Let's Get to It!

Hey family!

I just got back from the beach, and am very excited! Life is coming back on full throttle.

School, horses, choir and dance are really all picking back up next week, I'm even finally getting my drivers license this Wednesday! Please be sending positive thoughts and prayers towards that. I have also been picked as a chairwoman for our 80+ member high school choir, I will be coordinating all the social events. I signed up for this, as I think it will be a great way to learn to coordinate events and get used to a role in leadership, I believe it will be a great help for future professionalism. And dance, well, I took it up so I could be better for the horses... and it looks like it is almost as much of a passion of mine as the horses itself. Of course, the horses will always come first though. I've got a showcase and competition coming up soon, very excited about that. My last year of school, 12th grade, is coming up, and I am in the process of picking out all I want to do. I am home schooled, so even my time doing Parelli and teaching counts as school... Hmm, I'm going to make my science this year, about equine psychology or physiology....

Sundance is doing fabulous, I have written down all we are doing in our sessions at the moment... I needed to write down a plan, as we were getting sticky. I have always been spoiled with Parelli writing a plan down for me, detail for detail, and now I don't have anything much but those patterns... which are great! But there are OTHER things that need to be done and approved on whilst doing those patterns.

Our sessions this week look like...

Bowing on both sides - Sundance knows how to bow on his left side, YIPPEE! Well, that means his right side is all stretched out and nice, right? Well, we can't have a one sided horse can we? That means he can't pick up both leads correctly, doesn't it? Now, I am doing an exercise to stretch out the other side, so now he will bow on BOTH sides.... it was fabulous last night, we will put it in concrete this week.

Turning while backing with tail - Fabs already knows how to back up with the tail, matter of fact, I don't even have to touch his tail, I just have to lower my energy and he will back up... now we need to refine it... let's turn too! We've already been working on it, we are going to try and finish it up within the next few sessions.

Cantering on Long lines - (In Horseman's halter, and two 22 ft lines) I think this will really help him stretch his sides and gain control at the canter, I'm almost doing a "Hill Therapy" type program with this. I believe this will really help him become more balanced... this will be a bit boring for him, so I am going to have to really get good at my TIMING... Which quality is that in the "10 Qualities of a Horseman"? Who ever gets the answer, gets a cookie! No cheating either, don't go look it up!

Fine tune FREESTYLE - Haven't done carrot stick riding in a while, we both need to get back to that and refine our skills... will be playing with a million transitions and his lightness to my raising and lowering my energy. Want to get to where I don't need the carrot stick, just the savvy string for safety.

I'm glad I am writing these down, keeping MYSELF, in check... when I get all of these tasks where I think we are ready to move on, (which should be very soon!) I will inform all of you on how they went and what we learned and write down our next building block onto these tasks... let's see how far we can go? Let's get to it!

XOXO

Mariah & Fabio