"Festival Of The Horse" in July

I took Milva for a 20min walk this morning. We walked through the scarry paddock again and she was pretty good. No bucking away or rb-behaviour. She was still looking but that is a good thing. A scarred horse is not thinking or looking.
I also give her all the time she needs to check out things which makes her much more braver. I don´t understand why some people push their horses through scarry things instead of giving them time.
I bought my tickets for "The Festival Of The Horse" today. I plan on going around the showground saturday afternoon, Parelli evening saturday evening, Parelli savvy day on sunday and goldsummit on monday.
Super fun!!

Longreining With 2 Reins

I longreined Milva with 2 reins for the first time today - still using the natural Hackamore. I walked with her for 30min following the rail. I had to do alot of correcting on the left hand, right hand was going better. I tried to be particular about using one trail and not two or three tracks.
I thought it would be better to get steering issue under controll from the ground first before riding her again.
After the ridinghouse we walked through the big scarry ridingpaddock. She is getting more and more relaxed down there now. A little bit of grazing and undemanding time afterwards and that was it for today.

Tuesday Ride

Went to the stable early again so I could ride Milva before the twins started to train their horses.
I warmed her up 15min by walking in z3, doing walk - stop transitions and steared her with the rein. So far so good. She was pretty chilled this morning so I didn´t want to make our session too long.
Getting on her wasn´t a problem either. She is nicely waiting for me. When I sat on her back she was looking backwards again and sniffing my feed. Too funny. She is always doing that.
I then asked her to walk and so we did for 5min I would guess. She did stop alot though which I allowed. I have to watch myself to not get to directline thinking when I sit on her. First when she stopped it kind of annoyed me cause I wanted her to walk but luckily my brain kicked in and I figured out that it was a typical lbi behaviour. And I so do not want to push her through thresholds.
Whenever she stopped I gave her some time to think and rebalance, scratched her for a bit and asked her softly to move on again. We did some change of direction as well while I sat on her.
I have to remember to take it sssssllllllooooowwwwww with her!!!
Stearing with the natural hackamore is not going so well I have to admit though. First she doesn´t like it when I tell her too often where to go and second it´s pretty easy for her to ignore the reins. I think the next time I will ride with the carrot stick to have some extra support. She does react nicely on the weight though but doesn´t like it when I put my legs on her - needs more porcupine game in z3 I guess. Well it all will come together it just takes some time in the beginning!

1,5 Hours Of Play

We had super nice weather down here today. +18 and the sun was shining. Nice weather helps putting life in a different perspective.
I got first in the afternoon to the stable cause I had another workrelated course. Milva greated me with a big whinnie when I arrived in her pasture. We started to play in the ridinghouse until Malin came in with Ninnie and her baby. Milva and I went for a walk around the big pasture which took about 30min. It doesn´t take that long usually but we turned it into a picknikround.
Coming back to the ridinghouse we I started to longrein her. It was going nicely in walk and trott but when I asked her to canter she bucked and took off. I must have put too much pressure on her I guess.
I switched over to the circling game. First in walk and then in trott. This time I asked her for more trott then usual and change of direction. It was going nicely!
One thing that concerns me right now is Milva´s breeding. She seems to breed quite heavily and there is a russling noise when breathing.
I´m going to buy some herbs for her, put her on a stricter diet again and if it doesn´t go away in a few days I will Helene to have a look at her.

Rode Milva Today And Planing Which Fast Track Course To Attend

I rode Milva today for 5min!!!!! Can you believe it????? It´s super freaking awesome!!!!
I was totally alone at the farm. Or well, Malin & Co was there of course but they live there so it doesn´t count. But no one else was there so I didn´t had to stress to get ready or being worried about someone coming in.
I warmed Milva up for 25min with figure 8s and walking next to her in z3 stearing her. Then I put on the Rock Chanel and got on her. First I waited for her to relax and come down with her head which didn´t take long. Well and then I rode on my baby :))))))))))). All by myself.
She has no balance of course but still feels very soft and is super comfortable to sit on.
AHHHHH I´m really proud of myself!
Fast Track Course - the dates for 2011 are out. I just can´t decide which one to take. I would love to wait for Sofie coming home to tell me everything about it first but I feel I have to book it soon so I get a spot on it. I also hope for Susana from Portugal to come with me. And last but not least I have to check with work - Hanne, my boss gave me the ok when I asked her before but for reasonable reasons I can´t take 5 weeks of during the summertime which means it´s going to be Florida. Decissions, decissions,....

Short Playsession

3 circles to the right and 3 to the left - maintain gate, direction and look where you are going. Nice attitude would have been nice too but I guess you can´t ask for everythign at once. Milva looked so bored! She had a lalalalalalala face. After doing the circels I stopped and went grazing with her.

Gold Summit

More undemanding time with Milva. Planning on playing with her tomorrow and maybe ride her saturday and sunday.
I´m going to the Gold Summit in July :). Hopefully Susanna is coming as well and we are going to share a room. Susanna is my savvy sister from Portugal.
We are planning on attending the saturday evening show and the savvy sunday as well.
Now I just have to make sure that the Lodge still has rooms available. There is a big Horse Festival at Stoneleigh Park all weekend which might makes it difficult to get a room.
I really loved the last Gold Summit and looking very much forward to this one!

More Breathing

Short time in the stable today. Just mucked out the stall, fed them their morninghay, hugged Milva for a bit and went home again.
That was it for today. Another day tomorrow...

Breathing

that´s what I´m concentrating on right now. My bloodpressure was super high during the night. I couldn´t sleep all night and was just laying there thinking.
Breathing is a good thing. Shawn and I are talking alot and had pizza tonight. Breathing that´s what I have to do.
I went to the stable twice. Milva sensed my mood of course. She always does. She truly is my mirror. I was sitting in the haystack while she was eating and she put lots and lots of hay over me and wouldn´t leave me. She also chased away the other horses on the other side of the fence. Guess she felt she had to take care of me today - my little soulhorse.
Helene came in the evening to trim Milva´s backhooves and surprisingly she was very well behaved - little bugger ;).
I just looked into the freestyle assessment and had to find out that for level two you need freestyle level 2 - of course you do, it´s obvious, just I thought you need level 1. Guess my filming has to wait a bit longer then.

It Hurts

Milva and I went for a 30min walk today.
Shawn decided that it´s best if we are just friends. Well, we haven´t been anything else for the last three years anyway. But yeah - it hurts alot. We are still going to live together and help each other - that´s what friends do.
I feel very weak right now and my mind is just spinning a hundred miles an hour. The thing is that I love him so much and care so much for him so the only thing I want for him is the best. I guess that what you call unselfish love - if you want the best for the other person and put your feelings behind.
And for me - I´m going to concentrate on my Horsemanship journey and on Milva. I´m going to go to the fast track course and do my extern/internship there and who knows, maybe one day Milva and I can live in Canada again. That´s where my heart is anyway, even though it would be quiete stupid to leave such a good and well paid jobb behind.
Never mind, today is not a day where decissions should be made anyway.

Work Weekend

Yesterday we went for another 30min walk around the stable area.
Today I just did the stablechores, some undemanding time and went home again. I can feel that it is my fourth workday today cause I´m getting tired. Oh well, today and tomorrow and then I´m off again.

More Sideways

Sideways Towards Me At Liberty

Little Walk

Milva and I went for a little walk around the stable this morning - 30min. The first 15min she was allowed to take me wherever she wanted to go and on the way back I took over. It was a very leftbrain introvert walk - very slow with lots of stopping and eating grass and checking out things. I liked it! No crazy right brain moments.
Hopefully it stays like that!

Longreining

We played for 32 today. It was another beautiful spring day but I decided to play inside anyway. If the weather is nice we might go and explore the big ridingpaddock tomorrow. Milva tends to get right brain when we are there though. I think the deep sand makes her claustrophobic.
Longreining with one rein went fine. We did some walk - trott transitions and went over the cavaletti a few times. Well, she is dressaging over the cavaletti ;).
More undemanding time before and after our play.
All this undemanding time really pays off.

Backing Up From Z5

Stone Pedastal

Gorgeous Milva

Milva & Wroni

Went to the stable three times today. Second time to film and take pictures of Milva. Shawn was so nice to film us. Third time with Wroni - an old friend from my old stable. Wroni had a lovely welsh mare called Salka there. Salka became 33 last year but had to move on to horseheaven.
It was nice to have Wroni in the stable. She knew Milva from the day we got her :).

Liberty

I can´t mention often enough what a smart pony Milva is!
In today´s session I put the plastic tarp, one cavaletti and the black tube in the ridinghouse.
Milva was at liberty and to start with I asked her sideways to me in front of the black tube - and she did it super nicely. No hesitating, nothing. She just sidepassed towards me as if it would be the most natural and common thing to do!
What a super smart girl I have!
I must have done something good to deserve such an awesome horse.
After that we continued with liberty - stick to me over the cavaletti and the plastic tarp in walk and in trott and backing up from z5.
We finished our session with the circling game. 2 circles in walk on the right hand and 1 in trott - without breaking gait, me standing in neutral and a nice expression on her face. How awesome isn´t that!
Same thing on the left hand - I did had to remind her though to keep the gait.
More undemanding time after that.

Ferrier Part II

A ferrier with patient is worth a million bucks! Luckily it seems to be I´ve found one. I hoped Milva´s attitude towards her new ferrier would change when she would be trimmed in her familiar surrounding. Unfortunatelly Milva hade made up her mind about the ferrier already. As soon as she arrived the head was up in the air again and she got all tensed. In the beginning it was definitely tension and she felt not save. Who can blame her after the last time where I failed to prepare her and everything went wrong.
Anyway with lots of carrots - while chewing on them she was kind of standing still, the ferrier managed to do the 2 front hooves. We decided to do the backlegs the next time she comes by and also have less weeks inbetween trimming so Milva gets more used to her. Now we had a 8 week cycle but it´s better to have a 6 week one.
Cause after her tension was gone and she was not afraid anymore she was just being a leftbrain introvert that had made up her mind about not wanting to stand still nor give the hoof. And you can never make a lbi to do something. You have to convince them that they wanna do it.
Not giving the hoof to someone else besides me is nothing new. She did the same thing after I got her home. The first months it was only me who could pick up her hooves and no one else. She just doesn´t do it and is instead walkig away or starting to rear up.
Being a one man horse only is nothing untypical for Trakehners either. Barbara - Milva´s breeder warned me about that as well. Trakehners are known to bond closely to one person and they don´t want to do anyting for another person.
I realize that can be a problem but on the same time I´m kind of flattered. I also know I don´t make things better about not wanting anyone else to touch Milva.
Oh well it will all work out in the end. Milva will eventually getting used to her new ferrier.
And I have to say that I´m really very satisfied with her work. Coming from me that´s a big compliment cause as you all know - I´m hardly ever satisfied, but now I am :). It´s exactly how I want Milva´s hooves to look like.

Super Smart Pony

What a glorious morning we had today. Sunshine, windstill and +15 in the sun. Perfect!
And on top of that I had a super fun session with Milva. We started our playtime with backing up from z5 at liberty - her standing 15m!!! away. Ok, I have to admit it was her idea and she cought me by surprise ;). When I went down to pick up the carrotstick she started to back up towards me. I stood straight up and she stopped - looking at me with surprise - I looked equally surprised. Then my brain started to work again and I asked her to keep backing up and so she did. Isn´t that just awesome!!! She backed all the 15m up to me - quite fast to. My super smart ponybear.
After that we continued a bit with liberty - stick to me over the tube and walk, stop transition.
We also did some longreining with one rein. Walk - trott transitions, it´s going very well on the right hand on the left hand she has some attitude, showing me her dragonface and ears back.
Also did a canter on the circle. Same there - right hand it was going nicely, left hand more attitude. That was our second attempt with the canter today so I´m satisfied she did canter at all.
More undemanding time in the sun after our playsession.
I have to go back there this afternoon. Our ferrier is coming to trim her hooves. Hope Milva has mercy with her today and is going to behave. She has to trim outside today cause all the other horses will be inside already and then they just try to nip Milva in the bum. Not such a good thing when she is supposed to stand still.
But when trimming her outside I don´t see any problems coming up :)

Buckarooo Milva

Milva turned into a rodeo pony. When I come to the stable in the morning to feed them she starts to galopp around like a maniac. She is getting almost flat, ears back, dragon face and off she goes. It looks hilarious! I have to film it one day.
We haven´t been so much up to otherwise. Lots of undemanding time, scratching her and brushing her. She is till loosing her wintercoat.
The weather got nicer again and it felt like spring today.
Shawn and I are into our fourth week of eating rawfood/vegeterian food now and it goes really well. I can feel that I get more energy in my body again and I feel more in balance as well. The food Shawn is making is to my surprise really delicious! I wasn´t so sure about the rawfood thing in the beginning but so far it tastes awesome and it feels good in my body as well.
My favourite it the nutmilk. We are not using dairy products right now - I still will eat cheese and yoghurt but not right now. Shawn is making this heavenly nutmilk out of almonds, sesame seed and nother nuts. He adds real vanilla to it. If you haven´t tried it - try it! I think heaven tastes like nutmilk :).
I have finished to read "In langer Reihe über die Haff" yesterday. I will try to get copies in english and give it to friends. What a heartbreaking story! I didn´t cry so much though. I was getting more upset over how unfair life is treating some people.

Vibram Five Finger Shoes

Guess what I´m going to buy :). We have found a store in Denmark who sells those now. Shawn and I are going to go there some time next week and buy a pair each. I love those shoes!

Hyperion

HYPERION, 1926 Ch 166cm Trakehner. (DE). [090080726]. Used in HG Trakehnen 1932-1944. Offspring include 14 licensed stallions, 15 licensed mares. Sire: Dampfross, Dam: Hypothese.
OMG - Hyperion is one of the stallions mentioned in the book and listen to this - he is Milva´s grand, grand,....father!!!!
As you can see I´m very fascinated by the history of my little girl. When I have the time I will post all the pictures I can find of her family.

The Gate To Trakehnen 1732

I´m in the middle of reading the book "The Flight Across The Ice" by Patricia Clough. The german title is "In langer Reihe ueber die Haff".
I started to read alot about the Trakehner´s history when I bought Milva. Reading about the people who had to leave their homes and were forced to leave everything behind is heartbreaking. I googled pictures about Trakehnen, how it looks now and how it looked before. Devastating.
It gives me a strange feeling in my heart to know that Milva´s grand grand grandmum was on that treck.
Milva´s grand grand grand...dad is mentioned in the book as well. Strange. Very strange.
I sure have a horse with alot of history - literally.

Quote Of The Day

In our journey with our horses as with our journey through life, we have choices. The biggest choice is to quit or move on. Some of us never quit on things that we should have abandoned long ago but most of us give up far too easily on the things that matter most to us.

~ Jerry S. Williams
http://parelliworld.com/never-give-up/

Spring Has Sprung

It´s beautiful outside today. Finally it feels like spring.
Milva was super fun to play with today. I´m so blessed with her! We did some longreining with transitions - still on one rein. I´m going to order the 45 foot line this month so I can start using 2 reins. I guess I could use 2 lunge lines as well but it´s just not the same.
It was our fourth time of sideways towards me and she totally got it. She did it the whole length of the black tube with a nice expression on her face. And I just needed to use phase 1 - a very light phase 1.
She is such a smart girl!
Off to work now...

Into Our Third Week Of Being Vegeterians - Mostly Eating Raw Food :)

More literature to study :)

Tuesday Play

After doing the stable chores I started the day with 1 hour of undemanding time.
I don´t know why I´m so obsessed with timing everything but obviously I am...lol. I have to time everyting - playsessions, undemanding time,...
I drove her to the ridinghouse from z3 - instead of walking in front of her, taking care of little thresholds. It really does change the look on her face when I drive her.
We did some longreining with one rein. Transitions in walk, trott, stop and backing up. The trott on the left hand was very nice and relaxed. She stretched forward downwards and made huge, swinging steps - it looked stunning but it was kind of fast to run with her. I guess I have to get in better shape to keep up with her.
We also played with the black tube. Sideways games - away and towards me. The towards me was working good today as well. It´s the third time we did it. She is a very fast learner with no doubt.
Our playsession was 30min and after that I spent another 30min of undemanding time with her.

Where Does The Time Go??

So much to do - so little time!
I went to the stable in the morning to feed and muck out. After doing the stable chores I spent 1 hour of undemanding time with Milva. If a certain amount of hours of undemanding time would bring you up to level 4, we would have probably already achieved it ;.
I went back to the stable in the late afternoon. First we played with the big green ball. One of the tasks for level 3 online is putting the green ball on the horse´s back. For getting her used to have the green ball above her I rolled it up on the silage ball while she was eating. I had to do a bit of approach and retreat in the beginning but she got rather quickly used to it. All the other horses in the three turnout stables were watching us. It looked like a horsetheater - monday afternoon entertainment.
When I felt that Milva was alright with the ball above her I took her to ridinghouse. My plan for today´s session was to do some cavaletti work to strengthen her back and hindquarters. I put three cavalettis in a circle and longreined her over - with one rein, played the squeeze game over and changed the distance between the cavalettis so she to watch out where to put her feed.
I also did a little bit of sideways game and sideway towards me.
More undemanding time after that and I went home again.
Ninnie still didn´t get her foal but Malin thinks it´s coming tonight :).

Chocolate Chip Banana Pancakes...

...for breakfast with a warm cup of tea.
It´s stormy and rainy here today. Ridinghouse was busy and I was freezing. Gave Milva a brush and some extra hay and went home again.
Hoping for better weather tomorrow.
No foal yet - but it seems to be on it´s way now :)

Foalwatch And The Optimism Of A Sagittarius

Ninni is getting her foal :). Ninnie is one of the breedingmares in the third turnout stable. The dad of the foal is Bocelli. It´s going to be a real nice little baby.
Malin asked me to have an eye on Ninnie while doing the stablechores. Of course me being me I couldn´t let be and had to watch her all the time. Milva was eating in the meantime. When Ninnie started to walk around in circles and to paw I called for Malin and she took her into the stable. The rawmilk already came this morning which means it´s going to be less than 24 hours for the foal to arrive. AHHHH exciting!
I had a look on the level 3 online assessment and found out that Milva and I can do everything except trailerloading and the circling. Well I can do the circling - Milva can´t though - or well, doesn´t want to ;).
Oh yeah - and the green ball on the back we haven´t done yet but everything else we can do.
With the green ball and trailerloading I don´t see any real problems. Circling....hm.....let´s see.....
I´m positive that we can film it soon though!

"My treasures do not chink or glitter, They gleam in the sun and neigh in the night

Copied from the Savvy Forum
This is not me speaking, but rather a narrative written by an 87 year old woman, sent to my by a friend. I felt it behooved me to share.
Tink


I ride. That seems like such a simple statement. However as many women who ride know it is really a complicated matter. It has to do with power and empowerment. Being able to do things you might have once considered out of reach or ability. I have considered this as I shovel manure, fill water barrels in the cold rain, wait for the vet/farrier/electrician/hay delivery, change a tire on a horse trailer by the side of the freeway, or cool a gelding out before getting down to the business of drinking a cold beer after a long ride.

The time, the money, the effort it takes to ride calls for dedication. At least I call it dedication. Both my ex-husbands call it 'the sickness'. It's a sickness I've had since I was a small girl bouncing my model horses and dreaming of the day I would ride a real horse. Most of the women I ride with understand the meaning of 'the sickness'. It's not a sport. It's not a hobby. It's what we do and, in some ways, who we are as women and human beings.

I ride. I hook up my trailer and load my gelding. I haul to some trailhead somewhere, unload, saddle, whistle up my dog and I ride. I breathe in the air, watch the sunlight filter through the trees and savor the movement of my horse. My shoulders relax. A smile rides my sunscreen smeared face. I pull my ball cap down and let the real world fade into the tracks my horse leaves in the dust.

Time slows. Flying insects buzz loudly, looking like fairies. My gelding flicks his ears and moves down the trail. I can smell his sweat and it is perfume to my senses. Time slows. The rhythm of the walk and the movement of the leaves become my focus. My saddle creaks and the leather rein in my hand softens with the warmth.

I consider the simple statement; I ride. I think of all I do because I ride. Climb granite slabs, wade into a freezing lake, race a friend through the Manzanita all the while laughing and feeling my heart in my chest. Other days just the act of mounting and dismounting can be a real accomplishment. Still I ride, no matter how tired or how much my seat bones or any of the numerous horse related injuries hurt. I ride. And I feel better for doing so.

The beauty I've seen because I ride amazes me. I've ridden out to find lakes that remain for the most part, unseen. Caves, dark and cold beside rivers full and rolling are the scenes I see in my dreams. The Granite Stairway at Echo Summit, bald eagles on the wing and bobcats on the prowl add to the empowerment and joy in my heart.

I think of the people, mostly women, I've met. I consider how competent they all are. Not a weenie amongst the bunch... We haul 40ft rigs, we back into tight spaces without clipping a tree. We set up camp. Tend the horses. We cook and keep safe. We understand and love our companions, the horse. We respect each other and those we encounter on the trail. We know that if you are out there riding, you also shovel, fill, wait and doctor. Your hands are a little rough and you travel with out makeup or hair gel. You do without to afford the 'sickness' and probably, when you were a small girl, you bounced a model horse while you dreamed of riding a real one.

"My treasures do not chink or glitter, They gleam in the sun and neigh in the night"

Fell in love with the text above and thought I have to post it.
I had 10min of playtime with Milva today. Yoyo-ed her back into the ridinghouse - she almost ran backwards, lots of input for a lbi. Put her with all four legs on the stonepedastal and that was it. Rest of the time I cleaned up around the feeding area and brushed off Milva´s wintercoat.