Friday, October 25, 2013

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





Saturday, October 5, 2013

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!