Hanging Out Together

The only thing Milva and I did together was hanging out. I protected our herd of two and just kept her company while she was eating + lots of scratching and brushing :)

Ferrierproblem Solved!

My vet Helene is becoming a ferrier now and is starting school in january.
I asked her if she would like to do Milva´s hooves and she agreed :))))))))))
What a relief! I mean there can´t be anything better than having your veterinary doing your horses hooves!!!!
I don´t care how much it costs as long as I can be sure it is done right and I have completly faith in Helene! Helene has been Milva´s vet since I bought her and when she quit working for Ursula I was seriously worried. I know I´m the worried kind of person especially when it comes to Milva.
A few months ago I found out that Helene has started her own business now and was practising again. It was like a big stone falling of my chest.
Right veterinary and right ferrier are so important! Having them in one and the same person is more than perfect!
Milva got her vaccinations today and she also got her teeth fixed. I usually do that at the same time. Milva is pretty cool with needles. So no worries there.
I finally got the celebration dvd today! Going to watch it this evening together with Shawn. He promised to make waffles tonight with whipped cream and strewberries :)

Horses And The Mystical Path & Horse Sense And The Human Heart

written by Adele and Marlena von Rüst McCormick
Those two books got to me. I bought them two years ago and just startet to read them again.

Two Hours Of Play

I always wondered how people could play for such a long time with their horses. Riding I could understand but not playing. Well, but now I do. I had an awesome time with Milva today.
First I played in the ridinghouse with figure 8´s, the big black tube and the blue barrel. We did all kind of things with the obstacles and it was FUN.
Unfortunatelly I had to leave way to soon. The twins were coming in with two of their competition horses. Both spooked at the obstacles in the ridinghouse. I thought that was kind of funny - or maybe not. Those horses are showjumping horses for big classes and they spook because of a black tube and a blue barrel?
Hmmmm....how intressting.
After our playsession we took a walk with Anita and Orkan. Anita was riding and I walked with Milva. We went down the dirtroad again.
Milva got a bit lbe when we passed by the pasture with the three mares in. They started to buck and canter and Milva thought that looked like a lots of fun and wanted to play too - with the tale high up in the air and fire blowing out her nose.
I interrupted her behaviour and it didn´t take much for her to listen to me again.
Orkan was a bundle of energy as well and Anita had her hands full with calming him down. He was bucking, rearing and trotting along. Luckily Anita is a good rider and could kind of calm him down.
Milva wanted to follow him first but started to listen to me instead. She was never out with another horse acting up and sure wondered what he was up to.
Early morning tomorrow for the vet visit again.

Tao Of Equus

One of my favourite books. I bought it 4 years ago while living in Canada and read it during the Christmas holidays. That year we spent Chrismtas in B.C with Shawn´s parents and we read the book out loud to each other. The book is still in Canada, in Pembroke at Mark´s place. Once when I talked to him he told me it got read by many of his boarders and friends. Glad to hear so many people got to enjoy it. I´m going to order a own copy for myself again.

Touch It

I did not go into the ridinghouse today - even though that was my innitial plan to do so. The twins were ridinghouse their younghorses this morning and it´s no idea to go in there if there are so many people riding.
Instead we played 'touch-it' around the farm and behind the stable. First we walked up the asphalt road to touch the mailbox and after that we walked behind the stable. There are alots of big machines, blue barrels, wood, plasticwraps and other 'dangerous' things there. I put a little piece of carrot on the most dangerous things so when Milva touched it with her nose she would find the carrot. Unfortunatelly I didn´t place out the carrots before. Smart girl she is she figured it out way too quickly. As soons as she saw me putting a carrot somewhere she walked straight towards it and took it. Nothing scarry about anything - which is a good thing I guess.
Just before I wanted to leave the touch-it playground she started to put her nose on all kind of things, looked at me and started to paw. Saying - hi mum, I put my nose on something where is my carrot?? She is so funny. She really makes me laugh a lot.
Two other girls from the stable were getting hay for there horses while I laughed at Milva. I´m sure they wondered what we were up to now.
After touch-it I put her on the stonepedastal. Same thing there - after doing it once she wanted to climb it a second and third and fourth time.
I also yoyo-ed her in to the ridinghouse. It´s a yoyo game over a pole and a squeeze game at the same time. She is backing up really fast when doing it and waiting for her carrot. So funny!!
Now I´m working this evening and than I´m two days off. My celebration dvd should come tomorrow with fed-ex. Can´t wait to watch it!

Boxing Day

...it is in Canada anyway.
Went to the stable early in the morning again to feed the horses. They sure were hungry this morning. I stayed there until I had to leave for work.
Most of the time I spent cleaning out the stall and trying to get rid of the water in the stable. There is a little lake just in the front of the entrance. I already can see ducks moving in there ;).
I guess it´s because all the snow melted and it rained all night last night. Whatsoever I don´t think it´s suitable to have a little swimmingpool in the stable so I tried to get rid of most of the water using a bucket. Milva thought it was very intressting and was standing in the way all the time. She really likes tools and machines. As soon as someone repairs something she is the first one there to check it out.
I played for 45min in the ridinghouse. Don´t know why I keep writing that I played in the ridinghouse. I´m not playing anywhere else at the moment anyway.
We did a bit of mirror mirror and did a nice backup from z5 at liberty. I love doing that and every time I´m equaly amazed that she is backing up. My little smart pony.
Also played with falling leafpatterns in walk.
Looking forward to seeing my pony tomorrow again. Don´t know how I´m going to survive a week without here when we are skiing. Anita is going to take care of her while we are gone.

Christmas Day

I was with Milva in the ridinghouse for a little while and just walked with her.
The weather was really bad here today - rainy and stormy.
Milva has already lost 80kg :).
I´m sitting at work right now and it´s really busy, better go back out to my patients.

December Mastery Manual

Merry Christmas

Christmas in Sweden today.
Milva is going to have a day off. We are going there later to give them their evening food and check their bedding and water.
Shawn and I are cooking turkey for Christmas dinner with stuffing and all that´s included in a turkey dinner.
Merry Christmas to all of you!

Snowstorm

I was in the stable early again today. I had to drive Shawn to his shop and went directly after to Milva.
It took me 3 hours for the stablework. I helped the twins with Malin´s two turnout stables and cleaned our stable. I also brought out cooking hot water for the drinking bathtube. I could see the difference though compare to Malin´s bathtubes. Hers were still full with eyes and almost no water left to drink for the horses. Ours just had a thin layer of ice not even worth mentioning it.
When I finally was done with all the work I had a quick coffe with a cinemonbun and Milva kept me company.
I gave Milva a quick brush and was just on the way to the ridinghouse when Anna started to build up a freejumping course. So I could not go in to the ridinghouse. Which kind of annoyed me! Normally the freejumping is wednesdays at 11.00a.m and not tuesdays.
I didn´t want to wait until lunchtime and drove home instead. My innitial plan was to go back there later this afternoon but now it´s snowing and blowing so much. I rather stay at home then.
The cardrive home was already a nightmare. It took me 40min from Mörarp to Landskrona. Usually it takes 20min. The roads were full with snow from the storm and even though I drove my Suv it was still scarry.
I have to go in later though to pick up Shawn from the shop and we might go out and see a movie with friends - Avatar.
Ponytime again tomorrow morning.

Live DVD, UK Celebration, Birmingham

My dvd should arrive tomorrow :)))))))
Can´t wait to watch it!!

Sunny Winterwalk

I was in the stable almost all day today. We had wonderful winterweather! Alots of snow the sun was shining and the air was crispy cold - just like Canada! I loved it!
Anita and I had hot coffe and vanillabuns for lunch. As you can see our stablediet is very healthy ;).
We took Milva and Orkan for a 30min walk and they just loved it! Milva was blowing out alots of air and had her ears always forwards. She really enjoyed our walk and so did Orkan. I kind of expected more tantrums of her but she was pretty good. A few times she jumped a little bit in the air but it was not like her usualy flying dragon act. I´m very satisfied with her. I think Orkan has a calming influence on her.
Anita gave me two very nice Christmas presents - a puzzle with Milva and Orkan in the picture and a calender with pictures of Milva :). Love it!
Off to pick up Shawn now and after that spinach - vegetable lasagne. Yummy!

Snowhorse

Anita took this picture today :). My little snowpony.

Winter Play

I went to the stable late yesterday and I was the last and only one there which was kind of nice! I played with Milva for 1 hour in the ridinghouse. We did the 7 games and mirroring. I had the big black tube with me and a blue barrel.
Today we had a little Christmas come together at the stable. I have Anita her Parelli - Get Started Dvd. Hopefully she is going to like it!
I played with Milva 45min. Nothing too serious too. Mostly we just fooled around.
I still have pain in my kidney and didn´t feel for playing too much.
We have got more snow today :). I really really love this weather. It reminds me so much of my time in Canada and I get all sentimental.

Winter Wonder Land

I love winter and the snow - when I´m healthy. I had to go to the hospital this morning because of a kidneystone, hurt like hell! So I didn´t made it to the stable yet but gave auntie Anita a call to check on Milva. I have to go there later on to give the horses the evening food and the medication to Milva.
Milva was hurt again yesterday. She had a wound on her left back leg. It was full with blood and looked pretty scary first - with the snow and her white hindleg it looked like a big wound.
I cleaned it and put some desinfection on her. She didn´t react at all when I touched it which is unlike her. I guess that means it doesn´t hurt her.
I played with her in the ridinghouse for 1 hour. I put the big black tube in there and we did sidewards game over it.
In the beginning I walked in z3 again for warming her up and then we played the 7 games.
The sun is shining right now and with all the snow out there it just looks wonderful!
Wish I could go to Milva now but better take a little nap and don´t overdo it today.

Backing Up At Liberty From Z5!!

My little girl must be one of the smartest ponies ever!
I played 35min in the ridinghouse today. First we did some walking from z3 with mirroring. She was walking in her normal speed again and no signs of pain whatsover. She had a nice concentrated expression on her face which must be a good sign.
After 20min of walking on both hands we both got bored. I did a bit of backing up from z5 online but event that one is getting a bit boring now.
I took of the 12´foot line and mirrored her for a little while. After I stopped her with the ssss-sound and by taking my energy down I went back to z5 and waved at her to back up. She was looking at me but didn´t really understand what I ment so I took 3 hairs from the tale and softly pulled on them with one hand while waving with the other hand and she backed up. I told her what a fantastic girl she was and mirrored her for a while again. Stopped her again, went behind her in z5, 2m behind her, waved at her to back up and tatatataaaaaa she did it!!!! Nicely backing up at liberty from z5 :)))
I also did sidewards on liberty for the first time today - not a problem there either. She actually gave me a real nice sidewards game to the left :))). When I tried it to the right she was walking towards me though. I think she didn´t really understand what I ment though cause my energy is more up when doing it to the right, to the left I have a hard time bringing my energy up and get my movements coordinated. Have to work on that one.
We have alots of snow right now and it´s very cold here. Hopefully the horses won´t freeze tonight!!

Doing Much Better

I think Milva is back to normal again. I can see it in her eyes that she is feeling well again :)))
Anita was so kind to do all the stable work today. What a luxury to get to the stable and everything is done!
I took Milva to the ridinghouse and played with her for 25min. 15min I walked with her from z3 and z5. We also did some backing up again from z5. I actually can stand on the end of the 22´foot rope and back her up from z5. Pretty cool I think.
After that it was a little bit of sidewards game and that was it for today.
Didn´t want to do too much yet.

Feeling Better

Milva is feeling better again! I´m so reliefed. She has already lost a lots of weight. I know it´s just a week now but honestly she did. I knew it would go fast though. You can see it very quickly on her if she doesn´t eat that much.
Must be all the Thoroughbreed blood she has in her bloodlines way back. Trakehner have lots fo Throughbreed and Arabs in them.
It snowed all day but nothing stayed on the ground. -13 for friday night.

Weight Check

I checked Milva´s weight today or actually Anita did. Anyway Milva has already lost 6cm, don´t know how many kilos that are but 6cm sounds good to me.
I have been to the stable 3x today. First to feed them in the morning and clean the stable. Later on for feeding lunch after that I went to Shawn´s shop for a snack and back to the stable again.
I gave her a long brush and scratch again.
I took her to the ridinghouse for a little while to check out how she is walking. Helene had a look at her and thought she was walking ok. Not limping but a bit sore in the hooves maybe. I also thought it looked a bit better but still not 100%.
It´s going to be snow here tomorrow and the temperature will go down to -6. Looking forward to the snow but not to the hard footing that´s not going to be good for Milva´s little feet.

www.horse-diseases.com

www.horse-diseases.com

Anatomy

I recieved those 2 pictures from my dear friend Ali in Texas and found them very helpful. Ali is a veterinarian as well - with as well I´m thinking of another dear friend Caroline from Austria who is also going to be a vet. You can never have too many veterinarian friends ;)

Day 4 After The Vet Visit

It´s pretty much the same as it was yesterday. She doesn´t stand or move like a laminitis horse but seems to have some pain on her right backleg. I can clean the hoof but she doesn´t want me to check on her leg. She was the same way the day the vet came.
I´ll put her in the ridinghouse tomorrow to see if it got any better.
Giving her the medicine is still going very well. I always do alot of friendly game with her after giving her the medicine.
Last evening at work tonight and then 2 days off. Will spend most of the time at the stable with my baby. Hopefully the Celebration dvd is coming soon. Really looking forward to watch it!

Day 3 After Vetvisit

I guess I don´t have to mention that I have another sleepless night behind me.
When I arrived in the stable this morning Milva came galopping towards me - she must have been hungry, and so did Orkan and Basse.
She was still limping in trott. It´s kind of hard to tell in the pasture because of all the mud but I´m pretty certain she was.
After the stable work I went for a coffebreak to Shawn´s shop.
When I came back to the stable she was inside eating straw. Of course she must be hungry now. After living for over a year with unlimited excess to haywrap suddenly she is only getting it 3 x a day.
I gave her a long brush and scratch while she was sleeping in the wintersun. I could see that she enjoyed it.
After I cleaned her hooves I tried to feel how warm her hooves were but as soon as I tried to touch them she got irritated on me. Now I don´t know if the reason is because they all hurt or because she was tired of me.
I had another closer look at her hooves again and could see that the surface of the hooves was not flat. The pediatric didn´t use the hoofrasp but the hoofknife instead and now some parts of the hooves are touching the ground and others not.
Oh I just wish this whole nightmare would be over now! I really really hate to see her in pain.
If it´s not better by tuesday I call Helene.

Article About Carrots

http://www.unshod.co.uk
look under low grade laminitis

Day 2 After Vet Visit

After another sleepless night I went to the stable early again.
Orkan and Milva were halfway down in the pasture. When I whistled for her she was trotting towards me. I take that for a good sign compare to yesterday. With all the mud in the pasture I couldn´t see though if she was still sore - but I guess she must have been. It´s not possible to heal so fast.
Probably she was hungry as well and that´s why she came running to me ;)
Sune put in a fifth bathtube so that the pony also can get some food. The big horses don´t seem to want sharing their foot with him. They do share the food with each other though.
I cleaned out the stable and helped in Malin´s stable as well.
I brushed Milva for a long time and gave her some good scratches. When I cleaned her hooves I noticed that all four of them were warm. I just don´t know if they are always warm or not. Knowing myself I can get easily paranoid when it comes to Milva and overreact sometimes. I will check again tomorrow and give Helene a call and ask her.
After feeding lunch I changed and went to work. Incredible that you can spend a whole morning in the stable and not even ride one single horse.
My dear sister Sophie wrote an email to me today with some intressting links I will post later. I´m sitting at work right now which makes things a little bit more complicated.
Anyway she also mentioned that it it not healthy to feed carrots to horses -especially for the hooves and for horses with laminitis or risk for laminitis.
Her horse started to feel better after she stopped feeding carrots.
Intressting! I have to admit that Milva got alots of carrots from me....not good at all!!!!
It´s going to be colder in the beginning of next week here in Skåne. I don´t like the thought about Milva walking on frozen ground!
Gotta go back to work now....

Day After Vet Visit

After a sleepless night I went to the stable early in the morning to check on Milva.
Her and Orkan were down in the pasture and the three other ones were close to the stable. When I called she threw her head up and called back didn´t move towards me though - definitely a sign that she still was in pain. Usually I never have to get her cause she is always coming towards me. When I walked down to her she made a few steps towards me and started pawing the ground - poor little girl! and then she followed me to the stable.
I gave her the haywrap outside and fed the other horses in the pasture. After she was done eating I put her back out and gave her the first dosis of Metacam. Luckily it´s no problem to deworm her or give her medication. She is such a brave girl!!!
Anita and I spent the whole morning with practical things involving the new feeding situation.
With the help of Sune we put a new haywrap ball just outside the gate into our pasture. That way we don´t have to walk far to get it.
We also put 4 bathtubes in the pasture along the fence. The bathtubes were Anita´s idea - for the haywrap. We live in Skåne - close to the coast and it´s almost always windy or stormy here. If we wouldn´t have the haywrap in some kind of bucket it would just blow away or the horses would step in it.
While we got everything organized Milva took a little nap in the stable. When Sune arrived with the bathtubes she had to come out and look what we were doing - curious baby. She inspected the bathtubes and put her frontfoot in it and pawed it - scaring the hell out of Basse. She thought it was funny though.
I think she started to feel a bit better during the morning. When I fed them lunch Basse and her were sharing one bathtube to eat out.
I compared Milva´s hooves with last summer´s pictures and they seem to be very little right now - after the last trimming. No wonder she is sore in her hooves!!
I just hope she will get better in the next few days otherwise I have to call Helene again so she can examine her hooves one more time.

Vet Visit

www.noklestad.se - our veterinary
Helene our veterinary was out to look at Milva this afternoon and it doesn´t look good.
Helene looked at her in the ridinghouse. First I walked with Milva on straight lines and small circles after that in trott online and on liberty.
Well the result was that Milva is sore on all four legs. Helene gave her anti-inflamatory intravenous and I picked up a bottle of Metacam for her at the pharmacy which she has to take now for four days.
Milva has to go on a strict diet now to loose some weight - or actually alots of weight. She has tendency to laminitis. She doesn´t have it yet but if she stays that fat and keeps eating like that she can get it any time. Helene could feel the puls in all four feed though.
Helene tried to messure her weight but the weightband was too short which means she has over 620kg, probably more like 650kg.
Helene suggested to put her on stablerest and have her in a box instead of the turnout. Which I didn´t like. We discussed the probability of a mouthbasket instead and taking it off three times a day so she can eat. It would have been a possibility but I can already picture Milva turning into a firebreeding dragon - I truly believe she is related to dragons sometimes.
I believe the important thing is to keep her outside with the herd so she can socialise with the other horses and be a horse. It is not natural to have a horse stabled and it is against their nature.
Another solution I thought of would have been to rent the pasture behind our pasture. There is a little shed in the pasture which Shawn could have fixed up. I thought about asking Marie to have Paulina there or Anita to have Orkan there or simple buy a second horse.
Anyway all that was not necessery because of Milva´s mother in law - Anita. God bless her!
When I gave Anita a call - after Helene left, she suggested right away to take out all the haywrap and instead feeding the horses 3 x a day. I discussed the whole situation with Malin and she agreed with it too. Anita called two of the other owners and I gave Marie a call. Luckily everyone agreed to do it that way - thanks to Anita I think.
Of course it´s going to be much more work for us because I want to keep Malin out of it as much as possible. She has so much to do already and the extra load of work is because of me and Milva.
Helene also checked her back and Milva gave her the dragon look. Helene said though that she is not sore it´s just that Milva doesn´t like to be punched up on the back.
The last thing Helene checked was the hooves. I told her about the pediatric I´m using now. Well - Helene did not like the trimming and said that´s another reason why Milva is sore in all four legs - a little bit more on the left front than the others. She explained to me why the trimming was not good and I got the point. Which brings me back to the traditional ferrier we have in the stable. Helene said though that Milva´s hooves are very good and she won´t need any shoes.
Bottom line of the day - strict died for Milva and for me as well. Taking it easy with the next few days. When she is better I can play again with her on the ground and no riding in the next four weeks - which is perfectly fine with me. I don´t feel much for riding now anyway.
If she doesn not get better or get worse in the next few days I have to call Helene again and she will check her hooves again.
Cross your fingers now that she will be alright!
I feel really bad when I think about our last playsessions and I made her trott :(.
Milva is way too nice. She is still doing all the things I ask her even though she is in pain! My poor baby!!!
Off to the stable early tomorrow to feed our ponies. I took all the morning feeding times until next wednesday - and lunchfeeding as well. Hopefully the other ones can write them up for the evenings.
Let´s hope Milva will feel better tomorrow!!!

Waiting For The Vet

I just came home to have a quick bite to eat before heading back to the stable. Helene - our veterinary is coming to check on Milva´s leg.
I was at the stable early in the morning again to play with Milva by myself in the ridinghouse. I took the big green ball with me, 2 cones and put the big black tube in the ridinghouse as well.
I started the session with walking in z3 again. Doing some walk - stop - walk transitions and backing up from z5 again.
I also did some figure 8´s in walk from both sides.
We also worked on our sidewards game over the black pole. When I took her to the pole she started to do sidewards by herself in front of it - too cute!
I asked her then to put the frontlegs over and directed her very slightly sidewards. I could feel that there was a little threshold and she wasn´t quit sure what to do but she did walk a few steps sidewards so I stopped right there.
All in all we played for 40min.
I´m not sure if she has something in her leg or not - I think it might be right back, but not sure.
Anyway back to the stable now.

Women And Horses

Two more books I bought a while ago.
Women and Horses is written by Melissa Pierson and describes relationships between horses an women.
Die ohne Flügel fliegen - She flies without wings written by Mary D Midkiff is telling stories about horsewomen and the strenght they get threw their relationships with horses.

Updating My Library

Zen and Horses is a lovely little book written by Ingrid Soren. It´s not only for those of us who know the special magic of time spent with horses, but for anyone navigating a journey of selvdiscovery and understanding.

Horse Power written by Rebekah Ferran Witter is also another powerful book. Mine is in german and I wish I would have the original. Even the best translater can misinterpret some meanings.

Early Morning

I went to the stables pretty early today in hope to find an empty ridinghouse. Unfortunately some other people had the same idea. So instead of playing with Milva as soon as I got there I did the stable first.
Sune - Malin´s father in law drove the big tractor in the pasture to get rid of most the mud and water. It did help a little bit so I´m glad for that. Sune is a very nice old man. Always helpful.
Before starting to play with Milva, Anita and I decided to have a well deserved coffebreak with vanillabuns *me like*.
I played with walking in z3 - following the rail and change of direction with the carrotstick. My intention is to get her used to get directed with the carrotstick so I can ride her later on bridleless. We also worked on our transitions walk - stop - walk and baking up from z5 which is really cool. I just need to go behind her and wiggle the rope very sligthly or just show her with my hands and voila - she is backing up. I think that´s very cool :).
While walking with her I mirrored her frontlegs and walked in the same rythm as she did. Another thing I liked very much was her stretching forwards downwards while walking and using her back alots. That´s exactly what I wanted - the natural ability to stretch and use the back. And while doing all that she had a positive expression on her face, looking very pleased.

Birthday Day

It´s nice to be off when having birthday so I could spend all day in the stable.
I mucked out 9 wheelbarrels today. There was still alot left but I couldn´t take anymore. Going to continue tomorrow though. I also cleaned up outside.
I went with Milva into the ridinghouse for a short time. The twins were riding their competition horses and I didn´t want to be in their way.
I did follow the rail from z3 in walking and we also practised walk-stop transitions.
I should try to ride her again but somehow I think it´s much more fun to play with her from the ground.
Changing to clean clothes now and picking up Shawn at work to go out for B-dinner.

Christmas Market and Playingtime

Shawn and I went to the Christmasmarket in Fredriksdal today. After that I went to the stable.
Milva was standing in the middle of the mud and gave me a loud call when she saw me.
Dear Anita had already cleaned out the stable so the only thing left to do was cleaning aroud the feeding area.
I gave Milva a well needed brush and we spend some undemanding time together.
I also played with her a little while in the ridinghouse. Working on our figure 8s in walk while being on the end of the 22 foot line.
We also practised transition from walk to trott which is going very well. I just need to poing and off she goes. Love my little baby.
Feeling I´m getting a cold....buuuuhhhh....hope it´s over by tomorrow. Having a cup of tea now and some more chocolate that might help.

My Level 1 Online Evaluation

Good job! You can do some really nice things and you have a very cool horse. For a Level 2 your horse needs to have more respect and you always need to be on the end of the 22´rope. Watch out that she doesn´t invade your space. Keep up the good work. Well done! assessed by Susanne Neff

Friday

Shawn and I went shopping this morning that´s why I got rather late to the stable.
I cleaned the stable, fixed water and cleaned around the feeding area.
Gave Milva a good scratch, her food and cleaned her hooves and that was it for today.
Way too short! But what are you going to do when you have to go to work...
On my workdays my time is really limited and I have to plan it well if I want to get things done.
At latest I have to take the ferry to Denmark at 13.40 otherwise I´m gonna be late for work.
Oh well, now I´m four days off again. Plenty of time to play with my little girl and maybe even ride her for a few minutes.

Sidewards

I played again in the ridinghouse today for 40 min. I have planed my audition and made up a plan. It´s like a dressageprogram you practise before the actual competition. Of course I´m still open for changes and go with whatever Milva offers me. But for being successful I need kind of a plan to stick to.
Right now I´m practising different components for the audition.
Today we did sidewards game in front of the big black tube. Milva can do the sidewards game without the tube as well but for keeping her on a straight line I think it´s easier to use the tube.
We also did the figure 8 in trott. She seems to find it easier to trott on the left hand. Usually I start off doing the figure 8s from the right hand but today I changed it over to the left hand and voila - no problem for her.
More preparing tomorrow morning....

Preparing For My Level 2 Online Audition

I was in the ridinghouse for 40min today. Practising for our online audition.
First I did some drivinggame from z3, using the weavepatterns threw 5 cones.
After doing the porcupine game Milva packed herself up again - all happyface and pawing again when she got to the end of the 22-foot line. Little punk girl. I gave her a little carrot again for the effort brought her back and yoyoed her back up again.
We also did some squeezegame over the cavaletti - in walk. The first time Milva decided to back up again after being over halfway - with her frontlegs. Unfortunatelly she took the whole cavaletti with her by doing so. Good thing she is a lbi and doesn´t care much about it. After she sorted her legs out we tried again and it was fine.
We also did some figure 8s. They were good in walk but in trott she didn´t want to go on the other side of the cones and made short cuts instead. After a few tries she put some effort in it though.
Anita came in with lovely Orkan and Milva and him scratched each other for a little while - too cute!

The Law Of Attraction & Ask And It Is Given

Two awesome books that I ordered a while ago. I can highly recommend those two.
There is a thread on the savvy club side which is called "The Law Of Attraction" and it is about those books and some more.

Love My LBI

Milva was so hilarious today. I was for 30min in the ridinghouse and brought the big blue tarp with me. I thought I better use it before filming the level 2 online audition. As soon as i put the tarp down she grabbed it with her teeth and draged it around the ridinghouse with the plastic making alots of sound. She looked all happy and proud.
After doing the friendly game and porcupine game I usually do the yoyo game. Of course Milva has figured that one out a long time ago and today she backed herself up again. All the way to the end of the 22-foot line - with her ears forwards and a nice expression. When she reached the end of the line she stopped herself and started to paw with her hoof - sometimes I give her a piece of carrot when doing the yoyo game. Being a lbi she is putting more effort in it when there is the chance of a cookie. She looked so darn cute when doing that. I gave her a little piece of carrot for the effort, brought her back and yoyoed her back again - same effort, same expression.
We also did a bit of mirror mirror on liberty and she trotted next to me a whole round in the ridinghouse - still with a nice expression. I tried a canter for the first time as well. She did start to canter but took off - or well, I can´t canter as fast as she does, yet. One day she will canter in my speed though.
Ulla - our pediatric was here today and fixed Milva´s hooves. She told me to spray appplecider vinegar on her hooves to kill the bacterias. Otherwise her hooves looked fine. Ulla said though that I shouldn´t feed Milva any extra oats anymore otherwise she could get laminitis. Not good at all! I`m just going to feed her a cup of oats now with the minerals and herbs. If I play and ride her more now she should go down in weight as well.
Danish course tomorrow which means I can first go to the stable in the evening - bummer!

Monday Play

I went to the stable early this morning to have some alone time in the ridinghouse. Milva can´t concentrate so well yet with other horses around.
We haven´t been playing now for 3 weeks I think. Instead we just spend undemanding time together. Sunday I was out with her grazing and while I was in the UK Shawn took care of her. Milva and him went for little walks behind the stable to explore new territory. I have never been there before with her because it´s full with machines and other funny stuff she hasn´t seen before. But being Milva she just thought it was fun to go there with Shawn.
Today I played the 7 games with her - only perfect practise makes perfect. That´s why I was particular peculiar today.
When I did the yoyo game with her she was kind of giving after with her right backleg - it looked very strange. I couldn´t find anything on her leg though and she isn´t swollen either. She did react though when I touched her farther up.
I did the yoyo game a few more times just to see how she was backing up and it looked a bit better after a while. So maybe she was stiff or maybe her back hurt from all the rain and wind here.
Because I wasn´t sure if something is seriously wrong or not I just played in walk with her. Doing some figure 8s and squeeze game. After being in the ridinghouse for 40min I finished our session.
Our ferrier is coming tomorrow. Just hope Milva is going to behave. Doing her hooves is not her favourite thing right now.

More Books :))

Books are a girls best friends! In my world anyway!
While waiting for the plane in Birmingham I did some bookshopping. Books from Parelli´s reading list - of course. Can´t wait to cuddle up on the sofa with the cats, a warm blanket and a hot cup of tea and read...

Sophie´s Blog About The Summit

My savvy sister Sophie wrote an amazing post about the Summit. I wonder how she remembered all those things! The only thing I remember is the food and sitting next to Sam Caporn - not Capricorn and talking about Magic´s flight over here.
Sophie and I decided to probably bring our babies over to the US when we do our courses there.
I will write more about the summit later but if you are intressted check out Sophie´s blog - intressting reading!
http://sophorses.wordpress.com

New Levels

I bought the new levels program at the summit and love it! Pat talked about it during the summit and said with the new levels program people should be able to achieve level 4 by themselves.
Level 1/2: Essential skills for safety confidence and fun on the ground and riding
Level 3: Essential skills for excellence in communication bridless riding and liberty
Level 4: The fundamental of performance

November Shipment

Gold Summit Birmingham

The Gold Summit was just AWESOME! LOVED IT!
It was so good to met like minded people who are positive and progressive. It was very inspiring and exactly what I needed! The whole experience was overwhelming and I still have to diagest all the imprssions I got.
Wednesday morning we met Sofie at Scandlines - the ferry station in Helsingborg. Shawn drove us to Kastrup - the airport in Copenhagen from where we took the plane to Birmingham. It was very nice to have Sofie with me for company.
From the airport in Birmingham we took a train to Warwick. We had to change the train twice. First in Coventry and then in Lamington Spa. From Warwick we took a cap to Stoneleigh Park. It felt like going back again so we asked the capdriver if it would have been shorter to take a cap from Coventry and yes, it would have been.
We stayed at Stoneleigh Lodge - a hotel just 3min walking distance away from the Uk Parelli office. We got there around lunchtime and our hotelroom wasn´t ready yet so we went for coffe to the Farm Shop. A very cosy little place just around the corner. It was so english and I just loved it. It reminded me very much of Canada!
Sitting there and having a burger and cake we watche alots of Parelli instructers walking in and out. Neil Pye and his wife Sue were sitting behind us and enjoying there coffe.
After checking in in our hotelroom we walked over to the office and lovely Jenny gave us a tour of the office. Up in the study room we met Carol Coopinger a 5 star instructor.
Later in the afternoon we met Sofie´s friends from Sweden - Annika and Stefan. They have 7 horses somewhere up in Hässelholm. Also very nice people! We followed with them to their B&B and had some drinks there. Or well, the otherones had beer. I´m not drinking alcohol so I ordered something else - which earned me a strange look of the lady behind the bar.
In the evening we had supper back in the lodge - surrounded by Parelli instructers like Sam Capricorn, Carmen Zulauf, Carol Coopinger, Silke and many more.
I guess I don´t have to mention how much I enjoyed the positive vibes around me.
After supper we finally met Dinka from Holland. She is a real left brain extrovert and alots of fun.
More about the summit tomorrow...off to bed now.

Birmingham Tomorrow

I´m leaving for the Parelli Gold Summit tomorrow :). Trying to get everything organised today. Shawn is taking care of Milva wednesday and thursday. I´ll be back on friday.
Tomorrow morning - early morning, we are going to meet Sofie from Hässelholm at the ferry station. Shawn is going to drive us to Kastrup and picking us up on friday.
Wednesday evening we are goint to meet Dinka - a girl from Holland at the hotel and thursday morning we are going the meet Star´s mum Sophie.
It´s going to be so much fun to meet the girls in real life! Too bad that Jo - Bella´s mum, can´t be there though.
Sophie, Jo and I are planing to attend the fast track course 2011 together.
Off to the stable now. Hope my baby can survive without me those two days!

Undemanding Time

I´ve been spending undemanding time with Milva all week. Don´t have the energy to play with her or do some serious work. I hope I´ll find the time and energy tomorrow.
Yesterday and today I went to the stable in the evening. Surprisingly I like to be there in the dark. Especially cause I can be there by myself.
Another day tomorrow and soon off to Birmingham.

Milva´s First Ride With The Natural Hackamore

Yesterday I rode Milva the first time with the natural hackamore - and it worked out perfectly fine :)).
I warmed her up for 30min while I waited for Shawn to arrive. I walked in z3, stopped her with the sss-sound and made her walk with the tongueclick.
I have to admit I was a bit nervous riding her without a bit - or actually, it doesn´t matter if she has a bit in her or not I´m still very tensed when I sit on her. Definitely have to change that!!!
I had a bit of difficulties to stir her but on the other hand I didn´t do any precision riding. My goal was to get her used to have me on her back and to ride without the bit. Mission accomplised so I should be satisfied.
From now on I just ride her myself. Anna hasn´t helped me for a while now anyway and I think our methods are just too far apart at this point.
I´m still greatful she helped me to put the first real rides on Milva - I think 3 or 4 times and that is defintely enough.
Today I wanted to play with her but we have an awful storm here today and it is rainy very hard so I just cleaned out the stable and picked up Shawn afterwards.
Oh - I did had to repair the fencing - not fun in that weather!
Hopefully it´s going to be better weather tomorrow. 2 more days at work and 9 days holidays after that :)))

Hoofproblems

Sopie - I can´t wait to read your work about hooves!!!
I desinfected Milva´s left front hoof now for a few days in a row. She has a pretty big cut in it and obviously it hurts her when I put the desinfection in it cause she stomps with her foot afterwards and is getting angry. Well, now she decided she has enough of my hoofcare and doesn´t want to give them to me anymore. She starts to walk forwards or backwards. She can have her tantrums but it was never that bad as now.
I have to work on that tomorrow.
It was already getting dark when I arrived at the stable today so I didn´t do anything with her. Just cleaned out the stable and around the silagerack.
Hopefully there are not so many people in the ridinghouse tomorrow so I can play or ride Milva tomorrow!

Green Ball

After spending a few days of undemanding time with Milva we got back to business today.
I introduced to the big green ball. Being Milva she wasn´t scared at all - or well, I should say she didn´t show it, she never does. Little warrior pony.
I pushed the ball away from me - like Parelli is recommending and Milva followed after. After a while I started running with the ball and she still followed after.
We had alots of fun for a few minutes - me running with the ball and Milva trotting and cantering around us (us - me + ball). She even had her tail up in the air and showed some stunning trott. Can´t deny her bloodlines there :)!
Even the canter was awesome. Very uphill and balanced.
Anyway as long as I was running with the ball she thought it was alots of fun but when I left her she wasn´t intressted in it at all. Maybe it takes some time for her to figure out that she is the one who is supposed to play and run around with it and not me.
I should maybe start doing some workout as well again. I´m so out of shape it´s not even funny any more!
Tomorrow I´m on a course again - work related. Stable in the evening. I´m probably not able to do much with her when everyone else is there.
I´m looking forward to ride her with the hackamore the next time :).

Outliers written By Malcolm Gladwell

I´m reading the book Outliers right now. It´s on the reading list for the Parelli University. I got the german version from Caroline in Austria and just love the book! I will order the english version for Shawn cause he got really intressted in it as well. Especially the part where he talks about needing 10.000 hours to achieve excellency!
Perfect book for rainy novemberdays.

Rainy Evening!

I was at a course from work today and could first go to the stable after I came home. I came back home to Sweden at 16.00 and it was already getting dark. On top of that it was rainy very hard.
Milva was inside when I came and as always she greeted me with a deep whinny and nodded her head at me - so darn cute! I can be in the worst moode as soon as I see her greeting me like that I´m feeling much better!
I didn´t do anything with her though. Just gave her her oats with the herbs and minerals and cleaned her hooves.
I cleaned the stable as well and put in new straw so she has it cosy and try in the night.
I have another day of course tomorrow and after that I have to work my 5 days and next monday I have another courseday.
Oh well this week will pass as well and soon I´m going to Birmingham to meet Sophie and the Parellis :))))
IIIIIEEEEHHHHHH can´t wait!!

First Ride Pictures

Riding My Pony

I DID IT!!! Rode on Milva today :))))
Shawn came and took some pictures and Mikke was watching as well. I didn´t ride longer than 5 minutes. It was more a testride to look how she feels and not really doing any work with her. I did a bit of change of direction and stopping.
Of course she wasn´t very steady yet and it feels like sitting on a drunk horse.
But of course it takes time for her to find her balance. I also used my saddle today which also was new for her.
Milva loves her daddy very much so she tried several times to to go him and look if he has carrots or if he could scratch her bum - punk. But in the end she would listen to me.
What I didn´t like was that she was walking very fast - must be the result of Anna pushing her. She already started doing it when I walked in zone 3 and steared her from the ground.
I understand Anna´s point of view - that horses have to go forwards to get them collected. But I´m not even thinking about collection and in my opinion it´s better to let her go on her own speed until she has found her balance and is steady.
Her walk felt very rushed and I didn´t like it at all!!
So I think it´s better now to take over again and ride her by myself. I still have at least 9 sessions left with Anna cause I´v paid her in advance. Maybe I can use them later on.
My plan is to take it very easy with her and gently continue our work maybe riding her twice a week for max.10 minutes and slowly raise the amount over time.
When I first came in to the ridinghouse it was very crowded. A girl tried Miami and is maybe going to buy him and Helene was lunging Dupont. Milva had to watch the boys and couldn´t concentrate on me at all in the beginning. After they left she started to got a bit more intressted in me and I could do some more serious work.
Well, I´m very satisfied today. Can´t wait for the next time!!

Riding with Fluidity

I love Parelli´s older material. It´s intressting to see how much Remmer and Linda have progressed over the time. I bought this dvd over ebay, unfortunatelly you cannot order it over parelli.com anymore.
That´s going to be my sunday lecture before going to the stable :)

Onlinesession

Yesterday I worked with Milva in the ridinghouse. It was nice to be there by myself. I put up the cones for figure 8 and one cavaletti for the squeezing game.
I started off doing level 3/4 friendly game.
Porcupine game was getting better as well - at least with the hindquarters, forehand is still not a spin more a circle.
Yoyo game is working very well threw the ridinghouse door. She knows the deal and is offering it herself. The door is one of the kind you can slide which means there is a metallrail on the floor she has to walk over. Walking over backwards is actually a big achievement. And the best thing is that she is putting effort in in to do it. She has her ear forwards and is walking backwards fast and I barely have to use phase 1.
She also surprised me yesterday by offering trott doing figure 8s. I just had to point and off she went in trott.
I also trotted her over the cavaletti and squeezed her over in walk.
Anna was supposed to have a session with Milva today but I cancelled it. I thought about riding her myself today - if no one else is in the ridinghouse ;).

Day 11 With Anna

Anne helped me with Milva again yesterday. First she did a little pre-flight check to look if Milva remembered everything from the last time and after that she got on her.
Anna used her legs on her for the first time to make her go forwards and Milva understood quickly what she ment.
Yesterday was also the first time she trotted her under the saddle. In the beginning Milva didn´t understand what Anna asked her to do and got a bit angry. Tossing her head, switching her tail and I could see the bum getting lower for a buck.
Anna tried to make her go faster by clicking with the tongue and Milva went in to a fast walk but when Anna kept clicking with the tongue Milva I could see Milva getting more and more irritated. Of course she thought she was doing the right thing by walking faster but Anna kept pushing her.
I offered Anna my help from the ground cause I got a bit worried she would blow up Milva anytime. Luckily Anna went off her and started running next to Milva clicking with the tongue to show her that it ment trott.
I tried to explain that to Anna in one of the last sessions that it´s confusing to Milva to click so much with the tongue.
Anyway, Milva got the point and when Anna got on her again she trotted with her.
Not very enthusiastic - she always thinks any gait above walk is unnecesseray but at least she trotted.
We have booked another session tomorrow morning and I think after that I will take over again.
Now I have seen that she doesn´t buck so it shouldn´t be any problem anymore!
Iiiieeeehhh can´t wait to ride my pony by myself!

Stable Work

The only thing I did with Milva today was brushing her and cuttling her for a bit. I also cleaned her hooves extra well and put the new lotion on it that I bought. I have my doubts though that it is working.
I will try to order the stuff from the UK Sofie was talking about.
Took out 3 wheelbarrels today. I usually try to take out at least 2 to keep the stable clean. But with 5 horses and no one else putting any effort in it it´s kind of hard. Well the only one that is doing something besides me is Anita whenever she has time.
I can´t even say anything because officially everthing is included just that Malin is just cleaning the stable 3 x a year. I don´t won´t my horse to sleep in her poop so of course I clean the stable everyday, change the water every day and clean the bathtube and clean the tiles around the eating area. Our horses have haysilage all the time but of course they poop where they eat. If you don´t clean it it effects the hooves. Logical, isn´t it. Just no one else cares *sigh*
I´m planning to put a whole day in on saturday and clean everything extra well!

Storm

We have a really bad storm here today and it´s freezing cold. Fixed everything in the stable and went home again. It feels very strange to be at home before going to work but I think I could get used to it!
Milva was all rightbrain today. After giving her her food I put her back into the stable and Orkan and her were galopping down the field, bucking, rearing up and running with full speed. Just hope they don´t get hurt in the mud. It´s pretty sleepery in the pasture right now!
Milva looks like a polarbear with her winterfur - too cute!

Day 10 With Anna

Anna had a very short session with Milva today. All it all it was for about 10minutes.
One of Malin´s twins was riding Claudius at the same time in the ridinghouse and before she started to trott Anna finished.
Milva was walking like a pro today. Anna made a very short pre-flight check and got on her without hanging on her. Milva was standing completly still and walked off when Anna asked her too.
The whole session was unenventful - which is a good thing. Anna stopped her and changed direction a few times.
Tomorrow she is going to try to trott her. That means if she is back in time from the veterinary.
I have to work now 3 days again but hopefully I can introduce Milva to the grean ball this weekend. I also want to sit on her soon now :)

More Undemanding Time

My pony and I spent some undemanding time together in the last two days. It´s rainy and stormy here so I didn´t feel for doing anything protuctive with her.
I did clean out the stable as always though.
Anita and I talked about it. There are 5 horses in our turnout but it´s just me cleaning all the time - and Anita, bless her.
Oh well, I guess other people don´t as much about their horses as we do.

Happy Halloween!

Shawn came with me to the stable today for a while. Mandric - one of Malin´s yearlings really likes Shawn. As soon as he can here him he is coming and always looking what he is doing and where he is going. He even chased away the other yearlings from Shawn. So cute!
I practiced trotting with Milva online today. We did some circles and figure 8´s and change of direction.
Typical leftbrain she is turning the game now on me and changing direction by her own - very quickly and looking all happy. I´m sure she is sticking her tongue out behind my back. So figure 8s in trott are not a problem anymore.
I´m just not sure how I can convince her trotting circles with me standing in neutral. I might call the hotline again and ask them and watch L&HB again.
Yoyo game was going well again - backing up to the end of the 22 foot line with just using phase 1. Good girl!
Porcupine game moving the hindquarters and forehand is still a tuff one. I´m not getting a spin yet - still working on it.
The send in trott is going very well too. I just need to point and off she goes.
It was a good session today and Milva looked happy too.

Day 9 With Anna

Anna was riding Milva again today. First she walked one round with her checking if the stopping, change of direction and walking is still working - and it did.
She hung on Milva again for a short little time and steared her from above while hanging from the side after that she got on her and was riding her for about 8min.
Milva was almost walking like a pro. She got quickly in balance today and was walking forward with an evenly rhythm - pretty impressing my little girl.
Anna did the same thing as the last few times. Making her stop, unfortunatelly with the reins though but as I said before I can change that quickly, making her go forward and speeding up a little bit.
Anna´s plan is to make her trott the next time. That´s going to be intressting to see!
Oh, one little thing I should mention. The leftbrain introvert Milva is back when it comes to riding as well. I knew she would do that sooner or later - she tried to bite Anna when she got on her. Very slowly and very planned ;). Anna didn´t see it though and obviosly Milva didn´t get her. Little punk!
While riding she was blowing out some air again. Good thing! She was also paying more attention to her surrounding today but still listening to Anna - another very good thing.
The next two days I will play a little bit with her in the ridinghouse - if it´s empty on the weekend. I would like to train a little bit more on the trottingthing before Anna is helping me again.

Grazing Time

Undemanding Time with Milva today. Went grazing and brushed her. Off to bed before going to the stable early morning tomorrow.

Day 8 With Anna

Another day with Anna. The session today was very short - around 15min.
Anna walked and hang on Milva for the first 5 minutes after that she got on her and rode her for about 7minutes.
It was very uneventfull. Milva was standing still when she got on her and walked on long reins. Stopping when asked and walking when asked.
The only thing I don´t like is that Anna is using the bet for stopping her. When I ride her I just want her to stop when I do the sss-sound and if she doesn´t stop I use the reins. But I guess that´s easy to change.
Before Anna came I was walking around Milva for half an hour playing put your nose on something.

Day 7 With Anna

Anna helped me again with Milva today. What a difference compare to last time! Milva was all leftbrain introvert again, very confident and relaxed. She had her ears forwards all the time and was listening to Anna.
Anna started her session again with walking in z3 making her stop and walk again. Later she was hanging on her on one side and made Milva walk while hanging, stearing her from above.
The nice thing with Milva is that she is completly standing still when getting on her. But she always did that - we practiced that alot.
I also explained to Anna that she doesn´t have permission to get on her if she tries to move away.
After hanging on her Anna got on Milva and rode her in walk for about 5 minutes. Making her stop and walk and steared her.
Milva was a superstar. Just going with the flow.
During the whole time of the session Malin´s father in law was working in front of the ridinghouse making a dressagepaddock 30m x 60m. He was driving up and down with big machines and making alot of noise. But Milva didn´t care at all :).

Parelli Isms

-Normal is what everybody does that everybody else is doing when they´ve got half a mind to.

-Cause your ideas to become your horse´s ideas, but understand his idea first.

-Trust that they will respond, but be ready to correct. Not more one than the other.

-Ask....Tell....Promise

-Firm....Fair....Friendly

-The four most handicapping words in the English language: can´t, won´t, don´t, yeah but.

-There is only one rule - there are no rules!

-Allow your horse time to digest your thoughts.

-Do it for the horse - not to him.

-Don´t walk the extra mile for someone walking in the opposite direction.

-Slow and right beats fast and wrong.

-Practice doesn´t make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect.

-Never ask a trying horse to try.

-If your horse is recreation for you. Can you be recreation for your horse?

-Find out what happens before what happens happens.

-If you always do what you´ve always done, you´ll always get what you´ve always got.

-Take the time it takes so it takes less time.

-Play with the horse that shows up.

-Expect alot, accept a little, reward the slightest try.

Chewing, Licking And Yawning

Milva and I had a very nice soft session today. We were in the ridinghouse for one hour and playing around.
I got some inspiration from the october mastery manual.
Pat Parelli is always saying Take the Time it takes. And of course you have that in your backhead when playing with the horse but to actually put it in practise is sometimes hard for me.
Linda is repeatetly saying that you have to slow down with a leftbrain introvert. But that´s soo hard sometimes.
Today I put my foccus on that and tatataaa. A whole new Milva showed up. She was more in tune with me. Asking question, offering tasks and she was chewing, licking and yawning alot.
What I did different today was to give her time to think! Even after doing the friendly game I waited until she started to chew and lick and she did :)
I read in the mastery manual about strategies for respect for the
Left Brain Introvert it says:
-yield the front end - 365 degrees until he softens in expression and attitude.
That´s what I did today. Usually I do the porcupine game just once in each direction and stop. Today I first moved her hindquarters until her expression changed and she got softer. I stopped and waited for her...and there it came the chewing, licking and yawning - big times.
-make it a game, don´t take it so seriously.
I was more relaxed today and didn´t take it too seriously if it didn´t work out that well. I also didn´t stress and just took the time it takes.
-treat your horse like he´s super smart - let him know you think he´s clever.
I rewarded her alots today and told her how smart she is. By doing that I got an awesome yoyo until the end of the 22 foot line just by wiggling my finger very slowly. She had her ears forwards to me and walked backwards with an effort. AWESOME!!
-be creative about phase 4 - a fly can get alot out of a horse (flick the flank or under the elbow for example.
-tag the spot, not the horse or he can become indignant or aggressive.
I usually have to tag the spot sometimes when doing the circling game.
-have a plan
I try to make up a plan for my playsession before going in to the ridinghouse at the same time I adress the horse that shows up.
-reward positive thoughts
That´s an important one!!
-don´t push, slow down, play a mental game and develop intensity that way.
Another very important one!
In the mastery manual Linda also mentioned how to reset your horse. For a left brain introvert it is:
Stop and wait.
When you hear him sigh, lower his head, blow, lick his lips, give him a treat/rest/scratch. But not before! You want to reward the right attitude.
Then he´ll be reset.

7 Games

I had the ridinghouse for myself today and decided to work on our 7 games.
Only perfect practise makes perfect like Pat Parelli is saying.
Milva offered to change direction in trott by herself - appearently she thought it was funny and had a blast doing it. Ears forwards and blowing out air like a little dragon. After a while I interrupted it and asked her to trott a nice circle and the punkgirl showed up again.
She is too funny.
The joy of having a leftbrain introvert :)

October Mastery Manual

Perfect Sunday afternoon. Sitting on the sofa with a cup of tea and study october´s Mastery Manual about Respect.

Respect gives you a horse´s mental attention and the appropiate response to pressure: when you put your leg on your horse, activate a rein, ask him to so something for you, make a particular move, it´s responsive and positive.

Day 6 With Anna

Anna helped me yesterday again with Milva. After everything was going so well on friday we expected it to be the same yesterday. But Milva had her own schedule.
Actually it wasn´t really Milva´s fault. A woman from the stable unexpected entered the ridinghouse to watch the session. She didn´t even ask if she was allowed to watch. After sitting down next to me she started to talk on her cellphone. It was very disturbing.
Milva lost all her concentration and the energy in the ridinghouse wasn´t good anymore.
Anna showed alots of Savvy and didn´t get on Milva. She was stearing her from the ground and hanging on her.
I´m glad she didn´t get on Milva cause in her rightbrain mood you never know what´s happening.

Day 5 With Anna

Anna helped me with Milva yesterday and the session went very well.
*so proud of my little girl*
First Anna checked if Milva still remembered the direct rein and she did.
After that she was hanging on her while Milva was walking. She klicked with the tongue to make Milva walk and used the ssss sound to make her stop. Anna was doing that for about 10min and stearing her with the reins while hanging from one side.
Milva was very calm and didn´t do anything punk girl like.
After the hanging Anna put her other leg over Milva and sat on her. I didn´t even hold Milva all that stuff Anna was doing by herself. All the groundwork I did with Milva before is definitely paying off. Anna said she has never met a younghorse like Milva before who is so relaxed and wellmannered and so easy to deal with. I´m not so sure about the wellmannered thing sometimes but otherwise I have to agree!
I told Anna that I have been sitting on Milva alots of times before and that she knows she is not allowed to move when I get on her also that I was hanging on her alots of times so all that stuff she knew from before.
Well and the last 5min of the session Anna was RIDING Milva :)))) - all by herself! She was stearing with the reins and going all over the ridinghouse. Milva looked funny - like all young horses who walk with a rider the first time. Trying to find her balance and wondering what´s going on.
In the end Anna wanted to see how I put her in trott so I showed her. As soon as I took Milva over she was in tune with me - ears forwards and asking questions. I yoyoed her back with the slightest face 1 I have ever used pointed very softly to the left and off she walked pointed very softly again - not even face 1 and off she went in trott, change of direction online and trott on the hand. It was amazing how much she reacted!
What a big difference it makes when the horse is in a learning state of mind!!! Everything is so easy suddenly!
I have to say it was an eyeopener. Of course I have heart it before but I guess it didn´t really sink in until yesterday.
Awesome I have to say!

Thursday - Grazing Time

I was so tired again today so I decided to spend another day of undemanding time.
We went down to harvest field to graze for 30min. She got a bit lbe on the way down. Must be all the excitment about eating green gras ;)
Her hooves are worrying me a little bit. I desinfected the one hoof again and but the backhooves don´t look so good either now :(. I better call the EP soon so she can have a look on it!

Hanging Out

Milva and I were just hanging out today and enjoying each others company. I think I´m going to make wednesdays to a undemanding time day. It´s always the first day at work which feels kind of stressful and therefor nice if I just can hang out with Milva.
Today we went for a little stroll around the farm and grazed between the horsetrailers. It was pretty cold so I didn´t stay long in the stable.

Sitting On Milva Again

Anita helped me again to sit on Milva today. You can tell that Milva feels secure with her so it doesn´t bother her much when I sit on her. We also walked 10 steps while I sat on her.
Before that I played the 7 games again and concentrated on trotting the figure 8. She is getting much lighter in trott now and put actually some effort in trotting the figure 8. What a good girl.
Even trotting on the left hand was going much easier today.
What she didn´t like though was taking the bit. She was going backwards when I tried to put it in and all the carrots didn´t help *sigh*. I felt bad putting it on her.
Now I have to work my 3 days and will be in the stable in the mornings.

Another Decision Is Made

....and it feels so much better. From now on I will listen to my heart!

Feeling I have to distance myself from certain people at the stable but that shouldn´t be too hard. I´m not a herdhuman anyway and like doing being by myself and doing things by myself.

Of course I will still talk to those people - if needed but not more or less. There are still some people I like to hang out with - it´s not that those people are bad people I just feel they are too far away from my philsophy and I want to stay close to my principles.

I also have to be more aware of my right brain behaviour and my right brain decisions!

It doesn´t matter what people say and it doesn´t matter how long it takes. Believe in yourself and you´ll fly high. The only thing that matters is that you are true to yourself and that you follow your heart.

Honoring Connie Reeves

http://www.sptimes.com/2003/09/07/Floridian/A_cowgirl_s_final_ride.shtml

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6P6aJ7h8uLc

What an inspiration! Connie fell of her her horse Dr.Pepper 2003 when she was 101 years old, three weeks later she died of cardiac arrest.

Connie started to ride when she was 5 and rode ever since.

"As long as I´m alive, I am going to be trying to ride a horse" Connie Reeves

Sitting On Milva

I did the 7 games in the ridinghouse again today - with the saddle on and the bit. The new cradle bridle fits her and she looks darn cute in it!
Anita held her while I hung on her for a little while and I was sitting on her for a short little while.
Anna couldn´t make it today which was fine with me. I meet her tomorrow though. Hopefully she can sit on her and walk with Milva a little bit. That´s the only thing I want her to do and as soon as she can sit on Milva in walk and in trott I can sit on her and don´t need her help anymore. I´m concerned that her methods are too far away from Parelli´s principles and it takes alot of energy from my side to explain Milva´s point of view - also because I can see that Anna doesn´t really undestand what I mean. Hopefully Milva behaves so I can take over for full again. It really does not feel good having someone else working with her.
I worked on the trott again. It´s going better on the right hand so we did a nice figure 8 in trott starting off with the right cone. Left hand trott she thinks it´s very difficult so I just did a little bit and rewarded her alots afterwards.

Handhorse Training

Yesterday I just took it easy with Milva. It was sunny but cold. I know we will spend alot of time in the ridinghouse over the winter so I thought I better stay outside with her as long as the weather is so nice.
Anita joined us down in the harvest field. I let Milva graze while Anita did some stretching with Orkan. It was a Yoga-Sunday for Orkan.
Anita took Milva with her for a little tour as a handhorse. Milva seemed to really enjoy it. She did try to eat sometimes - of course. Anyway they walked around a little bit in walk and in trott. I was pretty impressed by the trotting. Once Orkan got Milva´s leadrope behind is bum but fortunatelly he did not care. He shows alot of patience with Milva. Orkan is much bigger than Milva and has bigger steps than she does. When Orkan was trotting Milva started to canter - a lovely uphill canter. I hope she keeps that form when I´m sitting on her as well. I have noticed that uphill canter now several times :).
I´m off to the stable soon to prepare her for Anna´s session. My plan is to show Anna how I mount her - asking for permission, and do some trotting work with her before that.