Garbo

I had a quick play on Sunday I think it was with Garbo in the round pen. OMG he goes out to the edge now in circle, at liberty, and goes over the poles!

Initially I worked on first three games for a change at Liberty otherwise he just goes off and does a circle lol – and then he offered circle at trot 30ft away over poles and little jump.

Garbo's list of things to do are very hard.....on Parelli Connect...

• With Garbo, (On Line) I can play touch it from Zone 5 on a 45-foot Line using only Phase
• With Garbo, (On Line) I can Figure 8 my horse on a 45-foot Line at the canter with flying lead changes.
• With Garbo, (Freestyle) I can saddle my horse at liberty like a hug, with no negative reactions.
• With Garbo, (Liberty) I can do a Figure-8 at Liberty at a canter with a flying lead change in a large arena or round corral.
• With Garbo, (Liberty) My horse can do a Weave Pattern through cones at the trot and canter with me at least 20’ away.
• With Garbo, (Finesse) My horse has a strong topline and a high neck.
• With Garbo, (Finesse) My horse has most of his weight on the hindquarters when riding Finesse.
• With Garbo, (On Line) I can Figure 8 my horse using 2 reins and driving in Zone 5 at the canter with simple changes.

But it got me thinking about Finesse. SO I decided to put the bridle on with my Parelli reins - first time in 2 years. Not sure why...just decided to.

He was great being bridled... and off we went for a ride around the front lawn and up a bank to the gate where he looked out as if to say "C'mon" - I had left Maraschino in the yard and he was calling out - I normally have him loose when I take Garbo away so we headed back.

He was chewing on the bit quite alot but there was no pulling (from either of us) and I was concentrating on my finesse position. We only walked but it was alongside our house and I could see he looked nice and relaxed and in what you would call a nice beginners dressage position. Yay.

Parelli Connect

Did I mention I love the Parelli Connect site.?

I like it because you can compartmentalise everything - record your savvy hours on each horse, and then on each savvy, and it gives you TO DO LISTS!!!!!! Omg. So cool.

It got me out there on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday haltering Coco every day and using the savvy string to lead him, and do some stuff online with him.

We did a little bit of yo yo on the first day. On the 2nd day I did porcupine game, and on the 3rd day I used the 12ft line and had a go at touching him all over with the carrot stick.

Well guess what?

He hated it - no surprise there, would jump as soon as the stick touched his foot, his leg, if it touched his back he would run around in circles.... so we didn't get far - so I thought....

After a while of him just relaxing again and eating grass, I unhaltered him in the wash bay, played with Maraschino, came back - Coco was still there. So then I touched him with the carrot stick and he stood still and didn't mind!!!! Go figure!

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!

Calm in the storm

Last night we had a big storm and my horses were so calm. The wind was about 50knots and flapping the hay shed canvas, rattling the tie up rings and the yard doors, blowing my dust pans around the wash bay - and yet the few times I went out to check on them they were very calm.

Coco didn't like the flapping very much (of the canvas) as his yard is quite close to it, but he probably eventually got used to it - it's still blowing now and expected to for a few days.

Poor Maraschino had a mild bout of colic last night at dinner time - I think with the spring grass he's been gorging all day then gobbles down his dinner as well when I bring them in - so tonight - less dinner...

He'd stopped eating and was curving his body in an arc like he wanted to itch his side, then he was pawing the ground. He looked a bit like how my husband does when he eats bread too fast and it gets stuck half way down...

I took his cover off, did some porcupine, yo yo, and driving work with him to see if he could concentrate, and I walked him till he pooped then kept checking him every half hour. I also gave him a good rub down with a curry comb, massaging the tummy areas. His temperature was 38, and he wasn't clammy, and he had tummy sounds, so I didn't call the vet... thankfully the bowel movements continued.

On top of all that - we lost power for a few hours last night as well. This morning there are trees down and general debris everywhere!

Looking forward to getting out and having a play - the wind - if nothing else - will dry the ground up for me.

Oh and there is three Plover eggs in a nest in the round pen - they nest on the grass! Not too clever.

Moulting

The boys are all moulting like crazy - giving up their winter coats.... in Garbo's case he loses his lighter hair and Maraschino loses his darker hair - and Coco goes more chocolate.

Mud boots!

By the time I had finished there was hair everywhere - all over me, each other, and the washbay floor. They all enjoyed the groom. At one stage I was combing Garbo's mane and Maraschino and Coco were both grooming my top. even got all the knots and twigs and bits of hay out of their tails, added top tails and combed Coco's mane too!

I must say this all the time but he was the best he's been yet - today. He let me scratch his face, his ears, under his mane, give him a hug, even put some more repair cream on his bald patch on his nose.

Coco giving me a Coco hug

Garbo started off a bit grumpy while I was grooming him, trying to boss me round about where I was grooming him - with my grooming arm I just extended my grooming action so my elbow reached up towards his nose each time and when he turned to grump at me his nose and my elbow collided. He was much more polite after that.

A kiss from Garbo

Maraschino was very placid - he just adores being brushed whereas Garbo - it seems to be only on his terms. Coco loves it too of course. I used the head down porcupine game to comb their forelocks and manes - even Garbo was good at it.