April 3, 2008

Bebe

It was 8pm on a rainy night, under a noisy shed.

Yo-yo game- He was very light, Responding with only the wiggle of a finger.

Sideways- He was very straight and light both ways, the way I communicate with him during this task is very important.

Feet Up- This is a task where you tap his cannon bone with the stick and he holds his feet up. I had not done this task in a while, He did very well.

Driving Game- Bebe was yielding his forequarters and hindquarters very well, backed well too.

Fingers in Mouth- He mastered this task a few months ago, it's just fun to do and a good way to test your relationship every time you go out to play.

Needle Prep- An accomplished example of this task: You pinch your horse on the neck where a vet (or you) would insert a needle and the horse lowers his head and tips his nose toward you. Why would we want a horse to do that? Have you ever had a horse that gets high headed and their neck is concave and stiff when the vet goes to insert a needle? It is very hard to take blood for testing or give the horse the medicine they need with tight contracted muscles. If your horse has his head down and toward you, he will be relaxed and supple and so will his muscles in his body. Bebe is just now getting a hang of this task, he learns differently than Sundance so I had to approach the task in a different way.

Backing by the Tail- This tasks just proves how soft, connected and supple your horse is. This is a Level 3 Refinement task, stand behind your horse and hold on to the hair of his tail and he should feel the aid and back until you let go. Bebe just learned this task last month and is doing very well.

OF COURSE the Friendly Game!- Bebe decided he wanted to do some friendly after our little session. He rubbed and licked my hand, he also lipped at his halter a few minutes after I took the halter off. He was very friendly and playful, I wish I had more time with him last night but it was going on 9pm and very rainy. Everytime I take the time it takes in a session I see the positive results the next day, yesterday was one of those days I was very thankful for my patience and perseverance in the last lesson.

Todays Plan- I am almost done with school, I have a lesson to teach at 3pm for 1 hour. I will work with Bebe after school and before my lesson, I will have Sundance in his stall ready to go and as soon as I am done teaching I will hop on and ride to our friends house to work with our liberty. That will be my time to work with Sundance, the weather is supposed to be around 70 degrees and very nice so it will be a great day no doubt.

xoxo

A Round Pen Soaking

Sundance

My brother and I trail rode to our friends house a 15 minute rainy trail ride away. They said we could use their 50-60 foot round pen to re-tape our 7 games at liberty. Our huge arena isn't a good place for videoing our Liberty in level 2, Nita Jo Rush says. We went and played in it, it was VERY nice and natural looking. We performed and Sundance got an A+, I am going to go again tomorrow and practice. We are almost ready to tape the tasks we didn't pass. I cannot wait for tomorrow, it's going to be tons of savvy fun! I will be playing with Bebe when I get back to the barn, I just finished supper. xoxo

April 2, 2008

Bebe
Bebe did very well yesterday, we accompished a lot in my oppinion. Bebe was right brained a little bit of the session because of mowing, my brother driving the horses up to the barn and the green ball. But after playing with him and getting his mind thinking he was left brained in no time, we started off with the fun friendly game then we went and played with the ball for the second time, he wasn't very sure about it the first few minutes. But I walked around with it and he got used to it, then I bounced it around him, made it shoot back, bounce over him, rub around him, did some squeeze game with him, then I asked him push it around a little bit. He tried to jump it a few times (and did jump it once, wow!) then he found out if he pushed it, it would actually move. Then he started to act like the smart horse he is, he started to push it around with his front feet, push it with his nose and a few times did a half jump to make it move even more. It was very fun to watch and he seemed to be having fun too. I got the ball up on his back, without any tension in him. He seemed very relaxed, my brother decided he'd pretend to be the ball too and stand on his back. Yesterday was a very fun and successful day for Bebe and I. I do believe this will help Bebe's confidence, in me and in himself.
If you would like to see a video of Bebe playing with the ball, there is a link to it on the left hand side labeled 'Mariah's Video Links'.

Sundance
I did not get to do much of any groundwork with Sundance yesterday, my brother was begging me to come on a ride with him. I put his saddle on and we did some circling game while adjusting the girth in sessions. He trotted around me in a 4-6 foot circle gracefully, changing directions when I stepped back and stopped with the change of glance. I was very proud of the way he acted the whole time, he had his ears up at attention on the ground asking questions and was willing in the saddle. We played with my natural power of focus, his feel in the halter, transitions and asking permission when grazing. It was so much fun and I do believe he is getting the hang of asking permission to eat grass, he was a big pleasure to be around.

Plan for April 3, 2008- I am going to finish up school, then around lunch we are going to take a 15 minute trail ride to a friends house who has a 50-60 foot round pen I am going to use with Sundance. I will post more details and pictures later this afternoon or tomorrow morning.

Mariah Helms

March 31 & April 1, 2008

Tour Stop Savvy March 31, 2008
The 31st was the day after the tour stop and boy did I feel savvy, Sundance felt it too.
Sundance
We played with the Shoulder game and had Sundance cutting me like a cow in no time, he did amazing. The second section I played with was the L2 Circling game, departure at canter... I got my energy up and gave him that look, oh I gave him the look! He knows the look, you should have seen his face! We got the canter departure a few times very well, so I left it alone. I let him stand on his pedestal for a few minutes as a reward, he loves his pedestal.
Bebe
Bebe seemed a little unconfident today so I started off with the saving grace of the Friendly game. He would let me rub all over, no big deal to him... 'So what mom?'. Then I started to swing the savvy string over his body, he did great with that. The I started to slap the ground in zone 2 & 3... good. The I started to walk toward zone 4 & 5, he wasn't so sure of that. So I did some approach and retreat for a little while... Long story short by the end I could have the lead rope hanging over his neck and walk around him both ways slapping the ground and stand behind him and swing it over my head and his rump without him moving, his back foot cocked and his head in neutral. I asked him to back up by holding his tail (taught him that last week) and he gave to the pressure and backed a few steps then I left the session totally alone, I pet him a little bit and then we walked to the barn and served supper.

The Horse Eating Ball April 1, 2008
My mom surprised me with the giant green Parelli ball 2 days ago, today we gave the beast life.
Sundance
Sundance & I started off with the same tasks we did yesterday, it was so much better today because I did a little bit of it yesterday and rewarded the slightest try then ended the session.
He was silly today, I gave him the face again and he went wide eyed and had this odd look on him like 'Mom, what are you doing? That looks really weird!' and he made a very spunky fun dominant canter departure, it was a very fun circling game! The shoulder game was also fun, we did it a few times at liberty then left it alone... goody two-shoes Sundance. Then he saw the ball, was not afraid at all and just went up to it and started to move it around and fiddled with it a while. After he was done I sent him to his prize spot, the pedestal. (Session Over)
Bebe
We started off exactly where we where at the end of the session yesterday, very very good. I really wanted to see if we had our relationship sturdy before I introduced the ball to him so I played with different types of friendly games example: holding his tounge and putting my finger in his mouth. He let me hold his tounge without any resistance and let me put my fingers in his mouth without him caring, he just stood there like the good little boy he is. So I decided after that I would introduce Bebe and the ball. The ball didn't mind Bebe at all, but Bebe had a
strong oppinion about the ball. He classified it as the giant horse eating ball and didn't want to get very close to it, he decided he wanted to live another day! So I just walked with the ball in front of me and let Bebe follow behind at whichever length he wanted, after about 5 minutes he would get beside the ball and smell it without feeling too threatned. I walked around a little bit longer then decided it was time for the ball to smell Bebe, he smelled the ball then nosed it then I did some approach and retreat until he was comfortable enough with the ball touching his chest and his head over. We ended the session with the ball against his chest and his head resting on the ball looking quite comfy, that was a great place to stop... He was confident and happy with the ball. Our next session should be so much better, I am so happy with both of my partners. I do believe they are happy too! :)
Mariah Helms

Busy and SAVVY

I have been very busy the past two days and cannot post much now... I have played with the horses the past two days. I will tell you more tommorow and include pictures :)
Savvy ON!