Christy and Jewel's Journey: September 2009

Saturday, September 19, 2009

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.

Friday, September 18, 2009

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.

My Goals

Well at one time, I wanted to be a Parelli Instructor. I don't think that God wants me to go down that path though. Right now, I am just focusing on finishing college and developing a better partnership with my horse.
In the future, I would like to operate an ex-racehorse rescue and redevelopment program. Although most of the people that I have come in contact with think Thoroughbreds are crazy hyper horses, I do not agree with this at all. I've had a special relationship with two in particular and quite a few others that belong to my grandparents. I will tell you that yes, they can go right brain extrovert, but so can a lot of other horses. You just need savvy to deal with the situation put in front of you. I have known Thoroughbreds to be some of the sweetest horses in the world.

My Journey Through Parelli Natural Horsemanship

In June 2006, my grandpa gave me the opportunity to retrain one of his ex-racehorses, Diz's World. I quickly realized that I didn't have enough knowledge to deal with him. After researching several different natural horsemanship programs, I chose Parelli. I started the program in July 2006. At first things went well and then Scooter (Diz's World) really started testing my leadership. I decided to restart level 1 from the beginning and take it a little bit slower. Soon things started looking up and in May 2007 I rode Scooter for the first time. In July 2007, Scooter went lame and stayed lame until November. Finally, I paid for x-rays and learned that he had a knee joint fracture. All of my dreams for Scooter and me came to a screeching halt. The vet recommended that we NEVER jump him and refrain from cantering him. By this time I had become extremely attached to him and had pretty much adopted him as my own horse. My grandpa gave me two choices: A. I could find him a home or B. I could let my grandpa take him back to WV and eventually, in my opinion, be turned into dog food. Of course I opted for choice A and now Scooter has a loving Parelli home in NC. In May 2008, I was given Purpleshade Jewel, an 11 year old Thoroughbred ex-racehorse mare for a high school graduation present from my grandparents. She has absolutely no health problems and now I know that I can get to where I want to go. Although I don't get to spend as much time with her as I would like too, we still have formed a great relationship. She is my true equine partner.