I am going to film a passing Level 1 audition before August 3rd 2009.
I am sick and tired of my irrational fears. I am simply going to do it.
It's two am and I am smack dab in the middle of a determination attack... But, I figure if I put it in writing I'll have to stick to it!

Wish me luck... if I don't survive this, I love you all! (;
Hahaha.

Katieanne.

hey guys! just to let you IE users know, the left hand side of my blog is apparently all fudged up in IE. Viewable only in Firefox!!


Thanks,

Katie.

Today I played with my horse!

My mother and I decided to take our little herd out of their pasture to graze online in our back yard... Something we've never done before with both horses there and it went really well. I am so happy with how things turned out.

For those of you who don't know, I've been having problems with 'Bug lately.. She's become super dominant and had been refusing to pay any attention to me whatsoever.. Her herd was more important. She wouldn't even come see me unless it was feeding time and then it was only for her food! I was stuck and incredibly unsure of myself for a little while there but, today has really lifted my spirits!

When we first went out everything went smoothly, I had mom take the lead with Bailey and we followed grazing for a little bit... Then I let 'Bug explore wherever she wanted to.
I was walking in zone 3/4 with my neutral c-stick on her back letting her lead the way and it was wonderful! She was so curious.. We went exploring all around the back yard with her out in front because I wanted to be able to watch and learn her reaction to thresholds. We finally found some thresholds and she became really adrenalized (new word, perhaps?) her eyes got a little stary.. and she got to where she needed to move. And what did I do?
I drew some new arrows from my quiver! I am so proud of myself for not giving in and letting her have control over me and not letting her lose her self-control.
I interrupted her pattern, demanded her attention and then gave her something to do. An intricate pattern (For us, that is) involving a stump, squeezing and circling with transitions and lots of changes of direction as well as figure 8 with the stump and a barrel later on. There was a lot of licking and chewing going on during this time.. on both ends of the line!
One thing I noticed during the pattern is that I was constantly having to relax my center. My stomach gets so tight when I'm circling and I found out that neutral was hard for me to find.. Hmmm, how interesting!
Anyway, after many changes, physical and mental, 'Bug was relaxed and blowing and I was calm and in control, so we ended the session and went to graze. How exciting, right?!

After that, 'Bug was grazing and as I was sitting on a bucket, rope in my hand when I taught my mom how to figure 8 with Bailey! It was radical to see her start out like I did; all tangled rope and limbs and end up with nice fluid movements. It was beautiful and both sessions ended on amazing notes.. we grazed for about 20 more minutes and then took them back to the barn for dinner.

WONDERFUL DAY!

Now I am going to enjoy some homecooked fries and then take my happy bumbum to bed. (:

Goodnight, folks and thanks for reading!


Katieanne.