Do the impossible

With high hopes that I would pass my level 4 freestyle, I didn't. But I did pass with a 3++ with some good feedback. Mostly about my riding position- which I realize isn't as great. Mostly commented about my cantering. However I have really only felt comfortable cantering since my Jesse Peter clinic back in June. Before that I was too terrified about what was going to happen and couldn't relax and focus on my position. Jesse had me canter a circle around him, at the time I had two sticks and had to throw them down and pick up the reins. Focus on him and canter a circle, I can't say no to a Jesse challenge! (I could but wouldn't want to ;). Before I had never really used two reins at the canter, I don't really have a reason why other then I always used my sticks or a steady rein (one rein). It helped me become confident especially in a circle which is harder for both of us the rail is much easier. The experience was so freeing I didn't want to stop. The rest of the clinic I worked on cantering with two sticks. But if it wasn't for that experience I would have never felt confident. I now use that exercise with other horses that I am riding the canter for the first times. It helps keep my confidence up, putting my focus in that moment. 

Recently I had a heart to heart with a coworker who I hadn't had much conversation with before. I worried (as I always do) if she liked me and and if she thought I was doing a good job. Turns out she does think I am doing a good job, and she thought I was a very confident person. On the inside and in my head I still feel like that little unconfident girl, I haven't let go of the past. The moments of unconfidence arestill  much greater then the times of confidence. With the lifestyle change, huge move across the country, new people, and basically new life, I have had to quickly learn the lesson of 'not taking it personal'. Which has always been difficult for me but a lesson overdue to learn. Even though in my head I don't feel more confident I know my actions are showing confidence in every part of my life. The negative and self-degrading thoughts that would normally go through my head are slowly being replaced with positive or 'who cares' thoughts. I even talked to the cute ski lift operator! It used to be hard to call the pizza guy, yes the pizza guy. And as hard as it is to admit that, it's true. 

I have an overwhelming feeling when I think about how far Annabelle and I have come in just two years. It feels much longer then that. It's so exciting to think about where I will be in 2 more years. I have never been so exciting about learning. 

"It's kind of fun to do the impossible" - Walt Disney

Moving Forward

Well the past week or so hasn't been too promising with Annabelle- I'm not sure what I am doing wrong so taking a step back so I can move forward. I don't have any really specific goals now that my level 4 freestyle has been sent in. I continue to have a positive and progressive mindset and to keep things fun. She has been extremely explosive, striking the ground, bucking during circle game etc. The only thing that has changed in the past couple weeks is she is in a different pasture, with her same buddies, but its a change nonetheless. I went to hangout with her in the pasture today, she played in the water (much more playful then I have ever seen), she dunked half of her nose and laid down in it! As I started walking away to go play with Ariat she galloped away, rolled and then got up and started bucking and kicking at the little white LBE pony she's with. He thought that was awesome so they ran around and what I interpreted as play. After about 15 mins of this, she locked on to me and walked to me. Then followed me around, this confused me even more. Being that Annabelle is RBE she reacts in an unconfident way, and that is how I have interpreted it so far....lots to think about and try in the coming days. Ariat on the other had was a blast today, other then his take of canters, which I was able to fix. I started online getting him used to the water, he snorted at it the when I brought him over to it. After about 25 mins he loved walking and playing in it. Then we did some stuff on line. After that I did some riding, then hosed him off and did some liberty. It was AMAZING! I will post the YouTube link on here so you can see it. He has amazing draw I still have such a hard time getting used to it! Made me super happy! :D
http://youtu.be/-zUlOwek3bk

My experiences

Before I decided to write any of this I wanted to think of a way I could do so without offending anyone's ideas. But I decided to let you all know that this blog is purely about my experiences. I don't intend on offending anyone. 

I took a step back today to look at how far I have come, yes as a student but more so as a leader and teacher. When I was looking for a barn when I planned to move out to Colorado I was looking for somewhere with a lot of room and a place that had similar ideas on how to care for a horse. When I arrived the sudden realization that I would be representing Parelli, I was the only Parelli student. I was terrified, and 'lead by example' ran through my head about 100x. I knew I could go about doing this in two ways, be open about being a parelli student or allow people to figure it out. I decided to 'be bold', my new moto. After watching the teachings for a few days I knew I could help them, note that this is my first time feeling confident as a teacher. I started slowly by riding openly and doing the things parelli has taught me to do. I increased this more and more being a strong example for all the kids that come through. After watching 3 kids be bucked off from all LBI horses (left brained introverts) I got to thinking. With my license I can only teach online. So how could I create games online that would help the instructor understand what these horses needed (on the ground and in the saddle). Through many conversations with her she decided she wanted to know more about what I had to offer. May I add that all of the kids were yanking and pulling on these horses mouths with leverage bits in and being whipped for eating grass. When going over horseanality with her she was fascinated. It gave her an understanding to why her horses are doing this. I had to really think outside of the box to come up with ideas on line that she could then turn into riding skills. The game, I am pretty proud of this, I came up with is Figure out my Task, so you can eat some Grass. I thought of this to help her horses problem solve and be more connected to what she is asking. Even though I accomplished Annabelle not eating grass by leadership. I needed a game these left brained horses could learn that would then extend into 5,6,7,8 year olds. Started out by giving the horse huge clues on what the task was and continued to encourage her not to eat grass. At the end of the hour with the two of them playing this game her horse would eat grass but was so connected and interested in what her mom was going to do next that she didn't eat because she was waiting for the next task. It was like she was bouncing back and forth (eat grass, task, eat grass, task). She couldn't decide. She naturally loved the game attitude. 

A couple days later, she came up to me almost in tears so thankful for everything I have done. Telling me she was going to give Parelli a try again. I felt so proud of myself.

I have learned that instead of focusing on what I couldn't do, (Freestyle/riding), I focused on what I could do to help. I lead by example, every second I was there. I was always professional and in those tense conversations with parents I knew exactly what to say, I spoke from the heart, all ending well. I had to learn to be a better teacher. 

As many of you saw I filmed my level 4 freestyle. Annabelle is doing fantastic. Farriers gave me a good hoof report. I have been keeping up on the trimming and she told me to keep doing whatever I am doing so that's good!

Right Brained Extroverts

Today I decided to play online a little bit with Annabelle, I've been trying to not do too much with her. I feel as if I have become much more conscious of what things should look and feel like after playing with some other horses. Immediately when we got into the arena she exploded, reading and bucking and kicking out. I haven't experienced this in a long time. I felt her feeling a great amount of unconfidence. So I took things slow- approach and retreat. It's like I was starting over in our relationship again. The one thing I did differently was I allowed the blow up and pretended it didn't happen. She realized that I put no thought or energy on the blow up and she calmed down much quicker then ever before. Once I was able to get the 7 games and some blow outs I took her back to the pasture because I had plans for Ariat and I. For the first time ever she didn't leave me right away. I led her to her water tank and she drank and would normally either slowly walk away (much better option) or canter away calling to her buddies (my least favorite option). But today she looked over at them and turned her head back to me, with her head lowered, calm, and relaxed. I couldn't believe it, I was so happy. She walked away, but only to pee, and she came back!! I was thrilled I gave her multiple treats. 

Ariat was good tonight. I was able to get a half jump over the barrel. A somewhat slide stop during our stick-to-me game. I am having a really hard time with the canter leads. (I've never had to help a horse with canter leads because Annabelle is so athletic). He will pick them up 50% of the time and almost always gets them after I send him over a jump. Riding I have the same problem- I can get the front leads and not the back. But he is better from day one so I must be doing something to help him understand leads! He's a pro now at picking up the cone. AND I'm really excited about this..I have taught him to speak- I hope this is always a good thing lol. But I can get him to talk for a treat :)

Video's of Ariat and I

YouTube links of Ariat and I. He was so good! Super exciting :D

Click for links:

On Line
Liberty Video
Carrot Stick Riding
Bridleless Riding

Ariat

Ariat is such a cool horse! Ahh he's so much fun. He's a pro at picking up the cone and handing it to me now. I taught him to bow tried to teach him to lay down but turns out he's afraid of the hose! So we did some friendly game with the hose (I was using it to get him wet and allow him to want to lay down. He LOVES jumping so I tried a barrel laying down away from the fence then stood it up and he jumped it first try no problem! I love our circle games he has no brace and has the cutest face looking at me the whole time. :) I will hopefully get some videos of the two of us soon and all his progress in just a couple days. I really want a left brained extrovert now hehehehe. 

"It's not just horse training"

I titled this post "It's not just horse training" because it was a time today when I stood up for myself in front of some important people. I'm not just "training" these horses, I am helping them become happier and understand my communication so they can become more centered and emotionally, mentally, and physically happier. As well as improving my horsemanship, and the ability to maintain a positive and progressive relationship with a LBE, which couldn't have come at a more perfect time in my life!
Nothing has really changed with Annabelle's foot- I suppose that is a good thing because it's not getting any worse. Played with Ariat today and had a blast, he is such a cool horse and has so much to offer and teach me I love it. Did a little bit more riding today after playing in the obstacle course (he loves the obstacle course). Much better on line today verses yesterday. He was a lot more engaged and I suppose I was more interesting, I brought more energy and fun to the table. He tried to ignore me with the grass but he couldn't help himself he was interested in what I was going to ask next. I had a harder time challenging him on line, (I'm not used to these Left-Brain Extroverts). I found it easier to challenge him in the riding- a lot more licking and chewing and making him actually THINK. That was pretty cool, practicing carrot stick riding everything was really good until I asked for the canter. I had warmed up and was able to use mostly body cues to canter following the rail so I wanted to see how it was with the carrot sticks and I had to throw my sticks and hold on to the reins to feel more confident he just wanted to canter really fast. So I allowed him to for a couple seconds and then brought his canter down and slower. Unlike Annabelle he's not unconfident the faster he goes so I didn't feel the need to shut him down right away. I ALLOWED, including allowing myself to canter fast confidently haha.
Really, REALLY lovin the new job, so excited for all the opportunities this move has brought me. As scary as it is...

Also- A lot of people have been asking me for the Savvy Times article- I have not seen the final copy yet. So when I do I will let everyone know how they can read it. Just be patient with me :) Internet at the house is up and running finally! So I should have better videos and pictures to show everyone.

Ariat

Today I got to play with a new horse Ariat. He came to me before I opened the gate. I was told he can be very emotional so I was mentally prepared for anything. As we started walking towards the obstacle course arena I asked him to stay with me and he was much more interested in the grass and didn't care one bit about my carrot stick hitting the ground next to him and then tagging him. So to get him there it took some time lol. Walking by the trailers was the only time I felt him getting emotional and scared. I let him smell it his curiosity was fighting his fear and then he ran the other direction. In the obstacle course he wanted to check everything out his ears up and ready to play. He has a very high play drive. He loves walking himself places by holding the rope and thinking he's pulling me. It took some time for him to realize that I was going to do things very differently. But as soon as he realized his true self came out. It was amazing to watch the change so quickly. Horsenality was fairly easy to figure out (LBE) so that made playing really fun and easy. He loved all of my ideas, when asking him to walk through two barrels he decided to jump them. And I thought that was a pretty good idea. :) I am pretty close to teaching him to pick up my hat- I know today was the first day. But he is so smart and understood exactly what I wanted! Riding he is a ton of fun also! I really enjoyed cantering (these four words never come out of my mouth) I was so surprised that I even wanted to canter on the first day everything felt so right and he had good flexion. I do have a riding video but I can't post it until we have Wi-Fi. I'll keep everyone posted! 

Also hurray for my article making it in the Savvy times!! I'm hopeful that it will inspire someone, somewhere in the world!

Possibilities

Today I have realized that the possibilities are endless with the knowledge I have gained from Annabelle. It is helping me in ways I would have never imagined. Feeling blessed <3 

Chip the horse

After talking to people and letting them know I wanted volunteer hours they didn't hesitate to give me things to do. One of the first things on my to-do list was Chip the horse. He doesn't have that much experience and is considered green. Naturally the challenge excited me so I got started right away. She didn't know his history so I pretended like he didn't have one. Almost right away I could tell he was left brained. Doing things mostly completely opposite of Annabelle. Like coming to me, having these gorgeous circle games with no brace, not being able to go more then a couple seconds without playing with something, and being social. I saw some introvert but some extrovert. He didn't mind moving his feet and its harder for him to stand still verses to go forward. I played all 7 games the first day and got on bareback with my halter. Day two I did 7 games and practiced stick-to-me at liberty. Then I did some riding- right off the bat I could tell he was a show pony at one time in his life. He had the 'kick to go and pull to stop' luckily having no brace really helped me teach him about what my legs and body meant and he naturally wanted I follow it. Yesterday I kept my reins on- built my confidence at the canter an then used two carrot sticks with the reins off. We were in the arena for a while then we went to the obstacle course then on a trail ride. I only had to use my reins once so today I took them off. In the arena first then the obstacle course. He is SO much more relaxed its amazing. He finally found someone who understands him. I'm really happy. And I'm on to the next 'problem' horse at the barn. I still plan to play with Chip to continue filling the holes in his foundation (mostly on the ground) and hope to get some really nice liberty going. :D

Now for Annabelle's foot update- personally I don't believe it's terribly bad and that I need to shoe her this instance. But I also don't want to be wrong. So I'm being careful with it for now. I'm doing a soak in apple cider vinegar and water. Then wrapping it in a diaper with coconut oil I will only be wrapping for a couple days because I don't want to wrap for too long and then when I take the wrap off it cracks the rest of the way. PLEASE if you have experience with a crack similar to this one let me know what you did. It's not through the hoof wall and you can't even tell on the bottom of her foot that its there. 

Worrying too much

I hate worrying- it is probably the worst feeling someone can have. For the past 2 weeks I've been doing really light stuff with Annabelle and when the farrier was out last Friday she made a big deal about Annabelle's crack in her foot. We are guessing its a stress fracture. It randomly popped up and I'm guessing the climate change is made it get so big. I have has plans to re-tape my whole level 4 since the last ones I taped I had camera issues and the videos would be all choppy. I also start my new job tomorrow so I am naturally worried about that. I bought some apple cider vinegar to soak her foot in that to prevent any fungus growing in there and bought coconut oil - after much research that is what I decided to go with. I will be posting pictures- probably with a daily blog. I have to remember that everything is going to work out and worrying does me no good! On a happier note I have some lessons lined up for some non-parelli kids to learn the 7 games. Plus another horse added to my list to help (along with Chip). I was asked today how much I am getting paid to play with all these horses, and it felt really good saying that I volunteered, the kid almost fell over! Then she asked me how much $$ for Annabelle. When I told her she wasn't for sale she offered me her cheese and crackers and a whole $117.47. Kids are so fun! Chip did really really good today. Still don't know what button to push to get a normal trot- so far I only get the sitting show pony trot. He is so fun at liberty- I'm still trying to get used to the whole no brace thing it's just amazing to me!  

Experience of a lifetime

Today I was at the barn for about 5 hours in the morning- came home expecting to be done for the day. Around 6pm I had this dying urge to go back I had no idea but I trusted it and went back. I've been playing with Chip in my spare time and since Annabelle has a stress fracture on her foot I'm not doing too much with her. I grabbed Chip and started online- I found myself moving through things faster for this what I thought was an introvert. But I was going with the natural flow of him. (Proud of myself for this). I did a little liberty since its SO good and fun with left brained horses :p he was bucking and running around being so exuberant and playful. So it got me thinking- once he was in a place of learning we practiced our draw and a few other things. His circle game is unbelievable he has zero brace he bends his ribs out and keeps his ear and eye on me. I got him ready to ride keeping the playfulness he showed me. In the past 2 times I had rode I felt him get unconfident quickly. So I've tried to take things slow for both of our confidents sake. Today I took a different approach and boy the results I got! I haven't been able to get the trot without holding him back (duh Allison he's not introverted). So I let him canter- putting my trust in him and myself. It was gorgeous! He has this huge big flowy canter it's so powerful but smooth. The no brace thing is so hard to get used to. I never realized how much brace Annabelle has. His transitions were 'floaty' he would just float down into the trot and then down to the walk. I was blown away. I had the experience of a lifetime. I had to tell myself that I could ride a horse like him over and over and over again. He was so much fun! 

Don't let go

It has been a really good past coupe days. I got a job interview on Tuesday for a paraprofessional in a school either with a kindergarten class or with the school nurse. I'm very excited! Next week I am assisting Kim with her summer camp AND she gave me a list of horses that need Parelli. So that is super exciting. I realized today that I know a lot more then I think but that there is still a TON for me to learn and experience. I suppose each experience will make me a better horsewoman. It is a lot more pressure at this new barn to really be the best I can be.  I represent Parelli here, I represent myself more then I have in the past. I try to ride and do my level 4 stuff when no one is around because I want to be a proper role model for all these young girls that Kim has told to look up to me. I still feel like a student- I hope that never goes away. The experience I lack is with other horses and other horsenalities. The horse Chip that I played with today is awesome at online and liberty (Liberty with a left brain is so fun!!!!). But someone from his past really screwed him up in the saddle. Every movement meant collect and go faster. I put some hay in the middle of the arena to help him stand still and relax. He couldn't at first and finally he blew out and hook his head licked and chewed and was able to stand still and be in a more learning frame of mind instead of robot mode. So far I like him and I think I can do a lot for him.

I don't like to get too mushy in these posts. But tonight it feels right. Remembering all the days at school being bullying, talked about,

given dirty looks, feeling undervalued as a person, I finally feel like I am doing some good in the world. In a way I feel grateful for those experiences because there is going to be someone out there that needs someone to understand. Like chip today- he just wanted me to understand his feelings and that he had ideas too. So many people forget that horses are real animals- they have thoughts and feelings just like people do. You have to find a way to listen to them. Anyways, it feels good to be making a positive impact. <3

Annabelle has a new boyfriend, Hershey 

Picture Update

Not all of my family and friends have a Facebook so I will post lots of pictures on here that I would normally post on (and probably have) Facebook. 

So far everything is still going good Annabelle was a little bit wild tonight- the extrovert really showed. She cantered around for 10mins without stopping or thinking about trying to find a way to stop and she ignored my disengage so I waited until she decided to find the answer on her own. We were at liberty in the big arena and the sprinklers at the far end were a huge help to keep her in a nice circle around me ;). 

First couple days in Colorado

Even though this trip has been extremely stressful it was good to finally be with my brother today and enjoy his company. We haven't decided if we are renting or buying and now they threw building into the mix.

 Annabelle is out with I think 3 geldings I've only met 2 of the horses because she is always using the other one. But she's in a pasture which I am very happy about! At first she was in a tiny pen. By no means is it a michigan pasture but even if it doesnt give her the nutritional part at least she gets to be out in a herd- as naturally as possible. I had asked if at night she could be in a pen and given hay but still no word on that so for now I'm keeping her in there as long as she's happy and if she starts getting skinny I can change something. She has been amazing, our liberty has been better then at home, I have rode her too a lot more go but then we get to work on our stop ;)

 Her feet look terrible- after just one day. I used my rasp to try and even them out and put some stuff on to try and keep the moistre in. But other then that things are good. I had my interview today I feel confident about it I just don't know if I want to work in the area it was. Other people we had asked about the area said to not go there after 6pm. The mountains are gorgeous even though its really really hazy. 

Hour by hour updates

Annabelle is doing well - 10:30am 

3:44pm It's my turn driving til dinner then I will do the night shift- Annabelle got to cool off outside for 15 mins

8:00pm So now it's my moms turn to drive- I will try to sleep until its my turn. We are 600 miles away, more then half. Now that the sun is starting to set its cool enough outside for Annabelle to eat an drink water- still only had 2 gallons of water total. But I'm a lot less worried compared to last year. :)

It's 12:19am been driving since 8am- it's moms shift right now. I can't sleep I'm sure when it's my turn to drive I will be tired. Annabelle still doing well eating drinking and pooping now :P I really like Iowa.....lol