Not Much Has Been Going On

I haven't played with Jewel lately. Between my classes and Jewel's stifle problems, I just haven't had the time to do anything. I did play with her a couple of weeks ago when she didn't want to stand still for me to trim her feet. She is moving better, but you can still tell something is wrong when she stops from a trot or canter.

A few weeks ago, I started playing with Ashes again. I am hoping to find her a nice Parelli home soon. I've had a saddle pad and surcingle on her now. She has been doing really well. At 5, she has the maturity to handle the situations presented to her. We have been working on the 7 games as well. I've played with Millie a bit too. She has decided to become a problem horse. She used to be my little sweetie pie that I could do anything with and now she has decided that she is a big girl and will do what she wants. Regardless of this, we had a nice liberty session the other day. We just did some simple stuff like zone 3 driving game and a few of the 7 games.

Taking Some Time Off

For the past month, Jewel has been having stifle and stiffness problems. During our lesson with Kristi Smith, she suggested that Jewel was tight. However, we got Jewel loosened up and she was still having issues. I have decided to let her have some time off. I'm super busy with college right now, so it's not messing me up. I have been advised that I should bring along a second horse. I can always play with my grandparents' horses if I want to do something. Jewel has had about two weeks off so far. I'm going to start with a month off and see how it goes. I'm also saving up my money for a vet visit. I want to get to the bottom of what is wrong.

Private Lesson

Yesterday I had a wonderful private lesson with Kristi Smith. I gained quite a few more arrows for my quiver. A large part of the lesson was spent on being more particular with Jewel during the circling game. I let her get away with way too much. Things went well. By the end of it, Jewel was making nice circles with the middle of the rope on the ground. We played the traveling circling game for a while too and when a jump just happened to appear in front of Jewel, she popped over it. After playing online for about half of the lesson, we moved onto liberty. Jewel did great with that too. Kristi taught us some neat manuevers. Kristi went to play with Jewel at liberty and Jewel didn't want to partner up with her. I gave her the key to Jewel's heart, a soft peppermint. We didn't play at liberty for long. When we worked on freestlyle Kristi has us do snaky bends. Jewel wasn't cooperating, so Kristi rode her for a while. They both got a nice workout. lol. Jewel does a lot better going to the left instead of the right. Another nice thing that the track taught her... We will work through it though. Playing with her would become boring if I didn't have challenges come up. All I can do is become more savvy.

A Photo

I just wanted to share a picture of how well Jewel is doing. She used to be scared to death of the woods due to a deer jumping out at her one day. Although she was slightly wary of the woods during our ride, I didn't feel like she was going to explode at any moment. I didn't pushed her to go towards the woods. She went willingly and I could tell that there weren't any threshold issues.

I never seem to have the time to update this thing.

I have had some really good riding sessions with Jewel as of late. I have finally learned how to use true phases while riding and mean it. One day I was on the verge of frustration while riding Jewel. She is fine if I just let her mosey around and do her own thing. However, once I want her to do something I get pinned ears and she'll stop and kick out. Needless to say, she has a tantrum. Well, my friend, who is half Parelli and half normal still, basically told me that I shouldn't let Jewel get away with so much. I agreed and really concentrated on getting her to move forward with some enthusiasm. Per my friend's suggestion, I used my carrot stick to tap Jewel instead of using my saddle strings for my phase 4. That worked like a charm. She started trotting around and having a fabulous time. I was able to post her trot with ease. We must have trotted around for a good 30 minutes with no problems. My friend then suggested that I try to ride her in the larger pasture (the same pasture that I had my accident in). Jewel was behaving nicely, so I went ahead and tried it. She was incredible! All of the thresholds that we had always had problems with weren't an issue at all. We trotted all the way out to the far end of the pasture and then circled back. When we started back towards the gate she asked me if she could go faster. I have never had her ask me that before. It felt right. I let her know it was okay and she broke in the smoothest canter that I had ever gotten from her. My friend hadn’t seen us canter, so Jewel and I did it again. After that we ended the day on a good note. Another thing that has improved Jewel’s mood drastically is that I have started carrying treats on me anytime I’m at the barn. Prior to this, I always had a hard time with the catching game and Jewel would run off when I got near her. Now she walks up to me without any issues. She LOVES soft peppermints.
The next day I was able to play with and ride Jewel again. Everything went great yet again! When we got to our cantering part she knew that I was thinking about cantering and we were off. When I thought about stopping, she stopped. We were truly in unity. I have to say that that was the most amazing feeling I have ever had with her.
A week or so later, friend, level 4+ Parelli student, came out and watched me play with and ride Jewel. She taught us some new things. She helped us with sideways over and obstacle and sideways towards. Jewel did really well. When we got to our riding part and went on to our cantering bit, she was impressed. She has seen me during some of our good days and bad and she said that my whole demeanor changed. All I can say is, I LOVE MY HORSE!
I got to play with and ride Miss Jewel yesterday too. We didn’t do too much. Both of us just weren’t in the mood riding wise. We played on the ground for about 2 hours. I hadn’t been able to play with Jewel for about 10 days due to college and being finals week. She started crowding me a bit like she used to and we had to work through that. I worked on exerting my energy and letting her know that my bubble is OFF LIMITS when I say so. I think for the most part the only reason why she crowded me was because she was confused about what I was asking her to do, which was the circling game. My send wasn’t good enough and once I straightened that out, she was fine. When we eventually rode, we just rode in the paddock. I put my reins over the horn on my saddle and we just moseyed. I was actually surprised because Jewel took to the rail. Keep in mind that this is the horse who HATES follow the rail and usually diverts away from it however she can. I decided to try something new with Miss Jewel and we pulled the carrot stick behind us as we walked around. Jewel could care less. So, all in all, I have had some pretty amazing things come about with my horse lately. Life is good!

Being Busy is The Way of Life

I know that I haven't updated in forever. Things have been crazy around here. Back in March, I volunteered at the Parelli Across America event in Lexington, Virginia. It was a lot of fun! I can't wait to volunteer again.

Things with Jewel have been going really well. Our goal right now is to just have F U N!!! I've realized that all I have been concentrating on with Jewel is getting better and farther in the Parelli program. That isn't Jewel's plan though. That doesn't make her happy. Yes, we are still going to get better and farther in the program, but that isn't going to be accomplished in one day. I need to slow things down and enjoy the little successes with Jewel. That is my goal for the summer...besides finishing level 2 freestyle. I know, I know. That is a goal, but we are past ready to achieve that goal.

Only Jewel...

Despite it being finals week in college, I was able spent about an hour of undemanding time with Jewel yesterday. It was good to just be with her and reconnect. I know that it was good for her too. She didn't leave me for one minute and had me rub and scratch her all over. Needless to say, she enjoyed that part. When my fingers were starting to hurt and I stopped she started sulking. She moved about two feet away and picked up some old manure in her mouth. Of course, I jumped off the fence and made her spit it out. She spit it out with a smug look on her face and then wanted me to scratch her again. It's amazing what things left brain horses can come up with to wrap their owners around their hoof even more. Oh the joy of owning a left brain introvert.

I've come to the realization...

I've been watching the level 4 DVDs lately and I have to say that I'm quite impressed. I have learned a ton and I'm not even in level 4 yet. The major thing that I've learned is that Jewel is a lot like Vanna. She is really sensitive to things. When we are playing and the 22 or 45' line catches on a piece of grass, she immediately turns into the circle and comes to me. She thinks that I'm disengaging her. One thing that is funny though is that Jewel is innately a left brain introvert, not a right brain extrovert. Although she will go there at any time. Jewel definitely has more go than whoa. She tends to be all over the place. I have come to the conclusion that I have an awesome horse with loads of potential that I have yet to unleash. So, that being said, with my quiver overflowing with arrows, I can't wait to play with my horse. This journey may be a rocky one at times, but in the long run it will well be worth it.

Horseplay!

I had a really good time playing with Jewel today. We started out playing me and my shadow. Doing that always put little miss Jewel in a good mood. She loves it when I give her some leadership. We did that for about 15 minutes and then moved to driving game from zone 3. She did great with that too.

We played with follow the rail today too. We just need to work on that a bit more before I'll get someone to tape my level 2 freestyle audition. She is doing a lot better about getting impulsive when trotting too. Level 3 riding here we come!

My better late than never update on how my lesson with Kristi Smith went.

I had a lesson with 3 star Parelli instructor, Kristi Smith, on January 26, 2010. It was extraordinary! Jewel was so good! Kristi helped me a lot with refinement. It feels so good to be able to increase my energy to send my horse backwards with the yo-yo game. I seldom have to go past a phase 2 with anything now.

Kristi also helped me a lot with my fluidity. I am definitely lacking in that category. Kristi did help me realize that it's not all due to my riding. Jewel just doesn't collect herself enough for me to sit to her trot. So for right now, I am posting her all over the place trot. It's amazing, when I take her to another farm she collects herself and moves beautifully. Every time we are here though, she is a mess. I have faith in my little Jewelsie though.

Super Nice Weather, Super Nice Play Time

I had a really good play session with Jewel this afternoon. We played with the 45' line. I used Pat's suggestion from the new Parelli level 4 on line dvd and used some leather gloves with the line. The gloves helped immensely. One thing that Jewel and I definitely need to work on is her not being flighty when 25+ feet away from me. The minute she gets that far out, she is like "WHEE!!! FREEDOM!!!" Then she decides to do whatever she wants. She usually picks up some serious speed and enjoys changing direction. This issue is at the top of the list to have Kristi help me with. I know I just need to bring out my inner extrovert and shut her down, but it tends to be hard for me.
Jewel and I also played around with sideways over a barrel. She hates the fact that a barrel is between her legs, even though the barrel is tiny compared to how long her legs are. She did pretty well though. That is another thing that we are going to play through with Kristi's help.

Update

I have had a few good play sessions with Jewel since my last blog. I got to ride her the other day too. She has improved quite a bit with all of our pre-ride checks. It used to take at least 30 minutes, if not over an hour before I was given permission to tack up let alone ride. Now it takes at most, 20 minutes to tack up and get on. Of course, that could all change at any time. We're working on brushing up our carrot stick riding skills. Jewel has a hard time respecting the carrot stick. That's one of the things that I'm going to have Kristi (Smith) help us with.
One of our other play sessions was with the 45' line. I'm starting to develop a pretty good feel for it. I'm also getting a lot better at coiling it. Jewel and I worked on thresholds a lot. She still has a lot of issues with going a certain distance out into the pasture. She actually did a lot better than she usually does. She became calm enough to graze and not worry where her pasture buddy had wandered off to.

Happy New Year!

It's been a while since I have posted anything. I haven't had much time to play with Jewel lately. I still see her at least twice a day though. Personal commitments are an ever present thorn in my side when it comes to my horse and me. The freezing cold weather hasn't helped much either. Little Miss Jewelsie grew a halfway decent coat this year, but she still can't handle the cold as well as most horses. I'm hoping to get through the winter without having to blanket her. I want Jewel to grow and shed her hair as naturally as possible.

At the end of this month, Jewel and I are having a private lesson with Kristi Smith. I look forward to picking her brain and obtaining more arrows on dealing with right brain extroverts.

Jewel and I are finally going to audition for our level 2 freestyle soon. I just couldn't afford to send in an audition last month. We are slowly working on level 3. I need to brush up my skills with the 45' line.
Like most people, I usually create some goals to strive to obtain in the new year. Some of my goals that are horse related are:

• Graduate Level 2 (just need to pass freestyle)
• Pass at least one savvy of level 3
• Spend at least 10 hours a week playing with Jewel
• Help Jewel become more confident in new places and while away from her buddies
• Learn to pull a trailer by myself confidently
• Sell all of my grandparents' horses that are for sale to good homes
• Learn to trim Jewel's hooves myself (halfway there)

I'm sure I'll have more to add later. I'm always coming up with new things I want to do.