"Level 4 Is Level 1 With Excellence!" Pat Parelli

Currently playing with:
Online: - figure 8s, change of direction with me at the end of the
45`rope
- calm, relaxed, balanced, soft canter

Liberty: -figure 8s
-stick to me, transitions
-close range circles and big circles, transitions

Milva and I are taking lots of walks. We are out almost every day for at least 30min up to an hour, lots of longreining from z5 and z3 with 1 rein and sometimes 2 reins. Lots of preperation for riding ;).
Liberty is our favourite thing and I love how much she is trying her heart out for me. Today we played for 1 hour at liberty. No one else was at the barn and I didn´t need to think about the fact that there might be someone else coming in at any time.
Milva was totally tuned in and it was nothing else as pleasure to play with her. I asked her for lots of transitions in the circling game and I only needed to use a very light phase 1 and the more we played the more exuberant she got, in a good way.
Her canter came a long way too but she still needs to put on more muscles and gain more strength for keeping a better balance. But we are getting there :).

March Parelli Shipment

March 2012 DVD:
"Million Transitions - Finesse"
In this Savvy Lesson we'll explore A Million Transitions as it relates to the Finesse Savvy. In Lesson One, Linda is joined by Lyndsey Fitch and Hot Jazz as they focus on transitions in the saddle. To begin, Lyndsey and Hot Jazz play Follow the Rail before moving on to transitions. Linda and Lyndsey really emphasize taking the time it takes in this lesson, which keeps Hot Jazz calm and responsive. In Lesson Two, Linda is joined by Amy Book and Sapphire as they focus on A Million Transitions at Levels 3 & 4 and beyond. Linda points out that, at this level, A Million Transitions will be used to achieve more collection and more exciting transitions, such as canter to walk, back-up to canter, and more.

March 2012 Audio CD:
"Introduction to Rider Biomechanics Part 1 with Linda and Colleen Kelly"

On this month’s Parelli audio CD, Neil Pye talks with Linda Parelli and Colleen Kelly, a distinguished lecturer and developer of Rider Biomechanics. Linda shares how she and Colleen first met at an ACTHA event and how Colleen’s work helped Linda’s riding. Colleen then describes her horsemanship journey and how the work she’s pioneered is making a difference for people throughout the world. Linda concludes by pointing out that, with the help of Colleen Kelly and her work, Parelli is able to do more for riders than ever before.

March 2012 Mastery Lesson:
Linda's Lesson - Passenger Lesson - How to Match Your Horse
Pat's Lesson - Freestyle in the Saddle with Merlin

Happy Birthday To My Beautiful Baby Girl

Time flies!!
The year Milva was born I still lived in Canada and three years later our roads would cross and become one path.

Infinite Patience and Tiny Steps aka Canter Puzzle

"We can train our horses to do anything if we can satisfy two stringent conditions.
First, place no time limits on when a goal will be achieved.
Second, every task must be broken down into small, achievable components - baby steps." (Zen Horse Zen Mind, by Allan J. Hamilton, MD, page 147)


Milva´s canter has changed alot over the last weeks/days. From being a cheeky lbi, snaking her neck, laying her ears back and stompeding off she now is trying her heart out for me and asking tons of questions.
From only taking a few canter strides she now can canter a whole lap on the 45´rope, remaining calm, relaxed and connected to me. How cool is that!!
She is still getting irritated when she gets thrown out of balance which usually results in putting her ears back or a little buck. I think it´s because she is such an achiever and always wants to do everything right.
Keeping the balance will get easier for her over the time when she gets more strength and muscles as well.

Another interesting thing I read in "Zen Horse Zen Mind" is following,

"Letting go of the outcome - caring too much about outcomes can cause trouble.
How important is it that you get your horse to lead off properly a second time today? The question seems silly, it´s only natural you´d want your horse to lead off more than once.
But on a deeper, symbolic level, do you really need your horse to lead off today? The more you care about the outcome, the wiser you´d be to postpone working on it.
This is the paradoxes in horse training: when you don´t care if your horse leads off is a good time to teach it. If you do care, it´s not.
Wait until you no longer have an emotional investment. Horsemanship can be maddening in this regard."
I think Pat talked about that too in one of his audios, only I didn´t get the meaning of it until now.

Spring Where Are You?

Freezing cold today.
I thought it was ferrier day today and hurried out to the stable this morning just to find out that no one was there and I mean no one. Change of plans then. I played with Milva in the ridinghouse online and a little bit at liberty.
Leading her from the right side while we were out on our walks sure helped and she seems to be more confident now with going to the right and having me on her right side.
Canter on both leads. It´s still a little bit hard for her to the right but she is sure trying her heart out.
I asked her to canter to the left twice today. She seems to get way more confident now when I ask her to canter which makes me think that she was more a rbi when it comes to cantering. Before it looked like as when she was thinking oh no, I can´t do that and then she stopped thinking all together. Now I can see the change in her though and she really tries her heart out for me. Amazing pony!
After our little session we took another 30min walk, which was uneventfull and very cold.

Working On A Project

Milva and Paulina taking an afternoon nap. In the next turnout stable you can see Klara looking over the wall and in the third stable lives Mandrake and the broodmares and foals from last year.

Milva gave one lap of wonderful canter in both directions without breaking the gate or getting any tantrums. It looked picture perfect, very nice uphill canter and in perfect balance and a nice soft face expression.
Janine´s tip sure helped us alot! It´s good to talk to fellow Parelli students to get some new input when you are stuck and Janine is a rock for us!

I´m working on a project right now which will involve some travelling in the near future and lots of research and more travelling.
Eastprussia and Trakehnen in my heart ;).

Weekend

Milva and I still walk every day for one hour and the result is very positive. On a ridden horse it would probably take 35min and on Orkan it would take 20min, his not named Orkan for nothing ;).
For Milva and me it takes 65min though. We stop alot and smell things, well she smells, I usually don´t smell things laying on the ground when I´m out walking but she just loves it. Then we investigate alot of things and she often tries if they are eatable or not, most of the time they are not.
She definitely has the touch-it gen in her. If touching it doesn´t give her a reward she usually stomps on it or puts it in her mouth. Sometimes I wonder if I should teach her to retrieve. On a second thought maybe I should get a puppy instead.
Yesterday we played for the first time outside on the sandplace. When I asked her to trot on a circle on the 45´line she would often try to come in behind my back and when I turned around to catch her in the act she would take of bucking and squeeking. It sure is a game ;). A few times she got herself tangled in in the rope, meaning she got it between her beglegs or under the belly. As soon as it happend she would immediately stop and wait for me to rescue her even if she was in her worst outburst. That´s what I call a thinking horse!
I also rode Orkan on the sandplace yesterday and he totally rocked! He remembered everything we did the last time. Today I played online with him and I think he liked me less today because of the sideways game, but we are making progress there as well.

Fetysz Ox born 1924, Breedingstallion in Trakehnen

another one of Milva´s ancestors...
Fetysz was foaled at the world-famous Janow Stud in Poland in 1924 and was acquired by Trakehnen in 1936 for the mixed herd. It was his son Famulus, who established the Trakehner breed's most valued dressage line. The line descends down to Flaneur and his son EH Arogno, as well as the Flaneur-daughter ES Maharani II, who is dam of the three dressage stallions Mahagoni, EH Mackensen and the less known Mahon. Fetysz ox was tragically shot by the invading Russian Army, but nevertheless left his legacy as even Olympic competitors today carry his valuable blood. Both above mentioned foundation mares Per Adresse and Perina were daughters of this legendary Arabian stallion

"Die ersten Pferde, die ein Besucher auf dem Weg zum Hauptgestuet erblickte, gehörte zur gemischten Herde von Bajohrgallen, deren Weideland sich längs der Strasse vom Bahnhof nach Trakehnen erstreckte. "Gemischt" bedeutete nicht zweitklassig, den zu dieser Herde zählten einige der besten Pferde von allen, unter anderem reinrassige Vollblueter und Araber. Besonders auffällig aber waren die Schimmel - dies war die Herde des international bekannten Schimmelhengstes Cancara.
Ein anderer bekannter Schimmel war der schöne Fetysz, ein Vollblutaraber, der aus Polen kam und anmutig war wie ein Einhorn.
Fetysz vererbte sein weisses Deckhaar an viele seiner Nachkommen, was bei weissen Zuchthengsten nicht oft der Fall ist." (In langer Reihe ueber die Haff, by Patricia Clough, Dtv)

Color: gr
Height: 15.0

PASB 97

FETYSZ lief 3-4jähr. erfolgreich Rennen in Polen. Hptb. Janow-Podlaski 1930-1935; Ende Okt. 1936 durch Beschäler-Austausch aus Polen nach Trakehnen; Hptb. Trakehnen 1937-1944; im Sept. 1944 nach Graditz evakuiert; nach Schreiben von Dr.Edard Skorkowski v.20.10.1978. ist FETYSZ - wahrscheinlich - i.J.1945 durch Kriegseinwirkung in Verlust geraten; er ist weder im Russischen Araber-Stutbuch von 1952 noch im Polnischen Araber-Stutbuch von 1967 aufgeführt. Ein Zauberpferd! Bildschöner Kopf, viel Hals, Widerrist und Schulter. Edele Linie, Vorderfuß sehr ausdrucksvoll und tadelloser Stand. Sprunggelenke nicht besonders groß, aber scharf modelliert und gut eingeschient. Zu wünschen wäre lediglich vielleicht noch etwas mehr Tiefe. Gang regelmäßig mit befriedigendem Schwung. (Ldstm. Dr.Ehlert) FETYSZ war sehr hübsch und typisch, aber fehlerhaft. Seine Hauptmängel waren schlechter Rücken und wenig Tiefe. Er hatte trockene, glasklare Beine. - Er hinterließ in Janow eine Reihe Pferde, unter denen die Bedeutendsten waren MAKATA ox (Mutter von WITRAJ ox und TEHERAN ox), MIECZNIK ox und der hervorragende Halbblutaraber MAROSZ, der ebenfalls Hauptbeschäler in Janow war. Außerdem hinterließ er an Vollblutarabern: MASKARADA, FERENCZ, NAJADA, NIECZ-GODA, NIWKA, OKUPACJA.... Von 1937-1944 stand er als Hptb in Trakehnen, wo er sich gut vererbte. (Ldstm. H.Fellgiebel, Harzburg) In Polen sah ich u.a. zwei Söhne und zwei Töchter von FETYSZ, sowie in Janow den Halbblutaraber MAROSZ und einen Ldb in Sadowa Wischnia, letztere beide zeigten viel Adel und Linie. Alle von mir erinnerlichen FETYSZ-Kinder hatten ein sehr gutes Exterieur. (nach Wladimir Popoff, Leiter d.Bulgar.Staatsgestüt Kabijuk) FETYSZs Einfluss ist bis heute von unverminderter Ausstrahlung. Er gründete durch seinen Sohn Famulus eine berühmte Trakehner-Hengstlinie. Über seinen Enkel Maharadscha* v. Famulus ist diese Hengstlinie gegenwärtig eine der vitalsten der Trakehner Zucht.

Friday & Saturday

Friday: 25min walk, 15min online
Saturday: 25min walk with Orkan and Anita. Orkan is swollen in on one frontleg therefor no riding right now.

Trakehnerhengst Maharadscha

one of Milva´s ancestors

Color: gr
Height: 1.65m

DE 309/09/00156/57. Maße: 165-185-20.5cm

*24.05.1957 Die in Trakehnen entstandene und auf den arabischen Ursprung des Fetysz ox zurückführende Hengtlinie steht auch innerhalb der Trakehner Zucht nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg über viele Jahrzehnte in voller Blüte. Das ist vor allen Dingen Maharadscha, hier auf der DLG-Ausstellung 1962 in München, zu verdanken. Maharadscha war ein ungewöhnlich schöner und ausdrucksvoller Hengst arabischer Prägung - aber im großen Format, der sich sehr elastisch und schwungvoll präsentierte. Auch als Stutenmacher konnte Maharadscha sich in der Zucht verankern. Über seine Töchter Abiza und Fawiza, die aus der Zeit seines Einsatzes in dem Verbandsgestüt Birkhausen stammen, hat er in der Kombination mit dem Stempelhengst Donauwind der Zucht zwei bedeutende Hengste geschenkt: den Springweltmeister Abdullah sowie den in Grand Prix unter Dr.Reiner Klimke erfolgreichen Fabian.

Yeah!

2 laps of canter on the 45` with me standing in neutral and Milva didn´t change gate once. Her face expression looked nice in front of me but I could see in the mirror that she was tossing her head and pinning her ears back behind me. Oh well, we will get to a lovely face expression all way around sooner or later. I´m not too worried about that.
I started our day with a 40 min walk over the snowy fields. Yapp, it snowed again here last night but it already starts melting now in the afternoon.
The farrier was here today as well and checked her hooves. He suggested we wait another two weeks before trimming her. He took up all four hooves though and checked them out. I was very happy with the fact of getting some free farrier training. Our new farrier is pretty young, around 20 and very sweet to Milva. He really takes his time is very calm and lets her sniff him all over. I´m so happy about that.
After the farrier we went to the riding house to work on the canter. My plan was to keep the session very short no matter what. I can feel that all that circling is really boring her out now. Even though I try to keep it interested but hi, circles are still circles.
I started with lots of transitions two circles in both direction and then for a canter and after doing her two laps I quit.
Now I´m gonna watch some old Mastery Manuals to get some inspiration.

Milva The Rascal

Milva was a mischivious little rascal today and we had a few discussions about cantering. Well, I guess it was kind of expected. Things were just going to smooth lately ;).
The last session we finished with cantering to the left and today she decided to avoid the left lead cause you never know maybe I ask her to canter again, right.
Because right lead is her bad side I took what she offered but asked her to canter to the right after a while. I could see her thinking "darn that didn´t work". She is just too funny sometimes.
Yesterday we took another 1 hour walk.

Marvelous Day

What a wonderful, inspiring day it has been. It was really good to meet Anna irl and we seemed to hit it off imediately. She has been living in Canada as well for a few years and Shawn and her got along very well to. Next time she is gonna bring her bf so the boys can play together as well and build stuff.
I played a little bit with Milva and showed Anna some things we can do and then I let Anna play with Milva.
Milva didn´t like that at all though and always looked at me, ignoring Anna and coming towards me. She is such a Mummy girl. After a while it was going better though and they managed to do some figure 8s on the 45´rope.
Anna has a lbe so playing with my little lbi was very different to her.
On top of that Milva is not the easiest horse to play with cause she is so tuned in with me and pretty much ignores everyone else - except her auntie Anita and Shawn. It was fun to watch though.

Canter Puzzle

30min walk for a warm up. I still love the fact that Milva is so calm now when we go for our little walks. Today it was pretty windy here again in Skåne but Milva stayed calm and collected anyway. I finally feel comfortable enough to start exploring new roads as well and Milva just loves to explore new surroundings.
30min online on the 45´rope. Lots of transitions and focusing on cantering again. Left lead is working fine but when I asked her canter to the right she started to trot faster and put her ears back. After applying some reverse psycholoy we figured that puzzle out as well.
The nice thing is that she always chooses the right lead when she picks up the canter though. Very happy wiht that.
Tomorrow I´m gonna meet a new Parelli friend who lives 2 hours away farther south. It´s gonna be super fun to hook up!

Marina Gottlieb Sarles: Horses in my Blood

Marina Gottlieb Sarles: Horses in my Blood: Trakehner mares with Arabian lineage whose faces express the beauty  and intelligence of a fine breed of horse. Photo (C) archive Schul...

Love Spring!

1 hour walk with the munch again. It was pretty uneventful, exactly the way I love it.
This week I finally recharged my batteries and start feeling much better again. I definitely needed those three weeks off. In the future I will make sure for not going such a long time without taking a vacation.
Even though I always say it doesn´t affect me to work in a hospice I think in reality it does. It´s like building a wall around me and trying to convince myself that it´s natural to work with people in their last stage of their life. I do love my work though and I know I can make a big difference in our patients last days. So even though it can be heartbreaking, sad and tremendously unfair sometimes I wouldn´t change my workplace for anything.
On a lighter note we had a yummy culinary week and cooked lots of delicious organic meals.
Pasta carbonara with homemade noodles
Cream of mushroom soup with homemade cheddar biscuits.
Polnish pirogies (not swedish pirogies who are more like a bread) with potato cheddar filling and fried onions and bacon on the top
Corn chowder soup with homemade pepper cheddar bread
Mexican burritos and mexican casserole
Ricotta spinach lasagne with homemade alfredo chicken sauce (you can´t buy ready alfredo sauce here), the lasagne noodles were homemade too
and right now we got Chili cooking on the stove and in a little while I will bake some cornbread (you can´t buy that one here either)
homemade cinnamon buns and buns filled with almonds
homemade coconut cream pie
Food for your soul.

I´m sure glad Shawn started to eat meat again after his 30 day fast in Costa Rica.

Springwalk

1 hour walk and 45 min online
We had wonderful springweather here today so I decided to stretch my comfort zone and took Milva for a long walk. She was calm and relaxed all the way. We did some longreining with 1 rein and took played some touch-it on the way.
Online we played with a million transitions again, focusing on trot and canter. She gave me some very nice transitions but in the end she got really tired so we quit. It takes a lot to build up balance and strength but we will get there.

Million Transitions

Started our 1 hour session with liberty. Circles with lots of transitions, close range circles, figure 8s in walk and trot and stick to me.
Online on the 45´ doing a million transitions and quit with 2 nice cicles in canter to the right, change of direction and two more to the left.
I´m thinking about starting her under the sadle again maybe next week....