractor tire!!!

This was just as he was getting off.

Soon after this Michelle arrived as she had offered to ride him for me. She was happy with what she saw I'd done after seeing him canter and trot, and she hopped on. It started raining!

She did some lateral flexions and disengaged the hq. Then we got him hooked on to me to get him to go straight instead of what he seemed to like to which was going round in circles. He had a couple of frights but she's super cool and calm and one rein stopped him. We observed that he almost gets so fixated on something he's concentrating on that he momentarily forgets he has a rider, then gets a fright. She just walked today but he went really well. It was bucketing down at the end so it was challenging for him and he did really well.

 

Maraschino's weekend workout

I spent the weekend and Friday getting Maraschinos confidence and curiosity back to where it should be plus advancing all the games and pre-ride checks. He's very good at staying focused in me now rather than getting distracted. I did two sessions a day. In the AM we did sending to obstacles and walk trot and canter with the saddle on and stirrups down. He didn't blink an eyelid.

 

I also put the bridle on for the first time, starting his bridling training off well by getting him to have his head low and seek the bit. He spent the whole time chewing the bit but I think he likes chewing on things. I did the bit simulations for contact and also lateral flexion like Linda showed with Hot Jazz. I also did some liberty in the pen with him. Little more difficult to get the HQ to move round than the FQ.

In the afternoon we did circling with me on the barrel, walk trot canter and change of direction then figure 8. By the end of tonight he was trotting and cantering quite relaxed then he did figure 8 at trot. Cool.

Then I got up on my huge tyre and did some work from up there, getting him to stand for mounting, do figure 8s back toe, and lateral flexions as well as HQ disengagement. Lots of relaxing and rubbing too and head down....I'd spent the middle of both days this weekend watching all the RBI DVDs again.

Taking the bridle off the normal way (not undoing the buckle) made him out his head up tonight so we worked on that till it was good. Lots of yawning after that.

I got Tori's Tshirt yesterday...it's nice.

 

First play post Flex Track

Well I got to play with my two big boys today for the first time since I got home. After giving them all a good groom because they are moulting like crazy! Especially Coco. It's really strange, after two weeks with Heart my boys seem HUGE. You'd think she would have seemed small since I have been around my guys longer than two weeks, but she didn't.

Grady showed me how to do Falling Leaf at the Flex Track, one night after dinner because I missed the workshop due to getting the Parelli Saddle fitted. He said Falling Leaf was for Dominant Horses and Backwards S was for Unconfident horses. So can you figure out which one I did which with today?

Garbo has always used Falling Leaf (attempts) by me to push into me and stop me walking forward, but I had new tools today. I had to separate, isolate and work on disengage for a little bit, then start over. But by the end he was getting the hand of it without over-reacting and trotting or cantering. He started blowing out and lowering his head.

 

I also worked on drawing him from a circle in preparation for Change of Direction (the new and improved version), because he assumes - that I am sending him the other way.

Then of course practicing my belly button focus I took him back and grabbed Mr Maraschino.

We did backwards S which he was pretty good about, and then he got to witness my new way of doing Figure 8 - focussing, not leading - it's so awesome - we didn't have any cones but I had imaginary ones I was focussing on. Gosh at one point I upped my energy a bit and he jumped off all 4's!

I am loving having so many more ingredients to work on.

Measured them both for saddles and they came out as Standard!!??

Out twice this week...

and I haven't blogged yet!!

So this is two days worth... ok!

Tuesday

It was really windy and I nearly didn't go, cancelled then re booked - I think I knew it was because I had told myself I was going to take my saddle and ride. I don't do much more than a couple of strides of trot in the bareback pad so in the saddle I have no excuse.

So I was pleased I changed my mind back and decided to go and not ride. Heading down the road in the float (Garbo loaded really well despite the wind), we passed a grader and a gravel truck going about 100kmph. They were added more gravel to our road and evening it out.

We had a really good session online and his circles are really improving, his right hand circles are still looking stiff and he's looking out - perhaps forgetting his hip is not sore anymore - or favouring it still, or maybe just habit because we more often go to the left (note to self to even this up).

There were leaves and twigs all over the place and Garbo liked the taste of them so as a reward I would stop him on the end of the 22ft after he'd done something well, at a leaf or twig, for a treat.

I just focussed on not drilling the circling just getting a nice lap with head down and relaxed and looking in, and stop.

We are working on me leaving to go and pay while he waits calmly....

We had a nice walk back again to the float and he loaded well again. Off home we went. He unloaded really nicely and Maraschino had been good again - not alot of calling out.

Friday

I did play with Maraschino on Wednesday but I'll blog that seperately.

Again another nice day and no wind, loaded well and off we went. Maraschino didn't look bothered at all - he called out and for the first time Garbo didn't try and come off or do anything in fact when Maraschino called out. Arrived to find Bronwyn had decided not to bring Critey so again it was a great opportunity to practise Garbo working (and focusing on me) without any other horses around - and for me to ride him alone too. Yes, I took my saddle.

He wasn't completely as ok with the saddle going on as the bareback pad so I am going to get it checked again soon.

Well - happy to report - no spooking today and he was calm and Left Brain the entire time. I think he looked up once or twice at other horses grazing in the distance, but nothing much at all. My new rule for myself is to not be on Garbo if I am anxious or nervous - I know he feels it, in the hope that he will only have rides that has me being cool calm and collected.

The circles to the right were again stiff so I shortened the rope and made smaller circles at the walk adding a little flexion to Zone 1 and keeping Zone 4 away from me, he did that well and then I made the circle slowly bigger. I think we are making progress. The left circle oh my goodness - lovely - head down, blowing, using his back... nice.

So on I got - he was good for mounting from the fence... and I ventured away from my comfort zone - near the fence and near Bronwyn. We went over the poles a few times slowly moving out further away each time, and I used the barrels to make some figure 8 at walk, and interestingly enough his right circle round the barrel is actually fine. I increased my confidence with every lap away further and so did Garbo. So we went for a little trot - back to the fence. And then another.

Then - I decided to shorten my reins and try out the engaged position as per the last Mastery DVD - hmm... well the upper part of my body felt good, Garbo seemed to be ok with it, but my heels came up... interesting!!!! I shall have to try and isolate what is happening there.

We rode all the way back to the car - well nearly - 3/4 way back I realised I'd left my carrot stick in the arena so I went back on foot and Bronwyn took Garbo back for me.

Bronwyn had to leave then because her house alarm had gone off so I took Garbo and we walked back to pay the money (there is a green letterbox you need to place it into)... and then I decided we'd walk back down the sandy shad lane past all the cross country jumps (a different way).

Garbo was totally relaxed, no thresholds, past a tractor towing something (parked) and Garbo stepped over the tow cable that was lying on the ground like it wasn't even there.

All in all a great day - loaded well on the way home (with no other horses around for security)... it was eerie it was so empty, and off we went.

I gave him carrots from inside the float!

Why do we skimp on porcupine?

Well I do anyway - I was playing with Maraschino this week and realised I had hardly done any - it's like you do it a few times, yes, that works, then forget all about it. Well I certainly seem to.

It's been really strange working with maraschino - as a youngster because he has no baggage really - and yet I am not starting at Level 1 with him in my learning - like I did with Garbo. So sometimes I feel like we've skipped some and I can't figure out what...

He was willing to be haltered which is nice - that was not always the case. We started with some Figure 8 - like Linda pointed out with Crest and Crest's owner in her blog post - I definitely micromanage them round the Figure 8.. I was trying to figure out how not to today. I walked backwards, gave him more rope, but he still stopped at each spool. Hmmmmm... more thinking required on that one.

We did some more circle game - interestingly enough my carrot stick with the savvy string was in the float and rather than get it I used my 2nd carrot stick without the savvy string and happy to say that Maraschino was not so sensitive to any movement of the stick... (ie just coming 1 cm off the ground).

He can't really manage more than one circle without stopping and facing me (behind me). But that's ok. We can trot together now with stick to me so that will be handy for the Golden Horse Show on November 28 (Paint Ring). I am going to be a rebel and take him in a brown rope hackamore.

We did another few squeezes between the tyre and the round pen and then called it a day. He licked and chewed for a bit after I took the halter off in the paddock we had been playing in, and then he nibbled grass then he took off with a buck back to the yards. Very funny.

Oh - we finished up with a bit of Porcupine!

Maraschino's first 4 y/o play

Yes, Maraschino turned 4 last Monday and we hadn't really had any decent play time this week - so today was the day.

He was really good to halter, no resistance at all... and I picked out his feet (tick)... and off we went - the others came too into the middle paddock. We started with Figure 8 and he got a wee bit stuck 'at' each spool. He also ran out to my right when he had the chance too, even just the carrot stick coming a little bit of the ground for him is enough to 'send'.

He went a little introverted for a bit at one point after some 'sends' and practising carrot stick transitions..

I just waited...

From there we tested circle game and got two laps of trot with coming in, then we also did some over the pole on one side of the circle.

While we were at the pole we tried backing over the pole which he got on his third try I am happy to say, and the we worked on draw - I had to crouch down on the ground.

So - his drive is better than his draw right now... mental note...

We squeezed through the gap between the tire and the round pen which I thought was extra cool because the ground was still a bit soft and boggy in the gap.

He's still jumpy with the carrot stick so we played friendly with that for a while...

Then I sat on the outside of the round pen and played 'mount from the fence' but without the mounting - I probably spent 10 minutes just stroking him while he was up close and I was in Zone 3 alongside him. Sometimes he would move me back to Zone 2, so I would wait there a bit then move along the rail more. He eventually relaxed so much he looked like he was falling asleep.

After that some more more circle, some change of direction and we finished there. I was very pleased with him - it's probably the longest play session we've had so far (about 45 minutes all up).

Maraschino checking out an empty birds egg...

Forest ride

It was so windy today that when I got the float out Garbo started chasing the others. I wonder if it's excitement - he seems to do that quite often when he sees me get the float out (or worse still after getting the float out that I might hater Maraschino first!).

My plan was (for a 12.30pm ride) to play with Maraschino after grooming Garbo, and then leave. Well - I soon realised while grooming Garbo the wind was spooking him alot. His head was high, he couldn't stand still, and when I tried to put him in his yard he tried to jump out when I walked away to get Maraschino - so change of plan!

I realised I needed to actually play with Garbo to calm him down before loading and that I quickly needed him to realise it was ok (because he was with me). So we did some Figure 8! I figured the change of direction would get him thinking again. Then we did some fast circles.!

Luckily over by the float the house was acting as a wind shelter so loading was fine and off we went.

At the beginning of the ride Garbo went off on his own little cross county course - he is so funny.

Garbo was great - at one stage he did try to get in front of Critey, and I did some partial disengagement (if any dressage queens had of seen what we were doing without a bit they would have been green with envy) - Garbo looked amazing - and he calmed down a bit. Then again near the end when the track was really narrow he started trying to bite Critey's bum again so I asked Bronwyn if Critey could perhaps walk faster?? Garbo doesn't like to dawdle! That fixed it! He was happy then. We could hear the wind high in the trees above us but it was calm in there. Nice!

Afterwards he had a big roll in the sand and off we went home again (after nearly a whole hay bag before and after the ride). When we drove down the road I could see Maraschino and Coco eating happily in the middle (and not close to the gate) - Maraschino had only called out about twice (having grass probably helps!).

Oh - I tried out my new iPhone trail app - we went 3.9km and average speed was 3.5 km/p/h. 55 minutes!

Today's ride

I took Garbo to Jool's again today for a ride. By ourself which was very nice.

The grass was very bright green there after the rain - Garbo just wanted to eat and boy did he have a runny poo in the float on the way home.

Jool's horses were around the track one race away from the arena but Garbo was keen to see everyone.

We started with follow the rail again and with my goal of getting Garbo to canter when I ask not just a little bit after we start trotting. And to keep trotting.

I think I did a few laps but not enough and not consistently (as you can see we added a circle or two and a figure 8).

I was really trying to work on focus and looking out to the far distance (actually up at those huge trees). I felt a bit bumpy today - and Garbo was stumbling a bit - he needs his feet done. I tried to give Jool's a few hints while I was there lol. Garbo looks after me - if I got out of sync (esp in canter) he just goes down a gait.

Then I tied the reins to my saddle with the savvy string and started some bridleless practise - just to test. I noticed that Garbo does not see my turn aids as having any phases and the rein is the first phase...ooops... we also worked on bring our life down to stop (can you hear Pat t.a.l.k.i.n.g v.e.r.y s.l.o.w.l.y when he says that on L3.) and it actually worked quite well.

After the ride I took Garbos saddle and hackamore off and we had a wee play at Liberty since I think we will film our L3 Liberty here... it went ok - he was fine close but further out he would wander off. But he would canter back again. Jools commented on it looking good.

Might go back tomorrow. It was really windy today (again) as you can tell by the trees but the arena was sheltered by those same trees.

I went to the indoor arena to say goodbye and thanks to Jools and we got talking (I had Garbo with me since he's not too good at being left by the float alone), and she showed me how he needed to unlock his poll...(he was shaking his head and yawing after she had done some ground stuff with him (she can't resist) - she pulled the flag out!! But in the end he as fine with it - and then came the shaking and yawning. She showed me how to just move the halter and his head slowly from side to side and then he would naturally lower his head as his poll unlocks...meanwhile yawning and shaking his head.... and - he did! He looked half asleep by the time she had finished. It was cool.