A different way to look at things....

     With summer coming on and Gingy turning eight this year I've become quite interested in getting him started undersaddle.  Last year I realized this was not something I could do completely on my own and this year I'm looking for someone to help me.  I've prayed a lot about this and I think God has answered my prayer in a big way.  Our neighbor who lives at most a mile away is the manager of a little polish arabian ranch.  He is starting my friend's horse and I've gotten to watch a couple of times.  I liked what he was doing with my friend's horse so much that I asked to come out and look at what Gingy and I are doing.  He did yesterday and it was amazing!

      First Trevor observed Gingy and I playing and then the fun began.  Trevor said he was really impressed with all the ground work I'd already done with Gingy.  He also explained that from what he saw in Gingy's expression and the way he did things, Gingy wasn't motivated he was just tolerating my requests.  I myself have noticed that Gingy sort of keeps his ears back a little all of the time and sometime he gives a definite little swish with his tail.  So I knew we still had a problem of Gingys enthusiasm and complete willingness, I was just unsure of what to do about it.  As Trevor worked with Gingy a total change came about.

       I imediately saw something I really like in the way this man was able to work with Gingy.  Trevor waited for Gingy to present a challenge or a game.  Gingy came through by pushing on his personal space LOL.  Over the course of the whole session they kept coming back to that game.  It was really neat too because he explained everything he was doing with Gingy and he helped to me interpret Gingy's body language.  I began to see some of more subtle things that Gingy was saying.  He also worked on helping Gingy move his feet which was really interesting.  He believe that when you ask a horse to circle you should walk with them and stay somewhere in z4/5* because pressure behind means they should move forward.  He also said that he didn't see anything wrong with not walking with them, but it's a lot more to ask because it can be confusing to the horse.  What he did with circling really helped Gingy, his expression totally changed from irritated to interested. 

      All and all I think this person is just the one to help Gingy and I continue our journey together.  Not only does he live next to me, but he also upholds all of the principles that I believe in.  His two big pointers for me were: focus in on the subtle body language of the horse and be more clear with your cues then start refining them.  It's kind of strange to be trying something that's not parelli, but I think it's important to learn from lots of different people and I guess this is actually another level of conscious incompetence in a way.  Definitely something to experiment with. 
     

Gingy leads be everything!

     Yesterday, Gingy and I did lots of porcupine games.  We did lead by the mane, forelock, ear, tail, hock, and knee!  It was really cool because he was super soft with everything!  A couple of times he did have some opposition reflex, so we took it a little slower and did some friendly too. 

      The biggest challenge of the session was deciding what to do!  Everything I tried with Gingy he did really well with, so we ran out of things to try rather quickly LOL.  Oh and also we did some more of trying to get Gingy to just lean back and forth in his body without moving his feet and he did awesome.  He was so with me, that all I had to do was think back and forth.

Yep, no doubt about it we are moving into level three!

Best not to argue with a LBE

       Boy, did I find that out today.  I knew if somewhere in the back of my mind, but Gingy renewed my knowledge of that principle!  Lately, he has been very LBE and very dominant, as in I'll drag you to that cone if I have to! 

        I wanted to play with getting him to sway back and fourth, but not move his feet.  I approached with zone 3 driving, but he kept veering off the road to eat and as I said, he was not to be deterred!  Finally I took the hint and let him go to the grass, but I still asked him to lean back and fourth.  He got bumped a couple of times for not paying attention, but after that he got in tune with me.  Eventually, we did it!  He swayed back and fourth, without moving his feet at all and he really connected to me.

        After that just for fun I got the bucket out for him to play with.  I backed him up to it, but then it occured to me that he wouldn't know to lift his feet high enough to clear the rim.  Just as that thought crossed my mind a parellism did too: "do in your body what you want your horse to do in his."  So lifted my left foot up as if to place it in the bucket, and Gingy did the same thing.  Then I lefted my right foot and he lifted his.  There he was both feet in the bucket and me kind of in a daze LOL.  

        We did a few other things too, but those were the highlights :D  It was all a lot of fun, I love my pony!

Gingy gets a work out : )

     We started with a slowwwwwww warm up, of sideways, porcupine, and moseying, then we went on to traveling circle.  I think we pretty much traversed the whole meadow!  It was really cool because Gingy spent most of his time a peppy trot, I don't know why he likes traveling circles so much, but he sure does!  I did have him do some with me just standing and that proved to be a lot harder for him.  We tried some transitions and change of direction and those both need a little tweaking.  Also I put him on a hill a lot of the time, so he got to experiment with ajusting speed due to terrain LOL.  I'm very glad he got to do traveling circles today, because he seriously needs that work out LOL.

     Strangely now that he has proved to me that he can trot it doesn't seem that exciting to me.  I would like him to start being more connected in general on the circle, but right now I'm just bored with circles.  In fact I'm bored with everything!  This is just so strange!  I've never been at a loss for new tasks to work on.  I think I'm just questioning what's really important and I'm starting to feel the need to do more riding.  I suppose this is a natural part of the journey, but it's weird.

We put the pieces together!

     So yesterday was my first day of playing with Gingy since I got sick last week.  While I was sick I took some time to read some of Linda's articles on motivating the LBI.*  That helped a lot when I came down yesterday to play. 

     Just like it says in Linda's article on motivating Remmer, I started really slow with Gingy.  However, I was also quite particular to keep it interesting LOL.  We did touch it for awhile with me sitting on and upturned tank.  I don't think I've ever been that particular with him on touch it, so it was kind of a new game.  It took him awhile to figure out exactly where I wanted him to go, but he got it.  At this point he was starting to get more expressive and his energy we up.  I felt like okay it's time to let you use that energy and see what happens.

     I took him out in the pasture.  Suddenly, I wasn't quite sure I wanted to ask him for to use his energy, so instead we played a little sideways game.  Then I felt more confident to ask for some circles.  I can't say I was suprised when he went right into the trot on the first send, but I was certainly pleased!  It was really cool though because whenever I asked him to transisition into the trot all I had to do was lift my energy and point.  This hasn't really happened before, usually we have to play tag LOL. 

      He did a lot of nice laps of trot(he might of actually gotten a work out for once LOL), but sometimes he would all of the sudden come in.  That was my big puzzle until I realized that I wasn't staying in neutral!  After I started relaxing, Gingo relaxed out on the circle.  I also made another interesting little observation, I realized that Gingy was mirroring how I felt inside every moment.  When I got nervous or unsure, so did he and when I was confident he was too. 

     Hmmmmmmmm, what a cool session :)

...and Leader's get tired!

     After that great session of helping Marsan over her fear, I felt triuphent and...um, worn out(emotionally...mentally...and physically).  The next day when Mom asked me if I'd go riding I really wanted to, but I wasn't sure I was ready to do pre-ride checks with Marsan again.  Marsan must have picked up that pretty quick.

     She was like a perfect mirror of how I felt deep inside, unfocused, hesitant, and sleepy.  At first I didn't really understand why she wouldn't get with the program, but while I was saddling it finally occurred to me.  After that I relaxed.  I probably should of just called it a day, but I insisted on finishing what I'd started.  I guess that was good, but I was a bit too persistent when, at the end of our ride Marsan showed me a new challenge.  When she's been riding with the herd she sorta forgets about me(it's something we are playing with a lot), so when we came back she wouldn't even go ten feet up the road by herself.  It's strange because when I get her out and it's just us, she'll go at least thrit feet down the road.  When I started picking up on this new issue, I did realize that it was futile to work on it when I was so drained.  So I took her back to the barn feeling completely shaken.

     It wasn't the most pleasant way to find my new limits as leader of my herd, but how else would I learn LOL.  I guess I've just reached a new level of conscious incompetence.  So I'm pretty sure I'll get through, I just had to explore a little I suppose(is it that curiosity thing again?!).  However, I never thought that it might actually be a bit exhausting to be the leader for my horse.  It was exhausting in a good way though.

I can be her leader!

     Yesterday, I had the intention of just going out and riding Marsan in the round pen.  Of coure I thought, "what can be so hard about that."  The answer?  Lot's of things LOL. 

     She did great with grooming and saddling, but when it came to moving around without getting RB we had some things to play with.  She got pretty spooked because the end of her saddle blanket flew up in the wind, naturally she jumped forward(towards me).  Fortunately, my first instinct was to send a p4 four down the rope and get her out of my space.  Even though that, "thanks I need that moment," helped she was still pretty RBE.  So I spent the next 45 minutes helping her move her feet so she could start thinking things through.  She did begin to think and thus begin to get calm.  Once she could stand still and be relaxed, I did some frienldy games with the end of the saddle blanket.  The friendly games didn't really bother her and she blew, so I finally felt confident to get on her.   After all of that we had a very nice little ride.

     I guess in short I learned that I can be a leader, even when things are not the way I want them.  I was really put out for a bit that she had to get scared and my first instinct was to try and keep her from being afraid.  However, I realized her fear was nothing for me to fear, I could work through it.  In fact as her alpha was my job to lead her, which in her case meant letting her face her fear.  I think my greatest triumph yesterday was that I was able to stay calm, clearly see what needed to happen, and make it happen.

    

A wild trail ride.

     This weekend my mom and I took ALL of the horses for a trail ride and it was, um interesting.  My Mom ponied Gingy with her horse(Cherroke), I rode Marsy, and Sug was at liberty(we only rode on our property though). 

     For awhile everything went fine and then we passed out of Marsan's well known teritory.  She started to get more nervous and it didn't exactly help that Sug kept cantering up behind us.  At first I found it really hard to resist my predator instinct to clinch, pull, and grab.   As the ride wore on though I began to let go and be a true leader for Marsan.  For most of the ride Marsy was somewhat nervous and uncertain, we handled it because I was able to stay calm, relaxed, and certain.  A couple times, I did dismount because Marsan's fears increased beyond my ability to work through from her back.  While I was on the ground I did some patterns with her as the terrain allowed and when I remounted she was always much calmer.  I guess all I can say is that I felt like a leader on this ride, although I started it out a little tight and nervous.  All through the ride I never had a feeling of anger towards Marsan's actions, like I sometimes do.  I just knew that my job was to keep us both safe and Marsan's job was to trust me.

      While I was working through all of Marsan's fears, my mom was keeping an eye on her ward Gingy.  Gingy did great and he didn't really need much watching, he was content to play stick to me with Cherroke.  This is quite an improvement from the last time we did it and I atribute that to the fact that we've worked on Gingy following the leader a lot on the ground.  Once when we going up a steep hill, Gingy did freak out.  My mom lost the rope and he and Sug took off.  Of course Mom thought we should persue them, but I said we should wait.  We did and they came running back.  Gingy had this wild look on his face, when he cantered toward us.  He ran around behind Marsan and that's when he zeroed in on me.  It was like a light went on his brain, and nervously came up to me.  I guess this means that he accepted me as his safety icon!

      When we got back from our ride I played a little approach and retreat around the mud puddle.  At first I got the clear impression that he was not trying.  So I was a little bit more firm about the approach and I only released when he tried.  The cool thing was that everytime I released him, the first thing he wanted to do was come and be with me!  At last he made the choice to walk all the way through the mud puddle, yay!  I'm sure we'll hav to keep coming back to this, but for now I think it's great!

      This ends my recap of the weekend's adventures and triumphs with the horses.

I'm your personal safety icon!

     I really wanted to play with Gingy and the scarey, murky, mud puddle, but Gingy showed me something else that needed work.  Our catching game and not really even that so much as his respect for me and his confidence in me.  I know this is strange he's a self-sufficient LB, but now that I am really trying to become the alpha neither one of us is sure of where we belong.  Sometimes I am firm and assertive and sometimes I am...not.  I know this is part of our growth so I'm trying really hard to trust in the process, but Gingy and I are changing so much which makes it super hard. 

     Today he showed me his nervous RB side.  He kept trying to find comfort with his herd mates or with my mom(who was filling the horse tank).  Normally, if you just bug him a little slow down, he'll get interested and come, so that's what I tried.  However, this time bugging him didn't make much difference, he went and hid behind who-ever was handy(besides me).  At this point I began making it very uncomfortable to ignore me.  This worked, he came and I took all of the pressure off.  He blew and licked his lips, so we just stood there.  Until he saw my mom with the black bucket(he thinks that always means food).  I bugged him, trying to remind him to stay with, which worked for a bit.  Then he left, so I half-heartedly started making it uncomfortable to hang out with my mom.  He faced up to me and I waited, for him to make his move one way or the other.  His move was to fall asleep, I took this the wrong way and thought he was thinking.  Now I'm pretty sure he wasn't, he was really falling asleep(quite comfortable without me).  My intuition told me I that I hadn't really gotten my point to his feet yet, so I again persued moving him around.  It didn't take much, just the suggestion of discomfort and he came to me again.  This time I didn't wait, I asked him to follow me.  After that he wouldn't leave me, even when Marsan and Cherroke ran right past us.  He spooked, but then he looked around for me and we resumed our tour of the corral.

    I've been puzzling over why he left me the first time he came to me.  Now I understand it.  I finally stepped in with firm leadership(when I made him really uncomfortable without me) and he recognized that, but then I let him get bored.  At that point he left to because he got distracted and I didn't make a big enough deal about those first few steps away from me, so he took more.  Then he did feel inclined to pay attention, but once again I let him get too comfortable without my leadership.  In the end when I sorta realized all of this and started to make it uncomfortable came back I kept him interested.  Moral of this long story?  In leadship consistency is the key, it gives the follower/s something to depend on, which is what makes them feel safe.

Went on a walk and found big, scarey, mud puddle!

     My brother and I were walking Gingy and Sug when we happened to stop by some gigantic mud puddles.  Of course we both though right off: "what can we do with these hehe" LOL.  Well, my brother's horse did fine and pretty soon they were both just sitting there watching me negotiate with Gingy about crossing the mud puddle.  We did a lot of approach and retreat and that seemed to helping, but then Gabe and Sug retired to the barn and that really got Gingy scared!  It was a good thing though.  I had to really have my energy super high to deal with his RB* ness, but we got that and he was back to trying to conquer the puddle.  Pretty soon we seemed to hit a rut in the road so to speak.  When I say rut, I mean I didn't know what to do to help Gingy make progress.  I didn't want to push him, but I also felt like he needed a push.  Finally I just said a quick prayer and start operating entirely with my intuition as the leader.  It worked, Gingy finally walked mostly through it!  I said a thank you prayer and we went back to the barn.  I know we'll have to work on this a lot more, hopefully tomorrow it will be nice enough to go out again. 

     When we got back to the barn, I took Gingo's soddened halter and lead off.  I groomed him for awhile at liberty in front of the hay barn while he munched and he seemed to enjoy that.  Then I had to play with him a little to get him to go willingly back in the pen, but he did.  I said hello to Marsan, said goodbye to Gingy and trudged back up to the house.

A little morning walk with purpose

     Well, we had to take all of the horses for a walk while my dad did some stuff down at the barn.  It was nice because he was making noise down there so I got some practice in on keeping my uncertain ponies calm.  They did so good that all I really had to do was tell them were to go and how fast.  We did z3* driving down the road.  So just to see if they were listening I would stop and they stopped imediately!  Then I would bring my energy up and start to jog, they did the exact same thing!  It was just awesome.  A couple times when they got nervous I felt like they needed to back up and be out of my space.  As soon as my life came up and they saw my finger wiggling, they started backing!  For awhile we just let them graze around on this little slope we have.  After awhile it was time to return to the barn so again my life came up and they looked at me like, "what are we doing now?"  A couple of times they did get distracted and needed a little bump with the rope to bring their focus back, but wow for having both of them and them both being a little unconfident they did fantastic.  I guess it helps me realize how far we have come with parelli and how much more fun it is just knowing that I'm safe with them.

     Another thing this little morning walk did for me is it gave me a purpose and a reason for moving them around and testing our games.