I Misunderstood My Horse

Until Kristi Smith came, I always had my mare pegged as a left brain introvert. Boy was I wrong! She is a right brain extrovert! One of the main things that stood out to Kristi is that Jewel starts to weave when any pressure is put on her. I knew that, but what I didn't know is that that equates to a right brained horse. Kristi said that Jewel is one of the worse off-track Thoroughbred cases that she's seen in a while. Now, I was completely oblivious to that. I thought Jewel had handled the track better than most. Jewel is extremely impulsive too, at least when she is away from me. She doesn't mind trying to push on you when she is close. Using a porcupine or driving game to back her up doesn't work at all, no matter what phase you go to. In her case, less is more. I have to bring out my inner extrovert to get her to move away from me. Once she is about 10 foot or so away from me, all I have to do is lift my finger and cluck and she'll break out into a trot at the circling game. All of my phases are very light when she is out of my space. I have a lot of learning to do on right brain extroverts.
I had to the opportunity to play with my friend's true left brain introvert the other day. Her horse is so much fun! Whatever bothered my friend about her horse was interesting to me. It was a breath of fresh air to play with a different horsenality.

Kristi Smith Rocks!

I had the incredible pleasure of first meeting Parelli 3 star instructor, Kristi Smith, on Friday, October 23, 2009. I have to say that I think Kristi is the most sincere, kind, friendly, outgoing, professional, engaging Parelli instructor I have had the great pleasure of meeting. She is extremely approachable and doesn’t make you feel stupid if you ask a question that someone else may easily already know the answer to. I saw her take time with each and every person she met. She brought all the introverts out of their box and helped extroverted people contain themselves. If you asked her a question, she made sure that you knew and understood her answer before proceeding. I didn’t see anyone leave a clinic feeling as though they had not made a breakthrough in their partnership with their horse. All everyone did was ask her when she is coming back to Smithfield, VA. She has captured the hearts of people in Virginia and has captivated our attention to the point that we can’t wait until we see her again.

I was fortunate enough to have a 3-hour workshop and a level 2/3 clinic with Kristi. I learned so much that I’m still licking and chewing. She helped bring out my inner extrovert so I could help my horse cope with some of her issues. My horse went from being a right brain extrovert at the workshop to a fairly confident partner at the clinic. Even when I was the last one to ride each day, Kristi encouraged me to never give up on my horse. She helped me to learn to take the time it takes so it takes less time. I know that if I have any issues at all, all I have to do is contact Kristi and she’ll help me out as best as she is able. I feel confident with Kristi that any money I spend with her will be money well spent. I don’t just consider Kristi my Parelli instructor, I consider her my friend. Thank you Kristi Smith!

I Have Learned Amazing Things!

I had an incredible 3 hour workshop with Parelli 3 star instructor, Kristi Smith on Wednesday. Kristi is so nice! She taught me so much and I learned a lot about Jewel. I learned that Jewel really is a right brained extrovert most of the time. One of the main factors of this is her need to weave all the time. I realized that I put a lot of pressure on her even when I'm in her pasture doing nothing. She weaved continuously even when I didn't want anything from her and was working on coiling my 45' line. I'm paying for the sins that people did to her at the racetrack. It took at least 30 minutes before she decided that it was ok that I was there and then started asking me questions. We worked on a lot of level 3 things. Kristi said that the higher levels will be a piece of cake with her horsenality. Level 1 and 2 were the hardest for us because of Jewel's issues. Another thing that doesn't help us is that I'm an introvert and Jewel is an extrovert.
Kristi also helped me work on things for my level 2 freestyle audition. All of our technical things are great. Our main issue is follow the rail at a trot. When I ask for a trot, Jewel decides to go right brain extrovert and won't listen to me. She is extremely impulsive and I need to learn to shut that down. Kristi gave me a lot of tips on how to help Jewel.
Jewel and I are also going to a level 3 clinic with Kristi Smith this weekend. I can't wait!

Moving on up!

I sent in Jewel and my level 2 on-line audition last Tuesday. We are now officially working on level 3 groundwork. I broke out my 45' line the other day. I'm working on getting it nice and dirty. I haven't been able to play much with Jewel for the last few days. It has been a cold and rainy mess. It was 49 degrees this morning. I'm hoping that Jewel will grow a nice coat this year. Last year she didn't grow one and ended up needing a blanket. It's hard to believe since she came from West Virginia!

Rainy Morning

I had a good play session with Jewel this morning in the rain. We worked on a lot of things that we haven't done with a while. Jewel did a lot of lip licking. It wasn't raining too bad so we didn't get soaked. We're ready to retape our level 2 on-line audition, if I can just find a camera person. We should be ready for our level 2 freestyle audition soon too. I rode Jewel on Monday and she was fantastic. It was the first time I have used the confidence snaffle and she really liked it. Her whole demeanor changed and she followed a softer feel on the reins.

Last Night Was Good!

I played with Jewel last night. She was really good. Lately she has been in a sour mood, but she was nice and content last night. Her phases are getting really good. The most I have to do is a very rare phase 3 on the yo-yo game. Usually I only have to go that far when she isn't paying attention to me like she should be. We are working on our problem areas for our level 2 on-line audition. Our main problem is our extreme friendly game and our circling game when she is out all the way on the 22'. When she's out the full 22', she tends to zone out and try to evade anything I want her to do. We are working on that stuff though. I just need to be more provocative and get her attention more. I would like to send in our level 2 audition before our Kristi Smith lesson.

Excited!

I'm excited because I'm going to be having a group lesson with 3 star Parelli instructor, Kristi Smith in October. I can't wait! It's going to be awesome. I'm also excited because I'm slowly but steadily saving up money for a new saddle. Right now, I'm stuck riding Jewel in my english saddle. English riding isn't for me anymore. It's ok, but I prefer western now.
Every time I try to tape my level 2 on-line audition, something comes up. It'll get taped one day, I guess. Right now I can't tape it because I'm studying for my dreaded college midterms. Fun fun fun. lol.

Playing...

I've been trying to play with Jewel as much as I can lately. I want to tape our level 2 on-line audition before the end of September. After that, our next goal will be to send in our level 2 freestyle audition by the end of 2009.
I know we are past ready for our level 2 on-line audition, but I like to practice as much as possible. I want to make 100% sure that we'll pass especially since I paid for this one. We need to work a bit more on our figure 8 at a trot. It's going pretty good, but I want to make it semi-perfect.

Work, work, work.

The past few days have been extremely busy. I have been taking care of my grandparents' horses, my friend's horse, and of course Miss Jewelsie. I am taking care of them until the 26th. It has been excruciatingly hot here. Of course, nothing around here in mundane. I have been trying to work with the horses' problem areas before my friend gets back. She takes care of all of them on a regular basis with the exception of Jewel. My grandma keeps showing up whenever I start working with any of them. We usually come to a disagreement about anything I do with them because she doesn't know anything about Parelli and doesn't really want to anyway. So the first day I worked with Skip. He has a habit of bolting when I lead him into the pasture. Of course, he did it when she was watching me and the lead line was still attached to the halter while he ran around squealing and bucking. I ignored him, which flabbergasted my grandma. I went and messed with Jewel and let her stand on the pedestal and hang out with me. He eventually got jealous and came up to me so I would take the line off. On the second day, he did a lot better and I shut him down before he could bolt. Then he stood there with me for about 3 minutes before trying to run off with Jewel. Yesterday, he stood there for about 5 minutes with me loving on him. Today was the best day so far. I lead him out to the pasture with no problems whatsoever. Then I took the lead off of him and he stood there and let me rub him all over and then he played stick to me. After about 8 minutes, he got bored and ran off to be with Jewel. He has definitely made a lot of progress.
I have also been working with the two 4 year old fillies, Milly and Ashes. They are like siamese twins. The only time they are away from each other is when they are bored of each other in the pasture and go about 100' away from each other. Well the first day, I let them run out of their stalls together. The second day, I lead them separately into the pasture. My grandma showed up at that point and reprimanded me for doing such a thing. Of course, they decided to start misbehaving once she came down. I had put Milly out first and then got Ashes. She started prancing and was a little right brained. I did some yo-yo game and worked on disengaging her hindquarters. When we got to the gate, I worked on getting Milly away so I could let Ashes in. I opened it enough to let her in and then undo the line and she ran back out of the gate and into the paddock. Then I really got a tongue-lashing from my grandma. Both Milly and Ashes started running around like nuts. So I just ignored them and let them go left brained again so I could work on catching Ashes. After a few minutes, they settled down and I did the catching game. My grandma kept insisting that I open the gate and let Ashes run into the pasture with Milly. I said no and kept playing the catching game. I caught Ashes within 4 minutes and then put her into the pasture with Milly with no more issues. Today they did excellent when I put them out separately. They are finally learning that they CAN go somewhere without the other one there.
On Saturday, the farrier came. They were all super. We usually have some issues with Milly, but not this time. Usually, my friend will hold them when the farrier is here. She usually gets frustrated easily with them after a long day of barn work and then works herself into a frazzle and well as the horse. I, on the other hand usually stay on an even keel. It takes a lot for me to get worked up. I have a hard time matching Jewel's energy when I play with her. I'm getting better though. So anyway, the farrier realized that I made all the horses relax and I have become the designated person to hold the horses.
So that's what has been going on with me. Fun fun fun. :)

Haven't updated in a while...

Yesterday, I took Jewel to get her feet done with the Healthy Stride method. She has had her feet done with the method 4 times now. I am still in awe of the results. Jewel has never ever moved so well. She now willingly does anything I ask of her. Before I had her feet done the first time, I couldn't get her to jump one iota. Now she jumps over 3' with ease. Her whole demeanor has completely changed too. Whenever I used to do anything with her, whether it be grooming or tacking her up, she always was in a major mare mood. Now she's sweet as can be.

I had my brother tape my on-line level 2 audition the other day. I didn't send it in. It didn't turn out good. Jewel did good for most of it and then the last 3 minutes of it, both of us just weren't doing great. It was extremely hot and both of us were soaked. I'm going to try to do it again when it's a bit cooler.

Level 1++ Graduates!

I checked my email this morning and found my audition results waiting on me. We passed with a Level 1++. We would have received a level 2 pass if I had incorporated the 7 games into the audition. Oh, well. Jewel and I are going to do an even better audition within the next two weeks and definitely pass our level 2 this time.

Here's some of what our assessor said:

Well done! You have a wonderful relationship with your horse! You are well on your way to Level 2. In the yo-yo in motion, make sure that your personal space is respected. Don't be afraid to use the whole rope!Make sure you always start with phase 1 (energy and focus, no rope wiggling in phase 1 and 2 ;-) )In order to pass Level 2 please show all 7 games using the whole rope. Please include circling game (with you being neutral), sideways and squeeze.

Feeling Better

I'm doing a lot better. My headaches have stopped for the time being. Things are starting to go back to normal. I'm still waiting on my audition results. It has over 10 weeks since I sent it. Right now I'm working on getting a nicer saddle. I know that is one reason why I fell off the other day. The saddle I have now doesn't fit Jewel decently at all. The saddle I want is a western draft horse saddle. I'm debating on whether or not I want to keep my Wintec Wide english saddle. I used to be really into english riding, but I've kind of given up on it. I used to like to jump too. Right now I don't know what discipline I want to do with Jewel once we get into and through level 3.

Scary Fall

I had a riding accident on Sunday night. I was riding Jewel and she spooked at something. She did a complete 180 turn and took off galloping and bucking. I remember losing my left stirrup and trying to do lateral flexion. Needless to say, I didn't get her stopped in time. I went over her right side and fell on my head. I was unconscious for about 5 minutes. Thankfully the lady that takes care of my grandparents' horses had just come about 5 minutes earlier and saw what happened. She tried to wake me up but couldn't. She then went and got my parents and came back. Apparently I had gotten up and started walking across the pasture. I'm guessing that I was trying to get Jewel. All I remember is having the lady yell at me to sit down and my dad asking me how to use my cell phone. They drove me to the hospital which is about 25 minutes away via interstate. I don't remember walking to the car at all. My brain started functioning again when we were headed there. I kept asking my brother what day it was and then two minutes later would ask again. We got there and I vaguely remember sitting in a wheelchair. They checked my vitals, which I don't really remember. After that, we sat in the waiting room for a long time. I don't remember much of that either. Finally they took me to the room and a doctor came in. He had me do some things to make sure my brain was functioning properly. He ordered a CT scan and told us that I had short term amnesia. We waited for a while and then I had the CT scan. The results came back that I had no problems. I was able to leave shortly thereafter. The total time in the hospital was about 3 hours. I left a nice trail of grass and dirt while I was there, but otherwise I'm ok. I'm still having headaches and I'm extremely sore. I have lots of huge bruises too. I'll live though. Thankfully I was wearing a helmet.

July!

I can't believe it's July already. Where has time gone? Not too much has been happening lately. I'm working on getting a massage therapist and chiropractor to work on Jewel. She has a knot on her back from constricted muscles. When I took her to a clinic to get her feet done, the lady red-lighted her. She enjoyed it, except for the knot on her back. I'm pretty sure it's the main reason why she is always cranky when I ride her. It's right where the back of the saddle sits.

Just Playing

I'm still waiting on my audition results. If I don't pass level 2 on-line from that audition, I can easily send an even better audition in. Jewel and I have really advanced in the past few months. We have started being able to do level 3 things. I haven't tried using a 45' line on her yet because she has a tendency to tune out. I've gotten Jewel into loving pedestals now. She walks right up to them and hops on. I haven't gotten her to put her hind feet up on one yet. We'll get there though. :)

Circus Pony!

Jewel has decided that she wants to be a circus pony. I don't agree so much.

Jewel's Photo Shoot

Here are some pictures that I took of Jewel the other day. I think they came out really well.

Update

Jewel seemed better today. She's still not 100% though. She gave me the most pitiful look when I didn't feed her breakfast. I made a molasses water mix for her. It was the first time that I have made one. She looked at it and looked at me. Then she looked at it again and ran her nose across the water. She delicately dipped her nose into the water and took a sip. She looked at me again and gave me a look that said, "what on earth are you trying to kill me with now?" After that, she did her normal fetish of licking wood or metal after she eats something sweet. She took another sip and then gave up on it.

The vet came out again today while I was at work. He talked to my friend and asked about Jewel. When he heard that she isn't 100% back to normal, he said that there is an equine virus going around right now. I wish he had told me that yesterday.

Upsetting Day

I didn't get to go to the barn before work this morning because I have a lot of work to do in my college math class this week. So all was normal until 30 minutes after I arrived at work. I got a call from my grandma about Jewel. She said that Jewel had been shivering, hadn't eaten her breakfast, had been pawing, etc... She and my friend put her blanket on Jewel and were watching her. My friend put her out like normal and Jewel wouldn't do anything. She just stood there. So I dashed from work to the barn. Thankfully I work at my grandpa's store, so I can do things like that without getting fired. Once I got there, I immediately went up to Jewel and checked her out. She was not my usual Jewel. My friend and grandma were still there, so I turned to them and said that I was calling the vet. I called the office and no one picked up, called again and the same thing happened. Thankfully, 4 calls later, I talked to someone. The vet came within 20 minutes. He spent about 15 minutes listening to her stomach and checking her over. Then he suggested that he should tube her. He immediately told me how he wanted to use a twitch. I said that for the most part, she should behave and a twitch was not necessary. He sedated her instead, which I was okay with. She did not like the tube going up her nose whatsoever. I can't blame her for that because I know I would not like a tube going up my nose. After he got it in her, she was fine. He ended up putting oil in her. After that, he did a rectal on her. Her manure wasn't dry. So he said that he was pretty sure that it was colic, he just wasn't sure what kind. Hopefully she'll be fine by tomorrow. She seems better now, but it still pretty sluggish besides having banamine and the sedative in her. She can't have any grain at all today and she can only have some tomorrow if she's better. Like I said, today has been upsetting. Especially since it was a vet bill that I wasn't really prepared for.

Unbelievable Day!

Playing with Jewel today was absolutely incredible. Jewel was great! We played online for a little bit and then I played with the tire pedestal and finally got her to stand on it. Then I took over to my tire jump and got her to jump it. After that I headed to the round pen and worked on the wooden pedestal in there. I finally got her to stand on that too. After that, we played at liberty and did the 7 games. She was so good and attentive to me the whole time. Usually when I leave the round pen with her at liberty, she will take off. She stood there with me and then followed me back towards the barn. Before I headed to the barn I had her jump the tire jump at liberty. She did not act like a left brain introvert at all today. She was definitely more extroverted. I was so proud of her. She enjoyed her peppermints afterwards too.

Lateral Flexion

My friend came over yesterday and helped me with Jewel. One thing she helped me realize is that I haven't been doing nearly enough lateral flexion. Sure, I do it every time I get on, but I spend less that 5 minutes working on it. I definitely need to make it my focus every time I ride, for a while. You can't work on lateral flexion too much. I spent at least 45 minutes working on it yesterday. I have to say, at the end of our play session, Jewel and I seemed to be on the same page. Her attention was definitely tuned into me a lot more.

Working Through Things

Yesterday, I played with Jewel in a different pasture. I saddled her up before I walked her over there. When we got there, she was not attentive to me whatsoever. So I played with her for about 30 minutes and made sure she had most of her attention on me. After that, I got on. At first she was looking around and we did some lateral flexion, which has gotten pretty good. Then I walked her toward the end of the pasture. She had a lot of threshold issues. Everytime we got to a certain spot she would jump sideways and/or back up. I did a lot of lateral flexion and used some things that I learned at the clinic last month. We worked on that for about 30 minutes too. After that I got off and played with her in all her trouble spots. Then I took her back to the barn and unsaddled her. After that I hosed her off and walked her out.
Today, I will probably put her in the pasture to mosey around for a while. Then I will work on things again and go from there. I'm also working on mounting from the ground which is hard for me because Jewel is a large horse.

Awesome Day

I took Jewel to another clinic to get her feet done and have a lesson. It was awesome. I learned a bunch. I'm really working on improving my fluidity and collecting Jewel's gaits. Right now at the trot and canter, she thinks she can fly out of control. Just after a few minutes of working on transitions, she started to think about everything and concentrate on what I was asking for. We did a lot of point to point with cones and barrels too. I also got to ride my friend's draft horse cross. He is HUGE! It felt like riding a table. I could hardly feel his feet move under him. If all goes well, I should send in my level 2 freestyle audition by the end of the summer. :)

Determination

Not too much has been going on lately. I am steadily trying to get through every rut that Jewel and I have. Our riding still needs improvement. Our current goal is to graduate level 2 freestyle by the end of the summer. Hopefully once I get my Parelli audition results back, I will be a level 1 and 2 on-line graduate.
Today is a cool 62 degrees. I hope to get a bit of playing and riding time in. I'm planning on making a new obstacle course soon. :)

Time Flies

Not too much has been happening lately. I did submit a level 1/2 on-line audition on the 30th of April. We'll see how we do. We only did the compulsories. Looking back, there is a lot I would have changed or added. Oh, well. We'll see how we do and go from there. I have been riding Jewel a lot lately with my bareback pad. I'm working on my balance and fluidity at the trot. Hopefully we will be able to canter bareback soon.

Great day!

Jewel did excellent today. I'm going to try to get my mom to videotape our level 1/2 online audition before May 1. We need to work a little more on our figure 8 and standing on something. She does both but I believe it takes more effort than Parelli wants to see. Our riding is going good too. I really need to invest in a good saddle though. Every time we trot or canter, the whole back of the saddle bounces up and down. Oh to have a ton of money. *sigh*

Great Weekend!

I had an awesome weekend. First of all, on Friday my friend and I trailered our horses to a Most Equine Solutions clinic. We just had a two hour lesson which turned out to be more of a 5 hour lesson for me. Jewel is finally respecting me more. She used to continuously invade my space and try to get as close to me as she could. She was deemed a big gorilla. They were joking about how sensitive she is too(she is dull). She has a lot of issues with checking out while I'm playing with her. After a while she became really engaged. Before I left, Joe Most offered to shoe my horse for me sometime this weekend if I came back. So yesterday I took Jewel back to the clinic and got her feet done using the Healthy Stride method. The results are AMAZING! I immediately saw a change in her. Her right shoulder and hip are weak and as a result the saddle would always tip to the right. Now the saddle doesn't hardly tip at all and will continually improve while she builds up her muscles. Before getting her feet done she would swing from side to side as she walked(picture an elephant). Now she walks like a normal horse. Her trot isn't as jolty now and has extended greatly. Her canter is so fast now. She doesn't hold her body sideways like she used to. All I can say is WOW! Now I just need to work on my fluidity so I can keep up with her. Just had to share. :D

Happy Easter!

This morning ended up being a windy and cold 45 degrees. Jewel's blanket went back on again. I didn't get to play with her today. This morning, I went to church and then the rest of the day was reserved for my family with a little bit of college homework mixed in.
On Friday, Jewel and I are going to a clinic. My friend is bringing her horse too. It should be loads of fun with some challenges.

Why can't days be longer?

I haven't had as much time to play with Jewel lately. I have taken more hours at work. In a couple of weeks, Jewel and I are going to a clinic. It should be a lot of fun. I know that we are going to a learn a lot. I really want to work on making Jewel lighter while playing on line and under saddle. Hopefully I can improve my fluidity too. Maybe I can get some pictures.

Things are definitely improving!

My friend came over and helped me out on Saturday. She played with Jewel online a lot for me. At first Jewel was determined that she wasn't going to do anything that wasn't her idea. She soon learned that that was not going to be the way of things. After a while, my friend had me come over and try some sideways with her. Jewel was so light and responsive. It was awesome.
After about 35 minutes, my friend told me to tack up Jewel. I did and she didn't have her normal reactions that she usually does such as trying to nip me and picking up her hind leg. It was so nice. She did move away from the mounting block when I tried to get on but after that she stopped and I just walked her around it while I was standing on the block. At first she didn't want to do anything and kept trying to get back to her buddy, Skip. So we had a little issue with that but after a little while she calmed down and focused on the tasks set before her. We did a lot of point to point stuff. We trotted and cantered a bunch. She was NOT her typical left brain introvert self. I think she even went a little left brain extrovert on me. It was so much fun. At the end she was even pricking her ears forward every time we went to one of our cone points.


Sunday afternoon was a different story. I played on the 22' line with her for a bit and then went over to our furthest cone points. All of the sudden, we heard a rustling noise behind us and two deer took off. Jewel tried to run to the barn as quick as she could. I quickly stopped it with a yo-yo game to get her back into a left brained thinkable state. After that she kept looking at the barn and whinnying to the other horses. Once I worked with her for a while and saddled her up, I rode her for a while. Every time I tried to go back to the cone, she went into a backing up frenzy. Even when I tried to go to a tree on the other side of the pasture, she backed up there too.

We're Improving...SLOWLY

I was able to squeeze in a little over a hour of playing time today. I'm dealing with a lot of respect issues with Jewel. She decided to give my friend a head butt this morning. Whenever I play with her, she wants to be as close and possible and not leave my side. I do believe that she has learned to stick to me way to well. My friend who is level 3+ is going to come over sometime and help me. I definitely need it. I'm not going to give up. Now I just need to find some time to watch all of my Parelli DVD's.

Yet Another Boring Day

It finally stopped raining this afternoon and isn't supposed to rain again until Thursday. The farm is flooded in certain areas. I will be so happy when everything is dry again.
Jewel and I haven't been able to play for almost a week. Maybe I can get some playing time in tomorrow. College keeps getting in the way of my playing time too. I've just got to work out a better schedule. Thankfully, I'm only going to take one class during the summer. I should have quite a bit more time. Of course that will have to be split between work and the horses. I keep telling myself, just three more years...

More Rain

It has been raining since Thursday. The pastures are all flooded and if you walk into the main paddock you sink up to your ankles in mud. Needless to say, it has not been very pleasant.
I will be so happy when everything dries up and I can really concentrate on Parelli with Jewel again. We have quite a few things that need to be worked on. Hopefully I will be sending in our level 1 audition soon. I should have done it a long time ago when I still had Scooter, but I didn't want to push him.

Warm weather is here, but not for long....

Well within a week of having snow, we started having 70+ degree weather. Right now it's gorgeous. Tomorrow is going to be 49.
I played with Jewel yesterday. She was being an extreme left brain introvert brat. At first things went well and then when I decided to ride her for a little while, she had a major fit. I'm trying to figure out more ways to be interesting for her. I definitely need to yank more "toys" out of their dusty spots to keep Jewel's attention. I got her to jump some yesterday. I would take off running and she would trot beside me and jump the jump at the same time I did. Of course then she learned that when mommy isn't looking she can go around the jump and save her energy. That's my girl...

You can leave now snow...

All the snow still hasn't melted. Let's just say that everywhere that it isn't sunny is still covered in snow. Every place that is sunny is very muddy and gross.
A couple of days ago I put a blanket on Jewel. She has been shaking from the cold a lot lately and I definitely cannot afford a vet bill right now. She seems to like it. She won't let any of the other horses touch or smell her. It's hers and only hers.

Snow!

Well we did get snow. The total was between 3-4". I put Jewel out long enough to get pictures. After 10 minutes she started shivering and I put her back in. It's freezing and windy still. I think the snow was pretty but I'm ready for it to melt. She was all bug-eyed because there were geese everywhere. Before she came here she didn't see geese much and she still isn't very sure about them. She also went after a poor pigeon. I don't think she is very happy with birds right now.

Ok, I've had enough rain.

As if it's not cold and rainy enough, now to top it all off there is snow on the way! This is so not my type of weather. My face is still trying to thaw out even though I got home from the barn 30 minutes ago.
Another day to play with Jewel is gone. Maybe if it does snow, I can play with Jewel in it. That would be fun. Especially since it hasn't snowed since I got her.
Jewel has birds in her stall. When I went in her stall tonight, I kept hearing birds chirping and looked up and saw birds. She has at least 4 in her stall and is not very happy with their arrangement to get out of the rain. I can't say as I blame her. Birds are definitely not my cup of tea. She tried to get out the stall door when I went to water her. My poor baby girl gets to sleep with birds tonight. Too bad I can't sneak her into the house.

Where are you spring?

Today's weather is absolutely NASTY. It has been raining and sleeting all day and is beyond cold. I am so ready for spring. It seems like I am the most motivated in spring. I guess the warmer weather and bright sunny days really help me.

On the brighter side of things...Summer's new owners came and picked her up today. I hope they will be happy with her. I know she will have an excellent home, especially since they are Scooter's owners too.

I guess by now you can tell that I didn't play with Jewel today. The next two days are supposed to be worse than today. Such fun.

Time To Be Creative

I got to play with Jewel again before we fed the horses tonight. I played the games for a little while and then preceded to hop on bareback again. She was determined that I wasn't getting on and everytime I went to get on, she swung her hindquarters away. She's been doing this for the past few months but tonight I decided to get creative. So I walked her away from the mounting block and played the games a bit more and then I walked her back. Instead of trying to get on, I walked to her other side and asked her to pick up her feet. This brought on some licking and chewing. After I massaged her legs for a bit, I walked to the side that the mounting block is on and asked her to pick up those feet. When I was done massaging her legs, I scratched on her head and asked her to lower it. She did so willingly even though I could see the wheels in her head turning. Hehe. With all this done, I walked to her hindquarters and started scratching her. I kept at that for about 5 mins and then stepped up onto the mounting block and continued to scratch her. After my hands starting hurting and I had enough dirt on my hands to fill a hole, I stopped. I think I really startled my left brain introvert tonight. I didn't do the ordinary stuff that I have been doing.

Good Session

I ended up being able to play with Jewel for a little bit tonight. We played at liberty for about 10 minutes and then I hopped on bareback. I used my rope halter and 12' line fashioned into reins. She was a bit cranky because she wanted her dinner but otherwise things went well. I only rode her for about 15 minutes around the paddock. If I get enough of my college schoolwork done tonight, I will have even more time to play with her tomorrow.

It's Always Something

Things at the barn have been crazy lately. Our whole schedule is messed up because we have men changing the power lines and poles which of course go right through our main pasture. So we have to divide all the horses' time up for the smaller pasture. Plus with our new arrival, Summer, we have to do three rotations daily. Summer is going to her new home on Saturday, so things should start going back to normal, which will be nice. I know her new owners are going to love her. She is such a sweet horse.

I haven't had a chance to play with Jewel yet today. Hopefully I will be able to play with her before we feed tonight. Thankfully I was able to play with her yesterday. We have definitely become rusty on quite a few things such as our figure 8. Jewel also has stick to me syndrome. We're working on everything though.

The Beginning Of Something New

I decided today that I would create my own blog so I can track my success in everything that I do.