More Trailerloading And Hanging Out

Another sunny winterday today. I started with a spring cleanup around the turnout stable. Milva started to loose her wintercoat already and I gave her a long brush today. Some more trailerloading which went well again.
For tomorrow I have planned longreining or a walk and on tuesday I´m going to ride again.

Fun Saturdayafternoon!

The thermometer showed +3 this afternoon but with all the wind it was much colder than that. I still managed to stay 5 hours in the stable.
Patricia and I had our private little playday today. We played for a little while in the ridinghouse. I had to have Milva online though cause "outside guests" were riding at the same time. We did a bit of figure 8´s and then mostly watched Patricia playing with Tinka. My goal was to spend some time with Milva in the ridinghouse without her having a job to do. As soon as we enter the ridinghouse she starts offering all kinds of things. Which of course is very nice but I also want her to relax. She did start to relax after a while and I gave her a good scratch.
I also let Patricia play with Milva, just so she could practise the figure 8s with a horse that knows his job and get a feel for it. Milva was doing very well and stayed on the figure 8s pattern until Patricia asked her in.
We also trailerloaded both horses in Patricia´s new trailer. Both did very well and walked right up on the trailer to eat their oats. Smart kids. I filmed Milva when she loaded herself but forgot to push the playbutton...so no video...maybe tomorrow.

Longreining

No riding today cause I had to start to work earlier and didn´t want to start riding with time pressure on me - once again.
Inspired by the last Savvy Club dvd I longreined Milva for 20min - follow the rail and being particular about it and then we did some point to point. Going to use that for my next ridingsession as well.

6th Ride :))

Milva was once again awesome today! I warmed her up by longreining her using the featherlines - did I mention that I love the featherlines?! They make longreining so much easier. We played with some walk - stop transitions and change of direction.
I used the mountingblock as a sweet spot again where she got to rest and some scratches.
Then we played a little bit with the circling game - I just have to watch out not to overdo it now. We did some transitions from walk - trott - walk and stop.
When Helene came I mounted Milva and she was super good today. Didn´t move one step, was very relaxed and waited for me to tell her when to walk off. Maybe the friendly game from laying on her back did help after all. I also laid on her back this morning while she was eating her morning hay for 10min.
I rode again for 10 minutes and it felt really good. Milva was relaxed all the time and so was I ;). Mirror - mirror, ey. We did follow the rail with walk - stop transitions, some change of directions and one circle.
I love the NP more and more. It´s so worth the money and I´m really glad I bought it!
I think my shimming is ok but I will do some more research and experimenting this weekend. Right now I use on thick shouldershim and one thin centershim.
Tomorrow the ridinghouse is going to be occupied with dressagetraining all morning. If the weather allows it I will take Milva for a walk tomorrow and if not it´s going to be undemanding time. Next riding is planned on friday.

Great Lies We Live By written by Dr. Stephanie Burns

Great Lies We Live By is the story of the hidden lessons we learned in school, and how those lessons may be affecting the choices we make now as adults. Great Lies is read widely by parents, teachers, students and business men and women. It is a book for anyone who wants an honest shot at re-evaluating the experiences and lessons from the days in the classroom, and who wish to develop new strategies for learning and managing information.

One of the books from my January book order. I totally love Stepahine Burn´s books and can highly recommend them to everyone. If you wanna read more about the author please visit her webside: www.stephanieburns.com

Rain, Rain And More Rain,

All the snow is gone but I really, really hope we get more of it!
I didn´t ride Milva today cause the ridinghouse was busy all the time and I didn´t feel to squeeze in between two trainigsessions. I did make an appointment with Helene for tomorrow at 10.00 am though. I will start playing with Milva at 9.30 and then ride for 10min at 10. Well, if everything goes like planned. The ridinghouse will be busy again at 10.20 when Malin starts to warm up one of her competitionhorses.
It´s a pretty tight schedule right now but as soon as we are able to use the outdoor facilities again there will be no problem to find a place somewhere to ride. Especially now with the new dressage outdoor ring.
So today I started to play the friendly game with Milva by laying over her back while she was eating her hay. I thought if I do that maybe she starts to stop walking away as soon as I mounted. She did take two steps after I laid with my full body weight on her but stopped again and continued to eat and didn´t move for the whole 20min I laid on her. I was very much tempted to put my leg over her and sit on her, but I didn´t.
Then we played 45min online on the 45´rope - figure 8s and different variations of the circling game. I also asked her again to canter and it was the same as yesterday. After a few tries I got a nice canter transition on both hands and quit again.
More undemanding time after our playsession and then we took a 20min walk down the dirt road. We didn´t make it the whole way though because there was a snowmonster luring in the acre waiting for a grey horse to appear so he could attack it and eat it up for supper - that´s what Milva thought anyway. Oh, and it was the only clump of snow in the entire area.

Playing Online

Those last couple of days have been really busy. Shawn had birthday last thursday and turned 40. I had to work last weekend - my fourth weekend in a row cause I switched two weekends last summer and now it was payback time. Won´t do that again.
But now everything is back to normal.
I played 60min with Milva online today. My focus was on canter circles and Milva´s focus was on leaping in the air as much as possible. I played on the 45´foot line and started our warm up with weave patterns. They are coming along nicely and I can give her more and more rope. When I started to trott though she took it as an invitation to buck and play.
Our circling game was nice in walk and trott but when I asked dear Milva to canter she just burst from energy and couldn´t hold it back any more so she started to buck - her bucks are pretty impressive, she leaps high up in the air with all four legs and then she kicks high up with her back legs. Hmmm, I can´t see myself sitting those bucks...
Anyway, after a few bucking rounds she had enough and came in to me her head down and looking all calm again. It was like she was saying - phew, I really needed that but now we can talk again. So what was it you wanted from me?
She is so funny!
We did some more circles and I got one nice trott - canter transition and stopped right after that.
I walked her for a little while playing mirror mirror and that was it for today.
Planing to ride tomorrow - but lets see first which side of the corral she wakes up in.

Parelli & Sewing

I have bought myself a new sewing machine - see picture above.
Necessety is the mother of invention, so they say. The first time I heard that saying was when I lived on base in Petawawa, from an hungarian girl called Kata Meszaros. She has just moved there as well, and as two Europeans we had to find our way around. It was a fun time though.
Anyway, back to the sewing machine. I used to sew alot when I went to school in Austria. I was going to a school called HBLA in Amstetten and we had 8 hours of sewing a week. We accomplised to sew and design our own ballgawns, jackets, coats, dirndl (austrian folk dress) and lots of other "fun" things. I have to admit I didn´t like sewing that much back then. I was rather in the stable and didn´t want to waste any time inside.
So why did I buy a sewing machine now? Well, first of all to save money. Unfortunatelly I LOVE the brand "Odd Molly" and bought lots of dresses from them lately. Sewing my own dresses will definitelly save me some money plus I can sew my own designs which means hardly anyone else will walk around in the same dress.
Another big factor for me is that I know for sure that no little slave child from China was involved in the clothes I´m wearing. Also I´m planing on just buying organic fair trade fabrics. What´s the point otherwise. If you try to make a difference you might as well do it right then.
And when it comes down to it - a lady needs to ride with style ;). I already can see myself riding around with romantic westernstyle inspired blouses and shirts which will perfectly match my gorgeous NP.
So how comes Parelli in the picture? That´s easy explained. Parelli gave me the look for the detail, watching out for the smallest things and being patient. Through Parelli I learned that just my imagination sets my boundries. Everything can be done. Comes in quite easy when you want to design your own clothes :).

Parelli Connect

I finally made it to Parelli Connect. I signed in the first time in november when I received an email from Parelli about it but haven´t revisited the side until today.
What can I tell you - it´s awesome!!! It´s like an online campus and well worth the computer time. Speaking about computer time. Since my laptop went to laptop heaven I haven´t bought a new one. At home I´m using Shawn´s and then of course I use the computer at work. I have been looking at an Apple laptop and when I do buy one it´s deffinitely going to be an Apple. But, and that´s the thing, I really enjoy being without a computer right now. It gives me more time to read and do other things. Updating my blog and reading my emails and looking for books online and visiting the Parelli webpage already takes alot of time. Honestly I don´t know how people do it. Where do they get the time for everything???
And I mean I really don´t work that many days a month with great hours but still there don´t seem to be enough hours in a day. Timeghosts I guess, and priorities...

January Shipment

Audio CD:
"Traveling Abroad"
Pat and Linda share about their recent demos in Italy and Portugal

Mastery Lesson
Pat's Lesson - Seven Games- Purpose in the Saddle
Linda's Lesson - Teaching Your Horse to Spin at Liberty

January DVD:
"Performance Summit Highlights"
Pat shows how Patterns can improve Western Versatility performance and Dressage and utilizes infinity and physical objects to create relaxation and understanding in Patterns. Linda demonstrates the different body positions for FreeStyle and Finesse.
Can´t wait for this month´s shipment :)), Spin at liberty!! Totally forgot about that and I just love to see the videos from the Performance Summit last year.

Online Play

Milva was all mellow today. I started our playsession with longreining her. When I came in to the ridinghouse there was another girl in who lunged her horse. Usually I don´t like to go in and play if there are other people in the ridinghouse but with her it was ok. She is actually always asking alot of questions about what we are doing.
Longreining went fine. We did follow the trail with walk - stop transitions and then the weave patterns.
After that I switched over to the 45´rope and we played some more with the weave patterns and finished with the circling game. The trotting circles were nice again - with a slack in the rope and she had her head down and stretched her back, trotting with big steps and staying in tact. When I asked her to canter I got some buck in the beginning but then she gave me some nice cantersteps and I quit our session there.
We played for 45min.

5th Ride

And all went well again :).
I played more constructivly in the warm up today. Like Elisabeth commented in my last blogg - "play hard - ride soft" (Pat Parelli).
I started at liberty with mirror me, stick to me, weave patterns and figure 8´s. Then I switched to the 45´rope and we played with figure 8´s and circling game doing transitions in walk and trott. At some point Milva asked me to come in in front of me but at the same time I pointed to ask her to trott which she got angry over. So she stopped looked at me with a face like are you serious?? I kept pointing though so she made one single buck with all four legs up in the air, looked at me again and then started trotting off. It was too funny.
Helene came by to watch us again and to assist when I ride. It feels good to have someone on the ground in case I do get bucked of.
I made the mounting block our sweet spot where Milva was allowed to rest and get alots of scratches.
When I felt she was ready to mount I switched to the NH and we walked to the mounting block. This time she happily stood there. I did lots of friendly game with my foot in the stirrup and out again and putting my weight in one stirrup and back down again. Next step was my hip in the saddle and down again. After doing that a few times I mounted. She didn´t stand still long though and started to drift away, but it was slowly and she wasn´t tensed. It looked like more she was on a mission so I accepted it for today. My goal of course is that she is wating for my signal though.
I rode for 5min again - following the trail with walk - stop transitions. I couldn´t ride any longer because another girl was waiting outside to build up fences in the ridinghouse. But it´s ok, short but good and calm.
For tomorrow I have planed a online session with the saddle on but no riding.

4th Ride

Milva bucked today! But I better start from the beginning.
I warmed her up online on the 22´foot line. As soon as we enter the ridinghouse she starts offering all kind of things like sideways towards me, backing up towards me,... I have to really watch out with my bodylanguage cause everything means something to her. She is super allert and reacts to the tiniest little thing. We started our session with figure 8´s. Right now it´s enough to set her up with the pattern and she is doing it by herself, with a nice slack in the rope, asking questions now and then. After that we did circling game. Same there, nice slack in the rope and it just took a little point with the finger for her to trott.
Then I took of the halter and we played a bit at liberty, stick to me and figure 8´s.
When Helene came in I put the NH on and we walked to the mounting block. I sat down for a little bit on the mounting block until Milva started to relax more. When she looked soft and rideable I hanged on the side on her with my hip in the saddle for a few seconds, watching her reactions and then mounted. Obviously I must have missed something cause as soon as I sat in the saddle she started to back up and buck. I did a quick emergency dismount and took care of her worries. I played a bit more on the ground and when she started to yawn I took her to mounting block again. Helene and I agreed that it´s best if I just hang on the side while she is leading Milva so Milva doesn´t feel so claustrophic and I can get off quick. We did that 2 times and Milva looked fine the third time I mounted and she was stayed calm. After walking half a round she started to blow out alot of air and kept doing that for another half round - alot of tension coming out.
The last 3 times I rode by myself but this time I asked Helene to lead us and we did another passenger lesson. The last round I rode by myself and it felt good as well.
We have to work on stopping now. Right now it´s deffinitely more go than whoa going on.
So what did I learn today? First I´m going to warm her up longer tomorrow and use the 45´rope. More friendly game on the mounting block with one foot in the stirrup and waiting, waiting, making sure she is alright and waiting for her to give me permission to mount.
Relax more in my body. Of course she is tensed when I get tensed! I know that and will try to have myself better under controll - and my breathing.
Alot to chew on tonight. So lets see how it goes tomorrow...

Wild Horse Annie Book Trailer

Wild Horse Annie And The Last Of The Mustangs - The Life Of Velma Johnston

One of the books I ordered this month. Well worth reading.

December Shipment

Linda's Secrets"
Learn how to be yourself, have fun and put on an inspirational demo. Linda reveals her secrets — choosing music, adjusting to fit the situation and making the most of Horsenality™ and reminds us that perfection is not all it’s cracked up to be! Plus, a special mini-quadrille performance at the 2010 Parelli Performance Summit
Mastery Lesson
Pat's Lesson - Stick To Me - Horseback
Linda's Lesson - Advancing the Game of Contact
Audio CD:
"Humane Society Partnership"
Linda Parelli talks with the Humane Society of the United States - Linda and Keith Dane share how and why the partnership has grown between the Humane Society of the United States and Parelli.

Flight & Hotel booked For Birmingham - Parelli Celebration - Volonter

It´s raining cats and dogs here today. I spent undemanding time with Milva this morning watching the rain from the inside of the stable.
All my travel arrengments for Birmingham are fixed now. I will be staying at the Hilton, close to the NEC. Alot of other Parelli folks are staying there as well so it´s going to be a fun experience! I´m really lookig forward meeting all the other volonters.

3rd Ride

For a warm up I played on the 22 foot line - weave patterns, figure 8s, circling game and a little bit at liberty.
I rode for 10 minutes today - passenger lesson and we did some walk - stop transition. Milva was calm and collected and didn´t show any worries or concern about being ridden at all.
I haven´t planed anything for this weekend yet, it all depends how busy the ridinghouse is and how the roads are. If it´s not that icy anymore I plan on taking her for a walk tomorrow and for Sunday I would like to play with the 45 foot line. But let´s see what the weekend brings...

Too Funny

Well deserved undemanding time with Milva today. Usually when I muck out the stable I have Milva loose outside the stable where she can eat her extra hay. I put the 22-foot rope on her back so she still can move around if she likes - if it´s on the ground it means she is ground tied and not allowed to move.
So this morning I walked over the yard to the other stable to get Milva her grain. When I walked out the stable I could see her standing half way between the turnout-stable and the other stable. The rope must have slidden off her back and when it hit the ground she stopped - as thought to. When she saw me she gave me a real loud whinneying and a toss with the head. It sounded very much like: "Help, I´m trapped!"
She is too funny.
I´ve booked the flight and hotel for Birmingham now. I´m getting really excited about being a volonter!

Second Ride

I got rather late to the stable today - around 9.30, cause I needed to help Shawn with his studies. Which didn´t give me much time to use the ridinghouse cause the twins start to train their comepetition horses around 10.30 and occupy the ridighouse until 2.30.
I asked them if I can use the ridinghouse to 10.30 and told them I would ride Milva so they knew what was going on. ´
I don´t want to ride her with other horses in the beginning. Mostly because I´m afraid that the other horses could spook about something and would make Milva spook too. I had that happen one time and don´t need it a second time.
When I entered the ridinghouse I found several fences built up which I used for my warm up. I played the squeezegame over them and stick to me in walk and trott at liberty. A little bit of circling game which was good again - she kept her responsibilites and I didn´t had to remind her once. I´m still in awww about that.
Then I switched to the Natural Hackamore and we did stick to me to the mountingblock where she placed herself right in front of it by doing the sideways game and then she widened her front legs to keep in balance when I mount. It looked to funny when she did that - all done with a very concentrated face which she kept for all 5min of riding.
We did walk - stop transitions, stoping with the ssss-sound without using the rein which works fine so far and the she start to walk when I click with the tongue once, twice is for trotting which we haven´t done yet under the saddle ;). If I look in one direction and move my upper body she is turning. I haven´t used my legs on her yet.
Helene came by to watch again and to keep an eye on us which was really nice - coming all the way for 5 minutes.
So what I found out so far is that Milva is super sensitive to my movements in the saddle and if I´m not clear she is getting frustrated and angry. It doesn´t take much to move or stop her nor to turn her. Everything is just a slight phase 1.
I kind of wish she wouldn´t be that sensitve but of course it´s a good thing so I also hope it stays that way. I just have to get used to it. She also is super concentrated and tries to do everything right. Her face expression is too funny, you really can see how concentrated she is.
I started two horses under the saddle before. Tjelvar, my warmblood I had when I lived in Austria, who moved with me to Sweden. But Tjelvar was by far not that sensitive as Milva. And then there was Superior Example aka Rambo, the Appendix I had when I lived in Canada. But also he was by far not that sensitive as Milva.
For tomorrow I have planed undemanding time and if it´s alright with Milva I will try another ride on friday.

First Ride On Milva In The NP

How many first rides can you put on a horse I wonder. Today was my first ride in the NP on Milva. I did a quick counting and came up with following: last year I rode on Milva 5 times, each time about 10min. The year before when I got her used to the saddle I sat on her for many times but we didn´t walk. It was more frienldy game from the back and I rode her twice for also for about 10min. So yes, she is still a green horse. But that´s fine. It gave her lots of time to grow physically and mentally and that´s what I wanted. Also I always remember what Milva´s breeder Barbara told me about the growth period of Trakehners. Trakehners grow until they are 7 and they mature very slow like Icelandic ponies. With that in the back of my head I think I was doing the right thing.
So back to our ride today. I started to play online like yesterday. Figure 8s with a nice slack in the line and circling game in walk and trott also with a nice slack in the line and like yesterday I didn´t had to remind her of her responsibilities. Very nice. Then Helene came in to watch us and to be there when I ride. I played a little bit more online to show Helene what we can do and then I took the halter off and did some liberty. Milva was the whole time tuned in.
After doing some more pre-ride checks I mounted. Milva stayed relaxed with her head down and didn´t care much. She sniffed my boots for a little while and then I asked her to walk. We did a bit of walk - stop transitions and then I hopped off again. I rode her for about 5 min which I think was enough for a first ride.
I have to work on the dismounting though. Because I never rode in a western saddle before I didn´t think about the horn and it was kind of in the way. Otherwise the saddle is awesome to sit in. Of course it´s very different to my former dressage saddles but I still LOVE it! It´s super comfortable and feels totally save. Also it puts you easily on your balance point. And one of the best part is that it didn´t move when I mounted.
My plan for tomorrow is to ride her again, but let´s wait and see which side of Milva shows up tomorrow.

Busy Busy

The days are just flying by right now. I played 30min online with Milva while she had the saddle on. She was super good today. Figure 8s with a slack in the line and a light phase 1, I didn´t had to touch the carrotstick once. Circling game the same, nice slack in the line and I didn´t had to remind her of her responsibiliy - she even offered me 3 circles in trott and then I asked her in. We also played a bit at liberty. She was so focused on me that she didn´t think about the saddle on her on her back.
My plan for tomorrow is to sit on her and if she is ok then maybe ride her for 5min. But we will see which side of the corral Milva is waking up tomorrow.

Saddleshiming

Milva is uphill build so the deepest point of the saddle was were it´s supposed to be. Because she doesn´t have any muscles yet I still put one shouldershim in and one centershim. I always can make more adjustments if it doesn´t work out.

Undemanding Time

I work my 5 days now again and don´t get much else done. Shawn is still on Christmas vacation and therefor we are taking it slow in the mornings. He came with me to the stable this morning to pay Mandrake a visit. When he called out for Drake his head went right up and he came right up to see Shawn. So lovely and yet so sad to see. I wish we could buy him...
Milva is doing fine as always. I will try to play at least for a little while tomorrow. I have to get better routines for my workdays so I get to play more with her.

Parelli Uk Celebration 2011 - Volonteer

I got accepted to be a volonteer at this year´s Parelli Uk Celebration. It´s going to be intressting to get a look behind the scene. Would be nice to get in contact with other volonteers. I better have a look at the Savvy forum to get in touch with the other ones.
Monday: I played 40min with Milva. I saddled her the usual way again - in front of the stable while she is ground tied. We played 30min at liberty so she could move free with the saddle, mostly stick to me with walk - trott - stop - backup transitions, some circling and figure eights. 10min online - circling, change of direction.
Tuesday: 30min online, 10 min liberty. Same as Monday. My goal for this week is to get her more used to the saddle and to make some adjustments to it, speak shim it right. For me it´s important that she gets to move with the saddle alot before I sit on her. Online we played the circling game, figure eights, travelling circles and the cloverleaf. She was hilarious in the circling game. She offered trott and 1 round of canter. In the beginning when I asked her to walk she offered trott and behind my back she would buck and fly up in the air coming in front of me she would arch her body towards me and asking questions, ears forwards and coming behind me buck again, too funny. You could see that she was enjoying herself and being very playful. Who would have thought that about my little lbi pony. When she offered 1 circle of canter, which was relaxed, collected and up hill, I asked her in and quit it right there. It was hard for me to stay in neutral when she cantered. I just love to look at her when she canters - which doesn´t happen to often ;), and also I couldn´t belive my eyes that she actually did it. But I always try to keep in mind the power of neutral.

AWW-Moment

I saddled Milva in the ridinghouse today. I have her never tied up when I saddle her, instead I ground tie her so she still has a choice to stay with me or not. After playing the friendly game with the theraflex pad I put the saddle on her. Milva stood 3m away from the saddle and when I picked the saddle up I thought for myself that I should have her put a bit closer to the saddle and while thinking that she sidepassed towards me, stopped with her back exactly next to saddle and I just had to put the saddle on her - smart pony :). I also cinched up the backgirth today and she didn´t show any reaction to it, not to the saddle either for that matter. So all is good. My plan is to play with her all next week to get her more used to the saddle and start sitting on her the week after.