Tai’s “it’s all about the try” Blog

O.K….so the Level 1 & 2 clinic with Kristi Smith was incredible.  I cannot stress enough what an excellent instructor she is.  This was a very useful experience for all involved.  Somehow we missed the whole “if your horse can’t walk, trot, canter and jump something on-line with rythmn and relaxation then they are not ready to ride” part of Parelli.  Big OOOPS!  Lots of holes to fill in.  Loved her advice to Maryann about not getting into a tug of war with Spike.  And how she loves the way Spike looks at Maryann.  Wow, got right to the point with Woody-LBI.  He still gets RBI, but seeing him at a distance with Kristi playing with him it was so obvious.  Hopefully Randy is refitting a broken 22 ft. line to become a cinch strap.  And hopefully I will be able to help Tom get the feel of using two lines at once.  I was so proud of the horses and their humans.  Just agreeing to go to this clinic was huge, and I think it will be good for everyone’s confidence in the long run.  So thankful for Rabiah’s advice on trailering Woody, and for all the work that was done by all of us on Spike & Woods to get them on their way.  We made it and lived!

The trip Tues to Bluehorse with Loni and Kristi was very enjoyable, enlightening and exhausting.  It only took them about 15 minutes to check under Mishkinaw’s hood, so to say.  They found out what I already knew about him, he’s going to be a great horse.  If Tom & I can work out the money and a couple of other important details, Loni has agreed to start him for me.  YEAH!!!  She said her husband might not want to give him back.  Then back to Winterhawk for Kristi’s assessment of Tai.  She doesn’t usually tell folks what she thinks their horse’s Horsenality is, but she said definitely innately-LBI.  I had told her I had “paralysis of analysis” lately with his Horsenality,  so thanks Kristi for taking pity on me.

I showed Kristi what I normally do with my Buddy and she listened to my assessment of “still cinchy after all these years.”  Tai needs more variety and for a longer period of time and at higher speed than our usual MO.  Apparently I have been boring him witless!  OOPS!  She had me saddle him and at least I seemed to have that down, and polite.  Kristi knew I skeptical of what Tai could handle, but she wanted to go back to the back cinch.  I brought that out, and it brought out ALL of Tai’s old “STUFF.”  Nothing but holes everywhere.  At least I spent 3 years “restoring his faith in humanity.”  I know how huge a job that was and what a big responsibility.  I could not have received a higher compliment from Kristi.  We knew he was going to “blow up” as soon as he moved, and the strategy is to have him disengage his hindqtrs until he can do it in a relaxed manner.  Kristi took Tai thru this initially.  Using the Falling leaf pattern, lots of cantering and transitions, travelling circling over obstacles and jumps.  He did manage to find some relaxation, but I could tell it is not the relaxed I’m used to.  She said that she would ride him, and I said I would not.  She did get on, and she played with lateral flexion and disengagement, but it was difficult for him to do and for me to watch.  Kristi warned me that it would feel like I was back in level 1, and she is correct.  She has recommended not riding until I get the back cinch issue resolved.  She seems to think it won’t take so long and I can’t seem to wrap my brain around it ever happening, though I am willing to try.  She kept at things until it was too dark to go on.  Tai was drenched in that “sticky” feeling “emotional” sweat.  Tai and I had both been holding our breath.  Jeez, where did all my qigong breathing practice go?

On the drive to take Hannah home, I was finally able to take a breath but I felt sick and drained.  I told Hannah that was only after 2 hours, what’s it going to feel like 8 hours a day, five days a week, for a month?  Good Googlies, what was I thinking?  Trepidation is starting to take over.  I need to decompress and lick and chew more.  I’d like to get back to my “happy place” without going catatonic.  And breathe!  Oh well, looking forward to the level 3 clinic.  Can’t wait to see Beth and Lauren with their faithful steeds Linus and Charlie.  Ladies, it’s going to be all about filling holes and getting things better by just 1% at a time.  I gotta let that be my mantra, but I feel like Tai and I are starting at minus 300%.  I feel a “Belief System” change on my horizon…hope it’s on Tai’s, too.

O.K., so Wednesday AM was all about getting the “parelli feed” program going for the Florida bound guys.  Jeez, that was complex and time consuming.  It also may have been about avoidance for me.  I’d rather it was just a “retreat” from the previous evening, but I will have to sort out the difference.  Finally after being at the barn for almost three hours, I get to see if Tai still likes me.  He has managed to be as far away out in the back field as he can get all morning.  Hmmm, how interesting.  Not however unexpected-I know him.  Put the new alfalfa cubes and his “crack” and Winnie’s cookies with APF in his old blue bucket and start calling.  Nothing.  I usually go with the “meet in the middle” theme, but I had to at least 2/3 of the way and it took about 20 minutes to get him to start making his way back.  Don’t strain yourself Tai.  I started walking back to the black trough, and after Tai made it thru the back gate I did get a trot to me, WooHoo!  I’ll take it.  Man was he dirty.  Must have had to roll like crazy last night after our session with Kristi.  I know how you feel Buddy, cause I rolled like crazy all night, too!  O.K.  slightly less “Trepid.”   Kristi said I had built up a large bank account with my friendly, so I could afford to make some withdrawals now.  Phew!!

I was too tired to get right into anything with Tai, and our usual MO is friendly just for coming out of the field so I decided not to change that today.  We ate lunch first.  Then interestingly Tai stood in the aisle way of the barn for me to brush him.  With a pretty stiff brush mind you.  He hates stiff brushes…where’s Tai and what did you do with him?   OMG  that was possibly one of our best “just grooming” sessions ever.  Hmmm, how interesting.  Went to the arena with the saddle, new pad and back cinch.  Tried to do the “warm up strong so you can ride soft” like Kristi did.  I still probably just don’t ask enough.  He was very engaged with me though so we went to the saddle.  Jeez, I can’t remember the order of let air out, tighten cinch, close air…I only asked Kristi to repeat it to me 5 times.  Going to have to write it down and be more specific with that.  Last night the saddle placement looked fine, today, even if I had ridden, I would not have been able to access my balance point.  I could tell just looking at it.  Got the big blow up, sans bucking though I think.  He wanted to, and he was so tight.  It was really stressing us both out.  I kept doing Falling leaf to the best of my ability which was nonexistent.  Think I saw some relaxation.  We played strong again, not as strong as Kristi, but I do think we got some relaxation though he was still doing many things tightly.  Couldn’t tell if his highhead was upset/tight or exuberance-paralysis of analysis again.  Got things stopped on what I think was a good note, but I was certainly not going to attempt to get on him.  We’re not there, yet.  He also did not get sweaty except in his girth area and it was just starting ever so slightly behind the ears.  So maybe less emotional with me or again, I just don’t ask enough.  This is why we’re going to Florida.  I’m so glad that Kristi is going to be there as well.  Also really grateful that there will be lots of quality instructors, some even better than Kristi according to her.  I can’t imagine.  Having debriefed myself like this, I am starting to feel less nausea and more of that excited butterfly feeling in my gut.  I’m taking that as a good sign.  All I need is 1% more excited.  We’re just going to try until someone more knowledgeable knows when to stop.  It’s all about the “try.”

Tai’s blog…with a little Spike and Woodstock for good measure.

Since Kerry’s visit, Tai and I have been pretty much cantering a few strides at a time each day we’ve been riding.  Yippee!  I really need to work on my cantering, he seems to be picking up his leads nicely.  Now if I could sit still perhaps we could go for longer distance.

Haven’t been doing cantering patterns on the ground either, like we should, or that would probably improve things as well.  Have been trying to help Spike with his feet and Woody with his, too.  The tire is a valuable asset to trailering or foot handling.  Seems to have translated well for Maryann and Tom, too.  Somehow though we missed the “feet on the ramp sideways” but not in the trailer with Woods…oh, well.  Working on that now.  Maryann got Spike to go in the trailer following her on Saturday, but that is overwith now as Hannah finally got him to go in on his own.  He also didn’t want to come out, which is a good sign.  Tom can get Woody to go in, but I see the RBI possibility of danger with Woody when things begin to change up.  Like make any noises, or touch him even for a moment…need to work on squeezes around the trailer, and all seven games with food in the trailer, but never asking him to go in to get it.  We’ll be doing the opposite with Woods and going “SLOWER” on Wednesday’s session.  I will also rewatch on Hannah’s advice the “Trailering by Horsenality”  savvy Club DVD with Pat to see what else we can throw in.  Jeez thanks, Hannah-you’re done with school and now I’ve got homework!

I don’t know if it was the wind yesterday, or the fact that there is so much construction going on in every direction around the barn, but Tai was pretty RBI .  I’m oddly more comfortable with that lately, don’t know if it’s because I suspect he may be innately RBI or what.  Can’t wait to see what they have to say in Florida.  Still has many LB qualities, but now I’m not sure if he got those from me or if he had them all along.  Didn’t do much groundwork with Tai since I spent 1 and 1/2 hours on Woody earlier.  Tai and I just ate lunch in the barn and I tacked up in there, which really just contributes to his RB, but maybe the practice is good?  I have a fifty/fifty chance of being right…

Decided to try riding with his bit and bridle on.  That went pretty well after multiple tension “spooks” in the saddle and roundpen.  Don’t even touch the reins/bit at all and Tai acts like he did when we first started riding 2 and 1/2 years ago.  Head tossing before thinking.  We just go slow and when he can “think”, things seem better.  At least grazing and eating treats with his bit in is not a problem.  Decided not to try cantering today, so left the bridle on for the entire ride.  He did fine.  I hate to think what our winter is going to be like, Tai’s coat is something akin to the Abominable Snowman/Yeti’s.

Tai’s weekly blog-addendum…

I know, stop the presses, twice in one week…just wanted to say that we rode with Tai’s bridle on and he stayed in this plane of existence with me.  Yeah!  Kept scratching his itchy spots while riding, and his “lip” told the story.  No reason to go catatonic if something feels good.  Swapped out the bridle for the hackamore while mounted, it wasn’t pretty.  Headed out to graze and play in the arena…two more nice upward canter transitions in both directions!!  Hannah is my witness that he got his leads correct at least once each way.  For a “Green Paint Pal,” I am tickled PINK.  Way to go, my buddy.

Tai’s surprisingly, actually, weekly blog…this time anyway.

Well, Tom and I are done traveling for the time-being.  Phew…good to be back home and able to come to the barn 4 days this week.  Tai was glad to see me yesterday, even though he tried not to look desperate.  Got him to come in to the second trough from midway out in the back field, at a trot, with an uncharacteristic whinny…O.K. run-on sentence.  He missed me.  Loving all the scratching since his winter coat is coming in, makes him itchy I guess.  Got partially “groomed” by Tai while I was offering the scratches.  Had to let him know that chewing on my hand wasn’t so appealing to me, and he changed it by just using his lip in a circular motion on the back of my free hand.  Cool!  Eat your heart out Charlie Brown.

Took Tai out into the side field behind the arena for some mown, yet still big grass.  Then we progressed to circling even though it was still a little too wet.  He has no intention of maintaining gate to start with…ever.  Still he offered to canter in his “bad” direction, so we ended it there.  Continued on to the round pen to try another session of figure 8 around the barrels at Liberty…nope.  His ideas were pretty cool though, so I enjoyed his sideways over the step and his feet on the step.  And he could figure 8 in front of or behind the barrels…does that count to mark off on our patterns chart, I wonder?  Hannah & Mocachee came through the pen on their way back to the barn, so Tai was pretty sure that meant our session was over.  It was officially over after I got him to sideways toward me away from the gate, at Liberty mind you.  He actually offered it before I asked, when I just had the thought, that if I could get that the session would be over.  Mind reader.  Anything to be done.

Saddled up as the wind started really gusting.  Not complaining since it was supposed to be really hot and it never achieved that with our Winterhawk wind…guess it was on hiatus for the Summer.  Tai was acting somewhat RB due to the wind or the saddle, or whatever.  Was starting to think he is innately a RBI, when Hannah asked if I wanted to fill out the laminated horsenality chart that Maryann provided for all the horses.  Thank you Maryann.  Tai is still all over the chart.  You can see that for yourselves as it is posted in the main tackroom.  Would also like to hear other folks’ assessments of  his chart to see what the take is from you guy and girls.  It was interesting that he is mild now on many items compared to the first chart I filled out in Sept. 2007,  but he is still all over it.  Still definitely an introvert, but has almost as many traits in LB as in RB quadrants.  I was also discussing with Hannah, that I think the traits seem different to me now that I don’t like giving him the more “human-seeming” descriptives.  Can’t wait  to see everyone’s take on all the horses.

Ate lunch and went out in the front yard for dessert grapes.  Tai was gorging himself on the ones on the ground.  The chicken girls came over and one went right underneath of Tai.  It’s nice that he likes small animals so much.  He really is one of the good guys.  Remind me lest I forget.  Decided I would try riding with his bridle on, and since he actually reached for the bit to get it in his mouth the lower I held it, I just put the thing on  and with Hannah’s advice took it right back off and called that a win.  So on to two carrot stick riding in the round pen for warm-up.  Still not going to figure 8.  What’s that about?  Got some nice walk-trot transitions and headed out to graze and try cantering in the arena.

I really like the trail course Lauren & Hannah & Beth played with a couple of Sundays ago.  Hannah had “introduced” us to it in an earlier session, but after some corners, and walk-trot transitions, I used the trail course to keep his interest.  Not so much desire to graze after that.  At last ready to try cantering.  First couple of times asking, he transitioned right into it.  Wow, he can do it.  I’m sure even after long rests between tries, either he or I got antsy.  Last try to the right was only a try , not really the steps.  Then the “other” direction.  Not so willing to try.  Got several good steps after too much asking, and after that he was over it.  It’s a beginning.  Of course he will not stay on the rail(maintain direction).  Need to get that straight/better.  Then need to get actual laps at the canter.  What works for the grazing is asking for a trot everytime they stop & graze, and trotting to a “better” spot that you ask them to stop at.  They get to rest and graze when you say.  Just remember to say, yes occasionally.

Fed up and I think Woodstock misses Tom.  Woods was all over me when trying to walk Tai out.  Had to use my savvy string like an “Aboriginal telephone”  to keep Woodstock at bay.  Even without my stick, the string has pretty good reach.  After saying good bye to the horses, got a call from Bethany who still didn’t get to do anything horsey this past weekend.  She was scheduled to go to Mariah’s barn, but supposedly Mariah had an out of town demo or something.  Hope she gets back to Beth with a makeup day, as Beth is really missing Linus.  She asked if anyone had done anything with Linus, and I told her we’re all pitching in with treats and scratches.  Hopefully the new kid on the block will form a good rapport with Linus.  Also would like to see Hannah & myself, Lauren as well when she has time, work with all the horses for a few minutes whether on a ground or riding pattern, so that each horse gets the benefit of our experience, and at least gets worked twice a week.  Juliana and Maryann, you can help as well when you have time.  Time for all the horses to get on 45 ft lines and that will be good practice for us with the 45ft as well.  Give me your thoughts on this.

O.K., I’m all blogged out.  See everybody around the barn soon,

Elise & Tai Chi

What can you say about Kerry Thomas & THT…

WOW!!! That is the best description I have for him.  Fantastic!  We were so privileged to have Kerry Thomas, the founder of THT-Thomas Herding Technique, at Winterhawk.  It was amazing to watch him in the field with the horses.  I couldn’t believe how engaged and entertained they were by his simple gadgets and ways of interacting with them.  It was also a huge compliment for Kerry to ask, “Now what am I doing here?  This herd is fine.”  I knew we were all doing a great job, but it is nice to hear a professional’s take on it.  Especially someone who could give us so many insights into that mysterious herd dynamic.  I think Hannah’s blog about Kerry’s visit gives great specifics into what was covered, so I will leave it to her for the details.  For myself, I will try the peripheral exercises he gave me for giving Tai more confidence with his visual stimuli.  Fascinating how simple and elegant these techniques are.

We were so pleased to have several folks as guests from local barns, and not so local Smithfield, in attendance.  They were all blown away by Kerry as well.  They showed up at 10AM and stayed way past the 2PM session’s end.  We all enjoyed getting to walk out into the back field and be regaled about poop patterns and skid marks.  Very interesting.

Kerry is now a Winterhawk herd member for life, and we will elevate his herd status quickly any time he may return!  Thanks so much Kerry for giving us a peek into the private lives of our horse partners.  I know I will have more confidence asking Tai for something extra. I also feel better knowing when to trailer for the long trip to Florida.  It was interesting to note that your advice was rather a “do the opposite”  of what I had asked others and been told by them.  A million Thank Yous!!  Give the racing industry hell..O.K., or just more good advice.  We are so grateful the Horse world has someone else who is there for the horses.  Hope we see you back again soon,

Elise and Tai Chi

Tai’s Whenever Blog including Savvy Gold Summit Musings…

Lots of rain at the barn since last we blogged.  The pond is amazingly still full after literally being almost dried up!  Since last we blogged, have been trying to change things up in the riding category with mixed results.  I know we need to “get to it” faster, but Tai isn’t on that schedule.  Get the feeling our “friendly” has been lacking (according to him) because I am tacking up sooner, but then still doing our regular routine.  I must admit he is getting better at the two carrot stick riding (when I can remember to grab two sticks) and the weave at a trot.  When it comes to canter we are both still stuck.  Need to bump up the level 3 ground patterns and use some of the new stuff I saw at the Savvy Gold Summit last weekend.  Monday, after a four day absence,  he tried to ignore me so I just took a really long time getting to him in the field.  Finally got a whinny and he wanted to be with me and get scratched even though the treat bucket was empty.  We hung out a lot and finally rode very late.  Decided to try “Partial Disengagement”  with some success.  And since he really didn’t want to do that, miraculously offered to canter.  Which is what partial disengagement can be helpful for…cantered twice in one direction and once in the other, in his “nemesis” the round pen of all places.  He must have just been really glad to see me.  He was out in the far back field on Wednesday and had no intention of coming initially.  Played a massive game of approach and retreat even going all the way back inside Miss Kathy’s house when he walked further out in the field.  Then went out with his treat bucket, but stopped at the second trough to clean it and see if that would illicit a response…BINGO!  He trotted up to the back field fence with his buddies in tow looking at me like I was an alien.  When I didn’t come right out to get him I got the Whinny again and one step toward the gate.  So I took one step, then he took a couple more steps, me too.  When he stopped, I stopped.  At last he started walking toward me, so I said we’d meet in the middle…well he came cantering through the gate opening and flying toward me, so I started running away and made him catch me.  That was the savviest it got all day.  Sadly we tried doing the Partial Disengagement drill again, and he did do it better at first, then when it came to the canter he just wouldn’t go.  My emotional fitness wasn’t up to the task and since it was after 4PM decided to just let him graze.  We did go after treats in the arena, which is where I’m actually supposed to be doing the partial disengagement drill, but most of our straight fence lines are electric and I don’t trust him enough at a canter out there anyway.  I feel this whole thing is riding on both of our emotional fitness.  Impulsion is “emotional” collection for the horse at least.  And my not trusting him is an emotional block as well.  So…that’s why we’re going to Florida.

Let me backtrack to the Colorado Savvy Gold Summit trip…wow, that was a long way.  Especially with so much layover time in the respective airports.  I suppose everybody has read Mango’s take on things.  Just thought I’d add my perspective for what it’s worth.  What can I say about Pagosa Springs, CO?  Well, it really is “God’s Country”.  Isn’t that a Coloradoism?  We were so amazed to come up behind the open stock trailer with Tai Chi’s completely tacked up doppleganger,  including being untied with his bit & bridle on.  He was moving from side to side and taking in the wind and licking & chewing constantly.  Amazing!  Speaking of amazing, it was so surreal to finally come upon the Parelli International sign.  I’ve got to say with the incredible views and the Parelli Mecca so accessible, from my “John Denver” days…FAR OUT!!  I always wanted to live in Colorado and now I remember why.

Our hotel was literally right on top of the hot springs, so we got to enjoy lounging in the wonderfully warm, albeit slightly stinky waters each night before retiring.  Friday, since the hotel also included a spa, was spa day.  After practicing tai chi at sunup, I enjoyed a facial and some reflexology in the morning.  And then Tom & I both had massages in the afternoon.  6-8PM was a reception for the Parellis and the Gold Savvy Club members right at our hotel.  It turned out to be the first “function” for the hotel in it’s new space, and since Tom had his fancy camera and was snapping pics all around, the hotel manager asked if he would take more shots of the space and the hotel’s complimentary massages set up for the event right in the room with us and send them on to him to use for publicity…Cool.  We met so many like-minded people there, as well as Linda and Pat.  We became fast friends with Regina, an extreme Left Brain Extrovert from Ca whose motivation is her horse “Rocky” (aka Rock Star).  She was a fantastic inspiration, and the reason we got the great pics with Pat & Linda holding Mango.  I’m not sure if without her I would have had the nerve to ask them to take a picture with our barn monkey.  Regina seems to think I would, but it was much easier because of you girl.  She just marched up to Pat and he couldn’t say no;  then she told Linda that I had single-handedly converted our whole barn to Parelli.  I tried to tell her the Stars & Planets just lined up right, but now I’m supposed to write about how it was accomplished so others can be inspired and not lose hope who are the underdogs at “less than” Parelli facilities.  Sheesh!  After that lead in, I was able to say “speaking of inspiration, I have this letter I would like for you to read…”  To which she said, “Is it going to make me cry?  I have all these people to talk to and they’re taking pictures…”  I said,  “Well it made me cry, but it’s all your fault.  So I think you should read it anyway.”  And she proceeded to read Bethany’s incredibly beautiful words of thanks and farewell.  Twice Linda had to stop and hold the pages to her heart.  She was very glad she read it.  It was a wonderful tribute to Kathy’s place at Winterhawk, not to mention the fabulous horses and the great Pony Club people Beth is missing now that she has moved.  That I had some part in it makes me smile and sigh.  We also met a formal dressage instructor, Cheryl, who had just recently decided to investigate Parelli because it’s what she has been doing all along with her training techniques.  So of course she has had success with horses that other “predators” have nearly ruined.  She also recently moved to Connecticut from Arizona to be a barn’s dressage trainer.  She may well do clinics in the future and I’m hoping perhaps to get her to come to Winterhawk in a year or so perhaps after we have most of the horses back in their bits & bridles.  It would be nice to get lessons again from someone with a “naturally” trained dressage eye, who also understands what Parelli is all about.  If I remember correctly, I believe she has studied under or alongside one of Walter Zettyl’s protege’s.  Any way, she is making good money doing what she loves, and is certainly passionate about horses.

So Saturday morning we woke up to a fantastical sight during our tai chi practice…hot air balloons.  There was something so primal about watching them expand from the ground into the air, with the breathy sound of the fires heating up the air in the balloons to make them rise, and then silence as they descended out and away above the mountains and into the blue sky.  They were so mesmerizing that if we hadn’t been going to a Parelli event, we would have stayed watching them all day.  As it was we were afraid they would make us late!

How can I describe to you how it felt to be driving up the driveway at the Parelli International U?  I don’t think I can do it justice, so I’m going to let the pictures speak for themselves.  But I must say, what an awesome place.  It was so exciting to see the giant Coverall arena where we would get to sit and witness the magic.  Which, by the way, is probably the last time folks are going to get to see Pat’s horse, Magic, performing.  She won’t be completely retired, as she is just now being ridden in reining competitions, in which she won a second place at her first show at the age of 20 years.  That’s what it means to take the time it takes putting the icing on your cake!!  As you may remember she was an exceedingly difficult horse, and that means difficult for Pat Parelli.  Geez, I don’t know if that makes me hopeful for Tai or not…just take the time it takes, just take the time it takes…may we both live that long!

O.K. , where was I?  Oh yeah, so the show must go on even though the place is really crappy surrounded by those clear mountain vistas and what with the weather even worse at an awful 75 degrees and sunny.  Ho-hum.  About 30 minutes into Pat’s talk, my husband turns to me and says, “O.K., so I’m sold.”  (Drum roll please…buh,da,dum.  I don’t know, maybe he thought I’d just lost my horsey mind somewhere along the way.)  Then he says, “not that I thought you were crazy or something…”  It’s all about the A-ha Moment.  There’s a time for all Parelli converts when we just “get it.”  I remember my first tour stop in December 2006.  I couldn’t stop crying I “got it” so bad.  Then at the tour stop this past April, when I knew that this was going to continue, in spite of or because of, no matter what.    So Pat just walks around on Magic throwing out his amazing Parellisms.   After talking to Hannah by phone, not five minutes before all this started, I got inspired to write a few pertinent ones down.  And thanks to Regina sitting with us who had brought along writing paper, and Tom who somehow got Linda Parelli to toss him her Sharpie pen (which we mistakenly stole, by the way-will return it to Florida this November), I was able to do just that…here goes:

Bill Dorrence (Pat’s Mentor, Tom Dorrence’s brother) stopped giving free lessons(and that’s the only kind of lessons he gave)as soon as anything he told you to do three times he didn’t see you putting “monster effort” into…

Then, after talking about the problems horses have with humans…that we are chauvinistic, autocratic, anthropomorphic, direct line thinkers, Pat says:

When people say, “I just want to ride”  it is an act of chauvinism.  And knowing your horse’s Horsenality is the first step against Chauvinism.

You can’t teach anybody anything…but you can set it up so they can learn.

Inspire, Empower, Educate

Four ways to be a better horseman:

Rapport-Collection of the Heart, Respect-Mental Collection,                                                                                                                                                           Impulsion-Emotional Collection, Flexion- Physical Collection

NEUTRAL-Is the same energy in your body that you want in your horse’s body!

LBI-For more “go”:Tighten butt, count to three(No Legs), very quick driving game with line, go with your horse at whatever speed he gives you(cruise), rub him and say “good boy”, Don’t ask again too soon(Wait/retreat).

RBI/LBE-”Partial Disengagement”, Use this strategy at walk, then trot to walk-Stopping doesn’t help a RBI/ Use for LBE when too much “go”.  Use anytime a horse gets bracey & maintain it-looking for maintained softness in the gait that you disengage down to.  When you get a canter, do Approach & Retreat with 2 strides canter then trot, then 4 strides canter then trot, then 3 strides, then 6 strides, etc…Elbow, Ribs preparatory to saying “I Love You” (Lateral Flexion)-Elbow to side outside, then ribs/”I love you”(combing rein w/fingers) to the inside, may have to push with inside leg…See Impulsion Mastery Manual & Rein Positions Demystified-Sept.2009 Savvy Club DVD!

Reining is the highest level of Freestyle!

Finesse-Level 4:  Buy a chalk bag for marking arena-40 X 20 meters(tape measure too)-mark arena so you and the horse and “judges” can see actual lines for 10 and 20 meter circles.  Mark center line down X in both directions, then mark 10 meter lines on each side of those lines(in both directions).  Walter Zettyl as a demonstration had 24 horses and riders doing walk , trot, & canter in this size arena all at the same time…so don’t say you don’t have enough room to ride no matter where you are!

Read the book:  “OUTLIERS” by Malcolm Gladwell-About People who lie outside the norm-I guess that’s us?

O.K.  the rest I’ll leave to the pictures…

Tai’s Blog…GOOD GRIEF! I haven’t blogged in more than a month?

O.K. so no one is that busy especially me…sorry guys. I don’t even remember most of what we’ve been trying to accomplish, but I do seem remember that it all started one day riding with a bit and bridle. Even though I had bridled Tai the requisite 7 times, when I finally decided to mount up with on him, things did not go well for my boy. He went to his “bad place” and he really hasn’t been there in a very long time. I wasn’t even touching the reins as I was using 2 carrot sticks for direction. He went completely introverted and even catatonic. He was convinced he should follow the rail with his head down between his knees, so to speak. It’s the only time he will follow the rail on his own…so, I decided follow the rail was the last thing I wanted. Finally was able to convince him to figure 8 around the barrels, this got him thinking, but he was still pretty stressed. I stopped him over by his hackamore and proceeded to replace the bridle with the hackamore while still in the saddle. Quite a feat I thought, and that seemed to get him to think more. We just sat near the roundpen gate for a while after that and then proceeded to go out and graze and do a few things in the arena. I don’t remember so much what we did after that, as much as the feeling of ultimate sadness I had for Tai and his “stuff”. It just never seems to end. I should go look up something from either the latest Mastery Manual or Savvy Times Mag. I seem to remember something about how to feel, or what to tell yourself…I’m not supposed to be sympathetic but empathetic…? Something like that, anyway I just couldn’t shake the feeling of immense sadness, and that I was the one causing it. Sorry, Buddy.
We let any more riding with a bit go for a “bit”, HE-HE. I decided to try the confidence snaffle bit on his bridle instead, so we are back to just putting it on and off. And letting him wear while in Lucy’s stall this past rainy day. And yesterday, Wednesday, September 2nd I decided to bridle and let him graze with the new bit on while I “decorated” the arena with treats. He seems to be fine with the grazing. Decided to try riding with a savvy string in his mouth a few times before trying again with the new bit…well how many savvy strings are there in the world? He did pretty well grazing and riding with the savvy string in, BUT (notice that is a BIG BUT)…when I took the string out of his mouth, and Hannah is my witness, it was completely shredded. Didn’t have it pulled up enough in his mouth and his “extra” teeth were better than any saw or scissors out there at cutting rope. Good Googlies. We’re not going to practice with a savvy string again. Hopefully the confidence snaffle will have a better feel for him. I’ll let you know in another couple of weeks with him just grazing or wearing it without riding.
So new subject:LIBERTY. Really want to be doing more Level 3 things while riding, but since we don’t really canter, I’m left with just adding new patterns but at walk and trot only. I’m floundering with the patterns. There’s no excuse really, my mind just seems to wandering when it comes to getting them done. So, I decided to go back and watch some Liberty and Horse Behavior DVD’s and go back to trying some of those suggestions playing at liberty with obstacles. I didn’t seem to be very playful with the liberty patterns since I’m not doing like I should, so…Whoa! What I wanted was for Tai to stay with me, and what he wanted was to careen around the roundpen at breakneck speed disrupting Charlie/Juliana and Mocachee/Hannah while they were riding bareback. Good decision guys to get out of the rain and the Tai Chi whirlwind. However, after everyone left…Beth might have still been watching from the bench…I finally got him to squeeze between the roundpen and the barrel to my right and turn, face and wait. I don’t know if it was the other horses in there with him or just unreadable body language on my part, that it took him so long to “get it”. He could then do it to the right every time, but was hightailing it thru the one to my left still. Maybe because it was the way to the gate, or he just has a harder time facing me to the left. I think that’s the same side he can’t seem to turn toward me during a change of direction at liberty as well. Anyway , I was bound and determined to get some balance and as soon as I got one very tentative/partial turn, face and wait to the left, he got treats and we got out of the pouring rain!!
On Wednesday I went back to the roundpen with him sticking to me at liberty in mind. We started out being saddled and on line, and I got a curious sideways over the step with an uncharacteristic stop over top of the step. Don’t ask me why he stopped there, he never has before. But when he stopped he put his ears forward and seemed to ask, “What about that? I said “cool”. Well, I think that blew his cookie, and the licking and chewing said it all. With that I took off his 22 ft line and we proceeded to play “stick to me”, but not too much or for too long. And not very fast either. Good job, so we tried the demon barrel squeezes right and left, no problem in either direction. He nailed it right away. Enough of that…what new thing could we try with that “sticky” theme. How about lead by the ear…no problem. The difference from Monday was like night and day, well with another night thrown in! This fabulous ground seesion made me suspicious of our impending ride since when Tai is good with his ground work he is usually not so with our ride and vice/versa. Well I got fooled, as I said earlier our ride went fairly well even with the as yet unknown chewed up savvy string bit.
Of course the fabulous weather would have made a horrible ride seem grand. Nothing like “fall” weather for a soul boost. We, I really got a little frustrated at dropping carrot sticks and retrieving them and then trying to open electrified gates with the windage factor, but I was not to be deterred. We went out with the herd and retrieved Woody’s and Lucy’s “Face Masks” as I am wont to call them. My Buddy did great with very little approach and re-approach of the naughty masks. Hannah managed a couple of gates for me to spare my emotional fitness, bless her! And that’s when we went back to the roundpen and discovered the sawed off savvy string bit. Not to worry though as we scavenged parts to mend a popperless savvy string. And I have designs on making the two halves of the halved string into two useful bucking straps/hackamore leadline holders for those saddles without. Ha!
Oh yeah, a shout out to Maryann for remaking our healing stone charms for our halters/hackamores. They’re BEAUTIFUL!! Thankyou, Maryann.

Tai’s Week And A Halfly Blog-Sorry for my lateness again…

O.K., so what can I remember since last I blogged?  Don’t know!  We have been playing with circling game at the canter and maintaining gait,  hmm, how interesting.  This horse still will not or cannot take any responsibility for himself in “Humansville.”  <Heavy SIGH…>  Have been doing more double carrotstick riding.  It is so helpful in teaching me body position.  I really can work on me more and him less.  He just gets to be along for the ride more.  It has been entirely too hot and buggy.  He does seem to be getting better about being sprayed with the fly repellent though he still just barely tolerates it.  I wish water was his thing, but alas, it is not.  He won’t like it, he hates everything, hey Tai Chi.

We’ve also been bridling more with the snaffle bit.  He has figured out that he can eat grass and apple pieces and live.  So we tried him on drinking water with the bit in and Tai almost drowned himself in the trough, Heavens and Worlds!!  He stuck his whole face underwater up to his eyeballs and stayed under for about a minute…of course when he finally came out he was gasping and coughing and spewing water everywhere, he lived, but just barely.  I forgot to mention that last Wednesday we had our first ride with the bit in and he had regressed back to his head-tossing state from very early on in our hackamore riding days.  I wasn’t even touching the reins as I was using two sticks to turn him with…hmm, how interesting .  So on Friday we just put the bit in to graze, with no riding involved.  I just led him into Kathy’s backyard to graze.  When Hannah and Lauren showed up later to feed up, and sat with us for a while first, they had on an exciting new sunscreen, apparently, as Tai tried to eat Hannah’s head first and then Lauren’s knees.  When he couldn’t take a bite he lifted his head and gave the lip thing that they are all capable of doing, but I had never seen Tai do.  He was, however,very relaxed.  Oh boy, I wonder what that was about?

Saddled Tai up for an evening ride Friday while Tom played with Woodstock.  Woods is so exasperating,  just like Tai Chi used to be( and still can be), but at least now I know what and how to do things to get a response from Tai.  With me riding it was very difficult to try to tell Tom what he needed to do without me just doing it to Woods and letting Tom “see” for himself.  I stupidly tried to stay on Tai and get him to help me get Woodstock to accomplish a sideways over something task…did I say STUPIDLY?  Of course it only served to frustrate Tai and I both, with me taking my frustration out on Tai and Woodstock at the same time!  Can you say emotional fitness?  I can say it, but having it is another matter.  Decided that after several people have made minimal Parelli effort with Woodstock for the past two years, it is back to the basics for him.  Tom will keep working the program and they’ll both get there eventually.  My hopes are high, even after my emotional unfitness, as Tom rode Woody for about 45 minutes.  And they were terrific.  Woods got to follow Tai around some and we got to follow him around, too.  Then by the time Tai and I made it into the round pen all was forgiven and pretty much forgotten.  Woodstock was even trotting around on the ground with Tom looking for treats on the cinderblocks, and even followed Tom back in after being let out with the other horses…”Impressive”<say that like Darth Vader>.  I think Tai was glad to get with his buddy, Spike, since he had spent 11 straight hours with me.  I can’t blame him I was looking forward to a break myself.

Didn’t see my boy on Saturday or Sunday, but got the funniest picture of Tai and “Mango” the barn monkey.  The expression, or lack there of, on Tai’s face says it all… .

So yesterday was quite possibly the hottest day this Summer, OMG.  None of the horses out in the field even made an effort to leave the shade of the metal awning all day long.  Flies were special, with the addition of the small “balck flies” to the misery of the weather.  If we hadn’t have had shade and a breeze, things would have been catching on fire but then only smoldering due to the humidity.  So there was that.  After brushing up on the Liberty and Horse Behavior Games DVD’s, decided to do some Liberty with Tai in the round pen while there was still some shade covering part of it.  Set up the barrels for a figure eight at liberty, kind of close to the back entrance of the pen and made little defining “blocks” with a couple of the PVC pipes on the outside if the barrels, hoping this would be easier for me, if not Tai, to key on.  Did I mention it was hot?  We did everything with the 22 ft line first, then gave pretty good tries at liberty.  He still knows how to get me to move more than him at times, so when he wouldn’t do something at a walk, I said, “you can canter then.”  Eventually he did get 3/4 of once around the firgure eight at a walk, at liberty, just couldn’t seem to come around to the right and give me his left eye from a distance.  What he could do though, on that same side, was lay down and attempt a roll.  But he was too close to the panels and so when he got up I disengaged him and he trotted in.  I had great draw pretty much thru this whole exercise.  And we should have ended the session after the “drop and roll”.  But, I had a 50/50 chance of being right or wrong to continue after that and I chose to keep going.  Oh well, should have known with Tai it is always a 75/25 chance of being wrong!  We ended the session by me semi-walking the pattern up close with him.  He was alright, just sweaty.  So off to the trough for a drink and then into the shade for lunch.  Here Tai was more into grooming Charlie Brown than eating with me.  That’s O.K.,  got to sneak chips to Mocachee instead!

After lunch, Lauren and Hannah decided to ride bareback just grazing around the garden area.  I decided I’d give it a go and put a bareback pad on Tai.  Had too many fear issues on my part about mounting.  Maybe it was hearing Hannah’s “THUD” from her unscheduled dismount earlier or just my unconfidence in my knee, but I never felt comfortable to get on, so we made the rest of our time about approach and retreat.  Me approaching and retreating from the actual mounting, him approaching and retreating from the wooden mounting steps and the hitching post.  Made it an issue to get his zone 4 touching the hitching post when I porcupined him toward it…you would have thought we never played the Porcupine Game, GEEZ!  He got it though and breathed out, but I still couldn’t make the mount from there, so knew when to quit.  He actually was great about letting me try.  Fed up, met Rachel’s grandmere and retreated all the way home.  I don’t know why I felt so disappointed,  looking back on the day, despite the heat, we really did a lot and even though I couldn’t get on, I made some good decisions for me and my horse.  We are in charge of how we feel, and while it’s O.K. to feel a certain way, there is really no good or bad, no right or wrong way to feel.  They are just feelings and we are in charge of them and if we don’t like the way we feel, we can change our mind and feel different.  I think that’s what is so good about this “writing it down” thing.  Yesterday was fine, and even though it’s supposed to be 100 degrees tomorrow…I can’t wait to go see my horsey!

Tai’s Weekly (Hmmm, missed a week, forgot to blog-SORRY!) Blog

Sorry guys for taking so long since the trip to Biah’s to blog.  What I remember from the week following our trip to Bluehorse with Tai & Mocachee is that Tai went back to being more RBI than LBI.  My overall impression is that he was cinchier, spookier, and not as in charge out in the field with the herd.  Still would need to earn his place back.  For instance catching him yesterday he was reluctant to come to me thru the other horses.  It wasn’t that he didn’t want to come or was ignoring me, he just needed me to meet him in the middle again.  It’s O.K., I know how to play that game & win now.  And we got to practice some “at liberty” in a larger field.  He initially came over and when he saw I didn’t have something great to offer him he started to leave, so I sent him away instead.  Used to be if I did something like that he’d be gone and pay me no attention for the rest of the week.  How I knew he wanted to be with me but just couldn’t seem to make it…he kept his eye on me as I sent him in a circle away from the majority of the herd, then asked him to come back in to me.  He zoomed in!!  Ha, gotcha.

So…Parelli Polo Week was “the bomb”!  I want to commend Hannah for all the planning & effort she put into everything we did.  Our very logical progression thru the ground sessions with Balls, to the riding and mock matches was brilliant and incredibly helpful for the horses and their people.  It is still so rewarding to see folks just enjoying their equine friends on the ground…it really is “way more than riding”.  I think the first day where there was no riding may have been the most fun.  O.K., so decorating the t-shirts with our team logos was a close second.  Thanks to Kathy for having us all indoors on such a hot & humid day, and putting up with the “mess”.  You’re the best!  Our teams were The Pink Poneighs with the humans- Hannah, Aleah, Lexi and Maryann and their horses-Mocachee(the Pink Monkey-you were right Lex, should have been the Pink Primate), Lucy(the Pink Princess), Linus(the Pink Panther)  and Spike(you guessed it, the Pink Elephant) and  The Green Paints & Pals with our humans-Lauren & Juliana, Myself & Tom and our horses Charlie(Downtown Brown), Tai Chi(the Green Meanie), Woodstock(the Glitter Pal), and Rhapsody(the Painted Pal).  We had our Field Judge, Kathy and our Ref, Beth who due to knee surgery was subbed at the last minute by Ref, Bobbie.  Everybody did a great job with their mounts in the official Saturday PM Match.  We had spectators in our “stands” and free concessions enjoyed by horse and human alike.  Need we say more?  Oh yes, the Match…Good googlies, who knew my horse was such a soccer player?  I hardly ever had to use my stick on the ball.  Tai Chi was all about dribbling the ball down field when we could get it away from Mocachee.  I think we even scored a goal.  I was very proud of Tai’s performance and any time he got worried or had enough, we just moved out of the way and stopped to take a break.  I think this experience was huge for him.  So many things we don’t usually do, like ride twice in one day and braided mane.  O.K., so the braided mane thing really did the trick.  Randy said I must really practice alot with Tai and kicking the ball, but that really isn’t true.  This truly is the first time Tai has seemed to enjoy himself while being asked to do anything with a big green ball.  Of course I’ve known all along that Tai really gets it if he has a “reason” or a job.  So, if you have a job you probably wear a uniform…back to the braiding that i feel may have contributed to Tai’s performance.  We did a nice “polo” knot type of braid, anyway that’s what we called it when I was growing up.  It’s just that I inverted the Roll effect of the braid.  You’re suppsed to roll it under, which I know, but rolled them over instead.  With the rain we had earlier in the day, Tai’s mane was still damp underneath so when the “doo” came down he had the most glorious curls and a “Bonsai Pipeline” flip all the way down his neck; very dramatic, very glam and hysterically funny.  Tai seemed to take it all in stride and finally “strode” out to stand next to Lucy, the only other “girl” in the field.  Hannah, please insert any pertinant pics.  Can’t wait to see all the pictures of the week/month, it’s only the middle of the month, there must be thousands of pictures by now.

Yesterday, Monday July 20th, we did the catching thing I talked about earlier.  Then some friendly grazing by our log weave as the grass there is really lush.  I had arranged the arena prior to getting Tai on line, so we played with the 45 ft.  Lots of backup to something.  Acted like we had never done it before at first, then slowly started to remember I had a “reason” for it.  Went to some traveling circles at the trot, couldn’t get a canter easily in either direction.  He wouldn’t maintain his speed either, so lots of change of direction.  Finally got a few steps at canter and moved to the jumps.  Just going to stop at them first and walk over…good grief!  Finally got two wonderful high jumps and decided to call it quits.  On the way out of the arena, remembered I had put the ball in there and was going to do push it to me on the 45 ft line, but had already taken it off.  So much for having a plan, I’m too old to remember it!  Still did some fly scratching with the ball in zones 3& 4, amazing how he licks & chews when he realizes the ball can be useful.  He still remembers it isn’t going to eat him in zone 5 too.  Cool.  Had a watermelon fest already in the trailer, he was hesitant to go in at first with me coming in behind, so I just led him in and hung out with him while he ate.  We’ll work on it more regularly again.  When he was almost done I just backed him out and said it’s not about the trailer.  We got “dressed” and went over to eat lunch, he’s such a LBE at the picnic table.  Naturally as soon as I was ready to ride it started raining.  Mounted up anyway and headed out to graze by goats, too RBI, should have warmed up in round pen more, started raining harder so that just worked in our favor as a retreat back to the round pen to stand with our butts to the rain under the pine trees for a good 15 minutes.  The rain slacked up and we started out again.  This time rode some figure 8′s in the round pen before venturing out for treat fest.  Left the arena gate open as we walked and trotted the weave, figure 8 and question box with just one carrot stick, arrrrgggh.  He is a real toughy with the qustion box at first.  Finally started asking questions so we got off of it. Forgot my second stick.  Decided I could still check off my level 3 patterns since I used my other hand like a second stick.  Actually worked great and I discovered a button to turn Tai with my hand on his hindquarters.  Hmm, how interesting.  Even though we aren’t cantering any figures yet, they seem to flow like a dance now.  Getting better in my body at asking what I want, not always getting him to do it, but I feel like I’m asking better and the stick is just my “attitude of justice”.  I was very emotionally fit with Tai today.  We did shoulders-in and haunches-in and million transitions at finesse with his hackamore on.   He is getting floatier at the trot as well.  Walk/trot transition while collected is dicey, but we haven’t done it that much yet.  He really gets into the collected backup with lots of licking & chewing when we stop backing and loosen the reins.  Hannah & Lauren finally show up and how did it get to be 4PM?  I’d been riding for 1 1/2 hours!  I think we’ve turned a corner with our riding emphasis.  We’ll get back to bridling with the savvy string and bit some more next week.  Stay tuned, and keep it FUN!

Tai’s Weekly Blog

Friday-Everyone seemed to be on to their own thing today.  Not a bad thing for Tai as he seems to prefer just us.  We did warm up with more Circling to practice his responsibility.  Still letting him come in most times that he asks.  And he will really come in fast.  We rode for a few minutes in the round pen doing some finesse on the rail.  He’s pretty good at it, too.  Then out into the arena field for a tall grass fest.  Really listening to me for a change…good day.

Saturday-Pony Club had a lite turnout with summer activities for many, so Hannah, Beth and I hung out alot with the “guys”.  Decided to try out my new Parelli Bareback Pad-excellent.  Was even so comfortable that I rode Tai out into the big grass field and he was great.  Decided I was so comfortable on him that I would attempt the dismount from zone 5…NOPE!!  He would really tense up and make the same “cinchy” sounds he makes with saddling.  He really needs to be restarted by Hannah with me on the ground reading him.  Will make that a priority.  Interesting information though.  Maryann showed up and gave us some reiki while I was still on and putting my legs/feet on his haunches.  Hard to dismount that sticky pad…then it was pond time.  He seems to do better and better going in farther.  Initially I told him “no, don’t go in” and I went in without him.  He finally had enough of that and submerged from zones 1-3  but 4-5 are a different matter.  He is the exact opposite of Miss Duilleag.  She goes into the bay and sits down.  He goes in the water and dips his front end, with his butt up in the air.   Hmmmmm, how interesting.  It’s a zone 5 thing.  He’s actually very good about me in that area on the ground.  I can drive him from there, do extreme friendly helicopter and slapping the ground, even the umbrella.  Apparently something is amiss.  Anyway we had a fantastic time in the water with the highlight being Linus’ goofy teeth.  I will never forget it!

Monday-NW River Park Day again.  Initially was concerned that we were taking too long to get going, but as Tom said in a call he made to me that most likely worked in our favor.  Tai was loaded into the trailer first this time and it made a huge difference.  He even waited in there for some time with the other horses before heading off to the park and he was much more LB about everything.  Of course Maryann was there doing reiki on him, so that may have played a role.   Another wait to disembark and he was terrific.  We did some hill therapy and I kept up a steady approach and retreat game with the trailer the whole time we were there.  Worked like a charm.  Thanks to Kathy Barr from the Savvy Club Gold Hotline for pointing out that I just didn’t read his thresholds well last trip.  I didn’t make that mistake again and after putting his bareback pad on him, playing figure eight with cones in their arena, eating a very LBE lunch and exploring the trails, Tai Chi actually yawned as he loaded into the trailer for the ride home.  YEAH!!  I was so pleased for him I could have cried.  No RBI this time.  He was blinking on the way home and taking treats his whole time in the trailer.  He even whinnied for his “girlfriend” Spike when we arrived home and did not want to get off the trailer!  WEEHAA!!  The only downside of the trip was TICKS for Hannah, Beth and myself…Lauren is apparently immune…or maybe she just smells funny…Hee,Hee!  Can’t wait to go back, if I get that same LBI/LBE  I might even consider mounting up.

Wednesday-The best birthday party ever.  Bobbie and I had a fun time decorating with Maryann’s clever purchases.  Tropical/Pool party theme, and of course monkeys- monkey glasses, monkey hat, flying monkey.  The horses were incredible about all the “stuff”.  It is so gratifying to see them all so trusting of our “toys”.  They even wore the Parrot hats.  Phenomenal!!  Maryann and Kathy’s cakes were a big hit with the humans and the cake Hannah made for the horses was like “horse crack”!  My horse tried multiple times to eat the whole thing himself.  We can’t wait to see the pictures.  The pond aspect was more fun for the people than the horses, except Mocachee of course.  Spike was the lifeguard.  I really want Tai to trust me enough to swim across the pond, and it feels like that is slowly coming.  Dipped his zone 5 in a little, made those same cinchy noises and then that was all for Tai.  He retreated on his own out of the pond area for a bit while I did some poop detail, but he came back in all the way to the other side on his own and nuzzled me on the back as if to say, “sorry I couldn’t go any farther”…I told him, “no worries.”   I was so surprised when I turned around and it was Tai behind me.  I really thought it was going to be one of the other horses.  He likes me, he really likes me!!  Wonder why I have such a hard time believing that?  Anyway, the end of another fabulous friendly, unhurried day with good friends two-legged and four-legged alike.  Feed-up time goes so fast when you have six people helping.  My last vision was of the horses all in a circle facing each other out in the back field after turnout…wonder what they were sharing about us?  I bet it was all good!