Horses win and fail
I watched part of the level 1 Parelli horse training DVD again. This time with more patience. I find the verbal Amercanisms he is constantly dropping in very frustrating. But I must have put the good brain on because it made more sense this time.
To my amazement it seems that my old horse Star is well past level 1. I never really think about these things in terms of gaining levels or trying to reach particular goals, we just play. And it seems that all the level 1 stuff he's achieved and surpassed. I no longer use a metal bit with him (I moved to this a while ago as he just hates it), which I think means he's done most of level 2, but we have accidentally skipped all the "one rein" lessons and moved straight to 2 reins. I will spend the next little while working my way through the Level 2 DVD (Goddess grant me patience) and revise the stuff we skipped.
Star continues to amaze me with his willingness to learn and the lessons I learn from working with him. I know I'm just starting my journey, but I love the partnership we have and the harmony we can work with. We have our not-great days still, but it's nice to know that I can take him out on the trails in just a halter without a bridle and we'll not only be OK, but enjoy our ride so much more as we're both not fighting the bit. Our dressage skills are growing, our jumping is so much better as we have the confidence in each other that neither of us is going to refuse or bounce about and we both are enjoying the challenge of learning new things.
So to continue the challenge, I tool Minerva, my 18 month old filly out with Star and I for our weekly playtime at the local indoor horse arena. She hadn't been floated since she arrived here almost a year ago from Tasmania and I was concerned about how it was all going to go.
She was great. I mean, she's still a baby and does things a young horse would do, but with a bit of patience she self-loaded into the float, floated beautifully and arrived at the arena calm but interested.
We worked on reviewing all the Level 1 skills and surprisingly she has picked them all up well in the "bits and peices" playtimes we've had together. She still needs practice and refinement, but she's going great guns. Her main issue is that she's not afraid of anything. A great trait in a warhorse, but it means that the techniques I would use to ask Star to do something just don't work for her. The philosophy is that you make the thing you want them to do easy and everything else hard. There is no way to make anything hard with her, she's just unflappable. I may call in an instructor to work a few lessons with me so I can get her more responsive in the future but in the meantime she's safe, calm, healthy and learning well. And just so darned pretty.
So all in all yesterdays arena time was a great success. It's nice to have a win. But to keep my ego in check the Universe always arranges a balance for me. Today I copped a nice kick in the shin from Ebony. She's not a kicker generally, and she was quite embarrassed about it, but I got in the way as she was flicking a warning foot at Minerva at feed time. So now I have a nice bruise and an ego adjustment. :)
To my amazement it seems that my old horse Star is well past level 1. I never really think about these things in terms of gaining levels or trying to reach particular goals, we just play. And it seems that all the level 1 stuff he's achieved and surpassed. I no longer use a metal bit with him (I moved to this a while ago as he just hates it), which I think means he's done most of level 2, but we have accidentally skipped all the "one rein" lessons and moved straight to 2 reins. I will spend the next little while working my way through the Level 2 DVD (Goddess grant me patience) and revise the stuff we skipped.
Star continues to amaze me with his willingness to learn and the lessons I learn from working with him. I know I'm just starting my journey, but I love the partnership we have and the harmony we can work with. We have our not-great days still, but it's nice to know that I can take him out on the trails in just a halter without a bridle and we'll not only be OK, but enjoy our ride so much more as we're both not fighting the bit. Our dressage skills are growing, our jumping is so much better as we have the confidence in each other that neither of us is going to refuse or bounce about and we both are enjoying the challenge of learning new things.
So to continue the challenge, I tool Minerva, my 18 month old filly out with Star and I for our weekly playtime at the local indoor horse arena. She hadn't been floated since she arrived here almost a year ago from Tasmania and I was concerned about how it was all going to go.
She was great. I mean, she's still a baby and does things a young horse would do, but with a bit of patience she self-loaded into the float, floated beautifully and arrived at the arena calm but interested.
We worked on reviewing all the Level 1 skills and surprisingly she has picked them all up well in the "bits and peices" playtimes we've had together. She still needs practice and refinement, but she's going great guns. Her main issue is that she's not afraid of anything. A great trait in a warhorse, but it means that the techniques I would use to ask Star to do something just don't work for her. The philosophy is that you make the thing you want them to do easy and everything else hard. There is no way to make anything hard with her, she's just unflappable. I may call in an instructor to work a few lessons with me so I can get her more responsive in the future but in the meantime she's safe, calm, healthy and learning well. And just so darned pretty.
So all in all yesterdays arena time was a great success. It's nice to have a win. But to keep my ego in check the Universe always arranges a balance for me. Today I copped a nice kick in the shin from Ebony. She's not a kicker generally, and she was quite embarrassed about it, but I got in the way as she was flicking a warning foot at Minerva at feed time. So now I have a nice bruise and an ego adjustment. :)