Well, we hit the ground running, so to speak. We've been sprinting around like madwomen for the past two days and I am sure I will have no trouble sleeping while I'm here.
My mom left tonight and we had quite the tearjerker moment. I'm very nervous about being away from my family for so long. Being outside my comfort zone is where I will no doubt do my best learning.. But of course it isn't going to be easy. There are a lot of things here with me that offer me comfort like my mom's blanket..my brother's shirt and my familiar music. I predict many long nights of texting!
-sigh.-Circus music.
On the great side of things..
Fran and I are having a blasty blast! I am already learning so much and asking sooo many questions. We've shared quite a few funny looks and giggles. Not the mention the LP stories. (yes, I so did just do that, Franny.) ;D

In other news: I have limited access to the internet here because my laptop does not pick up wireless. Therefore, I have made the decision to write every night on MS Word and when I return to NC, I will post it all in 2-3 day chunks including pictures. Just wanted to give you guys a heads up on that and also, I won't be checking my e-mail *as* often. So if you would really like to contact me, don't be a stranger. I have unlimited text on my wonderful Verizon phone and you are welcome to give me a ring to chat, ask questions or say hello.

919 830 8706

Love,

Katie

Hey, guys!

I'm here in our hotel room (Wabasha, MN) and we just got back from Fran's house (Pepin, WI) Haha, yes it's that close to the border.


I'm totally exhausted but I was in a writing mood so I decided to come on and give you guys an idea of what the trip has been like.

We left North Carolina at 2:15 pm, Wednesday.
We arrived here in Wabasha around 7:00 pm tonight.
It was pretty much a drive-a-thon I think we stopped a total of four times, the longest stop being an hour.


It was a really awesome drive up here and at first the scenery was very nice. My ingenious comment when I first woke up from my nap and noticed we were out of the mountain range was:
" It's flat."
The fields of IL and IN were so different from anything in my state. But after a while it tends to drive one BATTY.
Corn, corn, corn, soybeans, corn, corn, insanely huge windmills & corn.
Such a variety, right?
I got to the point where I thought if I ever saw another corn stalk, I'd have an aneurysm and die.


Anyway, I met Fran's 'rentals, her boyfriend and one of her friends tonight and I must say everyone was really great. I was seriously stressing over whether her parents would like me or not but, everything went well and they seemed okay with me. :) WHEW! Huge weight off of my shoulders.
I'm going to meet up with Franny at around 8:30 in the morning and I get to watch her teach a lesson for the first time (yay!) so I need my beauty rest. I'll make sure to take lots of notes!
I'll leave you guys with a few random pictures and a promise for more later.


Side note here: I really loved the movie Grumpy Old Men. I had no idea it was filmed here but it is an excellent movie. Go watch it.
Also,I loved all the pumpkins on the sign; as we were taking pictures one of them just started rolling away. Like it up and decided " You know what, screw this. I've got better things to do." Pretty funny.

And this of course is my familia and wonderful compadres for this journey. Gramma, Muffin and my awesome momma. This is the part where we were waiting for Fran to come meet us at the hotel and so we passed the time by taking a bunch of random pictures.

Alrighty, that's all for now. I'm exhausted and I have sort of an early start.

More soon!

Katie.

Congratulations! You’ve survived all the teasing and here are the goodies as promised.
-Hands out gold stars and Winnie’s cookies-
*flashback*
Hint: I’m going on a trip. :)
*end flashback”*
Where?
Pepin, Wisconsin
When?
Today! We leave this afternoon.
Who?
Franny! (http://www.savvyup.blogspot.com)
What for?
A lot of hands-on training and a wonderful learning experience.
How long?
We’ll get there either the 25th or the 26th and we’re leaving Wisconsin on the 17th of October, I believe.
Specifics:
Okay so here is the whole story.
The other night (not sure which night this was) Fran and I were chatting on Yahoo and my mother came in to talk to me about cancelling the trip to Mariah’s.
I had already been thinking about having to cancel the trip because Lady is nowhere near ready to be hauled anywhere and I felt like I wasn’t savvy enough to get her there on my own.
I had been preparing for a month and when there were two weeks left, I realized that if I kept going I was going to get rushed, turn into a predator and ruin everything we had worked on so far. So, I told Fran about it and asked for advice on whom to go to for help in my area.
I honestly didn’t think I was going to be able to stay dedicated and focused on my horsemanship without some help.
After saying she’d keep her eyes open for me, she was generous enough to offer to come over and help me out whenever she was in the area and mentioned me coming to visit her. That flipped a switch in my brain and the planning began. I think we had the plan totally concocted within two days. It was very quick and everything just clicked into place!
My mom had already taken the 25th and 26th off of work to take me to Mariah’s. We had already been saving up money for a trip and I know that if I had not been preparing for the trip to Mariah’s I never would have had this opportunity. I feel like I’m prepared to make the most out of this. A quote comes to mind:
“Luck is spelled W O R K and is defined as when preparation meets opportunity.”
Anyway, that’s how the plan came to be.
I’m going to Fran’s place this week, staying until the 17th of October and then Fran and I are flying down to Jacksonville, FL for the Parelli Tour stop 18th-19th. My mom is going to meet us down there and then bring us back up to my house where Fran is planning on staying for a while to work with Lady and I together and visit her friends in the area. :)
I’m a person who fully believes that everything happens for a reason; that past successes and failures help to mold and prepare you for your future.
I feel like this is the turn my journey is supposed to take and I want to take this moment (Yes, I’m getting all sentimental) to thank Lucy and Mariah, my closest savvy sisters. They have been essential in everything I have done with Parelli so far. They are two of the huge pillars that hold up my support system and without them, I doubt I would have ever gotten this far. It’s because of Lucy that I never give up when I really feel the stress of working with a complex horse. It’s because of Mariah that I am able to make the most of this opportunity because without her drive, I wouldn’t have been prepared for it. Both of these girls lend me their strength and they always listen to me complain and I’m so lucky that I know them. :)
Don’t even get me started on what a gift Franny is! Haha! I’m really looking forward to this trip and I am practically giddy on the amount of knowledge I am going to be exposed to there.
I think one of the best parts of the whole trip is going to be watching Fran work with Crest and just learning about their relationship and journey. Crest is one of those fabulous complex horses and I plan on walking away with a million different things that I can apply to my relationship with Lady.
I will continue blogging. I’m just contemplating on how I’ll do it.
I’ll either blog as usual or I’ll journal about every day and then post it all at once or in big chunks. I’m leaning towards the latter.
As you can see, there are a few details to be worked out but most of my questions will be answered when I get there. :)
That’s all for now, folks! Wish me luck and I’ll update soon.

Love,

Katie.

Teehee. I know you guys want to maim me for being such a tease as of late.

I've gotten a few
" What are you up to?!"
" Prior and proper preperation for what?!"
" What's going on?"
comments so here is an update.. In the form of another teaser. -Evil laugh.-
Mwahahahha >;D

Tomorrow morning at eight o' clockish, I am going to spill all the details.
Everything. I'm going to let you guys in on this amazing fantabulisorific opportunity that has set itself up for me (although I'm not the only one to benefit from this, which is wicked cool). Just to let you know, I am mucho excited. It really does seem like everything is coming together in my life. Perfect timing. Setting me up for success, if you will.

Since you guys have been so patient this week, I'll toss you a line.

Want a Hint?
I'm taking a trip. :) The where, when, who, what for and how long are all coming tomorrow.

OKAY! That's it for now. If you guys can hang on until tomorrow morning, you'll get a gold star and a Winnie's cookie. ;)

Love,

Katie.

My grandaddy and my dad bought me that digital camera I wanted yesterday here's what it looks like:





And here is the very first picture that I took with it, The praying mantis was a very agreeable subject. ;) :





I also went with my grandaddy shopping this morning and he bought me an awesome helmet! It fits amazingly and it's very handsome. :) Doesn't make my head look that big. It's just like the one pictured below but it's a forest green.





That's it for now!

Love,

Katie

Well, I haven't been playing with Lady much at all because I haven't had time!
I have been soo busy with other stuff that all I have time for is some quick Principle Game sessions before or after feeding time. A little porcupine here.. a little driving game there.. Ya know.

But that's no reason why I can't keep blogging, right?
SO! I'll clue you guys in on what I've been up to.

Last night after mom and I went to the guitar shop, (I didn't sell my guitar to them because I'll get more money if I pawn it) went shopping and went out to eat, we went to see The Women. It was a really funny movie but about 3/4 the way through I just couldn't keep my eyes open! I had to lay down and take a catnap. I woke up long enough to get to the car and I slept the whole way home.
I have no idea why I am so tired lately. Usually I have trouble falling asleep and now as soon as it gets dark out, I'm out like a light. So weird!

I bought a sleeping bag yesterday. The last time I had one I was 6 and it had Barbie all over it. I'm excited for my first 'big kid' sleeping bag! It'sall orange and pretty.

I also went window shopping for a digital camera yesterday. I've never had one and I figure it's about time for me to take the plunge, so to speak.
I stumbled across a Canon that I really like and it takes regular AA batteries! I like that.
Plus it's pretty inexpensive as far as digitals go and it's simplistic.
Great for me! :)

Not so sure what my mom has in store for me today but she told me to wake her up at 11:30 and that we were going to do something. I know that we're going to see my brother later tonight but I didn't think we had anything planned for this morning!
Hmm...
Well I'm gonna go grab a shower real quick and if I get bored waiting I'll probably come back on here and move things around on my sidebar. Keep your eyes open! :)

Love,

Katie

We had a yardsale today so that I could make some money for my Parelli fund.

I was recently chatting with a friend of mine who was on her way to the Kansas City, MO tour stop that's being held this weekend.. It got me so ANTSY.
I'm ready for it to be October, already!
(I lack patience somethin' furious, can you tell?)
I was looking back in my archives and found the post from the day I got my tour stop tickets for Jacksonville. I took this picture with my cell phone and posted it immediately.

That seems like ages ago when in reality it was just June 14th! I am soo ready for this tour stop. Williamston '08 was amazing and that was just the first one of the season! I have some pretty high expectations for Jax but, I know I won't be dissapointed.


Next time this month, I'll be down there enjoying a weekend of like-minded people, horses and pure knowledge. I can't WAIT!


Going out to eat with mom.
Love,

Katie

I've been hand sowing oats out in Lady's pasture since 6:30 this morning with my grandaddy. I'm very glad we got it done, even if I am sweaty and itchy. :)

A quick update about my mom:
The procedure on Wednesday went well.
Her kidneys are working normally and there are no tumors or masses.
They found a minor problem and the doctor is going to meet with her again on the 30th of October to schedule another procedure to correct whatever it was that they found.

In other news, can you believe that they're shutting down Parelli Collection?! I'm so sad! I'll miss the clothing sooo much. It was really amazing quality stuff.. Hopefully they'll bring it back out one day. :(

Remember on Wednesday when I said there were some big ideas and plans floating around?
Well, an amazing opportunity has come along and with a little planning it seems as if everything is really falling into place. I don't want to reveal too much at the moment because I don't want to jinx it. But, if everything goes through as planned then I'll be updating with full details by the end of the month. :) Please keep me in your thoughts!

Katie

Hey guys.
This is just a quick update to let you guys know how things are..

There is a lot going on right now and unfortunately I won't be making it to Mariah's on the 25th.
There are a lot of factors that play into my decision to skip out on this trip, one of the biggest is that I don't think Lady will be ready for the trailering.
I want to spend more time playing with her before trying to take her anywhere because I don't want it to be rushed. I want her to be confident.

But there is still hope! There are some big ideas and plans floating around to get me the learning help that I need and I haven't given up by any means.
So please be sending me your positive thoughts for everything to work out. :)

I'm leaving with my mom at 12 to go to the hospital. She has to have a minor procedure done so please keep her in your thoughts as well!

Love,
Katie.

We decided to stay home for the weekend since the gas prices are going up and we're pretty low on cash.

I've been trying to rest and de-compress as much as possible and most of my confidence is back and I'm feeling determined as ever to live my dream with horses.

I went out to feed Lady this morning with quiet confidence (I wasn't nearly as nervous as I thought I would be) and when I entered her corral with my carrot stick at my side, she approached me with a very soft look. I was semi-shocked but I offered her my hand and then walked away to continue my business.
She circled around and tried to cut me off with a snotty look and I brought out some energy and popped her on the chest with the leather popper on the end of my Savvy string.

She backed up quite quickly, looked at me with a shocked expression and then licked her lips.

Every other time she tried to approach me, she had a soft and curious expression and I would offer her my hand and move away.
If I was doing something, she respected my space and she waited until I was out of her stall to go in.

I'm very satisfied with the results! I feel more in control and safer now that I know it's okay to protect my space and that it works. Thanks, Mariah!

In other news: I am on Lesson 8 in Level 1 and the next tasks are to teach Lady to lower her head from pressure and release. (Porcupine Game) and to pick up all four feet from one side.
We are already learning how to lower her head and so we shouldn't spend too much more time on that. The feet though.... oh goodness I think I'm going to skip that one and go to the next games! It's going to take a while and it's something I want to work on with Mariah.

That's it for tonight!

Katie

On an interesting note, as of today I have been a Savvy Club member for one year! :))

I'd like to make a small shout out to Miss Fran Latane! Her Birthday was on the 11th!
She rocks. 'Nuff said.

Now onto the 'good stuff '.

Night before last, I watched the “Right Brained Behavior Requires Savvy!” segment on one of my L1 DVD’s and took notes on the extreme Yoyo Technique used to get RB horses to stop moving their feet and focus on you.

Then we skip to yesterday... I made up a Game Plan for a session I had planned out for that evening:

Driving Game: Assess Driving Game; Goal: get a backwards yield, forequarter yield and hindquarter yield without touching your horse.
Yoyo Game: Tweak Yoyo Game; Goal: Lower phases and more steps!

What happened: I got out there and at first the session was AMAZING.
Driving Game: I got all three yields! I can now check off my final checkboxes for Driving Game.
Yoyo Game: WOW. She backed to the end of the 12 ft line with a Phase 2!

I got a spur of the moment idea to try circling and the results were insane. Keep in mind I had only worked on circling twice before. Very little practice.
I lead her zone 1 and waited. All I had to do was pick up the stick and she was walking! She walked three whole (LB!) circles around me before she asked to come in. Beautiful soft, curious expression, too!

And then.. BOOM!
She shied at something, spooked and ran towards me. So, I yoyo’d her back to the end of the line with a big phase 4 and waited. She snorted and took off running.
Totally RBE, totally frightened and totally freaking out.
I remembered the chapter from my L1 DVD on RB Behavior and so I thought over my options. I could bring up my energy to match her and mirror her until she calmed down, I could make her run faster than she really wanted to go and in smaller circles until she calmed down OR I could yoyo her until she stopped moving her feet and focused on me.
I opted for choice 3 because I’m not confident enough for choice 1 and choice 2 would have made it worse since she doesn’t trust the stick fully and also, she’s an OTTB. She’d run forever!
So I snapped that rope around in a big phase 4, my whole arm locked and moving hugely while I was in my power stance. The snap swung around and popped her nose and she reared, ran backwards and then started running again.
We had multiple repeats until she had stopped running and she was standing still. She blew out and had her head low, ears loosened and her body was no longer braced.
Here is where I made a mistake:
I approached her. I walked in an arc to her shoulder and when I got there and went to take off her halter, she came at me teeth barred and ears back while trying to spin around and kick me in the same moment. I acted out of instinct and did a body block for zone 1 and yielded her HQ away from me. I quickly undid her halter and backed off. She took off bucking, rearing and galloping around at an insane speed.
So I walked off to the barn, sat down and cried. Feeling like a total failure! After I regained my composure a bit, I mixed her feed and walked out of the barn to take it to her and guess who’s there, hanging all over the fence and nickering at me quite loudly?
You guessed it. Ladybug, resident loon!

I couldn’t bring myself to take her hay back in her pen so I just came back inside, cried some more and e-mailed my wonderful friend and resident genius, Mariah! (BLESS YOU, WOMAN!)

I have a huge history of fear and unconfidence pre-Parelli. Parelli has brought my confidence way up for the most part but, today... all of my fear came rushing back tenfold and I was really self-doubting and second-guessing being a horse owner.
Mariah called me, listened to me explain quite hysterically, calmed me down and gave me some very good advice on how to handle this and how to view this.
So, I’m taking it in and I am going to view this session as a success. Yes, you heard right!
Before the scare, we got AMAZING results like never before and my response to her spooking was great for me! I feel like I really retained that information in L1. It’s reflex now. I need to sit back, relax and take it all in. Then I need to refocus and keep going! This weekend I’m going with mom up to Maryland and D.C. to visit a friend of hers.
I’ll spend this time relaxing and de-compressing and when I come back Monday I’ll be ready to try again. Up until we leave I’ll be spending a minimal amount of time with Lady, feeding and UDT only. No sessions until next week!

Whew!

Katieanne

When I went out to feed Lady tonight, she confirmed that my decision to ditch the lesson and spend some UDT with her was the best choice. She ran up from the pasture and called to me.
All because of some UDT.

The reason I know it was me and not the food she was calling to is because lately she wouldn't come up to the barn until I had her food in her bucket. She would pretend not to notice me at all and she'd have this grumpy expression on her face.

I feel like more UDT is the right choice and since I've had such a drastic change in behavior in a few hours, I'm thinking if we repeat this tomorrow and things are as great as they were tonight, I could think up a Game Plan and then have a session in the afternoon!

I'm already forming a Blueprint in my head of what I want to work on tomorrow. I still have some boxes I need to check off for The Driving Game and then we're going to focus on The Yo yo Game.

Checklist Progress

The only items left to do on my checklist are:

2. Get some barrels, a tarp and something that we could use as a pedestal, and do some work with desensitization.

Progress with this task:
I've got my barrels and my tarp, I still need to find a pedestal.

3. Continue work on teaching Lady to lower her head from pressure. Instead of freaking out and pushing against it I want her to give to it.

Progress with this task:
Beginning sessions again tomorrow.

4. Work on thresholds and new environments by taking her out for walks/ grazing trips.

Progress with this task:
I want to complete the rest of my tasks before I try this one.

6. Really firm up our Principle Games so that our Purpose Games are better.

Progress with this task:
Beginning sessions again tomorrow.

7. Advance the squeeze games, circling game and yo yo game as they’re the most useful when trailer loading.

Progress with this task:
Beginning sessions again tomorrow.

Newly Completed Tasks:

10. Get back to studying my Level 1 materials to help me form Game Plans.

Progress with this task:
I completed this task tonight by watching/studying my L1 materials, taking notes and catching up to where I should be. My next few sessions will revolve around the Yo yo Game and Driving Game.

That's all for now, folks!

Katie

Yes, I know it's Wednesday and I'm scheduled for a session. But, it's rainy and disgustingly muddy, plus Lady has been having a lot of closeness issues with me.
Every little move I make causes her to shy. She's very sensitive and spooky and there is a chunk missing from her right hip. I'm not sure what happened but I decided we needed a UDT session today.

When it's raining, Lady stays under the shelter. So, when I went out there I walked out into the field and she followed. We ran around for a little while and she seemed friendly enough, very playful! She stuck with me while grazing and I worked on mirroring her as she shifted her weight and walked around. I walked beside her on both sides and she didn't show any issues like she did during out last session (Issues: not comfortable with me standing on her right side) and overall it went really well. Tomorrow I'll do it again and if she seems calmer and more trusting we'll have a session on Friday.

I'll work on 10. tonight.

Katie

2: Obstacles
I now have a tarp and three cow flavored barrels and I talked with my grandfather about making me a pedestal out of a tire and some dirt or a pallet and some plywood.

Either way, I should have this checked off soon!

11: Game Plan Process
Blueprint - Firstly, think about the tasks/games that we need to work on and pick three per session. Also, decide on how long I want the session to last. (My goal here is to keep the sessions short but meaningful, always keeping in mind to take the time it takes.)
Research - Research the chosen tasks/games on the SC website and forum, Level 1 kit and Success Series.
Goals - Decide what level of response I am looking for and stick to that so I have purpose and I have a great stopping point. (End on a good note and all that jazz)
Play - Go out and play! Don't put it off. As soon as I have a plan and all the researched information fresh on my mind, I need to go out and do it.

12: Schedule
Monday, Wednesday, Friday - Play Sessions. (weather permitting)
Tuesday, Thursday - Undemanding Time sessions. (weather permitting)

14: Study Horsenality Do's and Don't's article in the Savvy Times by Linda Parelli.
Tips:
LBE: He is obsessed with learning and needs variety and new things to keep it fun. Lots of praise; room to move.
RBE: Do what he wants, only faster and smaller - "and then some!" Consistency is key. Circles, long lines (more drift) and a fast pace.
RBI: Use tiny, small suggestions and then wait. Confidence is everything; focus on this. Consistency; time and low energy.
LBI: Variety, rewards and food! Also responds to going slow, relaxing, eating and doing things that are new and interesting. Straight lines, obstacles, tricks, learning something new.

Check out my checklist (to the right) I have 1, 8 and 9 checked off!
I was planning to work on checklist numbers 10,11,12 and 14 today and while I was focused on those tasks, who should call but the one person I needed to talk to!
The very person I had in mind to ask about borrowing a trailer called to talk to my mom and she agreed to let me rent her trailer to put it in my field to use with Lady and to haul Lady down to Charlotte and back for me!
My mom is excited that she gets to spend time with her childhood friend whom she hasn't seen in a while and I get the most important tasks taken care of.

It seems like everything is setting itself up for success. I still have time tonight to work on 10,11,12 and 14.

I'll post again when I complete them. :)

Katie

Here's a picture of my completed inspiration board (yes, my thumbtacks are ladybugs!)
I apologize for the terrible lighting!
I have the Eight Principles, Seven Keys, Ten Qualites, Savvy Club # and a card with the date of Lady's arrival - forever on it ;) on the cork board side. Some good Panda quotes on the other.




I plan to work on checklist numbers 10,11,12 and 14 today and also if I have the time, I'll think up a Game Plan and get out there to work on some number 6!

I'll be posting quite frequently today if things go the way I intend them to and I complete the chosen tasks from my checklist.
"My little charge" didn't come today because she's sick and mom took a day off of work because she had a rough night last night so I'll be hanging out around the house with her mostly today. Perfect time to work on this stuff!

Post again soon,

Katie

CHECKLIST

1. Find a trailer to borrow to stick in the pasture to use for desensitization and sessions for the remainder of the month.

2. Get some barrels, a tarp and something that we could use as a pedestal, and do some work with desensitization.

3. Continue work on teaching Lady to lower her head from pressure. Instead of freaking out and pushing against it I want her to give to it.

4. Work on thresholds and new environments by taking her out for walks/ grazing trips.

5. Read all Q&A’s and Articles on the SC website about trailer loading.

6. Really firm up our Principle Games so that our Purpose Games are better.

7. Advance the squeeze games, circling game and yo yo game as they’re the most useful when trailer loading.

8. Look for truck and trailer rentals/figure out a way to transport Lady to Mariah’s.

9. Start saving up money to go towards truck/trailer rental and gas.

10. Get back to studying my Level 1 materials to help me form Game Plans.

11. Stop procrastinating and create a process that will help me set everything up for success.

12. Create a schedule for lessons between now and the 25th, alternating UDT and sessions to keep and better our rapport.

13. Create an inspiration board, with quotes and euphemisms to help keep me motivated and dedicated!

14. Study the “What to do (and not do!) with your horse.” Article from the February ’08 Savvy Times Magazine to gain some knowledge on how to play and teach different Horsenalities so that I will be prepared when Lady loses confidence and “flips the chart” on me during sessions. (This chart is also in a brochure that is being handed out at the ’08Parelli Tour Stops)

15. Fill out the Leadership chart on the other side of the brochure from the ’08 Parelli Tour Stop and pin it up.

A few hours ago I was sitting on my bed, watching tour stop highlights on the SC when a huge burst of motivation hit me.
I created my checklist and even completed a few items listed on it. Here ya go!
I'll post it in a blog and I'll also post it on the side bar to the right so that you guys can keep checking back and see how things are coming along. :)
I'll have it up before I head off to bed.
Katie.

YES! I get to go to the first and last Parelli Celebrations of 2009!
Me and my mom have worked out a system.

I'm going to pay for the tickets for Franklin and she's going to pay for the tickets to Lakeland.
And we'll save up money for both of them! It's perfect. I'm so excited!

Ah we just got home and we've had a long, AWESOME day. I'm tired so goodnight, folks!

Katie

I was reading the SC forum earlier today and some of the people who are currently at the conference posted the new confirmed tour stop schedule for '09. Except, they are no longer tour stops.. They're basically mini-conferences! They're called Parelli Celebrations and here's the scoop:

"Pat said that so many people WANT to come to CO but cannot afford it so they are taking the savvy conference to you. So really, we still have a savvy conference, we really don't have any more tour stops.
Pat also said that for the last 26 years he and Linda have been introducing Parelli to people and now is the time to just bring in the people that WANT to be there. They aren't going to be the "what is parelli" these are supposed to be the premiere events for Parelli students. "

Wow! I'm very excited. I'm also worried about how Parelli is supposed to reach out to newbies!
No more levels, no more free tour stops.
(tickets for the new stops are going on sale October 1, 2008 and are $99 during early bird special.)
I trust the Parellis and I'm sure they have a plan. So I refuse to worry about that for the moment.
I'm just going to be excited and look forward to going to Florida next October 10-11, '09. The tenth will be my 18th birthday! It will be an exellent trip for me and my mom! ;) Here is the schedule:

Franklin , TN - Jan 31- Feb 1
Sydney, Austr Mar 14-15
Harrisburg PA April 18-19
Reno NV May 16-17
Madison WI June 6-7
Kansas City, MO July 25-26
Fort Worth TX Sept 26-27
Lakeland, FL Oct 10-11
Birmingham, England Nov 21-22

In other news: I got some new shirts from Parelli collection with my first paycheck! I got their new polo 3/4 sleeve shirts in black and navy with the horsehead logo on the breast.
I'm wicked excited because their clothes wear so good!

Now I'm going to get a hair cut, pedicure and all that wonderful girly stuff. <3 Later!

Katie

Just a quick blog about my day.

I didn't even get to see Lady this afternoon because my little friend's mom was late in picking her up and my grandparents took it upon themselves to feed Lady and put her up for me.
I do appreciate it since it was so rainy out and getting steadily worse along with tornado warnings and all that good stuff.

I really had a great day with my little friend though. It's getting easier and easier to look after her and more fun every day.
I got paid today!! So I'll be setting my budget in effect soon. (Thanks, Katie O. for the ideas!)

Anyway, I'll work on my checklist tonight. Study L1 materials, create lesson plans and probably blog again.

Keep it natural!

Katie

I went with my little friend to the Doctor today at 1:30 pm.
She has an ear infection and so she went home with her gramma for the rest of the afternoon and I stayed at the doctor's office ( it was the one where I used to volunteer) and helped them out for the rest of the afternoon.
Because I did, I got home earlier than usual and surprise; there was no two year old too look after and no cleaning to do.

So guess what I got to do..

PLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!

Yeah! I went out there and made myself sit down on my barn step and think up a plan. I ended up with this:

5:30 pm - Game Plan:

• Yo Yo Game: Work on our yo yo from zone 1. Goal: two steps at nothing higher than a low phase 3 and I wanted to be able to draw her back into me without stepping backwards.
• Driving Game1: Lady is really great at HQ driving but we had not done it in a while so, I decided a refresher wouldn't hurt. Goal: Half circle both ways without touching my horse.
• Driving Game2: Work on our backwards driving as well. This is a pretty hard task for us. Goal: four steps backwards without having to touch my horse.
• Carrot Stretches: I like to get her to stretch her neck out before we play sometimes by using treats. I feel like it makes her a little bit more relaxed going into a session.
• Friendly: It had been a good but long day and I mostly just wanted to spend some time with my partner on a 12 ft line, walking and grazing.

It seemed like a short and sweet session and more time just being close and relaxing. But what I actually got was this:

6:00 pm - Results:

• Driving Game1: Success! She gave me a full circle HQ yield both ways without me having to touch her at all. I just needed to guide her zone 1 a little. She's still amazing at this task.
• Driving Game2: Not so great.. Driving backwards: It was icky. At the time I didn't realise why she wasn't moving. It hit me when I was browsing through the videos on the SC website using the new search box (which is wicked-great, by the way) and stumbled across the video titled:

" Video: Level 1 Online Driving Game How To Bring Your Life Up"

I watched the short clip of a slightly younger Pat and a demo horse and then BAM. BFO* hit me like a ton of bricks. I was driving her with my body, but I wasn't driving her with my ENERGY.

I was like a wet noodle, energy-wise! I needed to bring my life up, push her backwards and really mean it! It hit me so hard I wanted to go outside and do it all over again right that very minute. But I decided to let it rest for now, bank this piece of knowledge and use it in my next session. Mostly because I'm TIRED. Haha!

*BFO - Blinding Flash of the Obvious

• Yo yo Game: Hmm.. How interesting.. Well, I did get three steps at a medium phase three.. but they weren't exactly backwards.
  She backs and then curves her neck around to get me out of her zone 1 and puts her left zone 2 in front, hiding her right side from me.

My strategy: I decided she needed some Friendly attention to her right side. I really wanted to know what the deal was so I went to stand on her right.

Firstly, it was very difficult for me to get over there, she kept trying to head me off with her zone 1 and keep me on her left. But I did get over there and I just stood there, not touching her, no pressure on her from my energy at all and there was slack in the rope. She suddenly became very antsy, picking up her back legs and kicking out, stomping, etc. She honestly didn't want me over there! I'm just brainstorming on what to do now. I'm thinking a lot of Friendly game on her right side with the CS&SS before every session, really prepare her well for playing. Anyway, she and a great draw forward. She always loves to come to me. So I let it rest.

Also, when we were first heading out into the medium sized pasture to play, we were going through the gate side by side and I was in her zone 2. I made a spur of the moment decision to yo yo her from there to see if she would respond and she backed right up. Much better than she ever had when I was in zone 1. This was very interesting to me..

I. HATE. Horseflies.

I was still standing on her right side and thinking when this demonic (not so) little horsefly decides it's time to attack Lady. She walks a ways off, starts bucking, kicking back both feet at the same time and rearing and the horsefly kept coming back over and over and over to bite her. I gave her a lot of slack ( about 10 ft.) and waited for her to jerk it out of my hand and take off. But, she never did. She never once jerked the line. She just worked on getting that horsefly away. I stood there, extremely calm and gave her slack when she needed it, helped her move in order to get the fly off. She didn't relate her discomfort to me. She didn't try to run from me. So when the bucking and kicking didn't work and the horsefly started coming after me, I ran off and Lady was right behind me, trotting. (not RBE) We ran and when I stopped she turned looked at me with ears forward and worried eyes, came to me stuck her head against my stomach and started coughing. (Do you guys think the coughing was because she was coming down off of adrenaline?) AGH! My poor baby! I was rubbing her until she was calm enough to graze. We did that for a little while and then I fed her supper and came inside for a shower. While doing this I was thinking. Before Parelli it never would have happened like that.

I never would have been that calm. I would have probably screamed at her, dropped the rope and run off crying! But today I was totally unaffected and I understood. Not once did I feel fear of the rearing horse on the other end of my line. This in itself is huge for me!

Lady never would have hung around. She would have been gone, 12 ft. and all to the barn or out in the big pasture in true RBE form. She stayed right there with me.

She would have never have come back to me for comfort like she did today. She trusts me. We have an amazing relationship and it's all thanks to Parelli!

I consider today a pretty good day. A pretty decent session. I learned a lot and the ending really made me think about how far we've come and how grateful I am for Parelli.

THANKS, PAT AND LINDA!

Keep it natural!

Katie

Well, keeping a two year old is keeping me super busy from 7 am to 5 pm, five days a week.
That's a pretty big hunk out of my schedule right there.
On top of that, any extra minute I stumble upon is devoted to cleaning out my house.
The kitchen, living room, dining room, utility room, my bedroom and bathroom are clean.
The den, other two bedrooms and the last bathroom are next.
I cleaned out my closet, went through all my clothes and I had no idea just how many clothes I owned! I set aside at least half of my entire wardrobe to go to our upcoming yard sale.
My house feels hollow without all the clutter!

My point is that I have had no (literally; none at all!) time to play with Ladybug so far this week. AND the hurricanes are supposed to hit us just in time for the weekend!
So it looks like there will be no lessons until next week sometime.
That is if I get up extra early one weekday or run out and play precisely after my little friend leaves at 5 pm.
Weather permitting!

So today while my little friend was napping I put away some clothes, washed dishes, swept the kitchen and then! I filled out a new Horsenality Profile for Bug!
Here it is:




I'm in awe at the amount of change! If you look in my blog archives over here. -->
And find my first ever blog post then you will see her profiles from May and June and notice the differences.
First of all, the new profile is only on one chart.
When I charted her in June, I had to use three different charts because she displayed traits from multiple quadrants at the same time.
She's only in one at a time now!
LBI usually.
RBI when unconfident during our sessions.. If I ask too much too fast etc.
LBE when confident during our sessions.. and when she runs in the mornings.. She loves to play!
RBE when in a new environment or around new people she'll do her warning snort. SUPER alert, and totally all over me.
P.S: HARDLY ANYMORE CATATONIA!

I'm very excited about this new profile and I'll put it to good use. Here's how:

• I'll research the Horsenalities she displays during play and acquire some new strategies on how to work with them. I need to research RBI mostly. LBE and LBI also.
• Since I know what to expect, I can start looking for the smaller signs that she's becoming unconfident instead of waiting for her to go introverted or explode.
• I'll research some confidence building exercises and use a lot of retreat and praise.

When the weather takes a turn for the worse this weekend, I'll begin work on my lesson plans and study up on my Level 1 material to help me set good goals.

**I still have no checklist!**

I am an extreme procrastinator and I keep putting off making one. Even when I had the time, I never got it done. Maybe I'll get off my bum and figure out what I need to put on there.

I also need to talk with Mariah again before I make that checklist, just to refresh on some of the things she told me.

Alrighty, I'm exhausted and I have another day with my little friend tomorrow! Off to bed with me.

Love,

Katie

These are Lady's LtheL cups* that I made to help assess where she needs the most help in building her confidence.

*Confidence cups were briefly talked about in an article Linda wrote for the Savvy Times. I was then told that charting your horse using LtheL is a really good idea but I thought that it'd be much simpler to chart my horse's confidence using the cups and LtheL combined.This is the LtheL concept for those who are scratching their heads and thinking "what?":

“ LtheL” is the acronym for the 5 Confidence Cups or Areas of Confidence.

Leader (confidence in you as the Leader)
Themselves (self confidence)
Herd (how confident the horse is in a Herd environment)
Environment (how changes in Environment changes the behaviour of the horse)
Learner (how confident is the horse as a Learner - in a situation where he has to figure something new out).



(Thanks so much to Lucy for sharing all of this with me!)

1:20 pm - The Results:

• Overall Friendly Check: Perfect! She enjoys the rubs and scratches from the CS & SS.
• Porcupine FQ: Wow! We got four whole steps! That is double my original goal and half of a circle.
  

• Driving Zone 1 Backwards: It started out with her giving me a " Just what are you doing?" kind of look. Then I tapped her nose and she stepped backwards out of shock. I smiled, relaxed and waited. It took her about ten seconds to start licking her lips. With a little repetition I got four steps backwards.

Another issue popped up unexpectedly and I decided it was time to deal with it.

Lady stepped on the 12 ft line and it pulled her head down, causing her to totally freak out.
When she had calmed down, I started working on lowering her head using pressure on the lead.
She was okay with it until I asked her to bring her head down past her knees.
She started to jerk her head back up. But I held tight and she licked her lips, brought her head down and pretty soon a pinky's amount of pressure had her bringing her head all the way down and then she'd start eating grass.
There was a lot of lip licking and sighing today from both parties! Really brought my spirits up.

I'm off to the lake with my friend Amy and her Lab, Charlie. Beautiful day for it! ;)

Katie

12:50 pm - Game Plan:

• Overall Friendly Check: Our last session featured extreme Friendly game so I want to make sure she's 100% okay with the Carrot Stick(CS) and Savvy String(SS) touching her in a Friendly way.
• Porcupine FQ: Porcupine both sides of the FQ with one hand on the "magic button" located at the juncture of the neck and jaw and the other on her girth line/shoulder. Goal: two steps from each side.
  
• Driving Zone 1 Backwards: Drive Lady backwards from Zone 1 using rhythmic pressure without touching her. Goal: two steps backwards.

I'm going to try to keep the entire session short, preferably under twenty minutes.
I want to do a series of short sessions until we're steady on the three Principle games.

I'll update when I get back in,

Katie

Hi guys!
Just got in from morning feeding. Yes it is almost nine.
I changed Lady's feeding times to 8&8 for the cooler months and man was it nice outside this morning!
So, I gave Lady her food and usually Bear ( My German Shepard) is everywhere jumping and begging for Lady's attention and it makes Lady nervous/annoyed and really who wouldn't be?

Anyway!

I saw Bear doing what she always did and suddenly I had an idea!
Time for a little Dogmanship.
I picked out a spot in the shade beside her kennel when I wanted her to be. A threshold, if you will and suddenly I told her " No ma'am. Go back." and I pointed to that spot.

She retreated to the edge of the fence and I repeated it and she retreated some more back near the spot I wanted her so I let it rest. Then she'd try to come back forward and I repeated.

Within a few minutes I had her retreating to the exact spot I wanted and then had her lay down and watch me do whatever I was doing ( I went in the barn, I gave Lady some attention, rattled the gate, walked the fence line and played with some buckets.) and wait there until I bent forward and called her.

So then I gave the command from a few places which were closer to the "go-back spot". And that's when it became a game for her.
She got really excited and hyper and so when I called her she'd FLY forward and collapse on my feet, in pounce position and her tail was flying. Then I'd say " Go back!" And she'd tear off back to her spot, turn and wait. She was practically wiggling by the time I finally ended it and gave her tons of lovin's and cuddles. Then I let her in her kennel for breakfast.

I think everything went great and with some repetition she'll have it down pat. This particular trick is going to be very useful when I'm working with Lady. Teaching Bear to be quiet and lay still no matter what until I give the right command is tricky but def. worth it.

S'all for now,

Katie