Mornin'!

This morning Lady and I played with the Self-Assessment sheet for L1 Online and all in all I think we did excellently! Our sideways isn't very strong but, we did it! (Even though she was looking at me like I was insane. "That fence is ELECTRIC, you know...") and when we trot, stop and back up.... she doesn't move until I'm in Zone 2 and I wiggle the rope a little. I don't think it's a communication issue. I think it's a me-looking-back-and-walking-back-with-no-confidence issue. Instead of focusing my energy and asking her to move. So, we can fix that! (:

I'm so excited because we completed the self-assessment! I should be filming sometime this weekend.

I'll let you know how the trot-stop-backup troubleshooting goes soon.

Katieanne.

Well, the printer I was planning on using to print out my self assessment is broken, so I'm going to have to wait until tomorrow to go to the library and print everything out.
I decided to do two things today to help pass the time.. I've started to dig through the SC vault and I've watched nearly six months of Parelli TV segments. I've been taking tons of notes and realized that there's always something new to learn, no matter how many times you've seen or read this particular bit. (:

The second thing I did was go out and spent about 20 minutes just sitting with them, unfocused and just relaxing out in the lot just to see how they responded to me.

WELL, first things first... Bailey was the one to come to me and when I thought things couldn't get any weirder.. Lady comes up and chases him away from me... Huh.. okay, I thought. I guess she just wanted to come see me... Bad assumption.
She herds him away and follows him to the other side of the lot. He tried again and again to come see me and we'd hang out for a few minutes and she'd come and chase him away from me to be with her. Not once did she offer to say hi to me.
It was quite interesting and I found myself giggling at the situation! I've decided not to over analyze this. I'm just taking note of it and tomorrow I'll do the same thing and see if anything changes.

But for now! I'm off to watch more video footage and take notes! Here are a few cool things I've been chewing over today:


Confidence -- Curiosity -- Sensitivity.

Make vs. Want to.

Read the horse, know how to respond (When to be firm -- When to be friendly and how?)
Psychology is key!

"You don't have to react straight away to get a horse to stop doing what he's doing. You have to react appropriately. That means you have to stop and read the situation first." -LP.


Night! (:

Katieanne.

I've decided to officially audition for my Level 1. So, tomorrow I am going to print out the self assessment and then I'm going to go over the things I'm not sure about.. that list right now would be:

Sideways - We haven't done this in a while, so we're gonna have a little refresher tomorrow.

Back from the nose - We back mostly from the chest or using Yoyo. It should be just another little refresher for us.

Run forward, stop & back up - I've tried this a few times... and it didn't turn out well. So this is the only thing we'll have to really work on during this session.

After I troubleshoot, so to speak.. I'm going to go over everything else just to double check and be sure that we're ready. Then the day after (Weather permitting!) I'll film and send it off.

Wish me luck! (:

Katieanne

Good Morning, guys!

I would have posted this yesterday but when I got back in I was BEAT. Yesterday was amazing.. I got to blog in the morning, then I went outside to spend some time with the horsies, who are amaaaazing, by the way. Soo cute in their little fly masks. When I came back in, mom cooked a big breakfast and then we all went to the lake for the day.. it was perfect! Not too hot or too chilly and I got just enough sun.. didn't get cooked, haha. We took a volleyball and had a blast in the water.. it was just a great day. We wore ourselves out at the lake. Then when we got home, my little cousins were here so I taught them how to play volleyball and we played for a few hours until they had to go home... -sigh.- One of those amazing blissful summer days, I love it! (:

Off to enjoy my morning!

Katieanne.

Good morning, guys.
I was just editing my blog template and I realized that as of the ninth of this month, I have had this blog for exactly one year!
I thought it would be a cool idea to revisit a post from this time last year and think about just how far we've come. I bought Ladybug on May 12th, 2008 and at the time of this post, we were still figuring out respect and exactly what it meant for the both of us.
(WARNING: Super sentimental stuff ahead!)
Here we go! :


Success!
06/14/08
I have had a very interesting morning! I went out to spend some Undemanding Time [UDT] with Lady before her breakfast and she was just totally all in my space, nosing me around or paying no attention to me whatsoever. Just total LBI snottiness! So we were out in the pasture and I felt like it was time for some good ole' Hide your Hiney. When she decided I wasn't interesting enough and mosied off, I made my way around towards her zone 5 with my carrot stick in hand and my best Schwiegermutter look.. I slowly crept up and started making noise with the stick, soft at first which she ignored [of course] then progressively harder.. and then came phase four.. *SWISH, SMACK!* Right in her zone 5 and off she went, tossing that head like you wouldn't believe! She trotted in a circle and then came back to me, ears forward, blinking and licking her lips. I walked backwards with my stick held out in front of me, she followed, gave the tip of the stick a nice sniff and that's when I stopped walking, gave her rubs and scratches. I think I did it twice more and by the third time, all I had to do was change my look and move towards her rump and she'd whip right around and look at me, ears forward like.. " I know what you're up to, missy!" The best part is neither of us lost our confidence. Not ONCE. I was assertive and she understood me. Afterward when she approached me and started getting pushy with her head, I'd lift my stick just a bit, wiggle it and give her that look and off she went, head tossing all the way. She is such a SNOT. I love her so much! Ha ha. Today was a perfect example of: "Do as I say, but don't be afraid."


Wow... What a post! It really brings back memories of sitting out there in the pasture full of dandelions with my horse, trying my best not to pay attention to her and looking back now, I know she was trying her hardest to ignore me as well, haha! We're both innately curious so this stage was excruciating but necessary for the two of us.. My horse really was my mirror and I don't think I could have picked a better partner. She's taught me so much about respect.. about myself. We were drawn together and we've come a really long way. I'm so proud of her and I'm so proud of myself for being the person who chose to take this journey with 'Bug. It's certainly not always easy but it's always worth it.. Even when I have my doubts and my bad days.. weeks.. months! I will always be able to say that it's worth it.

Right now I'm gonna go out and feed, snuggle my horse and enjoy the day.. We're probably going to be going swimming, too. What's not to love about swimming?! Thanks for sticking with me for a whole year, guys! (:

Love,
Katieanne & co.

Goodness... time really does seem to drag by until you turn around and then suddenly you're wondering where it all went. I just came in from spending a few hours out in the heat with the ponies... and they're doing really well! I frequently have these moments of pure balance when I'm with them and it's quiet yet I can feel them there with me...quiet awareness, I guess you'd call it. I have few words to describe it.. it's pure equilibrium .. and isn't that what it's all about? Being balanced.. Being centered? These few moments make it worth all the tears, sweat and sunburn.

Right now I am in a spot where I need to make decisions. I keep jumping back and forth between college focus and equine focus and it seems like things are coming together. Driver's ED starts June 17th and I won't be able to try out for my vocal scholarship until next year so in between now and then.. I'll have all of this free time to focus on my horsemanship! I need to find some motivation and finally tape my Level One. (Bless you, Fran Latane for focusing me and pushing me in the right direction. Also, CONGRATULATIONS TO YOUR ON YOUR SOLID LEVEL 3!)
Congratulations go out to Mariah Helms as well on her green string, both of these girls are incredibly ambitious and I admire them for their amazing talent and skill.

Alright, I'm gonna go smother myself in aloe vera and down as much water as I possibly can.

More soon,

Katieanne.