Friday, December 26, 2008

Sweet Bee Update and Other Updates

Little Bee is 99.9 % better, tomorrow is his last day of entrapment in the arena. Today when I came out to give him his "Horse Pills" (Ha ha, I couldn't resist!) He made a little canter and buck circle and came back to me, without any sign of pain or irregularity in his body... so I think he is about ready. I am very pleased with the progress of his healing and that it was only a cut, it could have been much much worse. I am very thankful for the undemanding time we had over Christmas, it really showed me how much joy you can find in doing things for others... rather than yourself.

As with the fabulous Fabio, he is a snotty  punk... In a good way of course, I love my Left Brained Introvert! He will now give me the worlds energy, ENERGY, just raw energy. That used to be my problem, lack of GO. Now, he's got great equality when it comes to his Go = Whoa (Impulsion)... but now I am having to give him a good reason to use that impulsion at Liberty instead of just running around in circles when I ask him to do something he either doesn't want to do or he is confused about.

I have learned lately:

Don't stay on one thing too long, once he gets it... GET OFF!

EX: Jump went great *TREAT*... Go sideways at a long distance... Back to jump -great- *TREAT*... onto something else. (Jump was the main focus, we have been jumping the barrels upright on-line and liberty... soon onto Freestyle.)

Our family got a Wii (Nintendo) for Christmas, which I have thoroughly enjoyed by the way! I was playing a game, and not soon after I got a hang of  it (2 minutes into it?) I caught myself saying, "MOVE ON ALREADY!". I stopped and thought... "Mirror, mirror in the stall; who's the fairest of them all?". Jesse Peters was right, my horse is my mirror. Sundance and I have perfectly matching horsenalities, even though I have only started noticing this. If I spend even a little too long on one task he gives me the middle hoof, even if I give him a reward. Sound like me? Uh, yeah. So I have to find BALANCE in my TIMING, when is the perfect time to give a treat? Or stop? Or move on? I am learning, and what a good thing it is... learning so many new things from such a wonderful partner on such a wonderful journey! "If your ripe your rotten, If your green your growing!" - Pat Parelli

Sundance and I have been playing with:

1) Jumping upright barrels, ONLINE - LIBERTY

2) Refreshing Stick2Me at W-T-C-B-S, LIBERTY

3) Figure 8's at Canter with Flying lead changes, ONLINE-LIBERTY

4) Long Line Driving, ONLINE-LIBERTY

5) Refreshing maintain gait (CANTER), ONLINE - Higher Length Lines -

6) Introducing the Concentrated Rein at W-T-C-B-S, FINESSE

7) Jumping Upright Barrels, FREESTYLE

8) Saddless, Bridless, Carrotstickless riding, FREESTYLE

9) Bareback mounting - Jumping on from behind, FREESTYLE

 

Bebe and I have been playing with:

1) Circles with Upward and Downward Transitions at W-T-C-B-S, LIBERTY

2) Figure 8's, LIBERTY

3) Carrot Stick Riding, FREESTYLE

4) Figure 8's, FREESTYLE

Haven't been able to do much with recent injury and time consumption with the holidays... compared to Sundance.

I have turned in my application for Lakeland, FL Celebration (October 9-11, 2009) Savvy Spotlight. I already have 3 songs picked out and a rough-draft routine in my head, even though it's 9 months away... we have a LOT of room for improvement, so I am very excited. My goal is to get my green savvy string my summer 2009, before we perform in Lakeland. So if ya'll don't mind sending positive thoughts or a little prayer my way, that would be fabulous. If any of you have any prayer requests, or anything, you can email me and I would be glad to contribute! mariahhelms@hotmail.com

 

Thanks for reading!

Mariah Helms

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have been enjoying reading your blog recently :) This post was a helpful reminder to remember to not work on one thing too long with my horse. He is a mouthy, curious LBE who learns very quickly and can get bored and unmotivated if I stick with one thing too long. :P

btw I LOVE that photo of you riding Sundance bridleless!!! Its awesome!

-Nicole

Alayna said...

Yay, glad to see he's on the mend. Keep up the good work ;-).

Lucy said...

Hi Mariah,

Would love to see a vid of you jumping on from behind bareback! :)

Happy new year,
Lucy