Feeling Some Improvement - Finally!

Gizmo has been improving slowly. I can feel more try with him and I'm really excited about it. At the Equi-Trek competition this weekend, I was complemented by a few people that didn't know us how he tries really hard for me. I needed to hear this, because he is so arguementative some times. It made me look at him with different eyes. At home, he does so well with transitiions from my body. When I go to clinics or different places this poses problems sometimes. I'm realizing that it is me causing this. I probably ride differenty due to anxiety or nerves. Big BFO! This morning we practiced transitions, of course, figure of 8, follow the rail, moving front end, moving back end, and indirect turns. We started the question box for the first time. I was always hesitant about question box because Gizmo doesn't like circles. Well, it's time. He did better than I thought he would! We stopped almost everytime we were in the box. The times we didn't, I made sure I kept my body in the "we are moving through this time" mode. He did what he was supposed to do. It made me smile! He is really starting to put the brakes on when I ask for the whoa. For some reason his indirect turns are broken. He gets stuck in the middle. We did some of those and I quit when I had a flowing turn. I feel that he knows what to do, but is arguing with me. We will keep at it! Sometimes I have more movement from front and back end turns, and today, he was very sticky. Not sure what I'm doing wrong. We should have this by now. I'll be using the crop next time I ride for a thunk, Thunk, THUNK! Wake up America!!!!!!!!

Improvement Needed!

Rode Gizmo after a week off because of weather and Easter holidays. He seemed exactly where we left off with no improvement like usual. Can't seem to move forward on him. I'm attending a clinic at the end of April and those always help. If it wouldn't be for those I'd probably be still riding in hackamore! Backing is slow but happening, direct turns are still going to to a soft phase four of using rein and sometimes he turns on a phase two, indirect turns are good some days and not so good on others, transitions are pretty good in arena, not as good on trail, figure 8 sucks! My next session I will do passenger lesson for a bit to remind him of how harmony feels then we will do figure 8's. I'm feeling the need for improvement right about now! Haven't done much online lately because I cannot ask for circles online and then expect him to move very much in arena. I've got to keep the edge on him or I'll tire him out. When I do online though, he is very responsive to me. We just haven't made too much progress getting to a higher level. One thing to add is that his saddling at home is sooooo good. When I take him to places, because he goes a little right brained, he seems to be a different horse. I need to really pay attention to this at new places and get him with me more before I saddle him. I need to take the time it takes so that it takes less time. He'll probably see me more as a leader also. Oh, forgot to mention that we are improving on follow the rail. He will try and come off sometimes, but I definately see progress on that pattern. Yipeeeee!

Equi-Trek Competition

Gizmo and I have been a very busy team. I competed in an Equi-Trek competition with Gizmo this weekend and we placed 9th out of 20 riders. Not bad! I hate competition, but my friends convinced me to take a go at it so I did. It was very rewarding and I'm glad we did it. We rode 7 miles on Friday and 7 miles on Saturday. We went through ravines, bogs, over logs, and through creeks. We were airborne for all of the ravines, so I know I need to get that fixed. All of the other obstacles I just need to practice. The last obstacle was backing around a tree, and accomplishing that one made my whole day. We also need to work on his impulsion on the trail. He has way too much go and not enough whoa. Very different in the arena! He wants to race every horse and also be up their butts. If a horse in front of him gets out of sight, he goes nuts. I have a lot of work ahead of me. By the way, I just recieved my scorecard from the judges and they gave me a plus score for my backing around the tree. What a surprise. I am very proud to have accomplished that obstacle. I remembered a video of Pat helping a girl on Parelli Puzzles and it all came back to me. I needed to look to the outside instead of the inside like most people do. You need to look where you need the hips to go! I used the outside leg and viola, he did it. I had to overcompensate twice because he turned a little too much, but I did it and that is all that matters. I loved the trail competition. I've always wanted to do it but would have never done it if it weren't for Lucy. Thank You Lucy. I hope to be as good as her one day!

Gizmo's First Beach Trip

Took Gizmo to the beach today not knowing what to expect. In the past, it has taken me a liitle while to get him off of adrenaline at new places, but then seems to settle down. It wasn't like that today. When I hand walked him over the levee to the beach he did his little snorts every time he took a breath. I was wondering what in the heck he was thinking. We stopped and let him take it all in on the way to the surf, and at the surf, took our time checking it out. It only took about 5 minutes for him to walk in. His curiosity is almost in the extreme catagory even if he is scared. When the white wave would roll in, he'd back up, then go in again. We never went deeper than his mid shin. I ended up taking off my boots, but my jeans, which were rolled up, got wet way up to my mid thigh. Everything went great with that so we saddled up. That was a different ball game. I couldn't get him in the water after that until we came across Gary Boquet, a trainer in my area, and I asked him to go in the surf before me to see if Gizmo would follow in. He did! I have never felt quickness in Giz like i did when he tried to get away from the waves coming in. But, he was right back in there waiting for the next wave to move away from that one. It was awesome. Felt like I was on a cutting horse! After the trainer left, it was back to being a chicken. I never pushed the issue. I'll just bring him back and build on what we accomplished.
As far as the rest of the ride, he was very extroverted. If I would have let him, he would have galloped off into the sunset. Never went there. I used partial disengagement to keep him at a walk or trot. Also tried steady rein, but that was ineffective today. After a while, his head came down and we were our old selves again. Every now and then, he would feel like speeding up, but it wasn't bad. He cracks me up in the way he has such a short attention span. After settling down and being the good little horse, he seemed to all of a sudden say, 'this is boring now, think i'll cut up a bit and make this ride more interesting'. He would pick on the other two horses on the ride. Then speed up, and slow down. I'd take him in circles trotting around everyone to occupy him and when things were going good for me, he'd start acting like a 3 year old child again. He is so funny! Every new thing we would come across, like a beach umbrella, a lounge chair, a beach tent, etc. he would have to go check it out. It was like the item had a magnet on his nose. I'm chalking that up as a good quality to have, especially a trail horse, which is what I do most of. I just let him smell, then we were off again. Had a really fun day, and I hope to go back soon. We probably logged in 7 or 8 miles.

Back to Gizmo Already!

Back to Gizmo even if it isn't his week, Can Do was limping. I'm starting to put two and two together and figured the only reason she is mine is because she probably has some old injury that keeps popping up. Everytime I get going with her this happens. I'm not even pushing her. I'm talking a couple of laps around the arena trotting and loping. Anyway, Gizmo and I worked on sideways with me in z 2, but us doing sideways together, kind of like a stick to me. I think he caught on, but it was just the first day. We also played with straddling the pole which he had no problem with. Then I moved on to the larger pole and it took a little time. After he got it, we moved on. His cod to the left is still a bit sticky. Practiced it just a little today after I saddled him. We rode with the carrot stick to start out. Lateral flexion, stopping on the rail at a walkk, stopping on the rail at a trot. He does good with stopping from my seat so that wasn't an issue. Then I started the indirect turn to the rail without using my reins. He became a little confused but I hung in there. I also was applied pressure with my leg before I used the stick. He gave me some nice turns and some not so nice. I do find him turning with my seat more than he ever has, so we are improving. He is definately my sacrificial lamb!!!!

Movin a Mack Truck

Like trying to move mack truck! Couldn't even get lateral flexion. I did it approximately 30 times all using phases with the carrot stick. He would even lick, but never give his head to me without going through the phases. Whats a girl to do?

Carrot Stick Riding

Played with Gizmo a little before riding and he got straddling the pole almost instantly. We did it on a small pole first because I haven't done it in a while, then we progressed to the telephone pole size log. Got it, we moved on to figure eight. Online first, then I took off the lead rope to see what I had. He have me 3 revolutions at the trot at liberty. Not bad, huh? Very proud of that. Our liberty really doesn't exist because I have no round pen. Sometimes I play with it in the pasture. His sideways with speed along a fence would have probably made Pat Parelli fuss me. We rode with carrot stick today because I don't do enough of it. I'm always doing the pattern follow the rail and million transitions. It seems to me that I do that an awful lot and we still don't have it, ha! Gizmo was introverted today. It is funny to me how he changes. We did indirect turns that led to direct turns. He did very nice but very slow. He went into the canter from the trot, but I asked for it while we were walking. More practice on that! Lately I've been asking him to lope for longer periods, like one full lap around the arena, today we went one and a half and I cut through the middle and kept him in the smaller circle. He didn't have any problems with it. He didn't turn with my body today like I thought. I had to go to the phase 4 of the carrot stick almost everytime. I'm figuring he was so introverted today because I saw him and Can Do in the pasture for about 30 min playing dominance games. They were doing a lot of cutting up and running. He was probably whooped from that. Who knows!

Gizmo's Week

We played online and Gizmo was sooo introverted, however, I did get the trot on the figure eight. It was such a beautiful, cool day and the sun was so warm. I was actually feeling kind of lazy myself. His change of direction going from the right to the left needs a little improvement. I really like how he is letting me halter him and bridle him. He is seeking the bit with his lips. Guess I'd do it too if I liked molasses. This was all in preparation to ride. I cannot do too much ground work as far as circling game when I want to ride because he fizzles out. I have to save that energy for the saddle. After saddling, I took it very slow. I wanted to do a follow up from yesterdays ride.We did phases at the walk and trot seeing how little I could do to get him to turn when I wanted. At first, he was not so great, so I picked up the carrot stick. This seemed to bring him more life just knowing that I had it. Soon after, his life came back down. Not sure what that was about! It was just a small bit of life anyway. After making some turns around the cones, he started to turn with just my body. I only did a couple and got my happy butt off of him. Didn't want to drill him. I'm hoping that this will make my ride better for tomorrow, right Linda! Forgot completely to do backup, but did some indirect turns leading into a direct turn and he did it, very slowly I might add! Oh, I forgot to mention that we worked on fig. 8 at liberty. He did it! I need to incorporate more liberty into my program.

Respect

We reviewed what it means to respect me. He remembered farely quickly, ha! Rode freestyle and patterns and when he was responding I quit. He is picking up the lope from the trot very well. He has trouble maintaining gait though. Both of my Parelli horses have no stamina. Whats up with that? I will start building distance of the lope gradually with both of them starting with a half of a lap. They should be able to do that. His backing got more responsive with the mecate going back and forth on his shoulders. Wake up, I say! Gizmo is just like my youngest son. After riding Can Do lately, Gizmo's lope is very comfortable

Punk!

Didn't feel any different today. Did I make any progress with his brain, probably not, but I quit when he responded. Hoping he realized it and wants to be my partner tomorrow. He is like trying to move a bulldozer and he knows it. With him, it is completely his mind that I have to partner with not his feet. He refuses to move, and when he does, it is a baby step. I do not know what to do with this. I think I have tried to move slowly on his terms, not to much pressure, I have also tried to use pressure, like phases, I get nothing. Some days are better than others. Some days I feel he really tries, but we cannot progress in the program with "every now and then". He understands, because his groundwork is awesome. When I'm on the ground and I move the reins like I would be if I were on his back, he is very responsive. Why would anything be different if I were on his back. A porcupine game is a porcupine game right. 4 ozs of pressure is 4 ozs of pressure right? He is a punk! And I have not figured out how to make him tick! I'll keep at it though because I'm determined to get to level 4. I want to be there someday!
        I still cannot get my horses to follow the rail. I do exactly what I'm supposed to and they keep coming off. Well, today I said " you  want to come off of the rail, lets go trot in the middle of the arena". I think it may have worked. We had to come off of the rail probably about seven times, but I noticed at the end of the session, he was staying on better. Today was only day one, so I'll keep track of that for the seven days of the pattern. I also got out the carrot stick and when I asked him to move the front end around his back end and he didn't move, the bulldozer thing, he got a thunk, Thunk, THUNK! When he was moving off of the stick with ease, I quit the lesson. Man, I've got to do something different. I'm getting nowhere. So this will be my new pattern, I'll keep you posted!

Gizmo

After a week off so that I could focus on Can Do, Gizmo was his complete self, very sticky. We did follow the rail, passenger lesson, and backup. He still tries to come off of the rail on a regular basis, and I can't figure him out. It has been two years in March that we have been doing freestyle. I feel like we just started. His backup was ok, but not what it should be. I do have to be possitive and say that he was turning with my body better. He didn't make the complete turn, but I think he is starting to respond to that better. Today I will be super soft and try and discover his try and reward that. I will also not ask for the complete circle back to the rail. I will ask for him to cross the arena at x and then go straight. I think this will help him out some. Something is telling me that I'm too hard on him. Online we did sideways. He did well. I sent him sideways from z1 and z3 over a pole. He was on.

Going Backwards

Gizmo is something else. My journey through Parelli seems to be taking a backwards trip. I always feel like I've got to start over with him for freestyle. Why? Because after 2 solid years of riding, I feel like we are at square 1 all of the time. I know it's me. I feel so positive when I get back from Maurice's clinic, and then blah. I'm just not moving forward. Yesterday I sat on him and started to cry a little. I had been on him doing ftr, indirect and direct turns, backing, and its just not improving. Then I thought of Maurice, he got on us frequently because our horses were just going through to motions with no enthusiam. Also, Pat and Linda say it too. So I pretended to be the soldier and said we are going to that fence and turn left. I just executed my body and off he went towards the fence with pizzaz. Then we turned left. OMG! I got off of him and we called it a day. Now if I can only repeat that feeling in my body because actually, I have no idea what I did. I may not ride today, but I'll report back and let you know what happens next. It is me, it is me, it is me. By the way, his passenger lessons are going great. He really pays attention to what I'm doing in my body, especially slowing down to a WALK. Imagine that!!!!!!!

One Funny Horse!

Gizmo is a riot! Today when I went to get him (he was at the gate) the phone rang and it was my son's school. So as I talked to his math teacher (who had bad news), Gizmo proceded to do a spin in front of me for a treat. It was hilarious.Gotta love them LBI's. After that we played sideways on a log and the circling game. His circling game was a bit boring (my fault of course) so then we moved to fig. of 8. It was so so. He would not maintain gait. We then saddled up and moved on to the arena. We started with a passenger lesson at a walk, which he has done lots of times. It went well even to the degree of trotting and our first canter passenger lesson. Hardly took anything for it to happen. We didn't do much because I didn't want to make it work for him.We did lots of transitions and he respected me entirely. Then we moved on to follow the rail and 4 corners. Gizmo did not stop great in the corners at first. It took a little repositioning and then I let him relax when he was lined up with the fence. I did feel like he was trying for me and we ended on a good note of moving around the haunches for a half circle in both directions. I have noticed that when he does not understand me he shuts down. I have to keep that in mind sometimes when I feel him not responding. Is he being a LBI or is it unconfidence in what I'm trying to ask him to do. It is definately me and my actions and I know this!

One Fast Horse

Rode Gizmo all day yesterday. I had a couple of friends over and we rode in the arena before lunch and in the woods after lunch. As I was thinking how great Gizmo was on the trail, he quickly made me realize that he needs a lot of work. What makes him a good trail horse is the fact that he is left brained most of the time and very curious. He feels comfortable in the lead, in the middle, or in the back of the line. He is very friendly and has never shown aggression to any other horse that I have experienced, even when they are very aggressive to him. The two problems I encountered yesterday was the adrenaline rush he picked up from the others and his need to gallop instead of canter. On the way back to the barn all of the horses started picking up a little speed. Some more than others. Well, so did Gizmo! I would bring him to a walk again using the partial disengagement and it worked 100% of the time. However, after slowing to the walk, he would pick up the trot again almost immediately. I kept at it because I felt it was right. One of my friends lost her cell phone on the trail so me and another friend decided we would ride and look for it. We decided to go at a slow canter to cover more ground so off we went. There was no canter for Gizmo. It was a race to the finish. He would hardly slow when I tried to use one rein. He was completely ignoring me. He never bucked or did anything to unseat me, he was just super fast. In the arena, he is an introvert and once in a canter, he is so ready for me to que him to slow. He does it 95% of the time with just me breathing out, but in the real world I'm dealing with a different animal. I will have to practice more in the arena before asking him to do it in the pasture, and then bringing him on the trail. Wow, it was a wake up call!

Brushy Creek again!

Went horse camping again with a group of ladies and had the very best time. We rode, ate, laughed, and sat by the campfire all weekend long. The temps were pretty cold in the mornings, but warmed up to tolerable during the day. One of my friends had major breakthroughs with her confidence. Gizmo did great and had no hesitation going into the creeks this time. I think he might be part bloodhound because he feels the need to smell everything we pass on the trail. Its kind of funny, but how much poop can you smell in one day. He also likes to check out all of the surroundings. He looks around constantly as if he may miss something. It doesn't seem to be a problem for him, but it makes him go all over the place. Probably a rider issue! I am focused but could be doing something else wrong.

Brushy Creek

Gizmo and I went horse camping this weekend in Mississippi. I was very proud of him and convinced that trail riding is his fortay. He was brave, calm, and athletic. He took to the creek after a little convincing. My only issue is that he is too tall. If you have to get off on the trail you had better find a log or something to help you get back on. I also pulled something in my hip which didn't help matters. Gizmo bonded with my friends horse enough to get a little worried when he couldn't see them saddling up on the other side of the trailer. That bothered me a little, but we did some thinking exercises and it helped. He obviously didn't see me as the leader at that point. My friend Sandy had a great time! It was her as well as her horse's first trail ride. She was very brave and tackled some steep slopes. We had lots of laughs. Looking forward to another trip!

Trail Ride

 Went on a 3 hr. trail ride today on Giz. He was wonderful. We walked, trotted, loped, and galloped. He was well behaved and slowed down and stopped with the energy in my body. The galloping wasn't by choice though. If I asked for the lope and he was behind the other horses it went into a gallop until he was caught up. Will have to work on that! Once he got to the front he would slow way down and kind of go a little sideways to make sure everyone was still coming. It was kind of interesting how obvious it was that he wanted to be in the herd and not to far in front or behind them. He went after the dog on some occasions like he'd be after a cow. When we were loping, I wasn't in favor of this. I kept telling the dog to get out of the way and trying to steer Gizmo in opposite direction. It was all a a great experience for him. I just don't think he has ever been in this situation before. The weather was very warm and after about 2-1/2 hrs I think Gizmo was done. He got more introverted which, to be honest, bothered me a little. All in all I was pleased with him. Our big test comes this weekend at Brushy Creek. Me and a couple of lady friends will be going horse camping. I'll keep you posted!

Cooperation!

Whoo Hoo! I'm not sure why, but my last two rides on Gizmo were very cooperative. Today, I got on in the arena and I asked for lateral flexion and there it was. I asked for some turns and there they were. We only walked because things went so well that I got off before I screwed something up. He got a little sticky on indirect turns, but then gave me a 180 degree turn on the forehand like he finally understood what I've been asking for so long. We were on the fence. One of his sides were stuck, but when he got it I jumped off. It was amazing! Just think when we are really going somewhere. I will be besides myself. I've been working on this all summer at a steady pace. He has been such a punk about following my suggestions and going where I want him to go. I'm hoping all of this is not a fluke!

Follow the Rail

Had a 2 hour session today because he needed it. I think the session went pretty good but our one issue was following the rail to the right at a trot. There were a couple of spots that he just couldn't stay on the rail. He would turn into the rail and head the other direction. I could not figure out what the problem was and it seemed to be left brained to me. At first I would keep him turning until we were going back on the rail in the same direction and then I tried the concept of "you want to go the left, me too, lets go faster". I thought being an introvent he would hate that. But, he flew to the left at a canter. It didn't bother him at all. Then when I asked him to slow, he did. Just perfectly, for him, I might add. Didn't seem right brained at all, hmmm, how interesting. Finally, he gave me a slow controlled trot for one lap, no exiting the rail, so I hopped off and called it a day. I'm always wondering if I did the right thing, and we'll see. The next time I ride, it should take less time, right? I'll keep you posted.

Called in the Professionals!

I have been riding nearly everyday, but haven't posted. I've called on the professional - Maurice. I'm waiting to hear from him now. Gizmo is doing better than expected on ground work, but I'm not progressing in freestyle. It is like I just started. Direct thinking - probabaly! Drilling him - probably! But after one and a half years of freestyle I should be out of level 2. I've even stopped riding Can Do so I can concenrate on Gizmo. With that said, I'm ready for some level 3. However, I must post that we have started liberty. I have no round pen, but decided to give it a try in my arena. He did everything I asked. I even filmed it and posted it on youtube (way out of the box for me). Yesterday, which would be the first time I tried it out of the arena in the big wide world with no fences, he again did everything I asked. We played stick to me to get to the obstacles then I sent him over the bridge, one foot on the bridge, two feet, then back up. He was on! Then I asked him to jump 3 barrels and he did. How cool was that. Then I played STM to get to the pasture, opened up the gate and sent him in. No grass eating either. That was exciting! Wish I could go to the summit coming up. I know I would learn so much. I will be eagerly awaiting the DVD that comes out on that one.