Parelli Kids Practice Sept. 14 & 15 - Play Time on Sept. 16 & 17, 2008

Life has been busy and amazing! Sorry for not blogging every day like I prefer, you'll just get an extra long post today. I am here at the beach for my fathers birthday, the man who has made all this horse and Parelli stuff possible for me and many others. We left mid-Wednesday and won't be back home until Sunday night-ish, so I have tons of time to blog and catch up on things. First off, this past weekend Sundance and I went to Charlotte's (http://www.foxpointfarm.com/) at the Lancaster location and had a Parelli Varsity Team practice for the Chetola Farms Breed Show Demo on October 12, 2008. We are to do all 4 savvies in one large arena with about 10 + other people, including liberty! We all did the requirements in the arena at the practice, and amazingly Sundance did VERY well. What surprised me the most was how well he did at liberty! He did canter-rounds, spins, circles and everything we do at home PERFECTLY at practice, I was so proud of him. He was also a ham, of course, to everyone that he came in contact with. He stole treats from Stef, that of course were for Bali. He made Johnny mad because he was sucking up to Sue, which was very cute! All the babies protecting their herd of two. So far I can do all of the requirements for the varsity team, and Charlotte says I am on. Here are the requirements: http://foxpointfarm.com/parelli%20kids%20index.htm scroll down towards the bottom until you see a picture of Sundance and I riding bareback and bridless. I spent the night there and spent the next day helping Charlotte with horses and lessons, I first of course got up early and played with Sundance while it was cool and no one but Tommy was up feeding. Sundance was distracted at first but soon joined up and we got some great things done! I was so proud and Sundance was having fun. As soon as Charlotte got up to the barn she had me play with Bali, Stef's gorgeous palomino. He was amazing of course, Stef has done a great job on him. It is lots of fun playing with other horses that have been through the program, we speak the same language and help each other fill in gaps in our communication and foundation. Bali has an amazing foundation, he was so much fun to play with. He started off heavy on his forequarters, just like Sundance does. But with some mirroring and advanced turns Bali was a little helicopter, well little is not the word, a 16.2-3 hh helicopter. By the way, Bali was the inspiration behind the South Charlotte Savvy Club logo. After I played with Bali boy, we went to the Indian land location and I got to play with Portrait! I was so happy with her progression, she has a lot to offer. I had fun with her spunky mare-ish leader type horsenality and rode around bareback working on getting her willing to stop when asked and following the rail. Which went very well, and ended the session with smiles. I helped Charlotte with her group lessons the rest of the afternoon, which was fun! I learned a lot about teaching children, I am sure it will help me in my teaching skills at Little Patch of Heaven. All too soon it was time for me to load up Fabio and go home, of course he was an angel and hopped into the trailer ready to ride home to his equine friends. The ride home was smooth and rested well through the night, I woke up sick and today am now finally 100% better! I am glad I get this weekend to REST and restore my health, even though I have a really hard time with not doing anything. There is such a thing as doing 'nothing', I am just not the type of person to do that. But I'd say I've done well, I went shopping yesterday and had my hair washed and styled and have taken naps once a day for three days which I NEVER do... I guess I didn't know how tired I was! Oh, I did get to play with the babies on Tuesday and Wednesday right before I left. I played with Sundance at liberty, doing a pattern from the Parelli Patterns. Figure eight around barrels at liberty, he caught on after a little while and then we practiced one canter round. I knew he was tired from the weekend so I decided to stop there, he was a little comedian during the session too! Every time I had him stop to think he would (in this order) blink, sigh, lick his lips, stick his lip up a few seconds and then lick again. It was very cute, because he did it in that order every time. Since we were leaving the next morning I got up early and went out around eight-ish before school, this is when the horses are napping under the shed right before they head to the arena and roll then head out to graze, so I caught them at a good time. I went out and scratched every ones itchy spots then headed out to the arena with Fabio, and everyone followed (YES!) and Breeze, Bebe, Sundance, Taco and I went into the arena. I was just standing there with Fabs watching everyone smell around the arena and Bebe and Taco having a wrestling match (very entertaining) and unsuspectingly Sundance just dropped from beside me on the ground. Then Breeze on the other side of the arena did the same thing, and then Bebe! I guess it's roll time, I thought! So I rewarded Sundance for laying down, for I had a thought. (Everyone run and scream, I was thinking, and you know what happens when I think!) What if I kept the arena closed and came out every morning at the same time and let them in the arena (as the rolling permitter) and stood with Sundance every time he rolled, to him I will be the lady that allows all heavenly sand rolling. (You know where I am going with this now don't you?) *evil laugh* And what if he figured every morning if he rolled beside me he would get a treat? What if I started to use a cue right before he rolled and then give him a treat? What if I start asking for a lay down with that cue and a treat once he gets used to the cue and associates it with laying down? Catching on? *tee-hee* *continuous smart laugh* *snicker* Don't you love me? *wink* Yep, I am excited. Onto the session, Bebe's nose is better and is not broken! Thank goodness. So I decided it would be great to start sessions back next week, I waited until Bebe and Taco got done having a man fight (or man-wanna be fight) and waited for Bebe to walk to me. We did some long range 'put your nose on something' game at liberty, which is his favorite game and really builds his confidence in me and himself. It went very well, he is extremely intelligent, and was a great place to leave off in preparation for next weeks start up. Sundance and I worked on our liberty figure eight pattern which was better than last night, then left for the barn to give him a treat for being good. Sundance has been amazing, I am so proud of him and cannot wait to get home and start the sessions back! I also hope Bebe's sessions will turn out well. Sundance and I have another PKV practice next Sunday and Charlotte's so I am excited about that too. Time to go to a show, I will update whenever I get home and have a session. But until then, Keep it Natural!