Firespying Milva

Milva got her hooves trimmed today....cough, cough....My otherwise so perfect, flawless, beautiful, well behaved horse mutated into a firespying dragon.
Hm.....how intressting... I don´t know what else to say.
Milva really does not like H. As soon as she arrived at the yard, Milva put her head up and the white in her eyes came out. I could see her thinking evil thoughts. H. approached her in a polite way but too late, Milva had made up her mind and tried to kick and bite her and wouldn´t let her even come close to her.
Japp, my otherwise so soft and kind horse tried to kick and bite our ferrier. Well, it´s not the first time. She tried it as well the last time but not that serious.
H. asked me if it´s ok to give Milva some light sedation, and well I agreed on it.
H. is also our veterinary and I´m very lucky that she agreed on trimming Milva´s hooves ´cause now they are perfect. And as you maybe all know, I´m not easily to satisfy when it comes to Milva.
When I bought Milva two years ago she was not handled at all and didn´t know anything. She didn´t know what leading was, couldn´t pick up her hooves, couldn´t stand tied up,...
In the beginning it was just me who could pick up her hooves and even with me she could get worried back then when I picked up her left hind hoof - that´s where she has her Trakehnerbrand.
When I talked to other Trakehnerowners about it down in Germany, they said it´s a Trakehnerthing. Trakehners are very much one people horses and if they have made up their mind about something or someone it´s hard to convince them to the opposite - and Trakehners never forget.
So back to her hooves. Besides me, auntie Anita and Shawn are also allowed to pick up her hooves but that´s pretty much it.
I never have any problems picking up her hooves. After cleaning the first hoof she volontarily offers me the other three - one by one.
It´s not about the trailer, it´s not about the hooves....
So the question is, how to convince her that H. is her friend and not her enemy?
I came up with a solution that I think will work.
I thought I call H. tomorrow and ask her to call me whenever she has something to do at our stable or in one of our neighbourstables. If her schedule is not to tight maybe she just can drop by and say Hi to Milva and give her a treat. After a few visits she can try to just pick up her hooves and put them down again.
With Milva you have to win her heart and trust. With force or too much pressure you don´t get anywhere. It just makes things worse. Milva is just like her owner - a stubborn donkey ;).
If there would be any other good ferriers out there I would consider to change but H. is THE best one and in this case I insist that Milva is changing her attitude towards H. I´m pretty confident that my strategy will work out though. I know how my little dragonhorse ticks ;)....lol

Parelli Play Day In Halmstad

Today I went with Anita, Patricia and Sandra up to Halmstad to check out the Parelli Play Day hosted by Karin Pettersson, 2* instructor: www.two-t.nu
It was super fun to catch up with Sofie and to finally meet Josefine in person.
Much more to write about it but I got a virus on my labtop and will keep my online time as short as possible until I got it fixed.

Saturday

Humid, hot and rain, just like Petawawa.
Listening to the rain and to Milva munching on her hay.

Chai Latte & Cinnamonbun

...for breakfast in the stable, still wearing my Pj´s and having a nice, inspirational Parelli-talk with Ulrike from http://uhaprill33.blogspot.com

Just Ordered A 45-Foot Line For My Level 3 Online

45-Foot Line


The lay of this 3/8 inch diameter, nylon lariat is deliberately softened for horse handling. It has life, sensitivity, lightness and is fitted with a brass hondo for slip and release. Includes carabiner clip to attach to halter.



See what people are saying

"This rope has so much life to it yet it is so light to use. It challenged the communication that I had with my horse and has taken our relationship to another level."

Don't forget about the purchase credit that instructors get when you buy your Parelli stuff.

Here's the easiest way to do it:
Go to Parelli.com
Log on as a savvy club member
Go to instructors
Find your favorite instructor and click on the link that reads: myfavoriteinstructor'sname.parelli.com
Then click on the "Shop" link that shows up at the top of their page.

Those instructors work hard and this is an easy way to give them some kind of benefit without cost to us.

Figure 8 Pattern

Milva & I have come a long way with our figure 8 pattern - even in trott.
The secret with my lbi is to get her first intressted and motivated before I ask her to do the figure 8s - or circles. As we all know, left brain introverts are thinkers and not movers. And for some it takes longer to think than for others ;).
When we do our figure 8s now I just need to send her once and then I can guide her around the cones. My guiding is a soft point in the other direction and a half step back, kind of opening the door for her to go in the other direction.
With Milva it´s often enough to use a soft phase 1 cause she is so responsive - well, most of the time, unless punky Milva is showing up but then I have to adress the horse that shows up, which is a different story.
Back to the figure 8s. After sending her off I give her the responsibility to do the figure 8s and through that I allow her to think and interact with me.
I´m not using the carrotstick after she walked off and I don´t use it for making her walk off either (see phase 1) -unless I need to. Using the carrotstick would be nagging and not giving her any responsibility which means we would not have any conversation going on.
If you don´t have any conversation with your horse you are not improving your relationship with him!!
That´s why I don´t lunge her! I often get asked why I don´t lunge. Well, because lunging is micromanaging your horse and not giving him any responsibility.
The circling game on the other hand gives your horse the responsibilitiy to maintain direction, gate and she has to look where she is going and yes, she is allowed to ask questions :).
Our next project is going to be to do the figure 8s and circles in canter - that´s going to be intressting for sure.

Coffebreak

6 hours in the stable
30min online - level 3
"Fika" - the swedish word for coffebreak, with Anita, Sandra and Patricia - same people that are coming to Halmstad for the Parelliday on Sunday.

Email From Parelli Central & A Free Celebration Dvd :))

I've read so much about you in your blog, that its nice to see some videos of you playing with your lovely horse, Marion! I can now put a face to all the writing!! Let me know when you submit your audition, I'm sure that you'll do brilliantly.

Anyway, we'll soon let you know if you've been featured on Parellitube, and in the meantime, we'd like to send you a copy of the Live Celebration DVD. Please give us your mailing address.

Naturally,

Kerrin Koetsier
Parelli Central

Awesomeness!!! And it comes in quite handy cause I have a list of people I wanna give one to :)) together with the Horsenality information ;).

Milva & Benny

Milva & Benny
4 hours in the stable
30min online playing in level 3
rest udt and grazing time
Wish I could implant Parelli to other people´s brain! There is so much missunderstanding going on out there in the horseworld which could be easily disolved if people would take the time to try to understand the horse´s point of view and maybe show some intresst in the different Horseanalities.
"You can lead a horse to the water but you cannot make it drink."

Nephrostomy

11 more days to my operation. Can´t wait for it! It´s going to be so great to be able to move again without restrictions!
A nephrostomy is an artificial opening created between the kidney and the skin which allows for the drainage of urine directly from the upper part of the urinary system.
Even tough I am a nurse I still think it is pretty discusting to walk around with it!

Raining Cats & Dogs

Short visit in the stable to check on Milva.
Spending the rest of the day reading in old Savvy Magazines and watching "Liberty & Horse Behaviour".

Horsenalities Bucks

out of Savvy Times magazine issue 21, november 2008 written by Linda Parelli
Right Brain Buck:
fear- and panic related, so it looks frantic. Best solved by driving the horse forward with as much energy as he is putting into the bucking, if not a little more. You redirect the energy by tasking him to accelerate forward. That will stop the bucking better than trying to prevent it, but then you have to figure out what set it off. Right Brain is fear-related, so this often happens with horses who are not confident with the saddle or cinch/girth. Check it out, solve it on the ground and do not get on until your horse consistently proves that he is no longer tense or afraid.
Left Brain Buck:
It´s deliberate and can be playful or punky. Best solved by entertaining it! If you try to stop it, this can become an argument, and this Horsenality will use it to gain the upper hoof. We have a saying called "and then some", which means, "You want to buck? Me too - and then some!" You´ll find that pretty soon your horse figures out that he cannot scare or frustrate you, so he stops using that strategy to dominate the situation. Have fun with it - much better than getting mad at him, don´t you think?
Extrovert Buck:
-high energy, usually way too difficult to ride unless you are a professional bronc rider! You definitely want to deal with this on the ground. Best solved by using the energy rather than trying to block it or stop it. You need to get it out of the horse´s system. Send him over lots of jumps so he can get in the air with a purpose.
Introvert Buck:
-low energy, usually not hard to ride. An introverted horse bucks because he doesn´t want to go forward and you´re trying to make him do it. Usually it´s Left-Brain Introverts that buck like this (the Righ-Brain Introverts freeze before they explode inte a Right Brain Extrovert form of frantic bucking). The solution lies in psychology to get your horse want to go forward rather than making him go when he doesn´t want to.
For more information check out www.parelli.com
Horsenalities and Patterns will help you enormously here.

Lead By Example

4 hours in the stable
1 h online rest udt
Patricia is going to be a Savvy Club member :)). It´s going to be fun to play with her and Tinka.
Sandra wanted me to show her some "Parelli" today. Hm...Parelli is a lifestyle and a way to interact with your horse. It´s hard to actually show it.
Well I did show her the 7 games and a bit of liberty. I also played with her horse Medea and showed her figure 8´s. Medea is super smart and got the pattern in no time. The expression on her face was priceless!!!
Helen stopped by with Dupont. I love the way how Helen is interacting with Dupont! I lent her the celebration dvd and she loved it - especially the spotlights. I´m going to lend it to Patricia as well.
Helen asked me if we could have a playsession together after my operation :). With pleassure!
If you lead by good example more and more people are going to be intressted in finding a different way to interact with their horses and therefor there path will lead them to Parelli :).
Today was also an eyeopener for me how much Milva actually can do and how well behaved she is.

"Der Zauber Des Pegasus" written by Jan & Milca Künster

Wonderful coffetable book I bought a few years back.

Draw Towards Me With Cavaletti

Green Ball

Life Is Not That Bad After All ;)

5 hours in the stable
15min!!!! of play in the ridinghouse
4,45 h of udt and hanging out with my soulmate
Ok, I understand if people think I´m sometimes strange...lol
Especially when they ask and what did you do 5 hours in the stable? Uhm...jaaaaa...
Oh well, I did hang out with Anita and Patricia as well for a while so it was not just Milva ;)
More pictures and movies from my Iphone - how could I live without that phone before???

Thursday Play

3 hours in the stable.
1 hour online
2 hours udt
We did squeeze game over a cavaletti in walk and trott and travelling circles in trott over it. She was super good, put some effort in it and asked questions.
We also worked on our circling game, speak on our send and maintaing direction and gait. Our send was broken and I had to fix that first. Milva has alots of own ideas and is constantly making assumptions. So instead of waiting for me to send her in a direction she is just walking off by herself, not even waiting for the yoyo.
What I did was being particular with the yoyo and not just letting her walk off by herself. When she backed up with just using phase 1 I stopped her and gave her a carrot. And see there, the whole yoyo game became a whole new meaning again. So instead of walking of and making assumptions she started to listen and asking questions. Gotta love those left brain introverts.
The circling game itself was going fine as long I just asked her for walk and trott. Right now we are up to 4 circles in trott with a slack in the rope and with her keeping up her responsibilities.
But crazy me - what was I thinking, asked her to canter and a whole new Milva showed up. Farting and bucking away....lol... It looked really funny and I wish I would have filmed it. Her bucks are not going to be easy to sit though.
When she had enough from the bucking she was coming in full speed gallopp towards me and stopped just in front of me - licking and chewing alot.
I sent her back out in the circle again, first in walk and asked her softly for a trott and when she looked ok I asked her softly for a canter again and yes, the whole circus started from the beginning again.
How intressting...
When I got home from the stable I watched the problemsolving dvd form Liberty & Horse Behaviour again. Maybe I should have watched it before asking her to canter ;).
Anyway with new arrows in my quiver I know now how to direct her energy.
First I was concerned that she was going right brain and being unsecure about cantering. But tossing her head like that and watching those bucks it was deffinitely dominant behaviour. That little punk...lol
Well, new try tomorrow.

Online

4 hours in the stable
1 hour online - playing in level3
3 hours of udt, hanging out and going for a walk, playing with the green ball and friendly game with the tarp on her back
Btw, totally love my new Iphone and the quality of the camera in it is not that bad after all :)

Friendly Game With The Green Ball & Tarp

4 hours of stable time
1,5 hours online and friendly game
1,5 hours of udt
I talked to Ulrike this morning who gave me some great ideas how to play with the green ball. Milva doesn´t really show any intrest in the ball but today I asked her to use her front hoof to kick it and rewarded her with a carrot afterwards. Smart as she is she figured quickly out what to do to get a carrot ;).
Friendly game with the tarp wasn´t a big deal.
I also played in the ridinghouse for a little while. Figure 8´s needs some refreshing.
Sideways at liberty was going super good as always and so did backing up from 3m behind z5.

July Goldmember Shipment

July DVD:
"Prey Animal,
Prisoner or Partner"
At the UK Parelli Celebration in November 2009, Pat Parelli played with Tippy–a racehorse that refused to run. Pat applies the principles of love, language and leadership to gain Tippy's trust and respect.

Mastery Lesson
Lesson 1 - Consistency is a Great Teacher
Lesson 2 - Ask Linda: Horsenality and More...

Login to the Savvy Club vault to watch this Mastery Lesson now!

Audio CD:
"Make No Assumptions"
Pat discusses how to prepare your thoughts and your horse after he has been on a break, be it winter, coming back from a spell or even if you have not been able to ride regularly.

80/10/10 Diet written by Dr. Douglas N. Graham

What do you get with the 80/10/10 diet?
-peak performance for any athlete
-perfect weight no matter waht your body type
-off the charts wellness
-success with a low-fat vegan diet
- simplicity in your lifestyle
-a healthy relationship with your food
-and enviable vitality
what an awesome book!!

Mandrick - Extrem RBE

I´m spending lots of undemanding time with Milva. I´m thinking about doing some liberty with her. I obviously can´t do any online with her but liberty might work - unless she tries to make me work harder than she does ;), but I won´t let that happen. Well, and I´m not able to move very fast, running is out of question and my walking is in the speed of a snail. I´m still going to give it a try though.
I´m also spending some udt with Mandrick and actually gave him a little brush today. He thought it was kind of dangerous though - the brushing. He is a very, very extrem rbe and there are alots of reasons why not to buy a horse like him. I just have to keep that in mind which is kind of hard cause he got so much more trusting lately. Darn! And Milva and him are getting along quit good as well. Darn again!