Vilda Milva - aka The Wilde Side Of Milveroni

As much as I want to I´m not even close to videotape my online level 3 audition. Netherless we had a hilarious playsession, my pony and me. Not quite sure who had more fun.
The circling game is definitely our weak point, no surprise with a lbi.
I started with asking her to walk on the 45 foot line which was going fine, I got my 4 circles asked her in, yoyo-ed her back and changed direction.
Because it was going so fine I got this crazy idea to ask for a trott. First suspicious look - you really want me to trott? What about if I offer you a faster walk? That´s fine, I take it. Change of direction and trott again and there it started. Trott on the right lead - you gotta be kidding. I could see her in the mirror doing a 180 degrees turn on her hindlegs and taking off in galopp, all 4 legs up in the air and bucking. There is a good reason why I get a western saddle I can tell ya.
Not enough with that, just to test me even more she stopped right in front of me - still out on the circle though, facing me with ear forwards, putting on her dragon face and blowing out fire.
Hmmm how intressting I thought, lets make a game out of it...
I asked her in, scratched her, yoyed her back, asked her to trott and asked her to change direction before she even thought about it and change of direction again and again and again.
She really enjoyed herself and got very exuperant. It was hilarious and I just couldn´t help it but had to laugh all the session through. Once more I wish someone could have videotaped it.
When she finally relaxed and asked questions again I stopped.
I know that she is way smarter than I am and she has me all figured out. On some days she is more horse than I can handle but I wouldn´t change her for anything in the world.

My New Saddle - Natural Performer

After a long time of soulsearching and thinking about what I actually wanna achieve with my horse and after a nice talk with my favourite Parelli instructor - thanks Petra, I finally decided to order the Natural Performer saddle.
It´s kind of funny. I have never ridden in a western saddle before and I have no clue how to cinch up the girth but I´m sure it´s all going to work out.
Anita already offered me Orkan to try the saddle on him before riding Milva. Which is really nice of her and it´s going to be much easier for me to find my balance point on Orkan and to get used to the saddle.
So now it´s offical - Marion the former dressage rider is going to be a cowgirl ;). How intressting...
Tomorrow I´m going to meassure Milva and email all the requiered paperwork.
I´ve settled for the dark brown colour which I think is going to make a nice contrast to Milva´s future white coat.
I´m working on my december book list order. If any of you has any suggestions, please let me know. I´m almost through Parelli´s reading list. And talking about reading lists. Shawn said this morning that every organisation like Parelli has a reading list. I asked him what he means by organisation and he said, well an organisation which promotes intelligence. Intressting thought...

November Shipment

November Savvy Times
This month's issue features articles on the Game of Contact, the Parelli scholarship program, a natural horsemanship progress report, and more... plus your stories from around the globe!

Mastery Lesson
Pat's Lesson - Riding Excellently
Linda's Lesson - Ingredients to the Backup

November Audio CD:
"Exploring the Attitude of Justice"
Pat expands on why Principle #5 is critical in developing trust and cooperation from your horse

Remember Fallen Horses on Veterans' Day

The Horse | Remember Fallen Horses on Veterans' Day
Remembrance Day is a day full of emotions for us. Several of Shawn´s friends have lost their life while they served with him in Afghanistan. I knew some of them.
And of course it makes me think about all the horses that have lost their life in war - and it makes me think about The Treck and Milva´s ancestors.

In Flanders Fields

Remembrance Day - Lest We Forget

The Ode of Remembrance:
They went with songs to the battle, they were young.
Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.

Lest we forget
Tomorrow is Remembrance Day, thinking about all the soldiers that fought for our freedom.

Tuesday

My horse time today included reading in Ray Hunt´s book, watching Savvy Club dvd´s and Mastery Lesson dvd´s and playing for a little while with Milva at liberty.

Udt

Due to a workmeeting - yes, on my day off, I just had time to snuggle with Milva and spend some udt with her.

Busy Sunday

Where does the time go?? It´s already Monday.
I helped Patricia with the 7 games yesterday and explained to her how the audition works. I didn´t realize how much I missed to have another Parelli person to talk to. I was really spoiled when I lived in Canada and was surrounded by like minded people.
We took both horses into the ridinghouse. I put up some obstacles to play with - a plastic tarp to go over, a cavaletti, a blue barrel, a black tube for the sideways game, cones for figure 8 and weave pattern. I turned Milva loose and started to play at liberty - weave patterns, figure 8 - yeah!, stick to me at walk and trott, sideways away from me with the black tube, sidways towards me, squeeze game over the cavalleti and back up from z5. Milva did really good and wasn´t to distracted by Tinker.
I also demonstrated the yoyo game and figure 8s online to Patricia. And wow, we actually did come a long way since I started with Parelli.
To clearify the 4 phases for the yoyo game we played with simulations. I never had anyone before to do simulations with but oh boy, does it really help! It´s much easier to understand when doing it with each other instead of with a horse.
After our playsession we fixed the stable and fed the horses. But don´t think my day was done by then. Shawn decided he wanted to ride again so Anita was so kind to lend him Orkan. After dropping off Patricia we had a bite to eat and went back to the stable. Shawn rode Orkan for in walk - just to get the feeling again and to find his balance point. Orkan was on his best behaviour and very uncomplicated. Nice to have so well behaved horses in the stable - for most of the time anyway ;).
Picture of gorgeous Tinker and Patricia and Tinker and Milva in the ridinghouse

Saturday Afternoon

I spent all afternoon in the stable and didn´t get much done. The ridinghouse was occupied all the time and I don´t wanna go in there when other people ride their horse. I socialized with some of the other boarders and gave Milva a long brush and lots of scratches.
The foals moved next to Milva´s stable yesterday. They are just adorable!

Another Stormy Day In Skåne

When I decided to move to Skåne no mentioned to me that it´s constantly blowing here. Helsingborg isn´t called the city of wind for nothing. The positive side is that Milva is getting more and more windproof.
We played with liberty and online today. In liberty we did weavepatterns, sideways away and towards me, figure 8, stick to me with transitions, back up and spinning. Milva is getting so eager to please and wants to do everything at once. I really have to watch my bodylanguage cause she is reacting to the tiniest movement of me.
When she is tuned in a little phase 1 is enough. Which of course is super cool but it also makes me think about how often we are not aware of our bodylanguage - maybe because we are destracted by our stablecollegues or tired or just not aware of how sensitive our horses actually are.
Well the session today was sure an eyeopener. The thing is, I always knew how sensitive she is but I think I just didn´t quite understand the importance of it.
Sometimes she must feel I scream at her with my bodylanguage.
Talking about having a big Aha-moment.
In online we played with level 3 and 4 tasks.
Last day at work and then 4 days off :)). Lots of stable time coming up.

Cradle To Cradle written by William McDonough, Remaking The Way We Make Things

Another book I ordered this month. A very intressting read and I highly recommend it. I will write more about it as soon I finished it.

Birmingham in April, Anyone Wanna Come With Me?

I´m planing on going to Birmingham in April - once more. Anyone wanna come with me?
Planing on staying at Stoneleigh Lodge again. The rooms are nice there, price is reasonable and the food is good.
Hopefully there will be another Gold Summit as well, according to the Parelli office in the Uk there will be none though. Oh well, we will see, maybe they are changing their mind again.
Undemanding time with Milva today. Spending 30 minutes with your horse is better than nothing. But somehow I still have a bad conscious if I don´t play with her or spend more time with her.

Babies

Two of the new babies which are going to be living next to Milva´s turn out stable. Too cute! I longreined Milva with the 45-foot line for 30min today. We did alots alots of transitions between walk - trot - stop and back up. She was super responsive and very light in the hand.
We ended out playsession with a spin. I think we both figured it out now. I will see if I can get someone to film it this weekend.

Ferrier & Longreining

I had Helene N. out yesterday to trim Milva´s hooves again. Well, what can I say - Milva still doesn´t like her and is turning into a dragon as soon as she lays eyes on her.
I just don´t know what to do about it. She doesn´t give me any troubles ever with her hooves. I can pick all four of them up from one side and can do whatever with them.
Another ferrier is simply not an option because I want to have the best one available and that´s Helene N.
We had already decided in advance to give her tranquilizers. Milva was never needleshy before but we had to bring her into the stable, into a box to give her the needle. And even in the box she didn´t want Helene N. to come close to her. But after a short little while it worked and she was standing still.
Luckily Milva´s hooves are very strong and healthy according to Helene N. I´m also really greateful that she is so patient with my little dragon. I really wonder what got into Milva.
Shawn thinks it´s because I don´t let anyone else handle or touch Milva and that´s why she doesn´t want to be touched or handled by anyone else - except Shawn and auntie Anita.
Well I don´t know. It did cross my mind to do a ferrier course so I could trim Milva´s hooves by myself but I can´t even file my nails so I think trimming Milva´s hooves is a bit to far over my head for me.
On the positive side - longreining was going well and we did walk - trott - stop transitions. Now if only I would be in a better shape so I could keep up with Milva´s long strides.

Happy Halloween Everyone!

My favourite holiday besides Thanksgiving.
Limited stabletime due to paperwork, an uncooperative laptop and work. Last day at my shift today though and I should be done with my paperwork by tuesday. Planing on spending tomorrow all afternoon in the stable and tuesday as well.

Think Harmony With Horses written by Ray Hunt

More books from this months order :). One day I wanna have a library in my house where I can have all my books in a neet order. Books are like friends for me.
Think Harmony With Horses explains Ray Hunt's philosophy about working with horses - to unite the horse and rider into one working unit of both mind and body. Ray recognizes that how you train hinges upon a deeper understanding of who you are, and especially who the horse is. He urges you to think about "how" you do anything with respect, awareness and trust in the horse.

Liberty & Longreining

I started our playsession with liberty today. First we did some mirroring then stick to me with walk - trott - stop - backup transition which was going very well. A little spin now and then and some circles. Mostly follow the trail though.
Followed by longreining with two reins in walk.

Hi Ho Off To Work I Go

I start my five days in a row with a workrelated meeting today. Not looking forward to it at all and I think it´s a bad start to start his 5 day shift with a meeting.
But I shouldn´t complain, at least I have a work - a work I actually enjoy and love.
My stable time was rather short again. Just 2 hours in the stable is not satisfying my needs at all. Milva and I played in the ridinghouse with the weavepattern in trott with a longer line and circling game in walk and trott on the 45´line.
Tomorrow I´m horsesitting Hanna´s lovely Sunny.

Mudpony

Milva thought it was about time to cover herself in mud today. Otherwise she is very clean and just rolls in try spots. Not today though.
Due to paperwork I have to do my time was very limited in the stable. I gave her a good brush and scratch and we played a little bit with the big stone - which got moved to the other side of the ridinghous door now.
Now I´m going to cook Pierogies - which is going to be an intressting experience.
Have a nice tuesday everyone out there!

Spark - written by John J. Ratey MD

Did you know you can beat stress, lift your mood, fight memory loss, sharpen your intellect, and function better than ever simply by elevating your heart rate and breaking a sweat? The evidence is incontrovertible: Aerobic exercise physically remodels our brains for peak performance.


In SPARK, John J. Ratey, M.D., embarks upon a fascinating and entertaining journey through the mind-body connection, presenting startling research to prove that exercise is truly our best defense against everything from depression to ADD to addiction to aggression to menopause to Alzheimer's. Filled with amazing case studies (such as the revolutionary fitness program in Naperville, Illinois, which has put this school district of 19,000 kids first in the world of science test scores), SPARK is the first book to explore comprehensively the connection between exercise and the brain. It will change forever the way you think about your morning run---or, for that matter, simply the way you think
One of the books I ordered this month. Very intressting to read and highly recommended.

Morning Play

I went to the stable rather early this morning so I could play without any interruptions with Milva. We had a beautiful autumn sunrise here today. I know I mentioned it before but I have to say it again - I LOVE fall.
We played with the level 3 online tasks today and did a little bit of liberty.
My plan is to tape our level 3 online audition next month. But let´s wait and see how Milva´s timeline is going to look like.

Sunday Stroll

Milva and I went for a walk with Hanna and Sunny. I got all excited because Hanna had her own carrotstick. Finally someone else.
We were out for one hour and Milva behaved very well except the one time she kicked me. A typical leftbrain introvert kick - she aimed for me. Little bugger. I´m not sure what got into her. I think she had one of her moments and I was in the way. Nothing happened though and I learned my lesson to stay out of the kickzone.
On the way home we played with walk-stop transitions. SSSSSS-sound is the sign for stop and it worked well.
Hanna and I have a date again on wednesday for another walk.

October Savvy Club Shipment

Audio CD:
"Principles, Purpose and Time"
Pat discusses Principle #8: Principles, Purpose and Time are the tools of teaching.

Mastery Lesson
Pat's Lesson - The Rock Slide
Linda's Lesson - Linda with Dressage Master Walter Zettl

October DVD:
"Bits and Pieces"
Pat and Coconut give a presentation of the savvy and sequence of the halter, hackamore, snaffle bit and cradle bridle, and how to best present your horse. Join Linda and Allure and Remmer on building trust and confidence in bareback riding, as well as Horsenality™-specific strategies for the Figure 8 Pattern.

Fullmoon Today

Milva was too cute today. I played with her for a little while in the ridinghouse. I started with liberty and we did for the first the weavepattern at liberty. She was totally tuned in with me and reacted on my lightest bodymovement. Wish someone could have filmed it!
She also offered backing up at liberty a few times. I actually had to interrupt the pattern cause she wouldn´t stop. It goes like this - she is going away from me, maybe 10 - 15m, quite far anyway, then she turns her head around to look where I am and adjusts her body and then she starts to back up, pretty fast, when she reaches me she asks for a carrot. It was pretty funny and cute in the beginning and of course, my fault I rewarded her each time she did it and now it´s hard to stop her. If she doesn´t back up she offers sidways towards me, obviously another thing she loves to do for a treat. I wish she would put the same effort in the circling game.
Anyway she makes me laugh a lot.
After liberty we played a little bit online. Not very long though cause a new girl came in to ride one of Malin´s ponys.
Before playing we girls had a good oldfashion swedish fika. Hanna, the new girl was there as well. She is also super nice and is doing a little bit of Parelli :). We are getting more and more.

Short Playsession

I started to play a little with Milva yesterday. We did mostly friendly game, sideways and one spin. After not playing for such a long time I wanted to start slowly and fresh up her memory first.
Helene was in the ridinghouse as well, riding her lovely gelding Dupont. She offered me to ride him when I´m allowed back in the saddle. I´m really looking forward to that.
Today I asked a bit more of Milva. We started with the weavepattern in walk, figure 8s, circling with walk-stop transition (needs improvement) and the last thing we did was 2 spins. They are not pretty yet but we are getting there. Today I wasn´t very clear in my bodylanguage though so she thought she needs to come sideways towards me instead of spinning a whole circle. After I sorted out my bodymovements we spoke the same language again.

Our Little Herd

Doing Little Tasks With Perfection

My labtop is suffering from amnesia and won´t let me open any programs anymore so now I have to use Shawn´s labtop who doesn´t want to cooperate with me and is erasing all the stuff I wrote as soon as I´m done. Pretty annoying I can tell ya.
Milva and I are doing fine. I´m spending udt with her every day and brush her. Because I´m not supposed to play with her yet I concentrate on doing little tasks with perfection. Like lowering the head with a light phase 1, picking up all 4 hooves from one side, porcupine game with a light phase 1 and so on.
I started to work again two weeks ago and just finished my 5 day shift. It feels good to have my daily routins back and funny enough I get more things done now. I also can feel that I get more strength and energy every day. No more tubes or kidneystones for me!

Still recovering

I have to go back to the hospital on Monday for another operation. I have one tube left in me which they will operate out. I'm not allowed to ride for another two months after that which will be around Christmas then. I sure hope I can start playing with milva online soon though, maybe in two weeks. In the meantime it's going to be a lot of undemanding time. Wishing a good morning to the Netherlands, Germany, USA and Austria!

Tired & Sore

A quick update on my operation. Everything went well, the surgery took almost 3 hours. I was allowed to leave the hospital on wednesday but have been laying on the couch ever since and sleeping and reading. I went to Milva twice for one hour to let her eat her hay. I really miss her and wish once more I would have my own farm so I could see her when I look out of the window.
I had to take an extra trip to the emergency friday night because my pain was getting grucial. Still feeling very sore and tired.